(Thomas' Confession)

*April 16th, 1943*

*1:10 pm*

*Highlands High School*

Anya sat in the library, studying for her midterm while she could hear the voices of Thomas, Joseph, and Charles talking which made her slightly annoyed.

"I hope they won't be loud like last time.." Anya thought to herself with annoyance while she continued to study while she could hear the conversations between the boys.

"Alright! We graduate in less than two months and we still don't have any girlfriends. How should we fix the issue at hand!?" Joseph asked his friends curiously while Thomas began to raise his hand before speaking once more.

"I-I don't know. I've been thinking of asking Anne out, she's a good photographer yet pretty bad at sports.." Thomas responded while he began to imagine what a date between himself and Anne would be like.

*Thomas Fantasy*

Thomas and Anne were walking across the beautiful park while Anne found the site to be wonderful as she took out her camera to take photos.

"Wow, isn't this beautiful, Thomas? I've managed to get a few good photos as well so that means I'll have to print them out in the darkroom." Anne spoke to Thomas with a warm smile on her face and this made the boy smile back.

"Wonderful Babe. I'll be waiting for them." Thomas spoke to Anne before kissing her softly on the lips.

*End of Fantasy*

This moment made Thomas blush brightly, fed Joseph and Charles patted him on the back, encouraging him.

"Say, you should confess to her, and you don't want to regret it, right?" Charles advised his friend while Joseph nodded in support of this.

"He's right, I regret not telling Anya I had a crush on her, and now she's dating that Calvin guy." Joseph chimed into the conversation while Thomas nodded understandably.

Of course, Anya, who was listening, felt surprised at what she just heard.

"Joseph had a crush on me? I can't say I'm surprised at the least, although I'm glad he wasn't a total creep like Neville is." Anya thought to herself while she continued to study for her midterm while also hearing the ongoing conversation between the guys.

"I see, and I bet Judith is jealous. I heard she's mean as a fox!" Thomas responded to his friend while Charles shook his head.

"Nah, she's a new person now. Didn't Anya tell you that, but anywho, Judith is pretty nice as well." Charles curiously spoke to his friend while Thomas nodded.

"Oh yeah, she did. But that was like a few months ago or something so I don't remember." Thomas responded while Joseph began to chime in.

"It's all good man, and Judith was also pretty cute as well, I kinda miss her mean girl attitude but it was for the best that she changed." Joseph spoke to his friend while remembering how Judith used to act.

During this, Charles began to speak to his friends once more.

"Since we're talking about girls, I think Charlotte is pretty damn cute. If I was a girl, then I would date her since she's gay." Charles spoke to his friends while both boys agreed by nodding their heads.

"Oh, I agree. That girl is pretty fine. I remember she would always be the first one to be eliminated from Dodgeball, that is until Nancy showed up." Joseph responded in a nostalgic voice while his friends nodded.

Soon after, the library door slowly opened to reveal Anne as she entered the area.

"A-Anne.." Thomas uttered while seeing his friend approaching Anya, who was sitting across from them.

Back at Anya's table, she saw Anne greeting her with a warm smile as she sat down.

"Good Afternoon, Anya. How's your day going?" Anne greeted her friend while pulling out some photos she recently made in her darkroom and showing them to her.

"I've finally got the photos that I've taken from our evening with Louise and they're going to be in my album collection, isn't that great?" Anne spoke to Anya with a smile while showing off the photos.

This made Anya smile as she was happy to see the photos turn out well.

"They look wonderful, and I know they're going to look great for your final project." Anya responded while giving a thumbs up which made Anne feel relieved that someone liked her work.

"Thanks, it means a lot." Anne responded once more while looking over to see Thomas approaching herAnya also noticed this action as the girl looked over at the boy.

"Hey Thomas, what brings you here? You bad boys better not be talking about little fantasies about us." Anya greeted her friend with a chuckle while Anne and even Thomas chuckled at this while the young boy quickly regained composure.

"O-Oh no. Nothing of the sort. I-I have something I must tell Anne in private.." Thomas responded while Anne's eyebrows were raised.

"Sure, go ahead." Anya responded while looking over at Anne to see what she was going to say.

"Oh, sure. Let's head outside, shall we?" Anne responded before getting up from her seat as she and Thomas headed outside.

Once the pair was outside and had a moment of peace, Thomas wasted no time in speaking.

"A-Anne. I-I love you. I've been having those feelings for you for quite some time, and I want to spend my life with you. You're a beautiful person with a great passion." Thomas confessed to Anne and this surprised Anne greatly as she blushed.

"W-Whoa. Y-You truly feel that way about me?" Anne asked her friend while being met with Thomas nodding in response.

Anne thought about what she heard and while she found Thomas to be attractive, she harbored no romantic feelings for him so she told him the truth.

"I-I see, a-and I don't think I'm ready for a relationship at the moment, s-sorry. But you're a good friend, truly I think so. So let's continue being friends, okay?" Anne responded in hopes of Thomas reacting in a good manner.

Of course, this made Thomas disappointed he nodded his head understandably.

"I-I see, I respect your decision. Thank you for listening at least.." Thomas responded in a disappointed voice before being quickly met with a hug from Anne.

"Of course, and Please don't think I'm going to think of you less differently, okay? You're my friend and I'm sure that you'll find that special girl or maybe even me if our friendship continues to go well." Anne advised Thomas while hugging him tightly which was returned by Thomas.

"Don't worry, I will, thank you for being understanding, Anne." Thomas responded with a smile as both friends continued to hug each other for a few more moments.

This was seen by Anya, who was watching from the window with a smile on her face.

"I'm glad Thomas was understanding. I wish nothing but the best for them." Anya thought to herself with a smile as she began to think about Calvin.

"Oh Calvin, I wish you were here right now. I truly miss you right now…" Anya thought to herself before continuing to study for her midterm for the remainder of the study hour while having a sense of hope for Calvin's return.