"Are you sure you can walk?" Jesse asked me, as if I was five-years-old or something.

"I can walk just fine," I snapped, biting my tongue ever so slightly at the pain I felt on the back of my legs. It wasn't near as bad as when I had tried to stand up in the hospital. "I'm not a baby, you know."

"You sure walk like it."

I smacked him on the side of the head with my bag lightly as I shot him a flat look, but that only caused him to grin at me as he helped me into the passenger seat of his car.

"I can't wait to finally be back," I sighed, tilting my head back as Jesse started the car. "The hospital was so boring. It felt like I'd never be able to leave."

"I thought your brother was going to bite my head off when he came to visit," Jesse informed me truthfully, and I couldn't help but agree with him a little. It was very obvious that Austin didn't like the fact that Jesse and I were going out, even though he didn't say it out loud.

"He was grilling you with questions like there was no tomorrow," I sighed, a smile tugging on my lips only a little. "It was kind of funny."

"Not when he asked me what my intentions with you were," he announced, his grip on the steering wheel tightening slightly. "It was like he expected me to just tell him that I'm with you just to screw you or something. I'm pretty sure that that was what he thought."

"Austin's like that sometimes," I informed him with a shrug as I cupped my right elbow in my left hand. "He's not super overprotective or anything. He wouldn't have been asking you questions like that if you hadn't acted like such a jerk when we were younger."

"What was I supposed to do? We didn't exactly meet in the best way. What was I supposed to say? I was nervous so all I could do was laugh and tease you," Jesse defended, taking a right turn at an intersection. "I'm not exactly the smoothest guy in front of you."

"What were you thinking?" I asked, my arms still crossed over my chest. "You could have said what you were thinking. If you had apologized or something, I wouldn't have been angry and I probably wouldn't have hated you for three and a half years."

"I couldn't say what I was thinking," Jesse mumbled, averting his eyes from me and back to the road.

"What were you thinking?" I repeated, curious now. "Tell me, I want to know. It should be okay now, since we're together and everything."

"I was thinking that even though I hadn't even known you for a few seconds, I already thought you were the most amazing and beautiful girl that I had ever seen in my entire life," he answered me shyly, making sure not to meet my gaze as he continued to look to the road.

"Aw," I couldn't help but smile, which only caused Jesse to blush even more. "That's so cute. I didn't know you were so sweet, Jesse."

"Okay, no mushy crap please," Alex begged suddenly from the back seat, causing me to jump in surprise. I forgot that he was there for a second. "You two just got out of the biggest fight you've ever had. And now you're back to being all gross."

"You're just jealous," I teased, looking back at him over my shoulder and sticking my tongue out at him. "You and Lexi don't have the same kind of relationship as Jesse and I do."

Alex stared at me flatly now. "That's a good thing. If we had the same relationship, not only would that be creepy, but it would also mean that she'd know about the gang."

I clamped my mouth shut, knowing he was right. If Lexi had the same relationship with Alex as I did with Jesse, that meant that she would know about Hunter, and I didn't want her to ever have to know about him. I didn't want any of my friends to ever know about him.

"How did you guys even make up, anyway?" Alex asked, and Jesse's grip on the steering wheel tightened so hard that his knuckles were white. Even though he knew the reason I had kissed Hunter, I knew he didn't want to be reminded of it. I would have reached out to grab his hand, but I didn't know if that was the safest thing considering he was driving. "I mean, Jesse looked like he was literally going to kill Hunter right there in the hospital."

"Hunter did what he does best," I sighed, turning my head to look out the window.

"Kill?" Alex guessed, and the word made me want to puke. That definitely was something that Hunter was good at.

"He's good at that, but I was talking about threatening," I informed him, still not looking away from the window. "He threatened my brother's life and tricked me into kissing him. Now that you know, just shut up about it and never talk about it again. It was a mistake."

Alex whistled. "Someone's pissed."

"Yeah, I am," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest tightly.

"I wasn't talking about you."

