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Chapter 28    

Two words.  

Bathing suits.  

I'd never felt comfortable wearing them. Seriously, what's the different between them and underwear? None. So excuse me if I wasn't a fan of walking basically in my underwear around people. Besides, you need a lot of self confidence to wear a bathing suit.   

Even though, my protests and good arguments against those things, Lau made me wear one. She said everyone was going to be wearing them at the festival. Let me tell you something, my best friend was as stubborn as me, if not more.   

So here I was, sitting on Jordan's car backseat wearing blue shorts, a loose white t-shirt and a dark blue bathing suit beneath. Lau said it matched my eyes. She also had straightened my brown hair making it curly at the ends. I felt good about my looks today.  Jordan was the designed driver for the day; Lau was of course sitting next to him. And guess who was being my company on the backseat?   

Yeah, you guessed it right.  

Jerkpid.   

Shane was looking all hot with his jean shorts and green t-shirt but that didn't surprise me. Somehow, I'd grown used to be around him and his hotness.   

"Here we go!" Jordan exclaimed enthusiastically as he started driving into the road.   

"Yeah!" Lau was as enthusiastic as her boyfriend. I, on the other hand, was kind of nervous about seeing Evan again "Take us there, babe!" Lau cheered leaning to kiss Jordan. He leaned to her and kissed her back.   

"Hey!" I pressed my hand on Lau's forehead to push her away from Jordan "Could you just not make out while driving, please?" They both laughed. Lau looked really good. She was only wearing shorts and the top part of her bathing suit. She had enough self-confidence to go around like that unlike me. Her hair was in a pony tail and she had sunglasses on. She turned her head to me and flashed me a smile.   

"You look kind of pale." she commented "You definitely need some sun." I glared at her. Shane snickered beside me. Was he still weird with me like last time I saw him?   

"I can't wait to see you without all that clothes, Jones." Shane said, smirking at me.  

No, he was definitely same old Shane.  

"I prefer keeping my clothes on, thank you very much." I stated bluntly folding my arms across my chest. I could feel Shane's eyes on me.   

"And exactly what's your plan?" He asked crawling closer to me "Get in the river fully dressed and make a fool of yourself?"  

"Who says I'm getting in the river?" I shrugged my shoulders. Lau and Jordan were talking, ignoring us.   

"Well,", Shane's breath was tickling my ear "You'll be wet by the end of the day, Jones. I can assure you that." I shivered. I looked at him, which was a grave mistake. He was too close for my liking. His green feline eyes stared right into mine intensively. I pushed his chest.  

"Back off, Jerkpid!" I covered my mouth as I said it. Shane cocked an eyebrow.  

"What did you just call me?" The amusement in his voice was annoying.  

"Nothing," I mumbled looking at the window. It was sunny outside. It was a great day for the festival.   

"Jerkpid?" Shane asked amusedly "Gotta admit you're creative, babe," I snapped my head towards him.  

"Don't call me babe,"   

"You know you like it." he teased, cupping my cheek.  

"I don't," I slapped his hand. He chuckled and grasped a lock of my hair to play with. Having him this close was making me nervous.   

"Leave her alone, man." Jordan chimed in glancing at us through the rear-mirror. Shane let go of my hair and raised his hands in peace.  

"Fine," he gave me my space and I was thankful for it.   

"Thank you, Jordan." I smiled at him through the rear mirror.  

"No problem."   

The rest of the ride was kind of fun. Jordan was really funny. Even though his jokes were lame. The way he told them made us all burst into laughter. I couldn't help noticing how his eyes glowed whenever he glanced at Lau. He really liked her, I could tell. Shane, on the other hand, wouldn't stop making fun of me and my shyness.   

By the time we arrived to the festival, I was fuming about some joke Shane made about my hair. Yeah, my hair was a very sensitive subject for me and he knew it. I jumped off the car but was suddenly overwhelmed by the view. This festival seemed to be a very big deal.   

