Secrets (COMING OUT NOVEMBER 13TH)

Chapter one

Chapter one

"Look at her go! Unbelievable! Never before have we seen someone of this talent!"

The crowd went wild. Tessa closed her eyes as she glided across the ice, aware of the hundreds, no, thousands, of people watching her.

"And look out folks. Here it comes, Tessa Watts mastering the triple axel. In three...two..."

CRASH!

Tessa snapped back to reality. She looked around her. Nothing new. The same old ice arena she'd learned how to skate in, and the one where she was practicing in now, was the same as always. No cheering fans. Nothing. She looked down at her clothes. The sparkly dress that she had seen herself wearing moments ago was gone, and she was back in her sweatshirt. But most importantly, she hadn't mastered the triple axel.

Again.

"Hey, Watts!"

Tessa turned around, already recognizing the dreadful voice that had called her. Aiden Dach was gliding across the ice towards her, hands in pockets, smirking at her in the most annoying way possible. He halted right in front of her, where he eyed her up and down, amused.

"What do you want?" Tessa mumbled, already knowing what was to come.

"Do you know when I learned how to do my triple axel?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"For the last time," Tessa breathed, "I don't care."

"That's right! 11 years old! How'd you know?" He grinned at her, acting like he didn't tell her this every day.

She glared at him.

If only looks could kill.

"Anyway, I don't want to be mean or anything-," You sure are doing a great job of that, Tessa thought-," But you really need to step up your game." He winked at her, an act that made her want to murder him, and skated away.

She watched him go, a sinking feeling going through her. He's right, she thought. As much as he was a bag full of stupid, she felt compelled to agree. She sighed and skated over to the bleachers where she violently pried her skates off, fighting off tears.

Don't think about it, she thought, as she walked down the hall, her skates in her bag. You'll get it eventually. She stared fixedly at her shoes, which she'd changed into, and tried to think about something that would cheer her up. Maybe if she went home and--

She was awakened from her thoughts as she crashed into someone. Is there anything you can get right? she scolded inside herself. She picked up her bag from where it lay on the floor, and looked up to apologize to the figure she'd bumped into.

But she was left speechless.

Stephen Reyes was still recovering from the collision he'd gotten himself into with Tessa, and was spitting what appeared to be a strand of hair out of his mouth. He looked up with an apologetic face then, seeing it was Tessa, smiled nervously, his face slightly flustered.

"Tessa? What are you doing here?"

"I...Er...Skating," she managed.

"Oh, cool." An awkward silence embraced the two like an old friend. "Well," Stephen eventually said, "I'll see you at school then."

Tessa nodded. "Yeah."

He offered her one last smile, then brushed past her, leaving her breathless and red in the face.

*** *** ***

The door shut behind Tessa as she walked into her house. Still flustered from her encounter with Stephen, she quickly paced herself towards the stairs, wanting nothing more than to get to her room.

"How was skating?" hollered a distant voice from the kitchen.

"It was alright, Mom," Tessa replied, hastily taking the stairs two at a time.

Tessa breathed a sigh of relief as she closed the door behind her. Shrugging her bag off, she crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking.

Ever since second grade, Tessa had loved Stephen to bits. She was intrigued by how kind he was, how smart he was, and his capability to differentiate between right and wrong. She loved his sense of humor, his maturity, his capability to have fun; everything about him was perfect. And ever since second grade, she had treasured every single moment with him, even if it was just for a group assignment or they had brushed past each other in the hall. But lately, her love for him was growing, and even though she knew that he was oblivious to the whole thing, she was getting more and more desperate, to the point where their conversations turned brief and awkward, similar to the one they'd just had.

Tessa sighed and sat up. Daydreaming about him wouldn't help. She just needed to push the whole thing out of her mind. She picked up her bag and started shoving through it, looking for her phone. Finally finding it, she dialed her best friend's number. Pressing it against her ear, her heart sank as she was sent to voicemail. She was about to redial when she heard her mom's voice from downstairs, "Tess! Dinner's ready!"

Tessa sighed and threw her phone aside. Maybe food would get her mind off of Stephen. I sure hope so, she thought.