I looked over to see Jesse was still gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were still white. Not even caring if we crashed or not anymore, I reached over and clutched onto one of his hands. This caused him to loosen his hold and drop our hands to his lap.

"Hey, hey, hey," Alex called out, causing me to roll my eyes at him. "You may not care about our safety, but I do. I don't want to die. Both hands on the wheel, mister."

Jesse rolled his eyes at our blonde friend, unhappily removing his hand from my grip so that both of them were now on the steering wheel. I kept my hand on his lap and waited to see what he did. When he didn't push it away, I knew it was alright for it to be there.

"Don't you go putting your hand down his pants either."

I turned around to glare at Alex, who was now grinning at me. That didn't surprise me, but I couldn't help but glare at him. But that only made him grin even more, which was usual for Alex.

When we finally got back to the camp, we just sat in the car for a few moments in silence. I knew that my friends were probably going to ambush me with hugs and such, but I didn't know if my body was going to be strong enough for all of that.

"Alex," I began, trying to think of a way to get the girls not to attack me when I finally came back to the camp, "could you go in first and tell the girls not to really touch me or anything? I mean, I'm still really sore and everything and I know they want to hug me. And I need to talk to Jesse, so..."

"Say no more," Alex sighed, sliding out from the middle back seat and out of the car, leaving a confused Jesse sitting next to me. I knew he had no idea what I wanted to talk to him about, but that was kind of a good thing. He was always so cute when he was confused.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, stretching out his hands against his lap. Yeah, it must hurt to clutch onto the steering wheel so hard you lose the color in your fingers... "Is there something wrong?"

"I just want to know..." I started off softly, trying to think of a way to ask him without pissing him off or upsetting him. "Are you still angry about that thing with Hunter? When Alex brought it up, you still seemed really angry. I mean, that's understandable and everything, but... you shouldn't be angry about something like this."

"I shouldn't be angry?" Jesse repeated, his eyebrows furrowing as he turned to look at me. "You don't think I should be angry with the fact that my enemy just made out with my girlfriend who he had just seriously wounded and put in the hospital?"

"I understand that part," I assured, holding up my hands to calm him down a little. I knew something like this would have happened if I brought it up, but I had to open my big fat mouth anyway. "I just don't want you to be angry, because it didn't mean anything to me. It was just Hunter being an asshole and--"

"Taking advantage of you," Jesse finished for me, his hands balled into fists in his lap now. "That's the part that pisses me off the most. He tricked you into kissing him while you were in the hospital. I hate how that bastard thinks that he controls you or something."

"He doesn't control me," I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but agree with him. Hunter did act like he owned me or something, like I was a piece of property. He'd come and go as he please and do whatever he wanted whenever I saw him.

And I hated it.

"When I saw him kissing you, Jordan, I almost flipped out," Jesse breathed, gripping onto the steering wheel now. "It was the same way I almost flipped out when I saw you all beaten and bruised with your clothes ripped to shreds. It was the same way I freaked out when my dad died--"

"Your dad died?"

Jesse frowned even more, but nodded at me anyway. "Yeah. He died when I was eight."

"I'm so sorry," I apologized, even though I had nothing to apologize for. But for the four years that I had known him, I thought Jesse's dad was alive and well. I thought that Jesse was like any other normal teenage guy, but I guess I was wrong about a lot of things. "If you don't mind me asking... How did he die?"

"Car accident," Jesse answered with a nod, looking out the window quickly before looking back at me. "I was only eight, but I flipped out when I learned her died. My dad was the person I was closest to back then. He was like my best friend."

"I'm sorry."

"I've never been close to another person like I was with him," Jesse started, and even though I knew that I shouldn't have, I was a little jealous. I shouldn't have been, because his relationship with me was different than what he had had with his father, but I wanted to be the closest person to him. Even though I had Lexi, Chelsea, and AJ, Jesse was the person I was closest to.

I glanced away from him for a moment, trying to hide that I was jealous. "Oh, well that's goo--"

"Until I met you."

I blinked, not expecting him to say something like this. It shouldn't have bothered me in the first place, and it was a pretty selfish thing to think about. Jesse's dad sounded like a great man, and I hated that I'd never be able to meet him.

