My First... Heartbreak

I got pregnant accidentally when I was 22. I’d been with my partner for a couple of years, and I loved him more than anything. He wasn’t the smartest guy, but he was generous, hilarious and always looked after me. He worked away a lot, but it paid well, and I knew he always wanted to be at home with me. When our son was born, our entire world changed. He was there for the birth, and was an absolute rock. The perfect Dad. You’ve never seen anyone more proud. For two years we were a perfect family, and he even proposed to me. But one day, his phone rang when he was in the shower, and I answered it. The woman on the other end didn’t take long to tell me who she was. It turns out our son wasn’t his first child; he had another woman and two daughters, who were as surprised to find out about me as I was them. Female, 29, Lenton

I was eleven, and I had a crush on this boy who had a voice that sounded like a mouse. On reflection I’m not sure why I fancied him, but anyway, one day he invited me on a bike cycle to do some homework. I hadn’t ridden a bike for years, so was really wobbly and a bit rubbish at looking where I was going. When we crossed the road, I nearly got ran over by an old couple in a car. I tried to cycle away but they shouted after me as I scratched their car and demanded I pay to fix it. Luckily his dad was a mechanic so fixed it for them for free, but the boy still told everyone in my class and I was super embarrassed. I fancied him for years after, but never got my street cred back, and so never got another chance with Mouse Boy. Tragic. Female, 21, Sneinton

My first "proper" boyfriend and I split up after three years together and I was suddenly left all alone in a city that wasn't my home, desperately trying to make sense of what I did wrong. After a month of crying in the alleyway outside my office every day, I took the plunge and decided to book a two week solo trip for the summer. It was my dream holiday, and something I never would have done if I was still in that relationship. In the following months I got a promotion, made new friends in the city and felt the happiest I have in a long time. Turns out it wasn't something I'd done wrong, but just that he was wrong for me. Female, 33, St Anns

I’d fancied Megan from afar since the first day of Year Seven. I’m sure every school had the ‘pretty girl’, and Megan was ours. She just seemed older than everyone else, like she had some magical aura surrounding her. I cannot describe the feeling I felt when I got a note mid-way through our shared Geography lesson asking if I wanted to go out with her. It didn’t seem real, but when I looked up at her, she was smiling at me. We sent messages back and forth, and agreed to meet that lunchtime. When I arrived at the meeting place, I found her, several of her friends and a group of ‘popular’ lads waiting, all of them dying laughing at the thought that I thought it was real. It was a level of humiliation I’d never felt before, or since. It was almost ten years before I trusted anyone like that again. Male, 38, Hockley