"Should I ask her?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do!"

I rolled my eyes at Alex, who wouldn't stop bothering me during our second period. I had never really noticed that he was there before. Sure, I knew he was there, but it didn't matter very much to me. Until now, that is.

Since prom was only three days away, people were starting to get a little hectic. People without dates were scrambling trying to find one. People who had managed to get dates were running around trying to get the perfect clothing to wear for the night.

"Didn't I already tell you that she liked you?" I demanded, finally turning toward him to glare. He was grinning at me, but that didn't stop my eyebrows from furrowing. "Just go ask her and leave me alone."

"It's not that simple," Alex pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from me. I let out a frustrated sigh and cursed Mr. Benson for having us do our work with partners. We were able to choose, and Alex pounced on me before I could make my way over to Chelsea. Not that she really minded. She seemed to be having a great time with Dalton...

So unfair.

"And how is it not simple?" I asked flatly, crossing my own arms over my chest as I blinked at him. "She likes you, you like her. That's totally simple. It's not like the gang's going to go after her or anything like they are with me. She's safe. You said so yourself."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Alex informed me, shaking his head and turning back toward me. "What I'm worried about is that this would be like a first date, in a way. We've always just joked around and flirted, but nothing even close to dating material. What if she sees that she only wants to be my friend?"

I shrugged, letting out another impatient sigh. "I'm sure that won't happen," I assured with a nod. "And even if it does, she won't break your heart. She knows what it's like to be heartbroken, so I know she won't do it to someone she cares about. And she cares about you, Alex. I know she does."

"But what if our relationship grows and gets more... physical," he starting, grinning at me when I made a face. "And she sees what the gang burned into my back? I don't want her knowing about the gang because I'm sure she'll look at me differently."

"I didn't look at Jesse any differently," I voiced, shaking my head at him.

"But you love Jesse," Alex replied back smugly, as if he knew it for a fact. But how would he know? I never told anyone! I almost choked on my own saliva as I tried to think of something smart to say back, but nothing escaped my mouth.

"I do not love Jesse," I lied, sticking my nose in the air and looking away from him.

"Sure you don't," he teased right back. I knew that it was going to be trouble having him around... How could someone so immature be a part of a gang? "As cliché as this sounds, I see the way that you look at him--"

"Okay," I snapped, turning back to him and giving him a cold glare. "I don't want to hear it. It's not true."

"--and he looks at you the same way," he finished in a sing-song manner, causing me to bite the inside of my lip as my cheeks turned slightly pink. He was just messing with me. He had to be...

"You're delusional if you think I really love Jesse," I scoffed, now playing with things that lay across our desks so I didn't have to look at him. "He's my enemy. E-N-E-M-Y. Jesse hates me and I hate him. I didn't think you were that stupid that I'd have to spell it out for you."

"And you're dumb," Alex grinned right back. "D-U-M."

"It's D-U-M-B, moron," I chided, sticking my tongue out at him now.

"It's what you are, though."

"I'm not the one who misspelled it."

"And I'm not the one denying my undying, passionate love for someone!"

I covered my burning face with my hands, wanting nothing more than to be back in the cabin. Lexi was attracted to someone like this? I just couldn't see why...

"It's not undying and passionate," I told him through clenched teeth, removing my hands from my face and turning to face him.

He was now grinning, confusing me greatly. I blinked at him, waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, I waved a hand in front of his face to get him to talk. He only laughed at me.

"You didn't deny that it was love," he laughed, grinning that famous grin of his.

I felt my face heat up, and I turned back toward the work that we were supposed to be working on.              

"He's my enemy."

"And you're dumb."

"For your information, I happened to be the top of my class back at my old school," I informed him sharply, gripping onto an eraser tightly as I looked over to glare at him. It took all my willpower now to throw it at him. "So I am not dumb."

Alex waved a hand in front of his face, obviously not listening to me. "Okay, whatever you say, dummy."

"Alex--"

"Hey, what do you mean by Lexi knows what it's like to be heartbroken?" Alex now blinked, cutting me off as his eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion.

I let out a sigh, letting him off for his comment as I began to explain what had happened between Lexi, Bruce, and Aimee. I knew that we were supposed to be reviewing the book that we were supposed to be reading, but as long as Mr. Benson thought that that was what we were doing, I didn't really care.

"So that's why you guys don't like Aimee, huh?" Alex asked, leaning back in his chair, just enough so he wouldn't fall over backwards. "I thought it would be about something like this. I didn't think that it would be about Lexi's old boyfriend, though..."

"She was really torn up," I informed him, crossing my legs as I turned to face him even more. "I guess you could say she's over it now, but pretty much just because of you. So just ask her and get off my back."

