The Big Three | Teen Ink

The Big Three MAG

July 29, 2009
By protagonist BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
protagonist BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

“What event triggered the Cuban missile crisis?”

My study buddy looked from his paper to me with those eyes – the eyes of Dorian Gray. “I guess Princeton Review doesn't see the irony of putting ‘trigger' and ‘missile crisis' in the same question,” he added.

I answered with a coquettish laugh and, of course, the correct answer: the Bay of Pigs invasion. I knew the answers to all these questions. It's not like I suggested the idea of a study session because I had difficulty remembering the events of the Kennedy administration.

“Who was the Soviet premier during the Cuban missile crisis?” His voice had a curious, musical ring to it like some character in a black and white movie you could never quite place.

“Khrushchev.” You would want to hear more of that voice … like the first ten seconds of a JFK speech, before the whole nasal rasp becomes too much.

“Spell Khrushchev.” Ha! My little Cape Cod golden boy was challenging me.

“The AP exam doesn't take off for spelling.” I looked him straight in the eyes – eyes that happened to be mere inches from mine. Thank you, Aphrodite, for making small tables at coffee houses everywhere.

“I want to see if you know it.”

I stared into the tangoing twirls of blue and silver in his eyes. They should have been strands of cotton candy, but something told me they were the current of an eddy waiting to pull me in. Once you're gone, you're gone.

“K.” But the whites of his eyes were crossed with little red veins.

“H.” Did he have trouble sleeping last night?

“R.” Or was he with her last night?

“U.” No, they broke up. He's single now, but blond boy's out of my league.

“S.” It's a challenge. Does that mean I should go for it?

“C.” I wouldn't know how.

“H.” Won't he just disappear from my life when the semester ends?

“E.” Not if I play this right.

“V.” What the hell, you only live once.

He stared at me for a moment, and I couldn't breathe but didn't care to; who needs oxygen when you have so much adrenalin in your veins there's barely room for blood?

“So close,” he said in a low voice. His voice is even better than his eyes. For a moment I wondered if he would lean in and kiss me. “But you forgot an H.”

Figures I would do something to ruin it. No kiss for me. I guess spelling the names of Soviet premiers isn't something guys consider a turn-on.

“This one's easy,” he said.

Something easy? It must not be kissing me.

“Name the Big Three.”

The Big Three … somehow my mind was clear on this one. It wasn't that the answer was clear, but my mind was clear like the kind of stream some obnoxiously perfect lyrical unicorn would drink from. For a mini-eternity I didn't think about the mounds of work I still had to do, the fact I was manipulating him to spend time with me, or those damn eyes. I thought of nothing … peace. The only three words that came to my head were “I love you.”

“Don't you know the Big Three?”

There were those eyes again. Stalin must have had captivating eyes, but in a different way. In these eyes there was concern … but only concern that I didn't know the answer. In them I saw his dreams, his amazement, his past loves, his cats … but was there anything for me?

“The Big Three are Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill.” With each name I couldn't help but feel my words betrayed them all. But it was the correct answer, and logically the only answer. Still, I couldn't look in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” My God, he was teasing me! Of all the questions he decided to make me second guess myself on, he had to pick this one.

Bastard. Blond handsome bastard. He was also playing me.

“Well, what other Big Three is there?” I asked in my most seductive voice. Those years of theater had to pay off sometime. I twirled a bit of curly hair around my finger. He loved my curly hair, so unlike his.

His eyes were staring into mine and I stared right back. Was I FDR and he Stalin, or the other way around? There was a flicker of something in those cotton-candy eyes and I knew he wasn't Stalin.

“I love you.” The words that slipped from his lips were barely audible.

“I love me too.” I bet no one had ever said that to a Kennedy before. But I hadn't won yet. “In fact, I love me almost as much as I love you.”


