The Big Three | Teen Ink

The Big Three MAG

July 29, 2009
By protagonist BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
protagonist BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

“What event triggered the Cuban missile crisis?”

My study buddy looked from his paper to me with those eyes – the eyes of Dorian Gray. “I guess Princeton Review doesn't see the irony of putting ‘trigger' and ‘missile crisis' in the same question,” he added.

I answered with a coquettish laugh and, of course, the correct answer: the Bay of Pigs invasion. I knew the answers to all these questions. It's not like I suggested the idea of a study session because I had difficulty remembering the events of the Kennedy administration.

“Who was the Soviet premier during the Cuban missile crisis?” His voice had a curious, musical ring to it like some character in a black and white movie you could never quite place.

“Khrushchev.” You would want to hear more of that voice … like the first ten seconds of a JFK speech, before the whole nasal rasp becomes too much.

“Spell Khrushchev.” Ha! My little Cape Cod golden boy was challenging me.

“The AP exam doesn't take off for spelling.” I looked him straight in the eyes – eyes that happened to be mere inches from mine. Thank you, Aphrodite, for making small tables at coffee houses everywhere.

“I want to see if you know it.”

I stared into the tangoing twirls of blue and silver in his eyes. They should have been strands of cotton candy, but something told me they were the current of an eddy waiting to pull me in. Once you're gone, you're gone.

“K.” But the whites of his eyes were crossed with little red veins.

“H.” Did he have trouble sleeping last night?

“R.” Or was he with her last night?

“U.” No, they broke up. He's single now, but blond boy's out of my league.

“S.” It's a challenge. Does that mean I should go for it?

“C.” I wouldn't know how.

“H.” Won't he just disappear from my life when the semester ends?

“E.” Not if I play this right.

“V.” What the hell, you only live once.

He stared at me for a moment, and I couldn't breathe but didn't care to; who needs oxygen when you have so much adrenalin in your veins there's barely room for blood?

“So close,” he said in a low voice. His voice is even better than his eyes. For a moment I wondered if he would lean in and kiss me. “But you forgot an H.”

Figures I would do something to ruin it. No kiss for me. I guess spelling the names of Soviet premiers isn't something guys consider a turn-on.

“This one's easy,” he said.

Something easy? It must not be kissing me.

“Name the Big Three.”

The Big Three … somehow my mind was clear on this one. It wasn't that the answer was clear, but my mind was clear like the kind of stream some obnoxiously perfect lyrical unicorn would drink from. For a mini-eternity I didn't think about the mounds of work I still had to do, the fact I was manipulating him to spend time with me, or those damn eyes. I thought of nothing … peace. The only three words that came to my head were “I love you.”

“Don't you know the Big Three?”

There were those eyes again. Stalin must have had captivating eyes, but in a different way. In these eyes there was concern … but only concern that I didn't know the answer. In them I saw his dreams, his amazement, his past loves, his cats … but was there anything for me?

“The Big Three are Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill.” With each name I couldn't help but feel my words betrayed them all. But it was the correct answer, and logically the only answer. Still, I couldn't look in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” My God, he was teasing me! Of all the questions he decided to make me second guess myself on, he had to pick this one.

Bastard. Blond handsome bastard. He was also playing me.

“Well, what other Big Three is there?” I asked in my most seductive voice. Those years of theater had to pay off sometime. I twirled a bit of curly hair around my finger. He loved my curly hair, so unlike his.

His eyes were staring into mine and I stared right back. Was I FDR and he Stalin, or the other way around? There was a flicker of something in those cotton-candy eyes and I knew he wasn't Stalin.

“I love you.” The words that slipped from his lips were barely audible.

“I love me too.” I bet no one had ever said that to a Kennedy before. But I hadn't won yet. “In fact, I love me almost as much as I love you.”


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This article has 149 comments.


on Dec. 8 2011 at 10:05 pm
Vacilator BRONZE, Merritt Island, Florida
4 articles 2 photos 96 comments

Favorite Quote:
No cup of tea is large enough, or book long enough, to suit me.
-C.S. Lewis

"Quark" is such a fun word :)

Mgrobinson said...
on Nov. 25 2011 at 8:32 am
Mgrobinson, Gainesville, Georgia
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
Be the change you wish to see in the world- ghandi
Be the potter, not the clay.- me
Love is like pi, natural, irrational, and never ending

amazing!! i loved it! Keep writting!

on Nov. 8 2011 at 11:14 pm
musicluvr3 GOLD, San Diego, California
11 articles 0 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Cry. It shows you care."

