Spring's Unexpected Love

Chapter 1 (Ximena)

Spring, the season of love. New opportunities often came hand in hand with the newfound life and warmth that the beginning of the season brought in. Sometimes those opportunities included meeting new people- some you'd never imagined meeting. In the spring, budding feelings and relationships blossomed into the purest forms of love.

Well, at least for most people, anyway. To me, spring was nothing more than a painful reminder of the lack of romance in my life. As the first signs of warmth had begun to appear in late March, so had my hope that my loveless life wouldn't be so loveless anymore, but as March merged into April, my hopes slowly dissipated like the early morning fog that often hung in the air as I walked to school.

The cherry blossoms were beautiful at the beginning of April. A small dirt pathway on my school grounds was lined with blossoming trees on either side. The petals would drift to the ground like snow, covering everything in light pink and white. It was the most romantic place in the entire school, and it was obvious that many students agreed. I often walked along the pathway, imagining sharing the beautiful experience of spring with a very special someone. Of course, this special someone did not exist.

Today was a windy spring day. The weather was chilly enough to need a light jacket, but the warmth from the sun allowed me to get away with a hoodie. Thin wispy lines of clouds moved across the blue sky; they sort of reminded me of my cat's fur, fine and white. The wind was strong enough to whip my hair around in every direction; it blew the petals from the trees around me, creating mini tornados.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air; the smell of freshly cut grass and flowers made me smile. Even without romance, spring was truly a beautiful season.

I continued to walk along the pathway, enjoying the beauty of nature before being rudely interrupted by a hand that grabbed my backpack, forcing me to stop. For a second my heart raced with surprise, but then I recognized the voice of my attacker. "Hey, Xi, what's up?!"

I sighed as I struggled to turn around, even though I already knew who was behind me. "Luka," I groaned, "How many times did I tell you to stop sneaking up on me?"

My best friend, Luka, released his hold on my bag and stepped in front of me. His curly dirty blond hair seemed to glow in the sunlight as he faced me with his trademark grin which always made girls squeal. "Sorry, Xi, I didn't mean to scare you. I called you several times but you were lost in your own world again."

"Sorry!" I apologized with a sheepish smile. I had a habit of getting lost in my distant fantasies, so much so that I tuned out the rest of the world.

"Don't worry about it," he said, ruffling my hair, "Just don't make it a habit in public spaces. You could easily get ambushed from behind."

I swatted his hand away and gave him a playful glare, "Now look what you've done! You ruined my hair."

Blue eyes filled with mischief, Luka reached over to mess with my hair again, but this time I ducked away. He grinned again, accepting the challenge. "Oh, it's on!" He yelled as he began to chase after me. We ran around the school grounds- in between the trees, behind the gym supplies shed, and through the running track.

"Give up, Luka," I called behind me as we wove in between the students doing their morning track practice before classes started. Several of them grumbled at us for getting in the way, and I could hear the angry whistle of the track coach.

Somehow we eventually ended up in front of the school where I took a left turn sending me crashing into another person. Unable to keep my balance, I fell straight on my butt. Groaning, I looked up to see who I had run into, instantly regretting it.

"Ms. Cardenas," Vice Principal Saito said, shaking his head in disappointment. His salt and pepper hair reminded me of the silver dewdrops that hung from leaves after a rainy spring day. "I thought you of all people knew better than to run about the school grounds like a frenzied animal." He glanced at something behind me his expression changing from disappointment to exasperation, "And of course where there's trouble, Mr. Levin is close behind. I take it you're the reason that Ms. Cardenas was running around?"

I craned my neck and watched as Luka grinned at Mr. Saito, "It was just a quick game of tag, sir," he said innocently, "We're sorry; it won't happen again!"

"That's what you said last time you caused trouble," Mr. Saito grumbled. "Be careful around Mr. Levin, Ms. Cardenas, he might drag you into more of his trouble. I'm letting you both off with a warning this time, but don't let me catch you running around ever again." With that, the vice principal stalked off, leaving me and Luka to contemplate our crimes.

Well, at least I was contemplating my crimes; I wasn't so sure about Luka since he often got into trouble. He smiled and offered me a hand to pull me up from the ground. I dusted off my jeans as I stood up, "Thanks."

He waved away the thanks like it was no big deal, "Vice Principal Saito is so dramatic sometimes," he said, rolling his eyes. "He acts like I've been corrupting you!"

"Maybe you have," I said with a shrug.

Luka laughed, "That'd be impossible. If anything, you're the one who's corrupting me!"

Luka and I had been friends since middle school; this surprised many since our personalities were so different. Luka was popular and friendly, always surrounded by so many people, while I was more quiet and reserved. This never got in the way of our friendship, even though we both had separate friends who weren't close to each other.

I considered Luka my bestest friend; I could tell him anything- well almost anything. The one thing I hadn't been able to tell him was my feelings for him. I wasn't exactly sure when I started seeing him as more than a friend, but I knew I had fallen for him hard. Every smile he sent in my direction, every time our eyes met, my heart couldn't help but flutter. I had kept my feelings guarded safely in my heart, afraid that if I confessed to him and he didn't feel the same, our years-long friendship would end. Our friendship meant so much more to me than my feelings for him. Or so I thought...

Recently, I couldn't help but feel jealous whenever Luka was around other girls. I knew I shouldn't- he assured me several times that I would always be his favorite friend- but deep down inside I wanted to be something more. These conflicting feelings led me to decide to confess to him in the spring, something I hadn't been able to do yet.

In fact, I planned on confessing to Luka tomorrow at lunchtime. I had planned every single detail down to the exact words I would say to him. All I had to do was execute my plan, which wouldn't be too hard, right?

And if he rejected me... well, I'd cross that bridge if it came to it, although I really hoped it didn't.