The one thing I wasn't looking forward to about coming back to the camp?

Two words: Jesse Jacobsen.

The other reason I didn't want to go back was because of Hunter. How was he in Maine, and then in California? How did he know where I was going? Did that mean he knew that I was back in Maine, and that I was going back to the camp? I sure hoped not...

Even though I guessed I was safe in the camp, I couldn't really be sure. Hunter had lots of goons, and he looked like a high school student himself, even if he really was twenty. But I was sure that if he got in here and pretended to be a student, Jesse would do something about it almost immediately.

But I was sure Hunter was smarter than that.

Well...

I was seventeen, almost eighteen, and I was sure that I was smarter than him. When it came to academics, that is. When it came to things like fighting, gangs, and relationships, it seemed like Hunter was definitely the smarter one out of the two of us...

"Welcome back, Emery!"

Out of everyone in the camp, he had to be the person that greeted me first? And of course he was the last person that I wanted to see! Well... not counting Hunter...

I continued to pull my suitcase away from the car and into the camp, trying my best to ignore him. But even though I had been trying to ignore him ever since I had met Hunter, I found it difficultly hard. Especially after I had met Hunter. I didn't want to ignore him. I wanted to talk to him.

And more importantly, I wanted to tell him that I had seen Hunter and what he had said to me. But I didn't know what Jesse would do if he knew that Hunter wouldn't stop harassing me until he was dead. I really didn't want Jesse to die, but I wanted Hunter to leave me alone...

And there was another reason why I didn't want to see Jesse. Just as my grandmother was saying goodbye to me at the airport the day before, she told me that she hoped that she would be able to see Jesse and my wedding in a few years. That just made everything more uncomfortable around him.

"Aw, are you ignoring me, Emery?" he now asked, obviously catching on as he fell into step with me. "What did I do now?"

I continued to keep my mouth clamped shut, dead set on not talking to him. I was afraid that if I did speak to him, I would tell him what had happened. He didn't need to know, since I hadn't gotten hurt or anything. Hunter had just given me a warning.

And if Jesse knew, who knew what he could have done? Hunter wasn't going to stop until he was dead... Would Jesse go to that much to protect me?

I frowned at this. Jesse wouldn't have done that... He wouldn't get himself killed for me.

Noticing my frown, Jesse's grin immediately disappeared, and it was replaced with his own frown as his eyebrows furrowed as well.

"Seriously, what did I do?"

He thought he did something? He didn't do anything! I didn't want him blaming himself for something that he didn't even have any control over. Even if he was the reason why I had met Hunter...

"You didn't do anything," I said, not even looking up at him as we continued to walk to my cabin. It was the truth that he didn't do anything, even though it seemed like he always was the reason for my problems. But this time he could easily end it...

No. Jesse wasn't going to die.

"Then what's wrong?" he asked, his fingers wrapping around my wrist to stop me from moving any farther. I felt some kind of electric shock as his skin connected with mine, but I quickly brushed it off. It must have been from when I got out of the car...

"Nothing's wrong," I shrugged, trying to pull my wrist from his grasp. He only held onto it tighter, looking me in the eye with a serious look on his face. He wanted to know what was wrong. He really, really did. I could never tell when Jesse Jacobsen was actually serious, but for some reason, as I was staring into his green eyes that I had never noticed were so deep before, I could tell that he was serious. He wanted to know what was wrong.

"I... I just..." was all I could say. What was I supposed to say? I couldn't tell him the real reason...

"Jordan," he said softly, surprising me. He actually used my name! "Tell me what's wrong."

"AJ's boyfriend broke up with her," I excused quickly, looking away from him as quickly as I could and tearing my wrist from his grasp without a second thought. I thought I saw something flash through Jesse's eyes as I continued speaking. "She's been sobbing all week. I feel bad for her, that's all."

