My First Love

How We Met

Richard is obviously not his real name, but for privacy sake I'm just going to call him that. Considering everything he did to me I'd say it's a pretty fitting name for him too. We met at the beginning of our freshmen year of high school.

Let me take a minute to explain what my school was like, because it was certainly not normal. It was a public charter school aimed at helping all their students get to college and to be ahead in their majors. The school had first opened when I was in seventh grade. At that time the school only taught sixth and seventh grade and would add a grade each year. They did this until it became a K-12 school. Because of this the school was always small while I attended it and my class was always the oldest. The school was slowly gaining popularity so we would get a handful of new students each year. Because of that none of us were really that interested when new students came because it was nothing new.

For the first few days I really didn't pay much attention to anyone besides my friends. My best friend Kody on the other hand wanted to meet all the new kids and introduce them to us. About a week into the school year he introduced us to a kid named Richard. I was immediately fascinated by him. I had started going through my alternative phase and was struggling to find people like me other than Kody. So when he introduced my friends and I to this cute skater boy, I felt like it was love at first sight.

He was somewhat shy and we didn't have the same classes, so we didn't really see each other or interact much. The only time I saw him was after school. Kody and I would always hangout at the community park next to our school. The football team would practice there everyday and our little brothers were a part of it. It was easier for us to hangout there until practice was over so our parents could get us all at the same time.

Kody invited Richard to hangout with us because he lived really close to the school. And very quickly I noticed that Richard had a deep fascination with Kody. Richard would barely talk to me and was strangely close with my best friend. He would also forget my name constantly and would complain about his current boyfriend from another school. I came to the conclusion that Richard was probably gay, and I figured that maybe he wasn't even interested in a friendship with me. So, I backed off for a while.

Things seemed to be getting serious between Richard and Kody, but then suddenly the two of them showed extreme interest in different people seemingly overnight. On top of that Richard was showing interest in one of my female friends. I was a little confused. Maybe he's bisexual and figured he wasn't getting anywhere with Kody? What was also weird was that he suddenly became a lot friendlier towards me. I brushed it off though. His schedule had changed and he now had a science class with me. There was no seating arrangement and the class only had like 5 other people in it so he would sit next me; I just thought that maybe I was the only person he kind of knew in that class and now he wanted to become better friends so he wouldn't be bored.

Days passed and I started to really fall for Richard. Then one day Kody had to leave early, so it was just me, Richard, and another student. We were chilling at the playground. I sat in the sand while the two of them sat in spinning seats. We talked about random things, when I got a call from someone I didn't know on my smartphone.

I answered, "Hello?"

"Is this Alyssa?" An older woman asked frantically.

"Y-Yes? Who is this?"

"This is Richard's mom. Is he there with you?"

I looked at Richard with confused, wide eyes, "Um, yes he is."

"Can I talk to him?"

I handed the phone to Richard and told him who it was. He rolled his eyes and walked away to talk to her. I continued talking with the boy that was with us for a few more minutes before feeling my phone being tossed into my lap. Richard then grabbed his skateboard in anger.

I stood up quickly, "Are you okay?"

"No." Richard said in a slight panic, "My mom told me to be home in 20 minutes or she'll send me back to military school."

Before we could even respond, Richard jumped on his skateboard and left. We were both stunned, but tried to brush it off. He said he lived close to the school so it would be no big deal right?

This had occurred on a Thursday. On Friday morning, Richard had walked into our small cafeteria where we waited for school to start. I asked him if everything was alright. He informed me that his mom was re-enrolling him into military school and that he wouldn't be at school on Monday. I felt bad for Richard. I even kind of wondered if that was my fault for asking him to hang out with me.

We didn't talk much the whole day, until we got to our science class. I couldn't focus on the lecture and kept looking at Richard. He looked so depressed that he was leaving. About half way into the class he slipped a small note underneath my arm that was resting on the black science table. It wasn't folded and I read it before even picking it up.

"TBH I kinda like you"

I was honestly a bit shocked. I didn't think he even saw me as a friend. We had only really talked a few times and school only started a little less than a month ago. But I didn't think about it too much then. I was 14 and of course, I was just excited that someone liked me that way. I wrote a message myself and handed the piece of paper to him.

"I like you too."

"Okay."

Okay? That's it? That response kind of crushed me a little bit, but I guess he didn't want to do long distance. Regardless, I gave him my number after school so we could stay in touch.

Did you catch that? I didn't realize it until after we broke up a year and a half later, but I gave him my number for the first time after his mom called me and referred to me by name. I honestly don't know how this happened and it still freaks me out to this day.

We texted a little over the weekend, but I don't remember what we texted each other about. When Monday came, however, he showed up. I was kind of happy, but also confused.

"I thought you said you wouldn't come back today?" I asked him.

"I thought so too."

And that was it. Talk of him leaving the school never came back after that. I still wonder if his mom really did threaten him with military school. It sounds like her, but he was also a big liar.

Nothing else eventful happened for the rest of the day and Richard didn't really talk about what happened with his mom. Then after school he gave me another note and asked me shyly not to read it until he was gone. He didn't hangout with Kody and I after school that day, so I decided to read the note when we got to the park. We sat on one of those crappy park tables when I read it. I already knew what it would say.

"Will you go out with me?"

Of course I texted him and told him I would date him, and that was that. That's how I started dating Richard. It feels weird looking back at it all now like this. I didn't think twice about the obvious red flags. I was young and had never been in a real relationship before. I thought things would be great, but to be honest nothing was ever great with Richard.

I have to apologize in advance for the rest of this book. This story isn't a very appropriate one, and there's no way for me to make it appropriate. Not only that, but there was intense drama going on ever single day involving Richard. Most of it is just a blur of constant drama. I remember the events and what happened, but I don't remember the order in which they occurred. So, I apologize if that makes things somewhat confusing.