My eyes wanted to open, but I kept them sealed shut.

"Come on, Emery."

My eyes cracked open, but quickly closed once again. I just wanted to sleep... My whole body felt heavy, as if I had pain all over. My chest hurt, and I had a strange feeling that I couldn't breathe...

There was a pressure against my lips, and a gust of air was being shoved down my throat. It quickly went away after a few moments, and there was a pressure against my chest, a type of pounding.

Thump, thump, thump.

"Wake up, Emery..."

Pressure against my lips, a gust of air, and then more pressure on my chest once again, a lot more forceful this time. Almost like someone was pounding on my chest...

Thump, thump, thump.

This process continued a few times, and I couldn't figure out what it was. I would hear a voice, there would be a pressure against my lips and a gust of air would be forced into my mouth and down my throat, and then I would feel a pounding on my chest.

"Don't leave me, Jordan."

At the sound of this, my eyes snapped open just as the pressure on my lips pursued. My eyes widened when I saw that Jesse was kissing me as I lay against the cold concrete that surrounded the pool, where we were supposed to be for Aimee's party.

When I felt something come up my throat, I sat up quickly a pushed him away, coughing it up. I thought it was puke, but I looked down to see that there was nothing disgusting on me, so I assumed that it was only water. And I was glad that it was only that, since I didn't really feel like puking all over the guy I liked.

When I finally focused on my surroundings, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion to see people in swim suits surrounding me, most of them looking concerned. One of them, however, looked the exact opposite of concerned. Aimee looked like she was perfectly fine with whatever had just happened.

It took me a moment, but what had happened finally came back to me. Aimee pushed me into the pool, and I almost drowned... I then realized that Jesse wasn't kissing me, he was giving me CPR... Then did that mean that he had saved me from drowning as well?

"Alright, she's okay, you can all go back to whatever you were doing before," Aimee drawled in a bored fashion, waving the surrounding crowd away from me. She scowled at me herself before making her way toward her friends, forgetting that I was even there.

She almost killed me, and she didn't even care! Did she even think about what would have happened if I did die? Did she even think about what would have happened to her and how much trouble she would have gotten? Obviously not! One of these days, that stupid, self-centered bitch was going to get a huge wakeup call!

I looked over at Jesse, who was giving me a look that I couldn't read. I always hated when he gave me those looks... I never knew what he was thinking about when he gave them to me. Sometimes I just wished that he would tell me how he felt... But I was sure that that was never going to happen. Jesse wasn't exactly the type of guy that liked to share his feelings.

He was wet, obviously from the pool, and he was breathing kind of heavily. He had to have been the person that saved me, and the one that had given me CPR... Jesse Jacobsen just saved my life... He actually jumped into the pool to save me!

"So... do those count as my seventeen kisses?" he asked, smiling sadly at me. I knew he was trying to joke around and lighten the mood, but I didn't feel like laughing right then. I didn't think I'd ever want to laugh again, but I was probably just being overdramatic.

But how was I supposed to act after I had almost drowned? I knew it was a bad idea to come here, especially when it was Aimee's party... But I just wanted to be with Jesse...

I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. He was caught off guard, but he didn't push me away. If it wasn't for him, I would have been dead. If it wasn't for Jesse Jacobsen, my life would have been over. And I was so thankful for him...

"No," I sniffed, on the brink of tears as I held him even tighter. I felt his arms slowly wrap around my waist, as if unsure of what he was doing, and I buried my face into his shoulder. "You can have as many kisses as you want for what you just did. Thank you..."

"No need to thank me, Emery," he breathed in my ear. "No need to thank me..."

I started to cry into his bare shoulder almost uncontrollably, even though I tried my best to stop myself. I didn't want him to think I was weak... But I had almost drowned. Did he think that that was an acceptable reason to cry? I sure hoped that he did...

He only held onto me tighter, not saying a word as he let me cry.

He saved my life... Jesse Jacobsen actually saved my life.

Would Dallas do that if he was here? Who would have saved me if Jesse wasn't here? No one in the pool tried to save me, and that sure said something. If Jesse Jacobsen wasn't there, I would have been dead right then. And I couldn't be more thankful...

I knew one thing for sure then. I made such an important decision that it almost scared me. I didn't know if I would live to regret this or not, but I didn't really care at that moment.

I love you, Jesse Jacobsen, and one of these days I would build up enough courage to tell you.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Let's go ice skating!"

"Let's not."

"Oh, come on, Jordan!" Lexi whined, her face falling after what I had said. "I'm finally looking and feeling better! All the girls want to and I've already invited all the boys from Cabin B!"

