"Can't you see that this isn't good for our family Helga?" His stern tone surprised me; I thought he'd be happy I wanted to do something with my life. "I'm making plenty money to support our family. It's selfish! You need to step back and think about this. What it would to do to our family."

"Nothing would happen! Yeah, we have to move, but it's something I want to do. I don't just want to sit around at home, doing nothing with my life." He sighed loudly.

"You have a beautiful child and a loving husband; that's all you need!" His voice echoed through the house. "You can be such an idiot sometimes, Helga!"

"You're the one being an idiot!" He rolled his eyes and stood up from his sitting position on the couch. "What were you doing snooping through my stuff anyway? That acceptance letter was for me and only me!"

"When were you planning on telling me that you got accepted? Or even thinking about going to college! There's no point to it; it's useless!" I was always scared by his screaming voice; he only ever used it when he was really angry.

"How do you know that? You can't look into the future!" He scoffed.

"Oh yes I can! And I can see bad things. You're basically abandoning our daughter. Do you know how sick and selfish that is?"

"Give it up it Rob! Stop being such a sexist bastard! You want to be the only with a degree and a life outside of home? Fine, I won't go to college then. I'll live the life that you want me to live; cleaning, cooking and taking care of our daughter. Now doesn't that sound fun?"

"Fine; you can! And I'm going to make sure as hell that I'm not in it!"

"And I'll be happy when you're gone!"

He hit my shoulder as he stormed past me. He grabbed his keys on the table, and stormed out.

My breathing was rapid; we'd never screamed that intensely at each other.

I heard a faint cry from the upstairs bedroom; Caressa had obviously been awoken by the fighting. It had happened the last couple nights about various things, but it'd never ended with one of us walking out.

I ran up the stairs to fetch her. Her face was red and wet; her little hands clutched the crib bars.

"It's okay," I whispered to her. Her head was between my shoulder and neck, soaking my shirt. "It's okay, Caressa. Don't worry, honey."

She stopped crying eventually, and fell asleep clutching my arms for dear life.

It had been a few days after Rob left and calling him had become useless; it went straight to voicemail every time. I called his mother, in hopes she took a calmer approach to my decision, but she failed to return any of my calls.

I would call once a day, because even though I absolutely couldn't stand him, I was growing more and more worried that something had happened.

One night, as a last attempt, I left him a voicemail.

"Rob, pick up and get over yourself. If you think that me going to college would destroy this family, do you think what you're doing is any better? You're-" the phone beeped.

"Hello?" He sounded already tired of the conversation.

"It's Helga."

He sighed. "And?"

"And, you need stop acting like this is all about you, and get your ass back home! I'm tired of taking the fall for this! Be a man and come see your daughter; who, by the way, has been screaming for you every single night. And don't even get me started on trying to get her to sleep, because all that precious little girl wants is a song from her father who is too much of a coward to come home!"

"Shut your goddamn mouth. You brought this whole mess on yourself, and you know it," he said, his voice down to a low rumble.

"You know that's not true, you pig. Why do you find your disgusting behavior okay? I am your wife, and-"

"You're not gonna be my wife for long," he snapped quickly, and hung up the phone.

The divorce process was a long and painful one. It took months for all the papers to be signed and have Rob out of my hair for good.

Caressa was given full custody to me; Rob put up no fight to even have the rights to see her.

The single life was strange and new; I'd never lived by myself (Caressa doesn't really count). From the moment I got out of high school, I was in a serious relationship and had moved into an apartment with them.

I never forgot my longing for my own education, so after everything legal was sorted out, I moved myself and Caressa to the city of Donner.

While unloading the contents of the boxes in my new apartment, I came across my old yearbooks that dated back to the 4th grade. That year was a memorable one, but not for the best reasons; I was the bully.

I smiled as I turned to 'Mr. Simmons 4th Grade Class' page. My pink bow stood out from the rest and I found myself in snap. My eyes focused on the boy I was clearly scowling at- Arnold Shortman.

That name brought back a lot of memories. Memories both good and bad.

After putting Caressa to sleep, I took a shower and got ready for bed.

