Westfield | Teen Ink

Westfield

May 9, 2017
By Jaycie.Bussell47 BRONZE, Olympia, Kentucky
Jaycie.Bussell47 BRONZE, Olympia, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

It was my first day in the town of Westfield. Little did I know, it would be one of the most interesting days of my life, even though it didn’t start out so great.
I was getting some coffee, about to explore the town, and then it happened. My caramel frappuccino went flying out of my hand. I had bumped into a man around my age. He had brown-grayish hair that was curly and messy in a good way, was tall, had minty blue eyes, and had a sharp jawbone. He apologized, offered to pay for a new coffee, and introduced himself to me. His name was Grayson, but I later called him Gray for short. He asked me if I was new to Westfield and I replied with “Yeah, i’m going to be a freshmen at Westfield college and thought i should come here early and check it out.”
He asked me”Would you like a tour? I mean i know we don’t know each other that much, but i would like to make up for the coffee.” He had lived in Westfield for a long time and knew a lot about the town. I accepted his invitation and we went to our first destination, the library. On our way, Gray told me about himself. He had gotten a scholarship to attend this school, which I had also. He said he had to go in for an interview, glad I didn’t have to, i’m not good with that type of thing. He had one little sister just like me. We talked about how annoying they were, but how we still loved them no matter how annoying they were.
We finally made it to the library and he led me around and showed me where all the sections were. The last section was mystery, my favorite. I told him the name of my favorite book and he said,
“No way! That’s my favorite too!”
Then, at the same time, we both said, “I love the part when they literally fall, in love!”
A split second after we said that, the librarian shushed us. Gray whispers, “Susan,” as he rolled his eyes. On the way to our next stop, he explained how Susan had hated him from the first moment he walked in the library, because of the “little”, prank he had pulled on her. Next on our adventure he took me to see Westfield's Courthouse, which looked fairly old but well preserved. Gray was telling me a story from when he was little and how he used to ride his bike up and down the streets and when he got too close to her flowers Ms. Paterson, (who he called Granny Paterson behind her back, never to her face because he as scared of what she would say) would yell at him. She still hates him for running over one of her hibiscus.
For the second time that day, I had  bumped into another person. Ashton was his name and he was also going to Westfield College, just like Gray and I. Ashton and Gray seemed like they knew each other, but didn’t speak besides “Hey Grayson, haven’t seen you in a while.” From Ashton
And the “Hey Ashton.” Said sternly by Gray. It didn’t seem like they liked each other very much. Ashton had dark brown hair, was naturally tan, had violet eyes, was tall, had good cheekbones, and was muscular. Kinda cute. He gave me his number and told me to call him if I needed to know where any classes were. When I asked Gray questions about Ashton, he answered with the minimum answer like yes or no, no specifics, or acted like he didn't hear me, but I know he did. 
The first day of school was amazing, especially because of the tour Gray gave me, I knew where everything was and who some people were. I met up with Gray at lunch and we talked for a little bit until he suddenly got up and said he had to go. Then right after Gray had left Ashton suddenly sat down and said, “Hey Liza!”
I replied with a, “Hey Ash!”
He said, “Looks like we both got nicknames now.” We talked till the end of lunch. When I was walking to my dorm, someone tapped me on the shoulder. She asked me where the C 47 dorm was.
I replied with, “Harper?”
She asked, “How do you know my name?”
“ I’m Eliza we’re roommates.” I said. I helped Harper unpack her stuff, we talked while unpacking and we had a lot of things in common. We had gotten along quite well. Harper was from Australia. Her accent was so cute  I smiled every time she talked. I knew we were going to be best friends from the second she talked with her Aussie accent.
Weeks later in the Library
Gray met me in the library, just like we did every Monday. When I walked in, he looked like he was worried about something, I could see it on his face. I asked him what he was wrong and he said, “Nothing.”
Which I knew he was lying, I had never seen him this worried, not even when they said there were going to be midterms. We talked quietly among ourselves for a while then suddenly he said, “I need to tell you something important.” I knew there had to be something wrong, and I was right.
I replied with, “Okay,” and he immediately began to speak.
“I don’t want you hanging out with Ashton. Me and him have a past and not a good one.” He looked at me for a response and a million questions formed in my head.
The only one that came out was, “What happened?” He spoke but what he said didn’t answer my question. I repeated myself, but he never answered it. I quickly grabbed my books and  stuffed them in my bag and said “If you’re not going to tell me what happened then i’ll find out myself.”. I needed to get to the bottom of this, so I texted Ash to meet e in the study hall.
When I met with Ash, I immediately got to the point. I asked him, “What happened between you and Gray?”
He said, “It’s a long story.”
I replied with a stern, “I have time.”
He told me the whole thing. After he was done, I said, “I can’t believe that Gray did that! And he blamed it all on you? That’s why he didn’t want to tell me. Ugh!”
He replied with a raise of the shoulders and said, “Yep, but I forgive him. He doesn’t seem to want to do the same though.” I told him I better get off to class but, that wasn’t where I was going.
“Hey Gray,” I said in quietly.
“Are you mad at me, Liza?” He asked.
