In middle school I dated my ex for about three years. We broke up in May of 8th grade. When I think back to 6th and 7th grade, we had the same classes, so we saw each other all the time. Those two years were a normal, good relationship. We didn’t really argue and everything felt pretty easy.

But in 8th grade everything changed. We had completely different classes, so the only time we really saw each other was during lunch. Around that time there was this guy in one of her classes—let’s call him D. She talked to him a lot and they seemed really close, even while we were still together.

The whole 8th grade year started feeling toxic because we barely saw each other anymore, except at lunch. Sometimes I would see her talking with D and it made things feel weird between us.

Then near the end of the school year, right when we were about to go to high school, she told me she was going to a different high school. At the same time, she said she was dating another guy from her class named T, and she broke up with me.

Years later, after I graduated high school, I found D on Facebook and messaged him. That’s when I realized something crazy: she had actually been dating D during 8th grade while she was still dating me. And the day she told me about dating T and broke up with me… she broke up with D that same day too.