Ah, my first love...or so I thought at the time. Justin and I met when I was 13 and in the 8th grade, he was a year and a half older and in the 9th grade. Our first "date" was meeting at the mall with some friends and walking around...how romantic, lol. I really thought he was something, we spent a lot of time together and when we weren't together we were on the phone talking. Typical early teen "love." Our first kiss was at the Ft. Worth Zoo in front of the gorillas, again, how romantic, right?
Justin and I ended up dating until the second half of my junior year in high school, almost 4 years. If you had known me in high school I would have sworn to you that he and I were going to get married. I was head over heels in love with him and couldn't imagine my life without him.
Our relationship took a turn for the worst in the last year. Justin had quite the temper and it got a little out of control at times. I never told anyone about this and never thought much of it, I guess I was more interested in staying in a relationship than being safe. One day it all went a little too far. Justin and I were in the mist of a breakup, not really together, but not totally broken up either. I don't remember what set off this whole chain of events, I just remember the events that followed.
I came out of my last class one afternoon and Justin was waiting out in the hall for me. I tried to ignore him and walk past him but he grabbed my arm and told me he wanted to talk, that he would drive me home. I tried to argue but I could tell he was going to make a scene if I did so I just went with him. I told him we could talk on the way but I wanted him to take me straight home. We get in the car and instead of heading to my house he drives to his. When we get there I refuse to get out of the car. He ends up taking my purse and backpack to try and get me out of the car, which works because I had lots of school papers I didn't want messed up. Long story short, I tried to get the backpack back from him which resulted in my shirt being torn, me being slapped across the face, my arm being bitten (yes, bitten), and me hit a few other times. I didn't get the bag back. I did however manage to get my purse which had my cell phone in it. I went outside in the front yard (where people could see me so I knew he wouldn't do anything), called my mom at work, and asked her to come get me. I didn't tell her at the time what happened but I was crying so she knew I was upset. I sat outside and waited for my mom to get there.
I have NEVER seen my mother so upset as she was when she pulled up and saw me sitting in the yard, shirt ripped and crying. I literally thought my mom was going to kill him. Lucky for him, my dad was out of the country on business and my brother was in Korea at the time with the Army so they couldn't do anything. My mom took me home and looked me over, asked what happened, and I told her everything. She called Justin's mom (they worked together), told her what happened, and told her we were going to the police. We went to the police station to file a report. The police weren't much help. I had bite marks on my arm and bruises multiple other places, along with my ripped shirt. The police said since I didn't actually bleed (he never broke the skin) that they couldn't press any abuse charges. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous. They ended up doing some sort of charges but I don't remember what they were. Justin had to go to court and he was given a fine.
That is how it ended with my first love. About a week after all this, he had a new girlfriend. I was heartbroken for a long time after this. I was still in love with him but knew I could never be with him.
A lot has changed since then. Justin and I got back in contact with each other while I was a freshman in college (we hadn't seen each other in over a year since he was older and graduated a year before me). We thought about dating again but decided it probably wasn't a good idea and decided to just remain friends. He apologized for everything that happened and I truly believe he meant it and had changed. Justin and I are still in contact with each other. We are both happily married and he has a beautiful little girl.
My first love definitely had it's ups and downs but through the whole ordeal I learned how important it is to love yourself and stand up for yourself. While I'm sad things happened the way they did, I'm glad that in the end everything worked out and we both came out better people.
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