The Pursuit | Teen Ink

The Pursuit

January 8, 2008
By Anonymous

It was Monday. It sure felt like Monday. Brielle forgot her math homework on the dining room table. Just her luck She wore mismatched socks. One was black, one blue. Her hair was massacred by the wind. Although the intense arguments with her boyfriend were nothing new, that didn’t help her Monday. For the third time this week Brielle slammed her car door shut and sped away from Jason’s house. “You’re such a B****!” was all she could hear as she backed out of the gravel driveway. The screaming and pointing-of-fingers got to be too much to handle again. Brielle left with anger, she left pissed. Soon, that will suppress, Brielle will be back. Jason knew that. She always came back. That is the tiniest insight to how things were for her everyday.

Brielle is a different name. “Brielle” is not very common. She is tall for a girl, five feet, seven inches. Brown, bouncy hair, that falls upon her shoulders. Bright, sea green eyes that sparkle when hit by the sunlight, but are hidden at times by her endless light brown eyelashes. Fifteen years young. She was a troublemaker early on but straightened up after a few unmentionable issues. Brielle had an unbelievable relationship with her mom. Her mom was everything to her. Brielle was a very caring girl with love for everyone.

Jason was an unruly, sixteen-year old without a care in the world. He had an amazing set of pale blue eyes, with which he could give any innocent teenage girl the chills. He also had six traffic violation tickets. He was a troublemaker early on, that didn’t ever seem to pass along with the years. Jason was tall, with an extreme ‘tough guy’ appearance. His ‘bad boy’ lifestyle was independent and careless. Jason did what he wanted when he wanted, and no one would ever have an opportunity to change that. The rebel was a true ‘softy’ on the inside, but no one was to know anything about that.

On a freezing day in January, Brielle went for a walk around her neighborhood. She felt as though she was going insane inside the house. Her sister felt that it was the perfect time to practice making screeching noises out of her recorder, and her mom was fixing up a multi-bulleted list of lazy day chores. Just in case someone was bored. Brielle had to get out of there quickly. She was fifteen and the glorious day she would turn sixteen and finally obtained her keys and her long-awaited “freedom” seemed light years away. So, if she needed to be out on her own, then battling through the dirty slush and blistering thirty-degree wind was the only way to accomplish that. Someone else was walking down the icy road. . He was sixteen, and he drove. To Brielle, that meant he could drive her around. Aside from her moment of selfishness, the two met. That chilly day is where it all began…


A month later, smiles and laughs, hugs and kisses. They were inseparable. They always did “everything” together; homework, dinner, chores. Every night they were going to a movie, or out to eat, bowling, and renting movies. At the time, they were happy.

Eventually, things did go downhill. There was one flaw that had finally revealed itself in this ‘perfect relationship’. The one flaw belonged to Jason. That one flaw was lying. It seemed as though he could not help but to lie. It wasn’t about anything big; it would be as small as something involving his past, his day, or even what he ate. Things such as, “When I went to Japan with my Dojo the people there were shocked at how well I could support my body with my fingertips”. Honestly, why would anyone have a desire to lie about something so ridiculous? Brielle knew Jason had never been to Japan.

Brielle convinced herself time and time again that this ‘problem’, was simply ‘a phase’. A phase that would pass. Brielle had a severe case of D-E-N-I-A-L. Soon enough, she began accepting the pathetic lies, Brielle would pretend like he was telling the truth. She was only hurting herself. She began lying to herself and others to back up his off-the-wall stories, so that others wouldn’t recognize this flaw. “Oh yeah, I guess his fingers are strong, the people there thought it was the coolest thing ever.” What she didn’t realize was this only compromised her character as well.

Soon, she realized that the lying phase would not blow over, it was there to stay. She had to do something about that. Brielle told Jason that they needed to “talk”. Brielle explained to Jason that things needed to change; A.S.A.P. Brielle was tired of Jason’s lying. Brielle was sick of lying to others for him. She was straight-forward and serious as she explained her unhappiness with the situation. “I just feel that I deserve to be in an honest, truthful relationship. That’s all I’m asking J”. This angered Jason. Jason didn’t want anything to change; he was not going to be told how to act or what to do. He lied to Brielle, telling her he felt horrible about the issue and things would be better than they’ve ever been. “I am sorry sweetheart, I will change. I promise you babe, this conversation won’t be repeated. I love you”, Jason pleaded. Brielle was gullible, and Jason was just “too good” at what he does. She fell hard, like a rock, for that lie, and trusted that promise. Big mistake.

