A/N:

Samdimples swarek: I borrowed your idea for Ana' s letter to Christian in this chapter :)

Dear readers: Thank you for reviews, favorites and follows and for taking a chance by reading a story by someone other than your most popular writers on here :D It means a lot, I do get Happy!

About this chapter: keep in mind their ages before you imagination runs wild. They're both twelve, Christian is a few months older, almost thirteen.

Now that he knew who his secret admirer was, it seemed silly to leave her another letter at the lockers. Giving her the letter in person was absolutely out of the question; the more he thought about it, the more his gut told him not to do it. His latest letter was sort of stupid ( it didn't even rhyme for heaven's sake!). And so he decided to NEVER show her the letter.

"See you at lunch," Christian said to Jenny before they parted ways and headed for their lockers. Jenny's locker was across from his and quite a ways from his. He was feeling pretty good for having figured it all out and he was trying to hang on to that feeling even as he walked over to his locker, recalling how Jenny had even tried to hide it. Haha, she'd even looked a little flustered when he told her he knew she was his secret admirer.

"Hi," Ana said. She had been busy looking for something but she immediately looked up when she saw him approach out of the corner of her eye. He looked specially tall, no wonder grown-ups always joke around and say kids grow overnight like weeds. Indeed, he was one of the tallest, if not the tallest seventh graders she knew.

"Ana, you won't believe what happened." He held her curious gaze for a second or two. "I figured out who my secret admirer is." He added somehow missing how the color drained from her face, as he quickly spoke the next sentence. "It's Jenny."

"Whaaat?" Ana stared at Christian for the longest time. No. Somehow this piece of information did not compute. "How?" She asked breathlessly.

"She was flirting with me in art class," Christian grinned. He looked over at Jenny (who winked at him) and Ana followed his gaze Oh, well, it seemed so anticlimactic now that he and Ana no longer had something to share. It seemed to him that this whole thing should have ended up with a little bit more of a bang. And the worst part seemed to be that Ana was now frowning at him. Perhaps disappointed that it was all over?

"That can't be," Ana said her gaze shifting between Jenny and Christian. "It doesn't make sense...Jenny IS NOT the type of girl to write notes," she nearly growled. "I doubt she even knows how to spell."

Christian stepped back just as Liliana appeared and said hi. He banged the locker door shut and swung one of the backpack straps over his shoulder. "See you around." He felt Ana's gaze as he walked away and met up with Jenny. He did notice that Jenny gave Ana a triumphant look just before walking away with him and it did bother him more than he could say at the moment.

…...

Ana decided she needed to let Christian know for sure that Jenny wasn't his secret admirer. And it seemed like the best time to do it was during art class. She didn't want to wait until tomorrow morning and they met again at the lockers, since there was a good chance today she wouldn't meet him again at the lockers.

Today's class was a little boring. As usual, they all sat at the tables in groups of six. Mr's Dunn was showing them slides of famous artist while they took notes. Ana put a hand to her mouth and stifled a yawn. She then tore a piece of paper and wrote:

Dear Knight in Shinning Armor:

I'm soo disappointed we didn't get paired up in art class ):

love your eagle art and ALL your 50 shades!

Always and forever,

Your Secret Admirer

Of course it annoyed her to learn that Jenny was posing as HIS Secret Admirer. Somehow, she had to find the way to expose her lying ways. She folded the note in half, scribbled HIS name and gave it to Liliana with a wink. "Pass it to Christian." All her friend had to do was pass it to the table beside her until it made it way to the other side until it made her to the recipient.

Predictably, the note made it around Christian's table. Unbeknownst to Ana, one of Jenny's friends happened to be looking in Ana's direction and so her eyes followed the procession of the note until it finally made it into Christian''s hands. Later, the girl in question whispered something in Jenny's ear. Further, right before the bell rang, Jenny whispered something in someone else's ear and so on.

Christian unwrapped a stick of gum and shoved it quickly into his mouth before reading the note. He lifted his gaze and made eye contact with Jenny who was sitting across from him and made sure she knew something was wrong. He was angry she'd lied to him. Did she think he was some damn fool?

His gaze then shifted to the sea of faces around him for a clue but some clearly pretended they were actually more interested in paying attention to Mrs. Dunn.

…...

"Christian wait!" Jenny shouted in the hallway trailing behind him.

