"Which is worse, saying something and wishing you had not, or saying nothing, and wishing you had?"

"Wow that's a hard one, what did you say in your essay?" her friend looked up with a worried expression. Emily knew she was wondering what she would do when the time came for her to write this essay.

"I said that it's worse to leave something unsaid, and always wished you had. Because, sometimes we regret what we said, but we still meant it. If you don't say anything, there's a risk what you mean never gets out".

"That's true", another one of her friends smiled as she peered over her shoulder, "speaking of things going unsaid, look over there Emily".

She turned around to see what her friend was looking at.

"Em it's your boyfriend!"

Emily turned back to her friends, "Johnny is not my boyfriend".

"Sure" the four girls rolled their eyes sceptically.

Emily felt him brush past her as they headed down the stairs. He turned and gave her a small wave, and she smiled in return, arms too full of books to wave.

She had barely made it four steps when the air left her lungs and her books went flying. She was shoved hard and felt herself lose balance. Emily knew what was going to happen next, she was going to fall down an entire flight of concrete stairs. But instead of hitting the hard floor like she had expected, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and pull her close. This felt all too familiar, and Emily knew immediately who had caught her. As always she fit perfectly into the space in his arms.

"Em are you okay?" Johnny sounded afraid.

She could only nod into his chest.

"Em, you're shaking"

"That might be because I almost just fell down the stairs", Emily had found her voice, but like the rest of her it was trembling, "Thanks Johnny".

"No problem".

Emily looked up at the boy whose relationship with her could not easily be explained. He was one of her closest friends, but he was also the boy she had been crushing on for over a year. The fear of ruining their friendship kept her from expressing any of these other emotions.

Emily saw him searching her eyes for something, and she felt him pull her closer. Johnny was now near enough so that she could hear his shallow breathing, and feel his forehead rest on hers. Emily continued to look into his eyes, she had never seen them look this way before, especially not at her.

She was lost in his eyes, and barely noticed the suggestive position they were in. Her hands were resting on his chest, his hands on her lower back. Their foreheads were touching, and they could not have moved much closer if they tried. Emily wasn't sure what was happening, from the look on his face she guessed that Johnny was having trouble deciding something. The boy leaned his head forward in the small space that was left, so that their lips were as close as they could be without touching. Emily felt her heart beating furiously. But just as soon as the moment had started, it passed, with Johnny pulling away from her and starting to pick up the fallen books. He handed Emily her things and she whispered one more thank you before continuing down the stairs to hide her red face from Johnny.

The two were sitting on the grass, listening to the sound of the children in the playground.

“Johnny, what if we don't stay in touch after school is over?”

“Em, we're going to. I promise”.

She looked up at him, eyes shinning with a layer of tears she was trying to keep from falling, “But what if-”

He sighed looking at her, “What if the sky falls?”

“Well then it will hit your head first because you're taller”. Emily bolted off, but Johnny caught up quickly with his long legs. She was laughing as Johnny put his arms around her waist, trapping her.

"You're lucky I like you too much to seriously injure you".

Emily turned around with a smile, and looked up into his eyes, they looked darker, the same shade she had seen once before. They stood in silence for a moment.

“What if... What if I told you everything I've always wanted to?”

“What haven't you told me?” Johnny was acting so strange, Emily had no idea was what going on.

“Oh come on Em, you can't tell me that you've said everything you've ever wanted?”

She paused, wondering if he could see right through her, “Fine, so what if we both told each other everything?”

“What if... What if I hadn't changed my mind at the last minute, on the stairs. What if I had...”

Emily tilted her head in confusion. What was he talking about?

“What if I had done this-” he leaned in and pressed his lips into hers.

She came away from the kiss breathing heavily, heart pounding and cheeks red. Johnny looked away in embarrassment. Emily placed one hand on his shoulder, and used the other to push his cheek softly so that he would look at her again. She let her hand linger on his face, “I would have done this”, and she kissed him back.