Jesse didn't look like he believed me, but he didn't press on, which sure surprised me. I thought that he would press on if he knew that I was lying. But since he wasn't... did that mean he really didn't care?

For some reason, he walked me the rest of the way to my cabin. No words were exchanged, he just continued to stay in step with me all the way there. I wasn't bothered by this, since I really just wanted some peace and quiet. I had been sitting next to a wailing toddler and his very pissed off mother all the way back to the camp. I don't think I have to explain how that went.

When we finally got there, I climbed up the stairs and onto the porch. I looked back at him, offering him a small smile.

"Thanks, Jesse," I thanked, even though I had no idea what I was thanking him for. Thanking him for introducing me to Hunter? Thank him for making Hunter hunt me down? Or just thank him for walking me back to my cabin? What was wrong with me?

Jesse blinked, but only gave me a small smile in response. I gave him a small nod, turning around and walking into my cabin, pushing my luggage to the side after I had closed the door behind me.

"Jordan! You're back!" the familiar voice of my best friend cried, and immediately thin arms wrapped around my shoulders and blonde hair was in my face, blinding me for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm back," I sighed when Lexi finally pulled away from me. "I'm back..."

And safe, I couldn't help but add in my head. But how safe would I be? And for how long?

I looked over to see AJ, who had left a few days before me, sitting on her bed crying, all the girls surrounding her in a circle. I had to fight the urge to give them a flat look. AJ had been crying all week... I felt bad for her, yeah, but all week?

"This is absolutely ridiculous! How could he do something like this? I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"

I wasn't surprised that Chelsea had shouted that. She probably really would have killed Scott of we let her, but I didn't really blame her. We all wanted to kill him. Chelsea wanted to kill Bruce and Aimee when it had come to Lexi, but we didn't let her do that either. Even though that's what we all wanted to do as well. Hadn't AJ been hurt enough after what happened with Aimee? Scott was such a jerk...

AJ was sobbing now, sitting on her bed as all of us crowded around her, trying to make sure that she was alright. She wasn't crying as hard as she was the day he had broken up with her, but she was still sobbing. And I really hated it when my friends cried.

"Wow, she hasn't cried this hard since Ai--" Lexi started, until I cut her off with a glare.

"Lexi, don't mention A-I-M-E-E," I warned her, cocking my head toward AJ, whose face was in her hands.

"I can spell!"

Of course she could.

"It's been a week, but she's still crying?" Emily asked me as she turned away from the group so AJ wouldn't hear. "Did she really like Scott that much?"

I sighed. "She loved Scott, Emily."

She frowned at me, her green eyes telling me that she was upset for AJ. I was upset as well, we all were. How could we not be? She was so excited to see Scott again, but all she got was seeing him making out with some other girl, an older girl at that. That was what upset her the most.

As the rest of the girls continued to surround AJ, I stayed off to the side with Emily. "So, did Ryan talk to you?" I asked her, hoping to get a yes. It would be great if Emily and Ryan went out. They'd be so cute together, I knew that they would.

"No, why would he?" Emily asked right back, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. My mouth formed an 'o' shape before I quickly shut it. What was I supposed to tell her? Why hadn't Ryan talked to her yet? Yeah, it was the first day back, but still...

"Um, no reason," I excused quickly, shrugging my shoulders and turning away from her. "I'm just... asking stupid questions."

"You'd get used to that after knowing her for years," Chelsea teased, sticking her tongue out at me when I did so to her.

Emily looked like she was going to ask me something again, but I was saved by the cabin door slamming open, revealing our angry-looking camp counselor.

"What's wrong with Birdy?" she asked, even though she sounded like she really didn't care. I was sure that she didn't, but at least she was asking. "It's like I can hear her crying all the way from my cabin. Todos ustedes son tan molestos..."

Ignoring whatever she had said in Spanish, I tried my best not to look at her. Because every time I did, I was just going to remember Hunter. And I didn't want to remember Hunter at all.

