Falling In Love -- 1st Place Winner with 'The Crumpled Paper' by TheGirlWho_Cares 

His smile was a mile longed masterpiece, so beautiful and bright, painted with dark inked dyes that concealed his teary eyes. He stupefied everyone with the dents in his cheeks so that no one could see the bigger and the deeper dent in his heart. He cracked a smile, every now and then, as he tried to glue the cracks in his rusty heart with it, because he thought that fooling himself with his smiles was the only way to heal. There were wrinkled lines caused by his fake smiles around his eyes while his heart was imprinted with wrinkles that would be on a crumpled paper. His life was just that.

A crumpled paper.

And it was my job to make him turn the crushed page; which he was stuck in, to a new, crispy page where he could continue writing his storyline again. I needed to explicit to him that one could always turn the page, even when their favourite character in the book has died. Heartbreak is all about that, turning the page when you know that someone you love is not gonna be in the next chapter of your autobiography.

And it was my job to teach him how to heal his heartbreak by himself and move onto the next chapter, to start a whole new life which is ahead of him.

"That's a hard task to accomplish," I whispered absentmindedly to the psychiatrist as I looked at the smiling, brunette boy.

"Yes it is, but anyone can achieve anything if they aim for it with determination. So, do you want to help him?"

The memory replayed inside my head as I zoned out. I was walking down the crowded school hallway and thrown to the ground suddenly by a jerk who pushed me down purposely. The students roared with laughter at my fall except for one guy.

He was handsome, a good sight to the eyes, with dark hair and amber eyes. He pushed the typical teenagers aside and extended his hand towards me for help. My body reacted instictively and I placed my palm in his, a surging warmth passed through me at the moment when we made contact. He smiled at me and I was a goner.

I remembered his smile and thought about how beautiful that deceptive illusion was. Besides; out of this, I can get closer to him and get to know him.

"I want to help him," I admitted quietly with burning cheeks.

"Yes, of course. Who wouldn't want to help their crush, huh? That's why I chose you."

I stared doe-eyed at the smirking man in front of me.

He knows?

Chapter : 2

How to start a good conversation with a depressed boy who also happens to be your crush?

I pressed search as I bit my already bitten nails to control my nerves. I scrolled down the articles with my thumb and banged my head on the school desk in frustration when nothing related to my question popped up.

I thought Google had the answers for everything, guess I was wrong. A groan erupted out of my mouth as I thought about my question. What in the hell, would I say to him to spark up a conversation?

"Hi! Cool shirt" I waved to my invisible crush in front of me with a cheery smile.

Nah....sounds too girly.

He might probably say that he bought that from Target and I would be dying in a corner in embarrassment. But, I know Andrew wouldn't say that, he would simply thank me and paint a rainbow on his lips and leave.

I sighed, so what's next?

"Hey bro, what's up? Coming to Jason's party?" I asked to thin air with an "I am so cool face" and ran my fingers through my violet dyed hair as I winked at the chalkboard.

I face palmed myself. "He'll probably think that you're a tomboy and brother zone you. Do you want that?" My brain asked me and I shook my head rapidly, thinking about the heartbreaking consequences of what would happen if he treated me like I was one of his friends. Maybe I should just hug him and whisper, "Everything's gonna be alright".

I sighed dreamily, wrapping my arms around my imaginary crush as I whispered the consolation and rocked us back and forth, slowly lulling him to peace.

My body froze, when my wide eyes met a pair of glimmering sunny orbs.

Andrew was at the therapist's table with his fist inside his mouth, trying to control his laughter as he looked straight at me. I blushed deeply and retained my body from the ridiculous hugging posture and covered away in shyness.

Great way to make an impression, Amethyst. You took it to another level, today. I cringed in embarrrasment and buried my head in my hands as I heard his laughter and the therapist's fill the classroom.

Great! just great. Now my crush thinks that I'm batshit crazy. All thanks to my weird self.

I groaned internally, pushing away my embarrassent by concentrating on the matter at hands.

Hands? I looked at my pencil - gripping hands as a light bulb flickered in my mind. A smartass grin took over my face as I realized something. So what if I can't talk to him directly, there's always an other way.

My eyes glinted as I wrote down the conversational dialogues on my notepad, tearing off the pages when the lines sounded too cliche or cheesy.

❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤

Hmmm....

I looked at the present piece of paper in my hand. A little old fashioned but it conveyed a great meaning of care to a depressed guy.

My perfect handwritten love message.

I chuckled at my love - struck dilemma and crumpled the paper, ready to aim my Cupid's arrow straight at his heart.

