The Moment I Bumped Into My Classmate Who Left Her Dreams Behind
The greatest glory in life isn’t knowing when to walk away, but knowing when to walk towards something else.
“I am going to be an actress,” she said with a smile, leaning forward in her desk chair. The excitement beamed in her eyes and threatened to bowl me over.
“What about you? What do you want to be?” She said, tilting her head to the side with genuine curiosity.
I stammered a bit and said, “Oh, um, yeah, I don’t know. Maybe something in business. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Cool!” She said, without missing a beat.
Lauren was a stunningly beautiful classmate, with slightly curly long brown hair. We were doing a group project for our science class. We were the only two-person group and I felt quite lucky to have her as my partner — even though she turned me into a stammering blubbery mess. Anytime she looked me in the eyes, all coherent thoughts vacated my cranium, making room for a wave of anxiety and self-doubt.
You had to get in line to have a crush on Lauren. Most guys were too afraid to even talk to her. She didn’t date us high school guys anyways. She was a senior, who had a mysterious college boyfriend we always heard about, that I…