"Don't you have a best friend?" I asked, laughing nervously from embarrassment as I looked down at the car floor. "I mean, you can't be a total loser."

"I kind of consider you my best friend," Jesse admitted so quietly that I barely even heard him, and this only caused my eyes to widen even more. He considered me he best friend? What about those idiots he would always prank me with? "But if I had to pick a guy or something, I guess I'd pick Alex."

"What about those idiots you'd prank my friends and me with?" I asked, my nose wrinkling at the memory of those idiots. "I thought they were your best friends."

Jesse shrugged, looking like he couldn't care less about those three stooges. "I told you before, didn't I? I stopped hanging out with them after we came here. I realized that they were way too immature."

"You're not exactly the most mature person on the planet, you know."

"But I'm definitely more mature than those idiots."

"I like the idea of being your best friend," I smiled, reaching over and grabbing onto his hand. "It'd be sweet to be a couple and best friends."

Jesse shrugged. "But you have Lexi, Chelsea, and AJ. Heck, even Alex asks like he's your best friend all the time."

"I can have five best friends," I assured him, stroking the back of his hand lightly. "But you'll be my favorite, in a way. I can't kiss any of my other best friends."

"You could kiss Alex."

I made a face. "Gross."

"I really wish my dad was alive now," Jesse sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know that he would have loved you. You'd be like a daughter to him right away. You'd probably remind him of my mom."

"Do I remind you of your mom?" I asked, my eyes widening in terror just a little bit. Did he think of me like his mother or something, and was that why he was interested in me or something. I sure hoped not...

Jesse let out a laugh. "No way. Sure, you're both stubborn and make sarcastic remarks, but there really isn't anything else that's similar about you. Believe me, Jordan, I wouldn't be dating a girl that reminded me of my mother. That'd just be creepy."

I smiled at him, reaching over and stroking his cheek. Though I couldn't meet his father, I couldn't wait to meet his mother and the rest of his family. His mother seemed like the type of person that I could have gotten along with, which I liked.

Unbuckling myself from my seatbelt, I leaned forward to kiss Jesse. I quickly crawled from my seat and into his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer as our lips stayed connected.

"Someone seems to be recovering," Jesse smirked, but I only rolled my eyes at him before crashing my lips to his again. It felt so long since I had really kissed him, and I wanted the taste of Hunter out of my mouth. And I knew that Jesse was the only person that could get rid of it.

"You betcha."

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

"How about we go bowling?" Lexi suggested, plopping down next to me on my bed. "We can invite the boys from Cabin B along!"

"I highly doubt that I'll be able to pick up an eight pound ball in my condition," I informed her flatly, not even looking at her. "And you know I've never been good at bowling anyway."

"So?" Lexi asked, bouncing on my bed a little bit in excitement. "You were kidnapped, Jordan! You've been in the hospital for a week!"

"And that's why I shouldn't be going anyway," I continued with a wave of my hand, still lying face down on my bed. "Just because I'm out of the hospital doesn't mean I'm all better. I'm still sore and tired. I just want to lay around and be lazy until everything's back to normal again."

"But that could take months, Jordan! We only have a month of school left! And then you have to go off to Connecticut so early in the summer for Yale!"

I froze, not expecting her to say this. I had totally forgotten about everything. I forgot about how school was ending soon and how we'd be graduating. I wouldn't see a lot of these people ever again... And the thought made me sad. I didn't know how long I'd stay connected to my best friends, or even Alex. I didn't want to lose my relationships with them...

But then there was Jesse. He hadn't spoken about college once, and I wondered if he was even planning on going at all. It wasn't like he was stupid or anything, but I couldn't remember a time that I never saw his grades. What if he really did suck at school?

"Fine, I'll go," I gave in, sitting up from my bed after thinking about how little time I had with my friends. "But if I have to go back to the hospital, you're going to be my roommate."

Lexi blinked, obviously not understanding what I was implying. "You want me to stay there with you?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "I was actually implying that I was going to hurt you, but I think your way sounds a lot less harmful."

