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Chemistry Class

The Story of My Unconventional Romance That Started in the Most Conventional of Places

By Halle WPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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This story starts with me, 17 years old, in my junior year of high school. At this point I have never once worried about a boy, or any relationship for that matter; school is the first thing on my mind when I wake up and when I go to sleep. I of course had friends (who even though are not my friends anymore, play a gargantuan role in the unfolding of this story) and they all happened to have Honors Chemistry during a different class period than me. So, naturally I went to visit them at the end of the school year during their class period when all of my AP teachers had finished what they were hired to do—which is teach until the exams, and then they were free. They had been talking about this boy who was a grade under us (this specific chemistry class was offered to both sophomores and juniors), and how they were pretty good acquaintances now. He was supposedly a smaller boy who was unbelievably hilarious, and one of the smartest people in his class.

Now we are to the very beginning of this narrative—the first time we met. I walked into the unfamiliar chemistry class, and there he was... the most innocent looking boy I've ever seen talking with my friends. I get very nervous around new people and brought forth all of the effort I could find in myself to seem nice and normal. They were right about his sense of comedy and his intelligence. This boy and I were about to be great friends. The five of us talked about old Nickelodeon shows, our dreadful AP exams, and joked about anything and everything for what felt like hours, but turned out to only be a 50 minute class period. To shorten the story a bit, we eventually got each other's social medias, and got put into the groupchat that started it all. I was away for a week during the summer, and texted constantly in this groupchat that my friends made and included the boy in. We had so much in common: our love for film, knowledge, and even just our senses of humor. Everything about us clicked. I was so excited to have a cool new best friend and nothing more. I was 100 percent sure I wasn't going to date until college and, unfortunately, that didn't change for a long time.

From the groupchat, we evolved to just messaging each other. I had a busy summer, and he didn't have a car, so we never spent time together in person, but that didn't stop us from sharing every detail about ourselves with each other. This was the strongest, most meaningful bond I had ever made, and we'd barely even seen each other. Then, he confessed. He confessed that he had major feelings for me, and wrote to me the way no one has ever spoken about me before. I think that was the moment I fell, but I wasn't ready. I let him down in the easiest way I could, and told him exactly that: I wasn't ready for any relationship, and we needed to spend more time together. Things got a bit weird for a few days, but we went right back to our routine of daily conversation.

Then school started back. It was excruciatingly awkward in person. I knew everything about this boy, yet I couldn't think of one thing to say to him. Because of my bashfulness those first weeks, he wrote me notes and left them for me to find in a shared classroom. Filled with short, sweet (sometimes comical) messages, these notes were the highlight of my day every single day. Then, something was off. One night, he seemed down, and I pressed him to tell me what it was. He recounted the night he made his brave confession, to a girl he barely knew, but couldn't stay away from, and how he didn't think he could be 'just friends.' I knew that I had to tell him I felt the same way, but I was so nervous... not to mention all of the hardships we were going to have to face once we started dating.

I've been waiting for this moment in the story to tell you about the clashing backgrounds of this boy and me. So, I was raised in a Southern, traditional Christian household. This boy was raised in a traditional Muslim household, and is expected to have an arranged marriage. Though we both now consider ourselves to be Agnostic, the dissonance between our family's expectations and our reality was overwhelming. Not only was this a problem, but I was moving to Dallas, TX in a year, which was six hours from where we lived. Thinking about these is what stopped me from telling him the way I felt, but after a good meltdown with my best friend in the Popeyes® drive-through, I decided to give in to my feelings.

The next day I told him my feelings—it was a bit cryptic, because I was still nervous, but the message managed to get across. Then, we were officially dating. The apprehension faded and we became exceedingly comfortable with each other. Our first real date was to see IT in theaters, and that afternoon remains one of my best memories; holding hands, my head on his shoulder, his head on my shoulder even... it was dreamy. I was elated (I still am.)

It's been a year now, and it's come time for me to move. My heart has been heavy all month, waiting for the day I have to part with my best friend. Each day since the day we met has been magnificent, and this unexpected relationship has cured my self-hatred, loneliness, and morbid seriousness.

We teach each other new things every day, whether it's about fried chicken, biriyani, making homemade jalebi or chocolate chip cookies; or something far more important, like how to love yourself, as well as others. He has brought me laughter, love, safety, and joy, and I am forever indebted to him. I hope that we continue together for many years. Though we still have to work around the hardships our families have put on us, and some hardships we have created ourselves, I know that we are infinite. I am so glad that I finally came around, because I never would have experienced this degree of happiness without him. I want to grow old with him, and I am hopeful that we will be a good example of what a healthy, loving relationship looks like as we age.

The time that I spend with him, even if part may have to be virtually, is always the most precious time. Here's to a year with the greatest friend I have ever made. We may be young, but I feel that our love and compassion is strong enough to be that of a couple celebrating their golden anniversary. This one is for you.

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About the Creator

Halle W

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