I turned the volume on my walkie talkie down. I couldn't risk getting caught. I squeezed the rubber button on the side and whispered, "I'm in position. Do you copy? Over."

A couple seconds later, Ese said through static, "Copy that. I have eyes on the target. Over."

"Is target moving towards table A or B? Over," Gil asked over the walkie.

I sat criss-cross applesauce because my knees were going numb from kneeling. "Table B. Over," my walkie hummed thanks to Sierra.

"Haha! Suck it!" I cheered then remembered they couldn't hear me. Pressing the button, I repeated, "Haha! Suck it! Over." Gil had confidently set up under table A and ended up losing the bet. That girl hated being wrong.

"Don't mess this up. Over," Gil said bitterly.

I turned the volume down more when I saw a shadow slip underneath the tablecloth. When it disappeared, Sierra said, "All clear. Over."

I rolled out from underneath the table and stood up. The tray of cookies was right in front of me. As fast as I could, I lifted it off the table and into my arms. I started walking without looking up. My walkie crackled. "Abort! I repeat abort!" Sierra warned urgently.

"Young lady! What do you think your doing?" A shrill voice snarled.

I made contact with an enraged elderly woman. "Crap," I breathed, spinning around. "'Scuse me!" I shouted, pushing through the crowd.

"Drop the cookies. They're slowing you down!" Gil cried out.

Sierra added, "They're not worth it! Abort! Abort!"

I kept going, doing my best to keep all the cookies on the tray. I could hear the old woman's shrieking behind me. "I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die," I murmured to myself. I made a U-turn and ran back to the buffet tables. I put the cookies back on the table and rolled under it. When I came out the other side, I picked them up again and kept going. Mildred was old and I was a soccer player, so she didn't last very long.

Breathing hard, I knocked on the door of the meet up spot. The shed door unlatched and swung open. Gil and Sierra were inside with wide eyes. "You're not dead." Gil gaped.

I grinned cheekily. "As alive as bacteria."

Sierra rolled her eyes. "That's disgusting."

I stuffed a cookie in my mouth. "You're disgusting," I countered, my voice muffled by the treat. I handed them the tray and shut the wooden door behind me.

We snacked on cookies and chatted about anything and everything. When the tray was almost half gone, someone knocked on the door. The three of us froze, waiting.

"I know you troublemakers are in there."

Sierra's eyes went wide. "Jess," she mouthed inaudible.

The lock on the door rattled. Before we could make a plan, another voice said, "If I were you, I'd open up."

"Ash," I mouthed, eyeing the door nervously. Who could blame me? Jessie was very much capable of kicking that door down and storming in here. She would have already done it if it wasn't church property.

"We're going to count to three," a third voice announced.

I could imagine Gil groaning. She mouthed, "Ellie."

"One."

I looked at the other two in alarm. The seniors were really counting and only a dumb person would wait all the way. I knew from experience. "What now?" I hissed.

Gil stubbornly sat on the floor and bit another cookie.

"Two."

I looked at Ese. She was the rational one. She pointed at the door. Gil snapped, "Don't! We're gonna be in trouble either way."

I looked around frantically.

"Th—"

I shoved the cookie platter behind a box. Sierra scrambled to throw the door open before Ellie could finish counting. I swallowed nervously. The three seniors looked though the doorway with their arms crossed.

"Hi," I said with a cheeky grin.

Ash calmly asked, "Can any of you explain why Mrs. Hilborne just told me someone stole a whole tray of cookies?" She made eye contact with me. Why does she assume I was the one who actually did it?

Gil stood up. "Someone stole a whole tray of cookies. Who'd be stupid enough to do that?"

"Funny you should ask that. I have a few ideas," Ellie said looking half amused. She eyed each of us.

I pretended to think. "I bet those nasty Ivan brothers did."

Sierra added, "We really aren't supposed to eat sweets anyways."

"So you guys didn't steal the cookies?" Jessie asked with an eyebrow raised.

