Summary: A new girl comes to Eden Hall, befriending Adam. He's able to tell her anything he wants to. Except for one thing. She's falling in love with the guy he's falling in love with. *SLASH*
Author's Note: This is my first shot at MD slash so please bear with me here.
This is slash so if you don't like it…DON'T READ IT!
Disclaimer: I only own Kori, Shane, Jordan, Bryan, Jesse, and Yolanda (Fulton's girlfriend).
*Everyone, bathing suit sizes are a lot different than regular sizes. A lot of you said you were confused…lol I'm a swimmer, which is one reason why I made her have a past of swimming too. The smallest swimmer on my team wears a size 28, which is tiny by the way lol.
*Oh yeah! In the 2nd chapter, it mentions her and swimming. Just thought I'd clear that up. Thanks!
Kori
***
I stepped out gingerly onto the pool deck, the tingly feeling returning to my toes. I hadn't been in a pool since the day of my shoulder injury a few years back. Sure, I swam occasionally at the beach with my family, but it was nothing like when I swam and dove for my old team. Adam and Charlie watched me from the nearby bleachers.
"Are you ready?" Adam asked, getting up from his seat and making his way down onto the deck where I stood. Sighing, I glanced around the pool area, taking in the smell of chlorine that I used to hate being in my hair all the time. But when I stood there after three years of being out of the loop, I found it comforting; reassuring almost. The deep blue water was deep—10 feet deep— and it was completely still, as if waiting for me to send ripples through it. But I was still scared. What if, when I dove off the blocks, I'd slip again? What if I hurt myself?
"I don't know," I told Adam truthfully, setting my goggles and cap on the side so that I could put my hair up. Quickly slipping on the cap and pulling the goggles on the top of my head, I regained a sliver of confidence. This was a familiar feeling. The tightness pulling at my head and the comforting strength the goggles held over my eyes.
"You can do it," Charlie stood up next to Adam, "I know you can." With a shaky leg, I put one foot on the blocks and then another. I cast another glance back at Adam and Charlie, standing side by side, totally meant for each other but not knowing it just yet. If I had it my way, they'd be together by the end of the week. But I remembered what it had been like for them to admit their feelings, not to each other, but to me. But how obvious it had been to me at the same time. I remembered how scared each boy had been to tell the other boy the truth about his sexuality. I remembered that it had been a living hell. And if they could do it, I knew that I owed it to them to show them I could do something too. Without a second thought, I precariously pushed myself up onto the block all the way. I could do this. My heart beat erratically, thumping in my ears. I took in a few breaths to steady myself and make sure that I didn't slip.
"Okay Kori," I whispered to myself, hearing it echo through the pool, "You can do this." Taking in one last breath, I bent down into a racing ready position.
"On your mark," the boys chanted, "Get set…" Before they could say 'go' I sprung myself off of the block and dove into the blue oasis. As I streamlined and surfaced, I took my first stroke in three years. And it felt good. The cool water slid off my body as I took another stroke. I reached the other end and did a flip-turn. I surfaced and stood on the shallow end of the pool. I did it. The grin on my face was only a trace of what I was feeling.
"You did it, Kori! I knew you could do it!" Adam walked quickly to where I was starting to get out of the pool. Charlie and Adam both pulled me out of the pool and hugged me, despite the fact that I was wet. I laughed as I retracted from the hug and ripped the cap and goggles off of my head. Dripping, I tackled both boys and pushed them into the pool, jumping in after them.
"Thank you guys so much!" I shouted at the top of my lungs happily. They smiled at me and then at each other before picking me up and throwing me back in. I came up sputtering and gave them a dangerous look.
"Oh it's war," I told them, "It's war!" I tackled them again, all three of us laughing like idiots. At least we were happy idiots.
I was still smiling when I got back to my dorm room later that night. I threw my bag of newly bought swimming equipment into the middle of the room and sighed happily. There was absolutely nothing that could possibly bring me down. At least I didn't think so.
"What's gotten into you?" Yolanda came out of the bathroom, grinning.
"I have the best friends in the world, you know that?" I told her, dropping onto my bed.
Yolanda laughed, "Well, Miss. Cheery, how about dinner? Just me and you. You can tell me everything that changed your mood from Miss. Depressed to Miss. Happy. This morning you were still moping around the room about…well you were moping. Now you're all cheerleader mode on me," she paused, "Does a certain boy by the name of Adam Banks have anything to do with this?"
"He has everything to do with it. Him and Charlie Conway," I said grinning crazily, "They're so sweet!" I started explaining everything that had happened to me that night and Yolanda listened intently, adding in the perfect sound effects at the perfect time. There was a knock at the door in the middle of the water fight amongst us. Yolanda rolled her eyes and opened it. It was Fulton.
"Hey Kori?" he said, slightly confused.
"Yeah?"
"Look out your window."
"Why?" I challenged.
"Just do it."
Yolanda and I exchanged curious glances and I headed over to the window. I gasped in surprise and half-horror at who I saw. Jesse Schroden. Making a fool out of himself outside my window. I opened the window and crossed my arms over my chest at the sign carrying man of my dreams. He held up a bright pink sign, not to be missed at all, with the words, 'I WAS WRONG' emblazoned across them. On his chest, he wore a sign that read, 'JACKASS OF THE MILLENIUM'.
"You were wrong?" I shouted down to him.
Jesse nodded, "Completely wrong. About everything. Please hear me out."
"And what are you going to do if I say no?"
"Beg you and not leave here until you say you'll listen to me."
I stared at him.
"Please, Kori. Just give me five minutes. That's all I need." A crowd had already started to form around Jesse, a total stranger on the Eden Hall campus. All eyes were on me and suddenly I felt like Juliet. Except without the tragedy part. I sighed and raced down the steps.
