Dear Journal,
We were supposed to be together forever. At least that’s what I thought. That’s what it felt like. We would go to the same collages, get married, and grow old together. But now, that can’t happen. All because of that one secret. One secret I was never supposed to know. But I did. And that secret changed my life forever. Rest in peace Terrance. I love you. – Grace

Grace Tyler started out the morning like she did any other. She woke up and found her favorite dress. It matched beautifully with her green eyes and her fair skin. She brushed her long blonde hair and walked elegantly down the flight of stairs that lead to the kitchen. Waiting for her was her favorite meal. Chocolate chip pancakes, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, and her mom’s famous hash browns.
“ Mom, it looks amazing. What’s the big occasion?” questions Grace, sure that her mother hadn’t just cooked this breakfast for no reason. She has never really done that. Usually, it’s just waffles and eggs.

“ Your father…” begins René, before Grace interrupts her.

“ Step-father you mean.”

“ Okay fine,” she starts again, “ your step father got a big promotion at work. So, in honor, im making him his favorite breakfast.”

Grace looked up from the chocolate chip pancakes.

“ Mom, these are my favorites, not Thomas’s.”

“ Oh,” The look of accomplishment had left her face, “ well then enjoy.”

After Grace ate her breakfast she heads towards the door.

“ Wait…Grace?”

“ Yeah mom?”

“ Have a good day.” It was weird because her mom never says this. It’s always just bye.

“ Thanks mom.”

While walking on her way to school, she sees the Camptons packing up their car. They were going to visit their family in Washington. For the weekend, so they caught a plane on Friday. Jessica Campton was Grace’s best friend. They grew up together and hung out every weekend. She had said her goodbyes yesterday, so she didn’t want to go over there and get all teary-eyed.

Once Grace arrived at school, she was greeted at her locker by Aaron.

“ You have to swear that you wont tell anybody what I’m about to tell you.” Aaron was a huge drama starter. Even though she tells you not to tell anyone, she actually wants you to tell everyone.

“ Another secret Aaron, really? The last one that you told me ended up causing a huge fight between Terrance and I. I don’t think I want to know another one.” Closing her locker, she starts to walk away.

“ But this one is better. And if you wouldn’t have told anyone like I told you there wouldn’t have been any fighting.”

And it was true. She did tell her not to tell anyone. But Grace thought that her boyfriend didn’t count. Because he wasn’t just anyone.

“Okay Aaron, what is it now?” says Grace, trying to speed up so that she could get to class without having to hear it.

“ I saw Jessica making out with Jordan.”

“ Okay Aaron, I have to go now.” states Grace, who was listening, but wasn’t really interested. The last “ secret” Aaron had told her ended up being half wrong anyways.

When she walked into the classroom, the first thing she saw was that Mrs. Meyers was their substitute for the day. Grace hated her. She hated her with a passion. In 9th grade gym class, Mrs. Meyers made her run extra because she forgot her gym shoes. Why would you make someone run extra if they forgot their GYM SHOES? She hated her for other reasons to but this is the one she could remember at the time.

“ Have a seat ladies and gentlemen.” She acts like she actually has a nice voice…or as if she can even be nice at all…under that thick, dark black hair and a dress with a pattern that looks like it was made from my grandmother’s tablecloth thought Grace. Why did she always insist on tricking people?
After the 48 minutes of a torturous homeroom, Grace met up with Terrance in the hallway.

“ So, Aaron told me another “secret”’ she informs Terrance, putting air quotes around the word secret. She puts her coffee mug in her locker and takes out her science book. “ I doubt it’s the truth though.”

“ Well, what is it?” asks Terrance. After what happened last time, he wants to know if there is anything going around about his sister again.

“ I’m not supposed to tell you,” says Grace. “ You know I want to, but I cant.”

Terrance gets closer to her and gently puts his hands on her shoulders and looks into her eyes. “ Come one. You know you can trust me. I wont say anything. I never do.”