The river was wide and mighty, surrounded by tall trees. Its water was a combination of blue and green. There were balloons tied to the trees and a big sign that said "welcome to River Town's festival" I gawked at a decorated wooden bridge that crossed the river. There were people at both sides. The sun was bright up in the sky, making the water crystalline; you could see the bottom of the river in the shallow parts. Wow, there was a lot of people here, most of them teenagers. There were booths all around as if it was a carnival. I wondered what they were selling in them.   

"You like it?" Lau asked wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I nodded, closing my mouth. I noticed all the girls walking around in their bathing suits. There were shirtless boys with plastic glass in their hands. This looked more like a party than a festival. The music was pretty loud. Shane appeared at my side, strecheting his arms.  

"Ready to get loose, babe?" he asked grasping the hem of his t-shirt to pull it over his head. Unconsciously, my eyes roamed around his biceps, chest and eight-pack. It was understandable why he was the school's player, I mean, with that marvelous body he could easily be a model "Stop raping me with your eyes, Jones," his arrogant voice snapped me out of my inappropriate thoughts. I blushed looking at my other side where Laura was watching me with a diverted expression. She wiggled her eyebrows.  

"He's hot, isn't he?" she whispered conspiratorially.   

"Yeah," I admitted smiling shyly.  Jordan pushed us apart to get between us.  

"Are you ready, ladies?" he grinned at the sight "The river looks good. Let's go!" he wrapped his arms around both us to pull us forward.  Remember I had no skills whatsoever when it came to walk on a rocky surface? Well, river banks are usually rocky so yeah, you get the picture.   

It was a good thing Jordan was a fast catcher otherwise I would've ended up falling too many times to count. The worst part was that we weren't even half of way and I was already breathing heavily as if I ran a marathon. Walking on a rocky surface should be a sport, enough said! Shane was laughing at me, of course, the entire way. I wanted to glare at him but I couldn't take my eyes off the rocks. We stopped walking because Lau wanted to take her short off. I rested my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.  

I hate rocks!  

Maybe, they hated me. It could be a mutual thing.   

"My stomach hurts," Shane said caressing his abs

"I think I laughed enough for the day," he approached to me with long strides. He didn't seem to mind the rocks "come here, clumsy girl," I scowled at him.  

"What ar-Ah!" Shane lifted me to carry me bridal style "Put me down!" I exclaimed embarrassed.   

"No," he started moving to the river.  

"Shane! Put me down!" I pushed his chest, feeling the muscles beneath. He looked down at me and grinned.  

"That way, you won't ruin my day by falling and hitting your head,", he explained casually. I glared at him but he simply winked at me.   

"I hate you,".  

"Hate is a powerful feeling, I can work with that,". I decided to ignore him the rest of the way.   

When we finally got to the river bank, Shane put me down. I took a step away from him and folded my arms across my chest. I could feel the sand getting in my sandals.   

"You're an ungrateful little minion," he shook his head, poking my forehead.  

"Little minion?"   

"Yes, you're not the only one creative in this relationship, babe,"  

"There's no relationship here!" I gestured both of us "and stop calling me babe,"   

"Whatever you say," he waved me off, shrugging.   

If looks could kill...  

"Yoho!" Lau showed up in all her almost naked glory. Jordan was already shirtless, holding his girlfriend's hand possessively.   

"Hey, you made it," Jordan ruffled my hair as if I was a child. I gave him a closed mouth smile.  

"Why do you still have your clothes on?", Lau asked, tugging my t-shirt. I ran my fingers through my hair.   

"I..." I trailed off "I'll take them off later,"  

"Water is going to be too cold later, Jules," Lau assured "right now, it's the perfect time to go for a swim," I ran out of arguments therefore I slowly took my t-shirt off. I could feel my flaming cheeks as I kept my hands over my chest trying to cover myself. I didn't have big boobs, they weren't too small either, they could fill a hand I guess "that's better!" Lau encouraged "Let's go!" she said heading to the river, pulling Jordan with her. I wasn't getting in the river anytime soon so I sat on a rock. Sunlight was brushing my skin, warming me up.   

Ah! This feels good.  

A red headed came closer and started talking to Shane, flirting with him shamelessly. I rolled my eyes, typical. My phone buzzed in shorts pocket. I took it out nervously. I knew it was a text from Evan. How did I know? Add it to the list of mysteries in Julie Ann Jones' life. However, I was not expecting to read these words.  

