Lisa Stavers and Mike Carlson were seniors in high school, and were a real item. When they met they seemed to instantly ‘get’ each other. They were often at each other’s homes, for study, making out, meals, and it wasn’t too farfetched to think that they’d get married one day. They seemed to have similar interests, and got along splendidly.

There was, however, a watcher who wanted Lisa for himself. Bruce was in the periphery of their group of friends, so they were aware of him, but not of his crush. He spent a lot of time plotting about how he could get Mike out of the picture, and one day he came up with a plan. The easiest thing would be to start a rumor that Mike was seeing some other girl. He knew there was a girl, Linda, in their circle of friends who thought Mike was cute, although he knew she had never acted on her feelings. He started his rumor with a couple of the other friends, asking if they had seen Mike and Linda kiss. They were amazed Mike would ever cheat on Lisa, and like dry tinder, soon the rumor spread to everyone else in the circle.

Naturally Lisa was told about this and was livid. She confronted Linda as well as Mike, who both vehemently denied ever having had even an intimate conversation. But Lisa was somehow convinced it had happened, and she dumped Mike.

Mike was flabbergasted. He thought Lisa knew he was crazy about her. Why on earth would she believe it? He felt grief-stricken for the loss of their friendship. A few days after he had mentally absorbed his new status, he started to wonder who could have started this untruth, and why? Soon enough he began to perceive the most likely suspect, as he saw the weasely Bruce making moves on Lisa, moving in to “comfort” her, ‘and not even giving her time to get over me,’ thought Mike. He already didn’t like Bruce, and this seemed to point to him as the culprit. Meanwhile Lisa treated him abominably, dissing him in front of others, and encouraging her closer friends to shun him, which they did.

Mike was no saint, but he was honest, as most of his friends knew, and an all around good guy, offering his help when it was needed. He didn’t react to all this hostility, having learned that it only fed the cycle. This whole thing really hurt, but he knew he needed to try and put it behind him. A lot of his affection for Lisa had soured when she turned so spiteful, and refused to believe the truth. She was the one person he thought he could count on. He didn’t wish her ill, but he had an idea that sooner or later she would realize the truth. Thanks to her he became, not exactly a pariah, but a loner, as the old group excluded him.

Linda wasn’t nasty to him, of course, but neither of them wanted to give any credence to the rumor that had busted up the relationship, so they remained at arm’s length. She, too, was excluded from the group.

In the meantime, Bruce was making progress with Lisa, offering a shoulder to cry on, commiserating, and treating her very solicitously. His plan was working excellently! She started to respond to his advances, and before too long they were dating. He was no Mike, she thought, but then Mike had betrayed her. The rest of the group still didn’t like Bruce that well, but they didn’t want to alienate Lisa, so they accepted him—for now.

-o0o-

Mike settled in to his new, lonelier existence, concentrating more on his schoolwork. He also found a part-time job and in general kept himself busy. His grades, not bad to begin with, improved, and it was nice to have his own spending money. He missed having a girlfriend, but started to get over the hurt and feel okay about himself as things were.

-o0o-

It so happened that Bruce liked to boast, and one day when he thought he and a buddy were alone, he explained how easy it had been to bag Lisa for himself. He was unaware that Clark, one of the group of friends, was around the corner and heard this confession.

Clark wasted no time in telling Lisa how Bruce had duped her, and that Mike was totally innocent. She felt awful and cried buckets. She knew she had really treated Mike terribly. She knew that he was an honest guy, and wasn’t lying to her. Why had she been so quick to believe Bruce? She found Bruce, and raked him over the coals for destroying her relationship, and for his deception. She told him she would make sure he never had another girlfriend while at high school.

After agonizing about it for some hours, she sent Mike a text, asking to speak to him.

Mike was and wasn’t stunned to see a text from Lisa. The only reason he could think that he would hear from her is that somehow Bruce’s plot was finally exposed and that Lisa wanted to apologize. He felt kind of neutral about her now, and agreed to see her, so they met up that evening outside the ice cream shop.

Lisa could hardly meet his eyes, but she summoned up her courage and said, “I’m SO sorry, Mike, for believing that rumor. I realize now that that rat, Bruce was just trying to get me for himself. I know you wouldn’t lie, and I don’t know why I believed him.”