My hands shook badly as I aimed the paper at the figure sitting, two rows before me and threw it with my sweaty palms.

I watched in slow motion as the crumpled paper flew across the tables and hit his head.

My love arrow was aimed and I was just hoping that my spell would work on him.

There was no backing out now.

Chapter : 3

Smiles are just the curves of the lips, frowns are the same thing too. And it shocked my core to finally see him lose his smile and frown at the paper.

What? He doesn't like it or something?

I quickly averted my eyes and scrunched up my face like I was thinking an answer, pretending that I have no sorts of relationship with the crushed paper when he examined the class for his secret admirer.

I mumbled the multiples of two as I casually took a glance at him. Instead of throwing it in the garbage, he slipped my letter inside his jean pocket and caught my eyes once again when he turned to pick up his backpack.

His intense eyes kept me frozen as the world around me blurred, pulling me into its oblivion as he playfully asked,"Hey there, the therapist said that you were my partner, frowny. Let's meet at Aroma cafe for our project after school, yeah?"

I stared at his handsome face and nodded dumbly; unable to say anything as he smiled at me and turned back, oblivious to my dancing heart.

Frowny? He gave me a nickname? People only give nicknames for the person they like.

So, he likes me?

❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.❤.

I shut my eyes as a pang of pain squeezed my heart. His twin brother, Drew, died of cancer. Twin brother.

I never expected those words to fall out of Andrew's mouth that easily. Considering the fact that he was depressed, I thought it was gonna take him some time to open up; but definitely, I thought wrong.

It was so easy, but strange at the same time to imagine the same set of eyes that were boring into mine on a different person. Did his brother have the same smile like him? Same amber eyes and dark hair? Many thoughts popped up in my head as I quietly asked, "Did he look like you?"

Mr. Smiley Face nodded with his head down as soul stabbing pain pinched my heart. I could clearly picture it.

Twin brothers with their arms around each other, laughing at their inside jokes and lifting everybody's spirits up with their soul gripping smiles.

A sad sigh escaped my lips as I thought about what to say. My crush was sitting in front of me, talking about his dead twin brother even though we only met a hour ago. I didn't know what drove him to tell me his past but I was immensely grateful for that force.

"I'm sorry" was underrated, people say that all the time and I know he might be tired of hearing that same phrase over and over again. So, I zipped up my mouth and threw the key in my drink and drank it.

"Aren't you gonna say something?" He asked me with furrowed brows.

I shrugged and explained myself softly, "I ain't gonna say sorry because I know that you've heard that phrase many times. People say that they're sorry because they think that relationship is a destination and when you couldn't reach your destination with the person you love, they think it's a loss.

But we tend to forget the journey we made with our loved ones because of the heart wrenching grief that takes away all our happiness from the memories of them and replaces it with grief.

Love is not about the destination, it's about the journey. So, I am not feeling sorry nor any kind of pity towards you, infact I am jealous.

Jealous that you had a twin because I always wondered what it would be like to have one but I also feel happy. Happy that you get to experience life with your brother. I am happy that you had a person whom made goodbyes hard for you"

I finished my long rant with a defeated sigh. It shocked me and it was also kind of hilarious that I, Amethyst Melody Atlas, the girl who has been single forever gave that speech. I was grateful for the long bangs that covered my eyes because I was afraid to gauge his reaction but I also wanted to observe his emotions, so I peeked at him through my eyelashes carefully.

Molten gold swirled into my galaxy ones as he brought his hand closer to my face and brushed my hair out of my eyes as he smiled at me.

I'd be lying if I said that my heart beat faster because my heart skyrocketed at a hundred miles speed, leaving me breathless from his tender touch.

"That's the most truthful and the best thing anyone has ever said to me about my brother," He said as he twirled my violet strand and tucked it behind my ear. My cheeks competed with my strawberry milkshake as I cherished the feeling of my crush complimenting me, not my looks but my heart.

And I felt a ray of hope blossoming inside me that whispered..

The magic spell started its work, he might like me back.

Chapter : 4

A fairytale is not always about the happy ending; if it is though, then it would be termed as a fairyend. Sometimes the ends are not happy, but that doesn't mean fairytales doesn't exist; it does, because a fairytale is all about the magic that happens before the end.

If the ending is painful, you've lived a fairytale but if the tale is painful then you'll surely get your fairyend. Both are beautiful in a twisted way; because for a few, the journey matters and for many, the destination. And in my case; I should be happy, happy that I spent two months with a guy, whose smiles seemed to grew up on me now. But I couldn't, I couldn't bring myself to be happy about it because the same guy was staring at me from outside the bus, I'm sitting in.

