Friends Don't Kiss, Do They?

Acknowledgments

I don't normally write acknowledgements to any of my books on here, but there are three people I really want to thank for this book.

First I want to thank Sarah Swartz. When I previously wrote this story under the title Love, Secrets and Heartbreaks four years ago, I kept writing the story on and off, trying to figure out how to complete the story. I thought writing it in five points of views to tell the story of each character's relationship was a great idea, but no. I couldn't write it like that. I kept losing motivation for it. Sometime last year when I wanted to completely scrap the project for good, Sarah was the one who had told me to set it aside and not to give up on it, that maybe the idea will come to me.

Second, I want to thank my friend Pac. He was the one who gave me the perfect outline I wanted for this story and how I wanted it to end, because previously I had no idea how it should end. He wanted me to write a story about bullying and the impact of it that could cause someone to end their life, and to have someone to take a stand. His suggestion led me back to Love, Secrets and Heartbreaks, which I knew I had to complete it.

And third, thank you to Brooke Williams. While writing this story, I tried to keep in mind some of the things he said to me when he was helping with suggestions on my story that I performed for the Road to Redemption production that he directed. With the play I had trouble with expressing how I felt, and showing how I felt rather than telling, which is a common thing I get told by a lot of people that I don't do on my writing. Most of the time I don't pay attention to my writing, and I just write without worrying about the number one writing rule: Show not tell. His words "Take yourself back to that time and think how did you feel? Put yourself in your character's shoes and write how you would feel if they were you. Dig through your feelings and write that." is what I kept in mind while writing this, especially when I had written about actual experiences that I had face in high school while writing this, and most of the experiences I don't remember how I felt (especially when it has been 9 years since I finished school). This was one of the best writing advice I have ever received from anyone since over the last nineteen years that I have been writing. At times I doubt myself with a lot of things, especially in my own writing, but Brooke reminded me last week with doubts I had with finding work, and he reminded me of the skills I do have and to keep in mind the things I had learnt while I was at Daystar Foundation.

For the past five years my writing had been inspired by Josh Hutcherson. But sadly last year I lost the inspiration, and have had trouble writing and sticking to projects I will be happy with. This is the first story I have written in a long time that I have been completely happy with and dedicated to. Lately it has been taking me six months to a year or more to complete a story, and for the first time I have managed to finish one in two months. (Josh is my inspiration for Tayvon in this story.)

I felt the need to write this story because the subject of guys and girls being "just friends" had really gotten to me, and I decided to research the topic. The hardest thing I find about being friends with a guy is having deep feelings for them, but not being able to take the next step because they only see you as a friend and nothing else. There's always that hope where you think you may have a chance with them and that maybe they will change their mind, but it's not a guarantee that they will. When the subject of a kiss or sex comes up in a conversation when you're only in the friend zone is really awkward, especially if it's just in the moment. It can either be the best decision ever, or it can be the biggest mistake. It can also leave you completely confused about your feelings, and the last thing you want is for it to come in between your friendship, because honestly, a kiss is not worth losing over in your friendship.

This story has really helped me a lot to realise what is the most important thing in a friendship, and I'm so glad I have chosen to write it and not scrap it like I had plans too. I think at the time when I came up with the idea for Love, Secrets and Heartbreaks (which was actually a suggestion by my sister, but I didn't really go through with her idea) four years ago, I don't think I was quite ready to actually pen that one. I pretty much kept the whole idea of the story, but just decided I was going to tell the story in Hailey's point of view of her feelings towards Matt.

Thank you for reading Friends Don't Kiss, Do They? And thank you to Baneher for your encouraging comments. I hope you all enjoyed this story.