Chapter One

His name was Evan Anderson, and he was absolutely the man of my dreams. Save 

for one tiny problem, he was straight. Now, saying these words, keep in mind that he’s 

never been an a*****e to me. He’s never been one of the jocks that shoved me around, or called me vulgar names. Evan was always different, in the way that if someone shoved me, he told them to stop. For once in my life, someone was sticking up for me. And the someone that was sticking up for me, just so happened to be extremely handsome and have wonderful taste in just about everything. 

“Aiden?” Emily murmurs brushing my white-blonde hair out of my eyes. I raise my eyes from the sketch in front of me to look her in the eye. Her slightly mussed chestnut brown hair falls in curls to her shoulders, her lips curve up into a slight smile. Her warm brown eyes betray a hint of worry. 

“What are you thinking? You've been sketching, and ignoring me…” She murmurs moving her hand away from her face to tuck her hair behind her ear. I shrug looking down at the drawing, avoiding eye contact I rest my arms gently on the table. 

“How long have you been tuning me out?” She chuckles, realizing I want to drop the subject. Emmy and I have been best friends since the third grade, we tell each other basically everything. She’s the one person that doesn't treat me differently because I’m gay. Telling her about Evan would be easy, but it’s too embarrassing for me to even consider. Liking a straight guy is pointless. 

“How long have you been talking exactly?” I joke raising my eyebrows, a half smile forming on my lips.

“Study hall is definitely becoming my favorite period.” Em smiles nudging my 

elbow as I close my sketch book and toss it into my messenger bag. 

“Would that be because there’s absolutely nothing to do beside torture me with horribly tacky Katy Perry songs?” I smile linking my arm through hers as we walk out of the classroom and into the crowded hallway.

 “You like Katy Perry, I know it’s your guilty pleasure.” Em laughs good naturedly untangling from my arm. She stands on tip toes to kiss me on the cheek. 

“You, me, coffee after school.” She smiles as I hug her tightly. Sometimes, I don’t know how I’d get through high school without her. And by sometimes I mean always. We part from the embrace as she heads downstairs for Calc and I stay upstairs for Art. I’ve never quite understood, the point of offering an Art class. Art isn’t something you learn, it’s something you do.

Art is a class I actually like. Beyond that, it’s a class I actually try hard in. The 

teacher is kind, her name is Ms. Quinciati, but the class calls her Jenna. She’s very pretty, for a teacher. She’s got long black hair that falls to her lower back, with choppy bangs that fall into her green eyes. She likes to wear bright colored lipstick, and large white shirts with colorful belts around her waist. The class is relatively small, only about 

fourteen students, most of them are friends with each other. I sit in a back corner, on a 

plush ugly green couch. It’s comfortable, and the lighting is dim. I can just put my 

headphones in, blast music and sketch to my delight. Lately, I’ve become more and more interested in silhouettes. I sketch them out, and fill them with words, adding as little detail to the drawing as possible. I shade the background in bright colors. Emily adores them. She’s kind of the only person I've ever been comfortable sharing my art with, not that I’ve ever had much of an opportunity for sharing my art with anyone, being an only child. Both of my parents are loving, but they’re almost always constantly out of town. Emily is the one person I see, I talk to, I tell things to on a daily basis. Sad, but true. A sigh escapes my lips as I blast my music a bit louder. My sketch book is open to my latest drawing, it’s not turning out how I want it to. Usually, it’s like I see something, I pick up a pencil, I draw it, it’s how I saw it. Today, this image wont work out properly, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s going to be prince charming, as soon as I can fit a face to the name. I start out with a strong jaw line, and broad shoulders. The details are hard to fill however. I settle for drawing shaggy hair, flopping lightly over one side of the face. 

The bell rings, pulling me out from a dreamland of eyes and music. I sigh as everyone clears the room. The final period of the day, I understand the urge to rush out of the room, in a way, but at the same time, I’d be content to sit here forever, listening to 

Metric and doodling my life away. Unfortunately, reality beckons. Em will be pissed at 

me if I take forever, and that would spoil, what hasn’t been a s****y day so far. I resist the urge to groan as I stand up, stretching my tense muscles, throwing my messenger bag over my shoulder. 