I began to speak. “If what Ash told me was true, yes I am mad at you.” He told me it wasn’t what really happened,  but wouldn’t tell me what had happened and I needed something, some story even if it was the short one.. Then I bursted, “If you won’t tell me the truth then I’ can’t trust your word!” He was silent. “Goodbye Grayson.” I told him angrily as I shoved my belongings into my bag.
The next day, Gray blew up my phone with so many messages I put him on silent. I tried my best to avoid him, but it wasn’t easy, we had a lo of classes together. Later that day, Ash asked me if I wanted to do something fun to get this “situation” out of my mind. He asked me to go to a party on Friday night, and told me that it would be fun and that I didn’t have to decide untill Friday. It was Thursday! I was so stressed out with the things that had happened in the past few days, I made the impulsive decision to go. 
On Friday night he came and picked me up. I was shaking with nerves. When we had gotten there he stayed with me until this other girl came over and talked to her. She walked over and said “Hey Ashton.”
He replied with a flirtatious “Hey Jenna.”
The way he had said her name lit a fire in me. He told me he would stay with me all night, but instead he was with her. The worst part was that she was pretty, she had long blond hair and eyes that looked like the shallow part of the ocean. Every second that I stayed at the party I got angrier and angrier. Then, he crossed the line when she spilled his drink on me and didn’t even apologize, she actually said “Excuse you!” And Ashton didn’t even back me up.
“Hey,” I say while talking on the phone.
Gray responds with, “Are you okay? It’s two o'clock.” I told him everything and then he came and picked me up. I thought he was going to say something like, “I told you so,” or, “You should have listened to me.” Surprisingly, he didn’t say anything even remotely close to that. He was actually very comforting and made me feel a lot better. He even walked to my dorm.
When we were at my dorm, I started crying and he asked me, “Why?”
“I just don’t get why I believed him and not you. I’m an idiot,” I said.
He gently replied with, “You’re not an idiot, this is why I didn’t want to tell you the story, I thought you would think i was an idiot for believing him. I took all of this advice from him about this girl I really liked in high school and turns out she had liked me back. He had acted as my friend, he was actually telling me all the wrong things because he liked her too. She’s hated me since. It took me awhile to get over her, but I eventually did.” I was so stunned I didn’t know what to say and then he took the words out of my mouth. “I’m glad that happened though, because if that didn’t happen I probably wouldn’t have met you.” I look up from the ground and meet his eyes. He slowly steps towards me and before I knew it, his lips met mine. I felt as if I was floating. We said our sweet goodbyes even though we both didn’t want to say goodbye and I went to my dorm.
Harper was smiling standing beside the door and she said “Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I heard you coming, so i went  to the door, heard Gray’s voice and may have listened. We talked about it for the rest of the night until we both fell asleep.
On Monday, I met Gray in the library and brought Harper with me to meet him because she had begged to meet him after last night. We talked for awhile and then Harper said, “We should do something to make Ashton stop his ways.” We immediately got to making a plan. I texted Ashton, and told him to meet me in the mess hall. I knew he didn’t like poems that much so it would be hard to get him to go with me to poem telling night at the cafe on campus.
“Harper, did you write the story?” I ask her.
“Yep,” She quickly responded with.
“Then we’re all set.” I said. That night Ashton and I met at the cafe and got coffee and donuts. A few people read before the real show happens.
Harper began, “There once was a boy who told lots of lies, one who lot’s absolutely despised. The way he looked in her eyes, she could not see through the lies. Many times he has done this, when all he wanted was a kiss. Honesty is what he may lack. This one’s for you, Ashton. Payback.” She had went on and told the true story in poem form. Ashton’s face was priceless, we had done it. He actually looked like he felt bad for his actions. Then, he looked around and saw all of his friends and ran. I didn’t even bother chasing him. I had already had done my job. 
A few weeks later, Ashton hadn’t talked to me since the incident. Me and Gray are going on our first date today. He said that it was a surprise. He came and picked me up at seven at night and blindfolded me. When we got there he un blindfolded me and we were at the Planetarium, I had always wanted to go there! He led me to a seat and Saturn and Jupiter came across the ceiling and the show had begun. That was the best thirty minutes of my life. Afterwards, we went on another adventure to Malones!
“I have always wanted to here! My mom would never let me go here because it was too expensive.” I said.
Gray spoke, “That’s exactly why I took you here.” After dinner, when we were watching the sunset, Gray spoke with a nervous tent, “The reason I wanted to take you on this date was because I wanted to ask you something. Will you be my girlfriend?”
I didn’t know what to say but then the words came out of my mouth, “Yes!” He looked relieved after I said it.
A few years later…..
“I do,” I said. Mine and Gray’s faces lit up with happiness. We walked back down the aisle, and I thought of all the days that I thought were the best days of my life, but this one is truly the best day of my life. I can’t believe it all started in the town of Westfield.


The author's comments:

My piece is about a girl who is going to a new town for her freshmen of college. She decided to go to the town before school started so she could know her way around town and then she suddenly bumps into the love of her life.


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