After Carrick had caught us kissing, there were no more kiss breaks. Plus, we had to work on the dog tags and website downstairs which sucked. Still, I was grateful I was allowed over at all.

My mom, who had been informed of the kiss by Grace, sat me down on the couch and gave me a small smile.

"So, you and Christian are kissing now?" She asked.

"Yes," I said, fidgeting. I didn't want to have this conversation. Especially not with my mom.

"Okay," she nodded. "And...is that all?"

I looked up at her in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You've only kissed one another?" She rephrased. "You've not done anything else...sexual."

She said the last word with emphasis, and I went red.

"I haven't had sex with Christian!" I almost shouted. She wasn't phased in the slightest.

"That's good," she said calmly. "But you haven't touched each-other intimately, have you?"

I thought about what Kate said last year at school about hand jobs and blow jobs. I shook my head, mortified that my mom was thinking of those things.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good. I don't think you should be doing anything at all like that yet. Both of you are way too young."

"We only kissed," I murmured, not understanding why any of this was necessary.

"I'm just making sure," she said softly. "As you get older honey, your hormones start to change. You start to feel sexual desires for the people you're attracted to."

Despite the horror of this conversation, she had piqued my interest. Sexual desires. Is that what those funny feelings were in my belly every time we kissed?

"Your body changes and develops. It will send you signals that you're ready for sex," she said, continuing on. "But your mind still has a lot of catching up to do. Whilst your body might be ready, your mind won't be. Sex and sexual contact are a very complex thing and should only be done when you're completely ready. With someone loving and trusting."

I nodded. Christian was loving and trusting, but I didn't think I was ready to have sex with him. Or do anything sexual. That seemed far off...distant. In the future when we were both at college or married. I liked kissing him and that was okay right now.

"If you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here. Don't be embarrassed okay?" She smiled. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's all completely normal."

I nodded again and hugged her. She really was a great mom.

In late August, we started our last year of middle school. Kate ran to me and hugged me so tight I thought I might die. She'd spent most of the vacation in Arizona.

We were in our first class of the day, English, when I felt a dampness between my legs. Mortification washed over me. Had I wet myself? What the hell? I looked down and saw red staining my light blue jeans. Why had I worn light jeans? With even more horror, I saw that it was blood. I'd had a funny tummy this morning but thought nothing much of it. I realised instantly that it was my period.

I'd finally started my period.

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and started to race wildly. What on Earth was I supposed to do? Tears ran down my cheeks without warning. Christian moved and turned to face me.

"What's wrong?" He asked, alarmed by my crying.

My face flamed. More tears came and he reached out a hand. I took it gratefully.

"Ana what's wrong?" He whispered more forcefully.

My eyes travelled to the blood on my jeans and his own followed them. When he saw, his face matched the colour of mine as he realised what had happened.

"Did that just start now?" He asked quietly.

I nodded and bit my lip. I wanted to die.

"You need to go to the bathroom," he said, as though it wasn't obvious.

"I know," I snapped. "But in case you hadn't noticed, my jeans are covered in blood and I haven't got anything to cover me when I stand up."

He bit his lip and thought hard.

"I'll stand behind you," he said.

I closed my eyes, wishing I was just having a bad dream. Could my life actually get any worse? Why was I so poorly prepared? I was thirteen for goodness sake. I should always carry pads just in case.

The teacher, Mr Stevenson, turned to tell us to be quiet. Christian took that opportunity to stand up.

"Ana feels sick," he said. "I'm going to take her to the nurse."

He said it with such authority that he didn't even question it. I always liked that side of Christian. When he was bold and confident. He was so mature sometimes. It's safe to say I was in awe of him.

Mr Stevenson nodded, and I got up slowly, Christian firmly behind me. He'd grown a lot this summer and was now officially way taller than me. At least a good five inches. We walked all the way like that to the bathroom, each step worse than the last. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

"I'll...um...wait outside," Christian said, his face still hot.

I got a pad from the dispenser inside the bathroom, but it was a disaster trying to get the blood out of my jeans. They were still stained dark red and I didn't have a clue what to do. When I stepped out to ask Christian if he had anything I could wear, I saw that he was walking toward me clutching his gym bag. I sighed with relief. I could always count on him. I hadn't bought mine since it was only our first day.

