Unopened Letter

I looked right into his eyes. We're like having our own staring down contest. Neither one of us is blinking. I managed to observe his facial features. He has brown wide eyes with long lashes, not so pointed nose, high cheekbones, and full lips. I can see through his eyes and see his soul. He looks like a sad guy. He's like hiding beneath this façade of bravery and confidence. Whenever I speak, he speaks. Whenever I move, he moves. He's so close yet so far away. I can't touch him, when I reach him, there's this wall that prevents me from doing so. I can feel his emotions, as I look through his eyes, there's this weird feeling I can sense. It's like a screaming helpless man trapped into his own space. I spaced out of my train of thoughts and imagination when I heard a knock on my bathroom door. "Gio? You alright there? It's been like 10 minutes, and you still haven't gotten out." Jessa asked, my 12 years old little sister. How long have I been here? "Yeah, I'm just washing my hands, that's all," I answered while opening the door. "I am just wondering if I can borrow your highlighters, I'm doing a project for my science class." She said looking at me waiting for my response. "Sure. Let me just grab it from the drawer." Reaching my drawer, I caught a glimpse of the folded envelope I am hiding from since I received it from my ex-girlfriend. It's probably been there for like 3 years approximately. Grabbing all of my highlighters as well as my pens, I gave them to her. Mumbling a quick 'Thank you', she left my room. I can say that my family doesn't belong to the poor nor the rich, we're like in the middle. We eat at least three to four times a day and my parents can somehow provide for my and my sister's needs. My Mom is a call center agent and my Dad is a Business owner. They met at college, being partners in a project then eventually fell in love. How cliche, right? In case you are wondering how I knew this, they tell us their life before they had children whenever they had a chance at family mealtime. Mom usually works at night, so she's always sleeping during the day. However, Dad works at our small bakery business throughout the day. So he goes back home at like seven in the evening at the same time as my Mom leaves for work. So they barely meet and talk. They mostly converse by phone. My sister and I are pretty close since both our parents are always busy with work. Who else gotta love each other, right? Although my Mom has no work on weekends, Dad has. We always convince him to just close our business on weekends so we can have family time, but he refused. He usually says 'We need to save money to be able to fully pay this house.' So how can we convince him more, right? I, Gio Andrews Rivera, am a junior high school student from Saint Louis College. I am 5'11, born on August 26th of 2002. So that makes me 19 years old. I have brown eyes and full lips. I love going to the gym, I can say I have a nice and healthy body. I grind at least 3 times a week. I also love arts, especially the arts of writing. I'm okay at school, I know it's quite odd for a guy but, I love learning and listening to what my teachers had to say. I just promised myself that I should follow my rules in high school life that I wrote like months after my break up with my ex, which are: •never fail a class •never ditch a class •be a consistent honor student •complete my attendance the whole year •participate in at least four to six organizations •never get detention •never get involved in any fights •be at the top of the class, if not then at least on the top three spots •don't fall in love again with a high school girl I know you're thinking it is impossible but, I promised myself that I will do my best to make my parents proud and my future bright. To be honest, I accomplish it ever since. I had my first relationship when I was 15 and it was pretty serious. Her name is Kayla. It's not like the puppy love we all go through. She all had my firsts, and I had hers. I loved her, she's cute, smart, understanding, and outgoing. We're together for almost a year. But it didn't end up well because of a few major reasons that broke my heart and made me swear to never fall in love again till I finish high school. I looked at the clock, it says 9 pm. I guess I lost track of time. Standing up, I made my way downstairs to grab a water bottle. Dad erupted from nowhere holding a bag of chips, "Gio, your Mom told me that she already sent you money to your account so buy groceries whenever you have the chance to, okay?" He said before shoving a few chips into his mouth. "Okay, Dad. I will go after school tomorrow." I answered before heading back upstairs. I heard him say 'okay' while munching chips on his mouth. I smiled as I open my door. Laying on my back on my bed, I stare at the ceiling. Will my parents be still proud of me even if I don't do good at school? Will they accept it if my report card is not the same as the way it is before? What if I loosen up a bit from their pressure? From my pressure? Will there be a difference? I wonder... A vibration from my phone startled me from my thoughts, I saw a message from an unknown number. ; Hey ; Uh, who is this? ; someone you don't know? ; stop playin' I got no time for that. ; okay okay! I'm just here to tell you that u r cute ;) ; uh, thanks? ; you're welcome baby;) see you tomorrow4 years ago... She caught my eye. She's also walking her dog, she rescued it from the street when it was still a puppy. It was a brown labrador kind of dog, so it was