Every now and then, I choose an older story to revise and rewrite.

So this particular story is a revision. Of what, you may ask?

You clearly didn't read the title if you ask.

But, it's a revision of... Dun dun dun... Heartless! Shocker.

Mostly just because the writing in it sucks, and I felt like doing it again.

I sat perfectly still. I tried not to move even the smallest muscle. To do so might cause unexpected, and unappreciated, reactions. You might wonder why I'm trying to sit to still. Well, the answer to that is right across from me, sitting on the opposite end of the couch with a text book in his hand.

His name is Jace Hawthorn, and he's been my best friend since first grade. He's 6'2'', weighs 186 lbs, and was born December 18th, 1995. He's the second-born of four other siblings.

Now, the reason why I'm so still- Jace is trying to study, and is very easily distracted. Plus, if he were to look up, he would catch me avidly staring at him. As I've been doing for the past ten or fifteen minutes.

Why am I staring at him?

Well... Let's start at the beginning.

I'm gay. Flat out, raging homosexual, female-genital-hating gay. I can't stand girls. I don't like their attitudes. I don't like their bodies. I just... Do not like them. At all.

However, no one knows I'm gay. Because while this may be the 21st century, I live in a small town. And homosexuality is still not... Entirely accepted, shall we say. And, with the way my luck goes, I'd end up being the cliché main character that gets locked in lockers and shoved into dumpsters. Which I'd rather now happen. As it is I don't have much else going for me.

For one, I'm Albino. Which means, for those who don't know, that I am whiter than a snow man. It's weird. So of course, I have glasses, white hair, white skin, and pink eyes.

… Alright, the pink eye part is sort of cool, but the rest of it is weird.

I'm also one of the smartest kids in the state. So the dumber, less-educated population of the school feels that my intelligence automatically makes me a target for bullying. Joy.

So, in a nutshell- I'm a social pariah. I have one friend, and that would be Jace.

But I've gotten off topic. I was supposed to explain why I was staring, wasn't I?

I'm staring because I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the years that I've known him, I've grown to like Jace. And I don't just mean in a friendly way.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with the guy.

The only problem- Jace is straight. And a bit of a man-whore, to be honest. I'm having trouble thinking of a single girl he and I know who hasn't slept with him at some point. It's a little ridiculous.

Back to Jace though. Besides his sexual exploits, he's a nice guy. And while I don't think he'd take my sexuality badly, I'm not sure how he'd react to hearing my real feelings for him. Jace and I are closer than most guy friends, though. He'd hug me, and even kisses my cheek on occasion, if he's feeling particularly 'touchy' that day. But I don't think he'd be the same with it if I told him I was gay...

… And somewhere along my train of thought, I spaced out. I came back to see Jace staring back at me, making a fish face.

So mature.

I glared slightly, kneeing his thigh. "Shouldn't you be reading?"

He chuckled, shrugging slightly. "Probably. But it's just so much fun to make faces at you when you're not paying attention." he responded, making me roll my eyes at him.

"If you don't study, you'll fail Chemistry." I informed him. He didn't seem too put out by it, as he only glanced around slightly while smacking his lips.

"True... Or I could just cheat off you."

"As long as you don't put my name on the tests instead of yours again." I smiled. Back in fifth grade, Jace had cheated off me most of the year, and several times wound up writing my name on it instead of his own.

He smiled back and laughed. "Yeah, I remember Ms. Woods getting so pissed when she had two papers with 'Willow Black' on them. I got detention a lot that year..."

Willow was my name, obviously. I nodded back, glancing down to the abandoned text book in Jace's lap briefly before looking back up to him. He was still thinking with his head bent back, staring at the ceiling. "... I suppose you're done studying for the day." I sighed. He tilted his head back down to nod at me, closing his book and setting it on the coffee table.

"When's your mom gonna be home? I'm starving." he mumbled. Jace often stayed the night at my house, as his was apparently 'too hectic'. Not that I could blame him, living with three other siblings.

The youngest was Jared, who was roughly nine, then the twins, Jericho and Jezabel (both thirteen), then Jace, and the oldest was Christian, who would soon be twenty-three. I myself had no siblings, but I had two older cousins- Annabell and Mikayla, both nineteen. They were fraternal twins. Jericho and Jezabel were identical.

"Mom said she'd be home late tonight, so you're on your own." I told him, listening to his frustrated groan and he rolled off the couch. I watched him lay on the floor for a minute before he started to army crawl his way to the kitchen. "You know, you have legs for a reason."

"Shut up. I'm trying to devolve back into a fish."

I snorted silently, shaking my head. "... Doesn't seem to be working."

"I can see this, but thanks for crushing my dreams." he said dramatically, finally standing up and disappearing around the corner, entering the kitchen. I heard some shuffling, and some cabinets opening before he groaned again. "Willow! You guys have no food! How are you supposed to feed me if you have no food?"

"Well gee. I don't know. Not like you don't actually live here or anything."

"Shut up. I'm here more often than you are."

"Because you skip school and know where the spare key is."

Jace snorted loudly, coming back into the living room and looking at his watch. "And it's only five. Great. I have five more hours of being hungry. I'm going to starve and die. I hope you're happy." he sighed, falling onto the couch and putting his feet in my lap.

Rolling my eyes, I rubbed the top of his foot lightly. "I highly doubt you're going to die, Jace. You're too dramatic."

"And you're too... Um... What's that word your mom always uses to describe you?"

"... Anti-social?"

"No, the other one... Podiatrist?"

"... Pedantic."

"Yes. You're too pedantic." he mumbled. I sighed quietly.

"Jace?"

"What?"

"Do you even know what 'pedantic' means?"

He snorted indignantly, glaring at me slightly. "Of course I do, I'm not stupid. It means... Um... You know, it means..." he stumbled over his sentence, glancing around as I raised my eyebrows at him. When he looked back over to me, he glared further, kicking my stomach.

"Fuck you."

"Love you too, Jace."

And viola! There we are! The first chapter!