Chapter ten - Cupid's talent

It was at the point of the school year where the whole "summertime" mode was over, which means that the students were back into the regular old routine of "is it the weekend yet" and "it's only Monday." Not to mention the infamous "how many more days until Winter break?" One if not all of these statement were running through every students mind, once if not twice a day.

Lunch time, every student's favourite subject rolled around slowly but surely, with everyone sitting at their respectable tables. Populars were stationed at the fountain, the jocks over by the field stands, and the stoners under a huddle of trees in the front smoking their lives away and then there was the neutral group, sitting at their picnic table under the shade. The group sat around talking about absolutely nothing important…as per usual, only thing missing was one of their members…Upham.

"Yo, anyone seen Upchuck around today??"

Heart sighed and threw the crust from her bread at her brother, "quit acting like a fucking oreo cookie, Jimmy. It's not very becoming so drop the career 'cause you suck at it."

Night smirked, "yeah James, next thing we know, you'll be taking fashion tips from Caparzo here…" she trailed off giving a swift punch to Caparzo's shoulder.

"Yeah well, at least I ain't Emo."

"James," Heart said, feigning exasperation like a teacher that was fed up with the child who couldn't grasp the concept of two plus two, "She's not Emo she's a scene, rocker chick…" Heart continued, then grabbed her friend's wrist and peered at it closely, "yeah, she ain't emo, no cutting scars."

"Shut up," Night laughed, smacking her friend on the head, "Least I'm not a preppy Vally girl…" Night grinned then proceeded to imitate her friend, "Like no way, he said that, oh my god NO WAY you should totally like dump him."

Heart stared at her friend's production wide eyed, then smirked, "you forgot the hair flick."

"Oh yeah!" Night exclaimed, flicking her non existent lengthy hair back.

"Here comes Upham to save the day!" Reiben exclaimed desperately looking for an end to the girl's ridiculous banter.

The guys busted out into multiple greetings to Upham, who dropped his knapsack hard on the ground and dropped into the seat beside Heart.

"Hey Timmy!" Heart grinned widely.

He peered at her through the long bangs that fell into his eyes, "Hey Heart." His low voice rolled out, sounding similar to Eeyor.

"What's got you so down in the….What the hell is that?" Heart cut herself off once she looked at his shoulder.

Upham looked down, "Aw FUCK, I thought I got it all."

Heart and Night stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"Care to Elaborate?" Wade smiled kindly, not really expecting what would come next.

"A Bird Shit on me."

Dead silence rolled in after like a tidal wave.

Then James and Reiben roared with laughter, nearly falling over themselves. Mellish and Caparzo were sniggering and Wade looked sorry for his friend. Night and Heart looked at the white substance with disgust and the only one to speak was Jackson.

"Ya know…I heard that getting crapped on by a bird was good luck."

Upham grumbled something incoherent and stood up then stormed off in the direction of the bathroom, probably looking for some tissues. When his presence was no longer around the laughter from Reiben and James continued.

Night growled, "would you two shut up, you sound like a pair of fucking hyenas."

The two gasped for breath, "he got shit on by a bird," Reiben howled with laughter.

Heart glared at him and gave Reiben a swift kick to the shin. His howl of laughter turned to a howl of pain.

"OOW!"

And that sent James into laughter again. Over his hilarity, Heart heard her name being called. Her head swivelled around until she caught a pair of flailing arms; she stared at her Cheerleading friend, Kim. She was probably the only one that she really got along with out of the entire squad.

Kim was running towards the group in her cheer uniform, "Heart, HEART! What the hell are you doing!?" She yelled, coming to a stop at their table her once perfect brown ponytail was coming apart at the top.

"Um…I'm eating. Its lunch time is it not?" Heart spoke slowly.

"Yes, but we have a game today…REMEMBER?"

"A game? What? WHEN?" Heart gasped.

Kim sent a frustrated look at her friend, "We leave at twelve thirty!"

Heart shrugged, "so, we've got time."

"IT'S TWELVE TWENTY!" Kim shrieked at Heart.

"Oh…OH SHIT!"

"Yeah, oh shit's right! Get your ass moving, you have to get down to the change room to change and back up to the bus or Karalynn's going to have a conniption fit." Kim spoke in a rush, her words crashing into each other while she tugged at Heart's arm.

"Okay, Okay. I'm coming." Heart exclaimed, grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder before dashing hurriedly to catch up with her friend's longer legs.

That's when Night yelled over her shoulder, "I thought you were coming over tonight to swim!?"

Heart turned around and ran backwards, "I'm going to be late!" then sprinted off to the change rooms.

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The group had been out of school for an hour now, happily swimming and lounging around, causing havoc to one another by pushing each other into the pool and splashing each other and other kinds of torment that they could think of. It was quiet in the kitchen of the St. Clair's home, and that's where Night was situated at the moment, gathering bowls and junk food for the guys to consume.

A creek from the floor boards made Night jump and spin around, nearly knocking the bowl of chips onto the floor.

"Need a hand?" Wade smiled.

"Oh, it's just you, I thought it was one of those animals out there," She sighed, shaking her head.

"Nope, I just figured you could use some help bringing food out so they wouldn't mow you down trying to get to it."

Night smiled, "thanks."

As she poured the rest of the chips into the bowl she felt Wade brush up beside her with a bag of Pretzels in hand. At his slight touch, her hands began to shake a little making the bag crinkle and quiver.

