alfredo_carbajal

Misfits And Wildflowers is a collection of short stories created as a 25th anniversary of when I became involved with my high school sweetheart, my wife and best friend.

Set in the school year of 1999-2000, a simpler time full of baggy JNCO jeans, Discman players, colorful fashion, and Y2K fears — Everyone lived in the moment 

15-year-old Alfie is a shy and nerdy boy who is convinced he will never experience love the way his friends have, and will end up living the life of a monk. 

During Summer school, Alfie meets a peculiar girl whom he develops a huge crush on. Struggling to express any of his feelings, he ends up missing an opportunity due to unforeseen circumstances. 

Now entering the new school year, Alfie finds himself tangled in new feelings, old traumas, and the messy, hilarious chaos of adolescence.

With a found family of punks, nerds, goths, and other social outcasts (affectionately known as the Island of Misfits), Alfie navigates crushes that sting, friendships that anchor, and breakups that echo through locker-lined hallways...until one day, he finally experiences that spark.

This is a coming-of-age story rooted in nostalgia, honesty, and the kind of emotional growth you only get from falling hard and getting back up.

Misfits and Wildflowers: How I Met My Highschool Sweetheart

Fate. It is said that nothing happens by chance. Everything that happens, happens for a reason.

Let's say one moment you are getting ready to give up and accept a life of solitude, become a monk. Then someone comes into your life and you feel a connection, but is far from reach.

You try to move on chasing that similar connection but fall hard. And in getting back, you learn the value of being a friend.

The connection you have been wanting comes into view, but you choose to be patient and compassionate.

You are given an opportunity and you chase it like you found that oasis in a vast desert to quench your thirst, only to be tricked by a mirage.

Then you find yourself losing hope and giving up a year long pursuit.

You turned to your friends. They helped you turn your troubles around and danced the night away.

Suddenly, fate appeared...in the form of a smeared piece of gum. A piece of gum stretched across a ledge waiting for some fools to sit on it.

If it wasn't for us sitting on that piece of gum, I would have never felt that spark in Betty's little kiss.

After all that, I couldn't help but ask...what if?

What if CC, the girl I've been crushing on for the last year, and Bear, my buddy who's been crushing over Betty, HAD been at the dance tonight, would I have still experienced a tender moment?

Would it have been Bear sitting on that gum with Betty, or would it have been Me and CC?

What if CC hadn't suggested going to the dance, would I still have gone?

What if I never met CC, would things have still ended up this way for me?

Was it really fate that brought me here?

What if everyone's stories really are written in the stars?

These are the kinds of thoughts and questions that seem to flood my mind when left alone for long periods of time.

I can tell you one thing—if these stories are written, they aren't the kind where you just flip from cover to cover, page to page.

These stories are written like a 'choose your adventure' book where the choices you make change the outcome.

Just like these little pebbles I have been kicking around the whole time I've been walking home. They don't exactly go in a straight direction, they wander and shift in all sorts of directions. Where they stop, nobody knows.

Or better yet, we're all in a DND campaign and Fate is the Dungeon Master narrating our adventure and determining what our choices do.

"Dost thou accept to her noble request to join her party on their quest to bowl among the cosmos?"

Betty did make the first move and I am eager to know where this will go.

Whether you have plans or not, Fate doesn't care. It rolls the dice and makes things happen.

Prologue