Sitting on a wooden chair and writing on her desk was a teenage girl named Martha. She was the type of girl who many people liked to call as a 'Goody-two-shoes' type, because she loved being the teacher's pet. Her grades were up, she had friends, and was even part of the Supreme Student Council.
One thing that Martha disliked was a boy in her class named Cietes, he was from Greece, thus the name, and was always doing things that angered Martha to the core.
When Cietes moved into America from his homeland chaos had begun to run around in Martha's world, and this was since sixth grade. For some reason, the subject of Cietes' delinquency was always directed at her.
Martha had first acquainted herself with Cietes when she had caught him spraying a graffiti of a Unicorn on her locker door, and what's worse was that the words 'Goody-two-shoes Martha' was right next to it.
Good things come with every bad thing that Cietes does though, like the bracelets that she finds in the crime scene that comes with a beautifully made letter. Martha guessed that it was the closest thing that she could come to a love life.
She had been given so many bracelets over the years that there was more than enough to cover all of her arms, and so Martha had a special box to put the excess amount. It was strange to see a girl wearing bracelets as sleeves though, but the love sick girl did not mind.
Every time Martha stared at the bracelets on her arms it would give her a warm feeling in her chest, and that was more than enough to keep her happy.
When Martha was walking to school she saw a bleached hair boy napping near the fields with a black cap on his eyes, and she knew instantly that it was Cietes. Was he going to skip school again? Oh no he won't.
With her blue striped sneakers Martha stomped her way towards Cietes, and greeted him with a nice swift kick to his legs. Imagine his surprise.
The sudden pain of injury and the sunlight invading his eyes, "Thee Mou!" this was Greek for Oh my God, when he caught sight of Martha his face turned red perhaps because of anger, "M-Martha? Ti Kaneis edo kai ti einai to provlima sas?!" Translation: M-Martha? What are you doing here and what is your problem?!
Martha understood what he said because there was a Greek subject in her school, one that Cietes obviously excelled in, "Don't go speaking that way to me, Cietes, I'm not going to let you skip school again."
There was a slight accent to his voice whenever he spoke in English, "What's got your underwear in a twist, Martha? I see you're still wearing those bracelets." there was a sort of shine in Cietes' eyes whenever he saw Martha's special accessory, and she supposed it was caused by his sick sense of humor.
"You're toast, Cietes, by me." Martha grabbed his hand and started to drag her to school, "Now come on." she did not notice that blush that covered his cheeks when her hands made contact with his.
With Martha's hand gripped firmly on his wrist they walked to school, both as silent as a cat. Until Cietes broke the silence, "How long are you going to be wearing those?" he asked with his eyes on her arms.
Curiosity went through her feelings when Martha heard that question, "Why would you ask that?" it was strange for him to actually make a conversation with her, and it made her drop his hand.
Looking away, Cietes used his freed hand to rub the back of his neck, "Well, you must really like the person who gave them to you... that's what I was thinking."
"How do you know that somebody gave them to me? I never told anyone that." Martha said shocked, how did her secret become known to someone like him?
He laughed, "Oh come on, Marty!"
This was another thing that surprised her, because the only one that knew about that name was her secret love, "What are you trying to say, Cietes?" she asked, if he was about to drop a bomb on her he might as well do it, "No games."
Cietes smirked and crossed his arms, "You are slow, I've been sending you hints through the letters for years now and even gave you presents," he said gesturing to the bracelets that now resembled a sleeve, "You still haven't figured it out."
No way, "You're the one that has been giving me the letters?" she felt like a total idiot, everything had already started to come together.
Martha never wanted to find out who her secret love was because she feared that if she did, it would turn out that it was a prank all along. Her light would be gone, and so would the warm feeling she would get whenever she read a new letter.
Happiness with a mixture of smug was in the Greek boy's face expression, "Now that you know, we can actually be together." he took her hand and held it in his own.
Betrayal stabbed her in the heart, was all of this just a lie? "Don't mess with me, Cietes! Is this just a joke to you? After years of teasing me you decided to make one last prank before graduation? This isn't funny!" it was just cruel, what she had always feared was actually true.
"What?" before Martha was able to back away from him, Cietes stopped her, "This isn't something that was meant to hurt you, I really do have feelings for you! All those letters I sent you, do you think that those words could have been faked?"
"Words are just words!" this situation was not something she was able to predict, Martha had just expected a normal day, "Words can either be fake or true, for all I know you're actually laughing in the inside. Why did you choose to interact with me through them in the first place when you could have just talked to me?" she was almost yelling now, after all she had just discovered that her anonymous love had been her long time bully.
A red hue covered Cietes' cheeks, one that made Martha wonder, as he started to stammer, "N-no real reason actually, I, um, j-just thought it was, like, uh, um, style, you know?"
His reaction was a bit unexpected, but it was actually quite entertaining, "Are you sure?" at the moment, a good laugh was needed, "Tell me the truth or I won't believe you."
"What! That's not fair!" Cietes tried to object, until he saw Martha's smiling face, "Fine... I was... too-" he made a face that looked as if he was in pain, "SHY, to talk to you."
Martha wasn't able to hold it in, and so she laughed, "Shy? Cietes Eidos Onoma, too shy to approach a girl he liked? Hahah!" the boy just stayed silent with puffy red cheeks, embarrassed, "So, what made you gain the courage to talk to me?"
"I didn't want to continue without you knowing about my existence... I wanted you to notice me." he resumed their previous position, but this time Martha did not resist, "Technically I have been courting you for like... five, seven, I dunno years, and that is an effort right? I can see that you really liked my letters, and so here is another one." he took out an envelope hidden in his jacket and handed it to her.
She looked into his genuine eyes, that held a fear of being rejected, and looked down onto the paper in her hand. Slowly, she opened it.
Dear Martha,
For a long time now I've loved you, but how can it be true love if you don't know who I am? It's not fair for you when I know who I love but you do not, and so I've decided today is the day I ask you something I've been wanting to ask since I was twelve.
Will you be my girlfriend?
I'm pretty sure you have already guessed this question, my dear Marty :)
Just like his past letters, this made Martha smile, and the warm feeling came back into her heart, "Who knew you had such nice handwriting." she said with a giggle.
"Hehe..." with his hands holding hers close, he asked again, "So? What do you think? Will you be my girlfriend?" him asking it in real life had more feeling, and it just made her heart skip a beat.
It was silent for a few seconds and Cietes almost thought that she was going to say no, until Martha gave him a surprise hug, "The answer is an obvious YES!"
and just like that a new love story began.
They graduated but they did not go to the same college, but that never stopped them from loving each other. Letters became a tradition. But instead of it just being Cietes sending letters, Martha had started to sending her own to him.
THE END
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