The following is a short story that I wrote in grade 9. It has been a while since I have shared some of my writing, and I just wanted to share something that I felt really proud of back then. I hope you enjoy, sorry it is a bit long. 🙂

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June. It was the last month of my senior year and then that would be it. I would finally graduate from high school. The sun was rising earlier and shining brighter and brighter each day. This morning, I woke up to the bright orange rays of the sun, with a tinge of dark red peeking through my blinds. The sky was filled with large, puffy clouds making it look like it was going to rain. However, the rain never did fall; it was just the skies’ way of saying “I’m awake, but I don’t want to be.”

“Chad! Wake up. You don’t want to be late for the bus,” yelled my dad.

I groggily got out of bed and went to brush my teeth. It was 6:45 and my alarm had already rang, but I dismissed it. My bus would be here in twenty minutes; I would be late. After brushing my teeth, I rushed back to my room to put on a freshly washed pair of dark brown pants and a light blue shirt with white stripes. I went back to the washroom to comb my hair and put some deodorant on. There, perfect. I glanced at the clock; it was now 6:54, I only had twelve minutes left to pack my lunch and walk to the bus stop. I knew this day would get off to a bad start by the way the sky was looking at me. I lumbered down the stairs with my heavy backpack in hand. I walked into the kitchen to find that my dad had already prepared my lunch bag. Finally something good was happening.

“Good morning, Chad! I made you lunch. Balogna sandwich, just the way you like it.”

“Thanks, Dad! I got to go catch the bus.”

“Wait, son. You didn’t take your medication”.

“I don’t have any time. I’ll take it when I get to school.”

“Alright. Have a great day. But don’t forget!”

Rapidly, I stuffed my lunch bag into my backpack, put on my black leather coat, sneakers and ran out the door. I couldn’t afford to miss the bus now. I glanced at my watch; 6:57, I had nine minutes to get there. I can make it. The bus stop was so close, yet so far away. It usually took me about ten minutes to walk there, but if I ran, surely I could get there in half the time.

The sky was now awake. The sun was up and shining its bright rays into my eyes, I wish I had worn sunglasses. The birds were chirping their happy morning song, which I found rather irritating. My neighbor was already out walking his dog early in the morning with a big smile on his face. Everybody seemed to be having a great morning that is everyone, except me.

What is that horrendous smell? Where is it coming from? I looked down in the grass and it was me. I accidently stepped in some dog poop and now it was stuck on my shoe. Great. Could this day get any worse? I had to find something to scrape it off. I can’t go to school smelling like this.

There it was, driving right in front of my eyes, the large yellow bus. I ran as fast as I could to catch it. I was almost there. My heart was beating faster the more I ran. Sweat was starting to drip down my shirt and my hands were getting clammy. Finally, I made it on time just before the bus closed its doors. I couldn’t believe it; I almost missed the bus.

“Good morning, Gus.”

“Morning. Now get a move on it!” he exclaimed back.

“Well somebody’s a little moody today.” I thought to myself.

I quickly walked to the back of the bus and found my seat. I looked out the window, and my mind drifted off to a girl named Laura. I couldn’t wait to get to school and see her. She is the best soulmate I could ever ask for. She really knows how to cheer me up on days like this. The words that she says just makes my day go wild. I remember when we first met back in the 9^th grade. It was our first day of school and I was heading to class. As I was walking, I accidently bumped into her and all her books fell to the ground. I immediately knelt down to help pick up her stuff. Her hair twirled in the air and her eyes sparkled. While we were picking up the books, we grabbed the same one and our eyes met. That was the moment I knew I was going to fall in love with her. Little did I know, she was new to the school and we were in the same class. So being the guy I was, I showed her around the school and we had lunch together later on that day. We were just friends at that time until it was the last day of school where I asked her out on a date.

As the years had gone by we spent more and more time with each other and shared special moments that I never imagined would happened. Every year we were in the same class until this year, where we were separated from each other. Every moment we had, we would spend it with one another. There was never a day where we wouldn’t see or talk to each other. If we ever got into a fight we resolved it, never leaving one mad at the other. We made a pact that we would always have unconditional love for one another, until the day we died. I couldn’t imagine what my life would be without her.

The bus was driving slower and slower as we were approaching the school. I turned my eyes outside the window to see if Laura was outside waiting for me like she always would. There has never been a single day this year that she wasn’t outside waiting. Even if it was really cold, she would have dealt with it, just for me. Today, however, she wasn’t there. If something went wrong she would have texted me, but not today. As I got off the bus, I started to wonder, “Did she wake up late and miss the bus like I almost did this morning?”

While I was entering the school, everyone was talking loudly in their little groups. But the moment I stepped in, people from my grade fell completely silent. They stopped what they were doing and had their eyes on me, even some of the teachers. I was the center of attention, but why? What’s going on? Why didn’t I know about it? Slowly, they went back to their pods and started whispering.

“That’s Chad. The guy that got dumped by that girl Laura.” I heard a guy whisper.

What is that supposed to mean? We’re still together… aren’t we? As I kept walking deeper into the hallway, more people kept noticing me, stopped talking and laid their eyes on me. I was still the center of attention. I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on and where Laura was. When I reached the lockers, they were all empty, except mine. There was a sticky note waiting for me. “Meet me in Clarkson’s room at lunch. Laura.”

Why would she not see me in the morning and leave me a note instead? I didn’t understand. I crumpled the message and stuffed it in my pocket. I tried to open my locker but stumbled the first time. I couldn’t help but think about the note and what the guy said. “The guy that got dumped by Laura.” The thought echoed in my head. I grabbed my chemistry binder and started heading to class. People kept giving me looks as I passed them; everywhere I went, I was turning heads. If only Laura and I still had classes together, I could figure out what was going on.