Alex smirked at me. "You're a good friend, Jordan Emery. I knew you'd be."

"We've only really been talking for two days," I reminded him flatly, as if he had somehow forgotten. "We didn't talk to each other before you kidnapped me."

"Not kidnap," he made sure to point out, shaking his head at me. "You got in the car yourself, you know."

"You said you were taking me to Hunter."

"But I didn't."

"Still!" I replied, a little too loud for the classroom. A few people looked over at us, including Mr. Bennett, but all I did was smile sheepishly and look down at the book we were supposed to be reading. I ducked my head closer to him, covering my face with the book so Mr. Bennett couldn't see me from the front of the room and whispered so he couldn't hear me. "You still scared me!"

Alex only shrugged, flipping through the pages. I let out a breath before finally turning back toward the book and reading it, like we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I wished that I could have completely forgotten about prom, the one thing that I was dreading ever since freshman year. The girls of Cabin C were excited, and they were sure trying their best to get me to be excited as well, but I was way too nervous to be excited.

I wanted Jesse to ask me. I wanted him to see me as not just his enemy, but someone he could love...

"Do you think Alex will ask me?" Lexi obsessed as all the girls from our cabin went dress shopping. "He seems like he likes me, but I don't know..."

"I'm sure he'll ask you," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest as we continued to walk through the mall along with the rest of the girls. "I'm sure he will..."

Alex needed to man up and just ask her already. I had told him that she liked him, so why not ask her and get it over with? For someone who was in a gang, he sure was a real wimp... I mean, she was just a girl! It wasn't like she was out to kill him or anything...

"I hope so," Lexi whispered quietly before we all entered another dress shop.

I was able to pick a dress in the first store we had gone into, but I unfortunately couldn't say that about the rest of the girls. So as they went inside changing rooms to try more dresses on, I got to sit outside in a chair and wait for them to show me.

As I sat on a pink chair that looked like it was fluffy but definitely wasn't, I was starting to lose my patience. Was it that hard to find a dress? I only tried on one and I liked it, so that was the dress that I was going to be wearing. But no, they had to try on the entire store...

"Um... Jordan?"

I jumped at the sound of my own name being said, and I whipped around to see who it was. I was afraid that it was Hunter or one of his goons, but I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was Adam, AJ's neighbor who I had known ever since I was little.

"Hey," I greeted, turning back around on the uncomfortable pink chair and welcoming him to join me. "What are you doing in a dress store?"

"Looking for you, actually," he answered, plopping down next to me. If he thought the chair was uncomfortable, he definitely didn't act like it. "I was just wondering something..."

My eyes widened slightly. He wasn't going to ask me to prom, was he? What about Jesse? I wanted him to ask me! Adam was sweet and all, and he was cute, but he wasn't Jesse...

"Yeah?" I gulped, freaking out inside my head. He was nervous, and he wanted to ask me something... So it had to be about prom!

"I was just, um, wondering if AJ's okay after what happened with Scott..."

I blinked, not expecting that to come out of his mouth. I let out a sigh of relief, happy that he wasn't asking me something that I wanted Jesse to ask. And it was about AJ, which was even better. We loved to tease AJ about Adam, since they had known each other since they were babies, but AJ always told us how she only saw Adam as a friend...

That didn't mean that he saw her that way.

"She's okay, I guess," I shrugged, looking toward the dressing room that had AJ inside. I turned back toward Adam and smiled. "She's doing really well, actually. She told me that she was over him..."

"That's good," Adam breathed with a nod. "That's really good..."

I could tell that there was something he wasn't telling me. I let out another breath of impatience, causing him to look over at me now. "You like her, don't you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's kind of obvious that you do, Adam. So don't deny it."

"Yeah," was all he said, looking away from me. "It kind of is."

"Ask her to the prom!" I pressured, pushing on his shoulder lightly. "No one's asked her yet. Actually, no one in my cabin's been asked yet... Except for Yolanda, but she's going with her boyfriend Troy, so I guess he didn't really have to ask her..."

"I can't ask her," Adam informed me, shaking his head. "She sees me as a brother. She always has. We grew up together."

Why were boys coming to me with their problems? First Alex, and now him? Alex was kind of understandable, since he knew that I knew about Hunter and that I was the only one out of my friends that knew. But I honestly wasn't that good at these types of things...

Was Dalton going to come asking me for advice, too? I hoped he'd just save me the trouble and ask Chelsea without hesitating...

"But that doesn't mean feelings change," I told him, crossing my arms and legs at the same time as I continued to stare at him. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that AJ talks about you, but you've known her longer than I have. You know that she isn't the type of person that likes to share her feelings."