Blue suits you :)    

Oh God! He saw me?!   

I was officially looking like a tomato right now. I lifted my gaze and scanned the crowd surrounding the river but didn't see him.   

Me: Where are u?

Him: Planet Earth :)  

I narrowed my eyes at my phone's screen.  

Me: Ha! Hilarious.

Him: Cross the bridge ;)  

What? I looked at the wooden decorated bridge, it wasn't that far. I checked the way and it only had sand so phew! No more rocks.   

Me: Okay.  

I shoved my phone inside my pockets, took my sandals off and started walking through the sandy riverbank. Shane seemed too busy to notice my sudden depart. I kept my eyes on the sand, trying to be invisible. I should've have put my t-shirt on again. I couldn't believe I'd left it on some random rock. I embraced myself and rubbed my arms. The view from the bridge was breathtaking.  You could see all the way up the river and the bright sun shielded by mountains. The sound of water running was refreshing. A cool breeze brushed my hair softly. it was so good to be out of my house. This place was pretty cool.   

As soon as my feet landed on the other side of the river, I texted Evan asking him where he was again. 

Him: Walk deeper into the woods..  

Me: What direction?

Him: Just walk straight :)   

This side of the river wasn't as rocky as the other. The sand felt soft under my bare feet. I was soon swallowed by tall trees that hid the sun from me. I stopped on my tracks realizing I was far enough from civilization to be worried about my safety. What if I got the wrong direction? What if got lost? What if there was an angry panda waiting for  me there? 

There are no pandas here, dumb-ass!   My inner voice snapped at me. I heard some noise behind me so I turned on my heels in a fast move.  

Nothing...  

"Evan?" I called him out because I was starting to get scared. Who am I kidding? I was one minute from running away like a scared puppy. Yeah, I wasn't a brave person besides, I'd watched too much discovery channel to know there could be a snake waiting to inject its poison in my bare feet or an angry bear looking for food. Something warm was wrapped around my waist so I screamed but my mouth was soon covered. the familiar smell of lavender softener hit my nostrils... Evan. He let me go and I turned around angrily, ready to yell at him for scaring me like that. But when my eyes landed on his handsome face, I was speechless. He was wearing a sleeveless black t-shirt, shorts and black converses. His hair was tousled giving him a sexy disheveled look. The tattoo on his neck was visible, adding more to his bad boy appearance. I looked into his dark eyes and swallowed.  

"You're not really brave, are you?" he teased, smiling. Oh God, the dimples on his cheeks formed taking my breath away.   

"I..."   

Breathe, Jules.  

"You scared me!" I accused trying to sound angry but failing miserably. How could I be angry at him when he smiled like that? that wasn't fair! He should be banned for smiling. Evan chuckled.  

"It's not my fault you're a chicken,"   

"I'm not a chicken!", I retorted folding my arms across my chest, causing Evan's gaze to drop to my boobs for a slight second before going up to my face again. Damn! I forgot I was shirtless. My cheeks reddened as I tried to compose myself.   

"You're going for a swim?", he asked, tilting his head to the side.  

"Not really,"  

"Why not?"   

"Well... swimming is not my thing," I lied. Truth was, I couldn't swim but It's not like I'm telling him that. I mean, he lived in River town, swimming was probably natural for him. Evan narrowed his eyes at me, as if he was scrutinizing me.  

"You can't swim, can you?" how did he know? Arh! I really sucked at lying. I shook my head ashamed "That's not bad. It only means I have more to teach you," he smirked. My heart skipped a beat.   

"More to teach me?"   

"Yeah,". he took a step closer. I had to tilt my head back to look at him.  

"So now you're the experienced bad boy," I said mocking seriousness.   

"More like the experienced good-looking bad boy,". his arrogance made me roll my eyes.  

"Get over yourself," I poked his chest playfully. He held my hand, the contact sent shivers through me. I retracted my hand, smiling nervously "So, any particular reason you brought me to this isolated place?"   

