It all started on the 5th of June 2009 Primary School. There was a boy named Alex.
He was very shy. He did not have many friends at school, and he spent most of his time alone.
Alex was different from the other boys at school. He did not seem to have much interest in girls, until one day, when he met a girl called Emilia. She was very beautiful and intelligent. The majority of the boys at school liked her. Alex introduced himself to her, but she did not have any interest in him.
Like any guy would, Alex started doing things to try and impress Emilia. He even begged his sister to talk to Emilia for him. Emilia was good friends with Diana, Alex’s sister. Diana tried to convince Emilia to love Alex, but unfortunately Emilia was not interested.
Alex did not give up. He realised that he had to tell Silindile how he felt about her for himself. He had to stop sending his sister to talk to her on his behalf.
Emilia rejected him every time. She told him that she had a boyfriend who was much better than him. Alex did not believe this, and one day he asked Diana about it, but she told him that it wasn’t true. Months went by. It was very hard for Alex to accept that Emilia had a boyfriend, until one day when he saw her kissing a guy who was a friend of Alex’s cousin.
From that day onwards, Alex was always upset. One day, Alex was very angry, and decided to pick a fight with the guy who he had seen kissing Emilia. Alex was being controlled by his emotions. He shouted at Diana, because she had lied to him when he had asked her about Emilia. This created tension between Alex and Diana. Alex felt betrayed and blamed Diana for the situation he was in.
One day after school, Alex went to apologize to Diana and Emilia. He then told Emilia how he felt about her, but her answer was still “no”. Alex’s friend tried to convince him to look for another girl. His friend told him that there were many girls at the school who would be interested in him. Alex told his friend that Emilia was the only girl he wanted, and that he would do anything to get her.
A group of boys at school started to laugh at Alex. He became the laughing stock of the school. From that time onwards, he was always involved in many fights at school, and had many enemies. He used to play soccer with some boys after school but because of the situation he was in he decided to stop playing soccer. His behaviour changed. He was always quiet in class. During break and lunch time he wouldn’t leave the classroom. If it happened that he decided to go outside he would buy something to eat, go back to the classroom and sit there alone.
At the time, Alex and Emilia were both in Grade 7, the final year of primary school. The year ended and they both passed Grade 7. In 2010, the following year, they had to go to high school. Emilia registered at a local high school.
Alex decided to go to another high school, because he thought that it would be easier to forget about Emilia if he was far away from her. It was one of the best schools. In the year that Alex did his Grade 8 he was very happy to be in high school. He did very well and passed Grade 8. After all the drama he had been through in the past year it seemed that he had finally accepted that Emilia did not love him.
Being far from Emilia helped him to easily forget about her, but was this true or was he just pretending?
He seemed normal and happy. Even his friends had noticed a change in his behaviour. He was doing well at school, and it seemed that everything was OK. However, if someone happened to ask him about his past he would become very angry and would even cry sometimes. It was obvious that he hadn’t moved on.
One day after school, when Alex was going to town, he saw Emilia and talked to her. He told her how sorry he was about everything that had happened back in primary school. He asked if they could be friends, but she turned him down again. He asked for her cell phone number but she did not give it to him. Emilia told him to stay away from her. She told him that she did not want to talk to him again.
In 2011, Alex did Grade 9. There was a girl called Ketty in his class. Alex and this girl got along very well. They were friends, and at the time they used to sit at the same desk in class. Alex started to like Ketty. He told her that he loved her, but again he was turned down. Ketty called Alex’s sister to tell her what had happened. Diana was not happy to hear this. She shouted at Alex, and asked him why he was always after her friends. It looked like history was repeating itself.
After this, Alex promised himself to never again try to tell any girl that he loved her. Was this a good decision? To him it was, because he had accepted that no girl would ever love him. This was very painful. All of his friends had girlfriends. He was the only one who didn’t have a girlfriend. He was too young to experience all of this.
One day, Alex took his sister’s cell phone and copied Emilia’s cell number to his phone. He also sent himself a picture of Emilia. He used to look at that picture whenever he was alone.
In 2012, when Alex was in Grade 10, he met a girl named Perry. He started to like her, but he remembered that he had made a promise to himself that he would never ever again in his life tell a girl that he loves her. He decided to be friends with this girl. He spent most of his time with her. He trusted her, and he even told her about his past, which was something he usually never told anyone about.
Alex passed Grade 10 and went on to do Grade 11 in 2013. Unfortunately, things did not go well for him in Grade 11. He failed and had to repeat this grade. Emilia also failed Grade 11 in the same year.
In 2014, when Alex was repeating Grade 11, he became friends with another girl whose name was Jemimah. One day, in the middle of June, Jemimah told Alex that she loved him. She even wrote a letter and put it in his school bag. The letter said: “Alex, I meant what I said to you yesterday. I really love you. Please think about this. I want an answer from you in two days.”
The next day, Jemimah kissed Alex and said to him: “I am still waiting for your answer.” Alex told her that he loved another girl, so he could not be in love with her. On the same day, after lunch, Alex saw that everyone in the class was laughing at him when he entered the classroom. He asked them why they were laughing, but no one gave him an answer.
The next day, he discovered that Jemimah had been recording all their conservations, and that everyone in the class had been listening to these recordings. Everyone in class laughed at him every day. Alex promised himself to never trust any girl again.
Both Alex and Emilia passed Grade 11 and went on to do Grade 12 in 2015. Alex was so happy. In February 2015, Alex and Emilia started to become friends. Emilia used to call Alex and tell him that she was sorry for having treated him the way she did. She told him not to change, and that he should stay the way he was.
Alex did not understand. He asked Emilia why she was saying all these things, but she did not tell him. One day, Alex got a message from Emilia that said: “Please forgive me for all the bad things I said to you in the past. I was so young that I did not understand. I have now realised that you are the only boy who truly loved me. I wish I could turn back the clock, but I can’t. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. Don’t worry, one day you will find a girl who loves you.”