She grinned at me, helping me off my bed before running into the bathroom to get ready. I let out a sigh, walking over to the mirror and playing with my hair a little until it finally looked decent. I still had bruises going up and down my arms and legs, not to mention faded ones that peppered my face here and there, but I guessed I still looked okay. It wasn't like I was hideous or anything.

Fifteen minutes later, all the girls from Cabin C and all the boys from Cabin B were walking over to the bowling alley that was pretty much right next door to the camp. I was glad that we didn't have to drive, because then I'd have to go in a car without Jesse, which I didn't want. I loved driving with him.

 "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," I excused after ten minutes of playing, standing up from my seat as Lexi went up. "I'll be back soon."

None of them but Jesse seemed to even acknowledge that I was getting up, but this only caused me to roll my eyes at them. Bowling wasn't even that fun; I couldn't believe it actually sucked all of their attention up.

Before I could get inside the girls bathroom, I felt someone grab onto my arms. At first I thought it was Jesse just messing with me, but when I turned around my eyes widened.

"You always look so happy to see me."

"Will you stop stalking me?"

Hunter grinned, letting go of my arm and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "No can do, Jordy. I just love you too much."

When I made a face, Hunter just grinned at me even more. Why did he have to show up everywhere I went? Obviously he was stalking me, and I shouldn't have been surprised with the fact that he was. He was just too creepy for words.

"Get lost."

"I don't think so."

"I'm here with Jesse," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring up at him. "And the last time all three of us were together you tricked me into kissing you and he almost killed you. Do you want to be killed this time?"

Hunter scoffed. "Like Jesse Jacobsen could ever kill me."

My eyebrows furrowed. "You wanna bet?"

"Why is Jesse so much better than me?" Hunter demanded, his eyebrows furrowing as well as he stepped closer to me. I took a step back, almost running into the wall behind me. "Why did both you and Erica choose him?"

He had asked me this before, but he was a lot more angrier than. But the last time he had asked me, he had beaten me to a pulp and almost killed me. I didn't want a repeat of that, so I made sure to keep my throat open enough to scream loudly if I was going to have to.

"Jesse isn't obsessed with me," I answered, making sure to keep my stare hard as I continued to glare at him. "And he hasn't killed anyone before."

"Did he tell you that?" Hunter asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What?" I blinked, not knowing what he was referring to.

"Did you tell you he's never killed someone before?"

"Yeah, he did."

"Then he's a liar."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped, placing my hands on my hips as I glared up at him. "You're the liar here, not Jesse."

"Who are you going to believe?" Hunter inquired, his eyebrows furrowing even more as he stared down at me intently. "Me or him?"

"Of course I'm going to believe Jesse," I glared, my hands still placed firmly on my hips. "Why wouldn't I believe him? He's my boyfriend and he'd never lie to me. You're a crazy psycho that really doesn't care about anyone but yourself, so I'm sure you've lied countless times."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Think about it," he advised, looking as bored as I felt. "There's Jesse, who's willing to do anything to protect you, even if that means lying to you. That's why he never told you about me or the gang, right? But then there's me, who really doesn't care how you feel. Why would I lie to you when I don't care about how you'd react?"

I blinked at him. I hated to admit it, but he had a point. Jesse had lied to me a lot to protect me before. He had said that he hadn't killed anyone before, but what if he was just lying about that? What if he really had killed before but he didn't want me to know because he thought I'd hate him even more or something?

"I don't believe you," I responded stubbornly, crossing my arms over my chest and biting the inside of my lip to stop my lip from shaking. But unfortunately, I did believe him. I didn't want to, but I believed every word that Hunter was feeding me right then.

Hunter rolled his eyes once again. "What a good girlfriend you are. You'll always believe everything your boyfriend says, right? That's so sweet of you. But you'll believe it when I tell you that the only way to get into my gang is to kill someone. It's the gang initiation."

No. No way, this couldn't be happening. There was no way Jesse had killed someone before! Oh, my God... That meant Alex had killed before, too! It wasn't like he told me that he hadn't before, but I just always assumed that he never did because he was such a sweet and funny guy... But he used to be in a gang.

