Have you ever had someone on your mind? You can’t get the thought of them out of your head? Craig was the boy who had been on my mind all day; ever since I woke up I pictured Craig’s face when I arrived to school. His dimples sunk into his cheeks, and his freckles that covered the top part of his nose. Craig doesn’t know I exist; he sits behind me in chemistry. The only time he even talks to me is when he asked to see my notes, I always blush at him and hand him my notebook. We have not yet talked, I get too nervous to talk to him. Plus I don’t even know what to say, when his hazel eyes look into my plain blue ones my mouth locks up.

Laying in bed I think about Craig and what to wear. Finally I looked at my phone to see what time it was, it said 6:58 a.m. I’m going to be late! I Jumped out of my bed, ran to the bathroom to wash my face and put on my makeup. It usually takes me about two-hours to get ready, and I had 30 minutes. Thinking that I had to get in my car and start driving to school, it made me feel like I’m going to be late and not see Craig. I finished my makeup and ran back into my room for some clothes, one pair of washed jeans but I had no shirts. Can this day get any worse? No time for stalling so I ran to my brother’s room and grabbed one of his shirts that said Broncos on it. I flow down stairs and grabbed a banana and rushed to my car. I went to start my car and there was only a clicking noise, the battery died. When I slammed my head back on my seat a roaring engine goes by me. It stops and backs up, looking over my shoulder I saw Craig’s brother, who is my age, in the car.

“Hey!” he shouted at me.

Moving slowly I opened my squeaky car door and looked at him.

“You need a ride? You’re going to be late.”

Smiling at him I walked to his car. While opening his non-squeaky door I told him, thanks.

“What happened? I never see you home when I drive to school, you’re always at school before me.”

“Yea, I like to get an early start so I can make it on my classes on time.”

After the short awkward ride, we arrived at school. When he parked I jumped out of the car and started heading to the main doors.

“Samantha!”

As I turned around I saw Craig and his brother Robby standing by Robby’s car.

“Are you going to wait for us so we can walk you to your class?”

“I don’t want you guys to be late.”

“No it’s fine, we don’t mind walking you to class,” Craig said.

I smiled really big and walked between the both of them on my way to class. When we went through the main doors I felt like a movie star when people would turn around staring at us, I would hear somebody asking their friend if Craig and I were dating.

We were out front of my class room door and Robby left us to talk to one of his friends. It was me and Craig standing there by ourselves. My hands were sweating, my heart was racing, and my body was shaking. I was nervous standing in front of the hottest guy in school.

“So I was wondering what you’re doing on Saturday night.” Craig said as he reached for my hand.

By not sounding like a loser I answered him by saying, “I don’t know yet, I haven’t had time to plan what I will be doing.”

“If you’re not busy, would you like to go to a movie?”

So many mixed emotions spun around in my stomach, I wanted to scream yes and jump up and down. I kept my cool and said, “That would be nice.”

My classes felt like they took forever, I wanted the last period to come already so I could see Craig. Once the bell rang throughout the school I got really nervous to go to my next period, I was glad to be able to see him again, but then again I felt really nervous.

I walked through the tall, steel door frame that led into my class. Craig was not in class yet, I sat down in my assigned seat waiting patiently for Craig to enter. As soon as I seen Craig I started to get my stuff out of my backpack so it would look like I was doing something instead of waiting for him. As he sat down in front of me I looked up to see his sandy colored hair.

Ten-minutes had passed and he had not spoken to me yet, I felt insecure about myself. Did my breath smell bad? Did I forget to put on deodorant? What’s wrong? As I was thinking about what was wrong about me when a note is passed to me by Craig.


Samantha,
Sorry but I got my wisdom teeth pulled after second hour, I wasn’t going to come back to school but I wanted to see your bright smile (:
Craig



I cracked a smile at the note and started to write back.

“What is this Samantha?” the teacher questioned me.

I didn’t say anything; I put the note away. Craig turns around and tries to smile; his smile was lop-sided because the numbing medicine was still effective. Bursting out a loud laugh because of his smile got me into trouble. The teacher comes and whispers for me to go to the hall.

Packing everything up and as I headed the hall, Craig grabbed my arm and said, “see you later”, with a crooked smile. Smiling back at him as the teacher urged me to go in the hall. I sat in the hall for 16 minutes before the teacher came out and talked to me.

“Mrs. Samantha I am very disappointed in you.”

I had a note passed to me, so I saw no reason why she would be so disappointed in me.

“Why are you and Craig becoming so close to each other today?” the teacher questioned me.

“I got a ride from his brother this morning, and he asked if I wanted to hangout this weekend.”

“There are some issues about Craig that you may not be aware of about him. Have you ever noticed that he has not had a girlfriend in two-years? He doesn’t want his heart to be broke with the little time he has.” I gave the teacher a strange look.

“What do you mean by the little time he has?”

“I don’t want to talk about his personal life, that’s up to him. I’m saying that you shouldn’t get so attached. This is your senior year, you don’t need a boyfriend. You need to be focused on graduation. Your grades are not slipping yet, but I don’t want them to.”
“Are we done here?”
“Yes.”
I walked into class without making eye contact with Craig. The Bell rang and I gathered up all my stuff and walked right passed him. As I was walking down the main hall way to the doors, I heard Craig’s voice calling for me. Stopping and turning around to see him running down the hall to catch up.

“Hey, why didn’t you wait up for me? Do you want a ride home?”

“I can walk.” I answered back.

“No, I’m giving you a ride.”

The car ride home was silent. I didn’t know what to say. What the teacher said to me was in my mind, what did she mean by the little time he had?

“Are we still hanging out this weekend?” Craig said.

“Of course, why wouldn’t we?”

“I’m just making sure.”

We arrived to my small suburb neighborhood.

