I was walking out of the gym. I had just finished my weight lifting exercises; I was up to sixty pounds by now. It was what I do when I don't have volleyball practice. I can't have free moments to relax and let my mind wander because if my mind wanders I'll start think about him and that is never a good idea.

I was about 6 months into my senior year. I made the volleyball team I was writing a story for a book that was going to be published, and I had joined the horizon club, a club where you volunteer with your friends to help out the community. As you can probably see I'm a very busy girl and I try to make sure I stay that way.

I was on my way home with my best friend Aaliyah when my life started to crash.

"Oh my god girl, my arm is so damn sore, how the hell do you do this every weekend"

"God you are such a prissy it is just a little pain get over it I mean you don't have this hard of a time when we are at practice. Plus I'm used to it by now; my dad started taking me to the gym since 6th grade to weight lift and stay healthy and that stuff."

"Whatever, lets just go home" she said while she unlocked her snazzy new black SUV with rims and spinners.

Aaliyah comes from a rich family. Her parents are divorced. Although she may be rich, Aaliyah isn't your typical rich girl; she actually has a heart and cares about people. She is really into helping animals. She volunteers a lot of her time at the petting zoo, which just so happens to be the place her and her boyfriend Spencer first met freshman year. Aaliyah and I knew each other since the third grade and have been best friends ever since.

"Hey Em you heard about the party Spencer and I throwing Friday. I heard there is supposed to be drama filled."

"Really, what is supposed to happen?"

"Well Katie is going to be there and so are Erin and Jake."

"No way! Oh my god I have to see go and see this. Remember last time Katie like threw a stool at Erin just cause she is going out with Jake."

"Yah, that girl broke her nose! I felt so bad for her; well kind of."

"I can't believe they are fighting over Jake; I mean is he really worth it"

"I don't know, but we have to go shopping tomorrow, the party is Friday but I'm busy all week and I need you to come with me."

"Alright but Leah could you please slow down your diving is scaring me."

"Fine we are here anyway. I'll pick you up tomorrow at four-ish and Pritha is coming too."

"Cool see yah latter"

Pritha is another one of my best friends. Me and Leah met Pritha I the sixth grade. I remember when we first met her all we heard was her load preppy voice above the buzz in the classroom. At first I thought it she was really obnoxious, but once we got to know her she wasn't that preppy stupid girl I thought. She was actually really nice even though sometime she had the worst comeback for disses, but don't tell her I told you that.

When you look for a distance my life looks great, but the closer you get the more you see. I maybe on the volleyball team, and I maybe popular, and it could possibly be true that I don't get more than two "B's" on my report card. But when you take a closer look you'll see that I'm miserable and screaming on the inside.

As soon as I walked into my house all I heard were my parents screaming at each other at the top of there lungs. They were fighting about the custody battle again. This is one of the reasons why I like to stay busy. I would rather not know what was going on with the court case. I hated when they screamed like that. I remember when they first told me they were getting a divorce. I had just got home from school and neither of my parents were home, but there was a note an guess what it said we are getting a divorce. Of course it was a bit more detailed than that, but that was the basically the note in a nutshell. God they were yelling so loud I had to get out of there.

The next thing I knew I was running out of the house, faster, faster. My heart was pounding. I ran till I couldn't run anymore. I stopped at a hill outside my neighborhood. I didn't even realize I was crying till a tear fell on my leg. I looked around and remembered this is were he and I met. This is were everything started. The drama, the pain, the happiness, and the coldness it all started when we met here at this very spot. I was in eight grade when I met him. His name was Nick and I fell in love with him.

5 years ago...

"Hey Emily come on I'll race you up that hill" my best friend Jason said.

"You sure you want to race I mean I don't want you to feel bad when I beet you"

"Just shut up and count to three" he said with a smirk on his face.

"Okay one...two..."

"Three" he started to run

"Hey no fair" I started to run after him, but I bumped into someone.

"Oh I'm so sorry"

"HEY...It's alright don't worry about it" I said as I looked up he was so cute. He had the deep brown eyes, and cute short hair, and you could see all his muscles through the red Aeropostale shirt he was wearing.

"No it is not your bleeding"

"What...Oh right" I said; I realized I was staring. "It's nothing just a little bit off blood"

"Right, I'm Nick by the way" he said as he gave me his hand to help me off the ground.

"Emily" Just then Jason came down from the hill; I laughed at myself realizing I forgot that Jason and I were racing. I had just met this guy two minutes ago and he was already making me lose my train of thought.

"Hey...What happened to you; your knee is bleeding"

"Nothing just ran into to someone"

"Let me at least walk you home" he said in that deep voice of his.

"Sure, why not" We started walking toward my house.

"So where do you live anyways?"

"Umm...a little down the road. So did you just move here?" I had never seen him before, and trust me if I saw him before I would have remembered. Wow I thought to myself I have known this guy for about five minutes now and I was already falling for him.

"Yes and no...I don't live in this neighborhood, but I like around here. I like this place a lot better than then NYC. Partying is fun and all, but I like the suburbs better. My parents are visiting family friends, so here I am. I felt awkward sitting there with the parents so I decided to come out and look around."

"I know what you mean, and really I would love to live in NYC it seems like so much fun. Plus I'm one of those fashion obsessed people, so New York is like the place to be.

"I guess so you go to Dunloggin Middle School"

"Yah I'm in eighth grade. Hey so this is my house. So I guess I will see you around.

"Cool so can I have your number. Maybe I want to bump into you again." he said with a grin on his face.

"Well you know I'm not supposed to give my number to strangers."

"Nick Hayden just moved here from NYC. He is fourteen and want your number" He said in a hyped voice.

Well I guess you aren't too much of a stranger anymore are you." I let out a small laugh. We exchanged numbers, and took pictures.

"So how is you knee?"

"Ohh it is fine, so I guess I will see you around" Wow I had forgotten all about my knee, but now that I remembered it was stinging like crazy I need to put so ice on it fast.

"I'll call you"

We said our goodbyes, and I left to get my knee bandaged. Yah that was when we first met, he was so easy to talk to.

As the year passed we became each others best friends of course I always saw him as something more. We always talked, laughed, and we had fun when we were with each other. I was falling head over heals for this guy and he didn't even know.

It was around the middle sophomore year that we got together as a couple and I think I finally figured out what love was. But he started to change. It was a tough time for him; his cousin, Alex, had just died due to gang violence and that really tore him. He and Alex were really close. They were best friends. That's when I started to notice tiny changes in him. He was so different now.

Back to the present...

I had finally stopped crying. It was getting dark out and the wind was picking up. I felt like sitting there for a while and that is exactly what I did the stars were out and I knew my mom would kill me when I got home, but I didn't care. That is when I saw him; he standing against a tree. Was he there the whole time? Did he see me crying?

Then I looked more carefully. He definitely knew I was there and for a second I was grinning like a fool. But then I saw his face grim and dark and nothing like I remembered it. He saw me looking at him and he was about to turn away when I heard myself say "Wait" God why did I say that it would have been so much easier if I had just let him walk away like he did seven months ago.

I stood up slowly wondering if this was a dream. It couldn't have been he was really tired and cold looking just like everyone else in gangs. His muscles looked bigger than ever. I've never seen him like this before. Our eyes were locked and as much as I wanted to look away I couldn't. I started to walk toward him slowly. What the hell was I doing? What was I going to say to him