"Wait, he kissed you?!"

I laughed softly, "Yeah, I guess so" I said.

Anna's eyes widened in surprise and a huge grin spread across her face.

"How are you so calm about this?! This is big news, Finn! Big news! This is the farthest we've gotten in Operation Folton so far!" Anna exclaimed, clasping her hands together excitedly.

"Hey, I'm not saying the kiss meant anything-"

"Woah, hold up there" Anna said, holding up her hand as to physically stop my words from reaching her.

"He wouldn't have kissed you just for the heck of it, and no one I know would kiss their ex-girlfriend on the lips in front of their current girlfriend just to get extra credit on the project." Anna said.

I crossed my arms, shivering slightly as the cool wind blew against us.

"Yeah, I guess you're right" I said. And she was. No one in their right mind would do that. But this was Colton. I didn't know what was going on in that clearly messed up brain of his.

"Of course I'm right" Anna said, pulling her sweater tighter around her , "And maybe if you hadn't left without talking to Colton, we would be having a ride home right now instead of having to walk, in may I add, rather cold weather for Fall".

I rolled my eyes, "Don't worry, next time I'll make sure to remember that" I said sarcastically.

Anna smiled proudly, "Good. Either that or get your freaking license because I'm tired of walking everywhere" Anna said.

I laughed, "No offense but I really wasn't concerned with how cold it was when I decided not to ask Colton for a ride" I said , "You know, I have his raging back-stabbing girlfriend on my back right now" I sighed.

Anna laughed, "Yeah, true. But it's not like she wasn't already" she said.

I shrugged, "Whatever, I'm just really confused right now and even If Becca did confront me, I wouldn't have the slightest clue as to what to say" I said.

"You could tell her to back off or it'll be a fight to the death" Anna said, a small smirk on her lips.

I let out an abrupt laugh, "Yeah, that wouldn't go down well with her" I said.

Anna shrugged, "Well you can't let her win" she said.

"I don't know. It seems like she's already won." I said honestly, "They're been dating for what? 2...3 years? I can't compete with that." I said.

"But he kissed you" she said, emphasizing every word.

And that's what was truly confusing.

"I know" I whined, "But I don't know what that's supposed to mean" I said, holding my red dress flat against my legs to prevent it from flying up.

"It means that he probably still has some feelings for you. Maybe he doesn't even know why he did it! But the fact is, somewhere deep down he still likes you" she said matter a factly , "and the only way to find out for sure it to freaking ask him" she said.

"Everyone's been telling me that" I said softly, in deep thought.

"Yeah, because talking to him would probably clear things up...a lot" Anna said.

Gosh, did everyone know exactly what to do except me?

We reached our house and I sighed in relief. My arms were starting to get sore from holding my dress down. Wind seemed to be a reoccurring problem with me and dresses.

"Look, there he is now" Anna said, elbowing me in the side.

My gaze snapped to Colton's house, and I saw him getting out of his car.

My heart fluttered just seeing him and I wanted to bang my head against a table.

Finnly, get your shit together.

I wiped my palms against my dress, my eyes still fixed on him, "Do you really think I should talk to him?" I asked softly.

"Yeah" Anna said beside me.

"Like...now?" I asked.

Anna shifted to stand in front of me, "Yes, now! Stop ogling and just do it" she said, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

I looked away from Colton, rather reluctantly, trying to remind myself that he did have a girlfriend.

"Ok" I said, straightening up , "Don't watch" I said, making my voice stern.

"Can I watch if I promise not to say anything?" Anna asked.

I rolled my eyes , "fine" I said.

"Now go!" Anna said, pushing me.

I turned my head back to glare at her before walking over toward him.

It's fine.

Calm down.

Seriously, it's not that big of a deal.

"Hey" I said, catching Colton before he got inside.

"Hey" he said, turning around to face me. He ran his hand through his hair and looked down at me with his gorgeous dark green eyes.