Looking into Terrance’s baby blue eyes gives her a weak spot. “ Okay. Aaron told me that she saw your brother and Jessica making out yesterday after school.” She shrugs back and grabs his hands. “ But you can’t say anything to anybody. You promised.”

“ I won’t,” says Terrance, “ I’m just trying to think how Tommy would react to this. Jessica is his girlfriend. And Tommy isn’t the type of person to cheat on.”

Tommy was Jessica’s boyfriend of two months. He has a violent record. He has been into too many fights. And no losses. Knowing that, Terrance fears for his brother Jordan. He’s just a sophomore. A scrawny little sophomore. He’s got some muscle, but not much. And him fighting against Tommy was a thought that just kept popping into Terrance’s mind ever since he first knew that Jordan had a thing for Jessica.

“ We have got to find a way to break that rumor before Tommy wants to end up fighting Jordon.” Terrance panics, knowing that a senior vs. sophomore fight was already to the seniors benefit, but also knowing the power Tommy had gave him even more of a benefit. “ Tell Aaron that she has to stop telling people. And tell people who know that it was just a rumor Aaron had started to see Tommy beat up Jordan, since Jordan had broken her heart. I’m going to find Jordan and tell him what’s going on and to stay clear of Jessica and Tommy.”

But it was too late. By the time Terrance got to his brother, Tommy had already found him first. They were standing in the courtyard with a big group of people around them. Have this number of people already found out? wondered Terrance. Or were they just gathering because with Tommy there they knew something was going to happen.

“ Jordan, come on. Let’s go.” Terrance walks over to Jordan and Tommy and tried to convince Jordan that this wasn’t a good idea and that they needed to go.

“ What’s wrong Terrance,” sarcastically states Tommy, “Afraid your little brother is going to get hurt?” Tommy has that smile on his face like he knew how things were going to happen.

Jordan swiped his brothers hand off of his shoulder and pulled him aside.

“ What are you doing? I can fight my own battles,” says Jordan embarrassed.

“ No you can’t. Not against him. He’s too crazy, to strong. You’ll get hurt,” states Terrance. He’s trying to convince Jordan not to do this, but it obviously wasn’t working.


Jordan started walking back, so Terrance followed. If he couldn’t stop him, he definitely wasn’t going to leave his brother when he wants to fight this monster.

They began fighting. Punches were flying left and right. The crowd around them were screaming each persons name.

“ Jordan! Jordan! Jordan!”

“ Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!”

You couldn’t really understand them, but they were clear enough to where you knew what they were yelling.

One final push and Jordan is on the ground for a while…lying there. He was breathing but he was motionless.

“ Do you feel bigger now?!? Knowing that you beat a sophomore? Congratulations. Hope you and Jessica are very happy together!” screams Terrance. He goes over and kneels by his brother.

“ You just need to teach your brother how to fight. If you know how to fight.”

Tommy is trying to pressure Terrance into fighting because he knows he won’t back down in front of a crowd. He goes over and pushes him. The kind of push where you’re still on your feet but you start to get angry.

Terrance stands up and pushes Tommy back. They begin fighting. The longer they fight, the closer they get to the road. A hard right punch knocks Tommy down to the ground. He gets up with grass stains on his pants and grass in his swishy-brown hair.

“ Think you’re so big now don’t you. Knowing that you knocked me down.” Tommy slowly gets closer and closer to Terrance, who is surrounded by a group of people cheering and clapping. “ Tell me how you feel now,” He goes over, and with a final shove, Terrance falls into the road. Without a chance to look, a red semi barrels around a corner slamming into him.

Dear Journal,

The day I found out Terrance got hit by that semi was the day my heart dropped. He was the love of my life. Well, is the love of my life. And knowing that I’ll never see him again is something that I have to live with for the rest of my life. And it’s all because of that secret that I was never supposed to know. Rest in peace Terrance. I’ll always love you. –Grace