"Don't talk to me again," Christian hissed moving down to the back of the line at the cafeteria.

"Please tell me what's wrong," Jenny persisted.

Christian didn't want to talk to her but now he was stuck in line with her. "I got a note in class from my REAL secret admirer," he glared at her.

Jenny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry."

Christian turned away. His mother would say he should put his pride aside and that he was too much of a grudge holder. But he just couldn't go around having other people think he was an easy target. "I never liked you much anyway," he spat back.

She flinched, shook her head and blinked. "You don't mean that..."

"The hell I do," he replied a little too loudly. Other people turned to stare at them which made Jenny very uncomfortable.

"You're gonna be sorry...nobody...nobody talks to me that way," Jenny sneered and stormed off. She left without a lunch to sit with her friends to bitch about him he supposed.

…...

Ana picked up her lunch tray and thanked the nice lady at the register before making her way in the direction where she and her friends usually sat.

"Ana! We're here!"

"Ana is daydreaming about boys again," said Liliana, even though now she knew it was one boy in particular Ana was infatuated with.

Ana turned to Liliana innocently. "What?"

"Don't try to hide it," said Betsy with a slow grin. "We know."

Liliana nodded. "Yeah, we know."

"It's starting to worry us." Jane sighed. "You're living in La-La land, as my dad would say."

"And we miss you, Ana."

Ana smiled at her friends. They were actually mistaken. She wasn't daydreaming about boys. There was only one boy she cared about and that was christian but she wasn't about to tell them that. "You're imagining things." She hated to admit it, but she was starting to understand why her friends seemed happier without being boy crazy. Maybe that was one of the reasons people called it 'boy-crazy'-maybe it actually made you crazy.

"There she is!" a guy's voice suddenly exclaimed. Ana looked up to see a short blond boy standing next to Christian and other seventh grade boys. "That's the girl who wrote that stupid note in art class."

Ana wanted to disappear. She wanted the wooden floors to swallow her whole. She jumped up, spilling her drink all over the tray and onto he floor, and then she made a beeline for the door. The whole episode drew stares from every one nearby and the sound of laughter followed her all the way to the nearest bathroom (or so she thought). She ran there as fast as she could, her cheeks burning with embarrassment and intended to stay there as long as possible.

Of course, her girlfriends had to follow her there and be supportive and ALL!

"Okay, you can't hide in the bathroom forever," Liliana warned. Ana had locked herself behind a stall and everyone could hear her sniffles.

"Ana, open the door, sweetie," Betsy said in a motherly fashion.

"Christian wants to talk to you," Jane said. She had been the last one to leave the cafeteria as Christian had intercepted her to pose the the question.

"I don't want him to see me like this!" Ana bemoaned. She was crying loudly now and hated the fact that she was crying. "Who's out there?" She asked, thinking that other girls must be gathered around watching the spectacle that had captured the lively interest of everyone at Montgomery middle school.

"It's only us," Liliana reassured her. Of her three friends, Liliana was the prettiest and the most outgoing. She had slick dirty blonde hair which always looked perfectly combed and styled. But the best thing about Liliana was that she and Ana had been friends ever since their firsts day in second grade. Liliana had initiated the interaction by asking Ana if she wanted to be best friends.

"Oh, Lily! What am I gonna do now? I can't just die or be transferred to another school, can I?" She sniffled. She took a moment to blow her nose. The pain of the sure loss of her crush was unbearable. How could he want her now that she'd been the object of ridicule in the entire school. "I don't know...how can I go back now and face everybody?"

"Come out of there, Ana. That's the first step."

After what seemed like an eternity to the other girls, Ana came out of the stall, her face red and blotchy. It might very well be the worst decision of her life, Ana thought grimly. But she simply couldn't go back to class. "I'm sick." She announced before heading out to the health office to see the school nurse.

That night Ana got in bed with a wounded soul and her favorite stuffed animal, a pink unicorn. Even though the next morning, she was relieved to find that the pain and redness were gone from her face, she still couldn't go back to school. So after her mom was gone for work in the morning she called the school office and reported herself as sick. It felt decidedly weird to make the call as it was so out of character. Ana was a straight A student. Her mom trusted her, left her on autopilot; she would never suspect her daughter doing anything improper. Tears of shame ran down her face, oh, Lord, here she was skipping school, something she never though she would ever do.

