No Matter What (An Original Story)

Quinntessa McCormack is, as everyone says, perfect. She has perfect grades, a wonderful, rich family who loves her, plenty of friends, both real and fake, and an entourage who follows her constantly. She has every guy falling at her feet, and girls willing to obey her every whim. Most of all, she has a powerful essence that can make even the school principal buckle under her glare. And I, Tommy Tyrave, have been her friend since preschool.

We used to be really close. Then Mr. Jeff "Jock" Healde swooped in an grabbed Tessa right out from under my nose in 8th grade. The truth is I have been completely in love with her since the first day we met. And I still haven't gotten up the courage to tell her, even 13 years later. Sometimes she'll wave to me when she passes my locker. Usually I'll just stand there dumbly until my best friend, Joey Western, comes over and slams my locker shut.

At my school, we have two, very clear, groups. The Pops and the NSMs. NSM stands for Not So Much. I, as you could probably tell, am a NSM. And Tessa is a Pop. In 8th grade, I came so close to asking Tessa if she wanted to go to the semi-formal dance with me.
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Flashback to 8th grade

"Joey. I'm gonna ask her to the dance." Joey's nose was buried in a book.
"Cool, dude." I stared across the hall at Tessa.
"You really think I should?" Joey nodded his head.
"Definitely. Jumping off a bridge sounds awesome." I turned to him.
"Dude. Focus!" I practically yelled. Joey opened his mouth to say something. Suddenly, his eyes grew as big as fishbowls.
"Here she comes, dude. Good luck." He took off. Well, at least he had been listening to me. Tessa ran up to me.
"Tommy. I have something I want to tell you. It's kinda personal." I gulped. 'Don't get your hopes up.' I thought.
"Cool. What is it?" Tessa dropped her gaze.
"Ummm...I was hoping we could go somewhere more, you know, private?" I nodded quickly.
"Okay." We headed into a deserted classroom.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you." Tessa began.
"Me too." I said.
"Jeff Healde asked me to go to the semi-formal with me! And I said yes!" Her voice rose with excitment. My stomach turned into a black hole. I forced a smile on my face.
"Really? That's - that's just fantastic." I mumbled. She looked puzzled.
"Aren't you happy for me?" I nodded. How could she not know what I was feeling? We had watched plenty of movies where this exact thing had happened. She probably knew what I was feeling and didn't even care.
"I should go." I said quickly, as I turned and practically ran away. I had never felt so humiliated. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid.' I thought. 'Way to think that she actually liked you that way. I'm such an idiot.' I think she yelled something, but I was too busy screaming at myself to hear her.

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That was 3 years ago. We barely have talked since. My mom keeps telling me I should go over and try to fix things but I can't face her. She's a Pop and I'm a NSM. She'd probably call the SWAT team if I showed up on her doorstep. Or just karate kick me in the chest so hard that I'd become paralyzed for life. Or take out her own gun and shoot me herself. Or something like that. Like I said, she's good at everything.