“I told you it will be alright,” Kyla practically boasted as we entered the school. She was practically bouncing since I picked her up this morning, begging me to tell her details of what happened last night.

When I mentioned his little speech, she squealed like we weren’t in a closed vehicle. I was deaf by the time we pulled into the school parking lot. It was a good thing I didn’t even bother to mention the hug or else she would never leave me alone about it.

Now she’s walking up with so much pride, claiming that if she and Tristan weren’t there, Jasper and I would never become friends again.

I’m giving her a day before I burst her happy bubble.

“Good morning, girls!” Tristan suddenly greeted, causing us to jump in surprise.

Wait a minute, is he really talking to us in school?

He swung his arm on our shoulders as he continued to walk with us through the busy hallway, “Nice day we’re having, right?”

People were staring. Every single person we passed looked like they were about to faint in shock and disbelief.

Trust me, I was mirroring the same expression.

Kyla looked up at him and questioned, “What are you doing here?”

“I go to school here,” he replied, pointing out the most obvious thing in the world.

“You know what I mean,” she said.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he shrugged as if it was no big deal.

I thought we had a strict rule that we’re not going to converse in school. All talk will be done during work, when we’re all on our break.

The students started to point at us, their jaws dropping as we passed them. Something in me snapped and I commanded, “Go to your classrooms!”

Somebody from the mass of teenagers even had the guts to say, “The bell hasn’t even rung yet.”

Do they really want to anger me at such an early hour in the morning?

“To class!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, using the most furious tone I can manage. Kyla flinched beside me, Tristan retreated his arms from our shoulders, and every single students started to scamper out of the hallway.

You could practically hear a pin drop after a few seconds since I yelled.

“So that is how it happens,” Tristan muttered from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to place my gaze on him as he looked at the empty halls that was filled with students a minute ago.

Congratulations Tristan, you have now experienced the president that students fear. You even had front row seats to that amazing show!

“That was kind of harsh,” Kyla commented, looking at the few lockers that the students accidentally left open the haze.

I bowed my head in shame, I seriously have temper issues. I slammed one of the lockers shut, biting my lip as I held back my thoughts.

“Savannah?” Tristan slowly approached me as if I was time bomb ready to explode with one touch.

The thing is, I am one.

Why do I always have to explode like that in front of everybody? The little things people do was enough to get into my nerves.

I don’t even know why I was elected to be student body president. I flunk the part completely.

“What happened here?” Jasper walked up to us, looking around the empty halls, “Am I late already?”

Tristan and Kyla kept silent but they pointed they looks at me. I sighed, shrugging right at him, telling him it was no big deal.

“Tristan, can you walk Kyla to her first period?” he asked his best friend, staring at my sullen expression.

Tristan nodded in understanding, he gave Jasper a pat on his shoulder and he nodded at my direction. Kyla walked up to me and tried to give me a warm smile.

“See you later,” she said, giving me a side hug, she leaned in and whispered into my ear, “Don’t make a big deal of this, alright?”

The two of them walked away from us and my eyes were trained on their retreating figures.

“You ready?” Jasper questioned, taking his place beside me.

I snapped my head to his direction and quirked my eyebrows in confusion, “Ready for what?”

He only gave me a small smile, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the exit.

“Jasper, class will be starting soon!”

“So?” he inquired as if it was no big deal.

Let me tell you, it’s a freaking big deal! If they found out, I’m going to be in so much trouble.

He dragged me to his car and opened the passenger seat for me. I just stared at him in disbelief as he smirked right at me, waiting for me to enter the vehicle.

He must be crazy if he thinks that I’m doing this.

Jasper quirked his head to the side before slamming the door shut. Maybe he finally got the idea that I’m not going to miss class for whatever he has planned for me.

He reached out for my wrist as he pulled me to his side, slowly walking to the school gate, “If you prefer walking, that’s alright with me.”

Somebody please knock some sense into this boy.

I planted my foot firmly on the ground, refusing to go along with him. He lifted a brow, clearly amused at my attempts to stop him as he smirked right at me.

Oh shoot, I know that mischievous look anywhere.

He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder before he started to skip happily out of the school area.

There’s a thing called kidnapping!

“Jasper let me go!” I screeched, hitting his back repetitively.

With my upper body upside down like this, I know I’m going to hurl any time soon.

He ignored me as he continued to stride to our destination as if there was no teenage girl clearly hanging for her life on his shoulder.