"Oh, Ana, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Sooner or later you gotta come back to school." Liliana told her over the phone later that afternoon after school.

…...

Three days later, Ana was still home. She managed to call in sick every day without her mom noticing, but then again, her mom didn't care enough to notice the numerous clues she'd left behind. She was too infatuated with her new love, often bringing him home and having him spend the night in her bed.

That same evening someone knocked on her door when she was home alone (her mom and Stephen were out on a date). She couldn't have been more surprised to see Christian standing on her doorstep.

"Christian," she breathed. "How...how did you know where I live?"

Christian shrugged on shoulder. "I have my sources," he replied confidently. He'd heard the line in a movie and he thought it was cool; he'd been just waiting for the right time to use it.

Ana bit her lip furiously. Memories of her last day at school came to mind and she hated she was blushing. "I don't know what to say."

The lip biting sent butterflies to his stomach and shot his blood pressure through the roof ( as his father was so fond of saying). "Let me come inside."

"Of course," Ana said opening the door wider. She then motioned for him to sit in the living room. He chose and armchair and Ana sat nervously on the couch across from him.

"Been worried about you," he said with a tiny smile and Ana melted. It was so sweet of him to say that and to care enough to come and visit her. "So you're my secret admirer." He paused. He didn't speak again until she reciprocated his small smile. "I knew it, I knew it all along."

Ana struggled to conceal her grin. "You did?"

His smile widened. "Yep."

Ana wasn't sure he was only just saying that, but it didn't matter. All she cared about was that it made her feel a little better.

" I loved your letters," he said sincerely. "And just because I know it's you, you shouldn't stop writing them, okay?"

"Okay," she readily agreed. She would have said yes to anything he said.

"One more thing..."

She looked at him with dreamy eyes. "Yeah?"

"You can't keep skipping school. People are gonna start getting suspicious. Take it from me." He shrugged in a way he thought made him look cool. "I''ve mastered the art of skipping school. You can't do too many days in a row like that. You got to do one class at a time, different days and NOT in a row."

Her smile faded. "You shouldn't cut school either."

"I know," he gave her the tiniest little wink. "I can't now because you'll be there to notice."

"And pull you by the ears," she chuckled.

"Exactly." His grin was so infectious she thought she would die from happiness. Her earlier grief over what everyone at school would say magically forgotten. Christian was the only one that mattered at this moment.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!" She leaned forward on the couch. "Pinky promise?"

"You have my BEST promise."

Ana was not satisfied with that.

"What's so special about a pinky promise?"

Ana thought about it for a moment. "Well, you can't break a pinky promise.

"Very well," he paused wanting to add something cool to that . "Nothing but a pinky promise will do, huh?" He added smiling.

"Give me your hand."

Christian stretched out his hand and Ana got to kneel on the floor in front of him and wrapped her pinky finger around his pinky finger like a loop. She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed the back of his thumb, their hands wrapped together in a tight fist and with their pinkies curled up.

"You have to kiss your thumb at the same time I kiss mine while still holding on with our pinkies."

He dropped to his knees to be at her same level. He felt light like he was floating on a cloud and he could tell she felt the same. They both smiled as they simultaneously complied with the requisites for a pinky promise.

"That's a pinky promise...you must never break a pinky promise," she reiterated. "You must be there for me just like I will be there for you."

He cocked his head. "Making sure neither one of us skips school."

"Right..".She smiled wider. "Okay?"

He reciprocated her lovely smile. "Okay."

They stared into each other's eyes. Ana was sure he was now getting ready to kiss her on the lips. Her girlhood dreams of the perfect first kiss where like Mia in Princess Diaries, she wanted the world to stop and for her foot to pop.

Before she knew what was happening, he had planted a soft chaste kiss on her lips. Ahh...and it was a soft peck, quite sweet and much better than she could have ever imagined.

A/N:

As it turned out, I'm really liking this as an ending even though it wasn't what I had in mind when I first posted this story *'shrugs*

Do review and follow in case I get inspired to continue. I may just continue this in the future rather than starting a new story just because it's really hard to come up with a new storyline on here ( original, unique) there are just so many already out there about everything imaginable. I'm thinking no one else has written a story with them starting this young but who knows? Thanks so much for reading and supporting this little wee story of mine. Have a great Thanksgiving :)

PS. If you haven't already, do check out my other story: For a Thousand Years, currently has 22 chapters