Love Me Back

Chapter 1

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A boy sat hunched over by his desk, scribbling furiously on a piece of printer paper. Suddenly he stopped. Banging his fist onto the hard, solid wooden table, a loud scream of anger erupted from his mouth as he crumpled the page up and tossed it behind him, missing his destination by a few feet. He took deep breaths and turned around. He glanced at the unsightly mess that was his trash can, the ground around it littered with ripped, crumpled paper.

He didn't care. He just kept writing.

It had to be perfect.

Like the girl he loved.

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December 16

Dear Cara,

Sometimes I forget that we don't know each other anymore. Sometimes I start to walk up to you and your group of friends, but I stop just in time to turn right, or left, or back to the safety of my locker.

Sometimes I forget that we were ever anything.

...Were we ever anything?

Apparently not.

You couldn't bring yourself to like me anymore, you said. Oh yeah, sure, I was cute "and stuff", but I'd never be good enough. Never good enough for you or even 'that girl Peyton', the one with a question mark attached on to the end of her name.

My heart was ground into shards under your feet as you slow danced with Jack--or whatever his name was--as you did the foxtrot and the salsa with him, laughing as you clutched at his hands. (This was at prom, if you didn't remember--because you probably don't.) He whispered a joke into your ear--one I will never know--and you laughed that soft laugh I had come to love. You had a content smile on your face as you leaned your head gently on his shoulder like it was home.

Had you ever felt like I was home?

I had walked back to our table with our drinks--and all of the seats were empty. Yeah, sure, Cal and Wilson were probably looking for some "hot girls" to hook up with, but I had expected you to wait for me.

Except you didn't. You were on the dance floor with your "new prom date", his tie the same color as your dress, a shade of coral that I had spent hours to find.

Screw you.

At the afterparty at Liv's house, you stuck a stiletto heel through the rest of my heart's remains. Everything was gone.

You screamed at me, "NOTHING FUCKING MATTERS ANYMORE, FINN!" And everyone turned to look. at us. The music even stopped.

But you didn't seem to mind that. Jack came over and lightly ushered you away from me. Once you saw him, your anger instantly vanished. You looked at him with that easy, gentle look, the one that told me that you were in love with him, and that everything was over between us. The music slowly came back, and everyone gradually continued talking and dancing. As you left, those humiliating stares went with you.

What a nice way to end senior year. The last year of high school, the year we left our parents, the celebratory year before we all departed to college.

Oh, and you happened to be going to the same college as Jack. What a coincidence.

Sure, you didn't believe in true love.

But don't you agree that it should exist?

Yours Forever,

Finn