When you kiss somebody for the first time, people normally write about all of these amazing and spectacular feelings. They talk about fireworks and tingles down their spines and popping their feet. But that kiss with Nick was so mind-numbingly brilliant that I couldn't even process any of those feelings, even if I had felt them.

He lifted his hands from my waist and rested one on the locker behind me, blocking the only escape route I had. His other hand rested in my hair, his fingers lost in the mass of curls. My arms, which had been dangling helplessly by my sides, ran up his chest. My hands landed on his upper neck, my thumbs resting on his cheeks.

I felt like my legs had turned to jelly. They felt like they were about to cave in and end up in a puddle of the floor. Holding on to him was the only support I had but, judging by the closeness of his body to mine, he was relying on me for physical support as much as I was on him.

When I finally needed a bigger breath of air, I pulled back and stared at him, not quite sure what to say. I mean, what could I say after the most intense kiss of my life to date?

"That was …" Nick trailed off and looked away. He lowered his hands and took a step back. "I shouldn't have done that," he said softly.

"You're saying that that was a mistake?" I breathed.

Nick said nothing. He stared at the metal lockers behind me, his lips sucked in and his eyes filled with regret.

I shook my head, tears threatening to surface, and stared at him. "And you had the audacity to say that I was frustrating," I murmured. My voice started to rise along with my temper. "You can't just kiss me like that and then decide that it was a mistake!"

"Miley …"

"Don't," I spat. "Don't even bother."

Before Nick even had a chance to respond, I turned on my heel and began to march angrily down the hallway. With every ounce of strength I had, I willed myself not to turn around because I knew I would crack.

Paul, Denise and Frankie were approaching their car when I passed them in the hall on my way to the bonfire. Denise reached out and touched my arm, a soft smile on her face.

"Miley, honey, are you okay?"

I did what I do best – I plastered a false smile on my face and nodded. "I'm fine. I'm just heading to the bonfire. Curfew's at twelve tonight, right?"

"It's Homecoming weekend," Paul replied. "Don't worry too much about curfew."

I smiled slightly and nodded. "I'll see you guys later." I quickly moved past them and walked as quickly as I could down the hallway and out the main doors of the school. I made my way down the street, making it about two blocks before I had to turn left and walk down the beaten old dirt road Demi had told me the bonfire was at the end of.

As promised, I reached the field where the bonfire was being held at the bottom of the lane. Surprisingly, I found Demi and Liam rather quickly.

Liam's brow furrowed slightly when he saw my expression. "Are you alright? You seem kind of -"

"I'm fine!" I snapped, focusing my attention on the roaring flames of the bonfire.

"Tense," finished Liam in a mumble.

I didn't reply. I kept my attention focused on the bonfire, though in reality I wasn't even thinking about the huge fire in front of me. Instead, I was thinking about that kiss in the hallway. My legs still felt like lead and my heart was still struggling to calm down.

Liam soon disappeared in search of a beer. I had gone from standing to sitting cross-legged in the grass, still staring straight at the fire. I hardly even noticed Selena sit down beside me.

"Demi mentioned that you looked kind of distracted," she said. "Aren't you having a good time?"

"I am," I lied.

"Then what is it?"

I could hardly tell her that I had just kissed her ex-boyfriend; the boy who she was hoping would take her to the Homecoming dance. I also couldn't tell her that I had been interested in him since before they broke up.

"I know that we haven't really gotten to connect since you arrived," said Selena, "but I want you to know that you can trust me if you want to talk about it."

"How's your mom?" I asked, remembering the morning in the pool house when Selena had been yelling angrily about the pregnancy.

"She's good," she replied with a slight smile. "My stepdad is taking good care of her, I guess. I overreacted when I found out. I think it was just a shock. I mean, what senior in high school wants a pregnant mom?"

"And your stepdad … He's nice to you?"

To this day, I still don't know why I was asking questions about her family that night at the bonfire. Maybe I wanted to make up for the fact that I had been making out with her ex less than half an hour before our conversation. For whatever reason, I had stopped caring about prying and just let my mouth take over.

Selena nodded. "I call him my stepdad, but really, he's the only father I've ever known." She hesitated. "My real dad was a deadbeat. He went off the radar when I was about seven. He's called a few times." She laughed and shook her head. "When I was fourteen, I even got the pleasure of a visit," she said sarcastically. "When my mom met my stepdad, he took care of her. He took care of me. He treated me like his own. I owe him a lot."

"That's really great of him."

She laughed once more and glanced across her shoulder. I already knew who she was looking out for. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. I'm sure I'm boring you." She looked back at me with a bright smile. "What's going on with you and Liam?"

"Liam and I are complicated."

"So Demi tells me. Will it last?"

"I doubt it."

"Past the weekend?"

I shook my head.

"That's a shame," she said, looking at him across the field. He was talking to Demi and some guys from the lacrosse team. "He seems like quite the catch. If I wasn't so in to Nick …" She trailed off. "You haven't seen him, have you? Nick, I mean."

"No," I lied. I couldn't exactly tell her that I had been making out with him, could I?

"I really need to talk to him about tomorrow …" She looked over her shoulder and swiftly jumped to her feet. "Oh my gosh, there he is! Do I look okay?"

I turned, not answering her question. I immediately found Nick in the crowd. He was standing still at the entrance to the field, staring straight at me. It's odd how he's staring right at me and yet Selena still doesn't even notice. He looks troubled and worried.

