#13ReasonsWhy Short Story

Don't Look Back #13ReasonsWhyContest

Present-day: Recovered from depression, surrounded by caring friends, able to genuinely smile. Freshman year: Suffering from depression, surrounded by fake friends, always faking a smile. 

You're probably wondering what was so life-changing between freshman and sophomore year. How could someone go from being absolutely miserable to joyful? I'll tell you exactly what caused that change, but first I'll tell you what started the entire issue. What's the point of telling you? I'll put it this way: it's like a person reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows without reading the previous six books. Basically, you'd be confused without background information. Anyways, this started when I began to harbour feelings for a male friend. For privacy, I'll call him Joe. I met Joe in sixth grade, and we quickly bonded. Back then, he seemed like the nicest guy I would ever meet. I began to like him in seventh grade, but I kept quiet throughout middle school and into high school. The first few months of freshman year went by smoothly, but I realized I couldn't continue to keep my feelings for Joe bottled up. That's when I sat myself down, created a new email, and furiously typed away at the keyboard of my iPad. After about ten minutes, I had a beautiful, heartfelt letter explaining to Joe the way I felt. With a thumping heart, I hit "Send" and waited in fear for his reply. The problem was, I never got one. This was Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went without a single response. On Thursday, I talked to a friend who shared the same lunch period as Joe. I asked her if she'd seen him read my email, and she told me she would check. On the bus ride home, she told me that my email had indeed been read by Joe, but that was it. She had gotten angry and yelled at Joe to respond to me immediately, calling him rude for ignoring me. That evening, I received Joe's response, which I remember to this day. His email simply said, "I have too much homework to be in a relationship with you." That upset me, because we had every class together and never got any homework in any of them. The next day, I tried to ask Joe if we could still be friends, but he pretended like I didn't exist. This was how he treated me for the rest of freshman year and up to when I moved. What truly bothered me was the fact that he was spreading false stories about me around the school. I couldn't take the way he turned so many people against me any longer. I tried to end everything multiple times, because of him. (Don't worry, I don't feel that way anymore. I'm happy as can be right now ;3) And during that dark time, all I remember is thinking, "I wish I'd never said anything." But today, I tell myself not to dwell on him, to never look back.