The same guy with whom I created a volcanic pit of memories, stars of laughter, countless and a sky of connection, so widespread. Our smiles were made for each other, so loving and secretive. Atleast the latter was me.

He didn't know that I was the girl who dropped inspirational messages on his doorstep daily with a signature of a frowning face. It was my secret; no one knew about it, not even the therapist.

Speaking of the therapist, I'm glad to admit that he was kind of right. Anyone can achieve anything if they aim for it with determination, but he forgot to add 'and love' at the end, or maybe he wanted me to find it for myself, that anything deadly and painful can be cured with a little bit of love.

When life finally felt good, my dad had to announce that we were moving. I was in shock, only for a second though but I wished that I was in shock for a whole day so that I wouldn't feel the gut wrenching pain, panic and loss that hit me like a wrecking ball at the next moment. It was hard to break the news to Andrew; but when I did, he didn't smile for days.

He became frowny, like me. But suddenly, one day he came to my house and ranted about how stupid he was and said that we should make much memories as possible in the short period of time and I couldn't be happier.

Loads of milkshakes and fun at the arcade, Ferris ride kiss at the town's carnival, late night talks on our phones until someone betrayed the other and slept, exchanging glances in school and aiming love messages at each other, friendly little banters about which's the best; Ketchup or mayonnaise? Chocolate or strawberry? Titanic or Bond. James Bond? Pop songs or rock songs while driving?

We made conversations out of nothing and turned it into anything and everything. All those bickering, affectionate gestures, memories, laughter, unexchanged words, cute little moments that we made were deeply imprinted inside my heart and led us here. To part ways and bid goodbyes.

I didn't confess my feelings to him, but he knew about it because the therapist told him. Traitor. Imagine how your crush would react when he knows about the crush you have on him and imagine you shell-shocked, sat on a Ferris cart at night, viewing the lights from above as your crush decided to drop the bomb.

To say that I had the urge to jump off the Ferris wheel couldn't be truer. That's where he kissed me. On my cheek. I know he wasn't ready for a relationship after his heartbreak and that's one of the reasons why I didn't confess and the other reason was that I was too scared to do the act of bravery. We were better off as bestfriends anyway.

When we were together, everything felt right because we made everything right but I know he had to fight off depression with a greater help, so I encouraged him to get help and now he's undergoing therapy sessions, to which I was thankful.

The bus vibrated, indicating its start as it moved slowly. My heart jerked painfully as I turned to look at the smiling guy, my teary eyes narrowed as he brought his arm up and aimed something at me. Something soft hit my head and fell to the seat,

"Open" he mouthed and smiled. That was the last thing I saw about him. His smile, before the bus sped off down the road.

I gulped down the extra saliva in my mouth and bent down to pick the familiar crumpled paper.

My vision blurred as my handwriting came into view, "How are you, Mr. Smiley Face?"

A choked laugh escaped me as I held the cause for everything, the cause for us.

The letter I aimed at him.

Tears effortlessly stained my cheeks as I read Andrew's scrawny writing below my question.

"I am doing good and that's because of a frowning girl who cared, cared enough to send inspirational letters to me everyday, lifting my mood up.

You"

"PS : Don't look at the paper like it has grown two heads, it's you who's obsessed with the colour violet enough, to send letters to your crush in the same coloured paper. It's you who always frown enough, to keep a frowning face as your signature, it's you who always smell like lilac and that paper gives off the same fragrance too, it's only you who curve the 'y', 'g' and 'f' and your letters had the same print too. It's a no brainer, love. I knew it was you from the start.

Don't be embarrassed cause I think it's sweet and cute and I wish I was there to see your blush. Don't worry, it's over. You don't need to send me letters anymore because it's my turn. Expect a yellow crumpled paper letter everyday at your doorstep along with your favourite flower, Violets. It's my turn to show you that I care for you even when we are miles apart. Distance can only separate us and not our hearts. I hope you will remember me forever because I will, I will always remember you as the shy girl who had colourful exotic features with a delicate heart.

But mostly, I'll remember you as the first girl to capture my heart with her frowns.

Don't frown love, smile. Makes you look even beautiful"

A loud sob tore me apart as I wiped my tears. I looked at the two dots and the curve at the end.

A smiley face.

A bittersweet laugh broke out free as I clutched the paper close to my heart, embracing the heart wrenching emotions that plunged within my heart.

I then did what I thought I would never do, what he asked me to do.

I smiled.