Love Is Blind

Alyssa was fifteen at the time, attended a public high school and was one of the most popular girls in year nine. Every day she would hang around with her friends and many boys would ask to be her boyfriend. She turned them all down, though, just to be with the hottest boy in the year; Justin. The only problem was that she would never get the time or the courage to ask.

Ralph seemed to be the opposite of Alyssa; he was unpopular, with only one or two friends, despite his niceness. He had never had a girlfriend in his life, and nobody would ask him. There was one girl he liked very much, though, and this happened to be Alyssa. Not because of her popularity or her looks, but because of her personality; she was the nicest girl Ralph had ever met.

The fourteenth of February was quite cold for a summer’s day. The Monday was the day that Ralph planned to ask Alyssa to be his girlfriend if he could get a few minutes alone with her; boys would crowd around Alyssa like bees around a sweet drink. Despite the death timetable of Maths, Geography, Biology and History, that day could be the best day ever for Ralph.

All day Ralph continued to look over at Alyssa while he could to see if there weren’t any boys crowding around her. His luck was poor, though, and he didn’t see her without at least one boy with her. After school she will be alone. Ralph told himself. And he was hoping that he was right.

The day went slowly for Ralph, who was very impatient.

“Do you have a valentine, Ralph?” Sophie asked at lunchtime.

“No,” Ralph replied, “but I plan to have one before I get home.” There was no point of Ralph asking if she had one; he knew that she and Ben had been together since August the previous year. Being around them made him feel lonelier then he already was, and made him want Alyssa to be his even more.

Although there was only one class, History, left in the day, it seemed to go extremely slowly. Alyssa was in his class, luckily enough, so he could see her for the rest of the day; Alyssa’s locker was only three away, so this would give him a chance to ask if all of the other boys had given up.

***

At the end of the day, there was still no luck; boys were still asking Alyssa out. All but the one she wanted were crowding around her.

Ralph followed Alyssa as she walked home. This worked perfectly as his house was in the same direction. About five minutes after all of her friends had left her, Ralph called out her name. Alyssa turned around, scowling at him.

“What do you want?” she asked as though she were a queen and he was just a peasant.

“I wanted to say hi,” Ralph began. Unfortunately for him, though, Alyssa didn’t allow him to finish.

“Is that all?” she asked, “don’t waste my time.”

“No, that’s not all,” Ralph told her.

“Well, tell me what you want then leave me alone!”

“I want you to be my girlfriend,” he told her plainly, and laughed.

“You?” she asked, “seriously? Why would I want to go out with somebody like you? You make all of those other boys seem so much better, but there is only one person for me, so leave me alone and just go home!” Ralph, knowing who this was, laughed.

“Who? Justin?” Alyssa nodded, but didn’t look at Ralph, “you idiot. You only like people because of their looks, not who they truly are. For all you know, Justin could be some man whore that wants to do as many girls as he can in his lifetime. He mightn’t be nice at all. Love is blind; it doesn’t matter what somebody looks like, it only matters about their personality. Somebody could be the ugliest person you’ve ever seen, yet they may still be your true love. Think about it, Alyssa, think about how much of an idiot you’ve been.” And, with that, Ralph walked off, hoping he had taught Alyssa a lesson.

The same day, Ralph got on the computer and opened the instant messenger. Noticing that he had one new request, he added the person, knowing that it would only be somebody from school. He noticed, when he had accepted it, that it was Alyssa.

“Hi,” Alyssa typed to Ralph.

“What?” he wrote back.

“I just wanted to tell you that you have taught me something and, because of this, I wouldn’t mind going out with you.”

“Are you joking?”

“No, I swear on my life that I’m not joking.”

Ralph smiled; not only did he have a girlfriend, but he had taught somebody a lesson. And, because this person was the most popular girl in the year, he was sure that he had taught many people a lesson.

Love is blind.