*NOT EDITED*

Chapter 25

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I jumped. And I screamed.

Well, I didn't really jump. The guy I was strapped to⎯Johnny⎯kind of pushed me off. All I heard was the wind screaming by as we fell at around 130 miles an hour. It made me feel like I was like standing in a wind tunnel, and that I wasn't falling⏤I was gliding.

Things began to come into view more clearly with each passing moment. I could make out houses and barns, cars and trucks.

"Okay, it's time for the parachute!" Johnny had to yell in my ear so I can hear him over the screaming wind. I nodded back and felt around for the string. I gave it two tugs and one last final pull . . . that made the string snap.

"The string snapped in half!" I yelled, panicking.

"Houston, we have a problem," Johnny called into his walky-talky-thingy.

"Are we going to die? Oh, God. Way to fricking go, Ash. You're going to get yourself killed, and Johnny . . . oh, poor Johnny. Why did he have to get stuck with some stupid-"

"Calm down!" He interrupted my ranting, "Someone's coming!"

His words did little to help me as the panic grew when I saw that the ground was coming nearer and the houses becoming clearer.

Suddenly, I felt someone pull us upwards, and we were no longer falling like dead flies onto the ground. I craned my as head as much as possible to see that another instructor had strapped us to him and he opened the parachute. We were now falling softly at 15 miles per hour.

I sighed a sigh of relief and closed my eyes as I set my legs straight and glided against the ground. I looked around to see that Ryder had already landed a distance away from us.

As soon as they unstrapped me, I stumbled out and started kissing the ground. Yes, literally kissing the ground.

"Oh, God. Thank You! Thank you so much. I'm too young to die. I still have to meet Shane Dawson." I rolled around on the grass before laying on my back and staring at the cloudy sky.

"So, how was it?" Ryder had walked up to me and was staring at me upside-down with a smirk.

I narrowed my eyes at him making him shrink back. I was still shaken from the incident and I stumbled as I tried to stand up.

I started backing him up as he almost tripped backward. "I almost died. The string was cut in half."

His eyes widened and he checked my bodies for injuries. "Are you okay? How did that happen?"

I stopped walking and sucked in my lips embarrassed. "I kind of somehow managed to cut the string."

"Then it's your fault," he pointed out with a laugh.

"Well . . . it was both of ours."

"So, I'm taking you didn't like it?" His expression fell.

"Heck to the no! I loved it!" We both fell into laughter as I jumped into his arms, wrapping my arms around him.

I didn't plan on doing that or plan on kissing him but it happened. And it was just as good as the first time.

His breath was warm and sweet, lips soft, and his hands cupped my face. I don't know how long it lasted, but there was a point where we had to break free in order to breathe⏤much to my disappointment.

"I'm glad you liked it," he said breathlessly laughing, his forehead touching mine.

"Yeah, doing life-threatening activities is a hobby of mine." I laughed back.

Bex and Emma's jaws dropped so low, it was lower than Celeste's IQ.

No, stop that, Ash. You're trying to be nice.

But . . . it was true.

I had come home to find Bex and Emma waiting for me in our house because they 'just couldn't wait to get the details about my date.' Not. I knew they were just here because the latest episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians came up earlier than the others on our TV.

"So, you're telling me that you went skydiving for a date, and then almost died?" Emma confirmed.

"And you think that it was the best date imaginable. Including the dying part," Bex said.

I nodded.

"I'm just gonna leave that there." Bex shook her head and started flipping through a book.

"What's that?" I asked, flopping down next to her.

"It's the yearbook from when we were freshmen."

My eyes widened. "You guys still have that?"

"I do," Emma replied as she sat down next to us.

"Go to the freshmen page. I want to see everyone in our grade back then."

Everyone looked like the uglier version of themselves⏤just like how they should have before puberty.

My eyes widened when I caught sight of Ryder. He carried a lot of more pounds (I didn't have a problem with that, though), had braces, and was wearing a shirt that was buttoned up to his neck.

"Oh, my God," I exclaimed as I quickly took a couple pictures.

We then flipped to Emma's pictures. She pretty much looked the same except younger. No surprise there.

I took the book and flipped to the end where the seniors were displayed. Of course, I didn't recognize any of them, but I still flipped through them all.

I furrowed my eyebrows when I saw a familiar face. It was the pair of blue eyes that struck me, but I couldn't pinpoint who they belonged to.

"Who's he?" I asked pointing at the picture.

"Nick Heast. He's Celeste's brother and now he's in college," Bex explained.

I took a closer look at him and . . . oh, my God. That's the guy that harrassed me that night.

Putting all the pieces together, I realized that Celeste set me up. She spiked my drink and set her brother to rape me.

Oh, God. How did I fall for it? How did I ever think that she'd try to be nice to me?

I felt the anger bubble on the surface as her face flashed in my mind and my vision was clouded with red.

How can someone go to that extent to hurt someone? I couldn't believe it.

"Ash? What's wrong?" Bex asked with a worried expression.

Looking at their concerned faces, I couldn't lie to them anymore. I'm not supposed to lie to them. I shouldn't be lying to my friends.

I sighed and explained everything. Their expressions went from confused to shocked to complete anger throughout my explanation.

Emma stood up. "Come on. I know where she lives."

"Great, let's go. Should we use my father's ax or a butter knife?" Bex asked, standing up as well.

"As much as I appreciate your urge to kill her, we're not going to do that. I have something else planned for her when we go to school." I smirked, meeting their confused gazes.

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Author's Note:

Hey, guys! I just want to say that I can't live without Wattpad. Everyone is so nice and supportive here!

Anyways, here's chapter 25! I can't believe that I got there so fast lol. What did you think of it? The date? The kiss? The revelation about Celeste? What do you think she's planning to do?

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