It was one of those days.
     Yes, one of those horrible days where everything sucks.
     I know you've had one of those days too, because I can't be the only one. It just wouldn't be fair, you know? We all suffer through and make it to the other side eventually, the other side where everything is finally okay and you feel happy again. But the beginning of that tremendous journey starts with a bad day, and that bad day for me is, well, today.
     And I know some teenaged boy whining about life is the norm in today's society, and I know that my old man would probably say something like, "Man up" or "Grow some balls you little pussy", but sometimes you've got to accept that people need an out to their feelings. Somewhere they can escape to.
     Writing to strangers happens to be mine.
     Today was hell, and not just because Mr. Aarons caught me smoking a joint in the bathroom and threatened to have me suspended. It was because of her, all because of her.
     Maybe it was the fact that it was raining super hard outside, or that our school's quarterback broke his back at last week's big game, or that the special on the lunch menu was pizza. Man, I really hated pizza.
     But what if instead of that dreaded, greased up pizza, the cooking class was serving something like, I don't know...lasagna! That lasagna could have changed the course of how horrible my day was headed, mostly because I just loved lasagna and nothing would be able to ruin my mood once I dove in.
     Of course life didn't work by the powers of lasagna. No, life made sure that I was as miserable as could be.
     And that was why I was staring at my girlfriend from across the cafeteria table, my chin rested in my hands as I watched her mouth move with words that didn't meet my ears. Her hands were flying everywhere and at one point I was positive that she would hit someone.
     I couldn't help but think she was beautiful. She was short, but beautiful. Her hair was auburn, straightened to perfection and falling a bit past her chest. She had these round, large chocolate chip eyes that turned golden in the sun and her smile could probably melt steel. She smelled good too, like vanilla and the beach.
    She had her usual giddy expression planted on her face and I knew that she was talking about dogs or something; she loved dogs. But then, after exchanging goofy looks with my two best friends that were making their way over to the lunch line, I was finally hit in the face with reality.
     "I think we should breakup."
     It kind of felt like she took off one of her TOMS and threw it square in my face. The worst of it all, I couldn't even tell if she was joking or not. Her huge grin was prominent, vivid and taunting. Her perfect eyebrows arched and I blinked.
     I swore she was about to burst out laughing. I sort of just stared at her, not really knowing what to say because it was so sudden. My heart was pretty much in the pit of my stomach as I froze. I hoped that this was a dream, that I mistook her for saying something else, or that I was hallucinating.
     A million questions lit my brain, but Aislynn Baker had a stronger hold on me. She leaned over the table, her minty breath fanning my face and basically blowing away my train of thought. Her soft hand fell over top of mine. In that instant, I felt like I wasn't in my body.
     Her russet waves brushed my forearm and I flinched at the touch. She looked at me, closely. Her brown eyes took me in, took in the surprise that I think I let slip out. It didn't really feel like she was seeing what I was seeing. I was seeing this breakup that no one thought would ever happen, I didn't even think it would happen. I thought we were the best thing ever. From the glint in her devious gaze, she was seeing the complete opposite.
     This wouldn't crush her at all.
     "Duke, baby?" She asked in her honey sweet voice; that same honey sweet voice that had mustered up enough courage to ask me out on a date one year, two months and four days ago; that same honey sweet voice she used when she cuddled into me at our first movie night at her house, wondering if it was alright if she put her head on my shoulder. "Is that okay?"
     No, no it's not. "Yeah," I lied.
     The feelings washed over me. The memories stung me. The laughter and crying echoed in my ears. My stomach riled in protest, the sickness working its way. I needed out. I needed air.
     "Really?"
     I looked out past her, out into the cafeteria where no one knew what was happening. They didn't know that the couple that had dressed as a banana and monkey for Halloween, the couple that always had a smile and a skip in their step and the couple that everyone looked up to, were calling it quits. I had to take deep breaths to contain myself, to compose the burning sensation that my eyes were beginning to feel.
    Her fingers pulled my chin. I was forced to see the happiness that radiated from her. Why was she so damn excited?
     "I love you, you know I love you." I really didn't. "And we dated for so long, aren't you feeling this sense of accomplishment? We're finally in grade twelve! Do you hear me, Duke? Stop looking away! You have to know that we had fun, that we were great. But don't you want to explore something new?" No. "Haven't you ever wondered about other people? Haven't you wondered what it was like to be free?" I couldn't care less. "What it's like to experiment?"
     My god, she wanted to be a slut.
     "You want to be free?" I finally got out after a mind war. My throat felt dry and I deeply regretted not stopping by the vending machine to get a soda.
     Aislynn smiled. "Free as a bird."
     "A lot of birds aren't free, you know. And if they are they usually have a disease," I muttered.
     She laughed in that carefree way that she usually did, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes shut. Now that I thought about it, she looked like a dying seal. "Duke, come on. Don't think of this as a breakup. Think of it as us getting back together as friends."
     That would have been a clever thing to say, if she hadn't quoted How I Met Your Mother and if we even had been friends before we dated. We sort of just met and took a liking to each other. I shot her a forced smile.  
     "Friends till the end."
     "You are so cute! Remember that time when we were making out and your mom caught us?"
     I looked at our hands. Numbness overcame the interior of my body. I wished it wasn't weird for a guy to cry, so I bottled it in for a stiff, "Remember that time you gave me a blow job?"
     Slowly, she raised herself, not impressed. "Don't make this more difficult." I caught that tick in her jaw.
     "I'm not."
     "I really hope you're fine with this, though."
     I shook my head. "No – I mean yeah, I am so fine with this." I waved her off. "I was uh- actually thinking about breaking up with you, too." I hope that had sounded more convincing than it felt.
     If it hadn't, she didn't show it. She just picked up her creamy white purse and flashed her pearly whites at me. "That's great!" And just as she was about to leave and just as I was about to make a getaway, she turned. "So I'll meet you at your house after school then?"
    "What?"
     She looked at me like I had two heads. "Just because we're broken up now doesn't mean we can't friends. We always hang out on Mondays."
    "I don't think that's-" My eyebrows were furrowed in the centre, completely bewildered because even now that we were broken up, she couldn't give me my space to figure out what just happened. It's like we were only saying that we weren't together because we could, and considering she'd want to keep everything the same; we kind of were together, right? Was that a good thing?
    "I've really got to go, Duke. I'll see you after school, okay?"
    She was gone before I could dispute anything. What just happened? I was pretty sure that, that had all happened within a span of fifteen minutes. It was all so much to take in that I didn't notice that my best friends, Reece and Wilbur, had taken Aislynn's former spot at the table.
    "Hey man what's up?" Reece asked, laughing at something that Wilbur had said.
    I looked at them with a hard expression, still thinking of her. "Aislynn just broke up with me," I deadpanned. As that look of dread came upon their faces, I immediately stood up and got my legs untangled from the empty chairs that sat around me. "I'll see you guys around."
    "You okay?" Wilbur was the most immature but caring person I knew.
    My throat was beginning to drop into my stomach. "I don't know." And then I was walking through the overcrowded groups of people in the cafeteria. I didn't know where I was going, or what I'd do, or how I would get through this right now, but all I knew was that I had to leave.
    Only Aislynn could be happy about a break up and I didn't understand. Maybe when she came over later she could tell me her tricks.  I laughed to myself, not because it was funny, but because it was bizarre how weird she was. And then I really laughed because I liked how bizarre she could be.
    I frowned again as someone bumped my shoulder a little too hard.
How would I get over her?