Keeley's knee bounced as she stared at the school library door. How long did it take to get here? She'd been patiently waiting for thirty minutes and the morning bell was about to ring. They were running out of time.

"Would you calm down?" Nicky asked. She picked up the last of the breakfast burrito and finished it off. "You're giving me a headache with all that jiggling."

She stilled her leg. "I am calm."

Nicky looked down where Keeley was drumming her fingers on the table and sighed. "I can see that." She reached over and slapped Keeley's hand down. "He'll be here."

"He said to meet him before school," she stated more as a reminder to herself than anything else.

"I know."

"And here I am, meeting him before school." Her foot started shaking beneath the table. "But is he here as promised? No, he isn't."

"Probably because he didn't have someone wake him up before the crack of dawn," Nicky mumbled in a disgruntled tone.

Keeley tore her eyes away from the door. "It was not that early."

"It was still dark outside. The birds weren't even up yet."

"There was some light," she replied defensively, crossing her arms. "And it's not my fault you have lazy birds who sleep all day."

Nicky gave her a pointed look.

"So I may have been a little eager and got to your house three hours early. Sue me." When Nicky's expression didn't change she tried a different tactic. "I bought you food."

"Which you wouldn't let me eat at the restaurant. I had to sneak it past the librarian." Nicky sent a furtive look over her shoulder. "You know she's a stickler for rules. If I get caught, I'm blaming it on you."

"I'm not taking the fall. You should have eaten it in the car like I told you to."

Nicky reached into the bag and pulled out another burrito. "Food should be savored, Keeley, not devoured."

"That argument would hold up better if I hadn't seen you eat at the buffet last summer."

Nicky scowled. "I thought we agreed to never bring that up."

Keeley shook her head and went back to staring at the door. She was getting nervous. Hell, who was she kidding? She was way past nervous and heading straight toward worried. Her whole plan hinged on this. What if he didn't follow through?

Nicky must have seen the panic on her face because she put the burrito down and offered her a sympathetic smile. "We always have our back-up plan."

The idea of filling his truck with peeps seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that she really thought about it, it sounded exhausting...and expensive. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I have no desire to open little marshmallow packages all night long."

"If it does we can always get your brother to help. I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to do something to Talon's truck again."

"I don't think he'd appreciate the romantic overture."

"Does he know you want to get back together with Talon?"

"I haven't told him yet." She wanted to wait and see if her plan worked. No use starting an argument with her brother for nothing.

Nicky let out a low whistle. "I'd hate to be part of that conversation."

"Me too," she muttered.

The library door opened and Keeley's eyes brightened when she saw Gavin walk through. Waving her hand, she caught his attention and beckoned him over.

"Do you have his phone?" Keeley asked when he approached the table.

Gavin pushed his hood down and set his backpack on the floor. He pursed his lips and stared at her for a couple beats before saying, "I want to go on the record and say I don't like this plan. Not one bit."

"Aren't you the one who said I needed to make up with him?"

"Yes, but not like this. I never thought you'd ask me to steal his phone."

"It's not stealing. It's borrowing," she corrected.

"It feels like stealing to me," he grumbled, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out Talon's phone.

Nicky handed it over to Keeley. Curious, she asked, "How did you get it?"

"I pretended to forget a book at his house and ran over there this morning. He almost caught me going through his stuff, but luckily his mom interrupted and called us downstairs." He grabbed his stomach. "Unfortunately, it was so she could make us breakfast."

Keeley winced. Talon had told her stories of how bad her cooking was. "I'm sorry."

"The pain will pass...eventually. I'm more worried about what JT will do when he finds out I took his phone and replaced it with yours. " He rubbed his jaw. "His right hook packs a mean punch."

Frowning, she bit her lower lip. She wanted to switch phones, but not at the cost of getting him in trouble. "Blame me if he gets mad. I'm the one who talked you into switching the phones."

"Sure, now you'll take the blame," Nicky muttered under her breathe.

Gavin dropped his hand and shrugged like it was no big deal. "Don't worry about it. I can handle JT's temper. Anything to get him in a better mood."

Nicky rolled her eyes. "Drop the martyr act already."

He flashed her a knowing grin. "Jealous you can't be the one to save the day?"

"I hardly call what you did saving the day," she scoffed.

"Hey! I suffered through chewy eggs and charred toast for that phone. I should get a badge of honor."

"Well, I'm happy you did," Keeley said loudly, hoping to stop the bickering before it began. "Thanks Gavin."

He ran a hand through his wavy hair. "I still don't understand how this is supposed to get you two back together."

"I'm proving that I'm not going to walk away from him again." Before she gave Gavin her phone last night, she made a few changes to her settings. Whenever Talon used her phone he would reminded of her. Whether that be from pictures of them on her background or alarms that randomly went off with inside jokes and heartfelt messages or ringtones that held special meanings. Each and every time he used her phone it would be a constant reminder of what they had.

