The night ended as my new dawn began, a new day.
I was in 6th grade second semester, or middle school as many call it. My holidays ended, and school had started.
Each day I woke up with the usual habit of throwing tantrums, "Mom! I don't want to go today! Look it's so hot outside as well! I'll literally die..", even though it never worked to my benefit since she sent me to school anyways.
But that wasn't the case this semester, I had someone that I liked, just to see her face, it was my daily-set goal to be present in school, especially because she had high attendance ofcourse.
But enough about me, let us go back to the day I saw her for the first time.
As I strolled through the outskirts of our school campus, I noticed an unfamiliar presence beside me, in a haste, she disappeared from my field of view.
I thought, "Well, maybe she had work to do." I mean who wouldn't? She was dashing through crowds.
It was an usual morning, I walked into my class and eventually forgot about it..
Later that same week, I had to visit my father's best friend's house, well I did make it sound pretty forced but actually I went there on my own will.
There, he had a daughter, also my childhood friend. As usual, the talks about her personal life and how her relationships were changing as time passed were getting pretty boring, but there was one thing off, she asked me a question, "Do you like anyone from your class, or should I introduce you to some of my friends?"
I forgot to mention, she was a grade higher than me, and as timid as I was, I agreed. Never knowing what consequences it had on my life later on.
She showed me her bestfriends, 3 to be exact. There she was, the one I saw that same week, the starting of the week.
"Ah this one!" I pointed at her face, "Ah.. her? Yeah she has a bit of an attitude, do you want her number? I'll tell her to atleast respond."
The visiting time ended and I returned back home with my father, the very next day, I recieved a text from the number I got from my friend.
It was her, the text said, "She said you're gonna text me, but you didn't, so I'm contacting you first."
This text was our beginning, but god knew how it would end..
Being a 6th grader, I wouldn't really call myself an expert at texting, but I wasn't half as bad.. or so I thought.
"Hey? Yeah I actually forgot to text you yesterday, do you want to talk?"
She responded immediately.. or maybe not, it was pretty much an hour of waiting.
"Yeah sure, but can we move to Instagram, my mother uses this number as well, so it isn't exactly secure enough to text in."
I didn't have an account, I didn't know what to do, but it was a relief I read her message from the notifications, giving me enough time to make an account and then reply to her.
"Yeah sure, here's my username, jay729391_019."
We shifted to instagram, having talked almost the whole day, every day continuously, I developed attachment for her.
But that wasn't the same case for her.. she had a boyfriend. And the worst part? It didn't feel like she texted me.. it was more like she was just obliged to respond to my texts.. as if her friend ordered her to.
"Ah, she surely doesn't want me!" I said, as I jump up the bed and fall flat on my face with the phone beside me, turned off.
I turned around to face the ceiling, as I thought to myself, "Should I just confess and get it over with?" But the very next day, everything changed for me.
The next day, I walked into school as usual, but an anonymous user had posted that I disliked girls with slender builds, which wasn't the case at all! And my worst fear.. was her hearing about this rumour.
Which she did, because 6th and 7th grade are like 2 peas of a pod.
"Ah this is crazy! She even stopped responding!!" I texted her, deleted it an hour later, then texted her again and again.. finally I was blocked.
The day passed with me, absolutely furious about that anonymous user that spread this rumour.
But realisation hit me hard, her classmates, which also included her boyfriend, approached me and threatened me to make things worse if I didn't stop approaching her. That was how I discovered.. who spread that rumour.
Now I was determined to do what I was told to not do anymore, to approach her.
And how? That's the thing, I spent over a week pondering upon this, until I reached a conclusion.
My friend, I can talk to her through my friend, to justify myself and that those rumours were spread by her supposed "Boyfriend."
Though I did explain everything to her, it seemed clear as day that she wasn't convinced at all, but it was also a relief that because of some unknown reason, their relationship fell apart and they broke up just a few days later.
"Lucky!!" I said it out loud, my parents thought I was crazy, screaming that word randomly in my room.. but they were never going to find out about my secret romantic interest.
We began talking like usual, and the usual is me asking her to play 'Truth Or Dare.'
Most of the time, it was just Truths, because what can you even make a person do when they choose dare? There are limited options.
I wasn't sure at some point in my life that I was doing it right, but later on, I became sure that she was, in reality, talking to me, not just responding.
"Ah, my parents told me not to fall in love, but here I am."