“Thanks for the ride.”

Craig smiled to me, “Anytime.”

The rest of the week went by slow, especially since Craig wasn’t at school. I did not know why he wasn’t at school. When I stopped his brother in the hall to ask what was up he just told me he had doctor appointments.

Saturday night finally came; I was wearing my favorite navy blue dress with white buttons and some fancy sandals. I waited by the door the whole evening. Whenever I saw cars pass by I would get excited. Once the clock hit 10 I knew he wasn’t coming. I went to my room and got undressed; I put on a long T-shirt of my dad’s and lay down in bed. After 10 minutes I heard taps at my window. I got out of bed and opened my curtains to find Craig standing in front of me. Opening my window I could hear him saying sorry that he was so late.

“I’m already in bed.”

“Sorry that I am late. Can I come in?”

I kicked off the screen and had him crawl through my window. We sat on my bed for two-hours. Listening to him explain why he wasn’t at school broke my heart. This was the first guy that I have really liked, and this news really hurts me.

“They say my cancer will be gone after my operation, but they think that I won’t make it.”

I looked down at my feet because I didn’t want him to see what emotions I had for him. He put his arm around my waist and whispered in my ear, “I want to spend the last minutes of my life with you.”

Looking up at him, I saw tears that filled his eyes. I guess he really liked me too.

“Well I should be getting home now.”

The second I turned to see him he gives me a unexpected kiss on my dry, cracked lips. I smiled at him.

Monday we spent all afternoon with each other by taking a walk by the river. He explained his whole childhood to me and I did the same. I told him how my dad died when I was only 8 years old, and how my mom is barely home because she was always working. I love both my parents very much. Craig told me that his parents were separated when he was a young age, but his mom moved back in once she knew that Craig needed help with his cancer.

“Do you think you’re going to make it?” I questioned him.

“I’m not sure how long I will have, but I want to make the best out of the time I do have left, being with you is making the best of it. I didn’t think that you liked me at all, I have always thought you were a pretty girl.”

While I was blushing he grabbed for my hand, I turned to look at him and he leaned in for a kiss. I had no idea what to do, I never kissed a boy before and he probably has kissed many girls.

I felt his warm lips on me and the sharp stubbles from his mustache poking me on my upper lip. As we pulled away from each other Craig told me that he really liked me and I told him that I really liked him too.

“Can you take me home?”

Craig grabbed for my hand again and said that he would. On our way home we both were talking a lot about how we wanted to date, but I didn’t think it was a good idea because I didn’t want to be attached to him and him leaving me.

Then he asked, “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Yes, I would love to.” Knowing that I went against what I said about being attached to him, but I really like him, and I don’t want him to get away from me.

Three wonderful weeks went by. We told each other that we loved one another. We hung out every day for three weeks. My mom loved Craig and his parents loved me. They would always invite me on camping and boating trips with them. Tomorrow will be our first month with each other. This has been the longest relationship I have been in.

I called him on in the morning to ask if he is picking me up, but he didn’t answer. When I got to school his car was not in the parking lot. He was not in the halls, and none of his friends had seen him yet today. I ran into his brother Robby.

“Do you know where Craig is?”

“How would I know? He’s never home, he’s always with you.” Robby seemed mad.

“Did you see him leave this morning?”

“He’s in the hospital. He’s been there all night.”

“Why? Something wrong?” I was worried.

“I’m guessing there’s something wrong if he’s in the hospital.”

“Why are you being so rude? Why do you not like me?” Raising my voice.

“You took my brother away from me, we were best friends and he has had nothing to do with me.” Robby walked away.

Running to my car, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Craig’s mother, you and Robby might want to come to the hospital and say your good-byes.” My heart felt like it dropped to the bottom of my stomach, my legs collapse to the ground. I sat in the parking lot and cried for five-minutes straight until I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I turned around, opened up my swollen eyes, and saw Robby standing behind me with his teary eyes. Giving him the biggest hug, I apologized for taking his best friend away. He told me that he needed to stop being selfish with his brother, and that he was happy that me and Craig were together.

We arrived at the hospital 15 minutes later. Robby knew what room he was in, but when we went into the room only his parents were sitting in the chairs and no Craig.

“Where is Craig?” Robby asked.

“You guys are too late.” His mom sniffled.

I completely broke down. I cried so much that I had no tears left. I loved Craig and nothing would change about it.

A week later everyone was gathered in the local cemetery. My mom was with me and all the friends and family of Craig were there. After the prayers that were given, they read a paper that he last wrote:

I would like to thank everyone for being there for me during my rough times, I know that I can get a little needy sometimes and annoy people. I love my dad very much; I appreciate everything he has done for me. You raised me when mom left and you taught me how to be a great independent guy. Mom, I was disappointed when you left me, Robby, and dad. I still love you very much. Robby, I know that we didn’t hangout so much lately, but I always thought about you and what we used to do with each other. We had some fun times and I will really miss you. Someone that I really want to thank is Samantha. Samantha I have never felt this way about a girl before, you helped me spend my last moments in pure happiness. I love you Samantha and I hope the best for you. I am looking down on all of you.
Love Craig

Everyone was crying their eyes out including me. I looked over to my right and saw my mom sitting there with her face in her hands and hearing her sniffling. My mom really loved Craig like he was her own son.

Everyone had left already and I was the only one standing over his grave. I laid down next to him and told him that I would always love him and never forget him. Craig was my first love and I’m glad, we had the most unforgettable memories. As I got up I looked into the sky and said, “Thank you God for giving me the most wonderful love.”

Darkness had fallen; I looked down to Craig, “I’ll see you soon.”

When I was walking back to meet my mom in the car, I saw the stars starting shine brightly. We never see stars in LA, so I took it as a sign that Craig was looking down on me.