Now I’m wondering whatever he did to make me agree to become best friends with him years ago.

Somewhere along the walk, he slowly pulled me down and I leaned against a light post, clutching my head.

“I’m going to kill you,” I scowled, praying that this headache will be gone.

He looked at our surrounding before nodding in approval, “We still have a little more to go but we’re far enough from the school to know you’re not running back any time soon.”

Damn. Where are we going?

“By the way,” he started to walk once again, looking at me over his shoulder, “You might want to go easy with the pastries, you’re so heavy.”

I stomped my foot childishly on the side walk, shooting him the nastiest glare I can manage with my head still pulsing in pain, “Jasper Dean, you’re so dead to me!”

His laughter echoed through the empty streets, waiting for me to catch up with him. Groaning in response, I pushed myself forward and slowly marched my way to him.

I’m just waiting for the right moment to launch my super ninja skills right at him.

As we moved forward, our surroundings slowly became familiar. We stopped right in front of a metal fence, at the other side showed the playground connected to a school.

The same playground where Jasper and I used to sneak in, even during class hours just to play and talk.

“Remember?” he questioned, gripping the fence, staring the thing in front of us, “When you’re having your drama filled days, we usually skip class.”

The same thing that we used to do in elementary school was happening right now.

Ever so carefully, Jasper slowly climbed up the fence and I gaped right at him. He stopped right at the top of it, looking at me expectantly.

He really is crazy, but the thing is, he was my crazy best friend.

“You do know that I’m not really skilled in the art of breaking and entering.”

Jasper rolled his eyes and reached out a hand for me to take, “Come on, I’ll help you.”

Looking at the playground at the other side of the fence, I sighed. I’m really going to regret this later.

I placed my foot up and allowed it to rest on the fence. I gripped the metal with so much force that it started to dig into my skin.

Jasper helped me when I was finally in his reach. We settled at the top, looking down on the drop to the ground. With a wink at my way, Jasper slowly climbed down, jumping halfway through.

Alright, all I have to do is to go down. Don’t think of the fall that may soon end into your own death.

Jasper chuckled at me, “Jump, I’ll catch you!”

I find it hard to believe that he can do it. I bit my lip, staring into his comforting brown eyes. He was assuring me, the minute I let go of the fence, I’ll find myself in his arms.

Thinking back, he has never let me down on purpose. I just hope he doesn’t break that streak today.

Taking a deep breath, my hands that were clamped on the metal fence slowly lost their grip. I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact on the ground.

I felt Jasper catch me but the minute he did so, we fell back into a heap into the ground.

Jasper groaned underneath me after he used his body as a cushion for my fall. Even with the pained look on his face, he still managed to smile smugly at me, “Told you that I will catch you,” he grinned, “But just like what I said before, stop pigging into those pastries.”

I glared at him, hitting his stomach before I got up. He grumbled under his breath, slowly getting up to his feet, dusting off the dirt on his clothes.

The place still looked the same as what it did when we were children studying in this school. They replaced a few sets with new ones, but other than that, the format of the rides were still the same.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked, my fingers feeling the smooth plastic of the slide, marveling at the sight.

It was the same slide we used to play on.

“I know you, Savannah,” he said, sitting on one of the swings on the set, “Well enough to know when you’re feeling down.”

I’ve been feeling down since I learned you like Kyla. Why haven’t you noticed that?

“So you thought a little trip to our childhood playground will lift up my mood?”

He nodded, slowly swinging back and forth. The metal frame protested at the heavy weight of his body, creaking with every swing he made.

We settled into silence as I stared at everything around me. It was like everything was coming back after years of being ignored.

Jasper was here with me, he dragged me to this playground as we ditched school, and as always, we were both lost into our own thoughts.

This is nice.

“What did I do wrong?”

I snapped my attention to him as his eyes were trained on his shoe as it made patterns on the ground beneath it.

“Why did you ignore to me?”

That was one question that I desperately wanted to avoid. He deserves an explanation but the reason was just so stupid. He did nothing wrong, I was the one who was always causing him trouble, even when we were kids.

My stupid crush back then got in the way of our friendship. Add up his growing popularity due to basketball, it was a recipe for total doom.

When I wasn’t answering him, he sighed rather loudly in defeat, “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

Correct, my friend.

Maybe somewhere in the future, I’ll step out of this pathetic position that I am in. We just started our friendship again, I don’t want to risk it because of a stupid explanation.

“I’ll save that for another day,” I promised him, sitting on the swing next to him, “How about we just enjoy right now?”