I wasn't going to tell Jesse that I had seen him, and I definitely wasn't going to tell him that Hunter wasn't going to stop until Jesse was dead. I didn't want Jesse to die; I didn't want anyone to die. Why wish death upon someone? Yeah, Jesse was annoying, but not enough to kill him.

"Could you just leave us alone for a bit, Erica?" Cindy asked, rubbing AJ's shoulder. "I'm sure you've never had your heart broken before, so I'm sure you won't be any help."

I had to look at Erica after this. I had to see what her reaction was. I thought she would be frowning, maybe even to the brink of tears, but she wasn't. She was glaring, as usual. But then I noticed that she was glaring at me. And when she saw that I noticed, her glare turned into a scowl.

Erica had had her heart broken before. But she had broken someone else's as well. Hunter wanted her, but she wanted Jesse. But Jesse seemed to not want anything to do with either of them, and I didn't blame him. They were both two buckets of crazy.

"I just came in here to tell you that someone's looking for you, Ugly," Erica informed me, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me. "It's your lover boy."

I had to stop and think of who she was talking about for a moment. It could have been Dallas, but then it could have been Jesse as well. Erica seemed to know all about Dallas and me, but then she saw Jesse and me together that one night. So who was she talking about?

"Dallas is on the dock," she continued, as if reading my mind.

I nodded, turning toward my crying friend. I didn't want to leave her, but Dallas wanted to see me! Hoes before bros, right? Or was it the other way around...?

Either way, AJ noticed the look I was giving her. She smiled sadly, waving me away. "Go see Dallas. You've had to deal with me for a whole week. It's time you've had a break."

I smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks, AJ."

She smiled that sad smile I was unfortunately getting used to knowing. "No problem."

I passed Erica then, and her eyes narrowed at me. I tried to ignore it, but it was really hard to. I had never liked getting glared at, especially by someone as beautiful as Erica. It just made me feel even worse about myself, which I hated.

I ignored everyone that passed me as I made my way to the dock in silence. No one really acknowledged me, but I was completely fine with that and didn't mind it at all. I wanted to be left alone anyway. Ever since I Had run into Hunter the week before, I didn't talk to anyone unless I had to, not counting my friends. I spoke to my parents and my grandma as well, but no one else besides them.

"Hey," Dallas smiled when I finally reached him. I smiled as well, sitting down next to him quietly. I didn't know what I was supposed to say to him, so I kept my mouth shut and just continued to smile slightly. I was happy just being able to be with him.

He wrapped and arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. This caused me to smile a little more, snuggling into his side. Even though we were out in the open, it didn't matter if we were like this. No one ever came over here except for camp counselors at night. But that was pretty rare, too.

"I missed you," he whispered in my ear, causing chills to go down my spine. "I couldn't kiss you for a whole week."

"How do you think I felt throughout our entire childhood?" I asked with a smug smile, leaning over and planting a quick kiss on his lips. "Now you know what it feels like."

He pressed his lips onto mine again, and I eagerly leaned closer to him, desperate to deepen the kiss. I hadn't been able to kiss him in a week, and I wanted to so badly now...

We were interrupted by the shrill ring of my cell phone. Both Dallas and I let out a groan as we pulled apart, upset that we had gotten interrupted. It was probably something not even important, like my grandma just asking me what I was doing or something.

I shoved my hand into my pocket, pulling out my phone and looking at the caller ID. I stared at it for a moment in surprise when I saw it was my mother. Why was she calling me? It was pretty early in the morning back in California... She rarely ever got up before noon when she didn't have to, and she was telling me how she loved that she got a week off work...

I flipped my phone open and pressed it to my year. "Mom?" I asked, sounding a lot more confused than I had meant to. "Um... why are you calling me? Isn't it, like, six o'clock where you are right now?"

"Honey," my mother sniffed, and my eyes widened when I realized that she had been crying. Oh, no... What was she crying about? What had happened? I was just with her the day before! She was so happy and excited about her time off... But why was she crying now?