When I took a step away from him and stumbled into the wall, he smiled triumphantly. "Believe me now, don't you?"

I quickly turned away from him, dashing away from the bathrooms and back to the lanes where my friends would be. But that also meant that Alex and Jesse would be there, and I didn't want to be anywhere near them at all. Not for a while, at least.

"Whoa, you took forever!" Alex laughed, standing up from bending over to pick up his ball. "Do you have a problem that we need to know about?"

I looked away from him, scanning my group of friends for Jesse. When I didn't see him, AJ rolled her eyes and answered me as if she read my mind, "Alex was able to talk Jesse into getting us snacks."

"It was more like he wouldn't shut up until Jesse finally got up and left," Chelsea corrected, a huge grin on her face as she held Dalton's hand. "It was pretty amusing, actually. I'm just glad we finally got rid of Jesse, even though he'll be back. Right, Jordan?"

Looking away from her, I didn't answer as I stared at Alex for a few seconds. Lovable, goofy Alex had killed before? Yeah, he was in a gang, but I never thought he actually killed anyone before... The thought made a chill shoot up my spine.

"I have to go," I told them quickly, not even answering Chelsea's question as I grabbed my bag and turned toward the exit. I was glad that the bowling alley was close enough so I could walk back, even though the back of my legs hurt just a little as I did so.

"Wait, Jordan!" Lexi cried, but I didn't do as I was told. I made a beeline toward the door, trying to walk as quickly as my still bruised legs would let me go. There was no way I was going to stop until I was in my bed in Cabin C, where I was safe from any boys.

"I just have to get out of here and then--oof!" I began, but was quickly cut off when I rammed into someone's chest. Almost falling over, they luckily grabbed onto my arms to steady me from falling. "I'm so sorr--"

My eyes widened when I saw who was staring down at me. It was Jesse, smirking as usual, and I could tell he was trying to keep the whole enemy act up.

"Whoa, Emery," he grinned, letting go of my arms once he saw that I wasn't going to topple over. "Going somewhere important?"

Avoiding his gaze, I quickly stepped around him and started toward the door again. Obviously confused, he spun on his heel and grabbed onto my arm. "Jordan?"

I was surprised that none of my friends had come after me, but then again I was sure that they thought I had already left. We were a far way away from them, since we were by the food court which was by the exit, so I knew they couldn't see us.

"Let go of me," I whispered, staring down at the ground as I tried to pull my arm away from him. "Let go of me now."

Jesse blinked at me, his eyes going wide. "Jordan? What's wrong?"

"You're a liar," I snapped, looking away from him so he wouldn't see the tears in my eyes. "You're no better than him."

Jesse's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "No better than who?"

I ripped my arm from his grasp, glaring at him now. "Hunter," I snapped, quickly spinning away from him and marching right out of the bowling alley before he could stop me once again.

I would have understood if he told me that he had killed before. In some twisted way, I would have accepted it. But I hated the fact that he had lied to me about something so serious like killing. I really thought Jesse was better than that. I thought he was better than Hunter.

When I got back to the cabin, I jumped onto my bed and stuffed my face into my pillow. Biting my lip to stop myself from crying, I just took deep breaths to calm myself. I couldn't overreact about something like this. I had to calm myself down...

"You didn't really think you'd be able to hide from me, did you?"

The voice caused me to jump so high that I almost fell off my bed. Why didn't I lock the door behind me when I came inside? Because I was an idiot. Or I really did want him to come inside and talk to me.

"Get out."

"Not going to happen."

"Get out right now or I'll scream."

Jesse rolled his eyes, ignoring what I had said as he walked closer and sat down on the edge of my bed. I hugged my knees to my chest and buried my face in them, not knowing what else I was supposed to do. Why would he lie to me about something like murder?

