Nineteen

Chapter One

I had a normal childhood. I lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. I was given a big family including two older brothers and a younger sister. We spent our days outside with our cousins and friends until we grew too old for child games. Life was focused on my friends and finding where I fit in outside of my home life. My childhood and later years were almost perfect and exactly what is expected.

At age fifteen is when the world started to become less predictable, gray even.

They say you fall in love with three people in a lifetime一 all for a specific reason.

My first heartbreak came at the end of my very first year of high school. I always felt that I had a place with my friends, but especially with Clark and Liah. Clark used to be shy and reserved, but he quickly became the first freshman to become captain of the football team, and we saw him less and less, but still remained friends. Liah and I played club volleyball together and she fell into the high school routine rather well. I had other friends, but Liah is the only constant one I still have today.

During our study break at school, we all found ourselves spending time in the gym to play games of volleyball and meet the other students within the new high school world we were in.

I still remember when our paths crossed.

    His friend was interested in Liah, which is how it became that our friend groups meshed together. I saw dark blue eyes, which were my favorite, and I found myself interested in the boy who had them. I was never interested in someone before, so I had no way to go about it.

I heard his friend call him Link and I thought that was an odd name at the time, but I didn't expect the weird name to burn a hole in my chest every time I heard it after that day.

I learned that he was in grade twelve, much older than I was at the time. He was shy but quickly warmed up to my friends and our group. He played baseball with Clark, who told me that Link had never attempted to date before, adding to the shy quality of his personality.

As the weeks crept past, I found myself spending time at the baseball field instead of the gym during study break, simply to learn more about my new friend. I learned that he was raised by an aunt after his mother passed, and that he loved baseball and everything that came with it. Somewhere in the mix we exchanged numbers and began texting more often than not.

Something connected us and we started spending time together. Our friends make remarks and jokes, but we were simply nothing but friends who spent a lot of time together on dates and rides to volleyball practice. After a lot of time spent together and many laughs shared, the year was almost over and Link was graduating.

Somewhere deep inside of myself I knew that after he officially left, I wouldn't get him back.

I was fifteen and was starting to believe I was in love with someone I never even held hands with.