Ranger held the raw meat in his fingertips. He was disgusted by the scent of the stuff, and how slimey it was, but he had to give Coco a treat somehow. She barked and jumped up, trying to grab it out of his hand. Her huge teeth snapped shut just centimeters away from his hand with a noise like bones breaking.

"Gentle" he told the dog, not that she ever listened to his commands. The unexpected noise of the doorbell startled him, making him drop the meat. It landed on the floor, where Coco happily gobbled it up. Sighing, he walked to the door. He wondered who it could be, his mother hadn't told him they were expecting a parcel, and his father wasn't home till much later, no one had been invited round and they weren't subscribed to any magazines or newspapers. He opened the door expecting to see a door to door salesman, but was instead faced with a pleasant surprise.

"Hi" Hunter smiled at him from the doorstep.

"Hunter!" he exclaimed, "what are you doing here? Come in out of the cold, oh gosh now I sound like an old woman" both boys laughed.

"I was lonely" Hunter explained, as he set his snow-covered boots by the radiator to dry.

"You have like seventeen siblings, how can you be lonely"

"Would you want to be locked up in a house with just your brother?"

"No" he admitted. He hated his brother, he was annoying and always seemed to get his own way, no matter what.

"Imagine having nine of him"

"Sounds like tourture"

"Exactly" and as if those words were a cue and the boys were on stage, they ran up the stairs into Ranger's bedroom, followed closely by Coco, who was hoping they would have food.

"Want to watch TV?" asked Ranger.

"Sure" Hunter fell into Ranger's chair, which wheeled across the room with the force of him doing so. Ranger flopped down on his bed and turned on the small TV. It was his mum's really, but she never used it so had given it to him. The old thing crackled to life, playing loud wedding music.

"You been watching wedding shows?" joked Hunter. Ranger looked away in embarrassment, as a matter of fact he had been watching wedding shows, worse than that, he had been imagining how beautiful Artemis would look in all the dresses.

"No" he turned the TV off.

"It's ok if you have" the humor had left Hunters voice, "I won't judge you"

"I've not" there was silence for a minute, but it was broken by a notification on Hunter's phone.

"Who's that?" asked Ranger. He had a problem with diving into other people's personal business, but only those he was closer to.

"Artemis" Ranger's heart leapt. It was a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions all in the space of a second. Artemis! Artemis! Her name! Her! Wait, she is contacting Hunter and not me! Oh no! What if this means she likes him? I mean ever since he moved here she's been with him a lot. What if she's talking about me? What if she can't get through to me and has tried to contact me? No. Most likely thing is she likes Hunter. No! She can't! She can't like Hunter, she's only known him such a short time, but then what says she's known me long enough?

"What's she saying!?" he blurted.

"Huh? Oh, she's just thanking me for something I did. Why you so interested? You got an eye for her?"

"What!? No!" was his automatic response, but then he thought, would it be good to tell someone? He bet Hunter could help him with how to control these crazy feelings, but then what if he told Artemis? He better not tell him.

"You sure?" His friend teased, "You two sure do hang out a lot, and I think she likes you" Ranger's heart jumped at this idea.

"How would you know?"

"She's a good friend of mine"

"In what way does she act like she likes me?"

"Well, remember the time when Olexa attacked her, and she clung to you crying for hours?" Ranger did remember. He remembered Olexa, a girl his age with Autism, coming over to say hello to them. He remembered just how close Artemis and Olexa had been ever since they met. He remembered telling Olexa that she needed to learn to be patient. He remembered her taking Artemis away from him for a walk. He remembered turning around and seeing Olexa grabbing at Artemis' hair, pulling on it hard. He remembered running over and untangling them. He remembered Olexa's carer coming to take her away. He remembered Artemis' tears, not tears because she was hurt, but because Olexa was. Artemis was just such a caring girl, even after what Olexa had done to her, Artemis was still as close as ever with the girl. She had said something about the younger girl being blinded by rage and stressed and overwhelmed and needing a place to let it all out, and Artemis just happened to be there. Artemis had said that everyone deserves to be forgiven, and she wouldn't let a friendship so good go after just one bad thing. That was when he realised she could do the same to him, realised that even if he did let the truth about his feelings slip, if she could forgive Olexa for attacking her, she could forgive him, surely. But then again he might not be as close to her as Olexa, but maybe he was. Both girls had been scarred by that event, scared one had hurt the other. But Ranger had been scared too. He remembered Artemis clinging onto him and crying so hard it was as if she had cried all the tears in the world. He remembered his fear, fear she'd black out, fear she was hurt.

"She was just upset, you know how close those two are, it was emotional for her" but even as he said those words, he wandered himself if Artemis had chosen him to cry on not because he was there, but because she loved him.

"And you act like you like her too" Hunter pressed, "I mean you are just so nice to her, and thats so unlike you"

"Thanks" Ranger rolled his eyes disdainfully at his friend.

"No, what I mean is you never play mean pranks on her, only funny ones"

"My pranks aren't that mean" he protested, knowing full well they were.

"You sure"

"No" they both laughed.

"What I'm getting at is, well, I think you two are right together, and I want to make that happen"

"If this was Aron, you'd be trying to convince me that we aren't right"

"Don't listen to Aron, he's a simp"

"Clearly"

"Ranger, can you tell me the truth? Do you like her?" Ranger sat and thought for a moment. If he told Hunter and then they fell out, there was nothing stopping Hunter going straight to Artemis and telling her. But Artemis would believe his word over Hunters, he knew that, and he needed a friend to confide in. He spent hours talking to Coco, but there was nothing she could do, Hunter could do something.

"You want the truth?" he asked.

"Yes"

"In that case, no, I don't like her" Hunter gave him a strange look. "I love her"

"As more than a-"

"As more than a friend. Yes"

"Truly?"

"Truly. Truly she is a goddess. Truly she makes my heart race by simply walking into the room. When she leaves I feel incomplete. Everything she does, everything she says, it's all so perfect. Every time she touches me it feels like an electric spark. She means more to me than the world, I couldn't care if everyone died, as long as I have her. She's just so much more than what people say she is, to see her hurt, it hurts me more than you could know!" he stopped himself talking before he ended up on a rant.

"Woah" was all Hunter could say, "you really do love her, don't you"

"Yeah, I guess I do" he hid his face. There was silence for a long time. Neither boy knowing what to say, neither wanting to upset the other.

"She likes you back, you know" Hunter eventually said.

"She doesn't" Ranger sighed, "as much as I can dream, she doesn't"

"No but she told me!" Hunter explained, annoyed at Ranger's refusal to believe.

"She- she did!?" Ranger felt like his heart had grown wings and was trying to fly out of his chest and up to the roof.

"Yes!" Hunter laughed, "Ranger, she loves you!"

"I'll wait till she is ready to tell me that" Ranger decided, not wanting to get ahead of himself. Artemis had said to Hunter that she liked him. He couldn't wind his head around the whole thing, so many thoughts, so many reasons, so so so many questions. Was Hunter telling the truth? Was Artemis telling the truth? Was he even awake? It felt too much like a dream to be real. Coco nuzzled his leg. He bent down and stroked her brown head. "Am I dreaming?" he asked his dog.

"You look like you are" Hunter laughed, "now, wanna play some video games?"

"Always!" Ranger grabbed the console controllers and set up their favorite game. But he couldn't get the thought out of his brain. Artemis liked him.