Ely and I met towards the end of Junior year in 2009 just after we both turned 17 in April. We both took A.P. Psychology during the same period. At first, we mostly just saw each other in the hallway on the way to class after lunch and Ely would play footsie with me using her steel-toe boots, or she'd poke me. Then I didn't see her for a little while, she was out of school.

She briefly returned to school when A.P. testing started, I was already sitting inside the testing room and I looked up when Ely opened the door. She came up to me and asked me for my phone. I watched her fail to put her number in my phone because it was an iPhone (first gen), so I helped her and she went off to her seat.

I didn't text her until a few weeks later. In fact, I didn't text her myself, our mutual friend Jackie from the same class took my phone and texted her. We had noticed Ely hadn't shown up to school for a while again. Ely replied and after Jackie messaged her to say she was handing the phone to me, we kept texting back and forth for days, seeing each other in class, talking more. Then she stopped coming to school again, and her texts stopped.

In the hallway on the way to AP Psyche, I got stuck behind this really slow guy, and I had a class to get to. Since I was a little shit, I kicked him with my boots a bit so he'd hurry up (lightly, I swear, it was mostly playful. Mostly.) Yeah, so my breath got caught in my throat when he turned around. After that, whenever I'd find myself behind him on the way to class, I'd playfully poke him with my boots or my fingers, and he'd poke me back along with this dazzling smile on his face. I couldn't help myself, I love his smile, so I did it every chance I got.

Then I got really sick and I couldn't go to school for most of the last two months of junior year. I was in and out of hospitals and seeing a team of doctors for various health issues that caught up with me right after I turned 17. AP testing started and I went back to school for a little bit for these exams or I'd end up in Summer school (spoiler alert: I ended up in Summer school).

When I walked into the testing room for AP Psyche, Chris was sitting in the front row playing on his iPhone (because he had the first one, of course). I walked right up to him and asked him for his phone so I could give him my number and 'cause I'm suave like that. I knew there was a chance I might miss more classes, and Summer was right around the corner.

Yeah, I failed really bad using his phone with a screen while mine still had regular clicky buttons (Nokia), so he had to help me. I walked over to my seat and he'd glance back at me every so often with that smile. We credit Jackie for getting us to actually talk. She's a mutual friend that knew both of us since we were 7 because all of us had been in the same schools since that age. Afterwards, Chris and I became friends and we'd joke around a lot in class. Then I got sick again and I was hospitalized for the second time, and I didn't get to finish the school year.

While I was in the hospital, I wasn't able to use my phone as often as I'd like, but my dad would keep me updated on when some friends would reach out. One of those days, he told me about a voicemail I'd gotten from a kid named Chris, and I listened to it.

I couldn't stop thinking about Ely, and I think it had been several days since I had last heard from her. So I called her and she didn't answer, so I left her a voicemail just to tell her that I'd been thinking about her and hoped I could talk to her again.

In his message, Chris spoke about how he had been worried about me since he hadn't seen me in class for a while again and I had been on his mind. I don't remember how many times I listened to that voicemail. And I was stunned that my dad hadn't deleted the voicemail either, let alone let me listen to it (he's overprotective).

I was hospitalized longer this time around, and once I was out, my parents and doctors agreed it was best to pull me out of classes for the remainder of the school year and see how I did in Summer school, which I kicked ass in, by the way.

When I was finally out of the hospital, it took me a few days to settle into a new routine at home. Once I was ready, I messaged Chris to say I was out of the hospital and that I'd gotten his voicemail, and that I'd been thinking of him too. The 24/7 texting started again.

The school year ended and I still hadn't heard back from Ely. Summer break started and still nothing. Then one day I get a text from her. She said she had been in the hospital and that she would be starting Summer school to make up for what she missed. She was happy that I called her and left her that voicemail. I felt happy and relieved to hear back from her. We talked a lot via text for several days, and then she invited me to her family's condo.

I asked Chris to come over to my home that first week of June, since I couldn't really go out much during that time. When he came over that weekend, I got to meet Shirley (his mom) for the first time as well, and I immediately busted out my baby album and showed them all my baby pictures. I don't know why I'm like this, please dont' ask me why.

Above is a picture of that day.

It was obvious to both of us right away that we weren't going to be just friends. I think we kissed the second time we saw each other which had been Father's Day. We went with our families to this lagoon and while we were swimming, I wanted to kiss her, but her dad wouldn't have been cool with that. Ely told me to meet her under the surface, and we had our first kiss under water. This is a picture she took that day with a quote she added from The Little Mermaid. Duck.

Ely's dad is a traditional man, so later that day when Ely privately told him that we wanted to enter into a relationship, her dad told her he wanted us to wait 3 weeks. So 3 weeks and a day later on July 13th, 2009, we all sat at Ely's family dinner table and I just turned to her dad and said "Can I date your daughter," and I guess out of nervousness I pointed at Ely and added "this daughter?" since she has a sister. Her dad starting cracking up and we got his okay.

The rest is history.

Chris and I didn't just start dating, we became best friends instantly. Talking all day into the night, seeing each other every chance we got. That Summer, Chris brought light into my life when I was going through a rough time with recovery while also undergoing various treatments and still going to Summer school. It was a dark time for me, and truth be told, I'm not quite sure how that Summer would have turned out if it hadn't been for his encouragement, support, love, and that dazzling smile. When things got really hard, Chris held my hand through it all and saw me for everything I was and could be, even when I couldn't see it for myself. I am eternally thankful to my lucky stars for bringing us together.

Chris, as Cynthia Go so sweetly put it,

"Till death do us part,

they say.

I say,

I will love you till this life to the next.

And if the next life won’t grace me with you,

I will still love you till the next one,

and the next, and the next,

Till death finally give up on us."

I love you to the moon and back.

Sincerely,

your Blue Star.