Adena’s POV:

Quinton and I emerged from our car and looked towards the football field. It was covered in bounce houses, small booths, and all kinds of games. It was Senior Field Day, and I was oddly excited. Quinton and I got in line behind a group of seniors who were waiting to enter the field.

Even though I was surrounded by so many things, I could only think of Dylan. This weekend had been so eventful. On Friday, I was kicked out of my house. On Saturday, Dylan and I hung out, went to his house, got into a huge fight, and departed ways. And on Sunday, Dylan found out my biggest secret and we kissed.

As Quinton and I headed towards the line, I couldn’t help but think of having to get help. I wasn’t sure if I wanted help for my problem. It was my way to cope with my feelings, the only thing keeping me alive. Then again, Dylan might do that for me.

“Hey!” Grady yelled as he came to stand with us. “Ready to party?” He questioned with a laugh.

“This isn’t really a party,” I stated.

“Well, Sassy Susan,” Grady replied sharply. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I saw a dunk tank! I’m dunking one of you,” Quinton nodded towards me.

“Not me,” I snapped jokingly.

“Awh, not you! That was my plan.” I giggled, punching him in the arm. As the line moved up, more seniors added themselves to the back. After waiting for about five minutes, we finally signed in and were left to have fun. Quinton and Grady sprinted over towards the ring toss booth and I followed behind them.

As they started to throw the rings and missing the bottles, I looked around at all the faces. A lot of seniors were already walking around from booth to booth playing game after game. I looked over my shoulder and I saw him.

Dylan.

He was standing off to the side talking to a friend. He laughed at something his friend said, causing me to smile as well. Jackie walked over to him, grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away from his friend. My smile disappeared as I found myself becoming angry.

Why was he with her? I shook my head and looked back to Quinton and Grady’s game. Was I getting jealous?

“I’ll play someone,” I shouted, trying to get those thoughts out of my head.

“Bring it!” Grady challenged. With our rings in our hands, Grady and I competed to see who would get the most rings on bottles. Grady and I were tied, two rings on two bottles. Each of us had only one ring left. Tossing mine slightly, it landed on a bottle. I clapped in victory and turned to Grady.

He tossed the ring and it bounced off the bottle and onto the ground.

"No!" Grady yelled in defeat.

"Bamn!" I yelled with a laugh. Quinton grabbed onto my arm and threw it in the air.

"And the winner is... Adena Serre!" He shouted as Grady frowned.

“Well... the only way to deal with defeat is to eat. I just so happened to see a lovely booth down thatta way filled with my kind of food. Ya with me Quinton?”

“Totally! Food always makes a man happy!” Quinton smiled. I rolled my eyes.

The amount of food they eat could feed an army. It was sickening at times, but I loved them. I followed after them as they walked...well, jogged...to the food booths. The smell of beef, fries, and popcorn filled my senses. We got in line behind a really short senior.

"Hey!" Someone greeted from behind me. I turned around, coming face to face with Dylan. He bore a large smile on his face. I had thought about this moment. I had thought it'd be horrible and awkward. But now that I saw him, I was happy.

"Hey" I said, returning a large smile.

"I need a partner for the water balloon toss, Jackie doesn't want to get her hair wet... you in?" Quinton snorted at Dylan's question.

"What's so funny?" I questioned Quinton.

"Adena's not coordinated. I would chose another partner," he scoffed.

"Excuse me? I'll kick your butt."

"Your on!" Quinton yelled. "Come on Grady," Grady turned towards us with a frown.

"But the funnel cake is calling my name! I can't just not answer her call," He whined.

"You could call her back?" Quinton suggested.

"True. I'm in!" Grady yelled. We left the line and walked over towards the water balloon toss. A woman stood there with an assorted bucket of water balloons, she was surrounded by ten or so kids.

“Okay!” She announced. “Everyone pick a partner. One balloon per group.” Dylan and Grady ran up to the bucket, pushing past each other for a balloon. Dylan took a blue one while Grady settled for a pink one, which was all that was left.

