2/23

February, 23

          "Val!" I hear my friend's voice behind me. She was running to me with her bag still open then she suddenly trips. I turn around and see her, scrambling to regain her composure. "Hey Ami", I say to her with a smile as I rush to her side. Out of her bag falls a notebook, the notebook had little drawings all over the cover. I reach out to grab it for her, but before I can reach it, she grabs it in a hurry. Ami laughs and says "Don't worry about that one, just an extra journal I use as a sketchbook". I was slightly confused of the significance, but the thought quickly faded as we both heard the bell ring. We both looked at each other and gasped. Ami zipped her bag up as she stood. As soon as she got up I grabbed her  hand and started running towards the school's front doors. Ami's hand, it was surprisingly soft, almost as if they were fake. The only things on my mind on that moment was getting to school and Ami.

"Valeria Marino?" I hear my loud teacher call out from down the hall as her door is the only one still open in the entire wing. Me and Ami are still late to class. "Valeria Marino?" she repeats, we pick up the pace. "Alright I guess she's missing-" Ami and I run into the classroom as I call out "I'm here Ms. Clarke". She lowers her glasses, looks us both up and down. I realize how the image of me and Ami running into class late, holding hands might look, so I immediately drop Ami's hand and I can feel my face reddening. "I'm sorry ma'am", I tell Ms.Clarke as I sit down in my assigned seat along the wall. My head is blank until I hear "Amiyra Nadya", I look up to see Her next to the window . She raises her hand to acknowledge herself, with the light catching her beautifully. I sit and admire her for a moment, she looked perfect. I stop myself and think. Was I really just admiring my best friend and thinking about how beautiful she was? I can barely even hear Ms.Clarke anymore, "Good morning students, today's February 23rd". I look down at my desk and begin zoning out.

The only thing I was able to think of the whole class period was her. Best friends think about each other a lot right? This is normal, or at least I think it is. The bell serenaded the students, telling them to go to the next class. I pack up quickly and go to Ami on the other side of the room. I go up to her and give her a hug, I don't know what came over me, I usually don't do it this late in the day without reason but I was able to cough up an excuse. When she asked what it was for I was able to tell her since we weren't able to do that in the morning. I notice she's a lot more red than usual, "Hey Am, are you feeling alright? Your face is flushed". She was washed with a lovely rose, even her unnatural complexion was beautiful. She turned her face slightly, smiled, and said "Of course I'm fine! If anything Better I'm than usual". After that we walked to our next class together, as we were walking I realized, she's in love with some one.

We parted ways as our classrooms were across the hall from each other. As I felt the jealousy setting in knowing she was in love with someone I connected everything. I was fawning over her continuously, admiring her beauty, jealous at the thought she was in love with someone. I was in love too. But I was in love with her. I decided to try to focus on the math that I was supposed to be doing instead of Ami, but I could only think of her. This was supposed to be standard algebra but there was only one value I could see. The answer to every equation was Ami in this moment. She was the only thing I could think about I felt my face grow hot thinking about her. It slowly began to hurt though, it hurt that I knew she had a crush on someone. It could've been Johannes for all I know. Johannes is the star football player, basically has all the girls wrapped around his finger. Maybe even worse, Paulo Marino, Marino as in my brother. Ami's heart would be crush when she finds out he's gay. He practically came oout much earlier though when he told me about him and one of his "gym bros", turns out him and Johannes actually have a thing going on between each other. But still, how could I ever compete with that, I'm just a regular girl, nothing special, not "drop dead gorgeous", I'm not head of the cheer team. I made a promise to myself that I'd find out who her crush was so she wouldn't get her heart broken and I knew exactly where I'd start.

*Bzzt* I looked around to make sure it was actually my phone, but no one picked theirs up. I reached for my bag and took my phone out of the front pocket. 'Hey Val!! I'll meet you outside your classroom once class is over'. Normally I'd just ignore it, but Ami was the one who sent it. My heart fluttered with excitement and anticipation for the end of class. Although the minutes feel like hours, I hear the bell ring and I rush to meet Ami. I wait inside to see her and as soon as I see a glimpse of her a run out of the class and tackle her.

We walk out the building together, like we were the only people there. Me and Ami were laying in the courtyard. "Hey Ami, what do you do with that sketch book?" I ask her, hoping to get an answer for who her crush was. "Oh, nothing much, it's mostly drawing of the people I love most, you can look if you want". I can tell my eyes lit up, because Ami saw me and let out a small laugh as she went to grab her journal. She placed it in my hand and watched me open it. There were gorgeous, detailed, pictures of her parents, her little brother, and then I saw it.

Me, there were the best pictures of me I've ever seen surrounded by hearts, things I've said and given to her. "I love you Val, I always have and always will". I looked up at her, she was looking down at the book, almost sadly. I've never been good with words, so all I could do was get up from in front of her. So I put the book down, got up, and stood next to her. I took a deep breath got back down on the ground next to her and she looked up at my face again. I finally found to words I was looking for. I took her by the hand, kissed her on the cheek and was able to tell her–
"I love you too"
I looked back up at her and told her "I've loved you for a long time and didn't even recognize it myself long before this. You've always been the reason I couldn't find love on my own, because it already found me". In my own little monologue I didn't even notice Ami started crying. I ask her in a panic "Oh my god I'm so sorry, did I say something wrong?", she wipes her tears and replies, "No, you said everything right, everything I needed to hear. Thank you, I love you so much!" I turned to Ami and replied "Always, I love you so much more than you know". With still interlocked hands, she leans on my shoulder. Closing my eyes in relaxation, I start realizing how I finally feel complete with her next to me. We stay in the same place, almost if time froze. The wind in the trees, the warmth of the sun, and finally, I knew I was in really in love with Ami, my best friend to my lover. I wouldn't trade these moments for anything else in the world.