A/N: Hello, hello! I'm still going to work on If You Like That, but this was an idea that just wouldn't leave me alone. It's a bit more clichéd than usual but I hope you enjoy! Next chapter will be MUCH longer. Please leave a review if you like it or hate it!

Remember: Reviews are better than honey buns. Which are really good.

The smell of honeysuckle and sweet southern air wafted through, as I took a deep breath. The thin nightgown clung to my skin, no doubt the product of a hot Alabama summer. Where the hell was that boy? I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, the stubborn strands sticking to my back, cursing Nathan Hunter's name with every breath in me.

He had called me here, hadn't he? Insisting that I meet him in our spot? Well, where was he?

The bushes began to rustle; good Lord, I was going to get murdered out here by some deranged psycho wielding a can opener or something, well if I was going to hell than I was gonna drag Nathan down with me

A figure emerged from the dark; I recognized Nathan's lanky build and a thousand curses were at the tip of my tongue, until he came into closer view and I saw the tear tracks running down his face.

"Nathan? Baby, what's wrong?

This wasn't my Nathan, the eternal-joker, the perpetual Peter Pan. This Nathan's eyes were glittering with unshed tears and his body began to shudder, but I could make out some of the garbled words he was saying.

"Not...his…never…was."

"Nate? What're you talking about?"

I reached my hand towards him, but he turned away. He had sounded upset on the phone, but not like this. I waited until he had calmed down, but he then proceeded to kick the crap out of a nearby tree stump.

"Nathan! Stop it! You better tell me what the hell is going on, you're scaring me!" My voice shook a little and that seemed to snap him out of his murderous rage. He sat down next to me, taking deep breathes to calm himself down. We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity to before he finally spoke.

"My mother had an affair."

Good gravy.

I tried not to make any noises, nothing to convey the shock I was feeling. Mrs. Hunter? Having an affair? , who ran the monthly bake sales? Mrs. Hunter who had stood by Nathan's father's side every mayoral campaign? Mrs. Hunter who had been on the church's women's board every year since forever?

He laughed bitterly at my silence. "Yeah, that's how I reacted too."

"Nate, are—are you sure?"

"Yeah. It was before I was born though. My dad and her had been married for a couple months and then she began sneaking around with someguy, soon enough she got pregnant. The other guy bolted and she passed off my daddy as the father, no one was the wiser."

A million thoughts raced through my head, least of all who this other guy was, but I restrained myself for Nathan's sake.

"So your daddy is not your daddy?"

He gave me a tight smile. "Here's the best part, Carolina. My daddy's not James' daddy."

"Oh. How's he taking it? I mean, he is your brother, no matter what."

"There was yelling and screaming, I had to get out of there. You were the only one I could talk to." He turned towards me, his brown eyes filled with sadness.

"I'm your girlfriend Nate; of course you can talk to me."

" 'Lina, I don't have anyone except you. I can't trust anyone except you." His voice sounded so defeated that it pulled at my heart. I ran my hands through his messy blonde hair.

"How did you find out?" I asked quietly, treading the waters.

"James' real father called our house, drunk. He wanted to talk to James; none of us knew who he was. Except my mother, she finally broke down and confessed. Dad went crazy, I'm sure you can hear the yelling from across the street. James is going to military school first thing in the morning tomorrow." He said all of this mechanically. But it was the last part that got me.

"Military school? That seems a bit…much, don't you think?"

"Well, Dad's not gonna divorce my mother, it might look bad to the public. So, since he can't get rid of her, he's gonna try and get rid of James. Says he's sending him 'to get straightened out', but we all know that he can't even look at him after this. It won't look bad, because of James' bad record. It's the perfect plan."

"And James? He's fine with this?" I asked, incredulously

"Does he really have a choice?"

We sat in the meadow for another hour, as the night seemed to pass in abandon. Finally, Nathan got up and brushed his pants off. He offered me a hand, and pulled me up.

"You want me to drop you off and explain to your parents?"

I gave him a small smile. "Well, they don't exactly know that I left. I wanted to feel adventurous."

He laughed and swept me up in a hug.

