The Unexpected Romance | Teen Ink

The Unexpected Romance

January 14, 2009
By Anonymous

As Ely and I walked through the doors of Bliss High hand-in-hand we got the usual happy stares and
glances from everyone around us. I flashed my fake smile to everyone looking at me. Today was
different for me though. Today would be the day I broke it off with Ely. Ely and I have been dating
for two years on and off. I realized that I wasn't in love with him anymore, about six months ago.
I don't know why I have been dragging it along so long, but I have. I secretly have a big crush on
Sheldon Corm. He is the captain of the Chess Team. I know I shouldn't have a crush on Sheldon, but
I do. He is a nerd, and I am the most popular girl in school. That never happens. So Ely walks me to
my locker and leans down to kiss me. I turn my head the other direction so that he can't. He gives
me this baffled look, like I had ten heads. The smell of Ely's cologne was just about gagging me.
"Um, Ely we need to talk." "What about, baby?" He replied in his sweet southern drawl.
"It's about us. I don't think we can be an "US" anymore. I think we should break-up."
"Babe, you can't be serious. We've been together for two years now. I am madly in love with
you, Madison. You don't want to do this." He looked at me, and I could see the tears forming in
his big, blue eyes. "Ely, I have, too! I am not in love with you anymore. I can't keep dragging
this along. I want you to be able to find love with someone else. I can't do this anymore." I
told him, and he just looked at me. In a few seconds he punched the locker behind my head. The
chatter in the hall that I'd heard before completely stopped. "Why are you doing this to me,
Mads? I love you." He looked at me, and the tears were streaming down his face and mine too.
"Ely, it's over. I am sorry." I reached up to give him a hug, and he pushed me away. "I
can't believe this." Those were the last words he said to me before he walked away. I didn't
know he was going to get that mad at me. It had to be done though, and I don't have feelings for
him anymore. My two best friends came up to me, and both hugged me. "Thanks, girls that was
rough." I told them, through tears. "Its okay sweetie, don't worry about him, all the girls in
the school have a thing for him. He will find someone else." Mikayla told me, with a hand on my
shoulder. "Yeah, he'll be fine." Joanna said with her hand on my other shoulder. All the
people around us were looking at me with sympathetic glances. I didn't want to hurt him, like I
did, but I had to do what made me happy. "Well, girls I got to get to Algebra 2. You know how Mrs.
Brown is." I walked away from them and down to my class. I walked in and picked a new seat next to
Sheldon. Yes, the one I like. My face was still all red from crying. Sheldon just gave me simple
grin. "You're name is Madison, right? Well, I am Sheldon." Sheldon reached over and shook my
hand. "Yeah I'm Madison." "So what's wrong, why are you so sad? A pretty girl like you
shouldn't be crying." "Oh, thanks well I just broke up with my boyfriend, for this
unsuspecting guy. I've liked him for a long time, but he doesn't know it. He is totally not in
my league." "Oh, well you are in quite a predicament. If you need to talk to someone, call
me." Sheldon ripped off a piece of paper and wrote his phone number on it. I will never forget it,
190-311-5693. Driving home that night, I couldn't help but smile Two days later, I decided to call
Sheldon. I had butterflies in my stomach, I was so nervous. "Hello." Sheldon sputtered out.
"Hi Sheldon, it's um Madison from math. Do you want to meet at the Cafe bistro downtown? I kind
of need to talk to someone." "Uh, yeah, I guess so." Sheldon replied. "Okay, in like 15min,
does that sound good?" I responded. "Yeah, it sounds great." Sheldon then hung up, without
saying goodbye. I pulled into the cafe about 12 minutes later and Sheldon was already there. I
knew, because his mom's station wagon was already parked in a spot. I walked into the cafe, the
smell of the sweet home baked breads was like heaven and it hit you in the face as soon as you
walked in. I spotted him way in the corner, looking around. His face lit up when he saw me. I slowly
maneuvered my way over to his table. I pulled out the soft cushiony chair and sat down. "Hey, how
are you?" "I'm good, even though it's only been a couple of days since we last spoke."
"Yeah, I didn't even realize it." "So, why'd you want to talk to me?" Sheldon asked.
"You are just so nice, and I really needed someone to talk to." After about two hours of talking
about her relationship with Ely, Sheldon just sat there and smiled at her. After asking what about
three times Sheldon spoke up. "Umm, Madison, would you um, be um, my girlfriend?" I just looked
at him for a minute. Startled by his question I didn't answer him. I just got up and went to the
bathroom. After realizing that that was a stupid move I went back out to the table. Sheldon was
still there. He looked so cute too, in his Weezer t-shirt and dark denim wash jeans. Sheldon had big
green eyes and longer hair than normal boys. He kind of had the little kid look going for him. He
had a pair of glasses that reminded me of Harry Potter "I'm sorry about that." Sheldon said.
"I just really like you." "Yeah, when I told you I liked someone earlier, I was talking about
you." I then reached across the table, and grabbed his hand, and told him my answer. I told him
yes. Even though I had broken it off with Ely the same day, I really liked Sheldon so it didn't
matter. That night Ely called me. He just kept yelling into the phone. He had heard that Sheldon
asked me out and I said yes. "You know what Madison, I should've
listened to Troy and the guys when they said you were bad for me. I never want to
see your nasty face again." "Ely, STOP.
You are so jealous and oblivious to everything around you. It's over." I got off the phone with
Ely and just started sobbing. I didn't do anything wrong, why should I be getting yelled at
because I broke up with someone. He is so abusive, never physically, but emotionally. My phone
started ringing, it was Sheldon calling me. I silenced it, I didn't feel like talking to anyone
right now. About an hour Sheldon called again and I answered it. "H-Hello Sheldon" I muttered.
"Hey Madison, what's wrong?" "Ely just cal-." I couldn't even get the sentence out
without crying. "Ely just called me and called me, and told me I am nasty." "Ok. I am
sick of him; he has always been a jerk to everyone that he doesn't like." Sheldon hung up on me
and didn't call me back that night. When I got to school the next day and pulled my Audi into the
parking lot Sheldon was waiting for me. "Hey." Sheldon took hold of my hand and we walked into
the building. "This conflict with Ely ends today, Madison." He led me into the cafeteria where
Ely was standing in a big group of his jock buddies. Sheldon walked up to him and shoved him. "Oh
Ely, you like picking on girls do you. You like to be the big jock even with girls." "Oh shut-up
nerd. You don't know anything." Ely spat back. Sheldon raised his voice to a yell, and everyone in
the cafeteria turned to look. "NO, DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT-UP. You are nothing but a big bully,
and that ends now." "Oh and what are you going to do about it." Ely shouted back. "This."
Sheldon shoved Ely and put his leg under his left foot and made Ely fall right on his butt. Everyone
started laughing. Ely turned ten shades of red. That was the last time we talked, other than when he
apologized for being such a jerk.