Loved it! especially the last line... do yu mind if i use that someday??? ;)

on Nov. 8 2011 at 4:50 pm
Dreamgirl95 BRONZE, Sugarland, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 63 comments

Favorite Quote:
Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.

This was awsome, I loved it. the writing was beautiful:)

on Nov. 4 2011 at 10:50 pm
The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM, Waukesha, Wisconsin
36 articles 0 photos 106 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
-Sigmund Freud

Hehehehehe, very good. I really lked the occasional quark in your narrator's mind, which is perfect for a 1st-Person narrative because real peoples' minds also have those quarks going on in them. Also, I didn't know either of the characters' names or anything, but you managed to make me care about them in such a short amount of time. I was chuckling all the way through.

JuneTaz said...
on Nov. 3 2011 at 4:03 pm
Very new idea. Although honestly, very confusing as well. But that's what makes a story good- when you'rer unable to decide how a character feels about someone else. I like!

Katelan BRONZE said...
on Nov. 3 2011 at 2:01 pm
Katelan BRONZE, Westminster, South Carolina
3 articles 0 photos 3 comments
Wow. Loved it :)

on Nov. 3 2011 at 10:47 am
juliaec15 BRONZE, East Greenwich, Rhode Island
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.
-- Kurt Vonnegut

I loved it! It was very cute and a great read. I also loved the little witty things in there that relate to history :)

canuhearme23 said...
on Nov. 1 2011 at 12:57 pm
canuhearme23, Fort Drum, New York
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
"Bastard. Blonde handsome bastard" That was my favorite part

on Oct. 12 2011 at 7:56 pm
LivelaughWrite BRONZE, King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Cherish your friends stay true to your principles, live passionately, and fully, and well. Experience new things love and be loved, if you ever get the chance."
~One Day

 I loved this article! I took ap european history last year, so I could really appreaciate all the  history references. I also loved the big three.  The romance part of it also had my heart beating.  Keep on writing!

on Oct. 12 2011 at 4:06 pm
star2brite SILVER, Amherst, New Hampshire
7 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one, it comes as sincerely from the author's soul."--Aldous Huxley

Great play on words and use of history, extremely clever! I smiled the entire time I was reading it. :)

on Oct. 10 2011 at 6:23 pm
Bookworm1998 GOLD, Brampton, Other
17 articles 2 photos 118 comments

Favorite Quote:
Preserve your memories, keep them well; what you forget, you can never retell.

amazing! the big three part was really clever!

on Oct. 7 2011 at 2:05 pm
ThePeaceDaisy BRONZE, Albany, New York
4 articles 5 photos 223 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.” - Unknown
I will change this every week!

I felt like i was the girl! I love the "Big Three part!" SO cute!!

on Sep. 30 2011 at 12:05 am
atimm2013 SILVER, Hartselle, Alabama
7 articles 0 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

i love this!  you're style is great! It kept me wanting to read more

Chazz SILVER said...
on Sep. 20 2011 at 7:20 pm
Chazz SILVER, Key Biscayne, Florida
5 articles 0 photos 3 comments
AH! That was amazing!!!! It was so captivating :P i loved the story, wish it continued :D 

on Sep. 20 2011 at 9:45 am
toto1601 BRONZE, Springs Co., Colorado
4 articles 0 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
― Dr. Seuss

“It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.”
― Maurice Switzer

Wow that was amazing i almost felt kind of stalkerish  like i was sitting there in the cafe watching them talk to each other ... hahaahhahahahha... I wish that this had more to it, it was so great

Mackie BRONZE said...
on Aug. 29 2011 at 7:03 pm
Mackie BRONZE, Neverland, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life isnt about waiting for the storms to pass... It's learning to dance in the rain."

aw ! thts super cute ! be sure to check out some of my work :) i love comments !

i like pie said...
on Aug. 29 2011 at 12:44 pm
are you hinting at greek mythology? What with the piece about aphraditie and the big three (could be zues, posidion, and hades). I feel like this should be a whole book, not just short page. 

on Aug. 29 2011 at 6:02 am
ThePeaceDaisy BRONZE, Albany, New York
4 articles 5 photos 223 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.” - Unknown
I will change this every week!

i loved it! it's interesting partly because it has to do with studying, and crushes and that's like the DREAM school life. great job! please add more!

on Aug. 7 2011 at 5:25 pm
NKsunshine BRONZE, Palatine, Illinois
1 article 0 photos 75 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I don't need easy, I just need possible!" ~Bethany Hamilton

Sooooo cute....

I love how the girl has the upper hand:)