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Two years ago:
My friend Lily and I are talking at the lockers like we always do in the mornings before school starts.
"I'm so nervous, Lily. What if he never wants to speak to me again?"
"Don't worry about it. If Nate doesn't see you the way you see him, then that's on him. Ok, he's the one missing out," she assures me.
I breathe in and out. Once I finally muster up the courage to go up to the person I have had feelings for since I can remember, I slowly make my way over to him and his friends and call for Nate through the yelling. No one hears me so I am about to turn, but then Nate calls back.
"Hey Jazzy, what's up?" I turn around to face five guys, including Nate, stare at me expectantly.
"Well, I uhh... I'll just come back another time, it l-looks like you're busy right now."
"No, don't go, whatever you need to tell me, you can say in front of my friends..." Nate taunts.
"I just wanted to say that..." I begin. I stop for a second to soak into how calm the hallways are, and how they will be nothing but in a few moments. My back straightens and I start up again. "That I like you. And if you don't feel the same way, that's fine. I just want you to know that," I say as confidently as I can possibly manage.
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For the rest of that day and year basically, I was called all sorts of names like 'wannabe girl' or 'girl with no boundaries', or 'wannabe princess'. Nate and his friends did this every single day for the last two years of my life, and right when I thought it was all over and that I was free of anything resembling that hell of a high school, no hell of a group of people, I saw Nate in one of my classes in college. Although, strangely, it turned out for the better. I just don't know if I am ready to be close with someone who, not two years ago, was calling me nicknames when it was clear I had feelings for him. I guess I'll find out soon enough.
YOU ARE READING
And then there was light
Teen FictionJasmine Patel, a smart, young woman in college, struggles with anxiety all the while dealing with the many ups and downs of life. She does not have the perfect life, neither is she very good with words, but when it comes to helping others out, she's...
