Short Stories: Love

Chasing Stars

I'm not sure when it started but I started developing a crush on the most unnoticed girl in class. Actually, I do know when.

We were doing a paired work, poem writing about antithesis and I had gotten to be her pair mate. Her two best friends went with each other and everyone had paired up. She had volunteered to work alone but I arrived late on that day. So we were paired together. Now, I never talked to her beyond the usual greetings and the only time I saw her, she either sat alone or with her friends. Most of the time, she sat alone.

In comparison, I enjoyed a much more extroverted life, I hung out with the guys, talked to some of the girls, and when I noticed her it was to listen to the others point out how weird she is. I don't get why they talk so badly about her behind her back when she actually bothers teaching the students who struggle during her spare time for free, guides the new student on things nobody else would tell him and can be seen laughing with her friends.

Speaking of her friends, those two happen to be the tallest girls in class, she's the shortest, so they make quite a sight with her silently following her friends or walking in front of them. Both of them are somewhat popular in a sense, two guys have a crush on Mira, her oldest friend while Ava's the person everyone wants to work with during group projects- no wait, scratch that, both Mira and Ava are seen as people to be on the group. Her on the other hand, well, she's intelligent, smart, flexible, but her social skills are slightly awkward.

That may be one of the reasons why people prefer to talk to her friends than to her. I think she's aware of that. She tends to smile and joke, though sarcastic, and she's super sharp with her tongue, as in wicked sharp. It's so sharp people aren't even surprised anymore with her cutting remarks.

I'm rambling. I should actually keep on track.

So we were paired for this poem writing and we talked about what sort of topic we would choose. She explained what was going on to me and pointed out the topics we had to choose from. We both decided that school and love weren't as diverse and picked life instead.

Then we began brainstorming and never have I seen her as passionate as she is with her friends until that moment. Her eyes lit up like fireworks and her face is practically beaming as we bounced ideas. She interacted and engaged me into what we could do and I couldn't help but match her enthusiasm with my own. I've never actually been this excited about an English seatwork but when she smiled wide as she mixed our ideas together, I couldn't help but feel this excited. It reminded me how I get whenever I see a riddle or a puzzle to solve, ideas flashing through my mind faster than a bullet train.

In the end, that was the first poem I actually felt proud of. Our work had been amazing and we got a perfect score. I let her keep it because her smile made my heart jump.

So now you have an idea of how it happened.

It's after that moment that I began actually seeing her, and not like a person who happens to be in our class. I noticed how her footsteps barely made a sound, how she ends up holding the things for her friends while they head to the bathroom. I can see how her smiles are wide or sometimes soft, how her eyes get this faraway look. Her hair is barely combed sometimes and her breath sometimes smells like instant noodles in the morning because she rushes to school while taking her breakfast with her.

I can see dark circles around her eyes and yet she keeps smiling and pushing on even when I can tell she's probably been busy and restless with ideas flying through her head. She laughs at her mistakes and she grins whenever she's right. She wears a simple wooden necklace with a bright purple stone that's most likely fake with the wood carved to look like a six-pointed star. I don't ask her why but I'm sure it's something personal.

Then I began to stand up for her, when our school's prom came around, the girls were required to have a partner with the guys. One of the guys asked her out jokingly in the middle of the corridor. He yelled in her face, loudly asking her to be his partner. I had shoved him to the side and interrupted him, asking her about the specifics of an assignment.

She answered me gratefully, her smile relieved as she recounted the font, the margin and the due date for it.

I ended up asking her out to the dance and she said yes.

I picked out my suit and when we danced it felt like a movie.

Her dress is red and her hair was slightly curled, she never wears make-up unless it's an important event like picture day and I can see the light lipstick on her face. The smile I saw made my heart beat faster than ever and soon we started dancing.

Her short height was added to thanks to the heels she wore and as the music played, we chatted. She laughed and I laughed and it was the greatest day of my life.

Then in our last year of high school, I began to hang around her more. I learnt that the necklace she wears is because her friend gave it to her on her birthday. I learned about how much she loves mythology and she learned about why I enjoy math. We talked and continued to talk until we became friends.

Looking back, I can't believe how much I was missing out on until I started talking to her.

She's so loyal and kind, it all seems to come naturally to her. As if it's only natural to take on the role of a helper. When I need advice, the first person I talk to is her. She changes to this person who seems older, wiser beyond her years and I don't get how she gets pushed to the side when she deserves to be seen and acknowledged for all her intelligence and cunning.

As we grew to be in college, she pursued that degree in anthropology she's been rambling about while I took up computer science. We continued talking, chatting, even if her friends have drifted away from her, I stayed. We kept in touch and our love never faded. I guess that's because we treat each other like friends but with deeper bonds.

Now though, we're both out of college and with a job of our own. We live together in this apartment and life is amazing.

She once confessed when we were teens that she felt like the stars, always trying to compare to the Sun that is Mira or the Moon that is Ava. Now though, I always remind her how glad I am to have chased after the stars.