"And if it doesn't work?" he asked.

"We'll be buying a whole lot of Peeps," Nicky muttered.

Gavin opened his mouth, then immediately closed it. "You know what? I don't want to know. Plausible deniability." Gavin's phone beeped and Keeley's body stiffened.

"Do you think it's him already?" she asked.

"I'd be surprised if it was," he said, bending down. He rummaged in his backpack before pulling out his phone. "Usually the thing is plastered to his side, you couldn't pay him enough to part with it, but lately he's been leaving it around. He hasn't even been checking his messages. I think it's because his friends have been bugging him."

"He's not talking to them?" she asked.

"Not really. He's still pissed off and going out of his way to ignore them." Gavin let out a string of curse words as he read the text. "It's your brother. He's ordering me to meet him down by the field."

She wanted to ask more about Talon, but he was already jamming his phone into his pocket and zipping up his bag, as he got ready to do her brother's bidding.

"Do you know what's going on with him?" Gavin asked, agitation pouring off of him. "He's been in a foul mood all weekend."

"He's going through some stuff," she hedged. Ever since Claire's visit Zach had been acting weird. He would be fine one minute and the next he would snap without the slightest provocation. She was tempted to accuse him of a hormonal imbalance, but she knew it would only aggravate him even more.

"Well I wish he would get his act together. I'm tired of cleaning up his messes. It's bad enough he acted like an ass at Homecoming, but now it's affecting the team."

"What did he do at Homecoming?" she asked. She'd been so preoccupied with Van and Talon she hadn't asked how the dance went.

His light blue eyes simmered with irritation. "He disappeared for hours. No one could find him and then when he showed up, he acted like everything was fine."

"That doesn't seem too bad." For her brother, that was relatively tame. Usually he had to be the life of the party.

Gavin's face started to turn red. "I don't care about that. He can do whatever he wants on his own time, but not when he has a date. He left her hanging and if that wasn't bad enough, he danced with another girl when he won Homecoming King. Riley was a mess. Why bother asking her for a date when he avoided her the whole fricking time?"

The anger in his voice caught her by surprise. He was really worked up about this. Was it because of Zach's behavior or the girl?

"I'm so sick of him treating her like trash," Gavin muttered hotly, pushing up his sleeves. "She deserves someone better."

Definitely the girl.

"Is she okay?" Keeley asked.

Gavin glanced away. "I don't know. She hasn't responded to my texts."

"You're really protective of her," Nicky commented.

"I guess I am." A guilty look crossed his face as he swallowed. "She's the only one at this school besides you two who know that I'm related to JT."

Keeley's brows drew up. "How did she find out?"

"Long story. I don't want to get into it right now." He hitched his backpack onto his shoulder and took a step toward the exit. "I better go before Zach starts yelling. See you later."

"What do you think Zach would do if he found out about Gavin's connection to Talon?" Nicky asked as they watched him hurry out the door.

"Nothing good. I can guarantee you that much."

"His unrequited love for Riley doesn't help either."

Keeley made a noncommittal sound as she picked up Talon's phone. Her fingers curled around the familiar case. It seemed like a lifetime ago when she last had it. Back when Talon was just Talon, a mysterious voice on the other end of a cell phone. So much had changed since then.

She wondered what it would have been like if things had remained simple. If he was just a boy and she was just a girl. Would he have stayed that day in the coffee shop when they exchanged phones? Would they have gone out on a date and started seeing each other? Or would she have just been another girl to him? One in a long line vying for his attention?

That was a thought. Maybe being Zach's sister actually helped her. It made her stand out against the others. Made him pursue her.

"You going to do anything with his phone? Or just sit and stare at it all day?" Nicky asked.

"Sit and stare," Keeley said immediately.

"Well then stop fondling it," she said, pulling his phone out of Keeley's hands. "It's giving me the creeps. Do you want me to look through his text messages? See if he said anything about you?"

The temptation to snoop was strong. Had he kept in touch with Claire? Did he say anything about her to his friends? Was he texting other girls? But even as those questions flashed through her mind, she knew it came down to one thing. "Don't look," she replied.

"You sure?" Nicky asked in a singsong voice, jiggling the phone in front of Keeley's face. "We can see if he has any other secrets he hasn't told you about."

"I'm sure," she quietly stated. "He told me he has nothing to hide and I believe him."

"He's said that to you before and looked what happened."

"I can't say I trust him while doing the complete opposite. He proved to me that he's changed. Well, I'm going to prove the same by trusting him."

***

Keeley sighed as Mrs. Wilson's monotone voice filled the classroom. She wasn't an expert in education by any means, but even she knew reading a book out loud in English class was a poor excuse for a teaching lesson. Propping an arm on the desk, she rested her head on her hand and prayed for this day to be over.