Wade watched out of the corner of his eye, "Night, you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," she shook off the feelings that were clouding her common sense.

When she was about to grab the dip from the counter his hand covered hers, "Night…"

She looked up at him with wide eyes, her bottom lip sucked in at the corner. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Night opened her mouth, "I…I, I gue- How can you do this to me?"

Wade was caught off guard, "do what? Night I don't understand."

"How can you make me feel this way, and you don't even realize you're doing it."

"Make you feel-, I don't know what you're talking about, Night." Neither of the two had realized that Wade was still holding Night's hand.

Night gave Wade a blank look, "I like you Wade, and I can't help it. When you stayed with me the night James and I broke up, and how you stuck by me for the whole week I wouldn't go anywhere near him. You have this…this way about you Wade where you have this unconditional need to make someone feel better, to help someone. You don't ask questions, you just listen and you give your input if it's wanted. And I don't know if it was just me, but when you held me the night we broke up it just felt…right, you know."

Wade watched as his public school crush declared her feelings for him, and like she had said, he didn't interrupt or ask questions, he just listened and let her spill her heart out to him.

"And I don't know if I'm going crazy, or it's just a figure of my imagination but I'm scared of these feelings for you. I've never felt like this for anyone not even James, and here I am professing my feelings for you and I don't know what you're thinking or how you'll act, I don't know if this is all a dream and I'll wak-."

Night was interrupted by Wade, who had suddenly leaned forward and placed a kiss so similar to the feeling of butterfly wings on her cheek. She stopped speaking; her mouth open slightly in surprise and her hand that wasn't held by Wade went to touch the spot that seemed to tingle.

"Night," Wade spoke softly, his thumb subconsciously tracing circles on her hand, "what are you afraid of?"

Night looked into the deep pools of Wade's eyes, not sure of where this was going, "I…I'm afraid of falling in love with you."

Wade's voice was barely above a whisper, his hand that wasn't holding hers rested on her hip, so lightly like he was afraid of breaking her, "Why?"

Very rarely did Night act like this, and this is what frightened her, of the feelings that Wade brought out in her, "The last guy that I was with was James… he wasn't anything special though. I'm afraid of what I'm feeling, I don't want my heart broken again…a-and I can't help it, I'm falling hard, falling fast."

Wade's lips tipped up towards a smile as his face loomed closer to hers, "But I'm quite different from James, though."

Night's eyes flicked from every feature on his face, studying every freckle, every curve, the shape of his eyebrows and the different coloured flecks in his eyes, "H-how…how are you so different from James?"

Wade leaned in closer, so close that he could smell the rich scent of her shampoo, "Because." And as he spoke, his lips brushed hers with the ghost of a touch, "I'll be there to catch you."

Once his vow was spoken, his lips pressed against hers tentatively, waiting for possible rejection. Seconds later, she responded and her arms wound around his neck and his hands remained on her hips. They were not aiming to devour each other, but to test and taste the waters of their blooming relationship. Wade could feel the formation of a smile against her lips and his echoed the movement, he would have never imagined what it would have been like, kissing his childhood crush, no fantasy could ever live up to the real thing.

The two love birds were so tied up with each other and their own personal bubble they barely registered the greeting shouted at them from a small pixy like figure that trotted past the kitchen.

"Hey Night, Hey Wade!" Heart shouted at them, a towel strewn across her arm. She continued past the kitchen then stopped dead in her tracks, staring ahead of her, her eyebrows knitting together and she tried to figure out the brief sighting she had just seen.

Heart retreated back a few steps and looked back at the couple, deeply involved with each other. Her towel dropped to the floor, and her mouth fell with it, her eyes widening in shock.

"Oh. My. GOD!" She shrieked.

The pair in the kitchen pulled apart and looked at her; Heart stared back as they pulled each other into a small staring contest.

"You…"she said pointing at Wade, "and you…" she pointed at Night, "together."

If possible her eyes widened even more, and her open mouth turned into a wide grin, she sucked in a breath and yelled, "I'm TELLING!"

"WHAT! No!" Night howled, tripping over her feet to get at the small blonde, but only fell into the kitchen island. By the time she regained herself, Heart was yelling loudly, pounding towards the front door.

"NIGHT AND WADE," she hollered.

"SHUT UP HEART!" Night tore after her little friend who was already out the door and booking it towards the backyard.

"NIGHT AND WADE SITTING IN A-."

"HEEEAAARRRTTTT!"

Heart roared with laughter before continuing again, "Night and Wade sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Heart shouted between bursts of laughter, exploding into the background where the guys were staring at her oddly.

"Night and Wade sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, First comes love," Heart cackled evily, jumping behind her twin using him as a human shield. When Night got close enough she took off again this time hiding behind Jackson, "then comes marriage," Heart's voice rose for the climax but before she could dive for cover Night dove for her middle knocking them clean into mid air, "THEN COMES WADE WITH THE-." But the rest of her sentence was cut off by the water from the pool.

The two came up coughing and spluttering chlorinated water from their mouths and their noses, Heart was laughing throughout all of it.

"You're a Bitch!" Night yelled at her, sending a tidal wave of water in Heart's direction before swimming to the side and climbing out.

Heart, still laughing her head off, climbed out too and stood there soaking wet from head to toe. Her jean shorts weighed a ton and her white shirt was now see through, black bra completely exposed. Heart looked up at her best friend and gave the look of pure innocence, "I think we're even."

Night gave a devilish smirk, "not in the slightest."