I knew the only reason she invited the boys from Cabin B was because Alex was one of them. I wasn't really looking forward to going anywhere with them because Jesse was one of them. I felt kind of awkward around him after realizing how I really felt...

"I don't like to ice skate," I informed her with a shrug, turning away from her and back to the book I was trying to read. I could ice skate, but I never really liked doing it. I just found it boring and uneventful. What was the point of it? Unless you get stranded in Antarctica or something, it seemed like a pretty useless trait to me.

"You're going," Lexi told me, not even giving me a choice. "It'll be fun. I would have invited Dallas, but since he's a counselor and all..."

"That's okay," I sighed, shoving the book under my pillow. There was no way I was reading it now. "I'll just hang out with you guys or something."

Actually, I was just planning on sitting on the sidelines and watching everyone skate. I didn't feel like cramping my feet into ice skates...

"Great!" Lexi giggled. "Then let's go!"

I let out a long sigh, swinging my feet over the side of the bed and onto the ground. I really wasn't looking forward to this... Especially since, even though it wasn't even my idea, I was the only one that was actually ready to go anywhere.

Ridiculous.

I didn't feel like being in the middle of the ruckus of girls changing and getting ready to go ice skating with the boys from Cabin B. They all just wanted to look good for the boys... I was sure that if we were just going together with no boys, they'd go with no makeup and hair all messy. But, since boys were a part of the equation, they had to look and dress their best.

So I waited in the parking lot, bored out of my mind as they continued to get ready. This was the last time I was going anywhere with any of them if this was how long it took for them to get ready... How stupid.

Just as I was about to flip my phone out and call Lexi to tell her to hurry the hell up, I heard a screeching of tires coming in my direction. I looked up from the stump I was sitting on to see a car heading straight in my direction, not looking like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Before I could scream, it screeched to a halt only a foot or two in front of me. I was breathing heavily now as I tried to see who was driving through the window. I felt myself groaning when I saw it was tinted and way too dark for me to even see a silhouette.

The car door opened, and I was expecting the worst. I was expecting Hunter or one of his goons, someone who would do harm to me...

But what I wasn't expecting was who actually did some out of the car. My eyes widened slightly when I saw Alex, messy mop of blonde hair and all.

"Get in," he demanded.

I blinked, trying to figure out what he was saying as if it was some kind of secret code. "What?"

"I said get in," he repeated, jumping back into the car and shutting the door behind him.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I found myself actually getting into the car. For some reason, even though I hadn't even formally spoken to him, I kind of trusted Alex. I had no idea why, but I did.

He revved up the engine and sped away the second I clicked my seatbelt on. I had to admit that I was a little scared, but who wouldn't be? The first thing Alex had ever said to me was telling me to get in his car, and it was almost in a scary kind of way. But somehow, I still wasn't scared of him. I was scared of the situation, but not him. He just didn't seem like a scary guy.

"Where are we going?" I asked, only turning my head toward him as I stayed plastered to the leather seat, stiff as a board. I could barely see out of the windows, and I was surprised that he could.

"To Hunter," he answered me, not even looking away from the road.

My eyes widened and, without even knowing what I was doing, I reached for the handle of the door and yanked on it. I reached for the lock and unlocked it, but Alex was too quick for me. Just as I pulled the lock up, it was down in the next second.

"Please," I begged, turning toward him now. "Please don't take me to Hunter."

"Shut it."

My eyes widened. This was the guy that Lexi was so infatuated with? But he was supposedly so funny and friendly... Was that just an outer act?

I found myself shaking as I tried to think of a way to escape. Maybe when he opened my door, I'd make a run for it. But he was probably faster than me... But that didn't mean I couldn't try. So, if he was picking me up for Hunter, did that mean he was a part of his gang like Jesse was?

When the car finally came to a stop, I squinted out the tinted windows to see that we were in a parking lot. At least, I believed we were in a parking lot. I couldn't really be sure...

He stopped the car, but didn't move after he had cut the engine. I didn't move either, mostly because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Should I run? Should I hit him and make a run for it? I had no idea what I was supposed to do! I hadn't ever been kidnapped before!

But would it be called kidnap? I did get in the car with him...

"So... does Lexi ever talk about me?"

What?

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, my eyebrows furrowing at him.

"I'm wondering it Lexi ever talks about me."

Yeah, she did. Almost every second of every day she thought about him. She couldn't do one thing without thinking about Alex and what he would think. But why was he asking me this when he was kidnapping me to take me to Hunter?