Talon had yet to reach out to her. He had to know by now what happened. She set thirty-six alarms to go off during the course of the day and there was no way to turn them off without the password. Was he truly finished with her?

Her eyes closed as her heart started to race. He couldn't be done. Not after reading those messages she posted with the alarms. She poured her heart out into those messages, spending hour's last night writing and re-writing till each one was perfect.

"Psst. Psst."

She looked over at Nicky who sat across from her. "What?" she mouthed.

Nicky pointed down at her lap where Talon's phone was. "It flashed," she mouthed back, flickering her fingers.

Keeley scrambled for the phone. She almost jumped out of her seat when she saw a text from him.

What the hell I like you? Why do I have your Keeley's amazing? -T

Damn it! What did you to my Keeley's amazing? -T

She couldn't help but laugh as she read the confusing texts. It seemed her prank was working. She'd gone into her phone settings and changed a few keywords so every time he typed it, the phone would autocorrect to whatever she wanted. Her name automatically changed to "I like you" and "phone" changed to "Keeley's amazing."

Aww thank you! And no need to gush...I already know how amazing I am. ;) -Keeley

No! This is not happening. I want my Keeley's amazing back. -T

If I remember correctly you didn't want me back, but I guess if you beg hard enough... -Keeley

I like you! This is not funny. Change. This. Immediately. -T

I know! Feelings and emotions aren't funny at all. They need to be taken very seriously which is why I take your confession to heart. -Keeley

You are the most beautiful girl I've ever met! -T

She struggled to keep her laugh under control. She knew he would use the word "impossible."

"What are you laughing at?" Nicky whispered, leaning across the aisle

"Talon finally texted me."

"About time. Its already sixth period."

Your words are making me blush. -Keeley

Those are YOUR words. Not mine. -T

I don't know what you're talking about. All I know is that the guy I like keeps complimenting me. -Keeley

I like you.... -T

I like you too.... -Keeley

sigh Why did you do this? -T

Because I think we have something worth fighting for. Because self-preservation is a cop out and I'm not going to let you use it to come between us. -Keeley

You don't know what you're talking about. -T

I do. -Keeley

She thought about the moments on the beach when she learned the truth about Talon and Claire.

You're scared. -Keeley

Afraid to trust. -Keeley

I get that. -Keeley

You don't. -T

I do. I broke up with you for the same reason and do you remember what you asked me? You asked me to trust you. I'm asking you to do the same thing. -Keeley

Why should I give you what you refused to give me? -T

Well crap. That was a really good question.

Because you're the bigger person? -Keeley

I'm 6'2. Of course I'm the bigger person. -T

She sighed. Did he have to be so difficult?

You know what I meant. -Keeley

She realized that there were no guarantees in this world, especially when it came to relationships. Sometime a person just had to take blindly trust.

We're at the edge of a cliff, Talon. It's either take a leap and try to reach the other side or fall apart and lose what we have. -Keeley

Haven't you heard the higher you go, the harder you fall? -T

It's a risk I'm willing to take. I don't know what else to do or say that will convince you but I'm all in, Talon. -Keeley

When he didn't respond she sent him another text.

I won't give you back your phone till you agree. And you know what a stubborn "beautiful" girl I am... -Keeley

Did you really mean this? -T

There was a picture attached to his text. It was a screenshot of one of her messages. A poem. The first one she ever attempted to write.

When I say three little words, I become giddy inside,

It's such an amazing feeling I cannot hide.

When I say three little words, a smile comes to my face,

It's an immediate reaction no matter the place.

When I say three little words, my problems start to fade away,

These three little words brighten my day.

When I say three little words, I want you to be about,

Because those three little words you should never doubt.

Her adrenaline spiked. She felt vulnerable. Exposed.

Every word. -Keeley

And this? -T

Another screenshot.

There are a lot of qualities I admire in a person, but one the biggest is the ability to say you're sorry. I'm not talking about the quick apologies people say when they accidently bump into someone, but the deep, heartfelt apologies that strip you of your ego and humble you before a person you've wronged.

I know you feel guilty for what happened. I know you carry around shame. But despite what you think, you deserve forgiveness. You've paid your dues. Let yourself be happy and if you can't, at least allow me to be by your side so I can show you.

Yes. -Keeley

And you're positive this is what you want? You and me? No take backs or second-guessing? -T

100% positive. Will you jump with me? -Keeley

"What's going on?" Nicky whispered. Concern etched in every word. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm just waiting," she said, gripping the edge of her desk.

"Waiting for what?" Nicky asked.

As long as you're by my side I'm in. -T

Keeley's face broke out in a huge grin.

Let's do it...together. -Keeley

"Keeley?" Nicky pressed. "Waiting for what?"

"To take a leap."