The Moon Is Beautiful

Chapter 1

The soft spring breeze brushes through my hair.

I smile, my eyes fluttering closed. The sound of students chattering surrounds me, but I block it out, stretching my arms out, enjoying the nice weather. I love such warm weather that doesn’t beat your skin but brings along a pleasant warm wind. It had been raining for the last few nights and so when I woke up and saw the nice weather, I opted for a nice floral dress, tired of having to cover up all the time.

I breathe in the air, loving the smell of the nature around me. My eyes flutter open just as a cherry blossom brushes against my face, and I quickly catch it in my hands. It’s truly beautiful, its light pink colour making it look so fragile.

Staring down at the velvety petal in my hands, I suddenly think of a saying I read somewhere. “Catching a falling cherry blossom makes your first love come true” is the saying. I’m not really sure if I believe that, but it sounds quite magical if you think about it.

My first love.

I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those. Could this be for a love that must still come my way?

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic, wishing for a love that only exists in books. Maybe that’s why I want the meaning behind cherry blossoms to be true. A body bumps into mine and the cherry blossom falls from my hands. The girl who bumped into me quickly apologizes before walking away with her friend. My eyes find the ground, trying to find my cherry blossom, but it’s impossible to tell it apart from the others littering the ground around me.

My lips form into a slight pout. “My first love…”

“Rose!” The sound of my name being called makes my head snap up, my eyes searching for the source. My lips tug upwards into a smile when I find the person standing a few metres away from me, waving at me. I rush over to her, the cherry blossom petals rising into the air beneath the heels of my shoes. When I reach her, I fall into her arms and we laugh.

“You’re late.” she playfully scolds after we pull away. I smile, holding her hands. Eliza Adams is my best friend and has been since we were in kindergarten. She is also really pretty, with long locks of black hair and a pair of dark eyes and a dimpled smile.

“I wasn’t late for your information. I just stopped to enjoy the weather.” I say and she nods, as if she understands, and she does, because I’ve always been like this. I love enjoying great weather and a beautiful scenery.

“Let’s get to class.” she says and I nod before we start walking. She then proceeds to tell me about the guy she spent last night with. Eliza is very different from me. She’s very…adventurous and open to a lot of things, things that I wouldn’t even dare consider. A lot of people might think of her as a slut, but I admire her for being so bold and doing whatever she wants despite of what others may say. I care way too much about what others say and think.

The moment she starts talking about how he looked naked, I stop her. I don’t need to know any of that. I’m a really shy person and anything and everything makes me blush. I remember when I had a childish crush on Sam Williams in 3rd grade and when we held hands for the first time, my cheeks flushed with heat, and since I was a little chubby at that time, I looked like a tomato on the verge of exploding. It was embarrassing to say the least and I never dared to touch someone of the opposite sex ever again, well, at least until after high school.

Eliza and I arrive at the class just before it’s about to start and we quickly take seats in the middle row.

“Why is your boyfriend so late?” Eliza asks, her eyes scanning over the room. “Oh, there he is!”

My eyes find Flynn, our friend. Eliza calls him my boyfriend even though we aren’t dating because he likes me, or at least that’s what she is convinced of. It’s true that he is really shy around me, but that could just be who he naturally is. It doesn’t mean that he likes me. Although, we have kissed once, in the dark on New Year’s Eve. It was nothing more than a simple kiss that meant nothing, but Eliza was convinced that he used the day as an excuse to kiss me. I’m not sure if I believe that though.

“Hi Rose.” he greets, taking a seat next to Eliza. I smile in reply and the professor walks in.

“Ooh. My husband is here.” Eliza says, staring at the professor with dreamy eyes. Ever since we started here in freshmen year, Eliza has had the biggest crush on our humanities professor, Professor Parker Lively. I don’t blame her though as he is very young compared to our other professors, being in his early thirties and he’s not bad on the eye either with his light blue eyes and curly brown hair.

Professor Lively starts the lesson and I just listen to him talk and explain, only jotting down a few notes now and then. Eliza, however, doesn’t pay attention at all, just spending the entire lecture staring intensely at Professor Lively, practically burning holes in his face. If he notices, he doesn’t make it known.

The lecture ends quickly and Eliza pouts when we have to leave, forcing me to literally drag her out of the lecture hall.

“Stop pouting. What about that guy from last night? Didn’t you say you were interested in him?” I say, trying to divert her attention.

“I said that I had a fun time and am interested in seeing him again, but only for sex. You know that the only one I truly like is Parker.” she says, sighing. It’s true. Throughout the years of us knowing one another, she has never truly shown interest in anyone for anything but sex, but that changed when she saw Professor Lively. As surprising as it sounds to anyone, she likes him. A lot, I think.

It’s too bad that their relationship is forbidden; although I don’t think she cares about the rules telling her not to date him. If she is given the chance to date him, she wouldn’t think twice about it.

“What about you?” she suddenly asks as we descend a stairs. I hum in reply, not understanding what she means. “Do you have someone you like?”

Her question makes me think. Do I have someone I like?

“No, why would I when I have Flynn?” I wink, smiling at her.

“You know that’s not what I’m asking for,” she says, coming to a stop. “Don’t you have someone who makes your heart flutter and causes butterflies in your stomach? Don’t you have someone whose touch sets your body alight?”

I stop. My mind immediately travels to a memory I thought I had buried already. Her question makes me think of someone, someone I thought I had forgotten about.

The man who set my body alight with merely his eyes. The man whose touch made me weak in the knees. The man whose lips grazed every inch of my body for the first time. The first man I let touch me intimately. The man whose kiss made me crave for more.

My eyes widen at my thoughts and I immediately shake them off, not liking the place where my mind is wandering off to. That’s something not even Eliza knows of. That’s my darkest secret.

He is my darkest secret.