"Why should I tell you anything when you're kidnapping me?" I demanded breathily. "Why should I tell you anything about my best friend when you're offering me off to a psychopath?"

Alex started to laugh then, and he laughed for so long that I thought he was insane for a moment. He laughed so hard that he had to wipe a tear that was threatening to roll down his cheek, and I sat there expectantly. I wasn't really that afraid of him anymore.

"I'm not kidnapping you," he told me with a chuckle. "I just wanted to see what your reaction would be if I told you that I was taking you to Hunter."

I couldn't help it anymore; I slapped his arm as hard as I could without even thinking. He didn't even seem fazed. He only continued to grin at me, and I found it very annoying.

"Wait, how do you even know about Hunter?" I found myself asking now, shaking my head as I tried to make sense of everything. "If you're not taking me to him, how do you know him?"

Alex sighed, shrugging as he leaned back in his chair a little. "I... used to be in his gang."

I blinked, my eyes widening at what he had just told me. Alex was in Hunter's gang? What... how?

"He has gangs here and in California," Alex informed me, as if reading my mind. "They're all known as the Blazing Brothers. Well, used to be. I'm not really sure if they still go by that or not..."

"Blazing Brothers?" I asked, my nose wrinkling at the name. It sounded like a circus act. "Why that?"

"Well, Hunter's father actually started the gang back in the seventies," Alex explained with a shrug. "He and his buddies started a fire at some church, and that's what started the gang. Blaze means fire, doesn't it? Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't alive back then. But anyway, after that they all made this bond with their blood or something, and that was the birth of the Blazing Brothers."

My eyes widened even more. "Do you guys... still bond with your blood?"

Alex shook his head. "Nah, Hunter got rid of that after his dad died six years ago. He didn't like getting cut unless it was some kind of fight or something. He doesn't even like the name Blazing Brothers, since he doesn't like to set things on fire unless he has to. So they're not really known as the Blazing Brothers that much anymore... They're just known as Hunter's gang, pretty much."

"But you're not part of the gang anymore?" I asked, just to make sure. Because if he was, I was out of there.

"Nah," Alex assured with a shake of his head. "I just got out a few months ago, a little bit after you guys came and joined the camp. After I met Lexi and started talking to her, I knew that there were better things in life then just gangs and fighting..."

Aw. That was so sweet.

"But I did have to pay the price of leaving," Alex sighed, motioning to his back. He pulled his collar down a little so I could see whatever he was motioning to. "Everyone who leaves the gang has to go through the pain of getting marked like cattle so everyone can know that they were once apart of the Blazing Brothers."

I looked at where his shirt was supposed to be covering, just where the back of his neck and his back met. My jaw dropped when I saw "BB" burned into his skin.

"Does that mean..." I started without even thinking. "Does that mean Jesse has that on his back, too?"

Alex shook his head. "Nope," he answered me. "Jesse's definitely something special. He was able to get away without the marking and Hunter's girl. What a lucky bastard..."

"He never did anything with Erica," I told him, and I didn't know if I was trying to convince him or me. "Erica liked him, but he didn't like Erica."

Alex shrugged. "I only know what Hunter told me. He told me he was going to get Jesse Jacobsen back for what he did no matter what it took. It took me a while to realize that the Jesse Jacobsen he was talking about was the Jesse Jacobsen that I was sharing a cabin with. But when I finally found out, I wasn't going to turn him in or anything. He's actually a good friend of mine now."

"Everything's so confusing," I groaned, covering my face with my hands. "Why didn't Jesse tell me any of this extra stuff about the Blazing Brothers and Hunter's dad starting it all?"

"He probably just wanted to protect you," Alex shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest as he readjusted himself in his seat. "He didn't want you to know the details. And he probably thought the Blazing Brothers part wasn't important because they don't really go by the name anymore."

I continued to stare forward, trying to understand what I was being told. Hunter's gang was in two different places, he wanted to get Jesse back for stealing Erica and not getting the mark that everyone gets when they leave the gang, Alex used to be a part of the gang...

"Wait," I now said, trying to pick one question out of the million that swarmed through my brain. "How do you know about me if you left the gang before I even met Hunter?"

"Jesse told me what was going on," Alex shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "He saw the mark on my back and knew that I had once been part of the gang, so he told me what was going on. This was actually only a few days ago, believe it or not..."

Oh, I believed it. I'd probably believe anything he said, even if he said that pigs could fly or Aimee was a virgin.

And those two things were definitely not true.

