Chapter 2: Flashback (Part 1)

"fifteen? It's been 4 years since you started dating him?" She asked like it was something impossible.

I raised my brows and gave a gentle nod like it's not something to be surprised about because I am forced into this relationship. He wants to save it but I don't.

"So, I met him when I was twelve, we were in the same school since then. He was average looking and pretty short back then and was a social butterfly, the teacher made me sit in front of him because I was talking a lot with my group of girls. He has a bad habit of not bringing stuff, like pencils and erasers, to school. I always had extras. He had the habit of borrowing from others and I became the person who lent it to him. His other friends found this habit of his annoying and stopped lending him stationaries and they also started teasing me with him when I started lending him. So, I eventually stopped and guess what? He threw my bag outside the class the next day just to convince his friends to stop teasing us. Water started pouring from my bag and the whole class started laughing at me. Imagine I had to roam around with the same water-drenched bag for a whole day. Since then they started calling me hippo because you know hippo is mostly found in the water? Ugh. And I was pretty fat back then. I used to cry whenever I reached home because I hated this. And then a year and a half later we had class shuffling done. I thought all my problems were solved but no it didn't. My old BFF was in his class. He somehow got my number from her. He called me for the first time when I was returning back from my basketball classes. The main reason I went for basketball classes is that I wanted to become thin so that I'm not called hippo again. Not to learn something new. "

Darcy started laughing "seriously? You're so funny, your expressions are amazing"

She's not wrong I did pop my eyes wide and raise my brows while narrating the whole story. And I didn't even realize it.

"It's something I learnt from Disney"

Darcy giggled "you may proceed"

"I called him back without knowing it was him I called him because I had a missed call. The first thing that he called me was a cry baby. Because I used to cry a lot back then for silly things. I just wanted to take a hammer and break his head. As though it was possible. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM" I screamed on the phone. He giggled and I don't remember what exactly happened in between but we started talking for a very long time, I figured out we had the same love towards music and we're a fan of the same artist. And then he confessed he had a crush on me. I thought he hated me I was not expecting that coming. I zipped my mouth and cut the call. I was so energetic the whole day. My mom was shocked as well, mainly because I was helping her out in everything. I would blush sometimes and giggle. I was excited because no one had ever told me they liked me in that way to me and this was my first time. So, I thought I'd confess my feelings back the next day. As soon as I entered the school the next day I rushed to his class and called him. And I told him I liked him back."

"aw, that's how you guys got together?" Darcy asked keeping an adorable face.

"No no, not yet." I bit my lip.

"I didn't know what I was waiting for ".

"What do you mean?" Her eyes went wide.

"He started laughing as though it was a joke. I asked him "what happened?" He called his friend Adam and said "dare complete" tears filled my eyes, "it was a dare" he said, "I never knew I could make you like me in a day ". Adam gave him a hundred bucks and said "silly girl will never get a man who will love her" and laughed at me."

"That's so bad" Darcy frowned "they can't treat you like that"

" when I came back home, I broke down and started crying. Mom was really concerned about me. She tried to console me, she kept asking about what happened why was I sad and why was I crying. I was happy a day ago I thought and then spent the whole day on the bed, scrolling through sad online books and songs and texting my friends about what happened. They got furious they wanted to talk to him the next day. I stopped them from doing it I didn't want to get into any embarrassing situations anymore nor did I wanna cause a huge problem. The next day I tried to hide my tired face because I didn't sleep the previous night with makeup. Parker ran up to me to say something "what's your problem" I tried to sound like I didn't care but my voice exposed it. I was trembling and started crying. I ran to my classroom hiding my tears with my overcoat. when the school got over, I ran towards my school bus even though Parker followed me. He was trying to say something but I was heartbroken and was not interested in talking to him. Thank God the bus took off before parker made it up to me. Back at home I engaged myself in household chores and reading books keeping my mobile phone in silent mode. By the time I finished everything and checked my phone there were ten missed calls from Parker. Parker tried to contact me for a week or so but I kept ignoring him. And after that, he stopped trying to contact me for six months or so. But would look at me whenever I crossed him and would tease me, he'd call me makeup queen or hippo. Exactly four days before Valentine's day, I had told my friends that I wouldn't be coming to the prom because I didn't have a date but after school Parker ran towards me with a card and a golden rose "coming to prom with me?". My friends pushed him away "sorry she's not coming" they were furious. "After everything that happened do you think she'll like to go out with you?"

"Yes, I'd like to go to the prom with you," I say, that answer shocked all of us even me.

...to be continued