The moment I stepped into class everyone fell silent like they did when I walked into the school. I couldn’t help but notice everyone’s eyes were trained on me. Was my hair okay? Are they looking at my shirt? Do my shoes smell from the dog poop from this morning? Why does everyone keep looking at me? What’s wrong with me? Just like what happened in the hallways, my classmates slowly went back to their conversations whispering to each other quietly.

“Dude. What happened to you and Laura? I heard you guys broke up,” exclaimed my best friend, John, as he came into class.

“What? We didn’t break up. I don’t know what’s going on between us.”

“So the rumors aren’t true? You guys are still together?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see her this morning, but she left a note on my locker.”

“What did it say?”

“To meet her in Clarkson’s room at lunch.”

“Not even a, ‘Love Laura’? WOW. Maybe you guys are breaking up.” John smirked. “I’m just kidding.”

Buzz… The bell rang and class started. I couldn’t pay attention to what Mr. Peterson, my chemistry teacher, was saying. All I could think of was Laura. Are we still together? Or are we not? Is that why everyone kept staring at me? Just because they heard rumors of Laura and I breaking up. Or did we actually break up and I wasn’t told about it? I don’t know what’s going on anymore.

“Chad. Wake up. Class is over,” whispered John. “Good luck with Laura. Later dude.” He smiled and walked away.

I got up from my desk and started heading out the door until Mr. Peterson stopped me.

“Didn’t get enough sleep last night?” he asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I sort of slept in this morning and almost missed the bus.”

“Well, make sure you get some sleep tonight and don’t forget about that test tomorrow. If there’s anything bothering you, feel free to come talk to me, Okay?”

“Sure. Thanks.” I replied and walked out the door.

One more class left until lunch and then I can finally see Laura and figure out what’s going on. If only I could find her during this quick break. I started heading to math class and then I saw her. She was walking in the other direction and held hands with some other guy. He looked familiar but I couldn’t tell who it was. I was furious. I couldn’t believe this is happening to me. I ducked down low behind the people walking by and walked away as fast as I could. I couldn’t have her see me now!

I strolled into math class and waited until it was time for lunch. I didn’t learn anything. All I heard were blurry math terms and people screaming at me in my head. “Sixty-seven divided by thirty-three.” “You don’t deserve to live.” My schizophrenia was starting to take place. “Geometric sequences.” “You have a big head.” I couldn’t handle all the people talking to me at once. All the words I was hearing were making me dizzy. What’s going on? Where am I? I have to shake my head out of this mess. I needed to take my medication that I forgot this morning.

BUZZ! Class was coming to an end. I could finally go see Laura and figure out what’s going on. Time to go to Clarkson’s room. Unfortunately, his classroom was on the other side of the school. It was going to take me a while to walk through these long hallways and dodge all the people walking towards me. Fortunately, people weren’t staring at me wherever I was going anymore. It was so awkward having people watch my every move. I still don’t know why that happened, but maybe I’ll find out from Laura.

Here I was, in front of Mr. Clarkson’s classroom. It seemed so weird standing in front of his room and going inside to see Laura. It was like I’m standing outside of her house, taking her out on our first date. I took a deep breath and walked through the door. There she was, sitting on a desk waiting for me, but she wasn’t the only one there. My best friend John was there too, kissing, who I used to call my girlfriend, Laura.

“Chad. This isn’t what you think it looks like,” explained Laura. “Okay. Maybe it is.”

I just stood there staring in disbelief. I was speechless; I didn’t know how to react. It was like the world is collapsing on top of me.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” John said as he was heading out the door.

After he left, I was still in shock. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, so I didn’t know how to start talking to her. Luckily, Laura started walking towards me and put her hands on my shoulders and around my neck. Like she did when we first danced together back in grade 10. I would then put my hands on her hips and we would gaze into each other’s eyes. That was the first time we ever kissed. But this moment wasn’t the same, it was the opposite of what had happened that day.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we should see each other anymore.” she started saying, “You are such an amazing person, but you deserve someone… better than me.”

Tears started rolling down my cheeks like they did at my Aunt Lucy’s funeral. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I never thought that we would ever break up. I always believed that we would get married and have kids. All these years I’ve been with her, sharing our greatest moments with each other, and this was how it was going to end?

“Thanks for being there for me all those rough times. I hope we can still be friends,” whispered Laura while gently wiping the tears off my face.

“I’ll see you around.” and with that, she walked out of the door like nothing had happened.

I felt a mix of emotions pouring in, anger, fear, sadness, embarrassment. I was feeling them all at the same time, like a wave crashing over me. I couldn’t go back to school. I couldn’t face the people who knew this was going to happen before I did. I can’t believe Laura never told me this before the entire school knew. She was such a horrible person. We couldn’t ever be friends anymore, not after how she betrayed me for my best friend. John, he didn’t even tell me all this was happening, and we were supposed to be best buddies. Nothing could make me feel better after what had just happened.

I decided to take the city bus home and call it a day. I couldn’t handle going to class to face all the people. I walked out of Mr. Clarkson’s room and into the hallway where there was hardly anybody left. Luckily, it was lunch time and everyone was in the cafeteria. I didn’t bother going back to my locker to grab my stuff to study for tomorrow’s test. After what had happened today, I could never go back to school again. I would never graduate from high school or go to college to pursue my dreams of becoming an engineer. After today, there would no longer be a Chad Dylan Ferguson.