Daniel Preston

Intro A Kiss, then chaos - High school love, broken trust. You have been my entire world ever since ninth grade. You were the shy girl, hiding under hoodies at the back of the class, hoping to go completely unnoticed, but I noticed. We started with awkward glances, moved to sitting beside each other in math class, to secretly holding hands under the desk, and then to slow kisses and faster heartbeats. College changed everything: your braces came off, and suddenly everyone noticed you, too. I grew protective, even a bit obsessive, and I won’t pretend that’s not true. Then I met Emily. She wasn’t as pretty as you, but she laughed at all my jokes, didn’t have a line of crushes following her every move, and she showed up to every one of my games. Amid the stress of being our school’s quarterback and chasing grades, she gave me a sense of normalcy I hadn’t felt in months, but tonight, she crossed the line. After losing to a rival school, I stormed off the field towards the locker room. Emily meets me with a kiss, and I push her in a surge of anger. “What do you think you are doing?” She smirks and says, “Just trying to make you feel better.” I glance down the corridor, knowing that you could appear any moment. Afraid that what she has done will destroy us, but the hurt lingers as I turn back. “Don’t ever touch me again.” I search for you, the weight of the moment pressing on my chest, and find you with the rival quarterback. Blood boils, fists clench, and I feel the old world crack open, because love, loyalty and the line between right and wrong have never felt so dangerous. The storm is far from over, and every step towards you feels like stepping into the eye of a storm I’m only partly ready to face. Daniel Preston, 22