“Pink?” Quinton questioned as Grady came up.

“Yeah! Pink is such a manly color!” Grady said, trying to encourage Quinton. Quinton shrugged and Grady turned to me.

“Please switch with me.”

“Sorry,” I shrugged as Dylan came up. “The winner of the bottle toss doesn't have to change balloons with losers.”

“Oh haha,” he sneered.

“Alright! Everyone into a line. You’ll toss the balloon to your partner and they’ll toss it back. Then you’ll both take a step backwards. You keep repeating this until your balloon breaks.” We followed the lady in charges commands and separated into a two lines, standing a couple feet away from each other. “Get closer, feet touching!” The lady yelled, pushing me forward slightly.

Dylan and I moved closer to each other, our shoes touching. Being this close reminded me of the other night. My lips tingled as I thought of Dylan’s lips against mine. He handed me the balloon, I handed it back to him, and we both stepped back. We continued the process slowly, taking small steps backwards. Grady and Quinton did the same with their pink balloon.

“You are going down, Sis, and your little dog too!” Quinton jeered, throwing his balloon to Grady.

“Hey! Did you just call me a dog?” Dylan yelled, throwing our balloon to me.

“...Yeah…” He grinned. “I was making it a Wizard of Oz thing.” He smiled triumphantly.

“Than that would mean you would be calling yourself a witch, Quinton. An ugly witch for that matter,” I laughed while he frowned.

“Oh...I didn’t think about that.” I rolled my eyes and focused on catching and tossing the balloon. I didn’t want to lose this game.

“So, you came with Quinton and Grady?” Dylan asked. I glanced towards the boys who were focused on their game as well.

“No, just Quinton,” I replied, tossing the balloon back to him.

“Oh,” he caught the balloon, and tossed it back to me. “Do you plan on staying the whole time?” I caught it and we both took a step back.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I said a little louder than before so he could hear me.

“Oh,” he tossed the balloon. “I think you should stay for the whole thing. I heard someone’s bringing some of those big sumo wrestler outfits. Everyone would love to see Grady being knocked out.” He stated loudly. I laughed, tossing the balloon back to him.

Our conversation was a little difficult when we kept moving away from each other. I could hear Grady and Quinton conversing loudly too.

But they were talking about how they would defeat us.

Dylan and I were now a couple feet apart. When I had caught the balloon, I heard a loud smacking sound. Looking to my right, I saw Quinton drenched in water. Grady was having a laughing fit and Quinton threw his hands in the air.

“I wasn’t ready!” He stated, trying to come up with a reason for his loss. I had been so focused on the game and my conversation with Dylan, I hadn’t seen or heard all the other teams lose. Two teams were left. Dylan’s and my team and another team to our left. “At least one Serre needs to win this!” Quinton said, pointing towards me. I nodded and turned to Dylan, determined to win.

I tossed the balloon underhanded. It flew through the air and for a split second I thought it wasn't going to make it. But Dylan leaned forward and caught the balloon with two hands. He tossed it back to me and I managed to catch it.

We scooted further back and I watched as the guy on the other team threw the balloon to hard and it broke in the girls hands. She cursed at him and threw her arms to her side.

“Now you guys have to throw it one last time. If you catch it, you win this awesome bear!” I looked towards the lady, she held a large stuffed bear in her arms.

"I want that bear," Grady frowned. Quinton punched him in the arm and gave him a funny look. I turned back to Dylan and he nodded supportively. I slowly swung my arm, tossing the balloon towards him. Everyone paused as the balloon flew through the air. With determination on his face, Dylan focused on the balloon and held his hands out.

"Yeah!" I found myself cheering as he caught the balloon. Grady and Quinton both yelled in excitement as everyone else around us clapped. Dylan cheered as well, running over to me and giving me a hug.

I couldn't help but laugh as he picked me up and spun me around. Setting me down, the lady came up and threw the teddy bear into Dylan's arms. Dylan held it for a moment before holding it out to me.

