My other half

P50

When people talk about judging and being judged, a topic that comes up is high school.
I guess that's because it's a place where roles, demeanor and personalities can be so easily shaped. Teens have always formed social groups and most teens identify themselves with one of these groups, but also have the bad habit of identifying someone by their group.

When I was in high school, I was a nerd.
I was the outcast, weird, academic, awkward social group. We didn't have the tans, the confidence, the looks, the sports skills that somehow unlocked the door to the popular group.
In my high school, the middle and popular group merged into one super group for my senior years (year 11 & 12).
But still my little nerd group remained untouched. We gained and lost people for various reasons.

We judged the popular groups. And they judged us.
I remember some of the boys and girls from that group being so mean, just so mean. From quips to ride gestures to crippling nicknames, high school had it all.

When it finished, I still had my friends, and I was still the same girl.

Attending Uni, by myself, away from any group and away from people who knew me in high school was so ideal.
The transition time (two years) allowed me to grow in such a way that I was a new person. I got my shit together, I got confident, I was considered a happy and outgoing person in high school but this was different.
Any encounter with people from school was a minor setback though. I would be quiet and unsure of myself. Sometimes the memories of what they had done or were like in high school had sunk too deep.

I was so excited to be starting Uni that on my first day, walking in and seeing one of the popular boys almost crushed me.
But he was alright, I knew he was never mean to anyone in high school and had a reputation for being a caring brother and talented football player.

Neither of us tried to sit together, we were on separate journeys that just happened to be touching during this Uni degree.

A year passed and we had classes, assignments and lectures together. He was a nice person but we didn't push a friendship further.
I don't know what happened over summer, but the 2nd week back at Uni, he was interested in talking to me.

We talked every night on Facebook chat.
We started talking at Uni and I felt really good- I was so unbelievably comfortable with him. Something had just clicked.

We saw each other out at a local bar and that was it, we both just knew. He asked me to be his girlfriend 8 days later.

Fast forward 14 months and we are so connected, so happy and so excited for the future it is mind blowing.

If anybody grabbed 17 year old Ivy from high school and said I would be dating this professional footballer, I would have laughed in their face with disbelief.

I judged him by his social group and we both never made an effort to get to know each other in school.
Now I can't imagine life without him.
We are moving to France together after we graduate next year.

Ivy + Will
He is my person, The one you marry and have adventures with.