I mentally gushed...like I did every time when I was up close to him , "Uh I just-"

"No, I know what you're going to say." He said, cutting me off.

I pursed my lips, "What am I going to say?" I asked, raising my eyebrow questionably.

"The kiss didn't mean anything" he said, looking away from me, "I thought-"

"What'd you think?" I interrupted, slightly irritated.

It bothered the living crap out of me that the kiss "didn't mean anything". Why kiss people just for the heck of it? It's supposed to be something special. And it's not like I've had a million and one guys kissing me the last 3 years. He was the only one I'd ever kissed; you can't pull that on me and then say it didn't mean anything.

He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it, rubbing his jaw, "We weren't doing well, so I thought it would give us brownie points with Mr.Fells" he said.

I clenched my jaw, "I understand" I said, offering him a small smile.

"Yeah, let's just forget about it" he said, biting his lip.

"Not a problem" I said, smiling, "Forgetting about 8th grade was easy so this should be a breeze" I said, adding in a laugh.

His smile faltered slightly and I walked away, "Talk to you later" I said, waving.

"How'd it go? You look happy! Was it something good?!" Anna asked, following me as I continued toward our house.

"Just splendid" I said, gritting my teeth together.

To be honest, I wasn't even going to open with the asking him about the kiss. I was going to lead up to that. Couldn't he have just let me finish what I was saying? I could've gotten everything out before he completely destroyed any hopes I did have.

"Talk to me, Finn!" Anna said, closing the door behind us.

I turned around to face her, my strong face finally breaking, "he said it didn't mean anything" I said, letting out a small whimper.

God I was pathetic.

"But Finn-"

"Anna, he made it pretty clear" I said, letting out a small sniffle in the process, "Why the freaking hell does he even like that backstabbing ungrateful slutty little b-"

"Finnly! Seriously, you need to calm down" Anna said, "did you even ask him about 8th grade?" she asked slowly.

I shook my head, "no" I said, "I was going to but then he interrupted me and then he said the kiss didn't matter and that we should forget about it and then I said that it was easy to forget about the kiss in 8th grade so this should be easy too, and then I walked away" I said, trying to get everything out as fast as possible. I really didn't need to relive the whole thing again.

"You should've told him that it meant something to you" Anna said softly.

I gave her a glaring look, "I can't go back in time, ok?" I said my voice tense with anger.

Anna held her hands up in defense, "I know I know, sorry" she said.

We stood in silence for a few minutes, and I tried doing everything in my power to push the thought of the kiss or anything involving Colton out of my head.

"Hey, I have an idea" Anna said, breaking the silence and diminishing the battle inside my head.

"Hit me with your best shot" I said, dully, seriously hoping it was something that could get me out of this rut I had dug for myself.

"Why don't we go shopping?!" Anna suggested, clapping her hands together in excitement.

Shopping, now? It's not like we had school the next day or anything.

I looked at her disapprovingly, disappointed and outright surprised at the same time.

Anna would never go shopping just for the heck of it.

"What? Homecoming is Saturday" she said, shrugging, "and it looks like someone needs a little pick-me up" she said, nudging me.

"I'm not even going" I said.

Yeah, call me a party pooper, see if I care.

Anna grabbed her wallet from her book bag and headed toward the door.

"What are you doing, you can't even drive" I said, making no effort to follow her.

"I'm walking. It's not that far" she said over her shoulder , "I might get jumped or whatever, you know just because it's not that safe to walk alone but I understand If you're willing to put me in complete danger just because you think homecoming is stupid" she said, shrugging before closing the door behind her.

Shit. She played the guilt card.

I banged my head on the table, relieving all anger I had at the moment, and reluctantly followed Anna out the door.

It's not like I was agreeing to go to homecoming or anything.

~*~*~*~

"Finnly, that would look so good on you! Try it on!" Anna said, for the 100th time since we had started shopping for her homecoming dress.

