Author's Note: To clear up any questions, this takes place in the span of a year. It starts the summer before Senior Year (in this one, Toby is in the same grade as Spencer, Hanna, Caleb, Emily, etc. and still goes to school) and ends the spring of Senior Year. Also, there's one section for each season (summer, autumn, winter, spring).

Day One-Hundred Forty-Four: Kissing You by Taylor Wagner

"Toby, no!" she squealed.

I grabbed her. "Spence, I'm taking you on the roller coaster."

She cried again, "No! Please, no!"

"Oh, come on, Spencer!" Hanna teased. "Just try it," she insisted before taking a piece of her pink cotton candy. They matched her nails perfectly.

She groaned. "Toby—"

"Come on. How about…if you get scared, you can hold my hand?" I proposed.

She thought about it for a minute more. "Fine," she huffed finally. "One ride. And you have to win me…" she began as she started to look around. She finally pointed at a big stuffed purple dolphin. "…That dolphin."

"Fine," I agreed. She reluctantly followed me up to the roller coaster. She looked really nervous. "I promise that you'll like it."

She frowned. "It looks really scary, Toby. I hate roller coasters," she lamented again.

"I think you'll like this one."

As soon as we sat down, she reached for my hand. I could already tell how nervous she was biting down on her lip.

When we got off the ride, my hand had begun to fall asleep from Spencer holding it so tightly. She ran over to Hanna immediately.

"That was amazing!" she shouted before giving Hanna a hug and taking some of her cotton candy.

"Hey, get your boyfriend to get you your own!" Hanna responded as Spencer went in for a second bite.

Spencer and I both blushed at the use of the word "boyfriend."

"So I guess now you get to spend forty dollars trying to get her that dolphin!" Caleb reminded me from behind.

Spencer bit her lip before telling me, "I think I have better ways you can pay me back." She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around my shoulders before kissing me. I think my heart beat faster than it had the whole roller coaster ride. I got that same numb feeling I got in my hand all over my body from kissing her.

"Wow."

She bit her lip. "That was way better than the dolphin."

Spencer took my hand as we walked home from school. The leaves were starting to fall and it was a cool autumn day.

"Did you finish your half of the French project?" she asked.

"Yes, Spence," I answered.

She smiled. "We're definitely getting an A on that project. Your French has definitely been improving since I started tutoring you," she said suggestively.

"Speaking of which, are you coming over to tutor me today?" I asked.

"Actually, my parents aren't here. My dad has a huge case in New York, so he's there for a week and my mom is in England, helping Melissa and her fiancé plan their wedding. She's not coming back until Tuesday which means…I have the house to myself for the weekend," she continued. "Do you want to come over to study French?" she asked.

"Is 'studying' just term for 'making out' by any other name?" I inquired.

She got closer to me. "Do you want it to be?"

I smiled. "I'll do whatever you want to do," I answered as we turned the corner onto her street. "I like kissing you, but I think my math skills could use some work, and since you're good at everything—"

"Is flattery your form of seduction?" she asked as we stopped in front of her house.

"Depends. Is it working?"

She smiled. "You tell me," she responded before kissing me. "We have the whole weekend, remember?" she asked.

We started off by actually studying. First, we studied for math. BC Calculus was hard. I knew Spencer would probably get a 5 on that AP, but I wasn't so sure I'd do as well. Then, we went to AP Chemistry, to which both of us made lame pick-up lines about how the two of us "had chemistry together" and other stuff along those lines. Afterwards, we moved onto Psychology. Spencer was definitely getting high marks on that AP. Lastly, we moved onto French, right after Spencer had ordered in pizza.

"Toby, you keep putting all the accents in the wrong place!" she scolded as she looked over my paper and took another slice of pizza. "We're in French V."

"I'm sorry. I can't help that I was kind of distracted."

"By what? The pizza?" she asked before taking another bite. She continued to correct my paper. I couldn't help but notice how perfect her hair looked or how cute it was when she bit her lower lip slightly.

"Nope."

She looked like she blushed slightly. She finally looked up at me. "Are you finished?"

I didn't answer.

"Toby," she whined.

"I love you, Spencer," I admitted finally.

She was caught off guard. She just took the plates and brought them to the sink. She closed the pizza box. She still hadn't answered. It was making me a little nervous.

"I love you, too," she responded finally as she set down her pen and pushed the paper aside. "Your spelling in French is horrendous, but that's another story for another day—"

"Spence," I started with a slight smile.

"What? I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it's actually decent—"

"Just come here."

I pulled her close to me. Things got heated very quickly and before we both knew it, we were stumbling upstairs and falling onto her bed.

"Are you sure this isn't too fast?"

She shook her head. "I feel safe with you."

"Why did you get me anything?" she inquired as we sat in my apartment, opening gifts. I had just turned eighteen and the second I did, I wanted to move out of my dad's house.

It was Christmas and since I was already kind of struggling with everything, she insisted that I didn't get her anything. But I couldn't resist.

