Annie's POV

I was already running late to the lakefront party later that evening, but I wanted to make sure that I looked okay before leaving.

I stood in front of the mirror in our bedroom and tried on a few outfits before deciding on one. I then put a small flower in my hair before leaving the empty cabin and down to the lake front.

"Geez, Annie, what took you so long?" Brennan asked with a grin as he playfully slipped an arm around my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and nudged his side with my elbow as he laughed along with me.

"Hey, Brennan, you coming?" Ryan asked as he threw a ball in the air. "We're about to start our volleyball game."

"Yeah, I'm coming," Brennan let me go and started to run off as Sydney joined me.

"Wanna watch?" I nodded and we sat down on a towel Sydney and Katie laid out with a picnic basket as the boys split into teams. Brennan and Jake were on one team, while Luke and Hayden were on the other. Ryan was going to be keeping score with Hayley, so they stood close by.

"Aw look, the boys that are after Annie's heart are going against each other!" Katie teased playfully before I shoved her. She sat back up and laughed as Sydney tried to stifle a giggle.

The game started and we kept a close watch. I found myself watching Jake more than Hayden throughout the game, and Jake was really good. At one point he leaped high into the air and hit the ball forcefully to the other side of the net, which went straight into Hayden's face.

"Hayden!" I immediately stood up and ran over towards him.

He groaned as I fell onto my knees on the ground next to him. I moved a couple of his curls off his face and saw his nose was bleeding.

"Oh my god, Hayden, are you okay?" I asked with concern just as Luke handed me a napkin from Sydney's picnic basket. I placed the napkin under his nose, causing Hayden to wince.

"I think my nose might be broken," he said before he let out another groan.

"Come on, let's get you inside," I stood up and carefully helped Hayden up, allowing him to wrap an around around me as we walked back to the cabin.

"Annie—" Jake called out from behind me.

"I've got it," I snapped as I turned my head to face him. "You've done enough, Jake."

I opened the cabin door and lead Hayden to the bathroom, where I sat him down and started running the water. I put a towel underneath the running sink before putting it under Hayden's nose as he winced again.

"Sorry, I just need to clean in," I explained as I gently wiped the blood off. Once the blood was cleaned up, I found a first aid kit and put some medical tape over his nose.

"Are you okay now?" I asked once I was finished.

Hayden gave me a slight nod. "Yeah, I think I'll be alright. Thanks, Dr. Annie."

I let out a small laugh. "No problem. Now you should probably change your shirt, the collar is all bloody."

"Oh, right," he nodded and headed to the boys' room to change. Once he was finished, he came out and sat next to me on the couch.

"You don't want to go back out there?" Hayden asked.

I shrugged. "Not really, to be honest. Not after what happened last time."

Hayden held my hand and gave me a small smile. "You don't have to go in the water. You could have a picnic with your friends, stargaze, play a game of volleyball—"

"I don't think I'll be playing volleyball anytime soon," I said as I pointed to Hayden's nose. "But actually, stargazing sounds kind of nice."

"You want to?" he asked, and I nodded. He nodded back and stood up, still holding my hand, as we went down the hallway to the backdoor. Hayden lead me down a trail to one of the other sides of the lake. There were a lot of trees, so our other friends wouldn't see that we ditched them.

"Right here looks good," Hayden sat down and patted a spot next to him. I joined him and we laid down next to each other as we looked up at the dark night sky.

It was truly a beautiful sight; since we were out in the middle of nowhere, there weren't a lot of lights, so we could clearly see the stars shining in the dark black sky.

"There's the Big Dipper," Hayden pointed.

"I see Orion's belt," I pointed to the three stars that were close together.

"Anything else?" Hayden asked. "Like the rest of him?"

"It's sadly the only constellation I can recognize," I replied.

"Now that is sad," he said, which made me laugh, and he laughed along with me.

