Hard to love (#wattys2019) *650 total reads special*

Elizabeth River

My name is Elizabeth River. I'm the top student in the entire grade, because of that, people tend to isolate me. It isn't my fault that I got top grades every test. It wasn't my fault that I always answered every question the teacher gave. It was just in my nature.

I had only two friends I could rely on. Lily and Catherine. They were easygoing and friendly, so we got along easily. We always went everywhere together, they filled almost all the holes people had left in my heart.

But there was something else they couldn't help me. Love. The longing for love was planted in almost all the students in university. Lily had Cayman, making the perfect couple. Catherine had Carter, the handsomest boy who was madly in love with her. I had no one. Not like I wasn't good, I was too smart, too much of a Teacher's pet, that nobody wanted me.

The most important thing was, I wanted nobody. No boy that I had ever seen had caught my heart, but why did my heart flutter when I saw him? The messy raven-black hair, the mesmerizing light blue eyes, the most perfect lips that I had ever seen...

I pushed down the flutter in my heart, turning my head up to stare at the night sky. It was beautiful- stars were shining happily, the moon's glow obviously brighter than usual... It was a good night.

Tomorrow, then. Tomorrow, I will see him again. Then, I will ask myself if I really did like him, or if it was just all a mistake.

No, it was not. The second day, as I rounded a corner, I caught a glimpse of the oh-so-familiar raven-black hair. I tried to force myself from going after him, I still had class after all, but failed miserably as my legs began moving on their own accord. I didn't even remember where I had gone, how much corners I had turned... All that mattered in my heart was him. I rounded a final corner, then slumped down on the wall- he was nowhere in sight.

My heart motivated me to keep going onwards, but my brain argued that he might have gone elsewhere. My heart gained the upper hand, and I started moving again. Gods know how relived I was when I finally saw the shadow of him again. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding.

He went inside a classroom. I silently scolded myself. I just stalked someone! Something I swore never to do, after one time that when I was still in 6th grade, a brown-haired boy had chased me down the hallway with a banquet of flowers in his hand. I had sworn to never do the same thing as the boy had done.

I was quite popular in middle school. Boys chased after me all the time, and I declined all of them. But why am I doing this... When in my early days, others did this to me!

The teacher spotted me. Her eyes widened with shock. "Aleksander said a girl was stalking him on the way to the classroom. He said he even took some wrong turns on purpose. You're that girl, Elizabeth?"