I was only 13 when i first met Arthur. I was still a believer in fairytales. I found love at this young age through joining our high school debate team. He was a debate coach, handsome and charming, a senior, all a young freshman girl could dream of for a first love.
Soon after we started dating, he started planning his life for college in a school in the big city. And while we held afternoon dates at school he promised me we would only be together no matter the distance. "It is only a matter of time and space," he said on our first valentines day together.
One day a small amount of worry grew inside me. He didn't call or text me that day, the first time for me not to hear from him. It was the summer after he got accepted to his dream school and I knew something was up but still, I held on to his promises.
Finally May 30 came, I took the courage to text him. It had been 2 months since I last heard from him and I thought that was enough time to be patient. And then, it happened. A sharp pain went through my tiny body as he texted me the words "I'm breaking up with you."
It should have ended there. What kind of boy would lead you on for months and not even have the courtesy to break up with you in person.
Losing one's first love is brutal. It was a few days before school started again and it took a hit on my studies on my sophmore year.
I was walking home one day with Cheenee, an older friend from school. This was months past the break-up but I was still hung-up on why it ended. I felt trapped in the hope that he would remember his promises to me and he would find his way back to me. SO i wrote him a simple valentine's day card hoping he would remember me. And soon, after almost a year, he sent me a text message thanking me for the card but even then, I heard from him very rarely.
That summer, I got a meesage from him saying he was home and he wanted to see me. I felt my heart beat so fast I had to sit down and catch my breath. I sat on my bed and decided, I was going to grab my chance. So I dressed-up that same day, and saw him only to meet for a movie.
He kissed me in the movie house, and we ended up making out. He told stories about his new life in college and his experiences in the city and I was so happy to feel like a part of his life again.
After that day, I started hearing from him more often, and soon, the love I still has for him burned even brighter.
That Christmas, now my third year in high school, I was telling him a story about how my friends wanted to meet him when he comes home. "Oh, you told them I'm your boyfriend," he said.
What was I thinking? I realized then and there that I had been texting him and assumed that all his attention towards me meant we were dating again. So with so much regret on my end, I got my heart broken by the same boy, the second time around.
He used me to amuse himself and I vowed never to contact him again. It should have ended there, but sadly, our story did not end there.
I went to my last year in high school, I would make it count. I would graduate with honors, and devote myself to the student council and the debate team and it would be a year free of Arthur.
Soon October came, it was his birthday, I contemplated if I should still greet him, the worst part of me won and so I sent a simple happy birthday text and he responded saying he had been waiting and hoping I did not forget. That puzzled me. But counting on the tears I had shed many times with my past experiences with him, I simply ignored it.
After that, I heard from him more and more again, and soon December came again. He had asked me to meet him and pleaded that it would only be for a while. So determined I was over him, I followed suit and came to see him. We talked and it was different this time. He was no longer self absorbed. He was more interested about me and soon enough, I felt happiness from all the attention I was getting from him again.
