WARNING: There is some mild cussing in this chapter! If you don't like that, I'm sorry. I don't either but I don't know what else would be said instead because the person saying it, is not a Christian. hope you can overlook that and enjoy the story.

   Caden looks for Lilly and he finally finds her sitting on a bench in the girl's locker room by herself crying her eyes out. He calmly walks up to her, sits down beside her, and asks, "Uh, Lilly? Are you ok?"

   Lilly, still with tears streaming down her face, replies, "I-I'm f-fine. Please just go away."

   He scoots closer to her and says, "No, I'm not going to go away and just leave you by yourself and no, you're not fine. I heard what those bitches said about you and I've seen how they've treated you today."

   Lilly looks down, fiddling with her fingers, and whimpers, "Yeah, I guess they're right. I am a b-word. They have way worse problems than me and I was talking about my tiny problem. I'm so selfish. I'm supposed to listen to them and their problems and help them get through their problems, not bring up my own tiny problems."

   Caden mad by Lilly talking about herself like that, gently lifts her head up with his fingers, and says, "No, you're not. They're supposed to be there for you just as much as you are for them. Lilly, from what I've seen today, you are definitely not selfish and you're definitely not a bitch. So, I don't want to ever hear you call yourself that again. Do you understand me?"

   Lilly nods her head and he continues, "From what I've seen and heard from you today, I know for a fact that you are so sweet. You are kind, you're caring, and you'd do anything for them, but I'm sorry to say, they wouldn't do the same for you. Also, they treat you horribly. They're not truly your friends they're just using you for sympathy and as a slave. You don't need," he finger quotes as he continues, "friends like that." People like that are not truly your friends."

   Lilly says, "I understand what you mean, but if I leave them then I won't have any friends. I'll be eating lunch in the bathroom all alone again like how I used to before I met them." Lilly starts to cry more as she flashes back to when she first got to the school.

   Caden pulls her into his arms, looks at her, and replies, "No, you won't. I'll be your friend and you can have lunch with me, if you want of course."

   She sits up, looks at him, and sniffles, "R-really?"

   He smiles, "Of course. It would be an honor to eat lunch with you. So, what do you say? Me, you, tomorrow, cafeteria?"

   Lilly says, "Yeah, I would love that."

   He smiles again, "Good. Well, then it's settled." He pulls her back into his arms. He holds her for about 5 or 10 minutes, then he says, "Here, follow me," as he takes her by the hand, leading her out of the locker room.

   Lilly says, "No, I can't go back out there. I can't cheer. Not today. So, you can go play and hopefully win and I'll just go home."  

   Caden says, "No, I'm not taking you back to the gym. I'm taking you somewhere away from here."

   Lilly, curious, asks, "Where?"

   Caden replies, "It's a secret. Do you trust me?" Lilly nods her head and he takes her outside to his car. He opens the door for her, she hops in, he closes the door behind her, and he hops in.

   Before he starts the car, Lilly says, "Wait."

   He asks, "What is it?"

   Lilly replies, "Isn't this supposed to be an important game? You can't miss it."

   He replies, "Yeah, it is and yeah, I can miss it. They'll do fine all on their own."

   Lilly asks, "Are you sure?"

   Caden says, "Of course, I'm sure. You're more important than some stupid game." A few minutes later, as they're riding, he asks, "Uhm, do you want to listen to some music?"

   Lilly replies, "Sure," so he turns the radio on and Radioactive by Imagine Dragons starts playing. Lilly exclaims, "Oh yay! I love this song!"

   Caden says, "No way."

   Lilly exclaims, "Yeah, it's my favorite!"

   Caden exclaims, "It's my favorite too!"

   Lilly exclaims, "Cool!" He rewinds the song and turns up the volume to where it's blasting. Both of them sing it and rock out to it, making Lilly forget all about what just happened at school. About 10 or 20 minutes later, Caden pulls up to an old cabin.

   He says, "We're here," so they both hop out of the car. Caden walks to the back of the car and pulls out a hand-sewn blanket. He walks up to Lilly, reaches out his hand, and says, "Come on. It's this way. You're going to love this." He leads her around a cabin and up a small hill.

   They get to the top of the hill and there's a beautiful view of the lake. Caden fans the blanket out on the ground in front of them. They both sit down on it and Lilly exclaims, "Wow, this is a gorgeous view!"

   Caden says, "Yeah, it is. This is my place where I come to get away from everything and just relax. It's also where I come to think about things."

   Lilly asks, "So, this is your cabin?"

   Caden replies, "Nah, it's my grandpa's old fishing cabin."

   Lilly asks, "Oh, does he still fish here?"

