A/N: Chapter 2 here! Hope you all like! And I forgot to say; Katie's mom is single. I don't think that will affect anything but just so you know. I know it's a bit rushed but I just write like that. I will add plot twists so I can extend it as far out as I can without boring anyone to death.

---Chapter 2---

"So you're staying for the next couple weeks?" Katie asked, watching Zack look around the room.

"Yep," he replied, setting down his bag and laying his guitar case against the wall.

"Awesome," she smiled.

"So what do you want to do?" Zack asked.

"We could go swimming," Katie suggested.

"Sure."

When Katie emerged from her room in her bathing suit, Zack couldn't help but notice. She was toned, to say the least. She was wearing a black and white checkered bikini. Her long dark hair was put up into a ponytail.

She snatched two towels from the hall closet. Then she noticed Zack staring. "What?" she inquired.

Zack came out of his trance. "Nothing."

"Good," she laughed. "I thought I might have something on my face or something," she said as she threw a towel to Zack. "Come on, I wanna go swimming before it gets too late."

Katie led Zack to her backyard. It was really nice. She had tiki torches that were posted around the border of that patio. In the center, there was a large in-ground pool. Since it was getting dark, the light underneath the surface of the water was turned on. Zack knew, from experience, that Katie's pool was heated.

Katie set the towels down on the patio table and walked over to the diving board. She walked to the edge and jumped off. Katie dove in without a splash.

"Nice," Zack complimented when she emerged at the opposite side of the pool where she had entered.

"Thanks."

Zack walked over to the diving board. He walked on top of it and when he reached the edge, he bounced a little and then her jumped on it really hard and did a flip into the water.

"Didn't that hurt?" Kati asked, noting that he had hit the water on his back.

"Not really," he laughed, rubbing his back.

"Right," she said, imitating Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies.

"You know, you are a really big dork."

"That may be true but I'm the dork you love."

Zack's face went pale. How did she know? He decided to try and play it cool. "Who told you that?" he said as he splashed her.

Katie rubbed her eyes, since she had gotten water in them. "Oh, I'm gonna get you."

"Sure you are," he teased as he swam around the pool to avoid her splashes.

"I am!" she announced as she dove on top of him, trying to force him underwater. It was a difficult struggle. He was pretty strong. "Get underwater damn you!"

"Right after you do," he said as he pushed her underwater.

"How was that fair?" Katie asked after she surfaced. "You're two times stronger than me!"

"Well, I saw an opportunity to dunk my good friend underwater, and I took it. Is that such a bad thing?" Zack asked with puppy dog eyes.

Katie nodded. "Yes."

"Oh well," Zack said as he elevated himself out of the pool.

"Hey, where are you going?" she asked.

"To the diving board," Zack replied.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Katie now knew why Zack was one of the more popular kids in school. He was ripped and was a really cool kid. Zack was approachable and was nice to almost everyone. Why the knowledge dawned on Katie now, she wasn't sure. But for some reason, it made Zack more attractive.

She had always seen Zack as one of her best friends. She had never thought of him as anything more than that but something had changed within those brief moments. Plus, Freddy had told her earlier that week that Zack liked her but was shy about it. That was Freddy for you; always spilling people's secrets to the people they don't want to know the most. It's what the kid did best.

Katie watched intently as Zack did a simple pencil dive into the water.

"Very impressive," Katie teased as she rolled her eyes jokingly.

"Like you could do better!" Zack challenged.

"I can, and I will. My pencil dive will be straighter and tighter than yours."

"Sure it will."

Katie stepped out of the pool and shuddered a little as her wet body hit the night air. She had forgotten how late it was to be swimming. Zack's mom had dropped him off at 5; they got in the pool at 5:20, and had been swimming for about 2 hours. So Katie's estimation assumed the time to be around 7:20.

"After this, we should get out okay?" Katie said as she stepped onto the diving board.

"Sure," Zack replied while doing the backstroke.