The new apartment had a 'homey' feel to it, but I couldn't feel completely at ease being surrounded by boxes.

I lay down in bed and, to my surprise, thought about Arnold.

The tormenting he endured for years. How his feelings and emotions were toyed with when I kissed him on several occasions, only to bully him the next chance I could.

I would always remember the look he gave me when I got up the courage and confessed my love for him again in sixth grade. His eyes went wide and he looked aghast; he felt the same way about me.

For two years, Arnold and I beat the odds of the standard, one week relationship that normally happened in middle school. Then, one day out of the blue, Lila's happy face reappeared in Hillwood. In sixth grade, she had left when her dad got a higher paying job out of state. The day she returned ruined my young love.

Arnold ran right back to her. She changed, although Arnold was too lovesick to see it. She was menacing and definitely different from her goody-two-shoes ways.

In the 10th grade, a new kid walked into class and my heart was put back together again, two years after it was ripped out.

"Alright class, settle down!" screamed Mr. Mahanoy. "Stop kissing and get ready for class!"

Of course he was talking about Lila and Arnold. They always seemed to be sucking each other's faces when they had the chance.

In the middle of class, there was a knock at the door. Mr. Mahanoy went to answer it.

"Come on in, the Principal informed me I was going to be getting a new student. There is an empty seat next to Helga. Helga raise your hand!"

I raised my hand slowly and unwillingly. I met eyes with him.

"This is Rob Blarker everyone. Go sit down Rob… Alright now where was I? Oh of course, so the…" his voice trailed off as I fixated on Rob.

He came, sat down next to me, and smiled; that gorgeous smile won my weak heart over.

We talked about everything during that class and became best friends within weeks.

I suppose he was thinking what I was thinking, because he asked me out on a date not too long after.

The date was a normal, awkward first date, and it was easy to tell we were both nervous. As he dropped me back off at my house, he gave me a light kiss on my doorstep, and we automatically fell in love. Nobody thought a relationship that started in 10th grade would last, but we showed them and ended up getting married two years after graduation.

Of course, no one knew we got married, because the only friend I invited to the wedding was Phoebe. To me, she was the only person that needed to know.

When I hit 22, Caressa Pataki entered our lives and made our young family was complete. She brought so much joy to a time where all we did was fight.

Rob was a mechanic; we both knew we needed two incomes to keep us stable, but he insisted we were fine because the bills were getting paid and we were eating. I applied to college because I knew we needed that extra money and a fresh new start.

Somehow, that's what ended our marriage. He couldn't accept the fact that the wife could bring in money, too. I didn't blame him too much, though; he grew up in a house where all the mom did was cook, clean, and take care of her children. That's all he really knew.

I reminisced for awhile, and unknowingly fell asleep in the process.

The morning of my first day of school was filled with stress, nervousness, and fear.

The nanny for Caressa came early so I could walk her through all the steps and show her where everything was.

My nerves were getting the best of me, and I was going stir crazy being in the house, so I left earlier than I had to. Caressa didn't like this, and screamed her head off as I walked out the door. On my way there I wondered if she connected someone walking out the door, to never seeing that person again.

I entered the college, and although it was early in the morning, the campus was buzzing with life. I put on a happy face and walked proudly in.

At lunch, I sat with a girl I met in my first class of the day. She kept me entertained until I had to head off to my last class of the day.

By the time I got there, the class was already partially full . I took a seat in the back of the class, and waited for the professor to begin.

I looked up from my laptop as a group of guys waltzed into the room. They looked quite average, but there was a lot of them. I was crossing my fingers they didn't sit anywhere next to me; I wanted to focus on my first day. I buried my head in my laptop and hoped the professor would start speaking.

The stairs up to my seats flooded with guys, all finding seats. After I thought all of them had walked past, I looked up to check.

The golden hair I so longingly admired as a child, the distinctive shaped head I dreamt of, was standing right in front of me. Of course, he looked much older- his shoulders were broad, taller, and he no longer wore a blue baseball cap. I stared at him, obviously catching his attention, because he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Arnold?"

"Helga?"