It was a gorgeous, sunny, spring, morning and Lillian Palmer was getting ready for school.
“Mom, have you seen my backpack?” Lillian grunted frantically looking for her bag.
“No sweetie, I haven’t, look on the Kitchen table.” “Thanks Mom, bye.”

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Lillian was the most popular girl in school. She was a cheerleader, gymnast, smart and she was pretty. Brenda Jackson, Lillian’s best friend, was also a cheerleader, gymnast, smart and pretty.
“Hey Lilly, how’s it going?” That’s Justin, Brenda’s basketball, baseball, and football playing, jock of a boyfriend. Then next to him is Lillian’s jock of a boyfriend, Alex, but Alex also played hockey.
“BEEEEEEEEEEEP”-The school bell rang loudly signaling that first hour had begun.
“Today class, we are going to be studying pre-algebra, so E= what?” That’s Mr. Smith’s way of starting the new lesson in our math books.

“Pst, Lilly, here,” Riley the nerd sitting next to me whispered in hushed tones. It was a note from Alex and it said:

Hey Lilly,
Would you like to come to the
football game tomorrow @ 3:45
with me? Circle yes or no at the
bottom and pass it back.

Love,
Alex


Lilly sighed sadly and circled no because she was hiding something no one knew. Lillian May Palmer was on the Woods Ville Middle School Football team pretending to be a boy named Max Paine. Lilly had never told Alex about her secret because Alex was a football buddy with Max and if she told him, he would never trust her again.

Reluctantly, Lilly passed the note back to Riley, who passed the note back to Alex, whose smile slowly faded away. Lilly then realized she would have to tell Alex the truth sooner or later.

Only her best friend Brenda knew that she was secretly a football player and so did her mom, dad, and brother, but other than those four people. No one else knew that Lillian Palmer was a pretty, high school, football player.

“BEEEEEEEEEEP,” the school bell blared signaling it was time for lunch. In Woods Ville Middle School, all grades eat at the same time but the 7th and 8th graders get to eat outside in the quad and under the baby oak tree is where Lilly and her friends had lunch everyday.

“Hey Brenda, over here,” Lilly yelled from across the quad.

“Coming, hold on,” Brenda replied in a hurry.

“How was AP biology?” Brenda asked, out of breath.

“Perfect I got a 99% on the test!” Lilly answered proudly. The talking stopped and Lillian began thinking of the best way to tell Alex the truth without hurting him. She decided to do the right thing and call him right after school but of course with Brenda there.

The final bell of the day rang and Lillian told Brenda her plan.

“Are you sure you want to do this I mean it is pretty risky?" Brenda asked nervously but at the same time glad her friend had come to her to help her do this.

“I’m 110% ready to do this because I can’t keep making things up and hurting him any more than I already have.” Lillian explained with fear in her eyes.

“So I’ll meet you at my locker in 10 minutes and we’ll walk home together so we can call him right away.” They both agree and went to get their stuff. ‘This is the worst 10 minutes of my life’ Lillian thought as she stuffed her backpack.
“Let’s go.”
As they walked they saw Alex and his mom driving by and they honked and Alex flashed a smile which made Lillian feel worse that she was going to break the man she likes heart.
When they got to Lilly’s house they said hello to her mom and darted right upstairs. Lilly grabbed 2 Pepsi’s from her mini-fridge and tossed one to Brenda who was sitting comfortably on her bed. Finally Lilly grabbed her cell phone and dialed Alex’s cell and put her phone on speaker so her and Brenda could hear what he was saying out loud. The phone kept ringing and finally Alex picked up.
“Hello,” Alex said as he answered the phone.
“Alex, it’s me, Lilly.”

“Hey Lilly what’s up.”

“Alex I have something to tell you but this is going to make you the maddest you have ever been but I have to tell you anyway.”

“What?”

“I’m on the Middle school football team pretending to be your football friend Max Paine.” There was a long silence and then he laughed.

“Yeah, you, playing football, that’s good, that’s really good,” Alex laughed in disbelief.

“No, really you can ask me anything that you have told ‘Max’ and I will know the exact answer.”

“Okay, fine, what did I call Mrs. Myers the day we got the science test back?”

“A meanie, bobeenie, slowveinie, on rye,”

“Lucky guess, but here’s a hard question, what did Max say when I told him I was flunking Biology class last quarter?”

“He said, ‘no way me too and I thought I was the only one who was flunking’.” There was again a long silence and instead of laughing he didn’t speak.

Ding dong. That was Brenda’s mom at the door waiting to take her home so she left and said she would see me at school tomorrow. I heard Alex again and this time he said exactly what I knew and didn’t want him to say.

“So this whole time you have been lying to me. I trusted you and you lied to me. I thought you were better then that.”

“Alex, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for you to be mad and I would have told you sooner but I couldn’t think of the right way to tell you without this happening.”

“I think we should take a break from each other and see other people because you obviously don’t like me enough to tell me the truth and if you can’t do that then…”

“But Alex, I like you I just didn’t want to hurt you so I didn’t tell you.” There was a long pause.

“Okay I forgive you but never lie to me again, OK?”

“Deal, I won’t lie to you any more. I’ll be completely honest with you from now on.”

“Good night Lilly, I mean Max Pane,” and Alex hung up the phone.

Finally the words she had been waiting to hear from Alex. Lillian May Palmer’s room (Max Pane’s room) filled with silence and peace and she liked it that way so she let it all soak in with the worlds biggest smile on her face.

THE END

A quick preview of the second book:

I can’t believe it was true!! I Lillian May Palmer was pregnant with Alex’s baby!! What was I going to do?