Teenage Heartbreak

We may have just broken up, but things were getting better. I had high hopes, and I was positive that we would soon be back together. This was just a bump in the road.

I sat in the cafeteria of my high school, laptop in front of me, working on an essay, math, or geography, I don’t recall what, but I do remember a friend walking in with a worried look on his face. He sat down across from me and started to talk, but moments in, he asked me a question.

“Hey, does Ken* have a new girlfriend? Someone I know saw him walking around, holding hands and kissing some girl downtown.”

My heart did a flip, and not the cute kind. Panic raced through me and I didn’t reply. Instead, I texted one of mine and Ken’s mutual friends, hoping that she would deny the truth of this statement.

“I’m not going to lie to you. Yes, he does.” the text read.

A soft sob escaped my lips. A year together and he had moved on in three weeks? “Who is it? Do I know her?” my fingers dashed across the keyboard.

“Yes. It’s Lynn*.” 

“She’s just a friend, I swear. She doesn’t like me like that.”  I couldn’t even count the amount of times Ken had reassured me like this.

My heart dropped and exploded and tears poured out. A childhood friend of mine. The nicest girl anyone had ever met, but not anymore. 

Together, they had broken me.

But I put myself back together and moved on.

*names have been changed