I was in love, or so I thought. I thought he was the world and that nothing else mattered. Boy, was I wrong.

I was with this guy off and on starting freshman year and ending the summer before senior year. He was sweet, nice and caring in the beginning, like no one I’d ever met. I didn’t think it would last as long as it did.

Things were fine in the beginning but then he started lying and acting differently toward me. I didn’t understand at first why he did this since he told me he loved me and wanted to be with me. Then I found out he had started seeing another girl, thinking he could get away with it. Well, I was stupid enough to stay with him because he swore up and down that he would never do anything like that again.

Soon it was time for school again, his senior year and my junior year. Everything seemed okay, but then he cheated again. This time we broke it off, for a while anyway. We ended up back together, but things were never the same. I didn’t believe anything he said or did. I mean, how could I? But I stayed with him because it was weird not being with him after all we had gone through. By this time I had lost most of my friends because they didn’t like what he had done to me and that I kept going back to him. He was the only person I talked to or hung out with, but I thought I was in love.

We ended up living together, which was the biggest mistake we made. Once again things went downhill and this time it was worse than before. We started getting into arguments and fights that were so bad his friends had to pull him off me. I should have left him the first time he hit me. Everyone was telling me to break up, that he wasn’t worth it. They told me that if he loved me, he would never hurt me. Once again I didn’t listen. I stayed and it got even worse.

This guy started out seeming like the sweetest person, but I learned that he was spoiled and mean. He believed he was better than everyone.

Finally, he cheated on me again, but I knew it was coming. A lot more pain came, too. We got into another fight and this was the worst of all. How can someone who says he loves you, who says that he wants to be with you forever, stand there and hit you for the things that he has done? I couldn’t handle it anymore.

I moved out and moved back home. I was sad for a while but I finally realized it was not worth it. I ended up getting my friends back and even making new ones. For the first time in a long time I was happy. I might have been in love, but it wasn’t true love, and I understand that now. I understand why everyone told me to end it. He wasn’t worth it and now I know they were right. People don’t really love you if they hit you and lie to your face.

After this relationship it has been hard to trust people. It’s sad that a guy who I thought loved me could make me feel this way, but every day gets a little easier. I know now that I’m going to be fine and I’ve learned one of life’s big lessons.