"Nick, over here!"

I turn back around to face the bonfire and close my eyes. I cannot believe that she just called him over here, I thought. Soon, I sensed his presence behind me. I turned and faked a smile, just like I always did.

"Hey, Nick. Good game."

He watched me intently for a moment, trying to decide if I was kidding. Was it not obvious how sarcastic I was being? It didn't take a genius to know that he played like crap at that game.

"Was that a joke?" Selena asked confusedly.

I rolled my eyes slightly at her confusion, but I wasn't really sure why. She was a sweet girl and there I was, being a complete bitch. "Sure," I mumbled.

"So, Nick, about Homecoming tomorrow …"

I looked up at him and watched as he shifted awkwardly on his feet. "Selena, I really don't think that I want a date to this dance."

"What do you mean? You told me that you'd consider it!"

"And I did consider it, and I realized that maybe it's time for us both to move on from this and find new people," he said calmly.

Selena shook her head and backed away. "I cannot believe this," she murmured. She then turned away and stormed off in Demi's direction.

Nick slumped down into her place in the grass. "Can we talk?"

"You can talk, but I can't guarantee that I'll listen to you," I replied.

"I didn't mean that it was a mistake."

I shook my head, unable to listen to anything else he had to say. "This is ridiculous. I'm getting a drink." I went to walk away, but I felt him grasp my wrist. "What?" I hissed.

"This isn't right. We have to talk about it!"

"I don't have to do anything."

"Well then you should listen to me, because if you don't, this situation is just going to get worse for the both of us." Nick ran his hand through his curls and stood up beside me. "What's going on with Liam?"

"I'm ending it," I replied simply.

"When?"

"Tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight."

Nick looked at me and bit his lip in a frustrated fashion. "None of this is going the way I wanted it to," he murmured. He glanced at his watch, then looked over at Liam. "You should spend some time with him. After all, he flew all this way just to see you."

I watched Nick in confusion. "I can't figure you out," I said. "One minute, you're kissing me and telling me that we need to talk and the next, you're telling me that I need to spend some time with Liam. What are you even thinking?"

"I'm thinking that it isn't right for you to break up with him when we don't even know what this is."

I laughed loudly at his words. "I had planned to break up with Liam long before any of this happened, trust me." I took a step in Liam's direction and smiled slightly at Nick. "Don't flatter yourself, kid."

For the first time that night, Nick seemed to smile a real smile back at me. "Shut up, princess."

I turned and walked away towards Liam, Selena and Demi. Selena, who I could tell had been keeping her eyes glued to Nick since she walked away, watched me suspiciously.

"Where's the beer?" I asked. I usually wasn't a big drinker but I needed something to calm my nerves.

Demi pointed to a keg behind her. "Over there. I'll come with you." She didn't give me time to respond. Instead, she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me quickly to the keg. "What the hell is going on with you and my brother? Liam and Selena have noticed that something's up, Miley, so I suggest that you fill me in right now."

I bit my lip as I filled a cup with beer from the keg. I trusted Demi. I knew that she usually had some sound advice to give me whenever I needed it, and I knew that, although Selena meant a lot to her, I had started to as well.

"He kind of kissed me back at the school," I blurted out. "When I told you and Liam to walk on, I went back inside to find him and to talk to him."

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Demi hissed.

"You thought that I was the reason he was playing like crap. I had to find out if you were right." I took a deep breath, followed by a sip of beer. "We were arguing, I guess, about what's going on between us. He told me how he felt and then he just kissed me. He told me he shouldn't have done it so I got pissed off and walked away, but now he keeps trying to talk to me about it!" I groaned. "This is all such a mess."

"Let me get this straight: Nick told you how he feels about you, and then he kissed you?" she asked.

I nodded.

She smiled slightly. "Miley, honey, it isn't a big secret that Nick's a bit of an asshole with it comes to girls. In fact, I don't think you'll find a bigger jerk in this town than my brother. But he has never once admitted to a girl that he likes her. He's always just assumed that they'll just figure it out, but they never do." Demi touched my arm and shook her head. "You've really got him tied up in knots, haven't you?"

I said nothing. I looked at Nick as he drifted from group to group, putting on a smile that was so obviously fake. I saw his gaze drift to Selena every now and then, and I could see in his eyes how guilty he felt about everything.

"Maybe I have."

When editing, I had added a load of things in to make the chapter way longer and way better than it is, but then I accidentally closed the tab without saving the work :'( Worst feeling in the world. So I am sorry for the chapter being kind of short. I'll try to make it up to you by getting lots more chapters out before school starts! :-)

Thanks to emma, nileyfanxo, Fatimaaa, wateen, jonasluver4ever21, .Awesome, Simar, nileyfan0314, FABULOUSmarie, fallingstar2008, NickJisoffmychain2828, ijustneedyounow, lifesaclimb11, YouSaidForever, MissQueenyB, NileyFreakk, IWantNiley3.0, When I'm Afraid, lifeswhatyoumakeit101 and babygurl98 for your reviews. To get twenty reviews on one chapter when, at one point, it was hard enough to get ten on some stories, is amazing, so thank you all so much.

I've been playing around with ideas for oneshots, so I might post a couple of them as well as chapters of A Thousand Miles From Home and Like Ships in the Night :-)