"I love you." He breathed into my hair.

"I- love you too." I said hesitantly, wrapping my arms around him.

Love, well, why not? I did love Nathan, maybe not in the smoldering, passionate way like in Sadie's trashy romance novels, but I certainly cared about him, wasn't that enough?

He pushed a chunk of hair that had fallen from my ponytail away from my face.

"If something ever happened to you, Lina, I don't know what I'd do."

"Well, nothing's gonna to me, so don't get too excited."

He laughed a sweet, small laugh that reminded me of better times and we walked to my house. I climbed up my trellis to my window and jumped in. As I watched his retreating back, I knew that things were never going to be the same.

The tapping on my window woke me up from my dreamless sleep. Grumbling, I rose to shoo whatever bird had decided to creep on my windowsill away.

As I drew near to it, two green eyes stared back at me, nearly giving me a heart attack. It was James.

I opened my window with one hand, grabbing the first solid thing I could find with my other. James Hunter was bad news.

He jumped in, his body nearly taking up all the room in my tiny bedroom. He started pacing, back and forth, muttering to himself.

"James? Is everything okay?"

This was beyond crazy. He never gave up an opportunity to sneer and make a sarcastic comment to me, why was he here in the middle of the night?

"James? Look, I know what happened and I just wanna say—"

"Shut up."

I scoffed, raising the wire hanger I had grabbed up in the air. "I'm sorry?"

"I said, shut up." He ran a hand through his unruly brown hair and raised his head so he could stare right at me.

"Well, since you came barging inmyroom at 3 a.m., I think I'll be the one doing the questioning around here—" I started, but I never got to finish. Because he came over and kissed me.

Kissed the damn daylights out of me, running his hands down my sides, curling his fingers through my hair. The scent of cigarette smoke and cologne mixing together, filling my lungs deliciously. I heard myself sigh with contentment and came to my senses.

I pushed him away, sending him stumbling to the wall.

"What the hell was that?"

He looked dazed but opened his mouth to answer before I cut him off.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just go around kissing people, for god's sakes! Especially not me. Especially not like that."

He smirked and got up, I followed him as he made his way to the window.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry but would you kindly tell me why you just did that?" I sounded a bit insane, but shit like this didn't happen to me often.

"Nothing to tell, chicken legs." He climbed out and I had half a mind to push him.

"James!" I frantically whispered. He just gave me a half-smile and hopped back on his motorcycle which was parked in the driveway. I followed him with my eyes until he turned down the street and drove out of sight.

I sat down on my bed; the scent of him was still in the air.

Damn it.

I wassogoing to have to go to confession tomorrow.

(4 Years Later)

People were talking.

I could feel the air at William Thornton High School charged with…something. I just couldn't figure out what. No one had made a comment about my new shoes or the fact that Mr. Tracter had been caught behind the bleachers with Heather Mills…again.

"Sadie, did something happen today that I'm not aware of?" I asked, trying to sound as uninterested as possible.

She popped her head above the notebook that was perpetually attached to her hand and shrugged.

"Nothing as far as I know. Did you hear about Mr. Tracter and—"

I sighed. "And Heather Mills. God, what a slut. I'm going to have so much fun destroying her."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, pick a word." She handed me her precious dictionary, which I opened at a random page and pointed. She took it back and narrowed her eyes at her word of the day.

"Churlish. Boorish or rude, difficult to work with. Lovely. Speaking of boorish."

A tray slammed down next to her, a lanky body following.

"Did you hear about Mr.—"

"Tracter and Heather. We know." Sadie and I chorused simultaneously to a grinning Cal Harris, the last to complete our trio, he pushed his glasses up his nose.

I wrinkled my nose as he stuffed two hamburgers into his mouth. Although he was a certified genius, he was still such a teenage boy.

"Are you guys coming to the game tonight?"

Sadie shrugged in response. "I was going to volunteer at the shelter tonight."

"St. Sadie, I forgot. What about you, Cal?" I turned toward him, doing my best innocent face.

"I don't know, I said I would monitor my cell proliferation activity at the lab tonight. You guys should come with me, it gets pretty wild." Me and Sadie exchanged a pointed look. "Or not."

