"So what happened last night?" Jackson asked Finn, as he threw the basketball to his friend.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…after I left, did you and Lila hook up?" After April left, Jackson met up with Finn at his house and now they were shooting at the net just for fun.

"Hum…no."

"Are you going to?"

"Maybe...who knows?" He replied, throwing the ball back at Jackson. "Lila's cute."

"You've always had a crush on her. Admit it."

"What? No."

"Don't lie to me." Jackson said, running before dunking the ball.

"I'm not lying." He replied, grabbing the ball as it fell down. "You know me…Lila's not my type, but this year…I mean, she looks hot."

"She looks hot?"

"She does." Finn said, dribbling the ball. "She doesn't look like a little girl anymore."

"Right."

"And I mean…I'm not saying I'm gonna date her or anything." He continued, passing Jackson and throwing the ball into the net. "But, you never know what might happen."

"Yeah." His friend continued talking, but for a moment Jackson stopped listening to Finn. He focused all his attention in something else…in her. She was walking home, still wearing the yellow dress she was wearing a few hours ago, when they talked for the last time, and her hair was still on a simple braid. 'She is probably back from the city', he thought. She didn't look at him or even realized he was staring at her. He stretched his neck as she started disappearing behind a wall and that was when he felt something hit him.

"What the hell?" He said, lifting his hand to his face. Finn had just hit him with the ball.

"Sorry, man." His friend apologized, taking two steps to see the damage. "You were distracted."

"You didn't have to hit me with the freaking ball."

"I didn't do it on purpose. I thought you were paying attention."

"Yeah, well…"

"Where you were looking at anyways?" Finn asked, turning his attention to where Jackson was facing a few seconds ago.

"What?" He said, looking at the spot but quickly turning his face away. "Oh, it was nothing….nevermind."

"Anyways, almost forgot to tell you." Finn said, as Jackson passed him the ball again. "I got a fake ID"

"Why do you need a fake ID?"

"To vote!" Jackson gave him a confused look. Finn was definitely not this interested in politics. But he quickly said. "To go clubbing, of course."

"What?"

"I can get you one too and we could easily sneak in." He noticed how Jackson was looking at him with a weird look on his face. "What? C'mon, Jackson…"

"No, I don't think so."

"But…"

"I'm not in the mood to go to a club."

"I'm not saying tonight. Maybe we can try…"

"Finn, I'm really not in the mood." He insisted, knowing how crazy his friend could be. "But you can always ask Lila…"

His friend turned to him and with a fake laugh, he passed him the ball with violence.

Jackson was sitting on his bed, back against the headboard and phone in his hand. He had just finished talking to his mother.

He looked at the time. It was a little past 10PM and he was bored. His mother just gave him a lecture about him not picking up the phone to talk to her and his head was still buzzing. Why did she have to be such a big pain in the ass? She was the one who chose to send him miles away from home and not coming along.

He got up from his bed and put down his phone. He had no plans with his friends tonight, but somehow he didn't feel the need to call Finn or meet up with him.

Jackson sat down by his desk and looked for the Polaroid pic he had found a few hours earlier. 'Where did I put it?', he thought as he searched for it. He was sure he left it there when his mother called and he had to put it down.

Then he looked at the floor, right where his feet were. 'There it is'. He picked it up and held it on his hand. He had been staring at the picture for hours, just wondering if it meant what he thought it meant. He had already memorized every detail of the image: it was a simple picture of a bed of red roses; those roses on his backyard, right by the pool area – he knew it, because he checked it out; the picture was marked by a black permanent marker; if that was really her picture – and he was sure that it was – then her handwriting was beautiful.

How could one simple sentence drive him crazy like that? And how could he feel this crazy about one silly photograph? He had to stop thinking about this girl. She was starting to drive him insane, because she was the only thing we could think about and he did not like it. This had to stop. He was not going to let a girl drive him crazy like that.

With this in mind, he opened the last drawer of his desk and took one last look at the picture, before throwing it in there. Just as he was about to close the drawer he noticed a pack of cigarettes hidden in the back. He reached for them, remembering how they were probably from last summer.

He wasn't a smoker, but he and Finn used to sneak out of their dorms in boarding school together and smoke cigarettes as a sign of their rebellious ways. He grabbed the pack of cigarettes and, without taking a look back at the picture, he closed the drawer. Then, he looked for a lighter and when he found one, he put it in his pocket.

The pack was almost empty, with only four cigarettes left, and he was bored. So, he decided to go downstairs and smoke a cigarette. Jackson took one out and hid it in his pocket. Then, he put on his shoes and headed downstairs.

He was walking down the stairs when he saw Mindy coming up. "Hey. I was going to check on you." She said, stopping in the middle of the stairs.

"Oh, yeah. Well, I'm just gonna go and watch some TV." He lied, as he continued going down.

