All Chapters of Before We Broke: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

To~ my M&M. You were everything to me once. You taught me many things, and I’ll forever be grateful. I miss our conversations. And I hope this finds you one day~High School. Totally underrated. For years I sat quietly. I’ve dated a few people in my life. But I’ve only had one kiss. I had fallen for my best guy friend. Anthony. Every day we’d eat lunch together. We never shared any classes because I was a junior and he was a senior. Every day, he’d cover my eyes and say to me “guess who?”. We were both nerds. Both book readers. And we were both untouched. We talked often. Hung out after school with our friends. But there was one night that changed everything. My school play. This was the one year he didn’t audition. I begged him to go to see me. So he did. Our director said that since this was an improv and crowd participation play, we’d need to grab audience members for dancing. So when it started I searched for him. And when the time came I walked up to the highest point in the ble

The Night That Changed EverythingIt was early November when the air began to shift.The leaves outside the school turned brittle and gold, and the sun dipped below the horizon too early, painting the sky in dusty pinks and smudged purples. Fall had always made me feel strange — like I was both waking up and saying goodbye to something at the same time. Maybe that’s why the memories from that month have stayed so sharp. Because deep down, I knew.I knew something was coming. I just didn’t know how much it would change me.It was the week of the play.I wasn’t a lead — just a side character with a handful of lines and a costume that didn’t quite fit. But I didn’t care. I loved being part of it. I loved the chaos backstage, the feeling of belonging, even if my name was buried near the bottom of the program.Anthony hadn’t auditioned that year. Said he was “retired.” I teased him about it, called him a coward with a dramatic flair, but secretly, I wished he would’ve been in it with me.S

We made our first date official by text, naturally.“Maleficent is out this weekend.”“Take me.”“I was hoping you’d say that.”It was weird how fast things changed. One week ago, he was my best friend who quoted fantasy books and stole my cookies at lunch. Now I was standing in my bathroom, heart pounding, trying to choose the perfect lip balm for a movie date with the boy who’d sent me fantasies about locker rooms and breathless kisses.I remember looking in the mirror and whispering to myself, “Don’t mess this up.”He picked me up wearing a black hoodie and those jeans with holes in the knees that somehow made him look like trouble and safety at the same time. His hair was a mess — in a good way. And when I opened the door, he just looked at me for a second.“Wow,” he said. “You really did your face and everything.”I rolled my eyes. “It’s called mascara.”“Well, I like it.” He grinned. “But I’d like it off you too.”I froze. “Excuse me?”He laughed. “Your makeup. Like… later. Afte

Spring couldn’t come fast enough.After a week of late-night texting and hallway glances that felt like secrets, Anthony was finally coming over. My parents were out for the afternoon, and the plan was simple: hang out, swim, and maybe steal a few more of those kisses that left me dizzy.I’d spent too long picking out a bikini. Not because I had that many — but because this was different. This was Anthony seeing me like that for the first time. Up close. Skin and curves and all the little things I usually kept hidden beneath school clothes and oversized hoodies.I settled on a deep blue two-piece. Not too revealing, but just enough. When I slipped into it in the bathroom, I caught my reflection in the mirror and held my breath.My body was changing. It wasn’t just about looking good. It was about feeling… aware. Of how his eyes might follow the dip of my waist. Or how his hands might graze places they hadn’t before.I stood in my bedroom adjusting the straps on my top, tugging them in

The silence of my bedroom felt too loud after the day we’d had. My skin still held the memory of the sun, and my hair smelled faintly like chlorine and his cologne. The pillows were still warm from where his body had rested next to mine.I laid there in the dark for a long time, staring at the ceiling. My chest was full — too full — like something might burst if I didn’t let it out.So I sat up, flicked on the little lamp beside my bed, and reached for the worn diary tucked back under the mattress.The pen slid into my fingers as naturally as breath, and I opened to a fresh page.May 6thI don’t even know where to begin.Today was… everything. I mean that in the way that people say something changed them. The kind of “everything” you feel in your bones. He swam with me. He tied my strap. He made me food. He held me like I was his whole world.And the scariest part?I liked every second of it.No — I loved it.There. I said it.God, I love him.I don’t know exactly when it happened. Ma