Charla went to the park with Lyssa, Brittany, and Bethany. They wouldn't leave her alone about Luke. "Has he kissed you?" was all Brittany asked, and "Have you kissed him?" was all Bethany asked. Sure, they had an occasional innocent kiss on the cheek. But the lips? Never.

"You better kiss him soon or he'll think you're not interested," Brittany said. Charla laughed.

"Brittany, we started dating on the 31st and it's the 5th today," Charla said, smiling.

"So?" Brittany asked.

"I have to agree," Lyssa said, although she never mentioned kissing until that point. "He's totally cute and so into you. I say go!" Of course, Lyssa said 'go' to almost everything.

"Sure," Charla said, "When you guys AREN'T around."

Bethany rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she mumbled.

Lyssa got herself into the baby swing – and couldn't get herself back out. When they finally pried her loose, she fell on the ground, cursing after she landed. Bethany got to the top of the slide – and fell down, rolling down the slide as she fell. She was yelling like bloody murder.

Charla and Brittany watched the whole things from the swings, laughing like lunatics. Suddenly Charla felt arms around her waist and she screamed. Bethany, who was at the top of the slide again, fell down at Charla's cries.

"Chill out, you look like you've seen a ghost!"

Charla knew that voice too well. She turned around. Luke was grabbing her waist, and he was the one laughing that time. She shoved him off her waist and yelled, "Luke Haggerty, that it is so not funny!"

"Did you see your face?" He said, laughing. "Cause it was pretty funny!"

"You jerk!" She yelled, but seconds later, she laughed at his stupidity. The rest of Charla's friends laughed as well, but a person watching them in the bushes wasn't laughing at all.

"Enjoy your girlfriend while you can, Haggerty," the figure hissed. "I swear I'll get the both of you tonight, and then you'll pay!" He laughed manically, rubbing his hands in an evil way.

The four decided they'd play volleyball, two on two. Luke decided he'd keep score. Once Lyssa hit the ball too hard on purpose. "I'll get it!" she yelled. She ran to get the ball and walked by Luke coming back. "Sssh…they're looking. Pretend to be telling me the score," she hissed.

So Luke picked up his paper with the score on it so it would look like she wanted to see the score. "Have you kissed Charla?" she said suddenly.

Shocked, he replied, "Um…I've kissed her on the cheek and stuff."

"When will you kiss her…you know…on the lips?" she said 'on the lips' very quietly, as if she didn't even want the air to hear what they talked about.

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

"Well…I just think if you don't do it soon she'll be turned off."

He was shocked. "You…you do?"

"Well, let me see the way you kiss her now and I'll watch her."

"This is nuts," he whispered after Lyssa walked off. They had only been dating since the 31st, and that day was the 5th. No big deal. It's not like he had to kiss her then! But, whatever, Lyssa wanted to see them kiss.

So when Charla had the ball he suddenly ran out to the court. Lyssa watched intently, but Brittany and Bethany didn't notice a thing. He grabbed her waist while she held the volleyball and kissed her cheek. She smiled with her teeth showing, and he smiled with his mouth closed up to the point where he kissed her. Then he walked off.

"TIME!!" Lyssa called. She walked off the court. "WHAT kind of kiss was THAT?"

"I told you, I haven't kissed her for real!"

"Oh, like that's an excuse!"

Luke grew angry. "If you're so mad," he said, "I'll kiss her tonight for real!"

"That's all I ask," Lyssa said.

That night Luke walked home with Charla…and so did the figure in the bushes. He kept his distance so the two wouldn't notice he was going in the same direction. Luke was uncomfortable for two reasons: one, Lyssa wanted him to kiss Charla, and two, he had the feeling of being watched.

He yelled out in the middle of her talking, "AGH!"

"What? What?" she asked.

"I – I don't know. I just have this feeling that someone's following us."

He turned around and the person wasn't prepared. He was less than a few feet behind them.

"Hey, buddy," Luke said. "Could you maybe back off?"

The person said nothing and Luke rolled his eyes. He whispered to Charla, "That guy better leave in like ten seconds or I'm going to punch him in the face."

"Violent much, Luke?" Charla said, stifling a laugh.

When they got home, Luke and Charla talked for a long time after her dad went to bed. He kept glancing at the clock. Thirty minutes till midnight. They were watching Mindfreak, that show that Criss Angel's on. Criss just walked through glass. Charla's eyes went wide.

"HOLY SHIT!!" she yelled. "HOW THE HELL DOES HE DO THAT?!"

Luke laughed. "Watch your language, Charla!"

"It's weird! No human can do that!"

"Well, he can."

The tape was just amazing things that happened on Mindfreak. The next one was Criss Angel levitating.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!! WHAT THE CRAP IS THAT?! HELL, HOW DOES HE DO THAT SHIT?!"

Luke laughed. "I ought to duct tape your mouth shut!"

