Towards the end, it mentions the "Khrister twins". They're the other two people who went rafting with our friends Mikkel, Lianna, and Hannah. Enjoy the story!

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"Paddle, paddle, paddle!", Mikkel shouted.

"Are you crazy?!", Logan screamed at him. Mikkel looked at him and nodded.

"Yes, I'm very crazy! Just paddle if you know what's good for you! You too, Mr. Guide!", Mikkel replied. Everyone paddled as hard as they could. Eventually, we were going almost twenty miles an hour and still had another thirty feet until going down the dam.

We kept gaining speed until we practically flew off the drop. The raft started to lean forward into a nosedive.

"Lean backwards!", Mikkel ordered. The raft started tipping backwards.

"Forwards!", he said again firmly. When the raft was evened out as it was flying throught the air, Mikkel jumped into the middle with me. The raft stayed even and we kept getting lower and lower until...

SPLASH!

We made a huge wave we as we hit the water and continued down the river. We had skipped almost a hundred yards of water when we scaled the dam. Cheers could be heard from other rafters when we landed. According to the guide, that had never happened before and that Mikkel was amazing with his quick thinking. The experience was terrifying, yet strangely fun.

The rest of the trip was amazing. I had never went whitewater rafting before and the entire thing itself was so cool! The rapids Diamond Cutter and Hellhole are were my favorites. Hellhole was special for me. Instructed by the guide, when we got to that rapid, I kneeled at the front of the raft and yelled, "I'm Queen of the Ocoee!!!"

That all by itself was absolutely awesome.

"You sure are.", Mikkel said. I smiled and climbed back to my seat.

"We plowed right through the middle of that rapid. Literally, we rode every wave possible and made it through the split.", the guide had congratulated. We all high-fived and cheered at that.

"In the end," I told Hannah, "The waterfall wasn't so bad."

"Are you kidding? That was terrifying!", she replied. I laughed.

"Hey, wanna get a group picture?", Logan asked.

"Yeah!", Hannah said way too enthusiastically. We got out guide to take the picture and we all got in a line with me and Mikkel on the end. The guide gave us a five second countdown.

"Five... Four... Three... Two...", and at the last second I reached up, pulled Mikkel's face down to mine, and kissed him on the lips just before the guide snapped the photo. For a good, solid ten seconds we were kissing in front of my friends and our guide. When I pulled away, Hannah and Logan were staring at us with open mouths and wide eyes. The two boys were equally surprised with Hannah even more.

"What was that for?", Mikkel smiled.

"For saving my life! Why else would I have done that in front of our friends?", I said punching him lightly in the chest. Hannah was the first to close her mouth and she shut Logan's for him by putting her fingers under his chin lifting his bottom jaw up.

The bus trip back was boring and I fell asleep again. Then there was the car ride home which was equally boring. At least we were all dry and in spare changes of clothes.

That's all that really mattered.

* * *

"Whoa...", my dad said after I explained to him what happened the day after. My dad took it pretty calmly.

"Yeah. It was crazy.", I shook my head.

"You've got a quick thinker by your side. I suggest you keep him.", father smiled after a minute of awkward silence.

"Thanks for being supportive of my relationship, dad. You're the best dad ever.", I grinned giving him a hug.

"Not too hard. You'll break my back!", my dad complained cheerfully. I squeezed harder just for good measure and father yelped playfully.

Vvvvvvv. I lifted my phone from the desk and looked at it.

"Welp, there's Hannah texting me again. Love you dad!", I said. He gave a dismissive wave and started his book he had gotten from the library.

Hannah: Call me.

Me: Why?

Hannah: Just do it.

Me: Okay.

I called and she picked up almost instantly.

"Whatcha need?", I asked.

"Umm...It's kinda hard to explain. I'm just gonna say Scarlet is literally going to kill you. Somehow the picture we took at the Ocoee made it to the Internet.", Hannah explained in a shaky voice.

"What?!", I almost screamed.

"I'm so sorry, Lia.", Hannah said.

"Lianna? What's the matter?", I heard my mom call from her room. I put a finger over the mic.

"It's nothing, Mom! Teenager stuff!", I replied from across the house.

"Oh, OK. I'm not getting into that stuff. I don't even know how to work your dad's hand-saw, much less teen problems.", she called back.

"It's OK!", I said,

"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow. That or your funeral.", Hannah said then hung up. This. Is. Bad. Scar will kill me!!!, I panicked. There was absolutely no way I was getting around this one. Scarlet was absolutely obsessed with Mikkel and would stop at nothing to have him by her side. In her rage, she could become a monster.

"Lianna! Dinner!", mother called. I rushed down the stairs to the table. Potroast, fresh veggies, fruit salad, and sweet corn were spread across the table. Our dinner was always great.

Sunday dinner is always the best!

* * *

When Math rolled around the next day, I was concerned about my well-being. Scarlet had left me alone at P.E. mostly because we were around other people. I walked in and Scarlet automatically saw me and gave me a withering glare. Boy, if looks could kill.

Maybe Math wouldn't be so bad if I could just completely avoid Scarlet. It was my best, and only, option. Otherwise I'd be seriously harmed. I noticed that Scarlet wasn't on her phone during that class. Maybe it had been taken away? I didn't know for sure.

As the rest of the day ended, things went from bad to worse. I was walking back to my house and made it about halfway there when I was stopped.

"Well, well, well..." Scarlet mocked, "What do we have here?" I found my path blocked by almost eight girls including Scar.

"We have a thief, Scar. That's what we've got.", one of the other girls said.

"That's right, Vanessa. We have a man thief. She stole something from me, and I plan to get him back.", Scarlet said to Vanessa.

"The only way to get him back is to get rid of her.", another girl said. The other girls started shouting their agreements. I took a step back. They took a step forward. I could maybe take on two, but eight girls? No way. I was in deep trouble. I began running scenarios through my head of how I'd get beaten up. Scratches, bruises, cuts, maybe all three! Just when I began to think I was done for...

"If you want a fight, you got it.", I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and almost started tearing up.

Mikkel, Hannah, Logan, Jacob, and the Khrister twins were standing behind me.

End