"Yes, I'm going to kill you," he affirmed hiding a smile "I must say, you were very easy to catch,"  

"You're going to kill me and throw my body in the river?" I asked shaking my head disapprovingly

"That's so cliche"  

"Life is a big walking cliche, peachy girl," his hand cupped my cheek. I swallowed.  

"Why are we here?" I sounded a little bit breathless.   

"Close your eyes," his thumb caressed my cheek gently. I did as I was told "Give me your hand,". Slowly, I lifted my hand. He held it opened and placed something cold on my palm. Curiosity was getting the best of me. I was struggling not to see what it was. "Open your eyes, Jules," he whispered looming over me. As soon as I opened my eyes, I looked at my hand and gasped. There was a beautiful golden necklace on it.  It had a big strawberry shaped pendant. I covered my mouth with my free hand, hiding the dreamy smile on my lips "I'm truly sorry," he said, honesty dripping from his tongue.  

"Wow... this is...." I didn't know what to say. I wasn't used to get presents. I didn't expect Evan to have such a detailed gesture.   

"Check the inscription," he spoke excitedly. I grasped the medium size strawberry pendant and turned it over to read the inscription.  It read:   

To the beautiful 

Mrs. Strawberry

E.W.  

My heart melted inside my chest. How could he do things like this and expect me to be his friend? No one had ever given me something like this before. It was so meaningful. it wasn't just some random necklace. He found a way to make it unique, to relate it to me. I looked up at him. He was giving me a genuine smile. I wanted to close that space between us and pressed my lips against his, I wanted to show him how much he meant to me, to let him know how much I cared about him. I knew he had internal conflicts, i knew he was troubled guy but I didn't care. I would do the impossible to remove that sadness from his eyes. Even when he was smiling I could clearly see the hidden sadness in the depth of his eyes... it was almost imperceptible.   

"Did you like it?" his question interrupted my thoughts. I blinked getting back to reality.   

"I love it...It's beautiful," I answered frankly. He took the necklace from my palm to put on my neck gently. The cold gold met my bare skin, I couldn't help shivering. Evan took a step backwards and grinned.  

"It looks great on you,"  

"Thank you," I mumbled with a flustered face "This is... really sweet of you,". He scratched the back of his head.  

"Yeah, I guess your sweetness is contagious," he stated, making a disgusted face. I punched his shoulder.  

"Silly dark poet!" I exclaimed playfully.  

"Naive cheesy writer," He stuck his tongue out at me.  

"Oh, very mature, huh?" Evan opened his mouth to say something but then someone else spoke.  

"Finally!" I turned around to find Shane. He was dripping wet "I've been looking for you everywhere, babe," Evan tensed up at the word 'babe' he glanced at me confused as if wondering 'did he just call you babe?'  

"I told you not to call me ba-"  

"Hey, man," Shane shook Evan's hand interrupting me.  

"Hey," Evan's voice was back to cold. It wasn't the same excited playful voice anymore.   

"So what were you guys doing?" Shane asked wrapping an arm around my shoulder, getting my side damp in a matter of seconds. I tried to push him off but he simply held me tightly against him. I gazed at Evan. His expression was unreadable but he was clenching his fists at his sides.   

"Take your hands off her," Evan hissed through clenched teeth, surprising me.   

"Excuse me?" Shane played the fool.  

"I said," Evan's biceps were tensed, I swear I could see his veins bulging out of his skin "Take your hands off her," he repeated deliberately slow.    

"And if I don't?" Shane challenged. Evan's pressed his lips in a tight line "You're going to make me?" Shane pulled me tighter against him. I struggled to get loose.   

"Let her go," Evan demanded dangerously.   

"Or what, freak?", Shane said, snarling.   

"Shane!" I protested not liking where this was going.   

"Don't provoke me," Evan menaced, anger plastered on his face.  

"I'm not afraid of you," Shane shrugged.  

"You should be,"  

"Oh yeah?" Shane's voice was getting serious "You lost your turn, loser, she's mine now,"  

"What?" I looked at Shane shocked.  

