"Oh puh-lease! I could so do that with my eyes closed!" Tyler challenged Jacob.

I couldn't believe how easily he fit in with my friends. I still had my vibe problem with him, but it was hard not to enjoy being around him - sometimes. He was always cracking a joke, or making a bet with Tyler about some trivial thing, he even scopes out boys with Harry and Peyton! (Last time I checked Jake is still straight though.) I was the only one who didn't let him win me over so quickly. I'm rebelling till the bitter end.

We were all hanging out at the skate-park after school-minus Harry, I was doing homework, barely aware of my surroundings, Peyton was flirting with some random dude, and Ty and Jake were attempting to be daredevils.

"Oh really Kravits? I'd like to see you try. Eyes open though."

"Naw man, I said closed, I'll do it closed. Twenty?"

"Actually I only have ten on me now, but don't-"

"Deal," Ty grabbed Jake's hand and shook hands; he then walked up to the top of the half pipe. He took off the tie he was wearing and tied it around his head. My head popped up as I heard him climb the rails to the top of the ramp. I shot Jacob a "what have you done" glare and told him to stop Tyler.

I could just tell something bad was going to happen. Even before I heard his skateboard glide across the wooden skate ramp. Even before I heard an unsure "Whoa" as he took the turn too sharp. And way before I heard him say a string of profanities as he face-planted onto the concrete. Nothing good ever comes from "eyes closed".

Jake was the first to him, already assessing the situation before I could climb across the skate ramp, and way before Peyton realized what had happened. I almost threw up as I saw his leg twisted at an odd angle, and his arm had a huge gash going from his elbow to his shoulder. His blood was slowly oozing out his wounds.

"Robin, get out of here." Jake said taking his shirt off to use it as a sling.

"No! That's my best friend," I fought against my heaving stomach. Everyone knew I had a low tolerance for blood.

"You're not helping anyone if you throw up on him! Go call an ambulance!" I felt useless after his first sentence, although the second compensated the first rang true. Here Tyler lay broken, and I could do nothing but throw up or call someone.

"It's okay Robs I already called them," Peyton said leaning over Tyler.

Wonderful. Now I feel really worthless!

"Robin, I know it'll hurt you to do this, but I can only look after one of you guys," Jacob said in a soothing tone while wiping away the blood from Tyler's arm with his shirt.

Ty winced, "I'm fine Robs," he winced again, "Relatively." A weak smile flashed on his face before it crumpled in agony.

Suddenly everything became wavy and foggy, I blinked the tears away. "I gotta stay, I can do it."

I felt another heave coming. Jacob stopped whipping away blood and looked at me with a frustrated expression.

"Hey, I'll stay here; you two go look for that ambulance." Peyton said taking Jacob's shirt from him. Jacob shot her an 'are you sure' look, and she nodded.

"Alright, let's go Robin." He got up and pulled me away by my elbow.

Once we were out by the front of the skate park I lost it. "Why am I so fucking useless?! What's the point being someone's best friend if you have to ditch them in their time of need? God, I'm a horrible person...Tyler's gonna hate me." Tears began sky-diving off my cheeks, my hands began beating on my head, and I just could not control the pitch of my voice.

"Don't worry, he won't hate you. We understand Robin, it's not your fault you can't stand the sight of blood."

I stared at him - most likely looking like a mad woman, then ran into his arms. I just wanted to be hugged. I wanted to be comforted. I wanted Jacob to tell me everything would be alright. How selfish. His arms reacted normally and wrapped around me. Shockingly, I felt safe in his arms. I never wanted to leave. The moment (here, not where Ty was) was perfect. It felt so surreal.

Of course the thing to bring me back to reality would be the ambulance sirens. A man and a woman jumped out the back unloaded a stretcher and ran towards us.

"Do you two know where the boy is?" The woman asked

"Yeah, he's back behind the big half pipe," Jacob had to answer because I was currently only capable of producing sniffles and tears.

They thanked us and carried on. Jacob and I stayed in our embrace until we heard the stretcher creaking back towards us.

