1An "Into The Darkness" short story by ChosenOne
Rating: PG Pairings: Sarah/Derek Disclaimer: "Into the Darkness" is ©2000 ChosenOne, whom this piece belongs to. Summary: Sarah daydreams in class and reaches an interesting conclusion. Author's Note: Italic text denotes thoughts. Read and review, please. I hope you enjoy.
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Here I am, sitting through yet another boring World History class, courtesy of heinous Ms. Hetner. Goodie. As the rest of the class either flutters off to sleep or doodles idly on their open notebooks, I turn my head to look at Derek. He's gazing at Ms. Hetner, I realize, and it makes me small. Ironically, out of all the people in this classroom, he is the only one paying attention. Or maybe he's just too jaded to do anything else but stare.
Anyone who looked at him might not understand at first sight why I feel so hesitant to confess my feelings. He is tall, blonde, handsome, and owns two deep, pure azure eyes that make me feel dizzy whenever I look into their depths. To it all off, he is nice, caring, gentle and confident. Derek is everything a girl could wish for.
But I can't tell him how I feel about him. Guys like him are far beyond my reach. His voice, his eyes, even his demeanor charm me big time. But I still can't. I don't know why I've been feeling this way lately. We've known each other since we were kids, and we've spent all that time since quarreling with each other to exhaustion.
Opposites do attract, I suppose.
But there's still another obstacle between us: my current boyfriend. No matter how sweet and understanding he is, Bailey is jealous enough never to forgive me if I start seeing someone else. Plus, he doesn't deserve that. I shouldn't even be thinking about Derek like this. Bailey is very nice to me, and I'm happy to be with him.
Yeah, right, keep telling yourself that.
As I snap back to reality and try to remove Derek's image from my mind, I realize that my right hand took over during my reverie, crept over to the notebook and started doodling almost by itself. I look down at the paper, surprised by what I see. I've unconsciously drawn a rather cute, if not cuddly, sketch of Derek and myself.
They just stand there on the page, holding hands and smiling a huge smile while encased in a red heart-shaped halo. I feel myself blush, then look around to see if anyone else noticed what I just drew. Nope.
Derek was still focusing awfully hard on Ms. Hetner's lecture. Claudia sat next to me, lost in another daydream over my brother Scott. I know she loves him, but frankly, it think it's a bit icky, him being my brother and all.
I look back at my drawing. I know I'd never have the guts to show it to Derek, or to anyone else for that matter. I've always been afraid to confess my true feelings for him. Afraid that I might get laughed at, or even worse, shunned by him. And that really isn't about to change now that we're teenagers and I have a great boyfriend.
Derek is a confident guy, enough to always manage to work his way around girls. He can have anyone in this high school at the mere snap of a finger. Anyone. In his eyes, I'm just another portion of the landscape. He will never love me. That's why I have to keep my feelings a secret. Not just from Derek, but also from myself.
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Into The Darkness ©2000 ChosenOne Comments? Suggestions? Send them to chosenone .