Sean met the love of his life at eleven years old. She was in his sixth grade English class and always spoke softly when the teacher called on her to answer. She wore flower-printed dresses no matter the time of year and always wore her long brown hair up in a ponytail. During recess she often spent her time digging for worms or collecting caterpillars to scare the girls and boys with. Sean was so sure he was in love, despite the fact he didn't really understand it.
When the sixth grade dance had rolled around he had asked Rosie (a very suitable name for her) to go with him. She smiled and nodded her head, proceeding to ask if he wants to spend recess digging for worms. He eagerly agrees.
By that Saturday, Sean had found an old pair of khaki pants (that were still too big, but he made it work) and a nice polo shirt that used to be his brother's.
He went to the dance and she never showed up.
Not only was it his first "love" but his first heartbreak as well.
-
At thirteen, Sean had moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan, because of the foster care system he had been put in a year prior. Sean was put under the care of a woman named Medda.
Sean liked Medda, she was nicer than anyone he had ever stayed with. Of course, a downside was she had already adopted two kids. A boy named Jack, who was the twelve (a year younger than Spot) and a girl named Caroline (nicknamed Smalls) who was only ten.
He fell in love again.
Her name was Sarah Jacobs and she lived two houses down from Sean. Jack was best friends with her younger brother, meaning the Jacobs family were often invited to dinner and vice versa.
Sarah Jacobs was a brown haired girl who had braces and an obsession with One Direction who called Sean "Spot" because of all his freckles. Sarah often rode her bike past his house at the same time every day and she always waved, they never talked. Sean often grew flustered whenever Sarah actually tried to talk to him and couldn't get more than two words out. Eventually, the more she came around the more Sean grew used to her and he could actually be himself.
Spot remembers the exact moment he fell in love Sarah.
They had been saving up there money by mowing people's lawns, dog-walking, baby-sitting, doing household chores etc...until they finally saved enough for the arcade. The local arcade had a few old games and few new ones, they had crappy prizes but at the time they seemed like the best things ever. There was one jump rope game that Sarah and Sean constantly tried to beat, although they never could. One day, however; they gathered enough tickets to afford the small stuffed unicorns they wanted.
"We should get something official," Sarah had told him.
"What?" Spot asked her, confused.
"Like something matching," Sarah says, "You know, like best friend necklaces or something..."
Spot grinned widely, "Okay!"
Sarah picked out two mood rings for the pair and Spot will never forget the smile on her face when she put his on and he put on hers.
-
At fourteen, Spot was still in love Sarah. At least, that's what he told himself.
In freshman year, there was a boy who called himself "Elmer" in his Biology class. They were lab partners and every time Spot made Elmer giggle his heart would beat a little too fast and his stomach would feel weird.
He had never felt this with Sarah.
He wished he had an answer for what he was feeling.
That year, when Spot turned fifteen Medda gave him a laptop. He had been asking for one, it was easier to do school work that way, rather than going in earlier to make it to the library to finish everything. Spot was ecstatic when Medda gave it to him, he could find all the answers he was looking for.
