Love Bug

Sam and Emma met in third grade and they knew immediately that they would be friends for a long time. They played together at recess and talked about how mean that school bully is in their free time. Sure enough Sam caught a little third grade love bug for Emma. It didn't take long for Emma to find out though. Sam was talking to his friend Ty about who he liked. Little did Sam know Emma could hear the whole conversation, and even if she wasn't there to hear it, Ty told her right after anyway. Emma didn't say anything about it and honestly didn't know how to feel, it was third grade after all. So Sam and Emma continued to be friends, just friends, after that. As the years went on, Emma started to catch that same third grade love bug every once in awhile. She didn't want to like him and she felt like nothing would ever happen between them, so she pushed those feelings down until she convinced herself they weren't there anymore.

That weird feeling in her heart never fully went away though no matter how much she told herself it was gone. It kept coming back every year from fourth grade to seventh grade until he moved in eighth grade because of his father's work. She was sad he left of course, but there was a different feeling, one she had never felt before when any of her other friends moved. She couldn't really explain why she felt it, she could only say how it felt. She described it as overwhelming heartache and sadness. The eventual realization came to her that those feelings she thought she had gotten rid of, only just bottled up and now that bottle is full and she can’t contain her feelings anymore. So that night, all those feelings came at her like a whirlwind o f emotion and she cried until she was sure that she had used up all her tears she had. Emma felt this pain for weeks, and it made it worse that her and Sam were not really talking anymore. She hated everything about her situation but soon she got over it… mostly.

 Meanwhile Sam is in his new bed crying too because all this time he's felt the same way. As far as he know Emma just wants to friends and that killed him inside every day and it still does. The day he moved he was filled with so much regret of not telling Emma how he felt. At the same time he was glad he didn't because that could have ruined their friendship in his mind. Not long after he went to his new school, did other girls start to talk to him. For a while Sam wouldn't be with anyone because he couldn't stop thinking about Emma. Eventually Sam realized he might not ever see Emma again, besides they were just friends after all. So Sam decided to talk to a girl named Lee. At first Lee was great and they became really close, but after he asked her out things changed. Lee seemed nice and great,at least that's what she made everyone else think, but really she was kind of crazy. She wouldn't let him talk to certain people and would get ticked off for the smallest reasons. One time Lee had her mom call Sam's mom to yell at her about why her son hasn't asked Lee to homecoming yet, homecoming was one month away. Although Sam was love struck with his first girlfriend so he didn't really notice all these things were happening, he just thought it was a normal thing. A few months past of being with Lee and Sam was happy with her, even though she had her major downs and some good ups. On the fifth month of date though, Lee believed Sam was cheating on her with a girl he was just friends with. So Lee ended it right then and there with no explanation, leaving Sam completely heartbroken. He felt like his heart got ripped out then stomped on by Lee. Sam wondered if this feeling would ever go away. A month or so past and Sam's dad came home with the news that they would be moving back home. Sam was overwhelmed and excited, but a lot of those emotions of Emma came flooding back to him all at once. He was excited to see Emma again and be friends with her again all over, he couldn't wait to move back.

Some times Emma would still think about Sam, but she didn't have the same hurt in her heart as she did before. Little did she know her world would change again when she got home. Since Emma’s and Sam's moms were close friends and they discussed earlier that day about their family coming back, so Emma was told when she first walked in the front door that Sam was coming back for freshman year. Emma didn't know what to feel, she was happy but she also remembered the pain of liking someone who just sees you as friends. When school started and Sam came back, they saw each other in the halls and would wave and smile but things didn't go back to normal. They both thought that the other person had just moved on from them and found a new best friend, so neither of them really started their friendship back up.

 About a month passed and Emma couldn't take it anymore, so she asked Sam if he wanted to hang out and he said yes. Sam was overjoyed that they would be friends again. So when they hung out, they just talked and laughed and messed around with each other like they used to. Both of them were so happy that they were friends again. Sam although he liked Emma, started to talking to a girl named Angela a few weeks later. This made Emma sad but she couldn't say anything. That stupid love bug came to bite her again, but it didn't matter because Sam was already talking to someone. Sam liked Emma and wanted to be with her but he didn't want to ruin their friendship so he decided to try to get over her and move on. Emma was so sad but wasn't going to show it in front of him, so when she got home all she could think about was how she's in love with someone who's never going to love her back. Oh how she wished she could go back to third grade. Sam felt the same way. He didn't know Emma felt that way so he kept those feelings inside just like Emma was doing. One day though, Sam decided he couldn't do this anymore and broke up with Angela. Then he walked right up to Emma and told her how he felt, about how he's always had that third grade love bug. Emma couldn't believe it, she had always thought she loved someone who didn't feel the same. Sam wasn't even finished talking when Emma gave him a big bear hug. She told him she felt the same about everything. So Sam finally asked her out and she accepted. They are going to be together for a long time and they're both happy with that. I guess that third grade love bug did its job.