This was written for The Ship You Didn't Sail challenge at Shadowplay, so you had to write about a ship that you didn't ship.
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There are some things that a person would not ever forget, like how two people can go from being the best of friends to drifting apart to almost strangers. There is a kind of heartache that comes with no longer having your partner in crime beside you. That's when alienation gets so heavy that Helga Pataki did not think that it could get worst. Oh, how wrong can one person be?
It seems like it wasn't just Phoebe and her, it was their whole group of friends from preschool to middle school. In fact, Rhonda had fallen in with the popular crowd, and Nadine did not fit in. It seemed like everyone was suffering especially her.
Despite the darkness, she had her very own light in Arnold Shortman, who had brought her so much joyfulness that outlasted the unhappiness she felt. This teen was her soul mate, in fact, she had loved him from the first time they had met in preschool. Never, has she loved anyone else, nor would she. She was not the who she use to be, though she was just as short-tempered and rude. She had always felt that one day he would notice her.
It was in the creative writing class where they finally started to connect. He always seemed to be impressed with her work and by extension her. Particularly, since she matured as a person and so did her writing. As an imaginative individual, she loved using symbolism and metaphors in her work. So, at least now it wasn't as obvious who her poetry was about, they were just abstract colorful moments in time that included him. Now, when they had to be delivered in front of the class he would not have any idea that she had written about him. Nevertheless, it helped that writing wasn't his forte.
Everything was aligning and it felt like it was only a matter of time. They had grown closer, to her it felt like they were starting to intertwine. There was something about him that made her feel safe, she felt comfortable with him. There were things that she had felt with him that she had never even shared with Phoebe. While they did not hang out after school like they use to when they were young, Helga felt like the time she had to spend with him was special. It was like the connection that they had only grown deeper and stronger.
It happened on a Monday the worst day of the week, which is fitting if you think about it. Not that it was something that she had thought about since she was to busy being excited about it being close to the end of the school year, and close to being in her senior year. For certain, there was nothing better sounding than finally getting out of Hillwood and getting into college. However, this day there were whispers all around the halls and locker rooms. Apparently, this big gossip happened and everyone wanted to know. While she wasn't sure what exactly happened or who they were talking about but the words she kept hearing was the party and they hooked up. Not that it mattered anyway Helga G. Pataki didn't care about such things.
Even so, the days turned into weeks and this ample buzz had only grown. Everyone seemed to be in on it, or they wanted to be. Expect for her of course. She tried to ignore such things as silly as this, and there was nothing more asinine than gossip. It would be even more foolish to focus on it. Things in the school seemed very off lately, especially where Arnold was concerned. Suddenly, he had a gift for love poems. This must have been a sign that he was finally reciprocating her love.
Her heart broke when she eventually has seen what everyone was talking about, and she had been deluding herself the whole time. This is when she realized that Arnold and she would never be together. It was just a dream that would never be real, and nothing she could do would ever change that. All the love poems he had been writing had been about that girl who he was kissing and laughing with. Helga would never be his inspiration the way he was hers. Never had she thought she would be in a pain worst than falling apart from her best friend? Now she had.
Whatever friendship she thought that they had fallen to the waste side because this girl has taken over his mind and heart. He gushed about her to everyone who would listen and seemed to be all he wanted to talk about. In their creative writing class, his poems grew more impressive and affectionate, as Helga's had the opposite effect. Her light was out, and she had no one.
Her senior year was a nightmare, and the two of them had come back to school after the summer break being stronger than before. To make matters worst they were the school's new power couple and by far most popular. Salt had definitely met the wound on that one. Helga despised going to school now, and would desperately count down the days until she was out of there. The part that Helga hated the most was she couldn't even hate her for it, this girl was perfect, and one of the nicest people she knew. While Helga knew that she hated the kind soul in elementary school but she was older now, and she couldn't hate someone for being with someone who she also loved.
She had to suffer through it for the rest of the school year, it was like her dreams were being played out in front of her, only she was not in them. First, they made homecoming king and queen, then in the yearbook, they were voted cutest couple, and most likely to be together in twenty years. If that wasn't enough the two of them were also crowded at prom. The twosome never fought or had any drama, and everyone in the school loved them together. Graduation couldn't come soon enough.
Thankfully enough she didn't need to wait until graduation, and since it was not a requirement to walk, she opted out. She didn't want to stick around to see them be together, and she needed to move on. She was done with this town anyway. Luckily, she had gotten a full ride scholarship for entering her short story into a contest for a scholarship to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and she also got accepted into their creative writing program.
It had been almost five years since she had graduated university and now she had written her first novel "The One That Got Away." Under a pseudonym of course. While it had been categorized as fiction, she knew who she really based it on. Since she left she had only talked to her parents and sister Olga, even though that was rare within itself. She hadn't heard from anyone else, though she wasn't expecting too either. It's not like she had tried to contact them either. Helga glanced out of her window and noticed the mail carrier had left. After opening her mail she knew what she wanted her next novel to be named "Lost Love."
'Arnold Shortman & Lila Sawyer would be delighted to invite you to their wedding.'
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