January

There I was, the happiest 16-year-old girl in the world. I had been dating my first ever “real boyfriend” for a little over 6 months. At the time I thought that this was it for me. That all I was ever going to do was love this one boy. I had a weekly brunch gig at a local restaurant and was making more money than anyone my age needed. I was 2 months into my extreme acne medication, and all I could think about was making to the end of junior year. It’s all as simple as that, but this is just the beginning of 2020.

February

         To set the scene, I had extremely light brown hair, and back in December 2019 I thought it would be a good idea to temporarily dye it burgundy, so in February I dyed it very dark brown. I was close with a lot of people that I am not super close with now.  I was best friends with Avery Pulvidente, although Avery had other people who she was closer with leaving me in an awkward position. It didn’t really bother me that much at the time because I still had the “love of my life”, and his name was Alec. I should have known the relationship wasn’t going to last when he took me to one of those cooking in front of you Hibachi restaurants for valentine’s day; I would have to say it was one of the least romantic experiences of my life.

March

This month marks the downfall and March really took me for a loop. Something that started off so simple ended up being the reality of all our lives. Hanging with friends, school, and even going the grocery store all became something that was done with caution. Not only did Covid literally take the lives of our loved ones it hurt human interaction. Humans are social creatures and without that nearly three quarters of our daily activities can not be achieved.  I’d have to say that something that really disappointed me was that my last day of “normal” school my outfit really wasn’t that cute; and the fact that I obviously at the time couldn’t have known it was the last day of school. Therefore, I didn’t really appreciate or enjoy it, I just want to rush home as soon as the ninth period bell rang at 2:20 like I would do every single day. March consisted of a whole lot of boredom. This led to me cutting off 3 inches of my hair and having the shortest it’s ever been. This was a steppingstone for me because I was always so self-conscious, and my hair was my safety blanket. Alec and I made do with what we had which meant a lot, and when I say a lot, I mean practically facetiming every second of everyday when I was off roaming the neighborhood with Avery and Georgia. Georgia is Avery’s best friend since they were 3. I kind of joined the group later, but we all loved each other’s company.

April

         With more free time than any teenage girl could ask for I started a fitness journey during quarantine. I would make myself healthy breakfast every morning after working out and going for a run. April was just a glimpse of how we would all be spending the future. The family time was never ending and even more so people had time to think about themselves. I had never focused on myself like I did this first full month of quarantine. Also, with my entire family always home I think back to amazing family dinners and the fantastic meals my dad would make. For April that’s really it these few months were slow and scary, but I really can’t complain cause school was nonexistent and that’s a dream for any junior year high school student. Even though everything was so hectic in the world everything that surrounded me felt so easy going.

May

         Now this is where the story starts to pick up… The weather was slowing getting better as May came around which meant restrictions due to Covid were easing up. Now don’t get me wrong things by no means were back to normal but the cases slowly were starting to go down. This gave little me hope of getting to see my boyfriend, whom I hadn’t seen in two months, soon. On May 22 I had finally finished my 6-month acne treatment, and this meant no more monthly bloodwork and horrible side effects from this medication. Now only a few days later I got the text of my dreams. My boyfriend had texted me saying how we can hangout the next day. One can imagine how eager I was because truly all I wanted to do was hug him. Although, after exchanging a few texts about what the plan was for the next day something was off, I just knew it. All morning I dreaded this idea of losing something I wasn’t ready to lose, and all I could think was what did I do wrong. The moment finally came where he picked me up; I dressed my best and got in that car like everything was fine even though deep down it wasn’t. I believe one can assume what happened next. I got my heart broken, we were about to be dating for a year and we had known each other so much longer than that. My world collapsed and I didn’t know how to function without this person in my life, without the constant texting, without my best friend.

June

While I was very sad, I was truly trying everything I could to keep my mind off Alec. This led to hanging with new people and trying to find something to do with my free time. Therefore a few of my friends and I hung out with these boys from another school who we briefly knew. This group became the entire summer. Now, when I said I was doing anything and everything to not think of you know who, I meant it. Less than two weeks after my breakup I started exclusively talking to one of the boys in our group who I had known for a few years. I just wanted attention and chose the first boy I saw.

July

By this point I thought I was living my best life again. I was doing something all the time and there really was never a dull moment. From my friend’s boat, to the beach, to group hang outs every night I had myself convinced I had everything I needed. Since it was warm enough outside, I was able to start gigging again and that was really the cherry on top. Although the frosting on the cake was the fact that I started dating the boy from our friend group by the middle of July and my two best friends were practically dating his best friends, so I think you can predict how this situation can get sticky.

August

         August consisted of many of the same summer activities and was spent doing whatever I wanted to do. Although, everything can’t be good all the time. Over the summer I had been playing at this local restaurant each week and my boyfriend at the time would come to every single one. One week when I was playing Alec showed up with a big group of his friends and sat outside and the restaurant directly next door. I barely wanted to be at work in the first place let alone see my ex-boyfriend for the first time while my current boyfriend is there. About two weeks later was a school event called “senior scav”. My boyfriend agreed to drive my friends around to complete the activities. Of course, we run into Alec, and they start screaming at each other like either of them had something to prove. At the end of the night my boyfriend had apologized and that night he even told me he loved me.

September

The start of school and the beginning to my very far from normal senior year. Everything was so different it barely felt like school anymore. I never thought I’d be wishing to go back to junior year before everything got so crazy. I was also nervous to see what would happen to my boyfriend and I’s relationship, but everything went smoothly in the beginning. I also had yet another hair crisis and cut my own curtain bangs.

October 

The only thing that was memorable about October would have to be Halloween. My two best friends at the time, my boyfriend and one of his friends were the mystery gang for Halloween. Our costume was quite cute of I’m being honest, but Halloween is where everything started to slowly fall apart again.

November

All I would do is spend time with my two best friends, Avery and Gabby. I barely saw my boyfriend at all and it was pretty obvious that distance was growing between us. Although, November marked a time in my life where I found a new confidence. I modeled for the first time, and the experience was exhilarating. Not only did the fan blowing and bright lights make me feel like a star, but the confidence the camera give you is amazing. This taught me that when there are bad things in life there are still always good things.

December

         To wrap 2020 up I got dumped by my rebound over text. This whole year showed me that life is constantly throwing things at you, but it’s about how you let these obstacles effect you. Time never stops, so while it’s okay to be down sometimes don’t waste a second because it goes by so fast. At the end of the day this is the just the beginning to part of my story and without these experiences I wouldn’t be the young adult I am today. I believe the moral of the story is the rebound never works out and this is only one chapter of my story.