"You like him, don't you?" Alex now asked, an eyebrow rising on his forehead. When he saw that I didn't know what he was talking about, he rolled his eyes at me. "Jesse."

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, and I knew that they were pink. I turned away from him and toward the door, determined for him not to see my blush. "No."

It wasn't really a lie. I didn't like Jesse, I... I loved him.

God, did it feel good to say that.

"Sure," Alex snorted, rolling his eyes again. "You don't like Jesse the way I don't like Lexi."

My eyes widened and I found myself smiling. "You like Lexi?"

"It's not obvious?"

"Not really," I groaned, covering my face once again as I felt a headache coming on. Wasn't it obvious to him that Lexi had a huge crush on him? Why did everything have to always be so complicated?

"So does Lexi ever talk about me?" Alex now asked again, and I could tell he was smirking even though I wasn't looking at him.

I removed my hands from my face to give him a flat look. I dropped my hands into my lap as I turned toward him. "Let me get this straight. You kidnap me, tell me you're taking me to Hunter, and explain all the details about the Blazing Brothers just to get me to talk to you about Lexi?"

Alex blinked at me, and amused grin making its way onto his face. "Pretty much."

"Let me out of the car."

"Wait!" he called out, locking the door once again when I pulled the lock up. "I really want to know what Lexi thinks of me!"

I turned back toward him, trying to think of what I should have said to him. Did Lexi want me to tell him how she felt? Well, he was asking, so he must have liked her a bit, right...?

"She likes you," I informed him, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared at him flatly. "She likes you a lot. Happy?"

Alex grinned at me. "Really?"

"Really."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really?"

"Alright, enough!" I cried out, clasping my hands over my ears. Alex burst out into laughter, and I couldn't help but glare at him. He scared the crap out of me just to talk about Lexi? Yeah, it was sweet in a way, but absolutely terrifying for me!

It was silent for a few moments before Alex broke it. "Hey, Jordan... Um, no one knows that I was in the gang. Not even Dalton. He'd feel really betrayed if he found out from someone else, so don't tell him, okay?"

I turned to look at Alex and I felt myself frown. Even if he had been a part of a gang, that didn't mean he didn't have a heart. He cared for his brother, and he cared for Lexi...

"Alright," I nodded, smiling at him slightly. "But what about Lexi? She's not going to have Hunter go after her, is she?"

Alex shook his head. "Nope. I didn't do anything to Hunter, and I got out of the gang with only the marking on my back. The gang shouldn't want anything to do with me ever again."

I smiled again. "That's good. I don't want Lexi to go through what I have to go through... But now that I think about it, where are we, anyway?"

"The parking lot at the ice skating rink," he answered me happily, opening his door and making his way out. I stared at him for a moment as if he was insane (which might actually be possible!) before I followed him out through my own door.

I let out a breath when I saw that he was telling the truth. I let out an even bigger breath when I saw my friends on the other side of the parking lot, the rest of the boys from Cabin B by their sides.

"Why aren't they freaking out?" I asked, walking beside Alex as we made their way toward them. "I was kidnapped!"

"I guess you're just not that special enough," Alex joked, causing me to elbow him in the side as hard as I could. But, just as I had expected, he didn't even budge. "Just kidding. I texted them before I 'kidnapped' you and told them that I'd be driving you. Now, if you excuse me..."

Alex then tiptoed the rest of the way over to the group, right behind Lexi, whose back was to us. I found myself grinning as Alex suddenly jumped up and yelled you, "Boo!"

Lexi let out a scream, and every one of us all burst out laughing as she tried to catch her breath. She hit Alex playfully in the shoulder, laughing along with the rest of us after she had caught her breath.

I found myself smiling when Jesse immediately ended his conversation with Ryan and walked over to talk to me. Maybe everyone was right... Maybe he did act like I was the only person on the planet when we were around each other.

"Want to give me those seventeen kisses in front of everyone here?" Jesse suggested, wagging his eyebrows suggestively at me.

I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at him. "In your dreams, Jacobsen."

He winked at me. "Definitely."

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, and all I could do was smile at him now. Was this considered flirting? We had been doing this ever since we had met each other... Did that mean we had always been flirting? I just saw it as bickering between enemies...

"Let's go skate!" Lexi cried out enthusiastically, being the first to make her way toward the rink. "This is going to be so much fun!"

I smiled at my best friend's peppiness but followed her inside anyway, along with the rest of us. The three buffoons that entered Cabin B along with Jesse made their way to the arcade, but Jesse stayed with the rest of us, letting his three friends go off on their own.