The whispering persisted and I knew something was wrong.

"Well, Professor Harris, do you know what's going on?" I asked, swirling my nonfat yogurt around with my spoon.

"No idea. You know I think it's quite admirable that Tracter and Heather only got caught that one time, I mean it's been two years. And everybody in school was aware of it."

"How can you say that? It was so inappropriate!"

And as that launched their usual lunchtime fight, I tuned them out while Nathan approached the table. I admired him as he walked towards us. His athletic gait, thanks to years of football, and lean muscles were set off by a deep tan. His short black hair curled at the nape of his neck, right where I usually ran my hands through it. We had been together for more than four years, but I was still reminded of that too-skinny boy I used to beat up.

I rose up to kiss him when I caught the whiff of perfume on his neck. My smile froze in place. Who was it this time? I let him kiss me, while I scanned the room.

Was it Sheela Bennet, who had been eyeing him since fifth grade or Mackenzie MacIntyre who always said that Nathan and she were meant to be? My eyes zeroed in on a freshman girl that had just walked in the cafeteria.

Her name was Carly something, I didn't care enough to learn it. Her face was covered in heavy makeup and her hair was straightened to perfection. But her clothes looked as though they had been through a wringer.

"Was it her?" I asked, quietly not wanting to make a scene. Not yet.

"Carolina, let's not do this now." Nathan replied, in a tired voice.

".Her?" I asked again, enunciating each word.

His silence was all the answer I needed. Despite his feeble protests, I made my way to her table. Around it, sat similarly dressed freshmen. They all fell silent as I approached, some of their jaws dropping. Carly's eyes grew wider when I came to stand in front of her. Oh, I was going to enjoy this.

I knew what they were seeing. My long brown hair tumbled down by shoulders and all their eyes followed me as I casually leaned against the table.

"Carly, is it?"

She nodded, a faint blush spreading across her neck. I spotted blueish marks on it, clearly Nathan's handiwork and my fists curled.

"Do you know who I am, Carly?" I said, evenly.

"Of-of course, I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are. You're Carolina Moreland. You've been voted most popular and best looking all four years of high school; you were prom queen last year, you—."

I raised a hand, stopping her rant.

"Good job. Well, do you know who he is?" I pointed across the caf to Nathan who looked away, ashamed. Good.

She went white.

"Well, Carly? Do you know who he is?" I said, sweetly with just the right amount of venom. This wasn't my first time at this particular rodeo.

"He's—he's Nathan Hunter. Star quarterback, captain of the football team, most popular guy in school."

I clapped, mockingly. By this time, the whole cafeteria had gone quiet.

"That's right. Well, if you had enough brain cells to piece that together than I'm sure you know the most important part."

"He's your boyfriend." She said, quietly.

I cupped a hand around my ear. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"He's your boyfriend." She said, louder, tears were forming in her eyes. And that's when I dropped my casual pretense.

"That's right, Carly. He's my boyfriend. Did you think I was going to let some slutty little freshman humiliate me like that? Congratulations, you've effectively destroyed any chance at a social life here. So I guess you won't be needing these." I reached in her shirt and grabbed the cutlets she had stuffed in her bra. I threw them on the floor, near her feet.

"Next time you come in the cafeteria, you will sit there." I pointed to the corner of the caf, at an empty table. "By yourself."

As I walked away I heard a sharp intake of breath. Whirling around, I found her at my feet. She had slipped and fallen on one of her cutlets. No one helped as she struggled to get up, and I nodded at Mariah Perkin whose face had broken into a huge smile as she started chanting "Slut. Slut. Slut."

"Bitch!"

"Whore!"

Soon, the whole cafeteria joined it. Even her so-called friends. Food was thrown at her, causing her to slip further to the ground. Finally, a couple teachers came in and helped her up.

Her skirt was covered in pudding, coleslaw and god knows what. Her makeup had streamed down her face, giving her the appearance of a half crazed witch. She broke away from them and ran out the door.

"What the hell is going on here?" Shouted Mr. Mancini.

