Secretly me by Victoria Prater

Chapter 1
Lily was a student at Charleston High School. With her curly cherry-like hair back in claw clip

bouncing with each step, she walks through the crowded hallways of the place trying to make it

to class. Her emerald, green eyes sparkle behind a pair of round, thick black glasses that always

seem to be slipping down her freckle peppered nose. Dressed in her signature style.

Lily wears a vintage band t-shirt featuring her favorite 90’s rock band, Korn, paired with some

baggy loose jeans and her white sneakers that she loved. Despite her shy exterior, Lily has a

heart of gold.

In class, Lily sits at the back, doodling in the margins of her notebook while the teacher drones

on about algebra. Her mind wanders to the lyrics to the song Highschool Sweethearts, that has

been stuck in her head since this morning, and the boy who seemingly keeps looking at her. She

had always wondered why he would look at her. She was snapped out of her thoughts when her

friend tapped her shoulder.

“You do know the bell has rung right?” Magnolia said while putting her bag on.

Magnolia was a pretty girl, her golden-brown hair, brown eyes that shined like honey when the

sun hit it, her soft tan skin. She too had freckles. Lily and Magnolia had been friends since

kindergarten, inseparable ever since.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. I was just thinking about something.” Lily explained while putting on

her bag.
“What's on your mind?” Magnolia questioned.

“You know that boy that sits one seat over from me?”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“He keeps looking at me” Lily whispers to her as they walked down the crowded hallway trying

to get to their lockers.

Magnolia smirked, “I bet he likes you.” She nudged lily in the arm teasingly.

“No, he doesn't...” Lily said giving her look.

The girls made it to their lockers putting books in while taking others out. As Lily opened hers, a

pink folded paper fell at her feet. She bent down picking it up and looking at it. Magnolia was

talking with a girl next to her not seeing what Lily had. Lily looked around to see if the person

who had dropped it was there looking at her, but there was no one. Little did she know around

the coroner, Ben watched her from afar.

As she opened the letter she saw a note:

I caught a sparkle of light in your eyes that day.

I bathed in it, was transported to heavens gates by it, but I fall at my feet

My words shall only be composed, I can’t speak.

My inner voice calling my outer self-weak

Admiring from afar, secretly me.

Her heart was melted by the letter, her heartbeat raced as she realized she had a secret admirer.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she realized Magnolia had been calling her name.
“Lily... Lily... earth to Lily!” Magnolia said trying to get her attention.

“Sorry, yeah?” Lily looked up from the paper.

Magnolia looked at the paper. She pointed to it. “what’s that?”

“I think it's a love letter,” Lily smiled.

“Really?! From who?” Magnolia shook Lily’s arm, almost jumping for joy.

Lily chuckled a bit from her friends' excitement. She shrugged.

“I don't know but whoever wrote it... I'm speechless from their note.” Lily said, looking at the

paper again. She couldn’t stop looking at it.

Ben watched Lily from afar as she was talking with her friend. He could hear her voice and he

smiled to himself. He was so happy she loved the letter; it took him all night to come up with it.

Ben loved the way she laughed, the way she smiled, he loved the way her gorgeous chocolate

brown eyes looked when the light made them sparkle.

In gym class, as Lily sat on the left side of the bleachers with Magnolia, Ben and his friend,

James, sat on the right side. Lily zoned out as the teacher went on about teams, Ben glanced over

at her seeing how beautiful she looked as she looked to be in thought about something.

The teacher blew the whistle to get into teams of eight, Lily and Magnolia got up and went with

six of Magnolia’s other friends. Ben went with James and went with six of James’s friends.

As the four groups of eight kids stood around waiting for directions, the popular girl, Oliva

“accidentally” bumped into Lily from behind, shoving her into Ben. Lily fell on top of ben

looking at him from under her, as he looked up at her.

They stayed there for a good couple of seconds. They made eye contact; Ben saw how her hair

fell from her head and how cute she looked flustered. Lily saw how the light sparkled in his eyes.

“I-I’m so sorry...” Lily said as her face became redder as she stood helping him up.

“You’re good don't worry.” Ben reassured her. They held eye contact for a few more seconds

before being interrupted.

“Oh no! I am so sorry!” Oliva said with the fakest tone in her voice. She smirked at her friends

who giggled.

Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry,” she told her knowing that she wasn't

actually sorry.

Ben couldn’t look away from her, but as James tapped his shoulder he had to. He turned around,

he stood there listening to James’s friends' conversation.

“Man! That curly haired girl sure is cute.” The blonde-haired boy Tyler said to Conner.

“I know right! She looks real good,” Conner smirked as they were checking out Lily.

Ben could feel his blood start to boil with jealousy as he listened. The teacher blew the whistle.

Two teams went on the right side of the court to one volleyball net, as the other two teams went

to the left side to the other net.

Lily couldn’t get the image of Ben’s enchanting soft hazel eyes, or his brown fluffy hair that

looks to be soft as feathers, or the light freckles on his nose. She looked over at him, seeing him

talk with James.

The teams played and as Ben was playing, he saw Oliva look at him. He looked away and tried

to focus on the game but could still feel Oliva’s eyes on him which made him a little

uncomfortable.

Oliva kept staring at him, Lily saw this and she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, which she

didn't understand why. It's not like she liked Ben, right?

After class, everyone sat in the bleachers for the dismissal bell to ring. Lily was talking with

Magnolia about the whole incident with Oliva. They were interrupted by the teacher handing out

fliers for the prom, which was in a week.

Magnolia was talking with Camellia and Lily about what color dress they were going to wear.

Lily decided on a little pink flowy dress, Camellia chose a dark silky pink dress, and Magnolia

chose a simple white dress.

Lily began to think about who she would want to go with as Magnolia and Camellia were talking

about boys. She glanced over at Ben as he was talking to someone. She saw Oliva staring at him

as she gossiped with her friends.

Lily watched as her friend whispered in her ear, Oliva smirked and went to ben, she sat by him

and smile, she leaned over and said,

“Will you go to the dance with me?”