text: Sammie Harris moved from her home in Georgia to her new home in Cary, North Carolina, due to a multitude of reasons she would rather forget. Moves often meant that she would have to attend a new school, which is why Sammie found herself attending Cary High School for her senior year. Being the new girl in school was nothing new for her, so she didn't even try to make any friends. To Sammie, the move was only temporary. She thought there was no sense in making friends if she wouldn't even attend the school for a full year. Three months into the school year, Sammie started to lose all hope of a nice life and couldn't take it anymore. She broke down into tears in the locker room and slid down her locker once the second late bell rang. Everyone was in his or her first period class at that point...well, almost everyone. Austin Vincent, the school's apparent most popular guy because of his features and kindness, happened to forget something in his locker. When he went down to get it, he heard the faint sound of someone crying. Austin I grabbed a pass and left the room, headed to my locker. As I walked down the stairs to the locker room, I whistled a tune and absentmindedly hit the pass against my leg. For whatever reason, my brain kept thinking Popeye the Sailor Man! over and over . Just as I got halfway through the locker room, I heard a sound. I stopped in my tracks and listened, confused. The sound came again a second later, and I recognized it as a sob. Another sob echoed throughout the room, sounding like it was just around the corner from where I stood. I quietly rounded the corner and spotted a girl scrunched up against a locker, her knees brought up to her head, her arms hiding her face. Her shoulders lifted as she took in a deep breath and nodded, then wiped away her tears and stared up at the ceiling. Transfixed, I tiptoed closer and took a glance at her face. She was beautiful. Her reddish orange hair was like my favorite cinnamon candy, styled in waves that rested on her shoulders as it cascaded down her back. Some of it was tucked behind her ears, a pencil holding the right strands in place. Her eyes were pale blue, much like a sky that is unsure if it wants to release rain or not, and her lips were sparkly and light red. Without warning, she looked in my direction, her expression that of someone who was extremely tired. Her eyes that were once a pale blue turned a stormy gray as she held my gaze. Well this is awkward, I thought to myself. I smiled, then walked over to her and stopped right in front of her feet. An inch closer and our feet would touch. She didn't say anything, just held my gaze. Her neck was tilted so that she could look up at me, which must've been uncomfortable, so I decided to kneel down and sit beside her. Silence passed over us, neither of us seeming to want to break it. Fudge it, I thought. I turned to her and met her gaze once more. With a smile I said, "Hey! I'm Austin. Welcome to our school." I didn't want to seem like I was all up in her business, so I decided not to ask her why she was crying, yet. I could tell that she was trying to regain her composure when she tried to smile back at me and failed. She cleared her throat and replied with a quiet, "Nice to meet you. I'm Sammie." My smile widened as I realized I knew who she was. I nodded excitedly and told her my thoughts. Her face contorted into a confused look and her posture changed slightly, like she was slightly freaked out. She's so adorable! Wait... what? She scooted over a little and looked down, probably in attempt to be subtle, but I caught it. My face fell. She must be scared of me, I thought. I thought what I said over, and then realized how weird it may have sounded. "I-I mean I know your name already because you're in some of my classes." I've always noticed you, I wanted to say. I just never spoke to you. She nodded and the silence returned. Not wanting to seem like a creep, I tried to refrain from staring at her, but it was honestly a struggle because she was just so beautiful, but for both of our sakes, I managed. Who knows how long later, Sammie turned to me and let out a sigh. She sat up straight and let her head fall against the locker. Without looking at me, she asked, "You probably want to know why I was crying don't you?" I gaped and turned to face her. Her question caught me off guard and truthfully, I wasn’t so sure if I should answer honestly. Of course, I wanted to know why she was crying, but I also didn't want to pry. "You don't have to deny it. I know you want to know. Why not just admit it?" I looked over at her in an attempt to make eye contact to see if she was joking, but she was facing forward. I ran a hand through my hair and responded with a sheepish, "I didn't want to pry but... yes. I do want to know." She just nodded her head and started off with her story. "I am not happy with my life--at all. I have zero hope left for doing anything with my life." My