Mike thought about it for a minute, but only said, “I accept your apology.”

Lisa struggled to say the next bit. “Do you think we might get back together?”

Mike thought about it for just a little while. They had had a very close relationship that both enjoyed, but that she was capable of being so cruel really turned him off.

So he looked her in the eye and said, “Lisa, I really don’t think that’s a good idea. Why don’t we just say that our karma together is finished, and go our separate ways. To show you there’s no hard feelings, I’ll buy you a cone.”

This speech provoked a flood of tears from Lisa. She really wanted to argue her case. She missed the Mike she had known, but knew she had treated him very poorly, and could understand, even if she didn’t want to. In fact she could hardly believe he was being so nice to her. She had no appetite, and declined the ice cream. In the future she resolved she wouldn’t be so quick to listen to accusations. They said goodbye and went their separate ways.

It didn’t take long for this news to get back to all their friends (and ex-friends). The group made a guilty effort to be nice to Mike and Linda, but neither of them really wanted to be a part of that group after how they had been treated. Bruce, of course, was now the pariah. And no, he couldn’t get a date.

A few months later, Mike was at the library and ran into Linda. They were both working on the same assignment for History, and helped each other out a bit. They were no longer worried about being seen together. Mike was impressed with Linda’s knowledge of the subject, and thought she was interesting. He hadn’t ever really thought of her as a possible date, and wasn’t really interested in dating her now. But as they met at the library a few more times, he liked the person he was getting to know.

When the news that Mike and Linda were getting together at the library reached Lisa, she was a little pissed off. Had they really kissed and had they been seeing each other behind her back all this time? Had she unfairly apologized to Mike? She wanted to confront him, but didn’t want to find herself on the wrong side of the issue again. How to find out the truth?

She asked a few of her classmates if they knew if Linda was seeing anyone, and no one was aware of her dating. She asked them if Mike was seeing anyone, and again they said no. He didn’t have a lot of spare time, with schoolwork and his job. That should have been the end of it, but a couple of those students told Mike that Lisa was asking about the two of them, and he could see where this was going.

At lunch the next day he stopped by her table and said, “Lisa, is there something you want to ask me?” Guiltily she looked down and said “no,” in a small voice. “Would you even believe me if I said that Linda and I have never been on a date? Who I see has nothing to do with you. I was never unfaithful while we were friends and I’m not lying now. So please just drop this.” And he walked away. Lisa was cringing under this speech and felt awful.

Mike didn’t want to be cruel, but he was kind of tired of the whole thing, and was looking forward to graduation, and being done with this school and group of people. He was now an honors student, and in the top percentile of his class.

-o0o-

While he was in university, Mike went to see a seer whom a couple friends had recommended. He found what she told him quite interesting. She said that a breakup in high school changed the trajectory of his life. If he had stuck with that girl, they would have married, and after just a few years something would have come along to destroy their relationship. Since in the original life he wouldn’t have gotten the excellent grades he did get, (thanks to having more time to study), he would have entered a different career path that he wouldn’t have found as fulfilling as the one he was now headed for. She also noted that within five years he was going to find a woman he would fall in love with and live a long, happy lifetime with.

The seer went a little further back and said that the reason he and Lisa were so comfortable with each other right from the start was due to several lifetimes spent together, sometimes as a male and sometimes as a female. In each lifetime together one of them had dumped the other, leaving the dumpee angry and full of unresolved emotion. This time, she said, the fact that Mike had been non-reactive had allowed his karma to resolve. So he had actually been correct when he told Lisa their karma together was finished.

When he left the seer he was very introspective, finally realizing that the breakup, although it seemed devastating at the time, was necessary for him to have a life he would enjoy a lot more than where he had been headed, even though he and Lisa were so seemingly compatible. He was really glad he had said no to her when she asked if they could get back together. The way it did happen left a lot less wreckage than if they had gone on to marry.

He hadn’t particularly ever given much thought to reincarnation, but he did have to admit that what the seer said felt right. The two of them were instantly comfortable with each other right from the beginning. He kind of wondered if he and his wife-to-be had spent any lifetimes together.

Time would tell!

The End.