I was perched on my chair, calmly eating my salad and everyone else shrugged.

"She slipped." Said someone from the crowd, causing the rest of them to crack up.

"You kids are going to be the death of me." He said, walking out. As the janitors came in to clean the mess up, I turned back to my salad, looking up to see two disappointed faces.

"What?" I said, nonchalantly.

"While I applaud your sense of self preservation, that was a bit cruel, don't you think?" Sadie looked up from her notebook, raising her eyebrows at me. I felt annoyed at her constant do-gooder attitude. Why wasn't I allowed to have a little fun sometimes? I could have easily gotten rid of Carly, but making her cry was much more entertaining, and effective. Now maybe other sluts would think twice before messing with me.

"She had it coming. Don't tell me you suddenly have sympathy for the slut."

She was looking at me earnestly now, as if I would suddenly burst into some apology. I shrugged and looked away.

"Where's Nathan?"

Sadie's bright eyes dimmed comically as she sighed. "He left after…that. "

"Carolina Moreland, please report to Dr. Loftus' office. Carolina Moreland, please report to Dr. Loftus' office, thank you." I winced at the static voice of the PA.

"You're still seeing ?" asked Cal, concerned and speaking for the first time.

"No. I don't know what she wants." I left them, head held high and walked out of the caf, towards Dr. Loftus' office.

"Hi, Elaine. You're looking ravishing today. " I greeted the secretary as I entered the office. She grunted at me as she continued to play Solitaire on her computer.

Dr. Loftus was sitting on her damned chair, looking as calm as ever. She was a petite woman, with copper hair that was tied back in a low bun.

"Hello Carolina."

I sat languidly on the chair, yawning obviously and looking as bored as possible.

"Hi Dana."

She smiled lightly at me. Bitch.

"It's been a while since we've seen each other, hasn't it?"

I forced a little laugh; it sounded more like I was choking.

"Has it? I hadn't really noticed. "

She kept smiling. "Really, Carolina? It's been about six months since I've last seen you."

"Well, maybe you didn't make that much of an impression." She made a little sound of agreement and wrote something down on the notebook in front of her.

I hated that notebook. Last year, when my teachers insisted I see Dr. Loftus for 'adjusting my attitude', that notebook became my worst enemy.

"Is there a reason that you called me away from my lunch? Or are we just playing catch-up?"

"I called you here because I wanted to talk about what happened in the cafeteria today."

I didn't say anything.

"We have it from a very reliable source that you were the one that instigated this whole tirade against Ms. Jones."

I snorted. "Reliable source? Please. Don't use that reverse psychology shit on me, Dana. And who is Ms. Jones?"

"Carly Jones."

Oh. Carly something was Carly Jones.

"You know, Carolina, anger manifest itself in two ways: isolation and lashing out. What way do you think you chose when the events with Ms. Jones occurred?"

I gave her the finger.

"It's not me you're angry at. But let's move away from this topic for a while. How are your classes this year?"

I shrugged again, why give her something to work with?

"Good. How are things with Nathan? It's been what, four years?"

I rolled my eyes. "Cut the patronizing bullshit, Dana. I'd like to get back to class now."

"Mmm, interesting."

"What? What is it?"

She looked up from her notepad, a serene look in her eyes. Damn her.

"As soon as I mentioned Mr. Hunter, you asserted yourself defensively. Is there something going on with Nathan that prompted your outburst today?"

I broke down.

"You're right, Dana, you caught me. I'm just so angry all the time. It started in the fifth grade, his name was Goldie. He was a goldfish. I won him at the county fair and cared for him, he was like my brother. Who lived in a fishbowl. But one day, we forgot to feed my cat, Fluffernutter and I think you can guess what happened next. But let's just say, I could never look at Fluffy again without thinking about poor Goldie. " I let a few tears fall down my face for good measure.

"Carolina, why do you mask yourself like this? You are an incredibly bright girl; I've seen your test scores. It's as if you don't want to let anyone really understand you. I thought I made some progress through the sessions last time."

"What're you talking about, doc? I just told you how emotionally damaged I was." Seriously, some people are just so rude.

