This might sound like a rant though.

I just needed somewhere to... pour out everything. (BEFORE SPAZZING OVER 'GROWL' OMGGG)

Just ignore this if it's boring and ridiculous... and have I ever mentioned that my French name is Elise? LOLOL.

  They met for the first time in camp.

  It was completely, utterly unexpected, though. The funny thing is, Elise didn’t even know his existence until the second day of camp. Of course, being the girl she always had been, her eyes started searching for targets the moment she stepped into Classroom 1127 for Health Education Camp 101. Well, not targets, but… just boys. Attractive, handsome-looking boys to peek at during class and swoon over their handsomeness.

  She couldn’t help it; she had been isolated from boys for 2 years already, just because of that stupid all-girls high school she had been studying in overseas. It felt like she hadn’t been in a classroom with not just girls but also boys for ages.

  Her eyes had landed on only one boy. He looked Korean. That was the first thought that had come to Melanie’s mind when she sat at the same table as him. And when he said he had only visited South Korea before – yup, definitely Korean – and plays soccer, just like her, she knew right away that Alex had officially become her target to sneak glances at for the next four days of camp.

  What she didn’t know, was that her target search would turn into a pile of nothing the next day.

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  “‘How can one obtain information about this health profession?’”

  “Uh, from the Internet?”

  Elise wanted to laugh at Matthew’s stupidity and roll her eyes at Matthew’s stupidity at the same time. For the sake of the presentation she would be giving on Friday – which was 3 days later – she tried hard. In the 2 hours the teacher gave the ten groups, Elise tried hard to find all the answers to the questions on the yellow sheet. She didn’t want to – no, scratch that, she couldn’t afford embarrassing herself in front of the other 27 people on Friday. It was a group project, but the other two boys in her 3-people group didn’t even look like they were trying to prepare. After all, ‘this presentation won’t give us any credits or anything. It’s just for fun.’

  Elise tried to see the fun in it, but she couldn’t. She’d never done a presentation in English before; after all, she just came here for vacation and happened to stumble across a flyer of this camp and signed up. Her classmates told her not to worry, that she’s a foreigner, we all understand.

  But that’s just it. She doesn’t want to be viewed as a foreigner. For goodness sake, she was born here and even grew up here, in Sacramento. She considered here her hometown.

  Matthew just smiled as Elise’s fist made contact with his bare arm. He made another lame joke, and somehow it made her laugh.

  A few hours later, when Matthew continued to hit Elise’s funny bone, nodded off during a speech (which was so funny that Elise had to run to the restroom so many times to laugh out loud) and, eventually, walk Elise out the building to where her mom’s parked rental car was waiting…

  She realized her laughter and smiles had become more and more genuine, one after another.

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  “Hi, Elise.”

  Elise had to wait for at least ten seconds for her heart to calm down before replying. “G-good morning.”

  It was already 3 in the afternoon. Class had already started for 2 hours, and would end in another two. Elise immediately turned her gaze back to her iPod after taking in Matthew’s confused expression, deliberately acting like she didn’t want to speak to him. Like she was avoiding him.

  In which she really was.

  Matthew had been the only thing she could think about last night. His smile that could look cute and y with a hint of a smirk at the same time, his toned arms that she secretly and confusedly wanted to feel around her, his deep, heart-melting voice…

  She’d just met him yesterday, when they got put in the same group. (Maybe she didn’t see him on the first day because he was sitting right behind her so she didn’t notice him.) He wasn’t supposed to be the only image she had in her head before closing her eyes and letting her be claimed by sleep last night. She wasn’t supposed to feel her heart do weird thump-thumps whenever he said her name or stared at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

  So Elise ignored him the whole day on Wednesday, ignored the laughter he shared with the other girls who had been eyeing him ever since the first day.

  She didn’t register the hurt and confusion in Matthew’s eyes when he sneaked glances at her the whole day.

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  Thursday usually was Elise’s favorite day. She didn’t know why, but days gave her colors, like Mondays were blue, Wednesdays were yellow, and Fridays were red.

  Thursdays were purple. They were mysterious, because whenever something unexpected happened, it usually happened to Elise on Thursdays.

  But this time, as Elise replied her 7^th “I don’t know” to Matthew’s question and obviously felt the pang of jealousy when seeing that girl called Isabelle playfully snatch a cookie out of Matthew’s hand and take a bite out of it, she was frustrated. Or depressed. Or maybe even both.

