Chapter 38: Don't Kiss Me Without Permission

Piper and I spent the rest of time trying to make the best of the research. Julian didn't come back rather we saw no boys hanging around anymore. It was extremely suspicious when one of the girls mentioned Leonardo taking the guys somewhere.

"What are they upto?" Piper asked as she searched the area with her eyes. All of us girls were sitting by the small cliff near the lake. I was eating an orange, now--after finishing that small bag of Doritos. Had to balance healthy and unhealthy foods in my diet.

"I even texted some of the guys but no one replied," Jenna said. She was holding up her cell phone with a disappointed look.

"Who cares? It's so much more peaceful, now," I said enjoying the quiet.

It didn't last too long. Little water drops hit the side of my face. Surprised, I looked up to find Jenna's shirt soaked and something blue stuck there. Suddenly, another girl was hit with something and drenched.

"Water balloon fight!" I don't know who yelled it, but I had my defenses up as soon as possible. I grabbed my backpack and used it as a shield. The orange and I needed protection against these animals.

The only problem was that none of the girls could tell the exact direction the water balloons were coming from. Everyone was getting hit as I tried sneaking away. Piper was looking around helplessly.

It was a good thing I looked behind me before I could have gone further, straight into the guys with the water balloons. All of them were evil.

"Sandy! Are you okay?" Piper asked when she saw me returning back to the group of girls. The water balloons and laughs were more consistent.

"Look for dead bugs!" I hissed at them. Most guys were afraid of bbugs and insects. I know because I used to scare them with the dead organisms.

"Ew!"

"No!"

"Gross!"

"Yuck!"

"Look what I got!" Everyone looked at the shortest girl in the group who stood grinning like a small kid. She held two large closed bags, carefully, in her hands. Sowly, we opened them up. "I stole these from the guys's stash!" the short, reheaded said excitedly.

Everyone was still getting hit by the water balloons except for me because I used them all as my shields. We all grabbed water balloons and started hitting the guys back. I actually managed to get two people and missed three.

"Where are the rest of the water balloons?" I asked the redhead when the supply seemed to be running out quickly.

"Ten feet to the right of the guys," she replied not really looking at me.

"Our right or their right?" I asked. I didn't want to head off in the wrong direction and get hit my water balloons.

"Their right," she replied.

I nodded and cautiously moved away, trying not to draw any attention to myself. It took me a couple of minutes to find the place with the water balloon supply. It was actually pretty high. There were a lot of colorful buckets holding different colors of water balloons. I tried to grab two buckets but they were too heavy. At the end, I finalized with one blue bucket and headed back to my team. Surprisingly, I kept going back and forth three times before I got caught...by none other than Lucas Crowell. I hadn't seen that there was actually a guard guarding the water balloons, now.

I tried to run away, but he caught me quickly. Lucas pushed away my shield--backpack--and legitimately dragged me by the arm. "I found the thief," he shouted to the guys once we reached them.

I was trying to get him to let go, but Lucas held my arm even tighter. Stupid athletes. I should have worked more on my arm muscles than leg muscles. Dang it.

"Can't say I'm surprised," Julian said when he saw it was me.

"Can't say I'm surprised," I said imitating his accent.

He grinned, showing his dimples. I frowned back and then kicked Lucas. "Hey!" Lucas complained as my leg hit him hard on the shin.

"What? Star soccer player got hurt?"

"Oh you asked for it, Evans," he said as he shifted and pulled me tightly against his chest. My back was against his wet shirt, getting soaked. He wrapped his arms around me, giving me a bear hug from behind. I struggled. I flinched. I kicked. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. "Muchachos, this one hasn't gotten hit by any water balloons. I think that's a major problem," Lucas said loudly. His head was down almost to my shoulder, next to my ear, so I heard it louder than everyone else. My poor right ear.

"Not a single balloon?" Leonardo asked surprised. All of them were looking at me, now. Oh damn.

"Water's not my best friend," I offered.

"So, you don't take showers?" Lucas asked amused. There were a bunch of laughs. I slightly turned my head and eyes to get some view of him.

"Not in socks, shoes, jeans, and a shirt."

