Hey everyone! First of all, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! It really made me happy! I hope you enjoy this next chapter, although I feel like some of you will be disappointed by it :/ Please review and tell me your thoughts, feelings, and what you want to happen between the two. Thank you and enjoy!

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The first thing that came to Mara's mind when Jerome's lips touched her own, was that they were soft. Why she found that surprising, she did not know. Maybe it was the fact that never actually sat down and thought about how Jerome's lips felt let alone kissing him, but all that was soon forgotten when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer; deepening the kiss.

Mara felt herself respond back. Timidly, she slid her hands up his body and felt the tight wrought muscles that lay just beneath his shirt. He shivered at her touch. Feeling a bit bolder and excited at the reaction she had caused within him, Mara slowly snaked an arm around his shoulder and ran a hand through his soft hair.

He was intoxicating. The scent of him, the taste of him, the feel of him; everything about him was intoxicating and Mara could feel herself drowning deeper and deeper in him. The way he held her, how his touch burned her skin, causing warm tingles to shoot through her body, and his eyes. Oh god, how she loved his eyes. So deep and vivid, emotionative and alert. Yes, Jerome had the best-

She snapped back to reality. Jerome. She was kissing Jerome. The shock of what she was doing suddenly hit Mara with full force and she abruptly pushed him back. What was she doing? Had she gone mad? Had he gone mad? Kissing her out of no where, telling her he cared for her, saying he loved her? Mara's head spun. It was too much. It was all too much.

"What are you doing?" she asked panicked, slowly inching away from him. She was scared, frightened at the raw new emotion that had just coursed through her moments ago. And the fact that it was Jerome who had caused her to feel this way absolutely petrified her even more.

"What do you think? Kissing you." Jerome answered airily, still dazed from their previous ordeal. He turned to smile at her, but one look at her alarmed expression and his smile faltered.

"Please tell me that you're not going to run." he groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Mara took a step back. "No..."

Jerome took a step forward "Why do I have a hard time believing that?"

She took another step back. "Because-"

"Oh my god, what are you two doing?" Amber's voice asked from behind them "Are you guys like kissing or something?"

Jerome swore "No Amber, we are not kissing-" he started before being interrupted by another voice.

"Mara, what are you doing? Jerome get off of her. Now." Patricia ordered.

"I'm not on her-" He growled but was interrupted yet again by another voice.

"Nice one, mate. Guess plan Stay-Alone-With-Mara-and-Win-Her-Over worked. Now I'm glad you said no to coming with us to the amusement park." Alfie cheerfully injected.

Mara's brows furrowed at Alfie's words. Plan? Jerome planned this? To corner her and kiss her? What?

"Alfie!" She heard Jerome snap "Shut your bloody mouth."

"Mara, are you, are you crying?" Patricia asked, trying to peer at her over Jerome's tall form "What happened?"

Mara blinked and touched the dry tear streaks on her cheek. Oh, that's right, she was crying before. With all the craziness going on around her, she had forgotten about her earlier bawl.

"Isn't it obvious," Amber answered in her place, tugging a strand of her blonde hair "Jerome probably said something to make Mara cry."

"What? No I did-"

"Oh well, guess the plan didn't work then." Alfie said, scratching his head "Any other bright ideas? Do you have a plan B?"

"Alfie," Jerome growled "For the love of the Queen, shut up."

Alfie put his hands out. "Hey, hey, hey, no need to get all snappy at me. You're the one who didn't get what he wanted."

"I'm with Alfie on this one. If you made her cry you need to apologize fast. I suggest with flowers and candy. Ooo like little heart shaped chocolates. They are the absolute best." Amber added.

"Nobody cares what chocolate you like Amber," Jerome snapped "now would you all just leave us alone?"

"No way. You made Mara cry and now you have to apologize." Amber replied stubbornly, crossing her arms.

Mara had just about enough of this non-sense. Not only were they talking about her as if she wasn't in the room, but the bickering was starting to give her a massive headache. And the fact that she had a ton of things on her mind, didn't exactly help up lift her mood. No, what Mara wanted at that exact moment was to go up stairs, dive into her warm, inviting bed, and forget about everything. So that's exactly what she did.

Rubbing her temple, Mara simply walked out of the room. She could hear Jerome call out to her but she ignored him. Thankfully no one interrupted her on her journey up to her room, she couldn't deal with Nina or Fabian randomly stopping her in the middle of the corridor to ask her what was going on, or worse, Mick. Walking in, she kicked off her shoes, slipped off her school uniform, changed into her PJs, and climbed into bed. Finally Mara was at peace.

