I absolutely love the serene feeling of laying in the backyard by the pool without a care in the world. Feeling as if nothing in the world can touch you and you'll never come back down from the small high.

Of course it would have to be interrupted by the devil himself.

"Olivia! It's time." Abel threw himself on to the empty lawn chair beside me, slowly pushing the book I was reading away from my face. I sighed, marking my page before setting it down on my lap.

"Time to do what? Annoy me?" I joked. He rolled his eyes and pulled something out of his back pocket. I stared at it skeptically, hoping it wasn't anything dangerous or disgusting.

"The list. We start it today." I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion as I read off some of the things that were on it.

Propose To A Stranger with A Ring Pop

Have a Paint War (Water Guns and Balloons Allowed)

Tell A Random Person a Secret that absolutely no one knows about you

They seemed normal enough, nothing too bad, especially for this list being written by Abel.

"I threw some things in there that I knew you would actually do, you know, to prepare you for what's to come." I swallowed the lump that had begun to rise in my throat at the comment.

Prepare me for what's to come? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"Abe, I can't possibly get through everything on here in two months." I dropped the crinkled piece of paper back into his hands with a sad smile, "I'm sorry." He rolled his eyes, snickering as I brought the book back up to read.

I was only about a sentence in when the book was snatched from my grip and thrown into the pool in front of us. I let out a slightly dramatic and inhuman screech, throwing my empty sunscreen bottle at him. He dodged it, letting out a quiet laugh as he backed away. I heard Oliver groan from where he was sprawled out in a lawn chair across the backyard.

"Come on, Liv. Let's go." I shrugged Abel's arm off and pointed my finger directly in front of his nose.

"How dare you? Like hell I'm going go anywhere with a book burner." I growled, frustrated. He laughed, only adding to my irritation.

"Book burner? I threw it in a pool, not a fire." He pointed out with a smirk,

"You get the point." I muttered, sending my brother a glare over Abel's shoulder, "Can you please keep your friend away from me?" My brother sat up, pushing his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose with a small smile.

"Sis, you agreed to his little game. I'm sorry, but you know how he is when he has his mind set on something." I crossed my arms over my chest, huffing out a sigh.

What a great help he is.

"Okay, so what exactly is it you want me to do? It's three in the afternoon on a Saturday. How do you know I don't have plans?" I said, my eyes flickering back toward Abel. He was standing a few feet away, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hands as he stared down at me.

"You're Olivia Scott, you don't have plans." He said. " And that's exactly why we should go to the mall right now. They'll be tons of little victims for us to prey on." He rubbed his hands together in an evil scientist kind of way, arching an eyebrow. I took a step back, holding my hands up in surrender.

"Do you realize how weird and crazy that sounds?" He chuckled quietly to himself at my words, crossing his arms slowly over his chest.

"But, babe," He said with a wink, "Crazy is my middle name."

**

Standing in the middle of the mall food court kind of reminded me of some Cheetah documentary I watched with Jeremy a few days ago.

All of the prey, unaware that they were about to be attacked, sat with their backs to us, the predators. Abel stood beside me, perched on the edge of the table like a hawk, his green eyes roaming the crowd of thousands of innocent girls that were about to experience something they'd never forget.

"You find anyone yet?" Abel's voice was quiet, almost as if he spoke to loud the people around us would scurry away like mice.

"Hmm?" I sent him a quick glance over my shoulder, "No, I haven't. I'm not you. I can't just talk to any random guy and do this stupid Ring Pop thing."

"It's not stupid and that's exactly why we're doing this. You can't hide behind Oli and me forever, Liv." Before I could respond Abel grabbed my arm and gave me a gentle push forward.

"Now go find someone. I don't care if it's a girl, it's the twenty first century." I bit the inside of my upper lip so I wouldn't snap at him and walked into the crowd of prey that awaited me.

I scanned the room, letting my eyes fall on to the different teenagers that sat in groups talking like they weren't ever going to see each other again. I recognized a few people from graduation, one being Annabel White, one of the poor girls that had fallen victim to my brother's charm during our Freshman year and hadn't ever really recovered.

"Olivia." I looked back at Abel to find him gesturing toward his wrist despite their being no watch. I stuck my tongue out childishly before taking a deep breath and continuing to walk.

This can't be that bad. All I have to do is talk someone into accepting the Ring Pop. The worse that could happen was them saying no, right?

"Livvy!" Abel called out in a sing-song voice. I shook my head and did the only thing that came to my mind in that moment.

I went to the only guy here that didn't look like he wanted to be.

He was probably a year or so younger then me, his face illuminated by the bluish-white light from his laptop as his fingertips danced across the keys.

"Hi." I whispered, sending him out of his seat and on to the ground, his eyes widening a fraction.

"I. . . uh. . . Mary isn't here." He blurted, pulling himself back up. I smiled, shaking my head in confusion.

"Who's Mary?" I asked.

"Aren't you here for my sister? I mean, no girl that looks like you would ever want to talk to someone like me." He responded, his surprised look turning into a glare.

"Actually, I came to talk to you." I sat in the seat across from him, gently pushing his laptop shut. "I need your help." He blinked in surprise, his lips parting.

"Do I know you?" He sat down, his eyes flickering with a mixture of shock and curiosity.

"No. My name is Olivia Scott-"

"Scott? You mean you're that douche bag's sister?" He snarled, earning a wince out of me.

Out of all the people I could of chose, I chose the one that had a personal grudge against my brother.

I don't know why I'm still affected by these kinds of comments. My brother was a douche, he was a dick, he was a piece of crap. But he was still my twin brother, one of my best friends, and no matter how bad he got, I still had to defend him.

"Look, kid. I really need your help." I threw my thumb over my shoulder with a smile, "You see that guy over there? That's Abel Hendricks and I'm doing this crazy bucket list thing over the summer and this is the first thing on the list." I think I confused the guy even more, his dark brown eyes were still squinting across the table at me.

"What?" He muttered, shaking his head, "What bucket list thing?"

"I need to propose to you with this Ring Pop," I pulled the small package out of my purse, "And the only way I can beat him at this, or at least make it a tie, is if you accept my proposal." The boy ran a hand through his dark hair, making it appear even messier then before.

"What do I get out of this? Why should I help you?" He whispered. I sighed, starting to stand up. This kid obviously wasn't going to budge.

"Never mind. For-"

"No, I'll do it." He stood up, holding his hand out. I felt a tidal wave of relief was over me as I opened the package and got down on one knee. I felt about ready to sink into the ground in embarrassment when I realized that more then half of the food court was watching us.

"What's your name?" I mumbled, my cheeks starting to flush. He smiled, shrugging.

"Alex." I mouthed a 'thank you' before grabbing his hand.

"Alex, I have only known you for about three minutes, but I feel like we have a special connection that no one could ever change. Will you marry me?" I heard laughs, snorts, and an occasional whistle as I waited for the boy in front of me to respond. He finally took the Ring Pop after a second and helped me back on to my feet.

"Thank you." I said, starting to back away.

"Sure. And Olivia?" He called after me, his eyes meeting mine.

"Yeah?"

"Goodluck with this bucket list thing. I'd love to see Hendricks lose." He responded. As I bowed my head and headed back toward Abel, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt in my stomach.

Abel hadn't always been a cold-hearted jerk, there had been a time when he was the sweetest person in the world, when he thought that nothing could take that away. He didn't think that one thing could pull that all from the underneath him and throw his life off the edge of a cliff like it was nothing.

And I would never be able to forgive myself for being that one thing that ruined his life.

****AN***

Not edited

I hope you enjoyed!

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24