"First time for everything, then," he replied with a grin. "Who wants to get a hit, first, on our Mother Nature? I don't know how long before we run out of supplies, so hurry up!"

I groaned and sighed. Since Lucas was soaked himself, I was getting water on the back of my shirt and hair even. "Can you at least have the courtesy to let go off me?" I asked him tiredly. "You're getting me soaked." Also, he was way too close to me. My skin tingled from his touch.

"Lucas, let her go." Both of us looked up to find Julian with a huge blue water balloon. "I'll get to throw the first balloon," grinned the foreigner.

"Aw, Sandy, get ready," Lucas whispered next to my face, brushing his cold, wet cheek against mine before letting go. I was grateful at the release, though I knew I didn't have enough time to run away.

So, I sucked up all my pride and looked at Julian straight in the eye, and said, "Just hit me. Let's get this over with."

Julian gave me a small nod as he raised his balloon. I closed my eyes and got ready to use my hands and arms as defense.

The only thing was: the impact never came. When I heard Lucas yell, I looked up to find Lucas all drenched with the water balloon that was supposed to be for me. Shocked, I looked at Julian who immediately said, "run."

I needn't be told twice as I ran off. On the way, I grabbed the backpack Lucas had made me drop.

My mind kept going back to why Julian had helped me. Wasn't he supposed to be on the opposite side? He had hit Lucas with the balloon and not me. It was most likely because we were friends.

For once, I had made friends with the right person. Otherwise, I would have been drenched and pissed off.

"Oh god, where were you?!" Piper asked once I made it to where the rest of the girls were.

"You have no idea."

I didn't wait for any more chit chats as I got away from the people.

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"Julian really helped you escape?" Piper asked.

We sat in our tent trying to finish packing our stuff together. I still had the supplies of the Mother Nature prank sitting in one bag while my own stuff sat in my drenched backpack. So much for using a shield. Piper had gotten her stuff together pretty quickly, actually.

As I fumbled around with my bag, I replied, "He did. I finally made friends with the right people."

"Really? Sandy, I know you've mentioned your attention span is small," she said slowly as I looked up at her, "But for your sake, pay more attention."

"Huh?"

She sighed. "Julian really didn't hit you with a water balloon because you guys are friends?" I narrowed my eyes at her. The answer was simple, yet she was just making a fuss out of nothing. "I'm his friend too--more or less--and trust me, that part British part Spanish kid did not show any mercy on me."

"He doesn't like you too much," I joked and went back to shoving clothes in and out in order to get them all fit in the bag.

"And he likes you too much?"

Now, I looked up at her. "We're friends, Piper," I shrugged.

"Sandy--"

"Don't bring anything else up. Julian is a good friend," I said in a firm tone. "That's it." I just hated it when people brought up unnecessary stuff to make life more complicated than it needed to be. Geez.

"But--"

"Don't."

Piper didn't believe me, so we ended up going to Julian. I told him to explain to Piper why he didn't hit me with a balloon. According to him, it was unfair that I was held captive. I had no defense or offense. Basically, Julian was being the gentleman that he was. Piper agreed that I was right, though with a disappointed look.

At the end, we just headed off to our final night.

Our last bonfire was...interesting, for the lack of a better word. Aside from me and a couple of others--the more rational ones--everyone else decided to play Truth or Dare without the Truth part. It was all simply dares. Bunch of liars these AP (Advanced Placement) students were. Everything was going great especially when people were made to do stupid things like climbing trees while having dead spiders sitting in your hair (Poor Piper), kissing a frog (gross, but Jenna managed to do it), speak in an American accent (Julian actually did a splendid job on this), and pick your boogies in front of everyone (I didn't wait and watch this one).

"Join the crew, Sandy!" insisted Piper. All the people playing the game sat across from me.

"I am going to say this in the nicest way possible: no," I told her as I roasted a marshmallow.

"Chicken?" Lucas called.

"Not falling for it, just a heads up," I said watching the fire in front of me.

"Can't say I didn't see that coming," Julian said. I looked at him slowly with a grin. He had said "can't" with a an "an" sound not an "ah" sound.