Adam only shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"I still think you should ask her," I carried on with a nod. "You should do it before it's too late. Prom's only three days away, you know. Someone could ask her, or she might just go alone and be unhappy the whole night if no one does. Just walk up to her, puff out your chest, and ask!"

Adam let out a sigh, looking over at the dressing rooms. I knew that he didn't want to be seen by any of the other girls that I was there with.

"Who are you going to prom with?" he asked me now.

"No one," I answered with a shrug. "No one's asked me yet."

Adam let out a low chuckle. "That's surprising," he informed me truthfully. "I have to admit, Jordan, when we met when we were little, I thought you were one of the prettiest girls on the planet. Other than AJ, of course... But we were only in the second grade."

I gave him a small smile, flattered at what he had said. I hadn't had many guys call me pretty. "Um, thanks," was all I managed to say.

Adam was actually the reason that I had met AJ when high school started. I had met him in second grade when we were both in the same class, and he knew AJ ever since he was a baby. She went to a different school than us until high school.

"If I tell you something, Jordan, do you promise to never tell AJ? Or anyone?" he asked, finally turning away from the changing rooms and back at me.

"Yeah, I promise," I nodded, unsure of what he was going to say to me. I hoped it wasn't something too personal...

"The reason why I joined the camp was because my dad told me that AJ was going," he admitted, staring down at the ground. "I didn't think I'd be able to go a day without seeing her face, so I asked them if I could go as well. Surprisingly, my parents let me go without a fight."

I blinked, surprised that this was what he wanted to tell me. That was probably the sweetest thing I had ever heard in my entire life. He left his school and went all the way across the country just to be with her! If that wasn't sweet, I don't know what was!

Before I could say anything back to him, one of the changing room doors were opening. Adam's eyes widened a little before he sprung to his feet and pretty much escaped, only waving at me over his shoulder for a goodbye. But I couldn't wave back because AJ had already stepped outside.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, twirling around in the pink gown the touched the floor.

I really wished that Adam was there to tell her what he thought of her dress. But right then wasn't the time he wanted to ask her, I guess, and I had to accept that.

"It's perfect," I told her truthfully, smiling broadly at her. "I love it."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Good job today, kids," Mr. Craven praised us all as we came in from riding. I still couldn't do it, and I continued to just ride around the track slowly with AJ. Jesse had it down, so he went around showing off for all the girls in the class. If we were still enemies I would have called him a jackass for showing off, but now I was just jealous... Even though I didn't want to admit it.

"I wouldn't exactly say we did a good job," AJ grumbled into my ear, causing me to giggle.

"I need two volunteers to help me clean up," Mr. Craven now informed us, clapping his hands together. "Usually Dallas and I put the bikes away, but since I hurt my back over the weekend and Dallas is out sick, I'm going to need two of you to help me."

No one made a sound or stepped forward, so I knew that Mr. Craven was going to have to pick two people out of all of us. There were at least thirty kids, so there was no way that I'd--

"Jesse, Jordan, can you two help clean up?"

Of course. Of course! Of course I'd get chosen out of thirty kids!

And of course it was with Jesse! The only thing better would be if I had to deal with Aimee or Dallas, who still thought he was my boyfriend and there was nothing going on between Jesse and me.

And I guess he was right... There wasn't anything going on between Jesse and me.

There was no denying him since he was a teacher, so Jesse and I only stepped forward toward him as the bell rang and the rest of the students made their escape back toward the cabin.

"Jesse, if you could go pick up the few bikes over there by those haystacks and put them in that shed, that would be great," Mr. Craven told him, pointing over at the bikes that were sprawled on the ground. After Jesse began to walk away, Mr. Craven turned toward me. "And Jordan, you can help me put the helmets away in that shed."

I nodded, following him over to the shed after we both had a handful of helmets in our arms. He kicked the door open and we placed the helmets down on a counter. He slapped the dust off his hands, as did I after we were finally finished.

"Thanks for the help, Jordan," he told me with a smile, patting me on the shoulder. "Honestly, I'm surprised a girl like you actually signed up for this class. Do you have a secret passion for dirt biking or something?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "I didn't sign up for this class... I signed up for guitar."

Mr. Craven's eyebrows now furrowed as he looked down at me. "No you didn't. Your name was on the signup sheet when I was accepting people into the class. You were the last one on the list. You were placed in guitar as the elective you didn't choose."

I blinked up at him. How was that possible? I signed up for guitar; I remembered it like it was yesterday. I didn't sign up for dirt biking!

