“My daddy said, that the first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away.”- Nicholas Sparks
Our first love is the hardest to let go and the hardest to forget;
it’s like you’ll always carry it inside of you. People say that first love is
the love of your life and should never let it once you find it, but sometimes
life presents you with someone else. Some people are very fortunate to find
their true love in their first relationship, if they communicate and work on
the relationship every day, but there are others that no matter what you do it
doesn’t work out.
I didn’t consider my relationship with Diego as my first love when
I was in high school because I didn’t know what love was until I met my fiancé.
As a 15-year-old in high school I didn’t know the concept of love or its
characteristics, it was until I met Ricardo Heredia when I understood what love
was.
May
25, 2009
Days turned into weeks, my
painful humiliation turned into the last gossip around school; it had been 3 weeks
and I could still hear people whisper’s in the hallways. I would hear other’s student’s
comments, like poor
girl, how could Diego do that to her? Or, she should have
seen that coming, Diego is too good for her. I ignored the comments and
focused on my studies, the end of the year was approaching and I had no time
for hurt or it’s company.
Photography
Class
"Reyna..." Ms.
Jimenez called me. "Yes, miss." I quickly woke up from my thoughts.
"Reyna, you're truly exceptional with the camera, you should seriously
think about making a career in photography?" Ms. Jimenez, my photography
teacher told me. I smiled and said, "Thanks Miss, but photography is only
a pastime." I replied. "Yeah, Reyna, the miss is right, you're a
natural." my friend Melissa joined in the conversation. I continued to
work on my end of the term portfolio. I had managed to complete 15 photographs
and its captions, I just needed 5 more. At the start of each term, the miss
gave us a topic and our task was to capture the theme and make it our own and
by the end of the term we must create a portfolio with the work that represents
the topic. Our topic of the Spring Semester was Passion. I laid my photographs in the table,
"Reyna, have you finished?" Melissa came over to my table. "Um,
not yet, I need 5 more pictures." I showed her the progress that I had
made. "So deep." She said. "How about you?" I walked over
to her station. "Just need one more but I also need the
captions."
"Let's go walk around
school and see what we can find?" I said. "Yeah, sounds fun."
Melissa took the cameras from the closet. "Diego hasn't shown up to class,
do you think he dropped?" Melissa asked. Diego and I actually met in
photography club in our freshmen year, we loved taking pictures of each other
and would often do silly poses and faces which made photography class so much
fun. "I hope so..." I replied. While Melissa was taking shots at the
old bench, I glance over at Mr. Howard's class and saw Diego walking with
Alyssa. I tried not to let it bother me, so I turned around and focus my
attention to Melissa. "You still love him, huh?" she asked.
"No." I lied, the truth was that I still did, despite what he did to
me.
After 20 minutes of walking
around campus, Melissa and I walked back to the classroom, “Those are good photographs…”
I told her. “You think?” she asked and I simply gave her a smile. As we took our
first steps inside the class, we saw Diego flirting with Jasmine, “What a jerk!”
Melissa said. “It doesn’t bother me anymore.” And I walked away. “I’m going to
be in the dark room, developing.” I told Melissa. I could have dropped Photography to avoid
Diego but I didn’t want him to take another good thing away from me. And plus,
photography allowed me to express how I felt without saying it.
At least once a month, Ms.
Jimenez gave me the responsibility to clean her class and make sure our
materials used are place back where they belong. It was 4:45pm and everyone had
left except for Melissa and a few others. I cleaned the tables and swept the
floor. “Reyna, are you coming?” Melissa asked. “No, you go ahead, I have to
make sure everything is put into place.” I replied. “Okay, well see you
tomorrow.”
The class was practically
empty when Melissa left, “Make sure to put your things away.” I told two of my
classmates. I gathered the last of the lens that were left on the table and
placed them on shelf in the closet. As I got ready to leave, I heard a loud
noise from the dark room, I put down my bag and went to check what it was. I
heard the noise again, Was there someone
still in there? “Hello?” But there was no answer, maybe it was in my
imagination, later I heard some laugher. I leaned in to see if anyone was there
but it was dark, so I got a flashlight from the closet. I pointed the flash
light to a shirt, the same shirt that Diego was wearing, and next to shirt it
was Jasmine’s scandals. I dropped the flash light and rushed out the dark room.
I took my portfolio and my
bag from the chair, turned off the lights and locked the classroom. I knew that
they were still in there, and I didn’t care. I slowly walked towards my car,
and thought about how pathetic I look sobbed for someone who isn’t worth it. I
could feel the gentle fresh breeze in my face, as I walked, I admire the fresh
cut green grass and decided to sit down for a bit. With no one looking, I
covered my face and started to cry. After 5 minutes crying, I realized someone
approached me, “Hey, are you okay?” I looked up to see who had spoken to me.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I lied. “You sure, I swear that I heard you crying.” He said.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I stood up from the grass and walked away from the guy.
“Reyna.” I stopped walking and
turned to face him. “What happen?” he asked. “Don’t act like you haven’t
heard.” I replied rudely and kept walking. “I’m sorry…” Ricardo Heredia, the
co-captain of the soccer team, told me. As I kept walking, I realized that he
was following me, “Is there a problem?” I asked him angrily. “No… I was just
walking to my car. Diego really hurt you huh?” “What is that supposed to mean?”
I replied. “I mean that you aren’t like this, angry.” He said. “How do you know
that? You don’t know me.” I said.
“True, but I know that you’re
not that type of person. Reyna we’ve been going to the same schools since
elementary.” I suddenly stop and face him. “Why are you talking to me?” I
asked. “We never talked before.” I added. “There’s always a first time” he
smiled. Ricardo was well known around the school and I was shock that he was
talking to me; usually people like them don’t talk to us, smart people. “Let me
walk you to your car.” He offered. For an instant Ricardo took away my sadness
and replaced it with a smile. “Thanks, but won’t your girlfriend get mad.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I
reached for my car keys and open my car. “Thanks for walking me over.” I said.
“No problem… whenever you want someone to talk to, I’m here.” I looked at him.
“I hope I won’t have to, but thanks for the offer.” I got in the car.
“Ricardo!” “Um, I think someone is calling you.” It was Stephanie Rosales, his
girlfriend, she waiting for him by his car… “Well I have to go. Bye.”
That night, I decided to
write everything that had occurred in my journal from Diego to Ricardo; this
thing with Diego could not repeat itself so I decided to add something to my
journal entry.
I AM NOT LETTING ANY GUY OR
ANYONE DISTRACT ME FROM REACHING MY GOAL. I CANNOT FALL IN LOVE, IT ONLY
DISTRACTS ME AND GIVES ME PAIN AND I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT.
- 10:57PM
Since that particularly day
my life changed completely. Ricardo not only became a friend, but my best
friend and then eventually my boyfriend.
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