Katie hopped on the diving board and entered the water perfectly. That had to be straighter than his!, she thought to herself. Suddenly she felt a sharp stinging pain at the bottom of her leg. Katie surfaced quickly.

"Ow," she winced as she made her way to the ladder of the pool.

"What?" Zack asked worried that she might be hurt.

Katie didn't answer and got out of the pool to inspect her leg. Zack followed.

"I scratched up the back of my leg," she told him.

Sure enough, there were pink scratches, which were beginning to seep red blood, covering the back of her left leg. They went from the back of her knee all the way down to her ankle.

"We should get you inside," Zack said draping a towel around Katie and then one around himself.

"I suppose we should."

Katie tried to stand up but since the scratches had hit the air, they limited her from walking. "Damn," she winced.

"Let's give this a shot," Zack said, swinging his arm around her waist and gently pulling her upward, "We can walk together. I can be the left side of you're body."

They hobbled towards the door. Zack leaned forward to open the door and Katie almost fell over but he caught her just in time.

Katie found herself three feet away from the ground, which was covered in her towel, with Zack's hand supporting her. It felt warm against her bare back ((A/N: Sorry to break in but, she's wearing a bikini, remember!)).

Zack wasn't sure what made him do it but he leaned in towards her, his face only centimeters away from hers. Katie leaned closer towards him to fill those centimeters up and their lips touched. There was certain purity to the kiss. It was simple and only lasted a mere few seconds. It was special though since it was both of the teens' first kiss.

Zack pulled back, blushing, and Katie just smiled warmly.

"I had…uh…better get the…erm…door," Zack stuttered.

"Yeah," Katie replied.

He carefully opened the door, trying not to drop her again. This time he succeeded in getting Katie into the house. Zack helped Katie make her way to the couch and then he set her down.

"MOM!" Katie yelled with surprising volume.

Zack just looked at her blankly.

"3 years of cheerleading and 4 concerts," she said, explaining why her voice was so loud.

Ms. Brown came running.

"Katie? Are you okay?" she asked, wondering if there was a serious problem.

"Mrs. Brown, she scratched up the back of her leg in the pool."

"Yeah," Katie said, "I think I dove off the diving board and caught my leg on the edge."

"Let me see," Mrs. Brown said, carefully examining Katie's leg. "I don't think you'll need a doctor but that is a pretty bad tear. Zack? Could you get some paper towels so she doesn't drip blood on the floor?"

"Sure," Zack said running off to the kitchen.

"I saw you two out there just now," Mrs. Brown said to Katie after Zack was out of earshot.

"Mom! You were spying on us!" Katie said quietly.

"No, I just happened to look out the window and there you two were in a compromised position."

"You never saw anything, okay?" Katie told her mother.

"I did see something but I won't bring it up again," Mrs. Brown responded.

"Fine," Katie said as Zack entered the room with two handfuls of paper towels.

"These are wet so you can clean her leg up and these are dry."

"Thank you. Katie, wipe your leg off with this," Mrs. Brown said, handing her a wet paper towel. "When you're done, you can dry your leg off with this one," handing Zack a dry one. "Give it to her when she needs it. I'm going to get some Neosporin and band-aids," she said. The teens nodded obediently and Mrs. Brown left.

"So, what happened outside just a second ago," Zack started, trying to explain.

"Was really nice," Katie finished. "No need to explain. And I figure I should tell you, Freddy told me about you liking me," she said, wiping her leg.

"He did?" Zack said with a mixture of surprise and a little frustration. "When?"

"Earlier this week. It's okay though since I like you too."

"You do?" Zack asked in disbelief. Wow, I seem smart, Zack thought to himself, his thought dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah," Katie replied.

A/N: Okay so that was chapter 2. I hoped you liked it.

proud2bME and Marcy Bayd-- I only used Axe because all my friends seem to love it. I have never smelled it before but it won't come up in the story again so be happy! And if it weren't for people who loved SoR romance fics, I would probably be a very unsuccessful writer. )