"Okay." She replied. "Well, I'm going to bed. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine." He said, passing her by. "Don't worry about me."

"Okay, then."

"See you tomorrow."

"Don't go to bed late." He heard her say, as he turned his back on her and headed to the living room.

He turned on the TV, just to make sure she bought his lie, but after a few minutes waiting, he finally got up from the couch and opened one of the living room French doors that gave access to the garden.

He stepped outside and took a few steps in the darkness, trying to find a good place to smoke his cigarette in peace.

When he found a good spot, he put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it up. Once it was lit, he pulled a little smoke into his mouth. After a few seconds, he pulled away the cigarette and after letting the smoke cool down, he blew it out. The truth was he hadn't smoked in months and even though it was not his favorite thing to do, it eased him down. Or at least it was supposed to, since it was doing nothing for him right now. He wanted to forget the girl and the picture, but he just couldn't.

That was when he heard a sound coming from behind him. He turned around, wondering what it was.

He noticed it was coming from the pool and, as soon as he realized who that might be, he cursed the moment he stepped outside the door.

Inhaling one more time, he started walking towards the pool area. There she was…swimming, just like he found her the other night. He took a few steps forward, stopping right by the edge of the pool.

That was when she stopped and looked up. "So, you've been using my pool!" He said, holding the cigarette in his hand.

"Gosh, why do you keep scaring me like this?" She replied, giving him an annoyed look. It was the third time he scared her and she did not appreciate it.

"You're not supposed to be using my pool, you know." He said, taking the cigarette to his mouth to smoke again.

"I know…I know." She replied, swimming to the ladder to get off the pool.

"Why at night?" He asked, expelling the smoke.

"So that no one sees me." She replied again, starting to climb up the pool ladder. "My dad can't even dream that I've been using it."

"Oh really?" He asked, not realizing he was staring at her wet body. She was wearing the same bikini as the other night, when he first caught her there, but because he was closer this time he could actually see every inch of her body.

"Yeah, he…" She continued, as she stepped out of the pool and walked to one where she left the towel. "…he doesn't like it when I hang around the property like this." She started cleaning herself up, wrapping the towel around her body, without noticing his stare. "Please don't tell anyone you saw me, okay?"

He smiled and simply nodded his head. Of course he was not going to say anything. "So, how was the city?" He decided to change the subject.

"Hum…busy." She replied, stepping closer to him. "I have no idea how people live there."

"You're not used to big cities?"

"No." She said, shaking her head. She stopped right in from of him and looked right into his eyes. "Are you?"

"Yeah." He replied, noticing how the hair on her arms were raising, probable because of the chilly breeze. "I'm actually from Boston."

"Boston?" She asked, biting her bottom lip and giving him a daring look. "Big city boy, huh!" He smiled at her, but didn't have time to reply, since she looked down and noticed the cigarette he was holding in his hand. "Didn't know you smoked."

He raised his hand and looked at the cigarette as well. "I don't…"

"Smoking is a really nasty habit, you know?" She cut him off.

"I don't smoke. I was just…"

"And it's really bad for your health too." She went on, ignoring him. "You know what…I'm gonna give you a little hand and help you with that."

"With what?" He asked, realizing a second too late what she meant.

She passed by him and pushed him into the pool, where he fell completely clothed. Then, she turned around to leave, but before she left he still got the change to shout out. "Why did you do that for?"

She turned to him, with a smirk on her face and replied. "To help you turn off that disgusting cigarette." Then she finally left.

He got out of the pool completely wet and started walking home. He didn't know if he was more furious or more amused with her and her behavior. She was different than any other girls he knew and the nerve she had was something new to him.

When he finally made it to his bedroom, he stepped inside and took off his shirt. Then, he walked to his desk and opened the drawer where a few minutes before he left the picture.

He grabbed the picture and stared at it again. He was so angry at her. He felt humiliated. However, as he read what was on the picture one more time, the anger slowly went away. Then, he started laughing out loud.

As he walked to the bathroom he kept his eyes on the picture. "He gets on my every nerve and yet I can't stop thinking about him."

He smiled to himself. "April…April…I guess you're not the only one." He said out loud, reading the simple message written in the picture's white frame.

If what she wrote was about him, then he didn't know what to think about it. He couldn't get her out of his mind and thinking about her was starting to drive him crazy. But the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about him either, made him feel a certain type of joy inside.

He stepped into the bathroom and place the picture on top of the sink. Then he turned on the shower and took off the rest of his clothes.

The next day, Jackson and his friends decided to meet at his house and hang out there. The day was a little bit cloudy and they decided to watch a movie together.

"I don't want to watch a film about war!" Lila protested, as Finn insisted on watching a war movie.

"C'mon, Lila. It's not that bad."

"I'm with Lila." Ava said, raising her hand. "I want to watch something fun. A movie about war is not funny."

