I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head. She’s right. What am I doing?

“What the hell is going on in here?” George shouts as he pushes through the door. I didn’t see Janice leave, but she must have gone to get him, because she is now cowering behind him.

“Todd? Casey?” George looks back and forth between the two of us. “What is going on?”

Casey drops his hand from his chin, and his eyes connect with mine, a quick, nonverbal understanding passes between us.

“Nothing,” he says to George, sounding surprisingly convincing. “We were just talking, catching up.”

George’s tense shoulders drop when he sees everything is under control, but then he glares at both of us. “Well, let’s not ‘catch up’ in the break house anymore. Understood?”

“Yup, we got it,” I say, feeling my stress fall away.

“Okay, let’s go. I’ve got to lock up,” George says to the entire group. He gives a quick smile to Janice, who gives him a shrug.

Once George clears out, Ash shouts, “Seriously?” to all of us then turns to Janice. “You had to get George?”

“Well, someone had to. They were going to kill each other,” she responds with a nervous laugh.

“Who, us?” I say with sweet sarcasm. “No, Casey and I go way back. Right, Casey?” I give him a smile.

“Yeah. Way back.” He runs his hand back over his chin, his smirk planted back on his face.

I lock my fingers with Ash’s. “Remember what I said.” I give him one last glare mixed with warning before we turn to leave.

“Bye, guys,” Ash says to both of them.

I turn back. “It was nice meeting you, Janice.” I give her a bright smile and try not to laugh at the stunned look on her face.

Once we are in the parking lot, truly alone, I whisper to Ash, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get that carried away.” Then I make sure to have my lips brush her earlobe as I pull away because I know it drives her crazy.

“I can’t believe you hit him.” She gives me a smile that sums up everything I love about her.

“Yeah, I guess we’ve got a lot in common.” I grab her other hand as I lean her against my car.

“Yeah, we’ve had a lot of ‘misunderstandings’ lately.” She steps up on her tiptoes to kiss me with a smile.

I could stand here forever with her, but I know they are right behind us.

“Let’s go before they come out.” I walk around to open her car door. “Oh, and hey, I would be careful with that girl Janice. Getting George? Not cool.”

She gives me a smile. “She was just nervous. She’s not used to you two like I am.” I feel her fingers tighten around mine. “Thanks for picking me up.”

She has a way of making me forget everything.

“Anytime.” I smile deeply.

Chapter 5: The Rescue

ASHLEY

The boys won their first two football games. I say won, but tonight, they killed the other team. Johnny got to play in the fourth quarter because we were up by so much. The team looks even better than last year, if that is possible.

Next week is homecoming, and I can’t believe how much has changed since last year’s homecoming dance. Of course, I must have done something horrible to the Karma gods since, this year we play Casey’s school for our homecoming game.

Thankfully, there have been no Todd/Casey fights in the afternoons since the first day, and hopefully it stays that way. They have both been keeping their distance, while I have been making sure I’m ready to go as soon as practice is over, waiting for Todd in the parking lot so there is no reason for him to come in.

I hear my phone buzzing on my dresser and walk over to check it as I slip on my pajama bottoms, seeing there’s a text from Todd.

Come to the window.

A smile instantly forms on my lips as I pull my curtains back. There’s Todd, two stories down, standing under my window, still wearing his jersey from the game tonight.

I open my window and yell down, “What are you doing?”

He starts to laugh. “Shh.” He holds up his phone and gestures to type on it.

You are not very good at this.

Ha. Ha. Funny, I type back. What are you doing?

I’m rescuing you.

I give him a smile out of the window as I type back, From what?

He smiles up at me once he hits send. From a boring life.

I automatically start to shout back down, but he holds up his phone then points to it with a crooked smile that melts my heart. I would go anywhere with him, do anything.

How? I type back.

Climb down … ledge to tree.

I stare down at him like he has lost his mind. There is no way.

I’m scared of heights, remember????

I see him start to laugh as he reads my text. Then he types something back and looks up with a smile.

You can do it. One step at a time.

I close my eyes and look at the big tree branch that is inches away from my window. As a kid, it always scared me. I knew it was going to break through my window, wrap itself around me, and take me in the middle of the night. Thinking back now, I realize that sounds ridiculous. However, when you are eight, and it’s pitch black in your room, it seems totally possible.

My phone buzzes in my hand, but instead of reading his text I look down at where Todd is standing. He has such a hopeful smile. I just wish he wasn’t so far down. I glance back at my phone to read his latest text.

I love you.

Everything melts away: my fear of heights, my worries about my parents being down the hall, the fact that I’m breaking every one of their rules. I have a boyfriend who loves me, and I love him more than anything.

Screw it. Who cares if I fall to my death? At least he will be there to catch me, hopefully.

Ok, I type back and then throw on my sneakers because I’m all for spontaneity, but there is no way I am climbing out of my window wearing flip-flops.

I quickly shut my lights off and prop my pillow under my comforter. I seriously doubt this will fool my parents, but I have seen it in movies, so it’s worth a shot. I already said goodnight to them; therefore, they shouldn’t come in. Regardless, taking extra precautions never hurt anyone.

Seeing the smile on Todd’s face when I reappear at the window is priceless and worth falling two stories for, as long as it results in a broken bone and not anything more serious. Todd is totally worth a broken leg, but permanent brain damage, maybe not.

STOP!Just concentrate on the branch. I have seriously gone insane.

Todd’s words bounce through my head, One step at a time. I make it to the branch, which is much easier than I imagined.

“You’ve got it, Ash,” he shout-whispers up to me.

“Now what?” I whisper back to him.

He gestures to the giant base of the tree. “Climb down the trunk.”

Luckily, there are branches all the way down that lead me to the ground. It’s as if some divine force created steps just for me, like it was specifically designed to sneak out of my room. Thank you, scary tree.

“You did it.” Todd wraps his arms around me and lifts me off the ground.

“I know,” I say with a smile I can’t hide as I look up at the tree and relish in what I just accomplished. “Wait, how am I going to get back in?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” I always feel so safe with him. I know he won’t let anything happen to me.

“Thank you for rescuing me.” I press my lips against his with enough force to let him know just how thankful I am. “So where are we going?”

“You’ll see. Cute PJs, by the way.”

I look down to see I’m wearing my Peas on Earth PJ bottoms with peas dancing on top of globes. In the excitement, I totally forgot to change. Damn. I feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment.