It was Friday afternoon, and Scarlett had just dropped herself on to her bed after a very long day at school. It had not been the best day for Scarlett. And it doesn't take much imagination to guess who was responsible for it all.

Jesse.

Scarlett had been planning on keeping Saturday a secret. She didn't want anyone thinking that she was going on a date with Jesse. (And she refused to believe it was a date) But apparently he had other ideas. He had come up to her at the start of class and told her how happy he was that they were finally going on their date tomorrow. Of course what made it even worse was that he had said it with a smug smile that told her he knew exactly what he was doing. Scar looked behind him at everyone's shocked faces. They had heard everything he said. The moment he walked into the room everyone had stopped talking and followed him with their eyes as he walked to the back of the room. (Scarlett was still trying to figure out why people did that but she wasn't having much luck with it.)

"It's not a date." She had said through gritted teeth. Why did he have to do this now? And in front of the whole class room!

"Sure it's not." Jesse said. After saying it he turned around to the class full of students and winked. Making it known that he thought it was very much considered a date. When it so was not!

Scarlett had just been about to say something that would have gotten her a week's worth of detention if the teacher had heard, when the bell rang for class to begin and Jesse walked to his seat while Mr. Paden called the class to attention.

After that little incident, Scar had tried to avoid Jesse all day long in fear that he might try to pull another stunt like he did that morning, only with more people involved and listening. Unfourtunatly, every where Scar looked, there he was. He was always just a step behind her or he would suddenly appear in front of her. Like he was following her just to get her mad. Well, it worked. By the end of the day Scarlett was practically spilling smoke out of her ears.

She had even tried to tell him to stop following her when he had just magically appeared right next to her, making her choke on the water she had drunk at the fountain. Because it wasn't like he had just walked over. No, it was more like he materialized right next to her. One minute she's alone and then - Poof! He appears. It might have been the only magic trick she wished she never had to see again. Of course, that was the reason she kept getting so shocked about it. She had no warning what so ever of him coming towards her.

"Would you stop that!" She had yelled, wiping water off her chin with her sleeve. Well, yelled as loudly as she could with a whole bunch of teachers and students hanging all around her.

"Stop what?" He asked with an overly dramatic innocent face.

"This! Following me around and showing up when I least expect it. I swear I'm about this close -" she held up her forefinger and thumb together so it only had a little gap between them "- to calling the cops and reporting you for stalking me." Of course, it was only an empty threat. They were in school and she didn't have any proof of his stalking her. But all he did was laugh and walk away saying, "See you tomorrow."

At that moment all she had wanted to do was walk up to him, turn him around, and punch him as hard as she could in the face and hope something broke. But she never got the chance. Unfourtunatly.

So now, Scarlett sat on her bed playing guitar and thinking of ways to get out of tomorrow.

She could claim to get a cold. But what if he came over anyway to find out if she really was sick? She couldn't fake that. And she was healthy all day today. He would know she was lying.

She could say she had to spend the day with Anna. But if he called Anna to confirm this she would say she didn't know anything about it. And Anna would never go along with it. She's all about giving people a chance. Scar does that to but she knows the type of people to give a chance to and the people you don't. Jesse was one of the dont's. Anna probably wouldn't go alone with it so that idea was out.

She had no idea what to do. She did not want to be alone with Jesse for any amount of time. But she didn't see how she could get out of it. She could just call him up and say she didn't want to go. But even though she could be mean when she wanted to be, that doesn't mean she was evil. She couldn't be mean to anyone who didn't do anything to her. Jesse had done something to her. He had annoyed her... That didn't seem like a ligit reason though.

Unfortunately, She decided to just let him come. If she needed to she could run away from him in the woods. No one knew that place better than Scarlett. She spends half her time there. And if he did turn out to be an evil freak, she could run. She was also a very fast runner. Fastest in the school. She could beat every person on the track team and their track team was one of the best. She was pretty sure she could out run Jesse if she needed to. She hoped she wouldn't.

The next morning, Scarlett had woken up at 7:00 and had gotten everything ready for the days hiking trip. She had packed plenty of food and water, a first aid kit, a sweat shirt if it rained, bug repellent, and sun screen, all in side the back pack she used on her trips in the forest. She always thought ahead to anything that might happen. She had even brought a flip out knife. Her mom had given it to her a couple of years back when her father had... disappeared. Now, she carried it everywhere, except school. It was small enough to fit in her pocket when it was closed. And Scarlett knew how to use it. She liked practicing with her knife. She had always imagined that the tree in her back yard was a bad guy and she would slash at it. It now had a bunch of knife marks in the bark. Of course, she hoped she never had to do that to a real person. She didn't think she would be able to anyway.

It was 8:30 by the time Scar had everything packed and ready. She was dressed in her sneakers, that were covered in mud from all the times she'd been out there, and her shorts and a shirt that said "Desire to win with the will to succeed", and her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Now, she was just waiting to see if Jesse would actually show. She hoped he wouldn't. Not that she wanted to be stood up but she also didn't want to spend that much time with Jesse. Especially since she barely knew the guy. And what she did know, she wasn't so sure she liked.

