She was fifteen when James entered her life.
He wasn't a stranger.
He was someone she already knew from school—a familiar face who slowly became something much more.
At first, it was innocent.
They talked.
They laughed.
They teased each other.
Then the conversations became longer.
And eventually, James asked her to be his girlfriend.
She said yes.
She didn't know much about relationships.
She had never really understood what it meant to love someone romantically.
James seemed to know much more than she did.
He was patient with her at first.
He called constantly.
Sometimes she would count the missed calls and laugh.
Five.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Sometimes he called as many as seventeen times in one day.
She couldn't understand why someone could want to talk to her that much.
But she liked it.
For once, someone seemed eager to hear her voice.
Someone was looking for her.
Someone was choosing her.
And after everything she had experienced, that feeling was intoxicating.
James began teaching her things she knew nothing about.
Things about relationships.
Things about attraction.
Things she was too embarrassed to ask anyone else about.
She trusted him because she believed he cared about her.
He became her introduction to a world she had never understood.
She was curious, sometimes shy, sometimes confused.
Whenever she didn't understand something, James would explain it.
And because she was young and inexperienced, she believed much of what he told her.
She didn't yet know that love could come with manipulation.
She didn't know that someone could become your teacher and your heartbreak at the same time.
James also introduced her to new people and experiences.
Her world began expanding beyond her family and school.
For the first time, she had someone she could call mine.
Someone whose name could make her smile when she was having a difficult day.
Someone whose message could completely change her mood.
She didn't realize how much she was beginning to depend on that feeling.
At home, she felt misunderstood.
With James, she felt wanted.
That difference mattered.
Perhaps that was why she held onto him so tightly.
She wasn't simply falling for a boy.
She was falling for the feeling of finally being chosen.
And she didn't know that sometimes, when someone becomes your escape from pain, losing them can feel like losing your only safe place.
James would eventually teach her another painful lesson about love.
But that lesson was still waiting for her.
For now, she was fifteen.
And for the first time in a long time, she had someone who made her smile.
She thought she had finally found love.
She didn't know she had only just begun learning what love could cost.