As a young girl, my life was plain and repetitive. Striving to survive and not living. Until my—now—bestfriends… Rowen, a guy with shabby short brown hair, and Leelie, my best friend, who has long blonde hair, rich and gorgeous. Everyone thinks she’s rude, but we knew better. And lastly—my crush—julan—he’s tall, lean, with dirty blonde hair and rimmed glasses. They’ve protected me and have given me something to look forward to, because of them, they’ve made my life better.

“I’m sorry,” I said, swiping at my hot and heavy tears. I felt a void rise inside my chest. Today was the day I left for college.

All four of us share a tight hug.

“It’s okay, we’ll just miss you. Come back soon okay?” Leelie’s voice broke. She lightly dabs her tear—soaked makeup, then hugs me tightly.

“I’m going to miss you so much, Lee.”

“I know,” She replied, squeezing tighter.

We hugged one more time before Rowen and Leelie stepped away from me, leaving me next to Julan.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” I said through my hiccups.

_ I don’t want her to be sad, I’ll miss her but I don’t want her to feel bad. Julan thought. _

“It’s okay,” He said, wiping my tears with his thumb. “I’ll wait for you.”

“For…. _what_?” I said, breaking down again.

“I like you Arivea,” He said breathlessly.

“I like you too.” I called out.

I took his hand and intertwined it with mine.

“I’ll wait for you.” He reminded me.

“Okay, please wait for me, I’ll be back.”

“Mmhm.” He nodded, tears coming down his face. I realized this was the first time he’d ever cried in front of me. In a quick moment, my motherly instincts kick in and I’m hugging him tightly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep our promise to never leave each other.” I pleaded, resting my head on his shoulder.

He tenderly holds the crook of my head, “I’m not mad. I would be so mad if you told me you weren’t pursuing your dreams.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He replied, making me giggle.

The hug released but I still had hold of his hands, I looked at him in awe.

“When did you grow up to be a man?” I ask through sobs. Our hands sway.

He smiles, then shrugs, “I guess you just didn’t notice.”

“_Never. _I’ve noticed, I just forced myself to not notice.” I finally admit.

Then remember our friends are watching us. And with huge grins on their faces, I hear shouting “KISS! KISS! KISS!”

While chuckling, he startles me, he comes closer but asks. “Can I kiss you?”

I nod shyly, he swoops me up and kisses me. I hear hollers in the background.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Rowen called out.

We both back out, totally out of breath. “That wasn’t for them right?” I whisper, like in the moment they don’t exist.

“That was for _me_. I’ve wanted to do that for a while.” He whispered back.

I smile so widely, I feel like my mouth might stay like that.

“I’m going to miss you!” I pout.

“I will miss you more!” He exclaims.

We both fight over it for a solid 3 minutes, then just start laughing.

I find my seat on the bus and wave goodbye. They wave back and at first a void takes anchor in my chest. But then feeling of ignitement replaces it because there was one thing I knew for certain. This was the start of my story, not the end. I’d see them again, I knew that much.