Author's Note: Sorry about the delay! Working 90+ hour weeks will do that. Hope this makes up for it!

Review Response:

Cornish: No problem! I hope you enjoy this one as well!

She's got tears in her eyes, head down while her beautiful brown curls fall around it. I drape my arm over her shoulder in a comforting manner and she leans into me. I can't believe all of that shit happened to her and she's only 17. That's crazy.How could a father do that to his daughters? I guess my life isn't all bad...

"SPENCER!" Ashley says loudly in my ear.

"Sorry Ash, I was just thinking is all."

She grins and says, "I know. I'm sorry."

"Ash, you have nothing to be sorry about. You didn't do that do you. He did." The smile quickly fades from her face and I know I've made a mistake with those last 2 words.

"If that's what you think then you didn't listen at all." She starts to stand and walk away. I immediately mimic her. "Ash wait! I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I didn't mean it the way it sounded." She's stopped walking away now and turned to face me with her arms crossed over her chest as if to say Continue...

So, I do. "What I meant was that he went through a hard time and I don't blame him. I just didn't like hearing about him hurting you, whether it was an accident or not. I'm sorry, can you ever forgive me?" I put up my puppy-dog eyes and pout, which only makes that contagious smile reappear onto her face.

She uncrosses her arms and starts walking back towards me. I smile as she wraps me up into her arms in a hug. "Alright SpencER, I forgive you. But, only if you give me a kiss."

"But what if someone sees!"

"I don't care anymore. I want everyone to know. Plus, you owe me." She grins even bigger.

"Fine." I kiss her quickly on the cheek. She nods her head no before giving me the "You know damn well that that is not what I meant" look. I sigh and look up into her eyes. I give her a peck on the lips. Just one mind you.

She grabs me from behind my head though. She doesn't let me get more than a centimeter away from her before she takes me back and slams her mouth onto mine. At first, I'm scared of being caught and outed to everyone. A few sweet kisses from her though and I no longer care about what anyone else thinks or says. All I care about is the girl I love and her lips on mine.

She finally breaks our kiss and leans her forehead against mine. My eyes are still closed for a moment out of fear that someone might have seen us. When I eventually open my eyes the first thing I see are her beautiful brown eyes smiling back at me. I smile at her as she pulls her head away from mine. Looking around, it seems like no one was there to even see what we were doing. Just as I feel great about what just happened, I hear some coughing from around the corner. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!

Ashley spins around so quickly I swear she spins like 3 times. She blocks my body with hers in a protecting manner, making it so I can barely see who is there. That's when I see one of the sophomores in the class looking to go to the restroom.

"What are you looking at?" Ashley hisses at the timid boy. "Get going Kyle! Do what you came here to do and you better keep what you saw to yourself, got it?!" He nods slowly and makes his way past us towards the restroom around the corner. Ashley walks Kyle to his destination, whispering something to him on the way. She makes her way back.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure I made my point clear to him." She stops in front of me and takes me by my shoulders into a hug. "I'm sorry I caused him to see us. I never meant to. Are you okay?" She pulls herself away from me and I suddenly feel cold. She still has me by the shoulders as I nod rhythmically, thinking and trying really hard to just keep it together.

"I just really have to go to the bathroom." She nods and releases my shoulders as I make my way around the corner. I turn to open the door and see her following me. I go in and let the door close behind me. I walk towards the door that actually leads to the bathroom and try to open it only to find it locked. Thanks Chilly for opening the girls bathroom. I hear Ashley open the door and hesitantly step inside.

"I just wanted to make sure nothing bad was going to happen to you." She quickly gets out before looking at her shoes timidly.

"Well, Chill didn't unlock our bathroom so I have to wait for Kyle to finish so I can use the guys." She gives me a weird look. "1, I have 2 brothers. 2, These bathrooms are identical. 3, I would just use the staff lounge one but who knows what they had for lunch today." I see her smile at this.

We just hang out in there until we hear Kyle exit the guys. Ashley makes sure that he actually goes back into the band room before she lets me know it's okay to "do my business" as she put it. So, I do. As I finish up and head out to wash my hands, I see Ashley just sitting on the counter waiting for me. I glance at my phone and see we still have over half of class left (like 50 minutes). A smirk slowly starts to appear on her face as she watches me wash, dry, then try to open the door. It's locked from the inside. The smirk grows as she says, "Don't leave yet. I wanted to talk to you." You can hear me gulp at her statement.

"About?" I ask as I turn to face her, door still locked. She locks eyes with me and jumps off the counter.

"About us." She takes a couple steps towards me.

"Oh" is all I manage to get out. I break our gaze and walk around her to sit on the counter opposite of where she was.

She chuckles. "Nothing bad Spence! I'm not ending it." I meet her eyes again only to see she's being deadly honest. I give her a half smile so she walks over and puts her hands on my shoulders. "I want us to be public together. I want us to be able to be like how everyone else is. Free to be who we are. I know you're scared, but I will protect you. No Matter What." I nod so she continues. "Did you want to come over this weekend?"

"Yeah!" I initially almost shout at her. But, then I remember I have the Bell Game on Friday and I have to go to a Marching Band Parade in Lodi on Saturday. "Shit! I can't because I have some obligations from Chill for Friday and Saturday. I'm sorry."

"It's not problem. Maybe I'll end up seeing you anyways." And with that, she was up and out the bathroom door before I even comprehended what she said.