The Thing We Call First Love

Chapter 1 - The Magical Message

Like any other boy, I was a normal kid going to 8th grade in school. I belonged to a group of 4 friends which comprised of 2 boys myself and Arjun and 2 girls Ramya and Swetha. Unlike them who were a pioneer of the school, I was a newbie who joined this prestigious school - the way they call it; in 7th grade. I was put in a class full of new students and 1 year just flew like that without me even adapting to the new place. The next year 8th grade was a little different. I wasn't too good talking to girls. I never expected two girls approaching a guy and asking for my number. But it happened. It was a sunday morning, a pretty normal one until that message reached me. My phone beeped and the message read ' HEY THIS IS RAMYA. IS IT OK IF I TEXT YOU? '
The message that changed my life. Soon after that, it was followed by another message ' THIS IS SWETHA. ARJUN GAVE ME YOUR NUMBER. ' It made me realise that miracles are real. What will be a boy's reaction who hasn't even talked to girls when he gets a message from them without any warning? I was just out of the world. Days just passed with texts everyday. Day by day good morning texts turned into texts that discussed secrets. Day by day we were getting so close without us even realising. Then came the day I realised that I have changed. A fine morning , I got up from the bed, brushed my teeth and turned on the tv. A song which I have listened to atleast a dozen times was on. But this time, the song had a different effect on me. It stirred up my hormones; woke something in me. Little did I realise that it was LOVE. Yuvan Shankar Raja just made a 8th grade boy taste the magnificence of first love.
From that day on everything was different. I began to see the world differently. I began to see her differently. It seemed as if she had become so beautiful in an instant. She became an angel to my eyes. My angel, my Ramya. 'Everything good is always accompanied by something equally bad.' Yea, it was true. The Good thing was that I was in love. The bad thing, oh god, I wasn't able to speak to her as freely as before. I began acting weird in front of her. I began to hide from her to avoid any conversations. I could have confessed my feelings for her. But I was scared, really scared. Everyday my love for her was growing. Just as the love, the fear too. I began losing my concentration in studies, in school and in everything I do. Everyone started noticing my change. As I was fairly good in studies, it just took one exam for the teachers to notice my drastic fall. Who thought this fall would be the first fall to my love life? By this time all this happened, Ramya was fed up. So fed up. She must be. How would you react if someone so close to you changed in one day and continues to ignore you for one god damn month? You would be furious right? Yea, she was furious alright. Just after I discussed my drastic fall with my teacher, I encountered her when I was just about to leave.
She was standing there with Swetha and Arjun. Her face was so red that it seemed like a tomato. Jokes apart, she was beautiful; so god damn beautiful that I began admiring her instead of getting scared. I slowly approached her and I stood about a metre in front her. Then suddenly out of nowhere reality struck me with her words. The words ' I DON'T WANNA TALK TO YOU ANYMORE' signified my greatest fall and with that started my first period of misery. I could have confessed my feelings there and told the reason for my change. But I didn't. I couldn't. If those two weren't there with her, I might have. But who knows? Those were her last and only words before she stopped talking to me for an eternal two years. With her, those two also due to circumstances couldn't talk to me and everything fell apart. And I was alone again. I remember trying atleast a million times to make her talk but nothing helped. I thought that this was the biggest regret of my life. But little did I know that bigger regrets were waiting for me in my life.