So when 8:50 came and she heard a knock at the door, she crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped it wasnt him. She walked to the door and when she opened it, she groaned.

"Good to see you too." Jesse said with one of those smiles that turned other girls into jelly but just bugged Scarlett. He was dressed similar to her with shorts and a tee-shirt with sneakers.

Scarlett said nothing in return but instead just turned around on her heel and walked back to the kitchen where everything was, leaving the door open for Jesse to come in. He followed her to the kitchen after closing the door behind him. Scar reached inside the back pack and pulled out a big piece of white paper folded up like a map- A homemade map made by Scarlett.

She unfolded the map and laid it on the counter so Jesse could come over and see it.

"What's that?" He asked.

"It's a map of the forest we're going to be hiking in."

"You made this?" He looked mildly impressed.

"Yes. No one had these woods made into trails. I'm not really sure why but they didn't. So, for a couple of years, I've done it. But I'm the only one who knows about the trails and how they're laid out. No random by passer can follow them."

"Why?" He had to many questions already.

Scar sighed and said, "Because I didn't make a trail on the ground. I made it on the trees. And each trail leads to a different place, and they are not just straight forward. So, if you were to see one of my ribbons tied to a branch on one of the trees, you most likely wouldn't find another one of the same color. They're a lot of twists and turns to reach each ribbon."

"Why did you make it like that?"

"Because I don't want other people to be able to follow me in there." she snapped.

"Okay." He nodded. "But why would you have ribbons and a map if you already knew how the land was laid out?"

Scar looked up at Jesse and said, "Because. Only I know where the ribbons are tied and where they lead. So, I put them there so I won't get lost. Even if I know the land there is still a chance I can get lost in it. And the map is so I can memorize the trails I put down. If I put down a new trail, I want to make sure I know exactly where it leads and the places it leads to."

"Make's sense. But what does each trail lead to?"

"Do you ever say anything that isn't a question?" She finally snapped.

Jesse laughed and said, "Yes. I just like to know everything about what I'm doing."

"Well you could always leave and save the trouble of learning." She smiled sweetly at him and batted her eye lashes sarcastically.

"Nope. You're not getting rid of me that easy. I'm way to interested now."

"Darn."

Jesse laughed at her. He needed to stop finding everything so amusing. "So really. What do these trails leads to." He said once he stopped chuckling.

There were three trails on the map already. The red one, the blue one, and the yellow one. "The Red trail leads to a river that passes through the forest." She pointed to the Red dots that were scattered on the map. "The yellow leads to a meadow." She pointed at the yellow dots. "And the blue... leads to my place." She pointed at the blue dots.

"Your place? Why would you make a trail that leads right back to the start?"

"It doesn't." She replied. "Her place" was a cottage that her dad had built for her when she was 12. He had always taken her on trips through the woods. And when he found a place that had no trees in it he decided to build a cottage for her. That's how Scarlett had gotten in to going through the woods. It reminded her of her father. The Blue trial was the first one she had made, even though she knew by heart how to get there. The cottage wasnt big. Her dad had told her that he was going to build it for her so she could come and play in it when she wanted. Or watch the stars (She did that all the time). Or just to get away from everything. She did that now. All the time. When her mom wasnt home she would run to the cottage and just sit there and imagine her father was there with her.

She didn't tell Jesse all of this of course. She just told him what it was and that her father had built it for her.

"That's nice. You have a great dad if he did that for you. Where is he now?"

Unfortunately Scarlett could feel tears start to come to her eyes. She couldn't talk about her dad. To anyone.

"We should really get going if we wanna get home by dark." When she said this, her voice cracked so it was obvious she was going to cry and Jesse seemed to realized this. His eyes widened and he looked stricken. And slightly worried. Weird.

"Hey. Why are you crying?" He reached his hand out to her arm but before he could touch her, she turned away from him. She walked over to her back pack and pretended to look for something in it while she wiped her tears indiscreetly with the back of her hand. She hadn't wanted Jesse to touch her. She knew it would only make her think of her dad more and she would just start crying all over again. The worst part was that he actually seemed to care. When he had seen her start to cry and he had actually tried to comfort her. But she knew she couldn't trust Jesse. She knew his type and it wasnt good. So unless he proved to her, really showed that he wasn't who she thought he was, then she could trust him. But even then she wouldn't tell him about her father. That she couldn't tell him. She wouldn't.

"We need to get going. Grab the map." Was all she said. He did what he was told and he didn't push the subject any farther. Good.

Scarlett strapped on her back pack and started walking to the back door with Jesse not far behind her. They walked out of the house and before Scar hit the trees she turned around and asked Jesse which trail he wanted to take.

"It's my choice?" He asked. He seemed surprised but pleased by this. Scarlett nodded. "Okay... can we take the Blue path?"

Scarlett looked down at the ground and said "No." as firmly as possible.

"Oh, come on. Why not? I want to see the cottage."

"No. I've never taken anyone there before and You are not going to be the first."

Jesse looked at her closely. He knew this was about her father and he knew the true meaning of what she said was "I've never taken anyone but my father there before and I don't want anyone else there besides him". So after a few seconds he nodded and said that he wanted to go to the river.

"Good choice." she said and turned on her heel, walking to the forest.