"Five minutes," I said to Jesse, panting, "And after that I can leave?"
"After the five minutes, if you still don't forgive me, you can slap me and never speak to me again," he said rather sincerely.
"Five minutes."
He smiled and grabbed my arm, leading me towards the back of the courtyard, where we'd have privacy. I gasped again. He planned this. There was a picnic blanket laid out on the grass, totally untouched by anything or anyone. I took a seat and he sat next to me. We were silent for a minute.
"Your five minutes are running cold," I told him matter-of-factly.
"Oh right," he snapped out of whatever daze he was in, "The truth is, Kori, I'm a jackass who couldn't see that what he'd been looking for was right in front of my face the whole time. What I said the other night was complete bullshit."
"Then why'd you say it?" I shot back at him, feeling tears tugging at my eyes. I turned away.
"Because I was scared," he admitted, "I was a freaking pansy. I was scared that if I commit to you, you'd find another rich guy and want to replace me completely. I didn't know if you were just saying that or something."
"But Jesse, I wouldn't do that to you. And I thought you knew that."
"I did. I just didn't know how much I still loved you. After you left, I waited for your call day after day. Bryan told me to just write you or call you or something. He told me I was wasting my time waiting. But I was too cowardly to look you up and contact you; I just kept waiting. After a month, I stopped waiting. I told myself that, if you hadn't called by then, you weren't interested. I was heartbroken and every night, I'd imagine you with some other preppy. I was training myself to get over you. And it was starting to work, at least until you called. It mixed everything up for me and I just didn't know what to do. A part of me told me to go back to you and another part of me told me that I'd gone this far already. I took the bastard's way out. And after I hung-up, I realized how much I still wanted you, missed you, needed you. So I told my foster parents about it and they bought me tickets to fly here and make it up to you. It was the first flight they could get," he paused and I could hear tears in his voice, "And I just wanted you to know that whatever happens tonight, I love you." And there were those three words in person. I turned to face him, tears brimming my eyes. He wasn't doing much better with his tears either. And that was my trigger. I burst into tears, sobbing because of the personal relief and because I didn't know what to do or what was right. Jesse looked startled for a moment before he reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. Seeing that I wasn't going to shrug him off, he scooted closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, hugging my tightly. I felt his body shake from the silent tears running down his cheeks.
"I just don't know anymore," I cried into him.
"D-don't know what?"
"I just don't know what's right."
"What feels right?"
I was silent. I stopped crying, though I didn't let go of Jesse. The sweet scent of him radiated through his body and it was familiar, a scent I was honestly clinging onto and never wanting to let go. What did I want? What felt right? I knew what I wanted, that was for sure. I just didn't know if it was the right thing to do. 'If you want it, then it's right.' I told myself.
"You," I replied in a barely audible tone. Jesse stopped for the moment; I felt him freeze. He pulled back from me a little and looked down into my eyes. I gazed right back at his. And there was a moment of magic that I would never forget ever again. Jesse tightened his grip around my waist and leaned down towards my lips. I met him halfway. We pulled apart and smiled at each other.
"I hope you're hungry," Jesse said after a moment of silence, getting up from our seated position. I was immediately cold. In my haste to leave the dorm room, I forgot to bring a jacket, assuming I'd only be outside for five minutes. But, just like Jesse, I forgot how much I loved him and wanted him.
"What do you mean?" I asked, shivering slightly.
"I brought dinner." He pulled out a picnic basket from behind a tree and started arranging the plates and the sandwiches out in front of me. He pulled out marble frosted brownies, my favorite.
"How did you…what…you planned this all!" I accused him, grinning.
"Guilty," he shrugged.
"But how did you know?"
"I didn't. I took my chances. You're definitely worth it."
"Well I'm glad I gave you five minutes. You can have to whole night now."
"Oh really? Feeling generous today, aren't we Korienna?"
"Don't call me Korienna!"
"Sure thing, Korienna!"
"Jesse!!"
He laughed and crawled over to me, hugging me and making me all warm and tingly inside. I hugged him back.
"Jesse?" I whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Don't leave."
"I don't want to, but I do have to go back on Sunday night for school…"
"No," I cut him off, "Don't ever leave me."
He nodded, knowing exactly what I meant, "I'm not that jackass anymore, Kori."
"Good."
Please Review!!
Jetta: hehe, well Adam can't ignore the love that's burning inside him for Charlie…hey that's good. Thanks! =D
LilRebl55: Awww…thanks so much!!! You're so sweet! Hey, my name's Mel too…well my nickname is. Whoa! That's such a coincidence! =D Sorry I'm a lil' hyper…
LB: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, that last chapter was short. I hope this one's better…
Chelsea: I'm sorry!! If you reviewed, maybe I accidentally missed it! But how? Your reviews are hard to miss =D…stupid me!! Well thanks so much for reading and loving this story. Oh yeah, Too Young will have a new chapter soon!
Hilde7085: Yeah, the swimming was in the 2nd chapter when they were talking about sports. Hehe, well you don't think I'd let them kiss that easily, do you? =D
Sphinx the Minx: We'll see a kiss soon. I'll tell you that much. It won't be in the next chapter, though. Maybe in two. =)
Moonlight Phoenix1: Awww, you're not a turd. It's okay. Hehe, he is a good girlfriend isn't he?
Eternity: Almost kissing is a good start to a relationship. =)
Hot-pepper96: Ah, don't worry abou it. It'll come. Soon.
Anne918: You were on the edge of your seat? Cool…never had that before. Well thanks!
Kellerielf: The confrontation of the century is in the next chapter!!! Whos POV do you suggest? Oh and I hope this is soon enough =D