Hayley's POV

"Hey Josh!" I yelled, as I walked out of my house. He lived across the street, as I found out when he walked me home last night.

"Hey ranga!" he yelled back. I knew he was joking when he came up to me and hugged me, "how was your first night in Franklin?"

"Great, I guess," I shrugged, "Hey, do you mind if I took a photo of you? I want to send some home to my friends."

"Sure! You wanna be in it too?" he asked.

"Well, yeah." I laughed. I had never laughed so much in my entire life. We took the photo, and he loved it.

"Send it to me?" he asked. He had his phone, a webslider, out, and his Bluetooth on already.

"Sure, whatever." I said nonchalantly. We were being so… how could you put it? Standoffish, kind of not caring. It was funny.

"I heard what Jeremy said to you last night," I told him as we walked towards the school. It was my first day. Yuck.

"You did?" he said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah, your answer surprised me the most." I winked at him

'"Well… its kinda… I mean sorta… the truth." he stammered. Why am I having trouble breathing?

Oh. Right, he's saying he likes me.

"So you do? You like me?" I managed to slowly breath out.

"Yeah." he finally admitted.

Oh my god! The guy I had always had a crush on actually likes me! Joshua Neill Farro actually likes me!

"So, how about you? I'm guessing that, judging by the fact your nearly hyperventilating, that you like me too, and I just made you one of the happiest girls in the world." he said, smiling the whole time.

"Me?," I stuttered, "oh-I-I-I-I, me, I-I-I-I-, yeah."

I couldn't believe it. I had finally managed to stutter out what I had been hiding for years. What I had to hide since I was a 10 year old. I loved Josh Farro.

"You serious?" he nearly squealed, looking for all the world like he had just got a billion dollar record deal with Fueled By Ramen or something like that.

"Yeah, but I just moved here."

"So?"

"So, if I start going out with you now, people are going to ask questions. If people ask questions, I'm leaving Franklin. If I leave Franklin, I can't go out with you. If I can't go out with you, all hope is lost."

Josh's POV

"All hope is lost? Well, then, before we get to school, let me try one thing." I pulled myself up to her, real close, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh.," she whispered, "That felt really….good."

No turning back on me now, Hailes.

I then kissed her firmly on the lips. She kissed me back eagerly, like there was no tomorrow.

The truth is, there really is no tomorrow. I wish someone had told me before that summer day when I first kissed Hayley.

Flashback

As she pulled away from me, I asked her something:

"Did you really mean that?"

"Yes, Josh. I wouldn't have done it otherwise," she smiled, then looked worried as a car pulled up and beeped its horn, "Oh, there's my mother. I promise I'll keep in touch! Bye!." she yelled as she got in the car.

"Bye, Hayley!," I yelled, as the car pulled away, then whispered, so no-one could hear, "I love you."

I had woken up the morning after that, and expected Hayley to come bounding in like normal, ready for a day of complete idiocy. She didn't. I forgot I was back in Franklin, and Hayley was still in Meridian. I then snapped back to the future, because Hayley was staring into my eyes

"Come on, Josh, lets get to school," she said, half grimacing at the idea.

"Where we can only be friends." I sighed.

That's not what I wanted. That's not what she wants either, I thought, and immediately became happier. We left our houses this morning as lovers, and entered the school gates as friends.

Err. Not cool.

"Hey Taylor, Jeremy!" I yelled out.

"Hey Josh!" they both yelled

"Hey Hayley!" Taylor added

"Hey!" she yelled back. She is really loud, I thought, must be good lung capacity. As we walked closer to the guys, I noticed my reflection in one of the windows.

My lips were the same shade of red as Hayley's were.

Uh-oh.

Jeremy's POV.

As they finally arrived at the group, it was obvious that they had kissed. It was:

Written all over their faces

Written all over their hands, because, and they didn't notice, they would subconsciously move close to the others hand, and move back again.

And

Josh's lips were as red as Hayley's.

I seemed to be the only one who noticed, though. Even Zac didn't say a word when he arrived. I thought I had better stop musing about it and start talking, but Taylor had beaten me to it.

"Hayley, what classes you have today?" he asked her, and that started a panic in her eyes.

"I'm actually meant to go to class?" she screamed, "That was so not part of the deal!"

