One of the most important days of my life came to be just last year in April, it was the day I met one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen in my life and that I can now call mine. I was already nervous, my hands were sweaty, my legs wouldn’t stop shaking and I was pale, this day was my first concert with my best friend, an event for the Hispanic Society we are part of and we had the honor to play some music for the guests at the ceremony. The white and black keys of my piano seemed endless, I thought I had forgotten the notes I had to play when I looked at her pretty face. We were the closing performance, so time went by as slowly as it could go. It felt like an eternity just passing by sitting there listening to the president of the society talk!

As I recall this day, it was in the auditorium, it was really lit, a lot of people were there, and the smell of colognes and perfumes mixed made me sick. One of the things that made me even more nervous was that my family had come out for the event, they had never seen me play in front such a big audience and I didn’t want to disappoint any of my family members. It was around 6 in the afternoon and just before I was going to the stage she walked into the auditorium. I stopped on my tracks and looked back as she walked past me with her beautiful smile. As soon as I saw her she caught my attention, gorgeous eyes, looked around like if she didn’t know what to expect from the place; later I was told she was new to the school and had never seen such big and beautiful auditorium. The night went on, we headed to the stage, played, and everything went really good. As we finished our song, everyone stood up and applauded, there was a great feeling of accomplishment in the air. I looked at my friend and we both kind of smiled and we knew that everything had gone as we had rehearsed. As we got off the stage and everyone was walking out, I was still nervous and hesitant to talk to her because I didn’t know her. She came to where my friend and I were standing, with a friendly smile, she congratulated us for the performance. When she walked up to us and I saw her, my legs trembled and I instantly liked her, the way she talked was beautiful, the way she looked, everything about her from the physical perspective was attractive.

After the long ceremony and performance, we went to have dinner with all of our families and friends that were there. We walked into the cafeteria and the smell of food was great. The sponsor of the club had ordered some Peruvian food from the restaurant “Aji Limon”. All of my friends and I sat on the same table and she sat there too. We started eating, talking and making jokes. The different spices of the food were great, some too spice that I couldn’t handle but overall the food was amazing and no one could complain about it. After we all finished that delicious food, we said our goodbyes and thanks and we left with our families. From that day, I used to see her every day and I would say hi to her but we never really talked. I was so mad at myself for not being brave enough to talk to her in person but I guess it was meant to be that way. I felt like I wanted to tell her that she was beautiful and that I would have loved to get to meet her, but at the same time that she was going to slap me because I was being too direct and I really didn’t even know what I wanted to say. Anyways, the end of the year came and summer passed. In summer I had a blast. I went on a cruise and everything was great, but I still hadn’t talked to her. The school year started, I was really excited as it was my junior year.

Two years had just gone by and I hadn’t even noticed, I was still undecided on what I wanted to do for my career after high school, but I thought I had time to figure that out over the next year

or so. After we got our schedules at open house, I loved all the classes I had, I couldn’t wait for Monday to come around for the first day. The excitement was too much, I spent the weekend with my friend buying materials needed for the classes and the normal stuff that teachers always ask for. Finally, the big day came, Monday, that day, I had the odd periods, and then I saw in my schedule that I had AP Spanish that day, I can honestly say that it was the funniest class ever, my whole crew from the previous Spanish class was there and she was also there. When I saw her walk in the door my jaw dropped, she had dressed so cute for the first day, the smell of her perfume was amazing, and I couldn’t stop looking at her, my friend Sindy asked me if I liked her, my answer was “absolutely”. Days of the year went by, our relationship got much better as I decided to be friends with her and get to know her in a friendly perspective but on the inside I was dying to tell her how I truly felt.

I had the pleasure of seeing her everyday around the school. Spanish class was like a second home for me, all my friends were there and I felt like that was definitely my environment. Around March of this year, I had a family emergency in Cuba, (the country I was born and lived in for 12 years)I had to spend 15 days back in my country were I went to visit some of my good friends and family. After I got back, my best friend, Ricardo, came to my house to get me to go to a party, I had just gotten home from Miami. As I was unpacking my bags he tells me that Prom was coming up and I told him I wasn’t going because I didn’t have a date. He told me to talk to Lorena and ask her to Prom, that it would be a good time to ask her out and tell her how I felt. I quickly grabbed my phone and sent her a text message, I was doubting myself, I didn’t know if I should send it or not but I manned up and did. Three or four minutes passed by and I was nervous as I saw that she had read the text, then the problem came. She replied with “I’m sorry, I already have a date to Prom but if I didn’t I would definitely go with you”. This broke my heart, I had been rejected, and my heart was in pieces. I read the text about a hundred times when I came to realize that she might’ve given me an opportunity if she didn’t have that someone ask her to the dance. After that I was hurt and I needed to forget what had happened.

The days passed by slowly and I was living in a world of uncertainty. As I mentioned before I needed to forget what happened, I thought the best way to get her out of my head was finding another girl and so I did. This girl I had known through my cousin, they were really good friends. She went to our school, even though we never had any classes together, we managed to see each other at lunch, I could tell by the shine on her eyes that she was really in love, it’s funny how I still remember a letter that she wrote me saying how she “would never let me go”. This relationship was really superficial, I didn’t feel anything towards her, it was just an empty vessel floating on a dark sea. We dated for about a month and during that time I realized that Lorena had been talking to me a lot more and she seemed rather interested in me. I was really confused, I didn’t know if it was a game or if she was really interested, so I decided to end my relationship with this girl. Her feelings were a mess but I was just not happy in the relationship, I needed my true love, Lorena.

I was coming back from Orlando the weekend of Memorial Day and my friend Ricardo sent me a picture of Lorena. He did it as a joke to remind me of her, as I looked at the picture, I couldn’t help myself from expressing in a text how beautiful she was, he told me he had taken a

screenshot and was going to send it to her so she could finally know how I felt. I thought this was a great plan for me to have a way to finally tell her. I never expected her answer when Ricardo told me that she already knew I was into her. Her response to me was that we didn’t know each other as much to have a relationship but she never said no. I was happy and we started talking that same day and I finally told her every single feeling I had for her, I wasn’t feeling love yet because it was too early, but she had me feeling butterflies in my stomach, I just couldn’t stop smiling. I spent the coming week talking to her, she had stopped coming to school as seniors left the week before, so I didn’t see her until that Friday when they came for the graduation practice. That morning I looked for her, we sat with some friends and just talking to her and looking into her beautiful green eyes made me happy. The weekend came, I was extremely excited as it was her graduation ceremony and I was going to meet her family. The ceremony was great and I saw my beautiful girl walk across the stage, I was proud. That night, my friend Sindy threw a graduation party where I invited her and her best friend. When she got to the party and I saw her come out of her car I thought “Gosh, she is gorgeous”. The night went on, we danced and sang, and kissed for the first time. It was a magical moment.

Since that night, we are happily in a relationship and we get along super well. Now I look back and remember that day that I saw her for the first time and I can’t help but smile because she makes me the happiest man in the world. I seriously couldn’t think of someone else to share my life with than her, I hope that we can last a long time. My goal is to make her happy so she knows she is my queen and that no one can come between us. That feeling I felt when we started talking, the butterflies in my stomach, I now realize it’s called love. I love her more than anything in this world, she is my everything.