“Have a good day, Jenna.” I smile nudging the door open with my hip.  She looks up from her canvas and nods politely before turning back to her work. I sigh as I spin out of the door, straight into something solid. The sound of books crashing to the floor rings through my ears, as a pair of arms wrap around my waist instinctively. Oh my God Aiden, you’re so pathetic. And awkward. Seriously. Dumb. 

“I’m so, so sorry.” I murmur looking up, to see Evan, soft smile playing on his lips. Oh my sweet lord, his arms are on my waist. Evan half laughs shaking his head

 “I wanted to run into you again, but I didn't mean literally.” He jokes as I untangle from our loose embrace. I bend over picking up his books and piling them neatly resting them on my hip. 

“Nice to see you again. Sorry, bout the books.” I murmur shifting awkwardly holding them out to him. Evan smiles grabbing them gently from my hands, I try to ignore the fact that our fingers brush for a perfect second. 

“You look like a dancer, yet you’re not as graceful as one?” Evan chuckles, his lips curling up. I resist the urge to brush his shaggy black hair out of his face. Is that my imagination, or did his eyes just flicker to my hips? Oh no, that blue-green sea of something gorgeous definitely just checked me out. Except for he’s straight… and I’m a guy. I half laugh bringing me back to reality. 

“You know, there’s more than meets the eye.” I wink. Oh my god, Aiden you’re being a flirt and a s**t. Knock it off. Evan smiles, and I can feel my heart stutter.

 “So, where are you headed?” Evan murmurs running his hand through his hair.

 “You know, downstairs.” I joke nudging his shoulder with mine, surprised when he leans into the contact. 

“Actually, Emily and I are going to get coffee, you know it’s Friday, after all.” I shrug, nonchalantly. I cannot believe that Evan and I are just standing here, flirting. “Indeed it is. Mind if I walk with you?” He asks casually. And I can just feel the pieces fall into place. Except for he’s straight, and I’m gay. We chat easily, about music, about art, about school. And I feel as if we really fit. As we reach the front doors, I realize this is where we part. And it’s a bitter feeling.

 “Look, can we hang out this weekend?” Evan spits out, and he blushes, almost as if he’s worried about my reaction.

 “Course.” I murmur smoothly as possible, reaching into my back pocket and pulling out a pen. I grab his hand and scribble my number, and my name onto it neatly. 

“Call me.” I shrug, and walk out the door, waving with a flit of my fingers.

Author's Note

Feel free to review and alert me to any flaws you may find!
So I edited the paragraph form, hope it's easier to read!

Reviews

[KailaRenee]

Absolutely fantastic! I love the way you develop your character.

[Zachary_James]

Oh my gosh, let me just say, i LOVE this. This IS a amazing first chapter of this book. I just love how described the characters. I love how the main character loves to draw..

[SheaRyhai]

First suggestion, remove all those extra (spaces/lines) between each line of text? Its okay between paragraphs but it rather makes me feel like I'm jumping from one row of words to the next so it doesn't flow as well as it might.

Paragraph break when you switch from one person to another in dialogue. [just a general rule in writing]

You do a good job connecting us with your main character - and I love that you don't 'over do' how 'miserable my life is' as most first person teen stories do *cheers*

"Except for he's straight and I'm gay" - I'm beginning to suspect the validity of this. Evan certainly doesn't act uncomfortable at all around him, which most 'straight guys' would - just cause.

It's definitely a good start, with a nice hook of 'what will happen-romantically?' for a while there I was worried Evan might hock up with Emma - kinda worst case senior - but things seem to be moving rather seamlessly in a good direction for him. Will be back to read more :) Hope you find some of my suggestions useful.

[osnapitzlainee]

Great Chapter for a newbie :) Can't wait for the rest!!