eyes widened as I processed her stunning information. I opened my mouth to speak, but she quickly added, "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill myself or anything. I'm just not happy." I could swear that she muttered, "But it definitely would make life easier if I did", but I decided to pretend like I didn't hear her. She shifted and dropped her legs so that they were sprawled out straight in front of her. "First off, my older sister died because some drunken idiot hit her with his car. She was the closest thing I had to family and she had so much to live for, but her life was taken away faster than a blink. My mom and dad divorced when I was like two years old and my dad got custody, so I barely know my mother. She moves around way too much for me to keep up. It seriously sucks, especially since my older brother lives with her. Well, with my grandma, but he lived with my mother at first. My dad is a bum. He is good for nothing. The only reason I have anything going for me in life is because someone else takes care of his money and I worked multiple jobs in the summer since I was 10. I have a lot saved up, but I'm hoping to only use it as pocket cash and get a full scholarship for college." It was a lot to take in, and how bluntly she explained everything was terrifying. I wanted to intervene and say something, but for some reason, I felt the need to stay quiet and let her speak. She sighed and brought her knees up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs. "I only stay with him because if I run away I can be taken back to him since I am not yet 18 years old. Although, the police probably wouldn't bother trying to look for me since I am 17 and my birthday is in five months." She turned and looked at me. "I'm just trying to wait until I'm 18. I want to finish school and get the flip out of here." I had been listening intently, but in this moment, I could feel my eyebrows rise. "Flip?" She made a face at me and muttered, "Yes, flip. I don't curse. Saying fudge is overrated so I say flip." I laughed and smiled at her with a toothy grin. She just rolled her eyes and continued. "My dad is a hopeless alcoholic and my step mom is a disgusting bimbo who uses him for sex and money. She has no motherly instinct whatsoever, so I think it's good that she has never had kids. If they had one together, I would lose my mind. And my dad is always putting me down, making me feel insignificant. Plus, we're always moving around because of his job." She shook her head as tears of what I could only assume to be frustration fell down her face in rivulets. "How the hell am I supposed to make myself significant if we move faster than I can even think of doing anything significant?" she cried in exasperation. Her hands lifted and she angrily wiped at her eyes to remove her tears. "He tries to hit me, but he's an uncoordinated drunk so he never actually touches me. That doesn't stop him from trying most of the time though." My eyes widened in surprise at the way she was explaining things. She was saying things so nonchalantly, as if a father trying to abuse his daughter was a normal thing for her. I suppose it is, I thought sadly. "Then there's this hell," she said, motioning around her. "School. A place where I can escape my dad and stepmother, only to be bored out of my mind by schoolwork and irritated by people that look at me like I'm an alien." I opened my mouth to say something, but she gave me a pointed look that clearly screamed 'shut the heck up.' "School, the place where people pull you into false relationships and friendships because too many people have raging hormones. Like seriously, hormones are freaking raging here!" This earned her a chuckle from me. She glanced at me and shot me a small smile, the first genuine one I had ever seen her make. It was so nice to see. I almost wished I had a camera to capture the moment. A beat passed. She stood up and wiped dust off of the seat of her pants and held out her hands to help me up. I placed my hands in hers and she yanked me up. I was not expecting that strength from her, and my face must've shown my surprise because she rolled her eyes at me as she picked up her backpack and swung it over her shoulder. She started walking away and yelled over her shoulder, "I gotta go to class and I'm sure you do too. Thanks for listening." With that, she threw up a peace sign and ran to her class, leaving no room for me to speak. ~~ We began to hang out more after that day, mainly because I hunted her down and started to greet her in the hallways and sit with her at lunch. I even went as far as to follow her to the library whenever she skipped lunch or had work to do. Of course, she never told me anything more about her family or her past, but I respected that. Sammie wanted to let her past go, clear her mind of it, even if only temporarily. I understood that. People have various ways of achieving temporary highs and keeping things out