Light Up The Sky
CHAPTER ONE!!

I thought I’d start this whole thing off with telling you my super duper, gigantically, important secret.

Before you jump to conclusions, no, it’s not a life threatening secret. Though, it could be. If a certain someone does find out what my secret is, I might have to kill myself to hide from embarrassment.

I’ve always been known to be extremely blunt and straightforward, so here it is:

I’m in love with my best friend.

I know, how fucking cliché? I hate it, but I can’t help it. If you’ve ever met him, you’d totally be in love with him too.

It’s not just his looks that I’m in love with. And let me tell you, he’s amazingly gorgeous. He has dirty blonde hair that’s not quite long enough to be ‘skater hair,’ but it’s definitely not short. His eyes are unbelievably bright blue. Like the ocean. He’s tall and built, but not the ‘Rawr I’m Scary’ tall and built. He’s built from playing hockey since he was seven years old.

He’s seen me at my worst and he’s been there when I needed him most. He knows all- most -of my secrets. He knows what I’m thinking and how I’m feeling by the tone of my voice and the look on my face. He beat up my first boyfriend for breaking up with me. He’s sweet, sensitive, caring, and… my best friend, nothing more.

Okay. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the more important matters at hand. Like opening my locker. I’ve had this stupid locker for, what, three years now? I’ve only managed to open it twice. I know the combination, it’s 34-40-22. But it still never opens. I think it hates me. I’ve never even done anything to it! Just a few kicks, slams, and a hit here and there… School’s over and all I want to do is go home, but, no, my locker won’t let that happen.

“Autumn!”

I looked up at the sound of my name. It was Derek, aka my best friend and my one and only true love. He was walking down the hall, looking as good as always. Girls were staring at him as he walked by. Did I forget to mention that he’s pretty damn popular? Not as popular as the basketball and football players, but he is up there.

“Hey. Can you open my locker for me?” I asked him.

“You’re gonna have to learn how to open your locker someday,” he said grinning.

“Yeah, yeah.” He opened it with ease. I dumped my books in my locker and slipped on my hoodie. “Do you have practice today?”

“Of course. Are you going to come and watch?”

“Oh I don’t know. I think I’d rather watch the basketball team practice. At least they take their shirts off,” I said smiling.

“Haha, Audi. You’re so silly. But seriously, are you?”

“I might, I don’t know what I’m doing today yet.”

“Hey, Autumn,” a boy named Tyler said, popping out of absolutely nowhere. I‘ve known him since third grade and I have only talked to him a few times.

“Oh, hey Tyler.” I said with a fake smile.

“I was just, um, wondering what, uh, you were doing, on, um, Friday night?” He stuttered nervously and stuck his hands in his pockets. I’ve never heard the kid stutter before. He’s always so cool, calm, and collected.

My eyes widened. He’s asking me out. I haven’t gone out with anyone in a little over three months, since I discovered my feelings for Derek. Every time someone asks me out, I usually start to freak out because I feel bad about rejecting people.

“Sorry, Tyler. But, I’m grounded. Maybe another time?” I lied. His face dropped and he walked away slowly. I felt horrible, but my heart belongs to Derek.

“I feel bad,” I stated as I shut my locker.

“Then you should have said yes,” Derek said walking next to me.

“But I don’t like him like that.”

“You don’t like anyone like that.”

“Really now. How do you know that?”

“You haven’t been on a date in, like, forever. And every time someone asks you out, you say ‘no’.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe I do like someone and they just haven’t asked me out?”

Oops, I wasn’t supposed to say that. His eyebrows shot up.

“Who?” He asked.

You.

Okay, Autumn, calm down. Just don’t tell him that you love him. Don’t say his name. What would happen if I did tell him? Is there any harm in that? Yes, actually there is. I could never tell him. He’d laugh in my face and we would never be friends again. I’m definitely not willing to risk my friendship with him so he could laugh at me. There’s no way he could ever love -or just like, even- me as more than a friend or a sister. Because that’s what he sees me as, his little sister and his best friend. That’s what I made myself to look like for the eleven years I’ve known him.

So telling him I love him is out of the question. What do I tell him? I could tell him that I really don’t like anyone. But then, he’d think I’m a lesbian. And I’m not. So what to do, what to do…

“Come on, Audi. I’m your best friend you can trust me. I could even hook you up,” Derek said, winking.

“I like… Nathan Lazarro,” I said, inwardly cringing. Why, oh, why did I say that? I saw him turn the corner and his name just popped out if my mouth before I could even think.

“I thought you hated Nathan,” Derek said with a hint of confusion.

“You know the whole cliché love/hate thing? Well, that’s we have, I guess. I mean, he’s so hot,” insert invisible cringe, “and loveable,” insert another cringe, “and he’s an amazing hockey player,” insert cringe that was almost visible.

The last statement was true; he is an amazing hockey player. He’s the captain for the school’s team, he played with the U.S. NTDP Under-18 Team, he got a full hockey scholarship to the University of Michigan next year, and some other things. I really don’t want to get into details.

But, honestly, I can’t stand him and he can’t stand me. I’ve known him since I was in kindergarten and he was first grade. The very first day we met, he pushed me off my bike and scraped my knees. Ever since that day, we’ve been enemies.

I think the worst thing about him is that he’s arrogant. Okay, even I will admit that he’s good looking (not as much as Derek, though) but he does not have to walk around the school like he owns it. He has dark brown, unruly hair. It always looks like he just woke up and didn’t brush it, I’m sure he doesn’t. It sticks up at random places and hides his forest, green eyes. He’s not even as hot as the other more popular guys (football and basketball players). So you get the picture right? Typical arrogant jock with a new girl every week.

“Do you want me to talk to him for you tonight?” Derek asked.

“No! Please don’t,” I said firmly.

“Okay…” Derek said with a smirk playing at his lips.

“Seriously Derek. Don’t,” I said with puppy dog eyes.

“Okay, okay. I won’t, I was just messing with you,” Derek grinned. We arrived at my house after our fifteen minute walk.

“Bye Derek,” I said hugging him. I hope he can’t feel how fast my heart is beating.

“Bye Autumn. See you tonight?” he asked, hugging back.

“Maybe,” I replied as he kissed my forehead. He always kisses my forehead, ever since we were five years old. I never liked when he did that until last year. When I was little I used to bite and punch him when he did that, now I just smile and try to ignore the butterflies in my tummy.

“You sure you don’t want me to talk to Nathan?” he asked as he started walking towards his house. It’s right across the street.

“Yeah, I’m definitely sure.”

Fuck. Why did I lie to him and say I like Nathan Lazarro?

I don't know if you guys remember, but I posted this before and deleted it. But it's back up, obviously. Let me know how you love/hate it, kay? What do you think will happen? I’d love to know what you’re thinking.

Love, Chelsea.

p.s. I haven't been in the mood to write at all lately. I need you to help me. So if you've ever been through this, any tips or something? And if you're a fan of Trading Heartbeats, I've been trying my hardest to update. I'm sorry.