We looked between ourselves.

"Nope."

"Uh-uh."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Ash shook her head not satisfied. "I want a real response. Did you steal the cookies?" She asked sternly.

I looked at the other two more urgently. I didn't want to lie to her. Neither of them were saying anything. The more seconds of silence that passed, the more guilty we looked. "Wellll," I drew out. "Depends on your definition of steal."

"Taking something without permission," she replied, playing along. She knew she was going to win.

But I wasn't going to let her win easily. "In that case, Ms. Simon stole my GPA from me. You should probably talk to her about it. Not very nice of her, was it?" I said looking everywhere but at Ashley's eyes. No way was I making eye contact.

Sierra cleared her throat. "Because of the . . . If I'm being honest . . . At some point . . ."

We looked at Gillian. She needed to do her part. She could at least try to help. The freshman defender finally sighed. "What's the big deal? That old bat is the only one who cares."

"Gil!" Ese and I shouted.

Jessie sighed. "Seriously, guys? She's like a hundred years old. That's kind of low."

Ellie reprimanded, "And you're not supposed to eat sweets for a reason. Especially since you girls are freshman playing varsity. Being on top of your nutritional and physical health is important."

I looked at my shoes guiltily. Ash stated, "You girls are going to apologize."

"Yes ma'am," I mumbled with the others.

The seniors tracked down the old woman and we were forced to apologize. Her response was, "Back in my day, you hooligans would have been sent to boarding school and taught how to conduct yourselves like proper women in society. People these days."

All in all, it didn't matter much. Ash said we'd talk about it at home, but I could tell I wasn't in that much trouble. She never liked the old woman. I knew Ash probably didn't like that I didn't tell her the truth, but she wasn't mad enough to take me home right away. As the church event winded down, Gil and Sierra left before me.

I knew Ash would be here a while so I decided to head to the creak. Obviously, I asked permission because I wasn't looking for any more trouble today.

I walked a little ways into the woods and found my favorite part of the creak. I sat and tossed a rock into the water. Someone sat beside me. I tensed when I looked up.

"What are you doing?"

He smiled at the moving stream. "I used to sit here when I was your age."

I stood up, not wanting anything to do with him. "Stay away from me." I tried to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist. I wrenched my arm away. "Don't touch me!"

"Don't walk away. I just want to talk," he pleaded.

I gritted my teeth. "Well I don't."

"Ams—"

"Leave me alone," I snarled.

"Please, I just . . . Your mother would be so sad, seeing us like this."

I spun around. I closed the space between us and shoved my finger in his chest. "She'd be sad knowing that you really can't change, and you're a weaker man than she thought."

"You're right. I had a moment of weakness, but I'm getting better. I promise."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd buy a house far away from here."

He swallowed thickly. "How can I-what can I . . . I want to know you. You'll be going off to college in four years, and I still think you're favorite song is by The Wiggles."

I stepped away. "Get a life. If I could make Ashley Edwards my legal guardian, I would. In a heartbeat. Screw you. Okay? Screw you."

I left him. Alone and pondering. I swallowed my tears and kept walking. The man I saw looked just like my father. The man who was my rock through everything. But I knew he was just as capable as being the other man. The one who stayed out past 3 A.M. gambling our rent away. When I broke from the tree line, Claire, our goalie, was folding up the tables with other volunteers.

"Where's Ash?" I asked shakily.

She looked at me with a worried expression. "Cleaning up the foyer. Are you okay?"

I nodded even though that was such a lie. I sprinted to the church entrance. I burst through the front doors and spotted Ash vacuuming the carpet. I buried my head in er shoulder and gripped her tightly. I didn't cry or sniffle. I had already wasted enough tears on him.

She rubbed my back. "Hey, kiddo. Everything alright?"

I knew she knew the answer. I murmured, "Mhm." She saw right through that. She gripped me tight and whispered in my ear that everything would be okay.

Part of me wanted to see if maybe he did change. I was afraid of finding out.