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Only the sound of our breathing was there to break the silence. Miley was only inches away from me. Our bodies almost touching, our faces closer than they should be. I had not yet let go of her hand, and she was glancing from my eyes and down to our hands and then back again. "You make me feel like I am flying," I whispered truthfully.

Her eyes shifted to look back down at her feet, and suddenly my brain caught up with my heart. What was I doing here? I couldn't do this. I had a girlfriend. I released my grip on her hand and stepped back. Miley's eyes stayed glued to her feet. She still said nothing. Without thinking once again, I blurted out, "Why are you always so quiet and shy?"

Her eyes glanced upward towards me and she shrugged a bit before mumbling, "I'm really never shy. I never have been before. It just sort of seems to be around you." That caught me off guard. I was flattered, and yet at the same time, I was hurt. I wanted her to feel comfortable around me. I wanted her to talk non-stop and come out of her shell. I wanted to know everything about this girl

"Let's go," I said impulsively.

She stared at me, stunned. "Nick, it's the middle of class."

"So what? Do you think Ms. Algoquin would notice? Live a little Miles." With that, I took her hand in mine once more and led her off stage and through the empty seats to the front door of the auditorium, all with little resistance from her.

I didn't have a license or a car yet, so we had to walk. Of course, we didn't get caught. There was no one there to catch us. We walked in silence for a while, hand in hand, when suddenly she turned to me. "Where are we going?" she demanded softly.

I just chuckled a little bit, "You'll see." She stuck her tongue out at me teasingly, and I just beamed at her and began walking again.

Soon, we were turning onto the street we lived on, and finally recognizing her surroundings, Miley nervously exclaimed, "Nick! What if my parents see us?"

"Are they home?" I asked suppressing a laugh. Clearly, she was not used to skipping, or breaking rules for that matter.

"…no." She admitted, abashed.

"Then, I don't see the problem Miles." I said, leading her up my front steps and opening the door. "No one is going to catch us. Don't worry."

She just looked at me and I could see how nervous she was in her eyes. There was something about her manner that told me she wasn't just nervous because she had never skipped before. She was nervous because of something that had happened when she skipped. I wanted to ask her about it. I wanted to know everything about her, but I held myself back from asking for the time being, and led her through my front door. Miley's eyes darted about the house, as if she were expecting her parents to walk right out of my living room like they lived there.

"Are you sure no one is home?" she asked in a nervous whisper.

I found myself laughing. "Miley. I promise you. No one is home. We are not going to get caught." I grabbed her hand in mine and headed for the stairs. She seemed to be passively resisting every move I made and I could still see the look in her eyes that clearly said 'bad skipping experience' to me. "Miles, have you ever skipped before?" I asked her with a teasing smile, all the while trying to get her to move faster towards the stairs. However, walking and telling the story that came along with her answer did not seem to be two things that went together very well. Because, with a deep sigh, she stopped walking all together and launched into story.

"Of course I have, Nick. I'm not seven." She muttered sarcastically and I let out a small chuckle. "Back home, I used to always skip and stay home with my…. Uh, with Justin." She glanced down a bit, and I found myself looking at her questioningly, hoping that maybe just my gaze would tell me what I wanted most to know at that moment. Had she been about to say 'my boyfriend'? Or was that just my over active mind playing tricks on me? "And then one time, well, my parents came home early. I guess it was lucky they did, but I still was in a load of trouble."

"Why was it lucky that they came home?" I asked her in a soft tone. She had just opened her mouth to answer after a somewhat nervous pause, when the door came crashing open, causing us both to jump about a foot in the air. However, it seemed I would get lucky today, because instead of Kevin walking through the door, Joe was making his way through the entry with an awfully disheveled looking girl carried in his arms bridle style.

We both looked at each other in shock before asking at the same time, "What are you doing here?!" I saw his eyes dart to where Miley was standing next to me and a horrible look of hatred was shot back at me. I wasn't worried about that though, because with a shock I had finally realized that it was Selena draped in his arms.

"Sel?" came a shocked voice that wasn't my own. Miley had darted forward to look up at Joe questioningly. He just shot a glance at me and then nodded knowingly at Miley. Her entire face fell with what I could only guess was guilt, though I couldn't guess why she would blame herself for Selena's current condition. After all, she had been with me the whole time. She couldn't have possibly done anything to cause anyone harm.

I walked forward to try and take Selena out of Joe's arms. We needed to lie her down somewhere and figure out what was wrong. "What happened Joe? Is she okay?" I asked with fear running through my voice. She should have been happily in choir class. How in the world had she ended up like this? Joe quickly stepped back from my open arms though and shot me the same look of hate.

"I think you've done enough Nick." He practically spat in my direction. I heard a sob and spun around just in time to see Miley dart from the room. What in the sane world was going on? I followed Joe silently up the stairs to his room, where he placed Selena onto his bed, tucking the covers around her. He was staring down at her with such concern, I felt almost intrusive standing there.

"Is she okay?" I repeated stupidly.

"She's fine now. Finally cried herself to sleep." Joe said before he quickly spun me around and shoved me out of his door, slamming it shut behind me.