"Mom?" I asked once again. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, Jordan..." my mother croaked, but then stopped to burst into tears. Okay, something was seriously wrong now. Something bad had happened... I needed to know what she was crying about! But I couldn't just be rude and just ask her... She was sobbing!     

But whatever it was... was bad. And it scared me so much I almost couldn't speak as I waited for her to continue.

"M--Mom, t--tell me what's w--wrong," I stuttered now, tears forming in my eyes and I didn't even know the reason why I was crying. What was happening back in California?

"Jordan... your grandma... your grandma passed away this morning," my mother informed me before she burst out into tears once again. I stayed silent, only staring into the lake in shock. Grandma... No. She couldn't have been dead. I just saw her the day before!

So what if she was eighty? That wasn't that old...

Right?

"Yo, Dallas!" I heard someone shout from behind us, but I didn't even turn around to look. I was still frozen as I stared at one spot in the water, as if waiting for something to shoot up and grab me. "We need you back at the cabin, man! Hurry up!"

I recognized the voice now to be Ryan's, but I didn't turn around to look at him. I wasn't crying, I was just listening to my mother sob on the other line. I just continued to stare out into the water, as if that was where my grandmother was going to be.

"I'll see you later, Jordan," Dallas whispered, not even noticing that I was on the brink of losing my control over my tears. I was seriously going to lose it soon... I needed someone to hold me, to tear my gaze away from the murky green water that I just couldn't look away from.

Dallas kissed the side of my head, but got up and started up the dock toward Ryan. I wanted to scream at him, to yell that I needed him, but I only continued to stare and stare at the water, almost in a trance.

I didn't even notice when my mother hung up. After a little while I just heard silence, if that was even possible, so I slowly removed my phone from my ear before slowly placing it back into my pocket. I didn't even look away from the water as I did so. I wanted to look away so badly, look for someone to hold and comfort me, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away.

My grandma was dead. She had hugged and kissed me at the airport the day before; I had eaten more of her cookies the day before...

The day before, the day before, the day before.

I just wanted to go back to the day before.

I was frozen with shock, almost in a trance as I just stared and stared, unable to turn away. I had been comforting AJ all week when it came to Scott. Now I needed someone to comfort me. I had just lost the person I was closest to, the person who had been by my side ever since I was a baby...

I didn't know when I was going to start crying. I knew I was going to, but no tears fell yet. I just continued to stare as I finally felt tears fill my eyes.

"We always seem to bump into each other here, don't we, Emery?"

He sounded so bright and chipper. That tone made me sick to my stomach... I wanted the rest of the world to be as dark and as gray as me. I wanted everything to be depressing until I felt better again. Too much color surrounded me; all I needed was he dark and murky lake I continued to stare at.

Normally, this voice would make me roll my eyes. But now, I almost welcomed him to sit next to me by not even turning around to acknowledge he was there. He knew something was up when I didn't acknowledge him, when I ignored him. He knew something was up earlier that morning. Jesse always knew...

He plopped down next to me, leaning forward a little so he could get a better look at me. His eyes widened when he saw that my eyes were filled with tears. But I continued to look forward, not even glancing in his direction. Just that one spot in the murky water...

"What's wrong?" he asked me, actually sounding concerned. I was sure that if I looked at him, he would look concerned as well. And that was definitely a first when it came to Jesse...

I suddenly slapped a hand over my mouth after a sob had escaped. I didn't want to cry in front of Jesse Jacobsen... I didn't want to cry in front of Jesse Jacobsen...

I wasn't going to cry in front of Jesse Jacobsen...

I didn't stay true to my words as I slapped both of my hands over my mouth, the tears rolling down my cheeks almost rapidly. I squeezed my eyes shut, looking into my lap as I tried to stop myself from crying. I wasn't going to cry in front of Jesse! I didn't need his sympathy! He had already gotten me into enough trouble with his whole gang situation... I didn't need him making fun of me for crying or feeling bad for me. I couldn't cry in front of Jesse...