Jason was a hard-headed boy. He kept lying and continuously got caught. Every time, he would lie himself right out of it. “I love you baby, I am sorry, I promise it won’t happen again. Let me make it up to you”. Brielle was a dumb-witted, emotional girl. She would be devastated every time but permitted the lies, fights, and tears to continue. She allowed it all to keep happening because she was in love. She was in love with a liar, a skilled liar. She loved her liar, and didn’t want to start over with a new person. So the lies, fights, and tears continued for a long time.

One day, things were undeniable. Jason had been really mean to Brielle. “You are just an idiot, how can someone be so dumb, Brielle? What the hell is your issue?”, Jason yelled. She thought about the last few months, only to realize Jason had been mean a lot lately. He was selfish and rude .He was careless and angered. Calling her degrading names, such as, “idiot”, “moron”, “stupid”, and “dumb”. Brielle knew this wasn’t fair, knew that she didn’t deserve this. Brielle wanted love. Brielle yearned for a fair relationship. Brielle needed respect. Brielle had to be happy. Don’t I deserve better than this?

It hit her like a pound of bricks, she knew the two years spent with that tasteless, pathological lying child had been a waste of her valuable teenage years; she could no longer permit herself to stay with him. She thought of how she would break away from him. It seemed like it would be so easy. Clean break, crush him and just walk away, walk away fast and don’t look back. In her mind, she was done. In her mind, she had already moved on. I want nothing to do with Jason. I want to be happy. I want to be with someone who will treat me like their girlfriend, not their mud-covered, doormat. She told Jason she couldn’t be unhappy any longer. She couldn’t allow herself to be with him. She was stern and forceful. She thought it went well, he cried and she laughed. She walked away assuming she was done and ready to move on. She didn’t look back... Brielle was not readily prepared for what was to happen next.
We already know how Jason is this “amazing liar” who always got Brielle to forget every upset feeling towards him and flash her beautiful smile again. Jason left Brielle alone all night. No two hour long phone calls begging for her back, no six-paged pleads in an email. Brielle was confident that he was ready to move on as well. I’m finally free to discover myself.
Brielle, yet again, because she isn’t the “brightest”, was incorrect. Jason strolled into school the next day with pretty, pink flowers, Lipton green tea, and Tropical Skittles. Brielle was flattered, but she wasn’t that brainless. “Are you kidding me Jason? I told you we were over; there is no trying to just buy me back”. He wrote her sorrow-filled notes every hour, escorted her to every class, “come on”…

This act continued for some time. Brielle thought that Jason “finally changed”. After all, he was her first love; why not give it one last chance? “Okay Jason, this is the final time we are going to try this, no more chances, this is it”.

One week later… Instant replay of what happened before. It was no surprise to anyone when the cycle of breaking up, and believing Jason had “changed” staggered on for some time. Her friends and family repeatedly tried putting some sense into her. She defended Jason and her decisions. “I really love him; he just has a difficult time showing it back. He hasn’t been lying as much lately”.

Two sad years from the frigid day in January, Brielle got smart. No more fights, no more lies, and no more tears. Brielle’s single goal was to achieve happiness in her life. It was time that she took the steps to reach her happiness. There was also another factor weighing her scale.

He’s a cute boy. He was tall, nice, and most importantly, honest. He gave Brielle the long-needed courage she needed to smarten up. He helped her realize that happiness in another’s eyes is possible. There was a better option right in front of her face.

A few weeks of repeatedly rejecting phone calls, avoidance in the school hallways, and constantly spending time with the new “beau” helped Jason get the hint. Brielle ignored his corny gestures and long notes. The gifts meant nothing to her. She could finally turn down his gorgeous puppy dog eyes, and laugh at his lies.
Brielle didn’t go back to Jason. She never went back. She never turned around, not even for a glimpse of her past. Her future became important.


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