pretty big. I saw her on the other side of the road, getting dragged by her massive dog. I smiled a little. She's screaming and shouting her dog's name that I heard was Benji. "Benji! Stop! Benji! I swear to god, if you don't stop right now, I will not feed you for two weeks!" "Oh my goodness!" "Wait!" "Benji!" "Stop!" "Oh my god!" "Benji!" "Please, someone help me!" Getting off my bike, I ran towards her, I quickly grabbed the leash and that stopped her dog. The dog sniffed me but didn't barked, thank goodness. I'm a bit scared of large barking dogs. "Oh my God, thank you so so much," she said while panting and holding her chest. "No problem." I replied while smiling. She's pretty cute. She has brown hair and nice straight teeth. She's wearing a sweatshirt and leggings and damn, she's hot! "I'm Gio, by the way." I introduced my self still holding the dog's leash. "Kayla." what a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. "Here." Saying while giving her the leash. Thankfully her dog already calmed his ass off. He's currently laying on the concrete floor. "Wait, let me just grab my dog." I quickly grabbed Chocolate from the basket. "Her name is Chocolate." She smiled. "She's adorable!" saying as she pets her. "Mine's Benji. As you heard." Yeah, I think everyone in this neighborhood probably knew his name by now. I stood there and watch her find something in her pockets, her eyes widened. "My wallet is gone." "Your what?" "My wallet, it's gone. I have my ID, my cards, and my money there. Oh my God. Mom's gonna kill me." she exclaimed. "Don't freak out. We can find it." I told her to ease her. "I'm just going to bring Benji home then I will go back to where I came from to find it. In case you see it, my house is down there. I also have my contacts there so just call or text me." She stated. "Yeah, sure. It was nice meeting you... I guess?" I replied, slightly awkward. "Thanks for helping me." She said while grabbing Benji's collar. And then we parted ways. As I was biking on the sidewalk, I saw a shiny sparkling object. I quickly picked it up and it's a Disney wallet. I opened it and saw her ID. Kayla Jacobs. This must be hers. I quickly typed in her number and send her the assurance text. ; hey! I'm Gio and I already found your wallet. I have it now. I'll go to your house and maybe wait for me outside to grab it?" ; OMG. Thank you so much! You are a hero :) ; oh thanks! See you ;) I found her a couple of minutes later. I walked onto her porch and was greeted by a warm embrace. "Thank you so so so much!" She breathed into my neck. God, she smells so good. "No worries, I love to help." I answered patting her back. We soon released from each other and I gave her an awkward smile. "I got to go, I'm actually meeting my parents at a restaurant in 20 minutes so...yeah thank you." She stared at me and smiled. "Bye." ~~~~~~ After 15 minutes of walking, I finally arrived at my school. I spotted Josh, waiting for me. He's been my best friend since I can remember. He was talking to a girl from the other classroom beside ours. I was really glad that Josh and I were classmates again for three consecutive years. He has black hair and has the same height as me, we're like twins written by a different colored pen. People always thought we were twins, they said we almost looked-alike, and how we move or speak are almost similar as well. I guess because we spend time with each other that much that makes people think we're brothers or something. "Hey, Josh. Hey...Emy?" I said confused because I don't even remember the last time I spoke to this girl. "Eva." "Oh yeah, sorry." I said shyly. "We better get going, I'll just give it to you later. Thank you, Eva, see you later." Josh turned to me and says, "Dude, you really don't know how to flirt with a girl, don't you?" Josh laughed. "Bro, how many times do I have to tell you, I'm not looking for a girl at the moment." "Dude, she's gorgeous! If I don't have a girl, I would've dated her ages ago." He answered confidently. I looked at him and scoffed, "I don't find myself being with her. I mean, she's cute but, no." I stated honestly. We talked about random things while walking. We arrived at our classroom and seated at our usual seat by the sides. I noticed a paper folded inserted at my seat. I grabbed and opened it. 09123456789 (Globe) call me. What is it with me that I keep getting random weird messages and now...notes? I showed it to Josh who's sitting beside me and he laughed his ass off. "Dude, God gives you multiple signs to date already. Maybe he pities you." He grinned in a teasing manner while pretending to wipe his tears off. "Shut up." I say abruptly hoping he drops off the subject. But, I can still hear his laughter. I don't feel the urge to date anyone right now. I'm happy with the way I am now. I think I'm still afraid to fall in love again thinking that they will hurt me. Just like Kayla did. Ms. Rian enters the room and greeted all of us. She is my favorite teacher, everything she says just makes sense to me. I love listening to her. That is why this subject had my highest grade, specifically 98. I felt so proud of myself when I saw the grade I worked for. She started the lesson and I never in my life to get distracted in this class but someone caught my eye. I am seated on the right side beside the wall. I spotted a girl outside the room hesitating if she should go inside or not. "Excuse me Ms, there's a girl outside. I think she's in this class as well." I said after raising my hand at her. She walked to the