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong and why you left the bowling alley like it was on fire, or are you just going to let me stare at your underwear that I can see from under your skirt?" Jesse asked, and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

I quickly moved my legs so that they were covering my underwear, and now I was glaring at him. How could he just crack jokes when I was obviously bad at him? Sure, he was trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working. I was angry, and I wanted him to be serious.

"You're a liar and a pervert," I snapped.

"Now what's this about me being a liar?" Jesse inquired, moving closer to me when he saw I was trying to inch away. He placed a hand on my knee, and I didn't push it away. "You can't expect me to know what you're talking about when I haven't lied to you before. You can't just call me a liar and just run away."

"Yes I can."

"Jordan."

"I know you lied about killing people before," I spat, slapping his hand away from me. "I know that you had to kill someone for some stupid gang initiation, and you've probably lied about me stopping you from killing a bunch of other people as well."

Jesse breathed in sharply. "How do you know about the gang initiation?"

My eyebrows furrowed at him. "Hunter was at the bowling alley."

Now Jesse's eyebrows furrowed, and anger flamed in his green eyes. I knew that he was angrier with the fact that I was near Hunter than the fact that I was angry with him about lying to me.

"What did he say?" he asked, and I could tell he was trying his best not to lose his cool. "Because it's probably all just lies."

"That's what I thought," I started snappily, swallowing as my grip on my bed sheets tightened a little. "I thought that he was lying because he was Hunter. But then he said something that sure made a lot of sense. He doesn't care about hurting my feelings, so why would he lie to me? You just want to protect me, don't you? You lied to me about the gang and Hunter, so who knows what else you've been lying about?"

"Listen to me," Jesse sighed softly, moving forward and cupping my cheeks. "Listen to me, Jordan, and really listen to me."

I only nodded. "Fine."

"I've never killed anyone before," he informed me truthfully, running one of his hands through my hair. "Believe me. Please."

"How am I supposed to believe you when the only way you could have gotten into the gang was if you killed someone?" I demanded, my eyes narrowing at him.

Jesse removed his hands from my head and ran a hand through his own hair now as he let out a sigh. "I faked it," he admitted, staring down at my bed sheets as he continued. "I faked the entire thing. Some other guy killed this girl and I was there to witness it. I paid him to tell Hunter that I killed her, because I couldn't do it myself. This was all in the summer before freshman year, Jordan. I was young and stupid and trying to find something to take up time. This was before I even met you."

"What about Alex?" I asked. "He had to kill someone, right?"

Was my best friend going out with a murderer? Even though he was no threat to her or anyone else, just thinking about it made my stomach turn.

Jesse shrugged. "I honestly have no clue about Alex. If killing someone was the only way to get into the gang, I guess that that was what he did."

"Wrong," a new voice said from the doorway, causing my head to snap in that direction to see Alex grinned as he leaned against the doorframe. "I never killed anyone. I faked it, just like Jesse did. I guess we're both cowards."

"And you just tricked Hunter?" I blinked, not really believing it. Hunter did not seem like the kind of guy that could be tricked, which wasn't a good thing for us. "You both just got away with it?"

"Well, he wasn't there," Alex pointed out, pushing himself from the doorframe and making his way over to Jesse and me. "It wasn't very hard to trick him when someone else that was there said that you did it."

"Did a lot of people trick him like that?"

Alex only shrugged. "No clue, honestly."

"Well, I'm glad that you've never killed anyone before," I mumbled, leaning over and resting my head on Jesse's shoulder. "I'm sorry I got so mad at you without hearing you out. I just got scared that you were lying to me about other serious things like this."

Jesse wrapped his arms around my shoulders tightly, as if he never wanted to let me go. He seemed to be doing this a lot ever since I had woken up in the hospital. He would always hold me like it would be the last time he ever would. And I couldn't help but notice that he was acting differently, even though no one else noticed one bit.

There was something bothering Jesse Jacobsen, and I was going to find out soon enough.        

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Woo, the next chapter... Make sure to stay tuned. Believe me, you won't want to miss it. ;D It's one of the chapters that I've been waiting to write since the beginning, and I think some of you might cry. ;) Heck, I might cry!

This chapter seems all mixed up to me... Dx

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D