Without her, everything fell apart.

"Is all that we See and Seem but a Dream within a Dream?"-Edgar Allan Poe

She was my "Perfect Drug".She was my "Beautiful Day".She was my EVERYTHING.

Her name was Marlene Otero.My First love.

It was January/6/2003,when I first saw her.She'd entered my school that day and I instantly fell in love. Weeks went by before  she actually spoke to me and when she did, It would come no surprise to me that we were arguing. I really can't remember why we were arguing but I think it was over a book or something. Anyway, the class was rooting for her to curse me out and when I started to argue back,  the class seemed to go into shock because I was usually so quiet.In the end, I got my book back and she jumped into a mood of anger until the next week or so when she asked me for a stick of Gum and I asked myself, "Who the Hell does she think she is?" but I remember giving her the piece of Gum so that she would just leave me alone and From that moment on, I seemed to be in a new place called "ecstacy".

As the Year went on and I Pined for her even more , I thought,  "If  I was to give her gum constantly, maybe she would start to like me." For some reason, I ACTUALLY thought that it might work and as a result, I became addicted (In a Way.) to giving her random sticks of Gum everytime I got a chance.

As you can Imagine, With your hopfully smart Brain, The Sixth grade eventually ended and we moved up to the seventh grade, which seperated us into different classes.Me, Class 7-708 and her, Class 7-707.

That year, We saw each other alot in the hallways and of course, my Heart would race beyond the speed of light every single time she would even throw me a little "Hello" here and there.Throughout that year, She continued to ask me for gum and I continued to provide her with it, Just as I know your imagining", I was her like a Pusher and she was my Buyer."(Although, She never actually paid me anything.).

In return she would talk to me every now and then and I would try my best to even utter out one word in response such as a "Hi" or  "Hello".

The truth is, nothing really happened in the 7th grade between me and her until our Junior trip to Rye Playland on June.17.2004, which turned into a game of  "catch me,If you can.", when one of  my Best Friends, Kris and I played the day out trying to get Marlene's attention and went through a series of Rides and events,Just to get close to her.

It wasn't until I was waiting on a line for a Roller Coaster that, She spoke to me and I finally did the "Holy Grail" act of bravery and spoke to her for a entire minute. After that, We got on the ride together(Seperate Cars of course.)and I didn't see her until the next Fall which became the Fall of my Personal Infamy.

On, September.23.2004, I'd been waiting for her to speak to me again that entire day, when after school, I'd began to wait for my friend, Kris outside of the School after dismissal and I spotted her walking out with her friends and started to walk on the opposite street and at a slightley slower speed all the way to the next corner passed the local grocery store when She'd left her Friends behind and began to walk to her destination,alone.

Little more than a Block later, She crossed over to my side of the street and started off with asking me "Your name is DaiQuan,Right?" and my response was simply, "Yeah".

So as we began to walk with each other and conversate, She brought up the fact that she'd never seen me walk home the way that I seemed to just "Coincedently" be walking.So, I said "This is a Shortcut" and she didn't think anymore of it.

As we continued to walk for about ten more blocks we came up upon, Westchester Square, which I had no clue would become the home of my next School and Social Playground, but that's a different story for a different Time.

Anyway, I saw her onto her Bus then went home,Myself, because, "You don't want to get mom worried.". While on the ride home, The U2 Song, "Beautiful Day" constantly ran Itself through my mind and INSTANTLY became my favorite Song, and still is even today.

As the months went by and turned into the last month of School, I began to get a unsetteling mind on "Whether or not I should tell Her how I Feel." So,I Wrote her a letter stating everything that was burning inside of me  for all of those years and I had my two Best friends, Kris and Joe, give it to her for me because God only knows that, I would have had a Heart Attack, Just by trying to approach her....Besides, I'd Gotten Food poisoning the night before(Story of my life, Ha!!!!!!!).

But my Friends did deliver and Marlene did get the letter that I wrote.About two days later after, I'd recovered from my illness and Graduation Day grew to be one day away, Marlene Signed my Yearbook with these words:

"I want to Wish you the very best in High School and hope You find the Girl of Your dreams since I can't be,right now.But always remember that I will always have You in mind and Thank You for always thinking that I was Beautiful.

                                            FROM, Marlene Otero"

In that instant my Heart was SHATTERED and my World was nothing more to me than a speck of Dirt.The next day at Graduation, Marlene waved to me with a smile and a small tear of happiness as we stood on our seperate lines that would soon march into Truman High School's Auditorium in order to commence with our Graduation Ceromony and in that one moment, Marlene and I had a Silent agreement of personal closure.
After the ceromony's end, I caught up with her and we got a picture together, Thanks to my Mom.The next day was our OFFICIAL last day of School and we just had to return to School in order to pick up our Diplomas and Report Cards in M.S.127's Girl's Gym.

While waiting for my friends to return from retrieving their Diplomas, I stood alone in the final moments of our days at M.S.127 and while standing alone, Marlene walked up to me and gave me a Hug and for the first time, I had her in my arms.Those brief seconds of ecstacy felt like a eternity and for a few brief seconds....She was mine.

Once ending our Hug, we said our Goodbyes to each other and From then on, We went our own seperate ways.

Well, I guess The Verve's saying is true...."It's a Bittersweet Symphony."