I, May Summers, have been in love with my best friend, Eden Winters, for as long as I can remember. It all started when I moved in next door at the beginning of our freshmen year of high school. We lived in a small, urban town with large trees and leaves blowing through the streets. I was an artistic, average-looking girl with large brown eyes and long brown hair. I was pretty much like the ugly duckling in a pond full of beautiful swans. Since I was new to the town and school, I was immediately deemed an outcast or unpopular. On the other hand, Eden was the captain of the football team, extremely attractive and was popular with everyone. Eden lived with his aunt and uncle. He had blond hair and deep blue eyes. He looks like he can be on the cover of a magazine with his sharp features and striking beauty. Even though we were polar opposites, we still grew up to be best friends up until junior year.
I remember the day we became best friends as if it happened yesterday. It was the first day of freshman year and I was new to the school.  Eden came up to me and introduced himself then he shook my hand. He got cut off mid-sentence by the bell for first period and said he would make it up to me by sitting at with me at lunch. He sat with me at lunch that day and we became friends. Anyways, back to how I said I fell in love with my best friend. The summer of freshmen year, Eden went to check on his mom and dad across the country all summer because of family issues. During that summer, I realized how much I missed talking to him, hanging out with him and just being around him. When he came back at the beginning of sophomore year, I noticed that he grew a few inches. I saw his green eyes frantically search the room for someone who wasn’t me. Then his eyes locked on the person whom I despised the most, April. April was your average ‘golden’ girl, but I see her more as the spawn of Satan.
I mean she had picked on me since freshmen year. He ran over to her and began talking to her. He had always been busy with her, almost forgetting the friend who cared about him the most. When I saw the both of them all engrossed, the jealousy within me burned. They intertwined their fingers and started to walk over to me.
Eden said,” Hey, I missed you, May!” Thankfully, the bell rang before I got the chance to reply and I was able to get away from those two.
The next day, Eden called me and said, “I need you. Please May.”
I ran over to his house and he began to say, “ April was trying to change who I am. She was trying to change who I hang out with. She went too far.”
He suddenly burst in tears. I don’t think I have ever seen Eden cry. I wrapped my arms around him hoping that he would calm down.  After he calmed down and fell asleep, I decided to leave him to rest from his heartbreak and go to my house. But I immediately regretted opening the door when I saw April standing on his front door step.
She barged into the room and fake apologized,” I’m sorry about what I said Eden. I didn’t mean it like that.” When he accepted her weak apology, I think I broke inside.
I cried myself to sleep that night. I cried for so long that I made a lake. When I woke up, I decided to skip school because I was scared to see them together.  I wasn’t ready to face the facts and realize that there would never been anything between us. There was absolutely nothing, nothing at all. I hoped that he would at least like me, but that was proven wrong. I didn’t think a boy could ever cause me so much pain, sadness and grief.  I hoped, prayed and dreamed that one day he could be mine, but maybe my dream was wrong because when reality broke through, he was hers. My mom forced me to go to school the next day. Eden came up to me looking very worried.
Eden asked me, “Hi, are you okay? Why didn’t you come to school yesterday? I was worried sick.”
I lied saying, “I felt sick so I decided to stay home. I’m okay.”
Eden replied, “That’s good to hear. I have something to tell you.”
Confused, I asked, “What do you need to tell me?”
Eden choked out, “I broke up with April because she wanted me to stop being friends with you.”
Shocked, I babbled,” Oh, that is not good. I mean you really liked her, right? You should not lose her over me.” 
Eden stated, “You are my best friend. You mean more to me than she will ever mean to me.”
We finished talking and both went home. I was glad that he broke up with her. Eden’s actions gave me hope. Hope that we could be together one day. I decided to paint a picture of Eden. Whenever I was bored, I would paint, draw or do something related to art. When I was not with Eden, I would be focused on art and pursuing a future in art. Junior year started approaching and Eden slowly stopped talking to me. I was so hurt and confused about why he stopped talking to me. Eden changed completely. He went from being the golden boy to the bad boy. Eden’s life went downhill and his grades dropped. I decided to move in with my mom to get away from Eden. My mom lived across the country. To give Eden something to remember me by, I began making him a painting. It took me days to make it perfect and make it meaningful. I got the guts to go talk to Eden before I left.  Then I gave him the news I never thought that I would have to give him.
I choked out, “I know that you don’t want to talk to me, but I thought I should let you know that I am moving.” Eden seemed shocked that I would talk to him and that I was moving.
Eden’s expression suddenly turned stone cold. He yelled, “Why would I care about you? I’m happy that you’re leaving. I would be better off without you in my life.”
I was shocked at his outburst. I felt my eyes brimming with tears. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but I replied to him by giving him the painting. It was like there was an internal battle in my head about whether I should tell him how I felt of not. I ran away from him and my old life as fast as I could. I ran away from my problems like I always did.
  When I moved, I thought it would be the best way for me to get over him. My heart was telling me to love him. My brain was telling me to get over him. But the thing is that getting over him is like trying to smooth over a crumbled and ripped piece of paper. It is impossible because even if you try to smooth the wrinkles out and tape up the rips, there will always be a part of the paper that will remain crumbled. I moved back at the beginning of senior year. During my time away from him, I realized that I rather have Eden in my life  as my friend than to not have him in my life at all.Walking into the school, I was afraid of what he would say or do when he saw me. I wanted to know how he felt about the painting.  As I was zoning out, I accidently bumped into someone.
They yelled at me saying, “Watch where you are going!” I looked up and yelled back, “Sorry, I must have zoned out, but you were at fault too.”
The boy then yelled, “Really now? How was I at fault?”
I told him, “You’re huge. I mean look at you. You are the size of a boulder.” I mean he wasn’t fat, but very tall and built. I didn’t realize who I was talking too until he began laughing.
I gazed into his eyes and gasped, “Eden? Is that you?”
Eden stopped laughing and said, “Yes, I’m Eden. Is that really you, May?”
After nodding my head yes, he grabbed me and took me to his car. He took something out from inside of his car. That something was the painting I gave him almost a year ago when I left.
“Why did you give this to me before you left?” He asked angrily as he looked down at the painting in his hands. The painting was black and white with grey and red streaks staining the middle of the painting. I didn’t expect him to know what it represented.
I replied,” A picture can say a thousand words. I have tried to express myself using words, but they never come out the way I want them too. I made you this painting and I just gave it to you.”
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion; I could tell that he was trying to figure out what the painting meant. I could see how he was trying his hardest to understand why this meant so much to me and so little and meaningless to him.
The last thing he said to me was, “I don’t see anything.”
The black and white represented my life. The grey represented the pain he had caused me. The red represented the unrequited love I felt for him. But in the end, it was all just paint on a canvas.