door, heels clicking. She talked to the girl for a minute and then they both go inside. "Okay class, I have someone to introduce to all of you." she announced. "Her name is..." she was cut off by the girl. "Kayla-Anne Roberts." she continued. "But just call me Kayla. I hate my second name." I smiled. "I am a transferee student from Lorenzo High School. I am 18 years old and I love puzzles." Wow. She did catch my attention. Maybe we can be friends or something because I also love puzzles. She is beautiful. She wears a long sleeve and a skirt, long enough to reach her knees. She has black hair tied in a messy bun. This is why men fall in love with girls. I love women with a messy bun, they're looking so beautiful and classy. I think she's not wearing any makeup right now, and I love it. She doesn't need it. She has tanned skin and I think she stands 5'8. Exactly perfect for me. "Thank you Kayla, uh Josh can you move there, Kayla is going to sit there." She asked him pointing at the seat on the other side of the room. "Sure." He replied grabbing his bag. "You can sit now, sweetie." she gestured her hand towards the seat beside me. She started walking and I looked at Josh and he winked at me. Dude. I steal glances towards her. What is it with her that gets me distracted from a lesson I never got distracted before? She caught me glancing and smiled. Oh God...can someone teach me how to breathe? I felt embarrassed because I think she thinks I'm staring at her, or maybe I am? No! I'm just stealing glances. Or maybe she thinks I like her? Did I make her uncomfortable? What is happening to me? Josh! Dude help me! I think you like her. She's gorgeous. She looked at you. She's smiling. Wait, what? I shook my thoughts and I looked over her and she is smiling! I'm melting just by sitting next to her. She looked at me, "You're staring at me." she said in a calm tone. "Oh sorry...uh...I was actually looking...uh...at the birds outside." I stutter. She looked over her side, "The windows and curtains are closed." She said confused. "Oh yeah...right." not knowing what to answer, I turned to my desk and pretending to write something. Eventually, Ms. Rian bid goodbye but she excused me for a second. "Gio, I know you are a good and trustworthy student, that's why I put her beside you. Guide her to her subjects, okay?" she said as we got outside. "Yeah sure, Ms. Rian." I replied completely dumbfounded. I got back and sat again. Why is it so hot in here today? My classmates know I'm a talkative person and I admit it. I think I'm pretty close to everyone in this classroom but why is it like I can't speak at this specific moment? Mr. Ramon sent a student to our class to inform us that he can not make it today so he's going to meet us tomorrow. Today is going to be a long day. I glanced over her and she's on her phone scrolling. Should I talk to her? Not knowing what to do, I messaged Josh. ; Bro, should I talk to her? Ms. Rian assigned me to guide her. ; Idk bro, it's all up to you. I looked over his seat and I saw nothing but his bag. ; where are you? Looking confused. ; at the other building. ; and you didn't bother asking me if I wanted to join? ; let's just say...you're busy ogling miss Roberts right there. ; bro what ; good luck. I'll be back in an hour. ; bro wtf ; don't just ditch me ; maybe ask her out if she's down to hook up ; I'm never talking to you again Hey, are you ok? Ms. Rian told me to guide you to our subjects. Hey, I can show you around if you want. Gio, stop. Hey, do you want to go on a date? Hey, I'm Gio, single and ready to mingle. Are you single? Gio, I said stop. Hesitating to speak, I managed to initiate our conversation. "Hey, Kayla...uh...Ms. Rian assigned me to guide you...on our...you know, subjects. So if you have...uh...questions, I'm right here." I stuttered can't look directly into her eyes. "Really? I was shy to ask but I need to go the bathroom so maybe...uh...can you show me?" she asked awkwardly. "Sure. Follow me." I said getting up, with her following behind me. "What's your name?" I was startled when she asked me. "I'm Gio...Gio Rivera." I answered still a bit uncomfortable being with her. We walked and an uncomfortable silence surfaced us. "There it is. Do I have to...uh wait for you?" I asked not wanting to leave her after. "If you want to but I can walk back alone." she answered honestly. "Oh, it's a pleasure." I said smirking. She just smiled and went to the bathroom. After a few minutes, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me away and we ran. "Oh my goodness, I swear to god, I just saw the largest spider in my whole existence. I almost got a heart attack but managed to keep my mouth shut." she said catching her breath from running. "Okay but, inhale, exhale." I laugh. "That s**t ain't funny." she murmured. "Sorry sorry. So we okay now?" I asked trying to uplift the atmosphere. "But before we go back, can you help me find Ms. Angel? I need to submit this paper to her." She asked as she showed me a paper from her pocket. "Kiss me first." I said tapping my cheek. ~ Thank you so much for giving this story a go. This is my first time writing an actual book. I still have many things to learn so I just want to share this story with you. There will be grammatical errors as well as spelling. But, I will edit this soon. You can point it for me, I will gladly accept my mistakes. Also, the names, events, places, and numbers were all made up by me. So if it happen to be same with you, it's completely coincidental. Again, thank you so much!! rvin.