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"Jayden, wait!" Abby called to me as I headed to exit the school.

I stopped and turned on my heel to look back at her.

She ran and flung her arms around my waist with a worried look. "Don't go. I love you."

I put my arms around her even though I was angry with her for allowing Frootloop to put his germ infested mouth on her straw, and I was severely jealous. I considered giving her an ultimatum; choose him or me, but what if she chooses him? I couldn't take that chance. I would be crushed, but I couldn't continue on like this either.

"Why didn't you stand up for me?" I asked.

"Because arguing with Blake is futile. I know you're not an asshole, but he's my friend." She had her head on my chest looking up at me.

"Do you know what you're doing to me?" I whispered. There was a lump in my throat. "It's killing me. You know he likes you."

She was quiet for a second, then she started bawling. "Do you know what it's like to be me?" She sobbed. "I'm homesick, and my family won't speak to me."

I held her, letting her bury her face into my chest. I had been so wrapped up in my own self serving desires I hadn't realized the emotional trauma she was going through.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't know."

"You and Dylan and my friends are all I have." She said. "I'm sorry I've been a little ungrateful for everything you've done for me... but please... don't make me stop talking to Blake."

I hung my head down by her neck, feeling defeated, but still hugging her. She looked at my face.

"You're crying," she said, a ring of surprise was in her voice. She wiped my tear away.

"I feel like shit... like I don't make you happy." I tried not to sound like a crybaby, but my voice cracked. "I've tried-"

"I know! Jayden, I don't know what I would do without you." Her brow was furrowed with sincerity. She pressed her lips to mine. The kiss was powerful, like a healing medicine. I let my hands slide down to her butt. It was a natural reaction after the intimacy we had already shared.

That's when Frootloop found us.

"Oh, yeah," he yelled, "get a good feel of her, asshole. Abby, just because you live with him now doesn't mean you have to let him grope you."

She turned her head towards him, still hanging onto my neck. I put my hands back up to her waist. I didn't want Frootloop to see my teary eyed face so I kept it buried in her shoulder.

"Fight me, Jayden!" He yelled.

I didn't move.

He came closer to us.

"Blake, stop being stupid," Abby shouted. She let go of me to try and stand between the two of us, but he swung and jabbed me in the ribs. It barely phased me, but he had succeeded in severely pissing me off.

I never will understand why tiny mother fuckers like him think they are going to make me into their little bitch. If this guy is ever going to take me down he's going to have to train hard for years first. He must have a death wish.

Abby glared at him. "Stop it!"

I put him in a headlock before he even knew what had happened, and I pulled his arm back, owning his ass. I could have snapped it like a toothpick. His face was as red as a rose which really suited him. His bun was in my face, and it smelled like Herbal Essence shampoo. Abby tried to grab my arm.

"Jayden!" I heard Principal Davidson's voice behind me.

I let go and plastered a fake smile on my face. He was all the way down the hallway. "Oh, we're only playing, Principal Davidson." I ran my fingers through Frootloop's bun, messing it up.

He tried to regain his composure after almost blacking out, fucking bastard.

Principal Davidson's stark look turned into relief. "You three need to get to class."

"Um, yes sir, we do, sir," I said. I grabbed my backpack.

As soon as Principal Davidson left the hallway I tripped Frootloop as he tried to walk off. "Oh, sorry duuu- hude," I laughed.

"Please stop it. Both of you!" Abby begged.

I put my arm around her and walked her to her class. She looked back once at Frootloop, but I pretended not to notice, pressing her onward. "Meet me by my car after third hour."

She nodded. I pecked her on the cheek and she went in to class.

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After third hour I headed to the parking lot where all of the seniors had begun to congregate.

By the time the bell rang they were piling into their vehicles.

Abby and the guys were waiting for me by my car.

Principal Davidson ran out of the school yelling. Nobody could hear him over the music from the car stereos that overpowered his voice.

I drove past him yelling, "Thank you Principal Davidson!" and I dropped one of the letters out of my window.

He stopped yelling and picked it up to read it on his own letterhead.

To the parents of Jayden Whitmore,

It is with great pleasure that I announce that all Princeton High School seniors will be excused from all classes following third hour on Thursday, May 4th in observance of Stars Wars Day to go to Asbury Park. May the forth be with you.

Sincerely,

Principal Davidson

The seniors tailgated out of the parking lot. I set the GPS to Asbury Park down by the beach. It would take a little over an hour to get there. I had everything we needed in the trunk: towels, a cooler full of Coke products, sunblock, umbrellas, swimming suits, and chairs. Iesha was bringing volleyball nets in a van with some girls from the cheer leading squad.

I could feel the tranquility knowing I didn't have to share Abby with Frootloop on this trip.

"This is one of the last parties before graduation, gentlemen," Dylan said, "and I intend to make the most of it."

"Me too," Mike said. He was wearing a T shirt that said Pornstar. "I'm going to get some phone numbers. I challenge you, Dylan, the one who gets the least in an hour has to buy pizza for everyone."

"You're on," Dylan replied. "Let's just try and avoid Amy and Emily."

"Why?" I asked, "something happen with them?"

"Yeah, Emily is a psycho. She hacked into my Facebook account and wanted to know who all of the girls were that I was talking to. Why didn't you warn me, dude?" He smacked my shoulder from the backseat.

"I figured you'd find out for yourself," I replied.

Abby glanced over at me with disapproval.

Mike jumped in, "Amy, oh my gosh, she has hair all over her back, and she acts like her parents locked her in a closet her whole life because she's so awkward and antisocial."

We were on the highway now and some of the cars were driving past us. A carload of senior girls cruised up beside us. They rolled the windows down looking at us wearing their bikinis.

Tyrone rolled his window down.

