Young love.

First kiss

Thais returns to school physically in high hopes of being with Axel again. Her dreams were finally coming true.

On her first day back, Things were so different from how it had been in the past... before the pandemic. She struggled only a little to readjust to the school fact and idea.

She kept an eye out for Axel the entire day and at break and the lunch hour. She had not seen him and her heart was starting to feel heavy. She felt as though he was never going to come to her as she had finally come to him.

Thais had memorized his time schedule and she was sure that he should have been in school on almost all the days she was required to be there. The only day she would not have been with him was a Tuesday where he was required to stay home and she was supposed to be in school.

This is where the story gets fuzzy.

On her way out the school gates after school one Wednesday afternoon, Thais heard a familiar voice and she swore she saw Axel. She blinked to make sure she was not dreaming and almost immediately, he disappeared. She looked around in the huge crowd frantically and saw him again. She called out his name in shock and he turned in her direction. She smiled and waved as he walked up to her. The meeting they had was brief for Thais who hardly got to say hello as she saw her aunt walk up to the school gates. Thais said goodbye to the boy and walked toward her aunt.

Axel followed her to make sure she was safely out the gates before he could leave on his own and there and then Thais aunt was introduced to him.

Thais left school that day feeling as though the world had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt content and was so happy that she smiled for the rest of the evening.

She woke up the next day feeling more motivated to go to school knowing that Axel would most likely go to their special place under a tree. The very place they met, and she wanted to meet him there and just tell him everything that she missed about him. She wanted to let him know just how much she loved him and this was it, her chance to tell him how she really felt.

At the lunch hour, Axel was indeed under the tree and he sat there all alone and looked sad. He toyed with a little rose charm Thais had given him four years ago when they had become friends. tears seemed to well in his eyes and Thais felt her heart drop.

Axel told Thais that he missed her and he had been thinking about her a lot lately and he knew how her family had been treating her.

Thais admitted the maltreatment she faced and started crying in his arms. She broke down completely ...

She told him the clear and uncut stories of what she truly faced on the daily. Her aunt who had raised her as a baby, had been facing abuse from her husband and she had taken her two sons and fled the country. She had not told anyone she was leaving and Thais, who she saw as her only daughter, was notified two or three days later. Thais was broken and hurt that she cried with so much emotion inside that she was laughing in pain. Her aunt ...who had picked her up from school, Latischa,... tried calming her down but she refused to listen to what anyone had to say.

Thais was depressed she stopped eating and another factor of this was, her birth mother. Thais got in contact with her and grew curious as to why she left. Thais had so many questions for her mother but her stepmother cut their contact because she was scared deep inside that Thais mother, Lindsey, would steal Thais father, Dorian, away from her. To prevent this from happening, she blamed the girl for hundreds of things and Dorian cut contact between Lindsey and Thais. Thais was absolutely devastated. She kept smiling for everyone but deep down she saw no reason to continue her life the way it was going. So she turned to self harm. She turned to pills and alcoholic substances.

She faced verbal abuse from her father and other family members and her sister Theresa used to bully her constantly.

Thais let out all of this to Axel and he held her tightly as if he did not wish to let her go. Thais felt so safe and calm in his embrace that she did not want it to end.

After Thais contained herself from being an emotional wreck, she and Axel sat together and talked about dumb things like how the birds looked like they just had a shower in the nearby drains.

Thais was temporarily distracted from her real life obstacles and even though it was for a short period of time she was truly grateful for it. She was so distracted by what happened next that she completely forgot to tell Axel how she felt about him.

Axel held Thais by her arms and he kissed her. He was gentle and calm and Thais was confused.

"Was this really happening right now?" was all her brain could project into her mind.

Yes it was happening and this was just the beginning of everything.