"Can't say I saw that one coming," I replied trying to replicate the way he would normally say "can't."

"We're trying to get this one more American-ized," Lucas said patting Julian's shoulder.

"Define 'American-ized,'" I challenged.

Lucas was a taken aback by my response before he proudly said, "Murica!"

Everyone burst out laughing, and I just rolled my eyes. Shaking my head, I grabbed crackers and chocolate and made my s'more. Julian asked someone for an explanation about that. He was way too gullible sometimes.

"Wait, I have an idea!" Jenna said excitedly. "So, whoever gets this question right, first, gets to dare one person to do something that they can't refuse. Make a reasonable dare, though, and everyone here is included to play this one."

I said nothing but ate my s'more. The marshmallow was way too hot, if you asked me.

"I swear if it's something about Hillary Duff or Taylor Swift or some boy band, I am not playing," Lucas warned, and then added in a fake, high-pitched girly voice, "Oh em gee, what's Zayn's favorite color?"

"It's not about that stuff! More of a general knowledge question," Jenna said. "So, here it is. What's the world's biggest island?"

"Greenland," I beat Julian by two seconds. Everyone looked at us and then at Jenna to check to see whether Julian and I were correct or not.

"Right," Jenna said sounding disappointed that we had easily gotten the answer.

"Cassie won," Julian said.

"Sandy, do you have a dare for anybody?" Jenna asked me.

"Can the dare involved telling truth?" I asked her as I weighed my options. Many things had been tugging at the back of my mind. I saw Lucas and had a lightbulb go off.

Jenna smirked and nodded. "Sure. Go for it."

"Well, then Lucas Crowell, mind telling me why you asked me to give you a chance?" I asked bluntly. There were a bunch of "ooh's," "uh oh's," and a "this should be good."

It took Lucas a couple of seconds to process in my words as he turned to fully face me. He was on the other side of the bonfire sitting directly across from me. Surprise was evident on his face from being called out.

I had one chance to get this Lucas mess cleared up. Might as well use this.

"Repeat your dare, please, Sandy," Lucas carefully said.

"Tell me why you want a chance, Crowell," I replied. Piper, Julian, and everyone else looked between us, but I didn't care.

"So, I can show you that I am not as terrible of a person as you see me as," he slowly replied. Lucas was actually looking uneasy not his usual arrogant, confident self.

"Not good enough reason," I shook my head. "Tell me the whole truth. Whatever you planned or I don't know!"

He slightly tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me. "What do you mean?" he asked. "The truth? I didn't realize that there was supposed to be some kind of like a motive or something behind asking for a chance." Everyone was a little tense, now. Lucas's anger was controlled but conspicuous. "If you don't remember anything else from what I told you yesterday, then I'll remind you. I like you."

I didn't say anything. Everyone was now looking at me to see my reaction. Of course, no guy had really told me he liked me...well aside from Brandon. Except, with Brandon, it was more of a friendship likeness thing. As for Lucas, I expected him to say something like it was all a joke. Also that he wasn't actually serious. But he was. It complicated things.

"I understand that you don't like me...well, not really, actually," Lucas shrugged. He seemed slightly calmer. "But I'm willing to make an effort to amend whatever I did wrong. Do realize, Sandy, that I am making some effort, and it can't work without your cooperation. Me liking you isn't some silly game or anything, by the way. I am just another guy who likes a girl."

"Aw," Jenna said loudly along with a couple of others.

"Is that enough or I need to prove something else to you?" Lucas asked slowly. I shook my head at him and broke our gaze. "That's all you have to say after I put myself out there?" I nodded. His tone was more playful, now. But my mind was still stuck on his serious words. "Can I ask you one question?" he asked slowly. I shook my head but he continued, anyways. Why do people even ask that question then if they were going to continue? "Why do you hate me so much?"

Now, I exchanged a glance with Julian. He had an expressionless face as he broke our eye contact pretty quickly. I got the message: he was leaving me to make my own decision.

"Forget it, Lucas," I said standing up. "You won't understand." I shook my head and headed off to the tent for girls. Unfortunately, my trip was cut short when a warm hand grabbed my cold one, stopping me midway. I looked down to find Julian holding my hand, shaking his head.