"Just decide already." Jackson demanded. "We've been sitting here for the past half an hour trying to decide what to watch and at this pace we won't be watching anything any time soon."

"I agree with Jackson." Shelly said, moving from where she was sitting, next to Lila, to sit by his side. "At this point I don't really care what we're watching as long as we're watching something."

"It's Lila's fault." Finn defended himself, raising a finger to his friend.

"My fault?"

"Your fault!" He said again. "You don't want to watch anything…"

"Ok, ok…" Jackson said, standing up and looking at the group. "While you guys decide what you want to watch, I'm going to make some popcorn." Then, he left the living room and walked to the kitchen.

As soon as Jackson turned his back on the group Shelly got up too and informed them she was going to the bathroom. However, she made a quick turn and started going up the stairs.

Without anyone noticing, she reached Jackson's bedroom and opened the door.

She noticed how his bed was impeccably made – probably Mindy made it that morning; how his laptop was on his desk; how his sneakers were perfectly aligned inside his closet; how he left a towel on the bathroom floor and finally how on top of the bathroom sink there was a strange picture of roses.

She grabbed the picture and read what was on it. 'This is not Jackson's handwriting', she thought.

.

Meanwhile, Jackson walked into the kitchen and noticed a redhead girl with her back to him, leaning towards the kitchen countertop. "What are you doing here?"

She jumped with the sound of his voice and turned around. "Hey, you?" She said, thinking how his way of scaring her was becoming something familiar. "I'm just helping your housekeeper."

"Why?" He wondered, stepping closer to her and noticing a bag of groceries behind her.

"She went grocery shopping and my dad asked me help her bring the groceries inside." She informed him, pointing at the bag behind her.

"Oh, ok."

"Sorry, I was just about to leave."

She turned on her heels and started walking towards the kitchen backdoor, but he stopped her. "You know, we need to talk about last night."

"Why?" She said, stopping and turning to him again.

He took a few steps to face her. "Well, you pushed me into the pool last night."

"For a good reason." She said. He noticed how she was wearing pair of jean shorts and a simple white tshirt. Her hair was curly, covering her shoulders and her cheeks were just a little bit blushed.

"A good reason?"

She smiled. And how he loved her smile. It was a shy smile, but she was definitely not a shy girl. "Yes. You were smoking."

"Right." He said, taking another step closer. He noticed the smell of her perfume and how delightful it was. "But I'm not a smoker."

"I don't care." She quickly replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't care if you are or not a smoker. Last night I caught you smoking."

"And I caught you using my pool."

"Well, I don't always use your pool."

"And I don't always smoke." He replied back. They were so close that if was the first time he got the chance to really look into her eyes. They were beautiful, in his opinion. For a moment he was completely lost in her smile, in her eyes and in the smell of her perfume.

"Then I guess we're even." She said, with a confident tone.

"Are we? 'Cause you pushed me into a pool. I didn't do anything when I caught you using the pool."

"And are you going to do anything about it?" She asked, in a daring tone.

He took a second to really look at her. She was so different from all the other girls he knew. Here they were, talking face to face, and he couldn't read any emotion in her besides her sassiness. She was playing him, but he knew how to play this game as well.

"Who knows?" He said, giving her his best smile. "Maybe I will."

"And what do you plan to do about it?"

He was about to say something, when he heard someone entering the room. Jackson and April were so close to each other that he had to take a step back to look at who was coming.

"Oh my Gosh, Jackson…" He heard Shelly's voice from behind him. "What is this?"

They both turned their faces to Shelly as she entered the kitchen with the Polaroid picture in her hand.

April stared at what she was holding and in a second she realized what it was. Jackson realized it too and turned to April just in time to see her face completely change.

"Why is she holding that, Jackson?" April asked, not looking at him.

"I can explain, I…" He said, walking towards Shelly to take the picture from her hand. "It's nothing…I can explain."

"How?" April said, mortified with the realization of what was happening.

"Who is she, Jackson?" Shelly asked, looking at April with a confused look.

"I can explain." Jackson said, finally taking the picture out of Shelly's hand. Then he turned to April, but it was useless. She was already gone. "April? APRIL?" He shout out.

"Who is she?" Shelly insisted, more confused than ever.

"Damn it, Shelly."

AN:

Hey guys,

New chapter!

I'm just gonna tell you guys that things are going to start moving from here. I've already planned the next chapter and I think it will be a good one.

But 1st, tell me what you think about this chapter?

Please leave a review!

Thank you so much for all your reviews and support. They mean everything to me!

I'm just hoping you're liking the way this is going! Tell me your opinion, please

I'll update soon.

Love, Annie.

PS: English is not my 1st language.

PS2: I know that Jackson smoking is a little bit odd, but it's just to show his kind of rebellious side. Don't take it too personal, ok?!