"The altercation, today with Carly, it had something to do with Nathan, didn't it?"

Her even voice pissed me off. She acted as if I was some emotionally unstable idiot. Which I wasn't. I mean for god's sakes, I managed to get a whole student body to act on my whims without lifting a finger.

"No." I answered, just as calmly.

"Carolina, you're only hurting yourself. Why did you instigate this?"

I burst into laughter. "Oh you're good. You're really, really good. But, you can't win against me. Maybe, I did start the "altercation" with Carly and perhaps I loved seeing the look on her face when she realized that she was finished here. But, I didn't throw the food at her, therefore no one saw me, so your "witness" is unreliable. I'll be going to class now."

I sauntered out, tossing my hair and enjoying my strut down the hallways.

The rest of the school day passed as easily as ever. No one really talked about what happened in the cafeteria, I felt like they wanted to but since I was in the room they didn't dare.

Besides, we were all prepping for the big game tonight. Our football team, the Thornton Pirates were facing off against their rival school, Gladstone High's Gladiators.

I had spent months choreographing the cheer routine and I couldn't stop imagining myself out there with Nathan when his name was announced.

After we had practiced our routine, I went home to shower and get ready. I usually visited Nathan in the locker room before a game to give him a good luck kiss; I don't see why that has to change even with his behavior.

I ignored the catcalls that sounded when I entered the locker room, only shooting a vibrant smile in the other players' direction.

I covered Nathan's eyes with my hands.

"Guess who?" I whispered, in a bubbly voice. The best way to solve problems between us was usually just to pretend they never happened. You can't fix what never happened, right?

He pushed me away, my smile faltered.

The locker room was silent and I knew the players were assessing our every move.

"Could you guys give us a little privacy? You know how he gets before a game." I laughed a little, causing them to awkwardly join in. I waited until they were all out of earshot.

"What's wrong with you?" I rounded on him, nearly shouting. His brown hair clung to his forehead and he was slowly turning red.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? It was nothing, Carolina."

My heart felt like it was going to burst. He looked disgusted with me, as if I were to blame for overreacting to his cheating. We shouldn't, couldn't end like this. He wasn't always like this, where was the Nathan I had fallen in love with?

"If you think that I'm going to let you humiliate me like that, you don't know me at all."

He threw his hands up in the air. "That's the problem, I don't know you anymore! It's always about you, isn't it? Yourhumiliation, I don't know you."

"Well, I didn't cheat on you, did I? Did she feel good Nathan? Was she worth it? You idiot, did you think I was going to let you break up with me? What, were you going to get together with her? Please, if anything, I'm not weak. "

We heard a whistle in the background, signaling the players to huddle up to a pep talk usually made by Nathan.

"I have to go; we need to talk about this later." He walked out to join the others, leaving me alone to compose myself before I joined my fellow cheerleaders.

"Are you okay?" asked Kayla Hodges, giving me a strange look. I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Yep. I'm perfect. Let's do this."

And we did, we were winning against the Pirates 17-15; about fifteen seconds were left in the game. I couldn't take my eyes off Nathan, the grace of his movements and his confidence on the field stunned me. We made sense together, head cheerleader and football captain. If he couldn't see that, I would show him.

"Here's Nathan Hunter, throwing the game winning touchdown." The announcer sounded as though he was about to faint.

"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!" The crowd was chanting. I spied Cal and Sadie waving at me from the stands and I gave them a little wave.

The ball sailed toward the endzone and a cheer was on the tip of our tongues, when suddenly a motorcycle, from literally nowhere zipped onto the field and crashed into the stands.

The players stopped, watching the people in the stands run chaotically away. My first thought was to move in the opposite direction, but something drew me towards the crash. I could hear my name being called by Sadie from across the field, but I pushed past the crowd that had formed around the motorcycle.

The motorist was taking off his helmet and I raised my hand to get his attention when he turned around abruptly. Staring back at me were forest green eyes that I hadn't seen in four years, eyes that I had dreamed about in the darkest of nights.

"Hey there, chicken legs."

James Hunter was back.

Boom chicka-wah wah.