A/N: This story spans about five years of writing. My style changes, along with the general length of each chapter. It started off as drabbles, but I quickly got absorbed in these two, as I hope you will.

The Confession

"I love you."

I'm aware now that this is the moment my life began to change dramatically.

Normally this would be the part where they become giddy with affection and make sweet love to the person who spoke these words. Not in my case, though, because the person speaking these words to me was a guy I'd never met before; a weird, scrawny guy with a determined and frightened look in his green eyes.

Immediately my friends burst into raucous laughter, doubling over and slapping my shoulder. One of my friends even pushed me towards the freak. "He loooooves you! You hear that?!" Collin mocked with tears in his eyes.

Then I did the only thing I could do - join in the laughter; because it was extremely funny if you thought about it. This awkward guy that I didn't know had come up to me and professed his love. It must have been some sort of joke. First of all, I am Brecken Waters. The star of the soccer field and otherwise one of the most popular guys in our school - I'm not gay. Second of all, if I was, couldn't I could get someone much better than this nerd?

I took a second through my laughter to size him up in front of me. Even though we were all laughing at him, he was now the perfect face of calm. Mystery boy stared back at me with green, unblinking eyes; and he wasn't that bad looking with sandy brown hair and a long frame. But the eerie stares gave him an otherworldly feel that told me there was something different about him.

I couldn't spend too much time caring. Just five minutes ago I had just scored the winning goal of the soccer game that catapulted us into the semi-finals. I was on top of the world, and this weird guy confessing to me was the biggest buzzkill.

"I'm not a fag," I managed to say harshly before turning with my friends and replaying the details of my goal.

It would be a little less than a year before I'd see him again.