As we were laughing, Hayden looked over at me and we locked eyes. The laughing stopped as Hayden slowly started to lean in. Part of me wanted to stop him and back away, but the other part of me wanted to stay right there and let the moment of my first kiss play out.

Guess which side of me won?

The space between us was barely there. The tip of his bandaged nose was against mine as I felt his breath against my lips. He slowly tilted his head to one side as he continued to lean in, his lips now pressed against mine.

At first I just sat there and didn't do anything, but then my hands naturally made their way around his neck. I pulled away as our foreheads still touched, Hayden smiling at me as I smiled back.

"Maybe we should get back to the lakefront, they might be looking for us," I suggested.

"Yeah, okay," Hayden grabbed my hand and we walked back to the lakefront smiling.

"Oh good, you two are back just in time, the dancing is about to start," Sydney said with a grin as she pressed play on a playlist she had on her phone.

"May I have this dance?" Hayden asked as he held out his hand. The song "Can I Have This Dance?" from High School Musical 3 played in the background as I laughed.

"Of course you may," I smiled and took his hand, my other one wrapped around his shoulder as his other hand went around my waist.

One of Hayden's first visits to Maryland resulted in us in the basement of my house trying to find a movie to watch together. We both agreed on High School Musical 3 because we were very childish. Once the song came on between Gabriella and Troy on the rooftop, Hayden and I decided to reenact that scene, and we practiced over and over until we got every move and lyric down by memory. Watching that movie and dancing to that scene became a tradition for us, and dancing to that song at the lakefront felt just like that.

We danced and sang and laughed while everyone looked at us. Katie had an eyebrow raised as Luke tried to hold back his laughter. Katie elbowed him in the ribs, causing Luke to let out a laugh.

"That was quite a show," Luke laughed once we finished.

"Thanks," I smiled at him as he was still laughing hysterically.

"You're an idiot, Luke," Katie said as she rolled her eyes, but even in the dark of the night I could see her biting her bottom lip to try and stop herself from smiling. Sydney gave her a look and Katie's eyes went wide, and that's when I realized that was what they were talking about earlier.

"Well it's pretty late, we should probably get back inside now," Brennan suggested as he lifted up a sleeping Ryan, who was laying in a hammock moment before next to a sleeping Hayley. I picked up my little sister as everyone else followed behind us back to the cabin.

I put my sister down in her bed and tucked her in before changing into my own pajamas and lying in my bed with a smile on my face. Today was a pretty good day.

•••

Hayden's POV

I couldn't sleep a couple hours later, so I decided to go into the living room so I wouldn't disturb the others.

But apparently, I wasn't the only one awake.

"Hayden," I turned around to see Jake standing in the hallway as he turned on a lamp. "We need to talk."

"Um, okay?" I replied as he made his way over and sat on the couch adjacent from me.

"I tried to be nice this entire time, believe me I really tried," he said, his voice slowly getting louder before pointing at me. "But you, you won't quit. You just won't."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Summerall. I know you know what I'm talking about," he said in a low voice that was almost like a snarl. "So listen to this and listen closely; leave—Annie—alone."

"You can't tell me what to do, Jake," I said. "And you can't tell Annie how to feel, either."

Jake gave me a small smirk. "We'll see about that." Then he stood up and made his way back to the bedroom.

I had no idea what he meant, but whatever he was saying didn't sound good to me at all. And by the way he was talking, I'm pretty sure he broke my nose on purpose.

That meant that I had to protect Annie, no matter what, because something tells me Jake isn't who he seems he is.

•••

A/N: AAHHHHHH we're finally getting somewhere guyssss! i'm so excited to go from here because i have the whole rest of the story planned and snwjkwkw yesss!

so what did you think of this chapter? do you ship hannie in this book, or jannie? let me know your thoughts below!

anyway i hope you enjoyed this chapter! if so please don't forget to vote comment and share because i love your feedback!

thanks, until next time ;)

-kathleen <3