Eric and Jenna dated for a year, an entire year, until he had to move away again.

I wasn't happy about it, but I acted like it, for Jenna, because I could see she really did care for him.

I would have told her after he left, but during that year I had lost the courage I tried so hard to gain.

We still had most of the same classes together, I still used the classes we didn't to think.

She started dating others, but I tried not to be bothered by it. I was asked a few times myself, but I turned them down.

One day, Jenna came to school crying. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"My" - she inhaled shakily - "mom was in a car crash, she's in the hospital." She let out a sob and ran to me. She buried her face in my chest as she said, "They're not sure if she's gonna make it."

I put my arms around her, trying to calm her. "Don't worry, Jenna, it's gonna be alright."

"You're right," she said as she pulled away. She wiped her face with her hands as she repeated, "You're right."

"Jenna, will you be able to make it through? I'm sure the school will understand if you miss today."

She shook her head 'no' and started crying again.

So I took her to the main office and explained the situation. They said it was alright for her to stay home. Jenna asked them if I could stay with her, and they said sure. Since her father was at work and her mother was in the hospital, one of our teachers was nice enough to drive us home (it was his planning period.)

For the rest of the day, we watched movies. By the end of the school day, we were laying next to each other on the couch watching Halloween.

This is the time, I thought to myself. Tell her now.

How? How am I supposed to tell her?

Tell her now, this could be your last chance!

"Jenna," I said.

She turned to me, "What do you want?" She grinned, as if to let me know she didn't mean that in a hateful way.

"I need to tell you something. It's kind of important."