"Hi guys," one of the girls said. She was a foreign exchange student from Brazil. "Mike, this is for you." She popped her top and all four of us guys rubber necked at the sight of her naked chest.

Suddenly I realized the lane I was in was ending. I hadn't been watching the road and had to slam on the brakes getting behind their car.

Abby slapped my arm.

"What the hell?" I yelled at her, and recoiled my arm.

"You were looking at that girl's tits," she said.

"Yeah, no kidding. You were looking too. It's not my fault she flopped them out," I argued.

"You were staring. You had the dumbest expression on your face like a zombie had just eaten your brain. You were mesmerized by her boobs like you were hypnotized or something."

"He's a guy, Abby," Dylan said. "It's a natural reaction."

I was surprised Dylan was on my side. "Trust me, yours are better anyway," I said, being perfectly honest.

Dylan face-palmed.

She dropped the subject.

We arrived at the beach a while later and I helped Iesha set up the volleyball nets. The seniors set up their beach chairs in the sand by the tide, and most had on their swimming suits.

I took out the sunscreen and rubbed it all over myself. "Need some, Abby?"

She gave me a look that said 'fuck off.' She clearly wasn't over my glimpse of breasts earlier.

She carried her beach blanket into the sand, spread it out, and sat on it.

I guess this is what they mean by being in the doghouse, but I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do.

Tyrone saw how clueless I was and walked over to me. "She wants you to go talk to her."

"She's avoiding me," I said. "Maybe she wants her space."

"Absolutely not. She wants you to get into her face, force her to listen to how beautiful she is, and cling to her," he said.

Maybe he was right. He had been in a long relationship and had a lot more experience than I did. My longest relationship was a month long sooo... I decided to take Tyrone's advice.

I approached Abby with the sunblock.

She turned her head away from me when I sat next to her.

"Hey, quit pouting," I said. I squirted sunblock into my hands and started rubbing it on her back.

The spring breeze blew her hair to the side. Seagulls were running up and down the beach, and the rhythmic crash of the tide was breathtaking.

I got more sunscreen and rubbed it onto her chest, down into her cleavage. She laid her head back onto my shoulder. I kissed her ear and whispered, "I love you."

A smirk spread over her lips. I continued rubbing on the sunscreen while I noticed some of the senior girls watching, but they looked away when they saw me looking back.

Abby noticed them too, and got onto her hands and knees to kiss me while I sat on the blanket. I had a funny feeling she was trying to make sure all of the girls were watching as she pushed into me, making me lay back while she made out with me. She wanted them to know she owned me, and I didn't mind the guys drooling over the fact that I was the one getting to know her, know her.

Mike and Dylan set up their chairs beside us.

"Need sunscreen?" I asked them.

"Nope," Mike replied, "I'm going to leave a Batman sunburn on my chest." He took off his Pornstar T shirt and underneath he had a sticker stuck to his chest in the shape of the marvel character.

"I'll take some," Dylan said.

Mike went straight to the beach looking for chicks. His first unsuspecting female was a much older woman. She was probably around thirty.

"Hey," Dylan said, "You're already starting!?" He ran off to find a girl.

Abby and I chuckled.

"Let's go play volleyball. Tyrone and Iesha are looking at little lonely," I said.

"Ok," she replied, and pecked me on the lips.

It turns out Abby is a pretty good volleyball player. All of the girls and guys playing were competitive. We were covered in sand from head to toe.

About and hour in Dylan and Mike came to play when some other players left.

"Beavis and Bump-head are ready to kick your asses," Dylan said to the opposing team. He and Mike started flexing their muscles.

"Oh yeah?" A dude on the other team joked back with them. "Don't bet on it, Cinderella, cuz when you run away from the ball you lose."

"We're going to have sets," Abby yelled back. "Lot's of sloppy sets, some on videotape. We might even pitch slap you because we know the victorious secret." She moved her hand like she was spanking them.

"Oh, you're all talk," he said, "but can you play?" He stepped into place. "Zero serving zero." He served the ball.

Abby jumped back, set the ball over the net, and landed on her back. For a second I wondered if she was ok, but she got back up right away.

The ball sailed back over the net and Mike hit it with his head. It was about to fall short of the net, but I spiked it over at the last second. The other team wasn't prepared and it hit the sand.

Our team high fived. The game went on like this for ages. Some of the seniors started to go home, but we waited for the sunset at the end of the day. Abby and I sat on the beach towel just marveling at the colors of the sky as they changed.

Mike had to buy pizza since he lost the phone numbers bet with Dylan, four to six.

We sat around eating and discussing what we would do after high school.

"My sister's, boyfriend's, best friend's tenant has a job for me," Mike said.

"Mike, isn't that the same dude that got us the stolen ID's?" I asked, taking a bite of pizza.

"Yep," he replied.

We all shook our heads at him with disapproval.

"Mike," Tyrone said, "if there were ever a time that you decided to listen to me then let it be now. Don't take a job with that hustler. It will only get you into trouble."

"No, this job is legit," he looked at us with a naive stare. He started to peel the template off of his chest to reveal his new sunburn shaped Batman.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Moving furniture," he replied.

Well, one thing for sure, Mike would have to depend heavily on his bronze in life since what he had between his ears seemed to be filled with a majority of air.

"I'll be getting a job," Tyrone said, "and doing online college classes."

We nodded. This would be best for him to be able to take care of his little family and think about his future.

"Iesha doesn't know it yet, but I put money down on a ring," he said. "We'll probably have a small wedding, but not right away."

This wasn't weird at all, considering that they already acted like a married couple.

"I'm going to The University of Medicine and Dentistry," Dylan said. "One day I'll own my own practice."

"That's great, man," I said. "It's getting dark."

"Yeah, I think we should start packing up," Tyrone said. "I've got to get back home to Braxton."

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Long chapter.
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