Author's Note:

These first few chapters will be a bit short. Hopefully as the story progresses the chapters will get meatier :D

Write me a poem with heartbreak and tears, and don't play with feelings, nor play with fears. Everyone we meet has a tree in their heart, how tall or how green is what sets them apart. Your tree is linked, together with mine, our branches entangle, connect, and intertwine. I am very lucky to have you around, but I never quite realize, until I climb off the ground…

Thank you; for friendship, for trust, and for smiles. Thank you; for being there, for being great… for being you.

And thank you; for laughter, for hugs, and for snow angels. Thank you, for planting my favorite tree.

Thank you, my friend, for being in my life.

It's such a small, weird word.

Flip.

I flip, you flip, everyone flips. There are flip-flops, back-flips, flippers, flip outs, and tons of other ways that 'flip' can be used.

But for me, flip only ever had one meaning; hopelessly falling.

What do I know about flipping, you ask?

Surprisingly little, as a matter of fact. I know that flipping is annoying, that before third grade I have already flipped once, and that I am very probably experiencing my second flip right now. But beyond that, I don't know much of anything.

Flipping is completely unreasonable; you can't tell other people why exactly you chose to flip, because that's the point. You never choose to flip; you just flip.

ooo

It happened on the first day of sophomore year.

Or, rather, he happened on the first day of sophomore year.

Jeremy Adams.

I swear, if you told me to write a page describing his looks, I could do it. He has curly hair between blonde and sort of hazel, he's tall, and he's slender. He looks good in any clothes, he has magnificent brown eyes, and his face! His face is just a masterpiece. He is the sheer image of perfection, like a living Cupid.

I don't know what my deal is, but I am completely defenseless against boys with angelic faces and severely intense eyes that dazzle at the same time. It was like this with Bryce, back in grade school. And even though that feeling had disappeared by eighth grade, and a strong bond of friendship took its place, I'd still look over at Bryce and his amazing smile and dazzling eyes sometimes, and think: Wow, no wonder I fell so hard for you back then.

Jeremy is sort of like Bryce, even if they look very different. Jeremy is about an inch taller than Bryce is, he's skinny whereas Bryce is just lean, and his hair is blonde rather than Bryce's black. His facial features are also more delicate, his eyes are a clear brown rather than Bryce's cerulean blue, and of course, his hair is curly.

But beneath all those differences, the two boys are still alike. I can see by their eyes and their faces, they have this same sort of "essence", almost. The same essence that renders me defenseless against them.

The moment I saw Jeremy, back in September, I could feel myself about to flip again. Spotting him in a sea of people was like, I don't know, like something just grabs your eyes so strongly so suddenly that immediately, he's the only one left in your entire field of vision. It's like if you were underneath a starry night, and suddenly a strong gust of wind moves the rumbling clouds, and then there's the full moon, and it's so much brighter than all the stars combined that you just can't pull your eyes away.

Back then, I had to quickly drag myself, along with a confused Bryce, down another hallway, to avoid running into Jeremy. No, I'd told myself. No, Juli. You can't deal with this. You can't deal with another flipping!

"Juli, what's wrong?" Bryce had asked me, concerned.

The thing with Bryce is that, if you want to be friends with him, you must learn to read his expressions. He has very few of them, so other people think that he's sort of an aloof person, but of course that's far from the truth. Bryce's face might not convey anything, but together with his eyes (once you get past the dazzle), you learn to read him like a book. Ever since we became friends after he planted the tree, I've learned to read every nuance of emotion in those sky-blue orbs.

As much as I trust Bryce, though, I didn't think I could tell him. What would I say, that I've fallen for a boy I've only caught one glimpse of? That's ridiculous.

So instead, I'd said "Nothing, I guess. I just remembered I forgot something in my locker."

Bryce had nodded, but I could tell he didn't really believe me. That didn't really matter, though, because I knew I needed to avoid Jeremy at all costs, or risk getting turned back into the annoying, stalking, goo-goo eyed girl I had been, years ago. I knew I was on thin ice. Very thin ice.

ooo

Avoiding Jeremy turned out to be much harder than I thought. For one thing, he was in three of my six classes. Even worse, Bryce was only in two of my classes this semester, and neither of them were with Jeremy, so I couldn't count on him to cool my head when I started to go into fan-girl mode. I tried to distance myself from the gorgeous mess of curly hair and beautiful eyes by sitting as far from him as possible, but lo and behold, I had the (mis)fortune to be assigned as his project partner in history. I could barely manage three seconds of him talking to me without blushing. Things were getting really, really bad.

When winter break came, I was actually excited. Excited to be away from Jeremy for three weeks. No more curly hair, no more dazzling eyes, no more unintentionally sniffing his scent (he'd always smell like honey, by the way). No more involuntary racing of the heart.

Did I mention how much I dislike flipping for a boy?

But winter break turned out to be little solace. Jeremy constantly occupied my thoughts. To the point where it was starting to get ridiculous. I felt like I was singing the female version of The Fray's Over My Head, for goodness' sake. With two months left till it's Valentine; he's on your mind, he's on your mind…

Okay. Calm down Juli. You're going crazy.

Anyways, today, when I woke up at 6 thinking about Jeremy, I decided that enough was enough. Throughout the past few months, I hid my secret obsession from everyone, including Bryce. This morning, after waking up, though, I thought, okay Julianna, it's time to tell. Maybe Bryce can help you clear your mind, once and for all.

So I did. I took him to a café after we filled the playground with snow angels, and told him that I've flipped. For Jeremy Adams. Completely.

I'd been expecting him, the cool-headed, logical Bryce, to give me some advice. Or at least to just express some sympathy.

The least thing I expected from him was a fight.

I thought I could read him. I swear I did. But today, I couldn't, couldn't read through him. Maybe his sadness passed me by, or maybe the crack of his heart was too faint. Maybe he hid it all too well. Or maybe, I simply wasn't looking.