"I run into my ex-best friend every once in a while. [...]
I want to ask him if he saw me holding his girlfriend’s hand that night,
and if anything changed for him, if anything went dead or alive or if any
holiness was exchanged, if he’s been feeling the long crushing, too [...]
We’d have to still be friends."
–SAM LIPSYTE,
"My Best Friend's Girlfriend"

INNER CITY STORIES

First Person:

I’m on my way to Katie’s house to go out for our one year anniversary to the football game where we first met. I tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up, so I figured I should just go to her house and surprise her there. I got her a silver necklace with a small heart charm, which was rose gold with a diamond rim hanging from the end of it. It was from Kay Jewelers. It just reminded me of her so much that I had to get it. The silver resembled her eyes which are gray like, the rose gold resembled her long, wavy, beautiful hair, while the diamonds resembled the sparks of love we had in our eyes for each other. The size resembled her height since she was only 5 foot 1. I was so much taller she seemed so tiny, just like the charm. I thought it was the perfect gift. I started walking to her house, since it was only two blocks down from mine. When I got to her house her mom Marie greeted me at the door saying, “Katie’s upstairs in her room.” I went inside and up to her room. As I approached the door I heard what sounded like kissing. My head filled with frustrating thoughts and negative energy. I just tried to think that it could be sometimes thing else, but I couldn’t fight the negative thoughts. I was furious. I started shaking the sturdy, and rusty knob to open the door, but it was locked. I thought to myself, “How could her door be locked, she never locks her door.”

 

Third Person Limited:

Katie heard the shaking of the knob, and quickly stopped kissing Carlos. As Carlos kept trying to kiss her, Katie pushed his face away. She then shoved Carlos into the closet and told him, “Don’t make a sound.” She then began anxiously thinking about what to do. Frightened, Katie approached the six foot wooden door in front of her, her heart beating faster and faster as she reached for the rusty knob to let Kyle in. When she opened the door, she saw Kyle with his sea green eyes, his light brown, straight, short hair, and his 5 foot 9 inch frame. Katie’s mind started filling with hatred toward herself. She thought, “I have betrayed him; how could I have cheated on him?” Katie loved Kyle, but her love for him slowly faded away like the sun sinking in the sky making space for the moon at night.

 

Third Person Objective:

Kyle swung open the door, demanding, “What’s going on in here? I heard kissing!”

Katie replied, “What are you talking about? I was just cleaning my window, that’s what you probably heard.”

Kyle screamed, “I know what I heard!”

Kyle was on a rampage and started opening everything. Katie tried to scream over his rampaging while he was making a huge mess in her room. When Kyle started walking toward the closet, Katie distracted him. Katie grabbed his hand which was reaching for the closet’s door knob. She screamed at him, “Kyle, stop! I love you and would never cheat on you, especially on our anniversary; let’s just go to the football game to have our date!” Kyle calmed down, grabbed Katie, and they started leaving the house for the football stadium. Meanwhile, after everything was quiet Carlos left the closet and snuck out the window. Carlos was 5 foot 6, had dark brown, puppy like eyes, and black, short hair; he had been Kyle’s best friend since preschool. Carlos went home to get ready since he was going to go to the football game as well. It was now 6 o’clock and the game was about to start. Sitting on the riser Kyle was in the middle, while Carlos was on the right and Katie was on his left. Katie and Carlos kept looking at each other furtively the whole game, but didn’t say a word -- not even to Kyle.

 

Third Person Omniscient:

Kyle was suspiciously thinking to himself, “Why aren’t Katie and Carlos talking? Something must be up.”

Katie was nervously thinking, “Oh my gosh, what if Kyle finds out he would hate me, and I would then hate myself.”

Carlos was anxiously thinking, “I can’t believe I could have done that to my best friend! What was I thinking, especially on my best friend’s anniversary!”

Concerned, Kyle asked Katie, “Katie are you alright? You look nervous.”

Panicking, Katie replied “Yes, everything is fine; why wouldn’t it be?”

Confused, Kyle then asked, “Then why aren’t you talking? And that goes for you too Carlos!”

Carlos stuttered and frightfully replied, “Ugh, because, umm you see, I ugh” (trying to distract Kyle), “Hey, look, we just scored a touchdown Woo hoo!”

Katie then yelled, “Yea, Woo hoo!”

Raising his voice, Kyle complained,“ Why are you guys doing that, and why are you acting weird around me? I thought we could tell each other anything!”

Carlos and Katie looked at each other and then looked at Kyle who was now standing up in rage. While the big screen pointed at them, stopping the whole game, Katie sadly cried, “Kyle you’d better sit down for this,” (Kyle now sitting down), “I have been cheating on you…”

Kyle angrily shouted, “What, Katie? You’ve been cheating on me with whom? Who is this guy so that I can pummel him and crush him like a soda can the way you crushed my heart.”

Carlos timidly mumbled, “She has been cheating on you with me, Kyle; I’m so sorry, I…”

“Save it, I would never accept your apology,” Kyle abruptly interjected, “How could you do this to me? You’ve been my best friend since preschool, and the same goes for you Katie. I can’t believe I spent a whole year of my life with a piece of trash; well the whole world comes back around in a circle to put people back where they belong, so I guess this means that you’ve have been officially dumped back into the trash.”

Crying, Katie pleaded, “Kyle please don’t, I...I...I . . .” The tears were running down her face like two waterfalls as if she was just drowning in them; Katie choked on her own breath knowing that she was wrong. Kyle looked at both of them and said, “Bye, guys; it has been sad knowing you.” Everyone watching in the stadium gasped at the sight of what had just happened on the big screen as they saw Kyle just walking away from both of them, leaving them there to drown in their betrayal.

And then it was one year later, and everyone has gone their separate ways. Kyle has a new girlfriend and has met lots of great new friends, while Carlos and Katie broke up soon after that incident; they’re still good friends. Everyone still talks about that football game. Kyle still sees Katie and Carlos in the hallways at school, but just ignores them in the disgust he still feels for them. People will forget about that game one day, but Kyle, Katie, and Carlos never will. None of them goes to the games anymore. Nowadays Carlos and Katie are too ashamed to show up, and Kyle just doesn’t like to remember that’s where his heart was slowly ripped apart piece by piece by his first love.

      

Second Person:

Ways not to breakup with someone:

  1. Don’t send a friend to tell the person you’re breaking up with that you’re breaking up with them.

  2. Don’t just tell the person you’re breaking up with them and then walk away. That’s insensitive. Give them a sensitive reason and then walk away.  

  3. Don’t break up with a person and go straight to another new person. That shows you might have been cheating or had eyes for another person while you were dating.

  4. Don’t break up with a person over Facebook, twitter, email, text, or any other website. You’re being insensitive and you’re being a coward for not telling them to their face.

  5. Don’t break up on your anniversary!!!!