The Only One

Chapter 1

"Whenever I laid my eyes on her I felt this pain in my chest, the kind of pain you may feel after a breakup. But there was never a breakup, or hookup, not even a relationship. She was just a girl, and I was just a boy." - Anonymous

The hallways that were once filled with laughter and life were now empty with silence. The classrooms were beginning to collect dust, and lockers were hollow, nothing to be found in them. The only lively feeling you would find in our high school in a small town of California was the football field, where I stood I'm front of my classmates that I've known these four years as my principal handed me my diploma and I moved my tassel have the dorky hat I wore to the other side to show that I've graduated.

I looked out into the crowd of familiar faces. I saw them everyday and I knew all of their names, I'm not so sure some of them knew my name, and they never found the desire to know my name, the feeling was mutual. But being the person I was I knew them because I'm nosy. I wasn't the popular kid but I'm pretty sure I was the guy everybody could trust. See as I looked out into the crowd, I could see secrets of what each person has told me. Secrets from drugs and sex to crushes and backstabbing. Daniel Russell had sex with his best friends girlfriend. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who knows about that for sure (I accidentally overheard them talking about it behind the gym).

I scanned the crowd again and locked eyes with Amy Brown, she got accepted to Stanford, I always knew she was extremely smart but I knew something she'd never want her parents or Stanford to know, that she deals drugs down the block from the school, I'm not sure why she needs the money because her family is rich, she got a BMW when she got her permit, her PERMIT.

Again I scanned the crowd, looking for more secrets, I scanned until I came across , that was one girl who I didn't know any of her secrets. I knew a secret connected to her. It was mine. I've had a crush on Anna Johnson since we were little. Our parents were friends so we would hang out together all the time. We were almost inseparable, had to go to the same summer camp, same schools, same everything. We were best friends, well best friends until high school. We went into two different directions. She went to be one of the most popular girls in school, while I went my own way. We would smile at each other in the halls every time we passed one another, but I haven't actually talked to her since freshman year. I started to think the last time I spoke to her. It was the first day, orientation, we stayed together the whole day, I remember thinking it was going to be the same as always, me and her, best friends. But the next day I saw her in the hallways, we said "Hi" as we passed. That was it. I never had spoken to her again. It was like our whole friendship was forgotten and it would never be the same, and it wasn't. I realized I was still looking at her and snapped out of it, and looked at her again, she gave me a huge smile, I smile that I haven't seen her put on for me since freshman orientation. I gave her a smile back and went on my way of the stage, with the diploma tightly I my hand, and sat back in my seat. I sat and thought about that smile. What did it mean? Was she thinking the same thing as me? About our past together? I needed to know.

So as the ceremony ended and everyone got their diplomas (trust me some of them didn't deserve them, I did a lot of they're homework Junior year) I got up and met up with my family. My mom, dad, and sister.

"Stephen!" I could hear the way too familiar voice call, I turned around to find my mother opening her arms for a hug, which I accepted. As I looked over my mothers shoulder I saw my sister, who wore a purple dress with a cardigan, and my dad behind her, with his best suit on.

"We are so proud of you." My mother said letting go of me.

"Thanks Mom." I replied with a smile. Looking at my mom she was about to cry, and I really hope she didn't because she already cried for a half an hour before we left the house.

"So what's it like being a free man." My sister, said, nudging my shoulder with her knuckles.

"Great, I guess, I haven't actually left the school yet, so I'm not feeling the freedom yet." I said trying to break the tension with my mom who was officially on the verge of tears. She laughed of course, she laughed at all my jokes, good or bad.

My dad was usually silent. He wasn't the most active dad in the community, and I mean he wasn't home much because of business. My father was always busy, we used to get along well, until his new job came around and he was going to different country every weekend.

"So I was talking to Rachel," my mom told me (Rachel was Anna's mom), "and did you know they're having a-"

"A party." I interrupted. "Yeah I knew, I got invited." (Lie #1: I didn't get invited, I've never been invited to any of Anna's party's)

"Oh great!" She zoned out for a second looking past my shoulder, "There's Mr. Jackson, Mr. Jackson!" She yelled as she grabbed my dads wrist and went off to brag about how proud she is of me to my English teacher. After my mom was finally done talking to talk to every single one of my teachers we went on our way to the car. As we drove away from my high school for the last time I was forced to be there. I felt this sort of release. As if that day I came into that place I was locked in like a prison, then four years later I'm out. I'm free. Anna is free too. It wasn't just me who was locked in the prison, she was too. Maybe now that she's free, we'll be free together, like always.