"How many times will you run away from everything?" he asked. "He needs to know, Cassie. It's only fair."

I looked at Lucas who was watching us intently. Everyone else was enjoying the drama.

"Fair?" I pulled away my hand out of Julian's. These people didn't understand how it made me feel weird to be touched at all. Murmurs of agreement went out. Everyone wanted to know, especially Lucas, why I was being this way. "Okay. Lucas Crowell, you want to know why I hate you?" Lucas looked a little unsure as he nodded. "I'll give you a hint. On the eight grade trip we had to Virginia, do you remember being asked your opinion about the girls in our class? Do you remember what you thought about little Miss Cassandra Evans?"

Lucas blinked at me, but I knew he was thinking. It took a couple of minutes for people to try recalling. "I remember that," Jenna said with a pale look. "Lucas said a lot of...mean stuff about you."

"My case rests."

Lucas seemed to have some realization as well as he opened his mouth to say something. I shook my head at him.

Walked away pissed off, I tried to think about a ginormous cookie. Piper did say it was helpful. I didn't bother going to the tents rather the lake. It would be more serene there, just being in nature. Once I reached the lake, I groaned.

"Evans!" a voice called behind me. Lucas caught my side, breathing heavily, most probably from running. He should know to keep his mouth closed when running--quite helpful once you stop.

"Before you say anything, just keep in mind that my reasons for not trusting you are justified," I told him, staring ahead.

"I understand. And I am sorry for everything I said on that trip," he said quickly. "I don't remember that much but I do know I mentioned not dating you. Ever. Sandy, I swear I didn't mean anything I said."

"You never mean anything you say," I said coldly.

"That's not true," he said with a grave look. "I never meant what I said back then. It's been four years, Sandy! I know better! I was a little kid then. I--you--well, I honestly am sorry for anything that I said hurt you."

"Okay." What else did he expect me to say?

"Can I make it up to you? I promise if you give me a chance, I will try to show you I am not that terrible!" pleaded Lucas.

I took my time as I thought about it. Everything else that he had said didn't mean so much except for the fact that he wanted to make up for what he did. That was actually something I didn't expect Lucas to say or ask. I was really sick and tired of holding the grudge over Lucas. Four years is a lot of time. Did I want to stay over that trip for any longer?

"One chance, Lucas," I said holding my index finger up. He looked at me surprised. "One chance, Crowell, to redeem yourself."

"I'm sorry, but can you repeat that?"

I had to grin at that. "Lucas Crowell, you get one chance to show me that you actually give a damn about me." He didn't bother with words but wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in a tight hug. I protested, but he ignored it.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" he chanted in my hair, before slightly pulling to look at me. Our proximity gave me strange sensations. I wasn't used to being so close to anybody, physically. Lucas's face was only some inches away from mine. He didn't seem too bothered by our closeness. "I will make it up to you."

"Well, I hope so."

"Sandy?" His voice had lowered as he stared right into my eyes.

"Yeah?"

"On a scale of one to ten, how mad would you get if I kissed you right now?"

I blinked at him in surprise. "Ten," I replied. Wasn't ten the most angry?

He chuckled. "I honestly don't care."

Before I could have asked him the point of his question, he leaned in capturing my lips in his, preventing any further conversation. Unlike the other kiss, I had some warning beforehand for this one. Still, I wasn't too prepared for a soft and gentle kiss after that angry, revenge one. Lucas moved his hands from my back to my hair. My hands were positioned on his chest where I could feel his drumming heartbeat. My own heart was thumping loudly against my chest as I slowly kissed Lucas back. I could taste the s'mores on his lips. S'mores were really going to have a different memory attached to them.

When Lucas and I separated, a wave of confusion flooded through me. Shouldn't I be angry? But I wasn't. The kiss had actually felt...nice and sweet. Breathing heavily, I ran a hand through my hair which had become tangled--contribution of Lucas.

"Don't do that again," I told Lucas, not really meeting his eyes.

"What? Mess up your hair?" he asked innocently.