  Because this time, Thursday failed her.

-------

  It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

  He was supposed to ask for her phone number. Or twitter. Or even Instagram. (He didn’t have a Facebook.) After having asked whether Elise had been to the State Fair before or not and hearing her answer ‘no’, he was supposed to ask if she would want to go with him to the State Fair on Saturday night. He was supposed to smile when Elise squeals ‘yes’ and shows up the next day in a sapphire-colored dress and red Converse shoes and compliment on how cute she looks. He was supposed to drag her onto countless horrifying roller coaster rides and laugh while she screams and grabs onto him for dear life. He was supposed to win toys for her and hold her hand to ‘prevent her from getting lost’, watch the fireworks with her, and be astonished by how beautiful Elise looks when being amazed.

  He was supposed to finally tell her whether he liked her for real, or was he was just being nice.

  And Elise was supposed to tell him that she might, incredulously and ridiculously, have liked him.

  But that dream, that 10-minute (or maybe just 10 seconds) dream Elise had got cut apart, torn into pieces, and thrown into a fire the moment she told him the truth at 2:03, in the afternoon of the last day of camp.

  “Tomorrow, midnight. I’m leaving at midnight tomorrow.”

  It was just a simple reply. A simple reply to a simple question Matthew had asked her while they were getting ready for the presentation on Friday.

  The shock and pure disappointment on his face didn’t fail to ink right into Elise’s heart, maybe even her soul. And the slow, low-voiced reply, ‘Oh,’ that replaced the ‘Do you want to go to the State Fair with me’ was like a big, fat wall that fell right in front of her, right in between her and Matthew.

  Elise couldn’t make the wall move. It wouldn’t even budge. Not even when she, Matthew and Alex blew through the presentation successfully. Not even when she thought something like jealousy flickered over Matthew’s face when she thanked Alex for letting her speak less for fear her rusty pronunciation, and he hugged her saying, “It was nothing. Matt told me you were nervous and suggested on giving you a small part.” Not even when her right shoulder and Matthew’s left were touching so briefly that she could feel his addicting heat.

  He didn’t ask for her twitter, or number, or anything. She wanted to muster up the courage and ask for his in the last ten minutes of class, but… girls kept talking to him it seemed impossible to speak to him in private. Also, she was afraid of the girls’ scary, judging stares.

  “Hey Matt.”

  Elise tried to make the contact of her hand and his arm casual. It was the first time she had called him by his nickname. During the previous gazillion times she had chatted and laughed with him during Tuesday and Friday (she tried to continue avoiding him but failed miserably, ending up telling him her background and dreams, and listening to him talk about his similar Chinese background and dreams), she always called him by his full first name.

  “Hm?”

  “Do you… want to bring the poster back?”

  “Can’t we just leave it here?”

  “Oh, uh, right. I-I think we can.”

  Matthew merely nodded, and turned to talk to Isabelle when she called his name again.

  Elise once swore that she would never like someone again. She didn’t know that it would be broken just for a 16-year-old boy who treated her like she was the most precious thing on Earth, like he wouldn’t care if they had a long-distance relationship. She didn’t know that it would be broken just for a gentle, sweet and caring guy who always came to talk to her first when there were other girls sticking themselves to him.

  But really, though? Not many people could endure a long-distance relationship. Especially not a 16-year-old good-looking boy who was still growing up.

  When Elise gathered her stuff, bid goodbye to everyone she had this class with for the week, and walked out of the classroom, she could literally hear her heart shatter into pieces with every step she took.

  Matthew didn’t say goodbye.

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  She doesn’t understand his sudden change of attitude. And maybe she never will, because she didn’t have the gut to openly ask about his feelings towards her.

  But she didn’t care, she lied to herself while waiting for her plane to take off and fly her away from California, where she had taken her 2-week vacation at.

  She didn’t care and will never wonder why Matthew just… gave up in the end anymore. She would never see him again, that’s why she forced her to not care. 17-year-old Elise would just go home and curl in her bed and cry until she has no more tears, because that’s just how summer loves end.

  Summer loves are never meant to last.

If you feel any genuine feelings in this one-shot... IT'S ALL YOUR IMAGINATION!!! :D

... Who am I kidding you guys are all so smart and clever. /draws circles in a corner/