Maybe I should have seen this coming. Life doesn’t end up like the movies. But even now, I’m kind of a hopeless romantic. I get it from my dad, who insists that true love exists, even after my parents divorced when I was five. His obsession with love led to our shared love of rom-coms, and to him being on his third marriage since Mom. I think Sheila is it, though. They’re off on a three-month backpacking trip through Alaska for their honeymoon right now. He’s never been an outdoorsy guy before, but that’s love for you.

I wish that love luck would rub off on me. Instead I’m here in my lifeguard stand, trying to hide my tears behind the biggest pair of sunglasses I could find in Mom’s closet. Staring at a shot list I took from film class and filled in with all the plans I’d made for me and Dominic isn’t helping the tear situation. Neither is the soundtrack of Dominic saying “I’m just not feeling it anymore” over and over and over in my head.

I’ve become a total rom-com cliché and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. The worst part is that everyone else’s life is moving on. My relationship dying did nothing to stop their movies plowing forward while my storyline gets left on the cutting room floor.

Kavya tried to cheer me up by saying that this could mean my real-life rom-com is only just beginning. The breakup happens at the start of the movie so that there can be a big redeeming romance at the end. But there’s no way in hell that’s happening here. With prom just over a month away, everyone at school is pairing off left and right, pursuing their own rom-com–worthy crushes. Of course, I’m not on anybody’s radar since for the past year I’ve been with somebody else. And with swim practice and work and finals coming up, plus my ever-present heartache hovering over me like a boom mic, there is literally no time or space in my soul to make room for finding somebody else.

If only Dominic felt that way too. If only he hadn’t all of a sudden been “over it” and decided to replace me with Miguel. Perfect, not-a-flaw-in-sight, glowing-light-brown-skin, best-swimmer-on-the-whole-team-with-rippling-muscles-just-to-rub-it-in, Miguel Ortiz.