CHEET

Finn's POV I can clearly remember the first time I saw Caliana Roman. She was this cute little girl with freckles and a pigtail in the neighborhood we just moved to. She was everyone's Angel. She always insisted on being called Cali instead of her full name. But I was the only one who called her by her full name because I loved the way she looked more adorable when she was angry. At that tender age she stole my heart. I grew up with an alcoholic and abusive father who made us move from one place to the other to prevent his debtors from catching up with him. As a result, Cali was like a breath of fresh air into my life. We spent almost every day together for a few years. Those few years were the happiest years of my short life. Unintentionally, we started growing apart from 5th grade when we both made new friends and she became more distant since her parents didn't approve of our friendship. Something about me being the son of a drunkard and she is the daughter of one of the richest families in the country and the golden girl of the town. But a few years later, I realized my feelings were not going anywhere so I asked her to be my girlfriend to which she surprisingly accepted. But our romance was also short lived like our past friendship. Unknown to me, the Romans visited my father and paid him an amount to keep me away from their daughter. When I found out later, I was disgusted with how my own father could sell his son's friendship and love for a day's worth of booze. This only fueled my desire to be better than him and to work harder. Somewhere along the line, I realized my desire to prove myself was fueled by my feelings for Cali. My hard work finally paid off when I got accepted into my dream college and on my own terms. At that point I realized that my father was just dragging me down and got emancipated from him. I expected to feel guilty for leaving him on his own but instead all I felt was relief. I was relieved for the chance to plan a better future for myself. And that was my first step. Cali's POV Finn Black.... The name alone gives you an idea of the owner. Mysterious, cute, mischievous, and fun loving. All the attributes of a typical bad boy and how I secretly wished I could be. Our friendship gave me a chance to live through him during his adventures. I was therefore heartbroken when we slowly drifted apart. I always suspected my parents had something to do with it, but I never had the courage to raise the issue. I always connected with Finn more than my own family because I felt we had the same passion for life but alas our friendship was short lived. Afterwards, we only greeted each other on the rare occasions that we met. Through high school, he dated different girls which to my surprise made me a bit jealous even though I never saw him in that light until then. When I also dated a few boring boys who according to my parents were perfect for a Roman. Until out of the blue he asked me to be his girlfriend. At first, I thought it was a prank, but it was very real. We became a couple for a few beautiful years and that was when it happened. He just up and disappeared. After high school, I went to Princeton University and I later heard he went to NYU because of his outstanding performance both in academia and in football. The last I heard of him was that he was making it big. The news of his emancipation from his father hit our town (Siècle) like wildfire. As a result, no one had seen him in many years.......