I looked at him. "No. Don't kiss me without permission. When I said you get a chance, it didn't imply you going around kissing me."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted. "But I do recall you kissing me back..."

"Oh well," I said, not really knowing how to defend myself. "We should head back."

Lucas had a small grin. "Aye aye Captain."

"Don't say that ever again."

"Your wish is my command."

"Stop being weird."

"As you wish."

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》》Julian's POV《《《

I sighed once I saw Cassie and Lucas come back from wherever they were. Both seemed calm and collected, happen even (in Lucas's case). I didn't bother waiting or hoping to talk to either one. All my attempts at gaining Cassie had disappeared. So much for being a gentleman for not hitting her with a water balloon. She considered it a friendly act. I had hit Lucas instead because I didn't like the way he held her.

The worst part of today was the bonfire. I had tried to do the most rational and right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest one to follow through. Cassie was difficult, and she needed some guidance. Sooner or later, Lucas had to know about her behavior.

But I lost Cassie by making her bring up the past.

I lost her.

I stood up and walked away from everyone, towards the lake. It was the place with the calmest atmosphere. Plus, the best signal to call home. Laura picked up the fifth time.

"Who?" I heard her ask sleepily. Oh, I had forgotten that it was probably still really early in the morning there.

"Julian, Laura," I replied slowly.

"You better have a decent reason why you woke me up at four in the morning!" she said grumpily.

"Laura, I lost her."

"What?!" The sleepiness in her tone vanished, and concern took its place. "What happened?"

I quickly replayed over everything that happened since the last time I talked to her last, until now. Like the lovely sister she was, Laura kept quiet and listened to everything. "Laura, I couldn't possibly get between those two and ruin a potential relationship."

"You did the right thing," she said slowly, "however, you hurt yourself."

"I'll learn to move on," I said and my mind went back to where I had been telling Cassie to move on. She didn't, and now, I had to. Wasn't life so pleasant? "Any suggestions on how to get over her? My brain hasn't been cooperating lately."

"Says the bloke with super high I. Q.," she muttered. I remained silent. "Julian, distance yourself from the Cassie girl. I know you probably don't have any desire to do that, but it really is necessary. For your sake and hers."

"What am I supposed to do by staying away? Won't it raise suspicion after seeing how much time we spent together?"

"Surely, but she has her own lover, now, to spend time with," she explained. "Don't be the third wheel. Hang around, make new friends, find some girl to date--bro, there are plenty of girls you can find. I have heard that many girls adore blokes with British accents."

"Many but not all," I said disappointedly.

"You're trying to move on!" she snapped on the mobile. "Forget her unless you are forced to think about her. Can't believe you lost the girl in a day. You have terrible skills in getting yourself a girlfriend."

"I'm sorry if she had her heart set on someone else!"

"Who cares about her, now, Julian?" She sounded frustrated. "You are young. People will come and go in your life. Don't be stuck on one person out of the hundred you'll meet. Pretend she never happened. Surely, you'll be able to find another one. One of my friends here is still obsessed with your eye color and accent."

"I'm, unfortunately, am not interested in your sixteen year old friend," I told her. "But I'll follow what you've told me. It's much appreciated."

"Better be. Can I go back to sleep, now?"

"Of course. Sorry for disturbing you," I said guiltily. It wasn't right to wake up someone when the time wasn't right. Everyone deserved their sleep.

"It's okay. Since it was an emergency, you're forgiven," she replied. "Love ya, bro."

"Love you, too," I said back and she hung up.

New plan. First, try to get the girl, and now, forget her. Life was more complicated when Cassie was involved.

Yet, I liked her.

Still, I had to move on.

I was in such a mess.

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Author's NOTE

*gasps* Lucas got a chance...and a kiss? He hit the lottery, huh or is Cassie/Sandy changing? Out of curiosity, how many are mad at moi for Sandy giving Lucas another chance? Mind you, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!

As for Julian, it broke my heart, too, to see him this way. I love all my characters, and it pains me to see them hurt. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE JASSIE SHIPS. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

Btw, I love your comments! COMMENT A LOT!!!!

You guys keep doing what you are doing.

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