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This article has 149 comments.


on May. 26 2010 at 6:24 pm
xericaclairex BRONZE, Mahwah, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 3 comments
really adorable and I liked the ending(:

on May. 25 2010 at 7:05 pm
DayofRain50 GOLD, Robbinsville, New Jersey
14 articles 0 photos 48 comments
I loved it. The ending was great, but I really loved the spelling part of it. I thought it was realistic.

on May. 24 2010 at 9:52 pm
sparkofheart GOLD, Plymouth, Minnesota
16 articles 2 photos 253 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Always" - Severus Snape

awe cute! :)

on May. 24 2010 at 7:20 pm
ashkash95 SILVER, New Hyde Park, New York
9 articles 0 photos 99 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:8

i love it! Especially the ending! It's so sweetly hinted at but it was a bombshell at the same time!

HelloLove said...
on May. 24 2010 at 12:14 pm
HelloLove, Dexter, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at.
-Hatter
Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.
-Dutchess

this is really good! If only it would happen.

on May. 18 2010 at 9:19 pm
pretty__ SILVER, Menlo Park, California
7 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game

I love this!! It's amazing! Please look at mine!

on May. 15 2010 at 7:57 pm
TheColorRose BRONZE, Springfield, Illinois
3 articles 2 photos 25 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Live deliberately." Live infinitely.
-Thoreau

hahah i love it:)

ElisaH BRONZE said...
on May. 11 2010 at 6:01 pm
ElisaH BRONZE, Los Angeles, California
1 article 0 photos 5 comments
Awesome! So original and different. I just love this. The whole thing, together.

Kat2292 BRONZE said...
on May. 4 2010 at 11:59 am
Kat2292 BRONZE, Canfield, Ohio
3 articles 1 photo 62 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If at first you don't succeed, call it version 1.0." ~Mark
"Life's like a novel with the end ripped out." ~Rascal Flatts

I've never read a story like that one.  It's so realistic!  Awesome job!

on Apr. 14 2010 at 3:34 pm
SarClark BRONZE, NC, Connecticut
2 articles 0 photos 534 comments
:)              

on Apr. 11 2010 at 7:31 pm
superswim_19 PLATINUM, Grand Haven, Michigan
21 articles 25 photos 143 comments
I luv luv luuuuv this piece!  you are an amazing writer, don't ever stop! =D

on Apr. 11 2010 at 2:22 pm
LiveLife2theMax GOLD, Wicklow, Other
12 articles 4 photos 74 comments

Favorite Quote:
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
-Robert Frost

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.
-Kurt Cobain

oh my god. amazing :)

when she said "I Love me too." I was like oh c***, but i loved your last line. the ending was perfect.


on Apr. 10 2010 at 6:29 pm
Green8a8 SILVER, NY, New York
8 articles 1 photo 161 comments

Favorite Quote:
im the author of my life, unfortunately im writing in pen therefore i can't erase nothing about it.-by some crazy friend of mine

awwwww this was so cute i liked it no i loved it

on Apr. 10 2010 at 11:34 am
SmileyFace94 SILVER, Queens, New York
7 articles 0 photos 35 comments
I love this! i really hope you write more to this story

Julia_H SILVER said...
on Apr. 5 2010 at 4:13 pm
Julia_H SILVER, Merrimac, Massachusetts
6 articles 0 photos 26 comments
this was absolutely fantastic! your historic references are spot on - but I wish I had a blonde gorgeous bastard to help me study for my upcoming AP test... yarrrrrrrrrgh. this was unique, witty, and excellently written. fantastic!

on Mar. 20 2010 at 1:48 am
xoxoLissieM SILVER, Manila, Other
6 articles 0 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Stop acting dumb cause your usually the smart one and I'm the dumb one!"

i love it!! i luv everything 'bout it..although it kinda bored me at first (no offense) but i really luv it..its awesome!!!!

on Mar. 16 2010 at 12:48 am
francinejar SILVER, Chino Hills, California
7 articles 1 photo 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
God and the devil are raging inside me.

i love this please write more

fat albert said...
on Mar. 4 2010 at 6:09 pm
:) you dont likeit that we mess with you?

fat albert said...
on Mar. 4 2010 at 6:07 pm
we all really do like your story

on Feb. 26 2010 at 3:24 pm
fyreflies BRONZE, Randolph, Wisconsin
4 articles 0 photos 47 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." Doctor Suess
"Oh, of course it doesn't hurt to slide in softball." (before I tore up both knees and before I slapped that person)
"Stay with me here now/And never surrender" Skillet

i like it. very witty.