Back in 1998, when I was thirteen years old, it was the time I started to become a teenager and when I started to care more about myself and how I looked. Also, I started to feel love for the first time which is a normal thing for most teenagers around the world. I began to look for a cute girl to be my girlfriend. I kept looking for a while and at last, I found her. Now, let me tell you about my first girlfriend, how we became together, what we have been through and what happened when we went out together.

One day, at the beginning of the first term when I was in Matthayom 1, I went back to visit my old primary school and also work on my web site. I went in the computer room and saw that there were quite a lot of students there. I walked straight to my usual computer and turned it on. I tried my best to ignore the students who were staring at me but I wasn’t trying hard enough. I looked back at them for a few minutes, then I looked around the room. I saw a girl with big eye glasses who kept glancing at me so I gave her a smile. Then, she turned her face away back to her friends quickly and started to talk.

After the lesson finished, I walked up to her and asked for her name. She said that her name was Malee (not her real name). I told her my name then I started to tease her and her friends. We were joking around for nearly half an hour then they said they had to go which made me sad. Malee said that she always went home by herself every day. So I went down to the first floor and ran outside to go to wait for her. When she came around the corner and saw me there, she was a bit shocked. I walked and chatted with her to the market, to where she catches the bus back home. It made me feel good and I was very happy.

The next day I asked for her phone number, she gave it to me. Really, she didn’t want to give me her number because she said her dad is very strict and didn‘t like her talking to boys. She told me that when I ring her home and someone else picks up the phone, just hang up. I told her I will do that. After that we talked on the phone every night. The longest time I talked to her was for three hours and a half. I don’t know how I could chat for that long on the phone as we saw each other often.

We met every day after school and we always went to eat ice-cream or take sticker pictures together. If one day I didn’t see or talk to her, I felt bad. I think I started to love her. My feeling for her was getting more and more every day. I finally decided to tell her how I felt. I told her that I liked her and then I asked her how she felt about me. She replied that she liked me too. I was really happy when I heard that. We became boyfriend and girlfriend then.

We went quite fast up the levels, from holding hands to French kissing in only three months. We loved each other a lot and we promised to marry each other when we grew up. Lots of people told me I was taking her too seriously, also they said that it was only puppy love. I never listened to what they said. At that time, I was blind because of love. We were having lots of wonderful times together while we were hanging out. But it wasn’t long before we started to have problems. Some with each other and some with people around us.

The problems mostly happened because we were too much in love. For example, getting angry or jealous too quickly, thinking too much, not being careful when we were kissing or holding hands in public, etc. We broke up quite a few times but we always got back together again.

The problems started when Malee finished primary 6. She came to study in the same secondary school as me. We were really really close because we could see each other all day. We often got caught for not going to classes. We also got caught a few times while we were walking around the market holding hands. A teacher wrote our names down and the next morning he hit us with a long stick. It was very painful. But that didn’t really stop us. Nothing can really stop the power of love. If anything, the more people tried to keep us apart the closer we became.

I am curious, can’t teachers or adults remember when they were young? Can’t they remember how they felt when they were in love? I understand that their generation couldn‘t do so much. My mum once told me that she only met my dad once a week or less than that. And when they met, they couldn’t meet for a long time.

They just sat down together to talk or tease each other, nothing else. She said that teenagers in my generation do too much. When she was my age, she never went out alone with my dad. She also told me that she never kissed a boy until she was 18. I told her that one of my friends has a baby already and he is only 16, the same age as me.

I think the new Thai generation is more open to the world. It is because we have more technology. We can see other teenagers around the world doing things like holding hands, kissing, or cuddling in public. They even do it at school! We see that very often in American movies and that makes us want to do the same. Myself, I think it’s better to do those things in public than in a private place like a hotel. At least in public they won’t go further than what you see. But for sure, in private, they will go further.

Now to get back to the story about my first girlfriend. We had been hanging out for nearly two years when on my birthday, Malee rang me and said that she was done with me. She didn’t want to hang out with me anymore. I was really sad and upset. I cried and cried and asked her why? She said that she was bored with me. She said that she loved me but she did not trust me and she couldn’t make herself trust me. Also, she now had someone else who she could trust more than me. I was really upset. It took me along time to get over her.

If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t try to go too fast up the levels. Also, I wouldn’t be too close with her. I would be more open to her, talk to her about everything. And I would tell her before we started to hang out that if she finds someone else that she loves more than me, she can tell me. And I would not be angry with her so we wouldn’t have any stupid arguments or be jealous.

When I have children I will tell them about my "puppy love" story. I will tell them that don’t go too fast, don’t love too much when you are so young and listen to other people when you are in love. Love really can make you blind.