Happily Ever After

By Radhika Sandeep

I took a deep breath, feeling the butterflies in my stomach. This was the day I’d been waiting for all of my life. It was time for the test that would determine who would be the next Cupid. Everyone expected me to take on the role of Cupid since all my ancestors were Cupid, but this year, my worst enemy, Jill, was also competing. She was better than me at everything. Basketball, math, English, you name it. I almost dropped out when I found out she was entering.

Suddenly, I heard a quiet sobbing sound coming from the side of the school. I flew behind the trees, trying to find the source of the sound discreetly. What I saw next shook me. It was Jill. Jill was crying. Jill never cries. I slowly flew in her direction, landing softly next to her. She looked up at me with bloodshot eyes that quickly turned cold. 

“Why are you here?” Jill demanded, wiping her eyes.

“Bruh.. Calm down. I just wanna if you’re okay because you never cry. You’re like the most mentally strong person I know. That's one of the things I admire about you,” I responded, sitting next to her on the soft, damp grass.

“My parents are divorced,” Jill revealed quietly. “It’s been so many years, but now everybody is talking about love and relationships and all I can think about is how my parents were supposed to love for all their life, but didn’t.”

“Maybe they weren’t meant to be,” I suggested, awkwardly twisting the rings on my fingers.

“I’m sorry I’m always so mean to you. I’m just jealous. Everybody in your family loves each other, and everything’s so perfect for you,” Jill said suddenly.

“Hey, it’s okay. Everybody makes rash decisions sometimes. But what matters is that you apologized and that you realized you were doing something wrong,” I replied, turning to face her.

“Look, Aria, maybe…maybe we can team up for the race. I really want to work together because I admire you and I know it's unorthodox to have two Cupids but it happened and worked before,”  Jill tentatively suggested.

My face lit up. “Of course. I think we would make a great team.” I stood up, then stuck my arm out, helping Jill up. As we flew to the testing center together, I had a huge smile on my face. Within minutes, I made a friend who would stick with me. Sometimes, life surprises me. But no matter what it did, life was always beautiful.