"What do you mean, Hayley? Of course your meant to go to class. Its school." I pointed out. Stupid woman.

"Had ya fooled!" she laughed, and I realised she was faking it.

"Haha, Hayley, now, what do you have today?" Zac asked, trying not to laugh at her prank.

"She has English, Math, double X elective, which is music, and double PE." Josh rattled off, like he had memorised Hayley's timetable.

Scary.

"How do you know that?" she asked him.

"You're in my classes" he said simply.

" I am?" she looked confused.

"Yeah, Hayley, you are." he laughed at her face.

It really was a funny face.

"So, Hayley, tell us some more about yourself." I asked. I was still a bit curious about this girl.

"Well, I'm a musician, and I sometimes sing." she said

"Awesome!" Taylor burst out. We all jumped.

"Only guitar and keyboard, and I had to teach myself guitar, because I wasn't actually allowed to do lessons."

"Oh, you do guitar now? I remember you doing keyboard at band camp." Josh said, and we all stiffened up.

"YOU DID WHAT?" I yelled

Taylor's POV

"So you do know her from somewhere! I knew it!" Jeremy exclaimed, jumping around like a madman.

"You said you didn't care!" I exclaimed, remembering him brushing it off like nothing had happened. Jeremy was so stupid sometimes. He inherits it from his parents, I guess.

"Just shut up, Taylor, just shut up! You've already exceed your yearly word limit in two days!," he snarled. I was shocked. Jeremy, like the others, had a good understanding of why I was very quiet. Oh, no, he just had to go and insult me about it. I held back tears. Hayley looked angry, and Zac was death-staring him.

Josh was just plain outraged.

"Jeremy, just shut up! You frigging idiot! You don't frigging say shit like that to Taylor! You just don't do that and you know it!" he bellowed.

"Josh, be quiet, man, its ok, really." I said. I hated Josh when he got angry. He always made a mountain out of a molehill.

"Your not my father, so why don't you tell yourself to shut up! Maybe you should try growing a set of balls. Maybe then Hayley might consider going out with you!" Jeremy yelled back at Josh.. I didn't like how this was turning out, one bit.

"Both of you grow up and just stop it!" Hayley yelled

"Keep out of this, Hailes" Josh snarled, whirling around to give her a warning glance

"And what if I don't?" she hissed, meeting his glare with fire-burning eyes.

"Hey Josh! Think fast!" Jeremy yelled, and punched Josh straight in the nose.

"You dirty bastard!" Josh screamed, and punched him in the jaw.

"Stop it!" I heard Hayley scream.

"SHUT UP!" they both yelled, whirling around to face her with evil glares.

Her eyes narrowed, and the boys both fell silent and stopped moving

"Shut up? Your going to tell me to shut up?" she screamed. My ears hurt. She really was loud.

Zac's POV

Josh was beginning to worry. Hayley had stepped in between him and Jeremy, with one tiny hand on each of their chests. Just looking at the size differences actually had me silently laughing for a while. Hayley was this small, little thing in between two guys that looked about ready to kill each other. Hayley all of a sudden looked so breakable between them.

"Now, your BOTH going to say your sorry to Taylor for causing a scene." she snarled.

They just stood there, staring at each other.

"I SAID NOW!" she screamed. They both gripped at their ears, as if they had been burnt.

Suckers. I already had my fingers in my ears.

"Sorry." they both mumbled

"He started it." Josh added. Hayley glanced at him once, and he backed away.

"You aren't to say one word to each other for the rest of the day, you hear me?" poking Jeremy in the chest with every syllable.

"We hear you loud and clear," Jeremy said, and left for class. Taylor stormed off in the other direction. I spun around to look at Hayley and Josh. Only then did I notice how close they were standing to each other. Strange. Josh had one arm around Hayley, and Hayley was chewing gum and wrapping a piece of red hair around her finger. She seemed like she was almost leaning on Josh to stay standing up.

"No offence, Hailes, but your voice is loud and irritating." Josh said, laughing as if the scene with Jeremy hadn't happened. He tickled her in the stomach and she hit him right in his chest.

"It really is." I said, putting my arm around Hayley's other shoulder.

"Lets go to class." she laughed, and we left for English at top speed, because we were already late.

But Mine and Josh's arms never left her back.

We were still linked to Hayley.