I woke up in the middle of the night and I thought I saw him staring at me. When I looked around the room, I saw no one. I tried to get back sleep but I couldn’t. I kept thinking of how he looked at me with those sky blue eyes and the bleach blond hair. When I woke up, I knew that summer was over and I would never see him again.

I went back to school thinking of how much I loved him. I walked into English class and in the back row; there he was staring at me.

“Hi Alice,” he said as I walked to an empty seat next to him.

“Damen is that you?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah it is. I missed you so much. I didn’t think that I would ever see you again. There is something that I have been waiting to tell you,” Damen said to me.

“I missed you too. What do you want to tell me?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you here, I’m sorry,” he whispered.

The bell rang and in walked the teacher. He told us to stop talking and take a seat. From the time that the teacher told us to sit down, I could feel Damen’s eyes glued to me. The period went by so slow that it felt like it would never end.

When class ended, Damen grabbed my arm and told me to meet him in the woods behind the park. I asked him why but he never told me. All he said was to be there at four this afternoon. I thought about not going but I decided to go because I have not seen him in a long time.

When I got to the woods, I could not find him anywhere. I walked around the woods for three hours. I walked back home and when I went in my room; there was a note that said “I’m sorry that I couldn’t come to the woods because something came up. See you in school, love Damen.”

I could not wait until English class because I really wanted to see Damen and ask him what came up that was so important not to come to the woods, but I decided not to ask him because I thought that he would consider me a stalker. When I got to English class, he was not there. I thought that something bad had happened to him and his family. School was rough without Damen. I could hear people talking about him and how stupid he was to like some one like me. I could not wait for school to end and hopefully when I got home there would be a note sitting on my desk again from Damen.

School finally ended and I could go home. When I got home, there on my desk was a note from Damen that said, “I will pick you up at six tonight for a dinner.” And all I had to worry about was what my parents would say. When my mom got home, I went downstairs to talk to her.

“Mom, what would you say if I told you that I had a date tonight at six with the guy that I met this summer?” I asked hopefully.

“I don’t know honey. Have I met this boy before?” she asked.

“Yes, Mom, you have. You don’t remember this summer, when I left you and dad to go hang out with this guy on our vacation.”

“Oh that Damen kid from the beach?”
“Yes mom that Damen kid. He goes to my school now.”

“I guess you could go if you help set the dinner table for me and your father,” she said as she handed me plates, cups and silverware.

“Okay, I guess I can. Oh and thanks for letting me go out tonight,” I said to her.

“Oh and one more thing, who is driving you two?” she asked sounding worried.

“He is,” I replied.

“Okay. I guess so,” my mom said.

I went upstairs to put on a new dress that I bought. And when I stepped downstairs, there he was stepping out of his black pick-up truck. He knocked on the door and I opened it, my dad came around to the hallway where I was standing and just as Damen was about to kiss me, my father gave him the look. I told Damen that we better go and before I knew it, we were in his truck.

Damen and I went to the movies. There were people at the movies from our school and laughing at Damen for being with me. But I knew that he did not care what other people thought. When we went out for dinner, he told me what he wanted to tell me in the woods.

“Alice, Sweetie, I was nervous about telling you this before but I guess I can tell you,” Damen said so sweetly that I knew that something was wrong.

“Yeah, what is it?” I asked with fear in my voice.

“Well, it is just that…I don’t know how to tell you. I guess I will try. I only have one more month to live because I have a rare disease that causes bacteria to eat your insides,” He said and I just wanted to cry.

“Oh. When did you get this disease?” I asked as I started to cry. Damen reached over and he held onto me very tight.

“It will be okay, I promise you that. So let’s make the most of how much time that we left together,” Damen said as he kissed me on my forehead.

“Okay,” I said sadly.

Later that week, Damen got rushed into the hospital and I was right there beside him the whole time. When I went home, I got nervous that he might not be alive when I got back the next day. And the worst happened that night.
When I got to the hospital, he was almost dead. The last thing that I heard him say was that he loved me and wanted me to be happy for the rest of my life. And then I knew that he was dead right in front of me. I started to cry as I thought of the first summer that I met him at the beach with those sky blue eyes. I knew that me heart would be in two pieces, from now on.
When I left the hospital, the nurse asked me if I was okay. I told her that I would be. The nurse handed me a piece of computer paper that was folded up. I opened the paper when I got home. And when I did, in the middle of the paper there was a picture of Damen and me holding hands as we walked around the beach like we did the first summer that we met.
And when I saw that, I knew how much I meant to him.