They were now watching when Criss Angel was walking on knives when Luke looked to see what time it was. Nine minutes to midnight. He asked, "Wanna listen to some music?" Charla nodded. he pulled out a CD of the Plain White T's and put it on Our Time Now. Charla listened intently. Suddenly Luke leaned over and kissed her cheek. Shocked, she looked over at him. Then they leaned in close to each other and –

They kissed each other for ten seconds.

RING!! Charla's cell phone rang. She looked embarrassed, but she picked up her phone. "Hello" was on the caller ID. She didn't know anyone named Hello.

"H – Hello?" she said into the phone.

"GET OUT!!" a voice yelled at her.

"I think you have the wrong number," she said.

Her reply was scary breathing.

"Who the hell are you?!"

All she heard was a banshee scream. She threw her phone clear across the room.

"What the hell was that?" Luke asked.

The television turned itself off. "What's going on?" Charla asked, scared out of her right mind. The music stopped playing.

"Don't look at me," Luke said. He was trying to pretend he didn't feel scared, but this scared the living daylights out of him.

The lights flickered on and off several times. Luke suddenly grabbed Charla protectively. There was a knock at the door. They stared at the door. There was a shadow in the window of a hand holding a knife. Lightening boomed outside. The door flew open. And someone was standing outside.

Charla screamed, but Luke put his hand over her mouth to muffle the sounds. It was so dark she didn't realize it was him, so she screamed louder. "Hello, Haggerty," a voice called. Luke swallowed hard.

"Go. AWAY," he called.

"We have some unfinished business to take care of, Haggerty."

"If you take a single step forward, I will kill you!"

The person put his hand up. Charla's eyes grew wide. She tried to scream, but Luke's hand was too tight over her mouth. She shut her eyes. If they're going to kill us, she thought, I don't want to see!

The person pulled their hood off. Whatever they were holding became very clear – a flashlight. It illuminated his face. Luke knew the face all too well.

It was Reese.

"How the hell did you find me here?!" he called out.

"I have my ways," Reese said.

"Go away, Reese, I don't have time for this!"

"We have a few things we need to work out."

"NEVER!!" He picked up a pillow and tossed it at Reese. It hit him in the arm and something fell out of his sleeve: a gun.

"Remember this, Luke?" Reese asked. "Does this look familiar?" Luke's eyes went wide. That was the gun in his locker. He kept having the memory of the assistant principal pulling it out of his locker and Luke yelling, "It's not mine, Mr. Sazio!"

Somebody framed me also ran through his mind. And now he had proof. He stood up, his hands at his sides in fists. He walked over to Reese and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "You listen here, you little jackass," he said. "First things first, I hate you. Second, I hate you. Third, I. HATE. YOU. And fourth, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!"

"Make me," Reese said.

Luke lost his self-control. He tackled Reese. Charla was in awe. A part of her wanted to tell him to stop, another wanted to watch this.

Luke punched him in the face. "You almost murdered me…you almost sent me to prison…you gave me the worst time of my life…you made my own bloody parents stop believing me when I told the truth…" Suddenly he looked back at Charla and smiled. "But you did do some good."

"What?" Reese said.

"What?" Charla said.

Luke smiled again. "Yes, you did. You made me meet five of the best people I ever met. Especially you," he said to Charla.

"How the hell did I do that?" Reese asked.

"If you never stashed that gun in my locker, I would have never been sent to CNC. And if I never went to CNC, I would have never met them. So, in a way, you were a shithead, but in another, you may have been a good thing." He smiled wider. "But I still hate you."

"Um…okay then, I hate you too. Oh, can you do me a favor?"

"What's that?"

"GET OFF OF ME!!" Luke stood up and Reese got up as well. Suddenly there was another knock at the door. Luke rolled his eyes. "Okay, Reese, knock it off."

"Knock what off?"

"You know damn well. That stupid knocking." Suddenly there was the sound of glass breaking. Then a few seconds later, there was a gunshot and someone screaming. And it wasn't Charla, either.

Charla got really scared. "What the hell is going on?" she asked.

"You better stop this right now, Reese, cause it isn't funny!" Luke said.

"I'm telling you, it's not me!" Reese snapped. The knocking got louder. Suddenly Charla was shoved off the couch – and no one was beside her. She screamed and Reese got nervous. "Fr – fr – fr – FREAKY HOUSE!!" He ran out the door and didn't turn back.

When he was gone, Charla asked, "Think we scared him?"

"Oh, yeah," Luke said. "I don't think he's coming back."

There were footsteps on the stairs. Charla's dad was on the staircase. "What the hell is going on down here?! Are you murdering someone?" He looked at his feet. A pistol was beside him. "What is this?"

Reese forgot that stupid gun! Luke thought. Quickly he lied and said, "I don't know. I don't see anything. Do you, Charla?"

"No," Charla said, catching on to what was happening. "Um, Dad, I think you're just imagining things. Maybe you should go to sleep."

Her dad shook his head and went upstairs. "Thanks," Luke said. "You saved my butt."

"Never use the words 'saved' and 'butt' in the same sentence," she said. "But you're welcome."