   Caden looks down at the ground, "No. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago. He and I were best buddies though. I still miss him. After that, about a year ago, my grandma, passed. She was also my best friend. She was all the time making me something, in fact she's the one that made this blanket. She always told me I was like the son she never had. I miss both of them everyday."

   Lilly says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry for your loss."

   Caden replies, "It's ok. What about you? Do you have any grandparents?"

   Lilly nods, "Yeah, they were the best. They treated me like I was royalty. You see, they never had a daughter, so I was like their daughter. Sadly, they passed away 2 years ago. I miss them every single day."

   Caden says, "Oh, I'm sorry for your loss."

   Lilly replies, "Thanks," and a few minutes later she asks, "Oh, I meant to ask you this earlier, but how did you know my name was Lilly?"

   Caden simply replies, "Oh, I heard Brittney talking to you in the cafeteria."

   Lilly says, "Oh, yeah, sorry. Umm, your name's Caden right?"

   He answers, "Yep. How did you know?"

   Lilly answers, "Lindsey told me and Brittney at lunch."

   He says, "Oh, ok." A few minutes later, he asks, "Hey, have you ever skipped a rock?"

   She nods, "I think so. When I was 5 or 6, my family went on a camping and fishing trip one weekend and my dad showed me how to skip rocks. I don't know if I remember now. It's been about 10 years."

   Caden smiles, stands up, reaches his hand out to Lilly, and says, "Come on. Let's go skip some rocks."

   Lilly says, "But Caden, I just said that I don't know if I remember how."

   Caden smiles, "Ah, it's ok. If you don't remember, I'll help you. Come on. It'll be fun."

   Lilly laughs, "Ok. Let's go," and they walk down to the lake. Caden gathers a small pile of stones.

   He says, "Ah, these are perfect!" Lilly laughs and Caden gives her a small stone. He says, "Ok, show me what you got."

   Lilly reaches her arm back and tosses the rock at the water. Splash! Lilly stomps her foot, "Dang it! It didn't skip!" Lilly looks at Caden with a pouty look on her face, "I told you I probably wouldn't be able to do it!"

   Caden says, "Ah, that's ok. Here, I'll show you how." Caden picks up a small stone and tosses it towards the lake. Splash! Splash! Splash! Caden smiles at Lilly, "See? It's easy. Now you try it," Caden says as he gives Lilly another stone. She picks it up, reaches her arm back, and tosses it towards the lake.

   Splash! Lilly stomps her feet, crosses her arms, and pouts again, "Dead gum it! I suck! I can't do it!" Caden laughs as Lilly pouts.

   He smirks, "Well, Lilly, you know, can't never could do nothing till he tried and you don't suck. So, don't say that you do. You just need to be taught again. Now here, let me show you." He gives her another stone and says, "Alright, now reach back like your going to toss it, but don't toss it." Lilly reaches back and Caden wraps his arms around her. He gently grabs her hand and says, "Alright, now you're going to want to kind of curve your toss, like in softball," as he slowly pulls her hand down in a curving motion. He says, "Ok, now try it." Lilly reaches her arm back and tosses it towards the lake, following the motion Caden just showed her.

   Splash! Splash! Splash! Lilly amazed and ecstatic she finally skipped a rock, jumps up and down screaming, "I did it! I did it! Caden, I did it!"

   Caden with a great big smile on his face, says, "Yeah, I saw! I told you, you could do it!"

   She screams, "Yeah!" Then she hugs him and says, "Thank you!"

   He laughs, "You're welcome," and they continue skipping rocks. Once they get tired of skipping rocks, they walk back up the hill, and sit back down on the blanket. They sit there in silence for a couple of minutes and Lilly starts to think about what happened at the school again. So, she starts to get upset and begins to cry.

   Caden looks over at her concerned, softly touches her arm, and says, "Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? I thought you were having fun."

   Lilly whimpers, "Yeah, I was. I am. I just started to think about today. Today was supposed to be a great day for me because today's cheer performance was supposed to be my first one back since I broke my arm. I was so excited for today. I couldn't stop talking about it, then Brittney ruined that for me. The whole school...," Lilly sniffles, "The whole school thinks I'm bad. The whole school laughed at me. How can I even show my face tomorrow? Everyone will hate me." Lilly sobs into her hands.

Author's note: Ok, so somewhat of a cliffhanger. How do y'all think Caden will react? What do y'all think he'll say to her? Continue reading to find out. Chapter 3 hopefully out in the next few days. If y'all liked this chapter, please comment and vote and tell me what y'all think so far. Love y'all! Have a great day or night!