Andrea looked like Sadie Sink

Canada, Late '90s

I met Andrea in the 4th grade, some little elf girl who was always kind of around for me to tease. I drew a picture of her being eaten by a dog. Then one day I heard her playing the theme from Titanic on piano and stopped dead in my tracks. It wasn’t some dramatic moment, but it caught my attention.

So I cast her as the kidnapped love interest in Poisson avec Dent (2003) — my first short film — about a mad scientist who creates a humanoid fish monster.

A couple years later she was dating this big guy in high school, but I still slipped a sketch of a rose in her locker. Somehow that worked. I sat beside her in class, so I’m sure people noticed when our desks were both empty on the same days, but to their credit, no one made a fuss.

Then out of the blue I dumped her after a chat with my brother. I figured to not make a big deal out of it would spare her feelings, but that probably confused her. I still took her to prom, and kissed her on the dance floor with our friends watching, but it didn’t last. Some people turned against me after that, but I was already onto the next thing. I don’t know what she made of my behaviour. It wasn’t my intention to hurt her, I was just a boy with unclear emotions, and we never talked about them, so that was that.