He shook his head, a smile coming to his lips, “You haven’t changed a bit, Savannah.”

But he has. I never predicted that he will be the king of the school; I knew that he would be in the varsity team but I never guessed back then that he will be practically ruling over the students. He was on the top of the popularity chain, everybody knew and respected him.

While everybody feared me.

Maybe all this time we were friends, I was holding him back. His activities skyrocketed when I left him, it was like the minute I was gone, he finally broke free.

He’s was just kind enough to hang out with me.

His hand settled on my head, ruffling my hair, “And you still have that same look when you overthink things.”

“You’re much better without me,” the words left my mouth before I can even stop them.

He froze, looking at me with confusion, “What do you mean?”

Before I can tell him to wave it off, the bell of the school rang. We looked at each other with troubled expressions, we knew well that it was time for their recess.

“Come on,” he rushed out, grabbing my hand and pulling me up to my feet.

“What do you suggest?” I asked, looking at the fence. We both knew it was going to be difficult to climb it up again, and if anybody saw us, they may report us to the police.

“The direct way,” he said simply, tugging me to the door of the school.

Oh please don’t tell me.

He sprinted through the halls of the school that was starting to get filled with children. Jasper quickened his pace, remembering every single turn through this school.

We stuck out like a sore thumb, we were a foot taller than every student in this school. A teacher spotted us and she yelled, “Stop, you two there!”

“Run!” Jasper told me as I tried to keep up with his pace. I wanted to remind him that I’m not well inverse into sports as he is.

We spotted our destination, the exit of the school building. He practically dived to it, avoiding the students as he left. I huffed out, trying to catch my breath when we stopped once we were finally outside.

“That teacher might be still chasing us,” he let out, peeking inside through the door, “We better keep on going.”

“Jasper!” I screeched, “I’m going to die if we have to run another round.”

We spotted the teacher, trying maneuver herself through the throng of little children. She yelled at us, telling us to stay where we are or else she will call the police.

“We’re already damned anyways,” Jasper chuckled, pulling me to him as he started to sprint once again. He bounced down the steps, and I hurriedly went down.

When we were safely away from the school, I collapsed on the sidewalk. I can barely care about the temperature of the cement, I was tired from all the running.

“You better watch out tonight, I’m killing you while you’re in your sleep,” I scowled, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

Out of nowhere, he started to laugh. Not the usual chuckle, but a full knee slapping, hand clapping, tear jerking laugh.

Did I say something wrong?

“That was amazing!” he cheered, looking at the path we just took.

He has lost it.

“Did you see that teacher?” his eyes twinkled in joy, “I can’t believe we just escaped her.”

He fell onto the ground next to me, letting out a breath of happiness, “Haven’t had this much fun in a long time!”

Haven’t freaked out this much in one morning before. Nevertheless, that’s what Jasper Dean is for you, the one guy that is annoying and reckless but can make anybody smile with such fun.

What was I thinking when I let him go?

He was right, even with the fiasco and everything, he made me forget the expense this morning. Other than that, he proved that our friendship and memories still stood.

Just like that playground, there were new rides but a few bits and pieces stayed. Everything looked the same, but it was clear as day that they changed a few things to make sure the place will last longer.

To make everything better, you’ll keep a few things but you also have to replace some with newer and better ones.

I looked at my wristwatch, sighing at the time, “But now, we need to head back to our own school.”

Looking at the long way we have to walk I groaned, I should have gotten into Jasper’s car from the start.

“We can take our sweet time, when we come back we’ll be just in time for lunch,” he told me, getting up to his feet. He offered a hand and I took it as he pulled me up.

“I’m going to be in so much trouble when they find out that I skipped,” I groaned, expecting the worst.

Jasper chuckled, falling into step beside me as we carefully walked away from the past, known as that playground, as we started our journey back to our high school – the present.

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Happy Anniversary to me! It’s been officially a year since I created my wattpad account and I couldn’t be any prouder of how it turned out. I want to thank you guys because you’re all part of this since you’re reading one of my works! Fun fact, I created my very first book on the same day (majority of you guys know what it is).

Your last chapter questions were umm… unique. I’m hoping none of you are after to kill me, but I’m glad that I was able to share some things about myself to you guys.

Question: How did you find this story?

See you all next chapter, May will be an extremely busy month for me so fingers crossed that I survive. Love you guys, comment, vote, and I hope you’ll give me a follow if you want to.