Forever: Chapter 1

The old Greek myth says humans used to have four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces. The humans then had a great strength, and fearing their power, Zeus split humans into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves. And when one of them meets the other half, the actual half of himself, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship, and they don't want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment.

If the old myth about soul mates is to be believed, then Valerie and Timothy found their other half when they were only eight, at the moment she walked into the classroom on the first school day of the second grade. Her mother got a better position at The University of Santa Monica, and Valerie replaced rainy London with sunny California.

"Children, this year we have a new student in our class. This is Valerie Patterson, and she came from London. Please, everyone, be nice to her and make her welcome. Come on, Valerie! Will you please tell us more about yourself?" Ms. Martin, their teacher, kindly presented the new student to her class.

"Um..." Valerie didn't know what to say.

At that moment, Valerie found herself standing in a room full of children she didn't know, and understandably, she was confused and a little scared. Two weeks ago, Valerie came to a foreign country with her parents, and her four-year-old sister Tessa, and everything was brand new for her. She was utterly missing her friends from back home, her relatives, and England.

"Will you tell us something about London, Valerie? Some of us, including myself, have never been to England," Ms. Martin tried to help her.

"Well... London is a delightful city..."

Valerie was a very smart girl who knew a lot of interesting facts about London, things you won't find in any encyclopedia, but that day, she forgot everything she knew about her town.

"Okay Valerie, you will tell us more about yourself later, or tomorrow, when you'll be ready. First, you'll have to meet your new classmates. Now go on, and take your seat," Ms. Martin said.

Accidentally or not, the only free seat in the classroom was the one behind Timothy. With slow footsteps and looking at the ground, Valerie went to her seat. She could feel that everyone's eyes were pointed at her, and that was making her nervous. When she sat down, little Timothy turned behind him, and he began to watch her with curiosity. They needed little time to start a conversation.

"Hi! I'm Tim! So, you'll be in our class?"

"Yes. Hello!"

"If you want, we can be friends."

"All right. I don't know anybody here."

"Now you know me, and later I'll introduce you to all my friends from the class. Hey, if your parents allow you, you can come after school to my house. We can watch cartoons together."

"All right! And you can come to my house too. We can play at my treehouse."

"You have a treehouse? Wow! I'm begging my parents to make me a treehouse since I know for myself, but they don't want to hear about it."

"Tim, will you please pay attention here?" Ms. Martin said to Timothy.

"Yes, Ms. Martin," Timothy said, a bit disappointed, but he turned again to Valerie. "We'll talk later, after class. Okay?"

"Timothy!" Ms. Martin said, angrily.

Timothy was always a quiet boy and the nicest kid in the class. Last year, with enormous interest, in all classes he was carefully listening to their teacher, but on the first day of the new school year, with his misbehavior, he surprised Ms. Martin. Because of little Valerie, Timothy couldn't sit still, and he couldn't wait for their class to finish. All the time he was turning behind him, and he was looking at the new girl.

As he promised to Valerie, at lunchtime, they sat together, and they continued their conversation. He offered her half of his tuna sandwich and his chocolate milk. For some strange reason, Valerie's mother for that day packed her two packs of her favorite apple juice, and she gave one to Timothy. Immediately, they found a subject for conversation, and they discovered that they have many mutual interests, like watching animated movies and reading stories. They were thrilled because they live only two blocks away from each other, which makes them neighbors, a sort of.

After the lunch break, when they returned to their classroom, Timothy suggested they switch seats with Valerie. He was slightly taller than her, and he was concerned that he would distract her attention away from the class board. But maybe Timothy did that, only to have the pretty English girl always in front of him. His smart decision will definitely make Ms. Martin happy because, during the lessons, he won't have to turn around anymore to look at Valerie.

Since that day, they have become best friends, and they were inseparable. Together, Valerie and Timothy collected seashells on the beach, rode bicycles, played with Valerie's dolls in her treehouse, watched animated movies... But most of all, Valerie loved Timothy's stories about imaginary kingdoms and the beautiful princesses, who were always at the end of his tales, finding their princes, with whom they were living happily ever after.

A few weeks before Christmas, the same school year, the kids were discussing their Christmas wishes with Ms. Martin. While the other children wished for a real racing car, a trip to Disneyland, or a new doll, Timothy surprised everyone when he said:

"I want to grow up faster and to be old enough so that I can marry Valerie."

His sincere answer left Ms. Martin speechless, and the other children laughed at Timothy's wish. An eight-year-old kid doesn't understand what marriage or love is, but he was sure that he feels something unexplainable for Valerie. And it was a good thing that she was feeling the same way about him.

At twelve, they kissed for the first time. At thirteen, he asked her on a proper date, and they became an actual couple. At sixteen, for Easter, she took him to England to introduce him to her relatives, and at seventeen, they lost their virginity, to each other, of course. When they turned eighteen, they both went to the same university. They rented a small studio apartment and started to live together. Her major at college was photography, and understandably, he chose to study literature. The days and years were passing fast, and before everyone noticed, it was their graduation day. For them, that was one of the happiest days in their lives, but not everyone was entirely happy.

"I wish he had chosen something more practical, something that will always bring him food on the table, and he will have a steady job. What future will he have with a diploma in literature?" Timothy's father was repeating these words all the time during the graduation ceremony.

"Please Mathew, you've promised you won't ruin this day! It's Tim's day! We are here to show him our love and support," Timothy's mother was trying to save the situation, as always.

"All right! I won't say a word. But seriously, who can make a decent living from writing?"

A year after they graduated from college, it didn't turn out everything as Valerie and Timothy had planned. Valerie dreamed of finding a job as a photographer for some good magazine, while Timothy wanted to be a writer. He sent the manuscripts of his books to every publisher in the country he had ever heard of, and Valerie sent her photographs every day to various magazines, but they were both receiving only rejections.

Everywhere she was going, Valerie was taking her camera with her, and she was taking pictures of everything she was seeing. Photography wasn't her profession, but a passion. She had the talent to capture the moment, and she had an eye for details. Everyone who had a chance to see her amazing photographs on her website can confirm the same. Still, the best pictures she ever took in her life were Timothy's portraits.

Timothy was spending every moment of his spare time writing and reading books. He wrote his first novel at sixteen, and since then he has written eleven more. For every story he ever wrote, Valerie was his only inspiration.

Sometimes, they were making money from working as freelancers. But the money they were making from selling photographs online and writing an article or two for some website was not even close enough for a decent living. They needed real jobs and regular incomes, as Timothy's father was always saying.

Since she was in college, Valerie had been working in Mrs. Wilson's clothes shop for older, plus-size ladies. It was a shop with a long tradition. Mrs. Wilson opened it in her early twenties, and she owned it for over forty years. Valerie loved her job. She knew the names of the regular customers; she was always polite to everyone, and everybody adored her.

Mrs. Wilson was a kind of boss everyone could only wish for. She loved Valerie and the other two girls who were working for her, like her own daughters. Every year at Christmas, she gave to all her employees' a thousand dollar bonus, and for their birthdays, the girls received two hundred dollars as a gift.

Timothy wasn't that lucky. He was working part-time in his family's furniture store, and his father was his boss. Timothy would never work for him if he could find another job with the same salary, but he and Valerie needed that money. With his salary, they could afford to rent a three-bedroom apartment, where Valerie had a room for developing her photographs, and Timothy had a room where he could write in peace.

Valerie and Timothy didn't allow anything or anybody to discourage them. They were always saying: "We are young; we have our whole lives in front of us, to achieve everything we want". Like everyone else at their age, they had a feeling that their lives were about to begin, but sometimes, whether we like it or not, life has completely different plans for us than our plans.