"Oh, relax, Spencer. It's just one present. I don't think you'll find I spent an exorbitant amount of money on it," I assured her. I got her to stand up and took her by the hand. I kissed her softly on the lips. To be totally honest, I'd be fine with just a simple kiss from her being my Christmas present. I got that same excited feeling kissing her like little kids get on Christmas morning, right before they open up their presents.

I put my hands over her eyes. "Don't look."

"I can't look!" she replied.

I opened the door to my room, where her present was waiting for her.

"Toby, it's beautiful," she commented as soon as I uncovered her eyes. She ran her fingers over the smooth wood of the rocking chair I had made for her.

"So you like it?"

"I love it." She replied.

"Am I taking it back to your house when I drop you back home?" I asked.

She sat in it and rocked for a few moments before deciding. "No. This feels more like home than my house ever did. I think this is where I want to keep it," she decided as she continued to touch the smooth wood. It gave me this amazing feeling to just see her admiring something that I'd made for her. "I love you," she added, breaking me out of my reverie.

I smiled before kissing her. I was out of breath and my heart was racing by the time she pulled away. I could still barely wrap my head around it: Spencer was my girl. It made me so happy to think about every single time.

She grabbed my hands and smiled. "I don't know how I got so lucky to have you," she decided finally. Really, I was the lucky one.

I played with a little wildflower I'd picked up as we were lying down. Spencer was watching it change from day to night.

"It's nice seeing the stars," she commented.

I finally looked up from the tiny purple flower to see that it was pretty much nighttime now.

"You can barely see them in the middle of Rosewood," she added. It was silent for a moment. "Do you ever wonder what lies beyond?" she inquired cryptically.

"Sometimes," I responded laconically.

"I don't just mean outside of the planet, Toby. I mean…outside of our stupid town in Pennsylvania," she added as she sat up.

I sat up as well. "Of course. Where are you going with this…?"

She shrugged. "I just…I'm scared about going to college. I've lived in this dumb town my entire life and I'm kind of scared that I won't be ready for what a big city like New York has to offer."

"Spencer," I began, "you're going to love New York. I already know you. You can handle anything and everything New York has to offer. And if you ever get scared…you can hold my hand."

"It'll be pretty hard holding your hand if you're a hundred miles away," she reminded me with a pout.

I smiled. "It'll be a lot easier if I'm in the same city as you," I reminded her.

She looked very confused. "Toby, I thought you were going to Hollis—"

"I just got a letter from NYU and I got in. When I told my father, he even offered to help me by paying for some of my tuition."

"Toby! That's amazing!" She put her hand on my neck as she inched closer to me.

"I know it's not Columbia and it's not an Ivy League—"

She scoffed. "Oh, shut up. You sound like my parents. Besides, NYU is still ranked #32 on the list of best colleges in the United States. My mom is going to be so happy for you when she finds out!"

"Will this allow your dad to look at me without cringing?" I inquired hopefully.

"Yes," she assured me before kissing me. "I'm so proud of you, Toby." I could tell by the way her eyes sparkled that she was being sincere.

I felt like this was all too good to be true. I had an amazing girlfriend. It felt like we barely even struggled in the very first year of our relationship. Now, just when we thought distance would get in between us, I somehow got into an amazing college. But above all of that, it was in the same city as her new college. Was fate really being that kind to us?

She pulled me out of my thoughts with a simple kiss to the lips. She then hugged me. "Don't let me go?"

I shook my head as a small smile spread across my lips. "Never."

AL3110: Eh, they're okay. I don't get the whole, "Eyes are the windows to the soul" crap. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, my soul is really dark. Hey, maybe it's accurate. I can write music like LDR. Eh, point taken. Your voice has a cute accent and everything. Lol my hair isn't done like ever. Glad you liked it :) And it seems my three readers liked it, too, so nothing to blame you for.

Sarah:I should send you the second chapter of my book and then we can talk. Seriously. It sucked. It was awful. Even Audrey, who I know loves me dearly, told me it sucked, and I totally believe her. Thank you. I try. Sometimes. Other times, I'm just like, "Eh, whatever." I know, right? I actually don't hate it. At first, when Toby was revealed as A, I kind of thought there was something between him and Mona (which would be really awkward, the first reason being that he's a foot taller than her, and...I really don't need anymore reasons). Thank God that was not the case. Whatever. That's probably as much Toby/Mona as you'll ever see me write.

MilaMizz:I love Mowgli. And Pandora. But I really love Mowgli. I haven't written about the cats in what feels like a while. My eyes could never be red. That's kind of scary. My eyes are really, really dark brown. From far away, they look like the same colour as the pupils of my eyes. You can try to explain. I'll try to understand. I'm just warning you that it's darker (though you saw the excerpt, so you'll know already).

The next one-shot is going to be Birds of a Feather by The Civil Wars. It's a good song and I'm kind of proud of myself because I can play it on the guitar. Yay, Kayson. -Kayson