And then everything happened so fast my brain barely had time to register everything. Evan launched towards Shane, pushing him backwards getting me out of the way. Then, his fist connected with Shane's face hard. I was too shock to move, I was paralyzed. Shane fell to the ground, his nose was bleeding.   Oh my God!   Evan got on top of him and straddled him. I held my chest scared. Violence had always scared the hell out of me. Evan started punching Shane over and over again. the sound each punch produced was making me sick.   

"No!" I yelled shaking. I knew I had to do something. "Evan! Stop! No!" I came closer to them and was horrified to see the mess Shane's face was turning into. He was barely conscious "No, Evan! Don't!" I knelt next to them. Evan seemed lost in his own rage "Stop! Please!" I begged. I held his fist in the air catching his attention. Evan looked at me. His expression went from anger, to realization and finally regret. His knuckles were stained with blood: Shane's blood. Evan didn't seem to know what to say.  

"Oh God!" I exclaimed, letting go of his hand. He got off Shane so I leaned forwards my injured friend "Shane? Can you hear me?" I hadn't noticed the tears rolling down my face.   

"Ow!" was all Shane managed to utter as I helped him sit up.   

"Oh God! Are you okay?" I tried to clean his face with shaky hands.  

"Never been better," Shane's sarcastic remark was prove he was okay. He got on his feet, holding his nose.   

"Shane?" I was so worried. He ignored me and stared at Evan.  

"This isn't over," he promised as he started walking away. He was probably going to clean his face off in the river.

What the hell just happened?   I turned to face Evan.  

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I screamed at him angrily. Evan kept his gaze on the ground. I pushed his chest "You could have killed him!"   

"He started it," Evan looked up at me, his voice cold and unnerving.  

"He was joking! He's Shane! He's always joking!" I explained exasperated.   

"He wasn't joking!" Evan's tone rose "Can't you see the way he looks at you?"  

"What the hell are you talking about? Apologize to him!" I ordered.  

"No, he got what he deserved!"  

"What is your problem?!"  

"He is a jerk and you know it!"  

"So what? that doesn't give you the right to beat the crap out of him! That's just wrong!"  

"What about the things he does? they are not wrong?" I frowned in confusion "you know exactly what he did to Melissa. Is that what you want for yourself?"  

"So this is about Melissa?", I asked hurt.  

"No, this is about you. I won't let him play with you,"  

"He's not going to play with me! He's my friend!"  

"He wants you!" Evan hissed "It's obvious, you're just to naive to notice,"  

"He doesn't..." I trailed off taking in his words, "and what if he does want me? Why do you care? As far as I know, you only want to be my friend,"  

"I'm your friend. That's why I get to worry about you, that guy will only hurt you,"  

"He won't. He's not like you," The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Evan's face contorted in hurt "I'm sorry... I didn't mean... I..."  

"It's fine. You're right," my chest tightened.  

"I really didn't mean to say that," I looked for his eyes but he kept them everywhere but me. He turned around and held his head.   

"You should go back to your friends,"  

"No," this wasn't over. Not like this.  

"Jules, just go," he turned to me. We locked gazes; my chest was rising and falling due to my heavy breathing. We were both angry but there was something else flowing around us: Tension. I felt like there was an electric pull between us. All I wanted to do was close that space and kiss him with everything I had. Somehow I knew he wanted the same.   

And there we stood, staring into each other's eyes, holding ourselves back. Evan took one step closer; I swallowed feeling my dry throat.  

"You have to go before I do something stupid," his voice was a soft whisper now.   

"No," I took one step forwards.  

"Jules..." a shiver traveled down my spine. My name sounded so good in that sexy voice of his. He took three long strides towards me, until we were mere inches from each other. He held my face with both hands and rested his forehead on mine. His ragged breath fanned my lips teasingly. God, I'd never wanted something so bad as I wanted him to kiss me.  

"I won't let him have you,"  

"Why?" I looked right into his dark eyes.   

"Because you're mine"  

X M W L X

A/N: Yoho! I hope you enjoyed the long chapter! I bet my fresh peaches Shane's fans are going to be angry, he got beaten xD oh well, that's life. There are surprises coming, people.   Thank you guys for the support.

Don't forget to vote since this story is the wattys! Also, join the facebook group. It's on the external link.   

Love and regular peaches, Arix