"Aren't you glad we didn't quite when you wanted to?" Nellie teased from behind the lense of her fancy new camera. The high quality captured the unbelievable view flawlessly, the lush carpet of trees below them looking so life-like on the screen. It was almost as if you could see the water trickling through the pictures. She stared in amazement at how clear everything was.

Leaning forward with his hands on his knees, Blake was still catching his breath as he took in the view - not of the trees, but of the girl standing in front of him. With her hair messily held back by a bandana and an old t-shirt that was splattered in paint covering her upper half, he couldn't deny how gorgeous she looked as the sun hit her face at just the right angle. She was glowing, almost like an angel. "Yeah, beautiful," he breathed as he stood up straight.

"Smile!" Nellie shrieked, not giving her friend any time to prepare as the flash went off in his eyes.

"Aw, I wasn't ready!" he groaned, a childish pout taking over his features. Shading his eyes with one hand, he blindly reached for her camera with the other.

"What's the magic word?" she taunted, hiding the camera behind her back.

Blake pretended to think long and hard about it before reaching out and tickling her stomach and snatching the camera out of her hands at the same time. "Aha!" he cheered, immediately snapping several pictures of the pouting girl in front of him. None of them did her justice, he thought.

"Stop!" she covered her face in protest, trying to get her (stolen) camera back. She hated getting pictures taken. She wasn't photogenic at all and always ended up looking like a 12 year old boy with feminine features. Blame it on genetics. "Be careful with that," she warned as he nearly dropped the valuable equipment off the edge of the big hill while celebrating with a happy dance.

"Alright, alright," Blake surrendered, placing the camera strap around Nellie's neck. Together, they took a seat on a huge rock that overlooked the peaceful scenery beneath them. "It's quiet up here. How did you find this place?"

A sigh escaped Nellie's bitten lips as she ran a hand through her long, messy hair. "Jess and I hiked up here. I was pretty small, I think it was the year before she died. She told me that she needed to get out of the house and led me up here. Pretty sure she found it with her ex-boyfriend, but I can't remember if that's something she told me or if I just made that up," she scratched at the dirt beneath her with a stick she'd picked up. "I haven't been up here since - no one would hike up here with me. I know it's a long way and there are some pretty steep parts, but I think it's worth it," she admitted softly.

Nellie rarely offered insight to her past, so Blake didn't take this information for granted. In fact, his heart skipped at the thought that he might be the only person to know about this. That he was the only person she'd cared enough to introduce to her special place.

"Do you miss her?" he asked quietly. What a stupid question, he thought. Of course she does.

Her face froze, and, just for a second, Blake was sure that she was going to burst into tears. Thankfully, she held her composure. He had no clue what he would do if Nellie started crying, as he was bad at comforting people and always seemed to say the wrong things. He felt rude and intrusive and stupid for asking. She shrugged in response as he put a strong arm around her shoulders, his fingers tracing patterns along the fabric of her t-shirt on her upper arm.

"I mean, yeah. I always will. But missing someone doesn't help. She's dead - it won't bring her back to life, so why dwell on it, you know?"

It didn't sound like something Nellie would say. When Shanna's uncle had died, Nellie sat with the girl for hours and just held her and whispered hushed conversations with her. They talked about how it wasn't a bad thing to be angry and how much Shanna missed him and happy memories, regrets, everything. Nellie sat with her until Shanna was wiped out and fell asleep on her shoulder, drool threatening to drip all over Nellie, but she didn't care. She just wanted her best friend to feel better.

She could always give great advice to others, but she never followed it herself.

Blake wasn't sure what to say, so he squeezed her a little closer to him, hoping that she would understand that he wasn't trying to be insensitive. "Only two more weeks of sophomore year before we've got the whole summer ahead of us," he sighed, glad that he'd be able to spend a lot less time doing homework and a lot more time with all of his friends - especially Nellie. Her body stiffened at his side. "Nell?" he asked, giving her a confused look.

"About that…" she trailed off, avoiding his eyes as she traced a pattern on the ground with the stick she still held onto. She looked up to meet his questioning eyes and felt guilty. She really did want to spend the summer with their group of friends, more than anything, really. "I'm going to New York for the summer."

"The whole summer?" he frowned. She couldn't help but feel responsible for the disappointed look in his eyes. She nodded as he removed his arm from her shoulders, feeling a bit colder and emptier. "Shit," he mumbled. "When do you leave?"

"Right after the first week of summer. One of my cousins is getting married, so I'm going up there for that, but my other cousin, Katie, has an apartment up there. We used to be really close, but I haven't seen her in ages, so she wants me to stay with her. It'll be fun, I guess, I'll just miss you guys a lot," she sighed.

"Do any of the other know yet?" he asked. Secretly, he hoped that he was the first one she'd told, just so he could have the bragging rights in his own mind.

Tugging at the hem of her shirt, she replied, "Just Shanna. I think she was excited for me though, she gave me a list of stores I have to go to and what to bring her back." Blake chuckled at the image, shaking his head because only Shanna would tell her friends what to bring her back from vacations.

"I'll miss you lots, Nell. We'll be text-bombing you all summer with pictures of us having fun without you though," he teased, ruffling her hair with his rough hands. It was almost down to her mid-back, and Blake loved how it curled at the ends all on its own.

"Oh please. You'll be moping around without me here to get things going!" she teased, standing up and grabbing his hand to pull him to a standing position. "Now let's get back, it'll be a pain trying to get down from here if it gets too dark," she pointed out, not noticing that she was still holding his hand, while it never left Blake's mind. When she let go to grab onto a small tree to help her down, he frowned. He never wanted her to let go.