"Are you going to be okay? They're going to have to roll right by us..." He gently pushed me away from his body to get a better look at me. "They should have cleaned up a bit but..."

"I'll be fine." I said curtly. I needed all my energy for keeping my lunch where it belonged and talking took away too much.

As the squeaky wheels got closer I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"Hey Jake, you need your ten bucks now?"

I opened my eyes and watched as Tyler rode to us, sitting upright on the stretcher with no blood in sight. He asked the male EMT to wait a minute, and called Jake and I over.

"Thanks for taking care of me Jake, looks like someone has a medical future ahead of them," for once I didn't bust a fuse when Jacob let that damn smirk creep across his face, I was too happy seeing Ty alright. "And Robs, don't beat yourself over your stomach. I'm fine, take a chill pill. I'll be out here tomorrow perfecting that trick, just wait and see."

"Oh no you won't mister," the female EMT said fixing Jacob's make-shift sling. "Now we need to get you to the hospital now, say good bye to your friends." When she turned her back on him he stuck out his tongue and waved goodbye to us with his good hand.

"Uh oh." I whispered as they closed the door to the ambulance.

"What? Are you okay? Did you forget something?" Jacob asked turning to face me.

"He's gonna hate being in a cast."

** ONE MONTH LATER **

"Hey Tree, let's go!" Jacob Ellis said pulling on my arm. He took a liking to my middle name, Treakle-Mint, and declared Tree my new nickname.

"Where are we going?" I glanced back at the library doors where I was planning on spending my free period.

"We're leaving." We were getting closer and closer to the main entrance.

"I kinda figured that out. Jake, wait! Where are we going?" I was getting scared, not of skipping school, but of going somewhere alone with him. Ever since the skate park incident things have gotten a little better between us, but that doesn't mean I started trusting him. As long as that damn smirk is on his face, my trust won't be.

"Take a risk Tree. You're such a goody two shoes." He pushed me out the door, and pulled me to his car. I'm really getting tired of all this pushing and pulling.

"Fuck you!"

"Swearing doesn't prove anything sweetheart."

He opened the passenger door for me and I grumbled at him while climbing into the 1990 Mustang. "If you're going to kidnap me I'd like to at least know where we're going."

"We're going on a date." A what?!

"No we are not! You haven't asked me!" Blushing couldn't explain what I was doing, my face was on fire! I reached for the door handle to get out, but he saw it coming. The engine roared and we peeled out of the parking space. "God! Fucking slow down!" I scrambled to fasten my seat belt.

He slowed as he exited the school parking lot, but gained momentum as we got onto the main road. "I like speed. You don't get a Mustang if you're not going to use it! And stop swearing at me!"

"Fuck. Shit. Damn. Slow down!" I looked out the window and saw the trees fly past at in a green blur. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not die today. We're nearing the town center and you're going to crash into a...a...a something at the light at the end of this road.".

"We're not going to town. Town is back that-a-way" he jerked his thumb behind, I was glad to see that he slowed down to just fifteen over the speed limit.

"So. Where are we going?" I tried to calm myself down, knowing we weren't going to crash was soothing, in a way.

"On a date."

"Where is this fuc- date taking place?"

"At my chosen location."

"Which is?"

"This way."

"Damn you." I mumbled.

"Do you not want to go on a date with me? Would you rather wish it was Tyler?" he sounded immensely hurt. I mean he looked like I just ran over his puppy; stole his lollipop then told him Santa wasn't real. He was starring straight at the road, I tried to do the same, but I couldn't help but stare at his sad, beautiful face - uhh I mean the beautiful trees behind his face..."I know you like him and he's still in that cast, I just thought now that...you know. Oh! Please don't think I'm taking advantage of him being handicapped right now...I just thought maybe we could just give it a shot. It can be just between you and I, no one will have to know about this. Well, if you really don't want to go I can just take you back. I'm not kidnapping you, I just knew this was the only way I'd get you to come with me..." He paused and stole a glance at my reaction. I had no idea what it was, but it was enough to make him blush.

"Oh Jake..." what else could I say?

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