Lost
Amanda
?Come on L uke, wrap it up. Can we
please go home? I ?m st arving.?
That was what I used t o say.
?Okay, calm down. I ?m nearly done.
Just five more minut es and I will
be rich.? That was how L uke used
t o answer.
And well, t hat was how we used t o
be.
L uke and I had been best friends
since 6t h grade. Back t hen he was
an adorable dwarf, short , chubby
and generous. I , on t he ot her hand,
happened t o come by a t it le at a
very early age. I was called
Amanda t he M ama. Compared t o
my peers, I looked old and mat ure.
I was much t aller t han he was, and
I looked st ronger t oo. Amanda
Shield was simply L uke?s prot ect or.
W hen we ent ered secondary school,
t hings got a bit more complicat ed.
L uke was now growing. His
handsome look and undeniable
charisma put every girl in t he
corridor
in
awe.
I,
well,
unfort unat ely, didn?t have t he look
Nancy Tran
I wished I could have. M y face was
covered
wit h
pimples
and
scrat ches. Every day I t urned up t o
class wit h a pair of dirt y glasses on
my nose. M y clot hes and t rainers
were all second- hand. I didn?t know
Gucci clot hes or Nike t rainers.
One t ime I was lat e for class. The
t eacher called out my name. No
answer. Two seconds lat er, I was
st omping int o class, pant ing. From
various direct ions in t he classroom,
kids
were
laughing
and
exchanging codified jokes wit h
each ot her, leaving me t o st and
awkwardly. Then, all of a sudden,
L uke st ood up and walked t owards
me. Wit h his t all slim figure, broad
shoulders and precious sparkling
eyes, L uke was t he prince of
Alfourous
Secondary
School.
Gent le and amiable as he always
was, he led me t o a seat t hat he had
saved for me earlier on. ?Good
morning blockhead, why can?t you
st op causing t rouble?? L uke smiled
warmly and whispered what he
considered words of wisdom t o my
ear. I replied, ?Sorry, I went t o bed
lat e last night ,? and t hen we
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carried on wit h class. No fuss,
not hing major; t hat was part of my
everyday rout ine.
Everyt hing pract ically st ayed t he
same unt il L uke and I t urned
sevent een. I was st ill clumsy and
ne rdy, but most import ant ly, st ill
t he best friend of L uke Blaze, t he
hot t est guy in school. From t hen
on, t he st ory became more about
L uke t han it was about me. M y
exist ence gradually faded int o t he
background. I was no longer t he
main charact er of t he drama.L uke
was smart , kind and hardworking,
a perfect guy who had all t he
charact erist ics one would expect
any gent leman t o have. A few
mont hs ago he got offered a
scholarship
by
Columbia
Universit y, my dream school. He
t urned down t he offer wit hout a
second t hought and t old people
he?d rat her finish high school first .
All along I knew t hat it was just
one of his t errible excuses t o put
off people?s curiosit y. Underneat h
t he surface, t here were ot her
reasons t hat I didn?t know yet .