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This article has 4 comments.


on Aug. 28 2009 at 11:26 am
Yeah, this is not the whole story, it's only about half of the story, but thanks everyone!

on Jul. 14 2009 at 1:47 pm
unearthlyhaphazard GOLD, N/A, New York
15 articles 0 photos 176 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."~W. Somerset Maugham

The characters are realistic, but try to add some more complexity to them, and like Madison_R said, the plot (and its development) is well done! I think you should change the title, though, because "The Unexpected Romance" doesn't really fit with your story, because Madison knew she liked Sheldon. Maybe something like "Consequences" or "The Jerk of the Year"? You know, relating to Ely. The beginning was my favorite; you can really tell how tense Madison is.

on Jul. 14 2009 at 3:48 am
biggerinfinities SILVER, Superior, Colorado
7 articles 0 photos 353 comments

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;We accept the love we think we deserve.&rdquo; <br /> ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

ummmm...... i have one question. why does the story change from 1st person change to third person, back to first person? Also, the sentence structure is a bit off.Using dialouge doesn't paint a picture in you mind in your mind like it should. You should include the surroundings. inside, and out. It needs more power to it too. You can take my advice or not, its your choice. Now enough constructive criticizum. i luv the prospect of the popular girl falling in luv with the nerdy guy. i'ts a neat prospect! p.s you should only imply that the girl is popular, don't say it. would you say "im the most popular girl in school!" even if you were?......

Madison_R said...
on Jul. 13 2009 at 5:13 pm
Madison_R, Carrollton, Texas
0 articles 3 photos 56 comments
Interesting story. You've got a nice solid plot to build off of, but my suggestion is cut back on dialogue and increase descriptions, thoughts, and other parts of the story that help the reader get better in touch with the characters. By only using dialogue, the characters don't seem very deep or well-rounded. Include more descriptive statements like the one you put in about the smell of the bakery- that was well-written.