The Girl and The Boy

Once upon a time there was a shy, quiet girl who spent her breaks at school reading Twilight at her seat in the front row. She made two friends with whom she mostly discussed homework and occasionally gossip about a completely oblivious (back then that is) crush. The girl was happy in her own little world... but, anything ranging from the mention of a hangout, to simply eating lunch with her classmates at school terrified her. She was awkward, afraid, utterly self-conscious.

She was a loner; a wallflower. She was an introvert.

Then, one midsummer night, a boy walked into her life. She both knew him and did not - he was one of the many people in her class with a familiar face, a sort-of friend. He was as different from her as ice to a flame; whereas she lived in the quiet, dark shadows, he thrived in the midst of a chaotic flame. That night she found out he was leaving.

How could she not know?? She had spent five years in the same class, in the same after-school tuition, studied under the same teachers, had the same friends! Tonight he was leaving for a strange, new place, moreover he was the first of the new graduates to leave and even though he had told her, invited to his farewell party even, she misunderstood and did not go. Guilt clawed at her heart like knives. And so, she did the unthinkable: she knocked him on Facebook, and she apologized.

Thus, began the tale of a million texts, of learning how to communicate, how to respond, how to have fun, and to live. With each passing day that she talked to the boy, she felt herself change, felt her confidence rise, and soon she began to step out of her comfort zone. The boy, annoying as he was, changed her in a way she would remember for as long as she lived.

Two years later, their friendship is still going strong. The girl still loves her books, but today she loves her friends (and food) even more (almost). The boy has matured from his younger self and has become less like a tsunami and more like a human. That in itself is progress.

No matter who you are, there's always someone out there who will pull you out of the shadows. You'll see ;)