Can You Keep A Secret?

Holly is 18 and has never been kissed. When she decides to take her love life into her own hands, things don't quite go according to plan. Instead of kissing Alex, the most popular boy in school, she ends up discovering feelings for someone a little closer to home. Even though she knows her feelings are wrong, when they are together it feels so right. But is Alex willing to let her go? And can things work out for Holly and her step father when everything seems to be against them?

Chapter 1 Extract

Tonight is the night thought Holly. She had a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn’t quite shake and she could feel her heart beating wildly. Her living room was dark, the only light coming from the faint glow of the movie playing on the TV. Alex sat next to her on the sofa, close enough that if she moved her hand just a little, she would be touching his. Holly was trying to act cool, but she could not stop thinking that tonight would be the night. The night of her first kiss.

18 and never been kissed, Holly knew that sounded crazy. It wasn’t that she was unattractive. Yes, some guys may prefer stick thin, size 0 models to her natural, luscious curves and her long, brown ringlets weren’t in line with the current poker straight, blonde style the popular girls had, but Holly knew she could objectively be described as pretty. Her best feature was her no-nonsense attitude and confidence to stand up for who she was and what she believed in. It was this confidence that Holly thought was the reason she had never been kissed.

What was crazy was that no one even knew, apart from her best friend of course. There were always rumours around school about who she was dating. Naturally it was someone from a different school or even stories about much older men. So Holly ended up stuck in a strange situation – because of the rumour mill, everyone thought she was so experienced and because of her confidence no one at school actually approached her.

Holly had decided to take matters into her own hands. 18 and never been kissed really was ridiculous so Holly had walked right up to the hottest guy in school and invited him round to hers. That’s where Alex came in. He was the drop dead gorgeous captain of the football team. It seemed no girl could resist his straw blonde hair and baby blue eyes and being 6ft didn’t hurt. Holly had always noticed Alex looking at her and she had thought who better to have your first kiss with.

So here she was, with Alex in her living room so close to her first kiss she could almost feel it. It looked as though Alex felt the same way as he turned towards her and moved his hand to her thigh.

“You really are beautiful Holly. I can’t believe of all the guys in school, you picked me”.

Alex began to move slowly towards her and Holly knew this was the moment. Holly felt panic begin to bubble up inside her. How could she be so stupid as to pick someone from school for her first kiss? What if he told everyone she was a terrible kisser? She would never live it down.

Alex was still closing in on her as she blurted out “Can you keep a secret?”.

She had to tell him it was her first kiss. Alex either didn’t hear her or didn’t want to, as he closed his eyes, his face now less than an inch from hers. This was happening.

Holly heard a noise over by the doorway and the lights flicked on, temporarily blinding her and startling Alex.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?”