Before I could say anything else on the matter, Mr. Craven cut me off. "Well, I've got to get home to my wife and our newborn. Help Jesse with the bikes if he isn't finished yet, okay? Thanks, Jordan."

I could only continue to stare at him in confusion. "... You're welcome."

After he left, it took me a few seconds before I finally exited the shed and made my way to where I had seen Jesse last. He was there, lifting the second to last bike and making his way over to the other shed. I decided to follow him and wait to talk to him until he was finished.

Prom was two days away now, and he hadn't even hinted anything about it. I was starting to think that he might not even be going! He didn't say if he had asked anyone, or if he had been asked himself. I was sure Aimee wanted to go with him...

"So, Emery," he started, clapping his hands together very much like Mr. Craven had. "You done with your work?"

"Yeah," I nodded, not knowing what else I was supposed to say to him. I wished I could have just jumped up and down and screamed at him to ask me to the prom, but I knew that that would come off kind of desperate...

Not kind of. Completely desperate.

But that was what I was. I'll admit it, I was desperate for Jesse to ask me to the prom.

"Um, Jordan?" I heard from behind me, causing me to turn around in confusion at the unfamiliar voice. At least I didn't jump this time...

When I was fully turned around, I could see a junior that was also in the dirt biking class with us, his name being Pete. I had never heard his voice before, so I assumed that he was either mute or just didn't like to speak. But with the way that he was standing in front of me, looking very scared, told me that he was just really shy. Like Troy or Yolanda.

"Um... yeah?" I asked, still unsure of how to act in front of this stranger.

"Have you been asked to prom yet?" he inquired, cupping his elbow as he stared down at the ground. Was he mocking me or something? I was just talking to the boy that I wanted to ask me, and now Pete was asking if I had been asked yet... Ridiculous.

"Um, no. I haven't," I answered truthfully, tapping on my hip lightly to stop myself from turning to glance at Jesse. Even though I wasn't looking at him and I couldn't see him, I knew that he was still there, even though he still had one more bike to put away.

"Oh, well... I was j--just wondering i--if you wanted to g--go with me?" he asked, his face turning bright red as he continued to stare at the ground.

I stared at him, completely dumbfounded. What was I supposed to say? He was a junior, and by the looks of it, a really shy and insecure junior. How could I say no to him after he had gotten enough courage to come up and ask me?

"Um... alright," I nodded, feeling my heart sink into my stomach. I tried to smile, and I could only hope that he could tell it wasn't forced. "I'd love to go with you."

Pete looked up from the ground and smiled brightly at me, his cheeks still red from blushing. "Okay, thanks!"

He turned around and walked off toward the cabins, and I really didn't feel like turning around to face Jesse. He was the one I really wanted to go with. Not some junior... This was my only chance at a perfect prom! I hadn't gone to prom as a junior because of what had happened with Dallas, but... I really wanted to go with Jesse now. If only the idiot asked me before Pete did!

"I'll help you," I offered quietly as I slowly turned back toward him. I continued to look at the ground and not at him as I made my way closer to the bike. I reached out to take one of the handlebars until a hand grabbed my wrist, surprising me greatly.

I was quickly being pulled away from the bike and before I knew it, my back was against the piled haystacks that stood next to the bikes, Jesse hovering over me.

This reminded me of the time he had slammed me against the cabin wall, but this time was different. That time he had been angry, and it hurt, but this time he looked determined and the haystacks were too soft to hurt my back like the wood of the cabin.

Before I could say anything or ask him what he was doing, Jesse's lips came down on mine hungrily. I was shocked at first, my eyes growing wide and I didn't even kiss back. But after a few more moments I realized what was going on and shut my eyes as I finally did kiss him back.

My arms wrapped around his shoulders, one of his hands on my neck as the other cupped my cheek tenderly.

The kiss was passionate, hungry, needy, desperate, wanting, and everything else a kiss should be.

When he finally pulled away from me, we still stayed pressed against each other as I stayed up against the haystacks. We were breathing heavily and just staring at each other, neither of us knowing what to say.

"Go to prom with me, Emery," he said breathlessly, and it didn't sound like a question.

I found myself smiling, nodding almost eagerly. "Okay."

I didn't know how I was going to tell Pete that I wasn't going to go to the prom with him, but at that moment I didn't care. All I cared about right then was having way more than just seventeen kisses with Jesse Jacobsen.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the dream that I had back in November 2010 that started all of this, it wasn't Jesse that had caught the girls during their prank in the first chapter. It was Adam.

In fact, Jesse's character didn't even exist. Jordan was going to end up with Adam, but they were friends and didn't hate each other. There wasn't even a camp to begin with; they were just going to stay at their old schools. I can barely even remember what I originally planned out. xD 

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D