"For you, Madam," he said, bowing. I laughed at his silliness and accepted the bear.

"Why thank you, Sir," I said, attempting to curtsy.

"You guys hear that?" Grady questioned, coming up to us. He cupped his ear and looked around. The crowd of students disappeared, all of them running off to the next game. "The funnel cake is calling me," I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well go get your stupid funnel cake!" Quinton yelled, walking off with Grady. Dylan and I followed far behind.

"See? I knew choosing you as a partner was a good idea," Dylan nodded.

"Well, thank you for the bear," I smiled, hugging it tightly.

"You're welcome. Just being a gentleman. Besides, you deserved it!” We walked in silence for a few minutes. “So... How are you doing?" He suddenly asked. I stopped in my tracks and he turned to me. I looked around nervously. I knew he wanted to talk more about last night.

But I didn't want to.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about the other night. About kissing you-" Dylan started but was interrupted by Jackie. She stormed up to us and wrapped her fingers around Dylan's arm.

"Come on."

“I’ll be right back,” Dylan said as I watched her drag him away, leaving me all alone. I stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do. Quinton must have been watching us because he came up almost immediately after that happened. Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he said:

"Just ignore her."

I nodded and smiled. But deep down I was hurt. However, I wasn't going to show that to Quinton. Quinton dragged me over to Grady, who was sitting by himself at a table, munching away on some funnel cake.

"Oh, hi!" Grady said, stuffing a piece of funnel cake in his mouth. He paused a second. "Did you want some?" He asked, his mouth filled with funnel cake. I shook my head with a sigh and sat down at the table, waiting for Grady to finish eating

I followed Quinton and Grady around for an hour like a lost puppy. I was waiting for Dylan to come back, but he never did. Quinton and Grady had tried to cheer me up multiple times. But nothing seemed to work.

"I think I'm just going to go home," I finally said as Quinton and Grady just finished another game.

"No! Don't go!" Quinton frowned.

"Sorry," I shrugged. “I’m just tired and ready to go.”

"Just ignore him, don't let him ruin your day," Grady said. I shook my head and they said their goodbyes, seeing they couldn't convince me to stay. “I’ll drive Quinton home.” I nodded and walked away from them by myself, I could feel the tears forming in my eyes.

I had never felt so worthless in my life. I thought things were finally looking up, but then something happens to ruin it all.

Why do I keep on trying?

I faked a smile to the person standing at the gate and headed to my car. When I was sure no one could see me, I let the tears fall. I was so sick and tired of holding it all in. It didn’t help that I was starting to become more emotional now that Dylan was in my life.

I wished he had never found out about my secret because lately he’s the reason I want to hurt myself. I can’t keep going through these moments where things are good, than bad.

"Adena?" I quickly wiped the tears that had fallen before turning around to the person who had called my name.

Seeing it was Dylan, I spun back around and kept walking.

"Adena!" He repeated as I got to my car and opened my door. He jogged over and stood next to me, shutting the door. "Adena, please talk to me," I turned to face him, not caring if he saw my tears. "Adena, I am so sorry for leaving you like that," he apologized.

"You can't just tell someone you'll be right back and then completely abandon them," just saying the words brought more tears to my eyes.

"I really did mean to come back, but I couldn't escape Jackie." I reached for my car door handle but he grabbed onto my hand and spun me around. Looking into my eyes, he wiped his thumbs across my cheeks. "Please, stop crying," he whispered. "It breaks my heart."

All I could do was look into the ocean that was his blue eyes and get lost. I wanted to forgive him more than anything but I knew I shouldn’t. He sent me a kind smile. Cupping my face into his hands, he threw his lips onto mine.

I wanted to fight him at first because I had told myself he didn’t deserve my forgiveness.  I wanted to reject his love because I was better off without it.

And then I figured out that was a lie.

I closed my eyes, savoring the kiss. I needed his love. His love made me happy.

But his love was also killing me. Maybe this kind of death wasn't so bad?