"Stay away from my boyfriend," a very pissed voice spat at me. I turned around and saw Sara glaring at me. I really should learn to just stay at home.

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Bradin Westerly is mine so back off!" Sara hissed.

"Okay, he's not 'yours'. He isn't a possession. You don't own him. And I'm quite fine with staying away from him, there's nothing going on, we're just friends. God, lower your hackles and sheath your claws!" I answered evenly.

"You're threatening people now?" Bradin exclaimed, popping up once more.

"Bradin, you were the one who made such a huge deal about exclusivity," Sara told him, somewhat guiltily, "I just wanted to make sure things were clear."

"I can't believe you!" Bradin frowned. He turned to me, "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you always talking to her!" Sara whined. Always?

"Why are you being so possessive?" Bradin asked back.

I attempted to slip away from the bickering couple but they were blocking my exit. I cleared my throat and muttered, "Er, could I just?" and motioned at the door.

"I'm not being possessive! Bradin, I thought you cared about me!" Sara exclaimed, ignoring me.

"I do-" Bradin said.

"Whatever!" Sara huffed before leaving.

I was about to follow when Bradin looked over at me and said, "I really am sorry that she threatened you."

"Oh, don't worry about it." I brushed off.

"Did you say we were friends earlier?" He smiled slightly.

"Slip of the tongue, I'm sure," I answered, though I couldn't prevent a tiny smile from playing on my lips. "Aren't you going to go after her?"

"If I went after her after every fight we have, I'd never stop running," Bradin sighed. So the girl he kissed me to get wasn't even worth that much to him. That's lovely, Bradin.

"Right, well, I've got to go," I said, shifting past him.

"Will we ever be able to be friends?" Bradin asked me.

I just looked at him. Him with the killer body and the sexy voice. Him with the pretty girlfriend and the shallow former friends. I wanted to just get over it. I wanted to go back to thinking Bradin was perfect. I wanted more than anything to accept his friendship.

"If you can remember even a glimmer of who I was in Kansas," I answered quietly.

"I know you now, isn't that enough?" Bradin said. "I want to know who you are, who you were, just give me a chance to. Talk to me, let me in."

I smiled at him but without another word, I left.


Third Person

Bradin ran a hand through his blonde hair and sighed. This was not a good day. On his way back to his house, he ran into Nikki.

"Is she still mad at you?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah, Jessica is still avoiding me." Bradin answered.

"I meant Sara…" Nikki raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, right, she is too," Bradin rolled his eyes. With a flash, it suddenly occurred to Bradin that Nikki had made mention of Jessica's familiarity the first time they met. "Wait, remember when you said Jessica was familiar?"

"Oh yeah, I figured out why she was familiar. Did you know she's from our town in Kansas?" Nikki said brightly.

"That's one of the reason's why she's pissed." Bradin replied, rubbing his forehead.

"You didn't remember her?" Nikki frowned.

"You didn't right away, either," Bradin protested.

"Well, she didn't go to my school," Nikki said.

"Okay, do you remember anything about her from Kansas?" Bradin asked.

"Um, she went to our church…" Nikki answered thoughtfully. "Why don't you just check your yearbook?"

That would be smart, Bradin thought. "Thanks Nik," he grinned at her before jogging the rest of the way to the house.

Once he had his yearbook opened, he still couldn't find her. He searched through the entire section on his grade but to no avail. Bradin frowned at the yearbook in confusion. Why couldn't he find her?

"That's pathetic, I hope you know."

Bradin looked up and found Jessica standing in his doorway. "Nikki let me in. You know, when I said remember who I was in Kansas, I didn't mean go flipping in your yearbook. That's cheating." She smiled.

He smiled guiltily and looked embarrassed. Jessica laughed and kneeled next to him, pulling the yearbook a little closer to her. She flipped a few pages back and pointed.

"Wrong year," Jessica told him.

"Grade 9?" Bradin gasped in astonishment.

"I'm just starting freshman year," Jessica said. "You didn't even know how old I was, that's nice."

"I just assumed you were my age, you look older than you are." Bradin answered apologetically. "Sorry…"

"Do you know anything about me?" the girl questioned.

"I know your name is Jessica Wong, you're new to Playa Linda, you obviously care a lot about school from the way you were studying, you're sweet, and you're someone I want to be friends with," Bradin replied.

"Just friends, huh?" Sara yelled, arriving in the doorway.

"God, is she always around?" Jessica muttered under her breath.

"We were just talking, Sara." Bradin answered tiredly.

"And now we're done." Jessica said, standing up and leaving.

"Must you drive away any girl that talks to me?" Bradin bit out irritably at Sara.

Sara walked in and hugged him, shocking him enough that he nearly fell back. "I just don't want to lose you, Bradin. You're coming with me tonight to Mexico, right?"

Bradin hugged her back but in his mind he knew that her crazy antics would end their relationship and before the day was over, she'd be unbelievably pissed at him.

"Sure, yeah."

Sara was plotting to run away to live with her 'aunt' in Mexico because her parents were going to send her to some horrible boarding school. Earlier that day, unbeknownst to Sara, Bradin had visited her house and had seen the parents who Sara had claimed were vacationing. Bradin had discovered that Sara had been lying about nearly everything. Tonight was the night he got her help and it was also the night he would break the relationship they had. He knew Sara would have a hard time forgiving him but it was the right thing to do. He couldn't just let her run away. Her safety was more important than their relationship.