Jess

As Pete was packing away the cluttered belongings in his room into cardboard boxes, he came across an old photo now covered with dust. Blowing off the evidence of the time that has passed by, Pete looked at the two smiling faces in the photo. The girl was smiling cheerily, showing off her pearly whites and her black hair gleamed in the sun. The boy on the other hand smiled with his mouth closed, leaning his head slightly towards hers. They had been the best of friends, sharing important moments of their lives with each other.

Pete fingered the large crease in the photo, bringing him back into his old school, where the phoo had been taken during their graduation.

'Omg Pete just give me a smile!' she had said, nudging him playfully with her shoulder.

'What's there to smile about?' he replied grumpily, sulking about the fact that graduation only meant it was 1 week until Jess would go to America for university.

With his finncial situation, he knew the likelihood of visiting her would be close to nil.

Caving into Jess's bubbly smile, Pete smiled grudingly whilst she happily snapped away on her camera.

'I'm gonna miss you sooooo much!' she had said, putting emphasis on how much she would miss him.

He rememebered the way she locked her arm around his, so naturally... So instinctively.

'Yeah, miss me my ass.' scoffed Pete bitterly as he threw the photo carelessly to the floor.

'The bitch didn't even bother to contact me once, once she left.' he thought angrily, feeling the familiar rush of hot anger and cold realisation that she didn't care about him.

He waited 3 years for her.

3 years of staying in this hole. Staying local whilst everyone else moved on to do greater things. Yet he was still here, like a fool, waiting hopelessly for her to return, or at least contact him.

'Not a fool anymore', he thought, as he continued packing to move to Sydney.

From the side of his vision, the photo seemed to burn a hole through the floor, drawing all the attention from him. He felt guilty for pretending that he didn't care, but he didn't want to feel the pain. He didn't want to feel lonely anymore.

He walked over to pick up the photo once more, holding it close to his heart.

'Girls are seriously all bitches,' he thought bitterly whilst still holding the photo fondly.

He felt so confused, so betrayed. So torn between how he felt, and what she had meant to him.

'Why did I love her for this long? Why did I waste all those stupid years moping over her when she clearly did not reciprocate?' he kept thinking.

He felt disgust and annoyance at both himself and Jess.

He no longer wanted to feel like a miserable wreck, a pathetic boy who had a high school crush.

'No, it was all her fault', reasoned his head, dismissing any remnants of care for her.

It was all her fault...

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2 years later

..................................................................................

Pete was laughing happily with his girlfriend Chloe, walking hand in hand into the airport to celebrate their one year anniversary.

'Babe, I love you so much,' she said, smiling.

Pete felt absolute bliss. This girl was perfect and everything he had wanted, and now they were about to go on a holiday together.

There could be nothing better.

"Hey Pete", came a voice from behind.

The silky smooth voice, one that he could never forget.

"Babe, there's a girl calling for you," said Chloe.

He turned around, to be met with the familiar dark haired girl beaming at him with those unforgettable pearly whites.

'How have you been?' Jess asked, walking closer.

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-To be continued-

A/N: should he pretend to not know her or reconcile?