Growing up, I fell in love with seeing Will Smith in his movies. I had always wished my life was like his, I mean, movies scenes and settings apart, he is handsome and seem to be the only male rose ladies see, uglies and beauties alike in this love garden called earth. Wait, did I just say earth is a love garden? Oops, that’s wrong, because I am beginning to think that another name for earth is sadness, disappointment and anger; just any other word asides happiness and fulfillment. I mean, how could the heart of a 14-year old be hit by two heart breaks already? I hate living for what it is!
These thoughts ran through my mind as I watched Evelyn and Joshua from my class’s window near my seat walking down the aisle toward the school vendor. She is just as beautiful as Mary, but her beauty was fast becoming my nightmare. I first met her during out common entrance examination two months earlier. She had lost her way into the school so I gladly offered her help; that was even before I saw her face. My shy self could not talk to her after I did and throughout our long trek to the school’s examination centre; I kept devising strategies in my mind to at least say hi, if just to see her face again, till eventually we got to the examination arena. She looked at me, tendered her sincere gratefulness and even offered a handshake. I froze; almost fainted. I saw my prayers getting answer. “I shook a beautiful girl!” was all my jubilating and pouding mind kept echoing. I felt so fulfilled. I guess that affected my examination result as I came out the best entrant that year. My name was noised about and I had planned to leverage on this feat to approach Evelyn; oh, she told me her name after the handshake and since then, that seemed like the only name on my mind.
On my first day resuming school, I was eagerly dedicated to searching for my first secondary school crush, Evelyn. As I walked under the hot sun, my heart kept mentioning her name. If you’d gotten a stethoscope, my heart sound would definitely be Eve-Lyn instead of Lub-dub. I was sad when I heard the bell marking the end of school hours having not found her. I was confused. “Did she get rejected? Is she alright? What happened?” I tried to reconcile with my drooping emotions but it seemed already dampened with irredeemable sadness so I took my bag and left for home sorrowfully. Along the road, I remembered my ordeal with Mary and tears were already forming in my eye. My small mind can’t still fathom why I can’t get whom I like. And then, I cried.
© Ben James
#ANSAFlashFictionContest