Snuggling deeper under her covers, Mara's thoughts went back to Jerome. As much as she hated to admit it, she had enjoyed that kiss. A lot. It was searing, tempting, bitter sweet kiss that sent chills up her spine and made her whole body ache with want. She licked her lips. She could still feel the taste of him and the scent of him still lingered on her skin.

Mara felt her body heat up at the vivid memory. But what did it mean? That was the thought that baffled her still. Did it mean she liked him? Didn't she just tell him she hated him? And where did it leave them now? This was the same repeat of what had happened with Mick four months before, except with Mick, Mara knew she had feelings for him. With Jerome it was a whole new ball game.

She groaned and pulled the covers over her head. With Mick everything had been easy. He was sweet and kind, easy to get along with and easy to humor. With Jerome it was the other way around. Where Mick had been a calm sea, Jerome was a raging tsunami. Where Mick had been an open book, Jerome was like the thick pages of a mystery, shrouded in shadows, just waiting to be solved. They were like night and day, polar opposites.

But the one thing that Jerome had said which Mick never uttered, was to say he loved her. That small four letter word, why would he say it? They never were that close to begin with and hardly spoke to one another, unless it were petty insults or witty remarks. So why on earth had Jerome said he loved her? Maybe it was a lasp in judgment on his part. It was irrational and illogical. They were only sixteen for Christ's sake! No one fell in love at that age, it was proven by science. Crushes yes, but love? A definite no.

Mara closed her eyes. Patricia would probably be here any second to interrogate her about what really happened with Jerome and what would she tell her? That he told her loved her? Yeah, that sounded just swell. Guess Mara could tell her that they kissed, no, that he kissed her. Yes, that wouldn't seem quite off for Jerome, he was a flirt after all.

Mara waited and right on cue she heard the door open and close and her covers were suddenly yanked off of her. Patricia stood tall, eyes narrowed, staring down at her.

"Ok, spill. What really happened with you and Jerome? And don't you dare say 'nothing'."

Mara sighed and sat up. "It really was nothing, Patricia..." She began but was quickly cut off by the fiery brunette.

"Bull." Patricia commented with a wave of her hand and sat down on the bed "from the way Jerome is chasing Alfie around the house, it defiantly wasn't a 'nothing'. Come on, what happened?"

"We only- wait, did you say he's chasing Alfie around the house?" Mara asked incredulously, and as soon as the words had left her lips, she heard a loud crash followed by Alfie's unmistakable yell. She blinked. What the hell was going on out there?

'Yup," Patricia replied "and as you can hear, it's still going on. So what did happen?"

"Nothing. He just kissed me, no big deal."

Patricia quirked an eyebrow. "Really? He kissed you and that's it?"

Mara nodded and wrung her hands together. He also told her that he loved her and cared for her and made her cry, but she wasn't going to tell her that, especially the crying part. That would bring up more questions and Mara wasn't ready to venture into that territory just yet.

"Then why were you crying? Was he that bad of a kisser?"

The opposite actually she thought but instead said "He said something to upset me, that's all."

"And then he kissed you?" Patricia asked slowly.

She nodded again. Yes, it did sound very odd when seen from out of the context of the actual fight. But it would have to do.

"That wank," Patricia hissed out "He first makes you cry and then he kisses you? Talk about being bi polar. But anyways, I'm glad that you're not going for him, he's just another insensitive jerk." She paused for a moment "You aren't trying to pull him are you?"

Mara shook her head furiously. "God no, Patricia! I don't fancy Jerome!"

"Good, good, just making sure that's all. Anyway, I'm going to go shower and change out of these sweaty clothes. So if Alfie runs in here, well, pretend you are Jackie Robinson and toss that lamp at his head."

"Won't that injure him greatly?"

Patricia smiled. "Of course not, he has good reflexes. It will hit the tall idiot behind him."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Anyway, off I go."

As soon as Patricia left the room, Mara curled back into her bed and pulled the covers over her head. Did she really not fancy Jerome? Or was it just her hormones talking? You couldn't just start liking a person by the way they kissed...could you? She let out a sigh of frustration and buried her nose into her pillow. She would just not talk to him, yes that seemed like the perfect solution. Until Mara could collect herself and sort out her emotions, she would not make contact with him. Simple enough.

She closed her eyes and started to relax back into her plush mattress when another dreadful thought gnawed at her brain. Mara's eyes popped open and she let out another frustrated groan.

How on earth would she avoid Jerome for the whole weekend?

Hope you like it. Please review and I will post more chapters up. Thank You!