I changed into his shorts, which were a bit big and looked ridiculous. At the nurse's office, I told her about starting my period and the cramps and she called my mom to pick me up. I spent the rest of the day at home being fussed over by her and given hot water bottles and chocolate.

And so that's how my first day of eighth grade went.

The next day was better. I wore black jeans and carried about 10 pads in my bag. Christian asked me if I'd 'sorted everything out' and then we spoke no more of the incident again. A few weeks later, Kate turned fourteen and her parents took us out for a meal. Kate didn't want to do anything big. She was in a funk over Elliot's new girlfriend. She'd spotted him with her at the mall. Her name was Abby and she was a freshman like him with brown hair. I told Kate she wasn't very pretty to make her feel better.

On Halloween, we attended the school dance together. We went as zombies like the boys, but sexy zombies with ripped knee high socks and blood on our faces.

For my birthday in January, I also kept it low key and invited just Kate and the boys out to ice skate and for a meal. It was a lot of fun.

It was just after my fourteenth birthday that I realised I had boobs. It happened one day after coming out of the shower. I put my top on after drying myself and found that it was tight and straining across my chest area. I took the top off and saw that my boobs had popped out from nowhere. They were not big by any means, but they were prominent. It was obvious I had them and I couldn't stop staring. I wore my Victoria's secret push up bra to school the next day that grandma Addie had got me last year. I paired it with a blouse that actually fitted nicely now I had cleavage.

When I was talking to Christian on the bus that morning, he couldn't stop staring at my boobs either.

"Hey, my eyes are up here," I said, snapping my fingers at him.

He looked at me and blushed. He was so cute.

"I've never seen your...I didn't know you had..."

"Boobs?" I asked, smirking. I looked down at them. "I know. They've kind of just appeared."

"They're nice," he said.

There was a long pause after that and we both ended up laughing hysterically.

That weekend, Christian and I went on our first date. It wasn't official or anything, he just asked me if I wanted to go and watch the new Harry Potter movie with him. Usually, this is something we did with the rest of our friends', but Christian specified he wanted it to be just us. The real reason I knew it was a date however, is because he'd wore a new pair of jeans, brushed his hair properly, and carried a rose with him to the front door when Grace came to pick me up.

"Hi," he said nervously, handing it to me.

I probably blushed as deep as the rose as I murmured 'thank you.'

My mom put it in a vase from me and told me to have fun. Grace dropped us to the movies and said she'd be back in a few hours to get us.

"I can't wait till we can get our own cars," Christian said as we walked in to watch Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets.

We'd watched the first with our friends last year and I'd been obsessed ever since. Mom had gotten me the first four books for my birthday, and I'd devoured them within a few days. I couldn't wait until the fifth one was released.

"What happened in the first one again?" Christian asked as we got our popcorn. Large with extra caramel. Christian paid for everything which I thought was really sweet.

I rolled my eyes as I explained briefly.

"You need to re-watch it. I've got the DVD at my house," I said. "And you need to read the books. They're the best thing ever."

"Hmm," he replied, as we made our way through the dark theatre to our seats. I wanted to sit in the middle, but he chose the back ones.

Christian wasn't much of a reader, but I was determined to get him in on the Harry Potter craze. There were plenty of credits before the movie started and we practically devoured the entire contents of the popcorn.

He held my hand throughout the entire movie and tried to kiss me several times, but I was too glued to the screen. Afterwards, I couldn't stop gushing about how good it was.

"Did you have fun?" He asked, as we waited outside for Grace.

I nodded, a faint warmth tinging my cheeks from the way he was looking at me.

"You're beautiful," he said, after a few moments.

I smiled shyly.

He leaned in to kiss me and this time I let him. His lips had grown steadier the more we'd practiced. The kisses were more passionate and left me wanting more every time. When he pulled back, he looked into my eyes and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I loved the feeling of his hands on my skin. Every-time he touched me it felt like the best kind of fire.

"I love you Ana," he said quietly.

I practically melted at his words. My insides went haywire and I leaned in for another kiss. I ran my fingers through his hair and it was so unbelievably soft.

"I love you too," I said against his lips. When had I ever not? He was my everything.

He grinned wildly and we didn't stop kissing until Grace pulled up.

End of P2