"Jordan," Jesse whispered, lightly holding onto my wrist. "What happened? Please, tell me what's wrong..."

Without even knowing what I was doing, I leaned forward and rested my forehead against his chest, letting out loud sobs. I clutched onto his shirt, just wanting to get all my anger and sadness out.

I wanted him to hold me.

I actually wanted Jesse Jacobsen to hold me.

I wanted him to hold onto me so tight that I almost stopped breathing. I wanted him to bury his face into my hair and tell me everything was okay while he let me sob into his chest. I just wanted his arms around me, and I wanted them around me right then.

As if reading my mind, his arms encircled my waist almost immediately, pulling me closer to his body, as if he never wanted to let go of me. I only pressed my face into his chest harder, not even caring if I was getting his shirt wet and stained with my makeup. He didn't seem to care either as he held me close.

"What happened?" he whispered, his lips in my hair. I felt him kiss the top of my head before he continued. "Jordan, please... tell me what happened."

"M--my grandma," I choked out. "Sh--she's g--gone!"

His grip on me tightened, comforting me even more. I just wanted to be held, to be comforted... Dallas didn't see that, but Jesse did. Jesse could see that all I wanted right then was to be held. And I was thankful of him for that. I was so thankful...

I pulled away from him slightly, just enough to be able to look at him. His arms were still wrapped around me, and my hands rested on his shoulders. Our faces...

Our faces were so close.

I could feel his breath on my lips, causing chills to go down my spine. I then leaned forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my chin on his shoulder. My lips were right by his ear when I whispered, "Thank you... so much."

His arms tightened around me. "Shh..." he soothed, stroking my hair lightly. "Everything's alright, okay? I'm here with you. You'll always have me, okay?"

He seemed to tense up after he realized what he had said, but I only squeezed my eyes shut and squeezed him tightly. I didn't want him to let go of me; I wanted to stay in his arms forever. Because once I was out of his arms, I was going to have to face the world again. The cold, cruel world that decided to take my grandmother's life.

"I was just with her yesterday," I sobbed, my voice cracking. "She hugged me goodbye at the airport, she told me she'd see me soon... She said she'd call me later today. I... I can't..."

"It's alright," he breathed. "Everything's going to be okay. She'd want you to be happy, Jordan. Your grandma loves you more than anything..."

"She wanted to see me get married," I continued on, sounding like a child. Jesse's arms seemed to tighten around me when I mentioned that. "She wanted to see... She wanted to see our wedding."

His grip tightened even more, if that was possible. "Our wedding?"

"She wanted us to get married," I rambled on, not even knowing what I was saying anymore. "She wanted me to marry you... She liked you more than Dallas. She would always tease me about you... All the time... She really, really wanted to see us get married someday. I think that that was her dream... She just wanted me to marry you... That was it. She wanted us to get married."

One of Jesse's hands traveled to cradle my head. "Are you... are you going to fulfill her dream?"

I closed my eyes once again. "I don't know."

Jesse was actually holding me, whispering sweet and calming things into my ear. Where was Dallas? Probably laughing about some ridiculous thing that the guys he counseled had done. He wasn't here to comfort me... He wasn't here to take care of me. Jesse was.

And maybe, just maybe, I liked it better that way.

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Now some of you don't like that Jordan's so oblivious. xD Trust me, neither do I. She won't be oblivious for very much longer... ;)

On a sadder (I guess?) note, this may be the last time I update for the next week and a half. I have a yearly week-long family reunion to Lake Tahoe starting on Saturday. I'm bringing my laptop, but I don't know if I'll be able to write. Last year I told myself I'd finish a book while on the trip, and I ended up writing three sentences. -_- But I'll try my best!

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3