After my encounter with Kate in the bathroom, we were pretty much best friends once more. She first stopped hanging out with Holly and the cheerleaders at lunch and then she stopped attending their parties. Amazingly however, she was still on the team. Turns out, Kate can be pretty nasty when she's ready and so no one dared say anything to her. She'd finally found her voice and was now doing whatever she wanted. She still spoke to them sometimes; she just made it clear that we were her real friends. Both Jose and I were excited to have her back, but Christian was wary at first. It took a while for her to earn his trust again. In January, I turned thirteen and my parents had planned me a surprise party which wasn't much of a surprise at all, because my mom was hopeless about keeping secrets.

I was at Grace's the day before my birthday. I was busy doing homework with Christian and when Grace dropped me back, the house was bursting with people. I knew something was going on from the way my mom kept looking at my dad whenever she asked him to fetch something for the 'you know, the surprise thing.' Oh, and the insistence that I do homework over at Christian's on a Saturday afternoon. I was embarrassed as I walked through the doors. Mom had transformed the place into something out of gossip girl and I had to admit, I was impressed. The couches and furniture had been moved back for a spacious floor and banners and ribbons were streaming everywhere. Foiled balloons that read Happy 13th Birthday Ana hung around the fireplace and my mom had a huge bonfire going outside since it was cold. All the boys and Kate were there, plus Elliot and his friends. He picked me up and spun me around when I walked in and my face was flaming. My family members were all in attendance too. Aunts, uncles, cousins from both sides. Only grandma Addie was missing which was a bummer. She had sent me a new pair of high heels and a diamond bracelet and apologised for not being able to make it.

I had a three-tiered chocolate fudge cake which was absolutely to die for. The attention was all on me as everyone sung happy birthday, but my eyes were on Christian who was beaming across at me. We sat by the fire after that. Listening to music and toasting marshmallows, I opened my gifts from my friends.

"Mine first," said Kate bossily, stuffing an overdone marshmallow into her mouth. She passed me a gold bag and I opened it slowly. Inside was a pair of designer jeans with gold detailing on the back. They were similar to hers she was wearing. I have her a big hug and thanked her.

"Now we can match," she grinned.

Adam and Jose had clubbed together to give me fifty dollars which I thought was generous and Brody had gotten me a silver ring with a heart on it, that fit my finger perfectly. Christian glared at him for this.

He gave me his last and it truly was the best. He'd saved up to finally buy me the iPod I'd been longing for forever. This one however was a new model, lilac, and had my name engraved on the back. I threw my arms around him enthusiastically and I wanted to kiss him so desperately but there were too many adults around. When I showed my mom what he'd gotten me, I was surprised to see her look disappointed. I didn't understand why until later.

After the party was over, I opened my gifts from my parents. I'd received clothes and books and a charm bracelet. When mom took a bottle of wine to the bath later on, I asked dad why she was upset.

"Just grown up things," he said but I pressed. I was a teenager now.

He sighed and leaned back into the couch. He looked weary.

"Presents like iPods are big gifts," he said, dragging a hand through his hair. "They should be gotten by family. By parents. Not school friends. She's just a bit upset about it."

"Christian isn't just a school friend," I said moodily. He was so much more than that.

"That's not the point," he said. He got up then, effectively cutting off the conversation.

"Come on kiddo," he smiled, but it was a bit forced. "Off to bed. It's still a school day tomorrow."

I loved my iPod immensely. I downloaded all my favourite songs and to my immense surprise, Christian made me a playlist of his favourites. Most of them were snow patrol songs, and we played them on his speaker when we made dog tags in our free time.

I'd helped Christian finalise the website, giving my input here and there. I also helped make the tags, which was actually a really fun and relaxing process. Grace would bring us up lemonade and we'd stop to have breaks. I called them kiss breaks.

On Valentine's Day, I made him his very own dog tag, which I personalised with our initials. C&A Forever, it read. He always had it with him.

Spring bloomed into summer and for Christian's birthday, we went paint balling with the boys. I was completely splattered from head to toe. Christian had to help peel the paint from my hair on the way back. Afterwards, I ate cake until I puked. Yep, still hadn't learned that lesson.

Before we knew it, seventh grade was done and dusted, and it was summer break. One year left before high school. I was determined to make the most of it. Christian and I spent most of the summer together, hanging out and working on his business.

One sunny afternoon, we had just finished up a round of customised tags. Grace bought us cookies and we were having one of those kiss breaks when I moved closer to Christian and kissed him. He kissed me back in his usual fashion, but I opened my mouth slightly. We'd never kissed like this before. He pulled back, his eyes silently questioning.

My face heated. "I watched a movie," I said. "There was a boy and a girl kissing, they used their tongues."

He looked at me with a wry smile. God, he was so beautiful.

"You want to kiss me with your tongue?" He asked, smirking.

I nodded and smiled, my blush still perfectly intact.

To my immense surprise, he took hold of my chin and pulled me forward suddenly. When he kissed me this time, it was completely unlike the ones we'd shared before. It was harder and deeper. Our mouths moved instinctively together and when our lips parted and tongues touched each-other, I thought I would die. So this was real kissing.

When we broke apart, I looked into his eyes. I could feel butterflies racing around in the pit of my stomach.

"Wow," I breathed.

I never wanted to stop kissing him.

"I've watched movies too," he said, and pulled me back for another kiss.

"Christian, I'm off out so I'll post those orders you've..." Carrick's voice trailed off as we jumped up, breaking apart.

I'd completely forgotten the door was open. How could we have been so stupid?

Both of us were bright red. I'd never been so mortified in my life. Christian spluttered something about the dog tags, trying to change the subject, but Carrick said nothing. He looked at me instead.

"Your mom will be here to get you soon Ana. It's probably best if you went downstairs to wait," he said.

I nodded and sprinted from the room, never so happy to be away from Carrick Grey.

I was never kissing Christian in his house again.