Hey guys here’s a story I wrote. Hope you like it.

Life has a funny way of working. And generally, Lily thought life was out to get her. And maybe it was out to get her, making her feel this way. Her pulse quickened, her mouth turned upwards involuntarily, her legs began to wobble. Lily tried to convince herself that she was sick, that no matter the signs, she must be allergic. Allergic to him. Jaron Higgs. Lily knew that life was random, but she hadn’t accounted for the fact that she may like Jaron. Jaron was the heartthrob of the grade, and Lily generally couldn’t tell why. Perhaps it was his ability to somehow still not shift, or his way of being utmost antisocial. Or maybe it was the way that his hair always fell perfectly and how his smile and laugh were incredibly contagious. Yep, life was out to get Lily Torres, for she had inexplicably fallen in love with the perfect guy, and the chances of him liking her back were less than the chances of gaining 2 million crayons to sell on the black market. - Lily disliked retaking tests. Hate was a strong word. Gosh she sounded like an old Geico commercial. Never mind, she hated retaking tests. Lily headed towards the Orchestra room to pick up her cello. Most likely everyone would be gone by now, and she could pick up her cello and just go to NAL practice. Not that she had many friends at NAL, but it was way more fun than simply going home. As Lily walked through the door to the Orchestra room, she heard muffled crying coming from the practice rooms. She walked in and saw Jaron standing by himself. Lily didn’t think Jaron had any problems, because he was the popular, hot guy. But Lily realized she of all people should know everyone had problems. “Hey, are you ok?” Lily asked. Jaron hurried and wiped his eyes before turning to her. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Lily looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. “Uh, are you sure?” Jaron smiled the fakest smile at Lily, “Yeah, I’m sure.” “Kay,” Lily backed out of the room tentatively, grabbed her cello and headed over to NAL. Carson noticed the shocked look on Lily’s face when she slid into her seat next to him. “You look as if Parker grew 3 feet.” He said jokingly. “Well something almost as unbelievable happened.” Lily half whispered in his direction. “What?” Carson’s joking manner turned halfway into concern, but he didn’t completely drop the joking lilt in his voice. Lily took a deep breath. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” - School started as usual. It also progressed as usual. Lily was waiting until 6th period. Orchestra. She hadn’t been able to get Jaron out of her head all night, though she supposed she couldn’t on a normal day as well. She needed to approach this carefully so she wouldn’t scare him off. Lily took her place behind Jaron. As she opened her mouth to say something, the bell rung. Well that postponed her plans for a bit. Lily couldn’t wait for Orchestra to be over. It wasn’t a bad class, she just had better things to be doing. The bell rung for a third time that period, this time signaling freedom instead of constraint. Lily quickly put her cello away and ran to catch up to Jaron. “Hey, are you absolutely sure you are ok?” Lily asked him. “Because from what I saw yesterday, you weren’t.” Jaron looked at her with an expression resembling fear and relief. “If you really want to know...” “Yes I really do!” Lily almost screamed, externally and internally. “Can you meet me at the park tonight at 6:00?” Lily smirked at him. “Is this a date?” Jaron turned quickly towards her, his face heating up to a Strawberry red. Strawberry because strawberries are more aesthetically pleasing than tomatoes, and nothing Jaron did was bad. “Uh, what? NO! I mean, uh, just meet me at 6:00, ok?” At that Jaron turned to go to his next class, leaving Lily in a state of odd confusion and slight giddiness. - At promptly 6:00, Lily arrived at the park. She looked around for Jaron and finally saw him sitting on the playground. “Hey, what are you doing there?” Lily called to him. “Trying to remember what it felt like to be a carefree child.” Jaron said bluntly. Dang. Lily wasn’t expecting such a deep answer from him. “Do you want a sandwich?” Jaron asked, holding up two plastic baggies with sandwiches inside. Lily found it slightly endearing that he kinda tried. They walked over to a good patch of grass and sat down. Lily looked over at Jaron, and tried to guess what kind of problems he was dealing with. But she also realized that finding heart arches and pains in people isn’t as easy as reading a book. “So do you want to tell me why you were crying?” Lily asked him. Jaron looked over at her and seemed to debate with himself how much he was willing to reveal. After a slight pause he finally opened his mouth. “I have anxiety and depression, but I feel like I can’t let it show because I need to stay strong in front of everybody. Because I have a reputation to uphold.” Lily was dumbstruck. She had no idea that Jaron Higgs struggled the same way she did. “Yesterday, I finally allowed myself to let some of the emotions show, because I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up.” “Though I’m kind of glad you did.” Jaron stared into her eyes at that moment. Lily wished she could be his girlfriend. She wished that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She also understood all of the sadness and pain he went through. She stared into his eyes and let the emotions radiate from him into her. She knew it hurt. She wished she could help him. He leaned in closer and Lily felt closer to him emotionally as well. And then he kissed her. And some of the pain that lingered in Lily disappeared.