my high school heartbreak
The story
2021. Everyone's locked up inside. Online classes and texts the only way i could spend any sort of time with my friends. So our social studies teacher decided to give us some homework. A group project. yuck.
I got assigned to a group of ppl i hadn't ever spoken to. Except for this one guy. He was this kid who'd joined our school in 5th grade and we'd spoken a couple of times. So we were talking about the project and soon drifted off to other things. We started texting each other every other day and things were fine. Then our school decided it was time to get kids back in their classrooms.
So after nearly half a year of texting i finally got to talk to him in person. Every now and then I'd look over to see what he was doing and well um. Turns out he was already looking at me. He tried to cover up for the fact that he was staring (and failed miserably) and somehow, it gave me butterflies .
That went on for a few weeks and he asked me if I liked anyone. And me being the idiot i am decided i was too scared to tell him bc i was so sure he didnt like me back and told him i liked his best friend (kmn). But thankfully he wasn't that stupid <3.
So just like that, we started dating. Just to give you a picture, he was tall, really cute, played basket ball and loved math (such a nerd). Our love language was basically staring at each other from across the classroom, and drawing infinities on our wrists (those meant more to me than hearts).
Our school was very conservative so holding hands under the desk was the craziest thing we could do. We never got to hug let alone kiss but holding his hand made me feel like i was flying. With most Indian parents, the only high school romance you could have was with your text books so we had to keep it a secret from them too.
Fast forward to valentine's day. Typical day except before leaving he told me to check my bag. I got home to find a pack of Hershey's kisses.
We used to lend each other books to read and slip letters between the pages. It was really cute :'>.
We were happy. I was thoroughly in love with this guy. It felt too good to be true.
And suddenly something broke. He became cold and distant. We didn't speak as much as we used to. I was worried sick and i didn't know how to help. When we finally sat down to have a talk he said it was family stuff that he couldn't talk to me about just yet, and i felt really guilty for not being understanding about his silence. But it had hurt a lot...
Few weeks later. It's sports day at school. He's talking to who i thought was my best friend ( more on that another time). He said he needed to talk so we went to a corner and he was nearly in tears. He started apologizing frantically. I assumed he was apologizing for not talking to me for so long...but it was something much worse.
He said he needed to breakup with me. NEEDED to.
In that moment, everything inside me went numb. I tried to say something but i choked on my own words. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry but there were too many people around. So i walked away.
I swore i wouldn't let myself cry there because i knew if i started i wouldn't stop. So i smiled and smiled and smiled. But I couldn't just leave like that now, could I?
It took everything in me to go back to him on the stairs. He asked me sit. So i asked him why he needed to break up with me and he said he wasn't able to focus on his studies. I was so naive I took his word for it. Only to find out 3 whole years later that the real reason was that it was too much for him. I'd been overwhelming this guy and hadn't even realized. I still don't know what I'd done to make him feel so pressurized....
Even after the break up I did the stupidest things. I hit a rebound with his friend and lied about it. He found out and of course he couldn't forgive me, I carried that guilt around for a year and a half only to realize that it didn't matter anymore. He was happy now. What more could i ask for? (sorry for making it so cheese but it is what it is...<3)

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this story is like super relatable because we've all been through those wild high school crushes. you nailed that feeling when you said, "our love language was basically staring at each other," because honestly, who hasn't been there? but come on, the whole breakup vibe felt a bit over the top. i mean, saying you can't focus on studies because of someone? feels more like an excuse to me. of course, things happen, and sometimes "it is what it is," but it's hard not to feel like there was more to it. reminds me of this one time when my high school crush said they had "family stuff" going on and then boom, we were done. life's got a funny way of teaching lessons, huh? anyway, i dig the way you kept it real and hopeful. keep your chin up, there's always something better around the corner! 🤞
Your story beautifully captures the innocence and intensity of first love. Thank you for sharing such a heartfelt journey.
wow, your story really hits deep, and i totally see where you're coming from. it's wild how these intense emotions can turn our world upside down, right? i mean, when you said, "it felt too good to be true," i felt that. relationships at that age can be so unpredictable. it seems like everything's going great, and then suddenly, things change without much explanation. and seriously, the whole staring across the classroom thing, that's like straight out of every high school rom-com, but it's reality too. i get how confusing it must be not knowing what went wrong. it makes you question everything, but it's all part of growing up and figuring things out, i guess 🤔. thanks for sharing such a raw and honest part of your journey.