Someone who makes me feel loved<3

Birthday -2

**26 August 2024**

I woke up to get ready for school but suddenly remembered it was a holiday.

“I got up for no reason,” I said to myself, sitting on the bed frustrated.

Since I couldn’t go back to sleep, I lay down and started scrolling through i********: reels. After a while, I saw a follow request.

“Maybe it's a senior,” I mumbled.

He had many mutuals with me, so I accepted the request and followed him back. Soon after, I saw that he had accepted my request too, and he had posted something on his story.

I *literally* dropped my phone when I saw him—it was **him**, the guy I had a crush on.

It was his birthday, and he was reposting his friends' stories. For a few minutes, I just stared at his pictures and videos. Then I finally texted him:

**“Happy birthday.”**

His name was *Sebastian.* I had found that out a few days earlier after a bit of i********: investigation. I discovered that he was only one year senior to me—in class 10—and he loved playing football. He also loved *Stranger Things,* which, by the way, is my absolute favorite. Like, *literally obsessed*.

I used to make eye contact with him often, but it wasn’t just ordinary eye contact—it was therapy. After everything I’d been through, seeing him at school healed me in ways I didn’t realize. He wasn’t just a crush anymore. I had *deeply* fallen in love with him. Seeing him felt like a warm ray of sunshine on a winter morning.

A few days later, I finally got a brilliant idea to text him—thanks to my English teacher. She told our class that since we’d be getting a lot of holidays in 10th grade, we would start some chapters early in 9th grade, and for that, we needed to purchase two books from the 10th-grade syllabus.

“Lia, Lia, Lia! Listen to me!” I called out, excited.

“Oh my god, Jules! Calm down. What happened?” Lia said.

“I finally got a good idea to text Sebastian. Mrs. Miller just gave me the perfect idea!”

“Regarding what?”

“Texting Sebastian!” I grinned.

“Wait—WTF—did you tell Mrs. Miller about him!?”

“No! LOL! Remember what she said in class today?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to ask him where to *buy* the book. He doesn’t even know you. He’ll be like ‘Why can’t you just buy it yourself?’ This is a *terrible* idea,” Lia said.

“You think I’m that crazy? That’s not my idea!”

“Then what is it? Spill!”

“Okay, so I’m going to ask Sebastian if I can *borrow* the book instead. That way, we’ll need to *meet* at school to exchange it… and that’s how we’ll start talking.”

“OMG! Bro, that’s actually a *really* good idea!” Lia hugged me.

“I *know*, right?! But the real problem is… when should I talk to him?”

“Duh, *today*, after school!” she said.

“Bro, nooo… I don’t have the courage to go up to him like that,” I said nervously.

“Jules, forget everything for today and *just go*. You have *three hours* to build up the courage!”

“Okay. Maybe you’re right. This *is* my chance. I’ll talk to him.”

I still remember how scared I was. I kept repeating in my head: *You’re going to talk to Sebastian.* I tried to build my courage throughout the day.

But maybe… God had other plans.

“Hey Lia, remember you said you’d give me the ticket for tomorrow’s event after school?” Nick asked. He was our classmate and like a brother to both of us.

“Oh shoot! I totally forgot. The ticket’s still with my brother. Can I give it to you tomorrow?” Lia said.

“But the event is tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay! Let’s go to my brother’s class now. Jules, I’m so sorry!”

“Okay, but let’s go quickly or we’ll miss our bus,” Nick said.

It took us ten minutes, but we finally reached the side where Sebastian’s bus always waited.

But it was too late.

Sebastian had already gotten on his bus.

“Oh my god, I’m *so* sorry, Jules. Because of me, you didn’t get to talk to him…” Lia said.

“It’s alright,” I told her. But deep down, I was mad—so mad. For the first time, I just wanted to cry. But I told myself: *Let bygones be bygones.*

“Hey… you know you *can* still talk to Sebastian,” Lia said.

“How? He already sat in his bus,” I replied sadly.

“You can text him about the book! That would be even better!”

“Oh my god… you’re right!” I smiled. “Okay, I’ll see you on Monday. Bye!” I waved as I got onto my bus.