my first one-sided crush story

there's two of em but let's start with the first one

So 9th grade, March, I just started high school. At the orientation ceremony they give out scholarships, and I guess I was top of my class placement 'cause I was the only freshman called up on stage to get one. The very next day, this girl starts coming to my classroom and keeps giving me snacks. I was on a diet so I just took em and saved em all up.

Then the following week they had this thing called the "league tournament" where they mixed one class from each grade (1st, 2nd, 3rd) to make 9 teams for soccer and volleyball. I signed up for both. So we finish our first match, and there's a big gap before the second game. I'm walking through the hallway and she calls out to me. She's not in my class, not even the one next door—I'm in class 1 and she's in class 5. So that was the first time we actually talked. She asked if I was playing and said she'd come watch. After that she kept giving me snacks and stuff every day so I started to think she liked me.

I kept my hair long until April then cut it. She DM'd me saying the long hair looked good on me. But I wasn't really thinking about dating back then... maybe I missed the timing, but around late May I suddenly caught feelings for her and started texting. We'd reply every 5-10 minutes, same on my end. The texts were basically like this:

Then I felt like nothing was happening so I tried to make plans with her twice on weekends. Got rejected both times, said she was busy. Thought maybe I was just imagining things and started to back off. Decided I wouldn't initiate unless I needed to. But she'd text me first. So I'd get back into it, then she'd leave me on read for days, so I'd try to pull back again, and she'd text me again—that cycle went on for like two months. Eventually we agreed to go to a concert together for a singer we both liked.

At the concert something really made my heart flutter. So we were in the same section so we went together but we were a bit late so we had to run. While we were running she looked at me and asked "is your face getting red?" all close up and checking on my face. Then when we got inside, her ticket number was earlier than mine but when I sat down I realized I was sitting right behind her—okay I sort of intended that lol—but anyway she turned around and asked "if you're about to fall, should I catch you?" I was actually so weak at that moment.. mhm

Then texting would die again, and every time I'd try to move on she'd text me first. She'd sometimes like my stories even if they had nothing to do with her, and everyone around me kept saying she seems into me. But nothing ever progressed. This went on for like 4 months. Started texting in May, still nothing by October. I got fed up and asked my female friend to ask her directly. So my friend asked the crush, and she said she never liked me at all. So I was like, okay, time to let go. I started avoiding her. Purposely. I managed to not run into her at school for over 2 weeks, and I was actually getting over it. But then.

One day I was messing around with a friend and ran out of my classroom. And she was walking right in front of me. We made eye contact. She said hi. My brain just short-circuited, I was like "uh... uhh....." and just turned around and went back. After that, even when we did run into each other, she'd ignore me, and she cleaned up her insta alt. That's how the first story ends. The second one is even sadder so imma take a break before telling that.