BTW: I just noticed that it says: Introduction, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Four… ect. Sorry about that. I messed up that chapter count because of the intro lol.

Chapter Seven:

I got quite a shock before the play. I started to get very nervous before I had to go on, even though I didn't have any lines. I didn't like having all those eyes on me. The only reason I did this play was to have something to do after school for the winter. My mother also thought it would help my social skills. Now that I was about to go onstage, I didn't want to do it anymore.

Jamie spoke to me just before I was about to go to give me confidence. It didn't work that well, but seeing her smile made me decide that I had to at least go out there. All I had to do was walk to the other side. Jamie gave me one last mysterious smile, and then I had to go.

At least I wasn't the only one stage. There were a few others. I sung quietly with the others, and then I took a glance out at the crowd. At first I didn't see anything that I didn't expect to see. I was about to look away when my heart quickened and a lump caught in my throat. My jaw almost dropped, but I made sure it was clenched shut as I looked at the back row. Standing up near the door, leaning against it and looking thoughtfully up at the stage, was Will.

He saw me and smiled. Not the usual smirk, not the trickster grin. Just a nice smile. I forced myself to smile, and I found that once I did it, it was easy. I looked away, and for the first time in my life, I felt alive in front of people. I saw Jamie come through the door, and she waved. Of course I couldn't wave back, but I smiled. She stood next to Will, her hands folded together in front of her. Will looked over at her and they exchanged looks. Then I left the stage. It wasn't much of a part. I was only an extra- a person walking home after I finished my Christmas shopping.

Jamie treated me as if I was the star of the play. It made me a little embarrassed, but I was suddenly finding myself in a whole new mood. I wasn't happy enough to do anything dramatic or surprising, but my mouth opened and sound came out more often than it used to. I personally think it was a mixture of the Christmas cheer, the decorations, the tears spilled at the end, the blinding lights- and the fact that Will was there, that made me feel this way. It was like nothing I ever experienced. I was suddenly glad that the stolen props hadn't ruined the play.

After a while Jamie started to push me towards where Will had been standing all night. People were starting to leave, but he stayed, which surprised me. "Remember," she whispered. "There's nothing wrong with saying hi."

I took a deep breath headed his way, but slowly. I acted as if I was about to leave, but was taking time to look at the decorations. I stopped a few feet away from him, hoping he would be the first to say something. I felt myself start to blush.

He finally started to move, just as slowly as I had. He headed over, but acted as if he was going to pass me. Maybe we were more alike than we thought.

"Hey…" he said, just before he passed. He stopped next to me, but we remained facing different directions. We both felt Jamie's eyes on us. The thought of it made a smile creep up on my face, and I had to try hard not to laugh.

"Hi." I managed to say. I started to fiddle with a Christmas bracelet around my wrist that Jamie had made for me. It was a present for being so brave.

"Interesting bracelet." he said.

"Thank you." It was a few moments before I spoke again. "Did you like the play?"

He cleared his throat, and I realized what a strange topic it was for us. The only reason he started talking to me was because he found out I had figured out that he took the props. He wanted to ruin this play.

Thinking of that, I remembered how I punched him. I winced at the thought. Wasn't he mad at me? I couldn't imagine why he came here to watch the whole play, and then stand here, looking nervous. I would have expected him to punch me back.

"It was-" he started to say, but before I could stop myself I started to talk again.

"I'm sorry I punched you." I said quickly but softly. I almost thought he didn't hear me, but then he started to shake his head.

"No," he then started to laugh a little, which surprised me. "It was one heck of a punch."

He laughed, but I was suddenly too nervous to laugh. We turned towards each other, finally, but we didn't look into each other's faces yet. He looked at his shoes, and I looked at my bracelet. "I should be sorry," he said finally. I saw him move, and it looked as if a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders. Had he been feeling guilty? "I'm sorry… about all those things I did… it was just…"

"It's okay." I said quickly.

"No. I just wanted to say that you shouldn't take it seriously. It wasn't… It wasn't meant to be anything serious… It was just one of the stupid things guys like me do."

I smiled as he tried to explain, and he seemed relieved when he saw me. It felt so strange to see him like this. Most of the time I saw him punching someone, and then laughing about it.

"I'll forgive you." I said without even thinking. What was I thinking? What if this was all a trick and he'd make fun of me again tomorrow? I looked over at Jamie, who just smiled and looked away.

"Really? That easily?" he asked, looking just as surprised as I felt.

"Well, I always thought that we never give people the chance to change or give ourselves the chance to find the good in people unless we forgive," I said. I let him think about what I said before I quietly added, "We might be missing someone great if we don't forgive."

There was another moment of silence until Will tried again. "And about what happened in the cafeteria..." he began. I learned from Jamie that it was good to be patient. I looked up at his face for the first time. "I'm… sorry for that too… You're…"

It took me only a few seconds to realize what he wanted to say. I started to blush, and he even looked a little embarrassed to say it. He tried to say it again, but he was too embarrassed. He looked at me, as if to check and see if I was looking at him as if he was crazy, but I wasn't. Our eyes locked, and smiles started to appear on our faces. It was then that we shared our first laugh together.

Will checked his watch as we laughed, and he ran his hand through his hair. His beautiful hair…

"I have to get going." he said as our laughter faded, though our smiles stayed.

"Yeah, I should go too." We exchanged nods and smiles, and turned our separate ways. We were almost out of eye sight of each other when Will turned around again and grabbed my shoulder. I sucked in a quick breath, and I started to feel overwhelmed. He turned me around and took me away from the crowd of people.

"I just wanted to say something before I left." he said.

"What is it?"

"You're not a bad kisser at all- and that's the truth." he smiled, and finally left.

It was a long time before we talked again. Our lives went back to normal, except I think a lot of people wanted more tricks played on me. I had a wide eye now, and most of the people who tried to trip me were astonished while I just stepped over their outstretch leg while reading a book at the same time. After a while I felt a little disappointed. That night I got my first glimpse of hope that maybe Will and I could get together. Now it was gone.

Jamie was the one who encouraged him in February. I had no warning about this, so when I walked towards the school with a pile of books in my arms, I was quite startled by the whole event. There he was, sitting with his friends, not even noticing as I came closer to him. Just as I passed him I heard his voice.

"Nice pile of books." he said. I blinked, stopped, and looked over at him, a little taken aback. His friends were chuckling a little bit, and he had one of his smirks on. I started to feel disappointed. I was just about to lower my eyes in embarrassment when I noticed that Will's smirk was different. It wasn't the smirk leading to a trick. It looked… friendly… It was a playful but nice smile.

"Thank you." I said softly, with a smile of my own.

"Do you need help carrying them?"

This shocked me even more. I looked left and right, wondering why Will wanted to help me in front of all these people. What would they think of him? "No," I said, though I suddenly felt empty and disappointed when I said it. "It's all right. Thank you for asking, though."

I gave him a shy smile and turned around. I didn't look to see if he was disappointed or not, but he didn't come after me. I let out a sigh of disappointment. Why didn't I just let him do it? He did ask… maybe he really did want to help me…