I gave her the same look I had given her multiple times, "Anna, I'm sorry but I'm not going" I said defiantly.

Anna just rolled her eyes, "Sure you won't" she said, moving onto another rack of dresses.

"What color do you want?" I asked, hoping that if I offered to help it would speed up the process.

Anna shrugged, "I don't know. Purple?" she offered.

I nodded, moving to one of the racks with purple dresses.

I almost vomited at the sight of some of the dresses, completely astounded that some of them were even allowed to be made.

I held up one of the ugly dresses with tons of sequins and a layer of tulle on top of the leopard print skirt, "How about this one?" I asked, laughing

Anna stuck her finger in her mouth, making gagging noises, "It looks like a dance costume for a 3 year old" she said.

I laughed, "Yeah, or we could just come straight out and say it's ugly as hell" I offered, shoving it back on the rack.

Anna laughed, "yeah, or that" she said.

We browsed through some of the racks, and Anna found a couple dresses to try on.

"I think I'm set to try these on, just wait out here" she said.

I nodded and lazily walked down the aisles of dresses, aimlessly picking random dresses to look at.

I wandered over to the rack with blue dresses and fingered through them. I lifted a short blue dress off the rack and held it out to arm's length. It wasn't shiny or full of bling like the others were. It was a baby doll style dress, with soft fabric and a sweetheart neckline, finished off with thin straps and a silver band around the waist.

To put it simply, it was absolutely gorgeous.

"You know, that dress would really accentuate the curves you don't have"

I grit my teeth and turn around slowly to face her

"Can't you just leave me alone, Becca?" I asked my voice tense.

I didn't need this right now. I had finally been able to keep the thought of Colton out of my mind for more than 5 minutes.

Becca cocked her head to the side, "You know, I kind of wonder sometimes why some people just get so unlucky" she said casually, inspecting her nails.

"What do you mean?" I said, through clenched teeth.

I was so done with her. I was 5 seconds close to punching the living daylights out of her.

"Well, I mean. For starters, your parents just never got a long, even when they were together. And you were never particularly good at anything. And seriously, it's not like Colton ever actually liked you, it was more of a pity thing" she said, smirking slightly.

I gave her a fake over dramatic smile, "You done?" I asked, chirpily.

"Oh dear, I almost forgot...and that brother of yours...what was his name?" she asked, pretending to think, "Oh, well it's not like it even matters anyway... he's dead" she said simply.

I clenched my fists, "Don't. You. DARE. Talk about my brother" I said, trying everything in my power to calm down.

It was one thing to make fun of me, and even make fun of the relationship I had with Colton, but mentioning my brother crossed the line.

"What are you going to do about it, huh? It's not like he's here to defend you anymore" she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Leave. It. Be" I said, drawing out each word as long as I could. I couldn't afford to get in a fight with her right now, even though I really wanted too. It took every muscle in my body not to just lunge at her, claws outstretched and teeth bearing.

Anna walked out of the changing room, saving me from another snappy comment from Becca, "I'll see you at homecoming, Finnly. But seriously, I don't suggest getting that dress. Something in the kid's section would fit you better." She said, before stalking away.

Anna opened her mouth to yell something at Becca's back, but I slapped my hand over her mouth, "Remember 'Operation kick Becca's slutty ass'?" I asked.

Anna nodded.

"Well, if it wasn't in effective already, it sure as hell is now" I said, "I'm going to homecoming."

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Thanks for everyone that has continued to stick with me through my sporadic updates and such! I truly appreciate everyone of you for taking the time to read my story XD thanks so much for 4k reads! It's seriously awesome and I can't thank you guys enough!!

Chapter is dedicated to AwesomeAlorah101 for putting 'Folton is Life' in her bio! It seriously made my day XD

And I really hope this chapter didn't completely depress you Folton shippers... mwahaha.

Predictions?

song of the chap- Forget you by Ceelo Green << to be honest this is the first song that actually goes with the chapter

later lovelies - A