of their minds temporarily. We were seen together almost all the time at school. People started to notice Sammie, which freaked her out a little, but she couldn't get me to leave her alone, so she eventually stopped trying and gave in to what I like to call my “irresistible” charm. She just liked to call me annoying, but I never minded. Now she was seen as the cool, calm and collected, hilarious girl who hung out with me. Eventually, she became best known for her humor and silliness. She wasn't just the girl who hung out with me all the time, but the girl with her own personality that people liked. It was really amazing to see her feel more comfortable and happy in school, especially since it meant I got to see her smile more. January rolled around, and so did her eighteenth birthday. She told me that it was the happiest day of her life, which made me happy that I went through so much to plan it. I had thrown her a small party at my house and took her to the movies to see Dirty Grandpa. I had even bought her a huge easel set with paints, considering how she was quite the artist. I suggested that it be kept at my house, one because I didn't want anyone at her house to mess with it and secondly because I wanted an excuse for her to come over more often. Four months after her birthday, we graduated. After graduation, I went home from school and celebrated with my family, but my mind was elsewhere. Of course, it was on Sammie. I wanted to celebrate with her. After my mother stopped bombarding me with kisses and my family let me loose, I ran to my room and called Sammie, but the automated voice told me that her number was disconnected. That's weird, I thought to myself. Maybe I called the wrong number. I tried again four times, but each time I got the same result. I was so desperate to reach her, especially because I had begun to get scared for her. I was so scared in fact that, despite her warnings to never call her house, I called her house. No one answered. My fear grew. I hadn't seen her since she got her diploma, which was a few hours ago. I quickly changed my clothes (I hadn't been able to get out of my graduation outfit because my mother insisted on taking fifty thousand pictures) and started to leave my room and head over to her house, when I bumped into her easel. The protective cover fell off and revealed a painting of the two of us laughing while sitting on the roof of my house. I smiled. The picture was taken on her birthday. I had taken the picture with my camera and it was by far my favorite one of us together. Somehow, the picture was the only one that I really felt captured her at her happiest moment and I at mine. I stared at the painting, mesmerized by her skills. Sam hadn't told me what college she was going to, but I knew she got a full scholarship to study fine arts at multiple colleges, and I could definitely see why. The painting looked like it had taken a lot of time and effort and I loved every bit of it. It was amazing how much Sammie could accomplish. I lifted the painting to see if she drew anything new, but I was surprised to see a note. I had given her a key to my house so she could slip in whenever she felt the need to, so that explained why there was a note, but she would've had no time to do it unless she wrote it sometime earlier today. With a shrug, I began reading the note: Austin- I'm leaving. In fact, you're probably reading this while I'm on my way out of here. Thank you so much for being kind to me that day in September. I will never forget it. You're the reason I feel like I can keep moving on with my life. I never thought I would amount to anything, but you showed me that I could do whatever I wanted. I never thought I could do anything with my art, but I got a full scholarship! Isn't that crazy? Thank you so much for everything. Really, I do appreciate it. I'm going to miss you a lot. Hell, I miss you even as I write this note while you sleep just inches away from me on your bed. You were also the first person to show me what love felt like, so thank you. I know we never dated or anything and I have no idea if you feel the same way, but I decided I should tell you anyway. I'm sorry for not personally saying goodbye to you, but I... I just couldn't do it. It'd be too hard. Just know that I really do love and appreciate you. I hope you understand. Maybe we'll meet again later on in life. Maybe I'll really amount to something like you said and you can prove me wrong. Keep following your dream of being a famous guitarist with your band, I'm sure you guys will be even more popular than you are now and go down as one of the best boy bands in history. With love and joy, -Your best friend (and hopefully first love) Sammie. By the time Austin finished reading the note, he was full on sobbing. Because nothing hurt more than losing his best friend, the girl he had fallen in love with his senior year of high school. Some would even call it love at first sight.