"I'm surprised," I commented, smirking up at him as we both got our skates. "I would think that you'd want to go hang out with those three morons. They are your best friends, aren't they?"

Jesse only shrugged. "Things change, Emery," was all he said, and we all sat down to switch out shoes with our skates.

I was the last one to get my skates on, but that didn't really surprise me. Everyone had left me behind, even Jesse, who had laughed when he saw the trouble I was having with the skates. He tied only one of them for me before leaving for the rink, obviously just to annoy me.

I came to realize that there was absolutely no way I was going be able to tie the other skate. Heaving a large sigh, I made my way away from our stuff and toward the benches right in front of the rink, where I could see everything happening.

It didn't really bother me that I didn't get to skate, since I wasn't that good at it anyway. But I did feel kind of lonely...

I felt my eyebrows furrow when I saw girls giggling and watching Jesse, obviously checking him out as he skating backwards next to Dalton. Normally I would have called him a showoff and say that he did it on purpose for those girls, but now all I felt was jealously.

I now tried to tie the laces on the skate once again, just wanting to get on the ice with Jesse. But I failed once again, letting out a groan and giving up. There was no way I was going to get it right...

I looked around the ice for Jesse, but couldn't see him anywhere. He wasn't with Dalton anymore, and he wasn't with any of the boys from Cabin B. He wasn't even with any of the girls, not even the ones that had been swooning over him moments before.

Maybe he went to join his other friends in the arcade... That was the only other place he could have gone, right?

"Need some help, Emery?"

I let out a yelp, jumping slightly when I looked over to see Jesse standing right in front of me, a smirk plastered on his face as he looked down at me.

"Um, yeah," I gulped, trying my best to calm my heartbeat down. "I, uh... can't tie the laces."

Jesse rolled his eyes at me, continuing to smirk as he got down on his knees in front of me. He grabbed onto my laces, beginning to tie them. "You should be the one getting on your knees, Emery," he smirked, his eyebrows raised in a suggestive manner. "If you get what I mean..."

I felt my cheeks burn, but I tried to act like my normal self when Jesse had ever said something like this.

"You're a pig."

"I know."

"Go to hell."

"Been there and back."

His quick replies made me wonder how often I had said these things to him. I never even realized... I was always blinded by hate.

"There you go," Jesse sighed, standing back up after he was done. "Now skate with me, Emery."

"What?" I asked, almost tripping when he pulled me up to my feet. "But I'm not that good at skating!"

"Neither am I," he responded, stepping onto the ice and yanking me on it with them.

Now I knew that was a lie. He had just been skating backwards a few minutes before! He was just trying to make me feel better, but I had watched him skate...

He didn't hold onto me as I skated wobbly next to him while he pretty much glided over the ice. He kept a slow pace, making sure to keep up with me, and all I wanted to do was go back to the bench and watch everyone skate. I didn't want to fall and hurt myself.

"Pretty good, Emery," he nodded, now skating backwards so he was in front of me. "I think it's time for a spin."

"A what?" I asked, my eyes widening.

Jesse clutched onto my hand, and before I even knew what he was doing, I was being spun around, almost like a ballerina. I couldn't help but feel like Chelsea, since she was a ballerina and everything. But after getting through the initial shock, I now felt terrified. It was as if I was spinning in slow motion or something.

"No, Jesse, stop--" I started in the middle of the spin. I knew I was going to fall. I was going to fall and hurt myself, and those girls that were giggling over Jesse were going to laugh at me while everyone else did, too...

Before I knew it, I had fully spun around without even falling. I was now pressed against Jesse's chest, so close that I could feel his heartbeat. I was sure he could feel mind as well, which was probably going insanely crazy at our proximity.

"I didn't fall," was all I said, blinking up at him in surprise. His face was so close... I could kiss him if he only bent down a little.

"I knew you could do it," he smiled back, and it was so cold that I could see his breath as he spoke.

I swore I saw his face coming closer to mine, and I felt my eyes flutter shut as I moved mine closer to his. But before anything on our faces could touch, a body was being bashed against our sides.

We all fell to the ice in a crumpled mess, me landing right on top of Jesse. We both looked over at the culprit who had made us fall, and we were looking at the familiar blonde that I had been in the car with only fifteen minutes before then.

It was silent for a moment, and we were all just staring at each other until Alex broke the silence.

"You two really need to watch where you're skating."

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LOOOOOOOVE! :D

It took me five days for a chapter of It's What You Do to Me, and forty-five minutes for a chapter of this. That sure says something.

And this chapter is so much longer than those other one. xD

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D