PENNY

"How many girls have you made out with over here?", Penny asked, looking at the lake, sparkling in the morning sunlight.

"Well, you will be the first one", Kyle said, and gave her a small kiss.

"Smooth", Penny said, impressed.

Kyle took her hand in his and lightly brushed his thumb on the back of her hand, "I need to tell you something."

Penny did not like the tone of it, "What happened?"

"Before I met you, I filled in for admission at my dream music university. I had to record a song and send the CD. Yesterday, I got a letter saying I was accepted on a full scholarship", Kyle said.

Penny smiled and gave him a hug, "That's amazing! Why aren't you happy?"

"Its Julliard in New York", Kyle said, looking away.

Penny's heart sank. She had applied for Brown, Duke and Stanford, all miles away from New York. She did not want to be away from Kyle. But it was his dream school.

"Kyle, it's amazing. Don't you dare be sad!", Penny said.

Kyle sat down on a rock, "But we won't be anywhere close to each other", he said, "and you know long distance relationships never work."

"We'll figure it out", Penny said, sitting down on the grass next to him.

"Penny, this will just make us distant", said Kyle.

"So what should we do?", Penny asked him.

Kyle ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know Penny, should we break up?"

Penny looked at him with surprise, "Break up! But you said you loved me." She knew she sounded like a five-year-old child, but she couldn't stand breaking up with Kyle. Her eyes were burning, her breathing becoming ragged.

Kyle took her face in his hands, his eyes brimmed with tears "I still do Penny, I still do. But I want you to enjoy your college life, meet other people, maybe fall in love again. I don't want you not enjoying yourself because of me. Penny, there's a long life ahead, lets not limit it."

Penny wiped at her eyes and sat up straight, "You know what? We have a blast till graduation. Then we...we'll see what to do ahead. Improvise."

Kyle smiled, "I like that plan."

MATT

"Okay, team. Win this game, and your into the final. Remember, our school has not won the State Championship for twenty-two years now. So you better win this one. I'll get a huge bonus if you do...", the coach said with a grin.

Everybody just stared at him.

Coach cleared his throat, "Um, I got carried away for a second. What I'm saying is, we have to win this and make our school proud. There are scouts from Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and", he looked directly at Matt, "Duke. So play well, and you might even get a full ride to one of these universities. Understood, team?"

Matt couldn't breathe. Scouts from Duke were here. They were here! He had dreamed of going there since he could hold a basketball. He had dreamed of that Blue Devil jersey, with Lewis written at the back. And those could come true if he rocked this match. His hands trembled with excitement. He was gonna give everything he had to this match.

"Harriers on three...", Matt said, "One, two, three..."

"HARRIERS!", shouted the team.

Chad pulled Matt aside, "Matt, remember we're playing against Mike Rhodes. Be careful. You know how brutal he can be."

Matt smiled at Chad, "Don't worry, man. I won't let that guy ruin my chances. You'll see."

They stepped onto the court, Matt at the center, facing his old enemy, Mike Rhodes. Mike was a son of a bitch who had tried to assault Matt's sister Hannah, and had his sorry ass kicked bad by Matt before the cops arrived. Matt would never forget those tears in Hannah's eyes, the blood on Mike's nose when Matt punched the hell out of him, the cops chucking him into juvie, or when he came back this year, and his school took him in because of his father's 'generous donation'. He wanted to punch his guts out again.

Matt shook his head. No, he wouldn't let this bastard get into his head. He at the stands where the scouts were seated. Then at Emma, who was sitting nearby, talking to one of the scouts. He wondered what she could be talking about.

Then he looked back at the ball in the referee's hand. The referee tossed it in the air, and Matt hit the ball towards Ian before Mike could and ran towards the three pointer. He got the ball from Griffin, took it straight towards the basket and dunked it in.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, was the one of the fastest baskets scored in this season, in exactly four point five seconds", said the commentator, and the crowd cheered wildly. But Matt did not let it get to his head.

He stood at the half line, when Luke swiped the ball from one of the players and passed it to Matt who took it to the three pointer and passed to Penny who shot directly from the three-pointer line, scoring them three points.

At halftime, the Harriers were leading forty three to thirty. Matt smiled smugly at Mike Rhodes, who gave him a murderous glare.

He opened a bottle of Gatorade and chugged it down all at once. His knee was acting up again, it was weirdly shaky and ached every time he jumped for a slam dunk. But he didn't dare tell the coach. He couldn't afford to be benched at this game. So he sat down and took a pain killer before anybody noticed.

But of course somebody noticed.

"Why are you taking a pain killer?", Emma asked when she came up to him.

"Um, b-because my...le-head, is a-aching", Matt stammered. He really had to practice his lying skills.

"Liar. I'm sure its for your knee", she said.

"No, it's not. And what are you doing here?", he asked.

"Oh, um", Emma took out a chain with a four-leaved clover pendant and handed it over to Matt, "This is kinda my lucky charm, which I use for athletic meets. Thought you could use it, what with Duke's scout sitting next to me."

Matt took it and their hands momentarily brushed, making Matt's ears burn. He was pretty sure they were turning red, and was hoping Emma wouldn't notice. Actually, it didn't matter if Emma noticed or not because he was over her. Over her. Not even slightly attracted to her, even though her hair was down today, and he liked it when her hair was down. He had tried for four months, and he wouldn't try anymore because he was over her. Completely over her. They were just casual friends who gave each other tokens of good luck, which was the most intimate, no, no, the highest level of friendship.

"Thank you, Emma", he said, putting the chain around his neck. He felt weirdly confident with the charm on. If it really worked, then it would keep Mike Rhodes away from him.

And the charm surprisingly did keep Mike Rhodes away from him! He was straight up about to buy that necklace from Emma when Mike made the final shot...and the Harriers were still ahead by twenty-five points. Twenty-five points.

Apparently, Matt had broken the record by scoring forty-four points in this game himself. The team literally jumped on him when the buzzer rang. He was knocked onto the ground with six sweaty players piled on top of him.

Then the best part of the day arrived when coach, along with a scout came up to him and said, "You're being offered a full-ride to Duke, son."

The scout smiled at him and went. And Matt could control himself. He pounced onto coach and tackled him into a hug. Duke gave him a full ride. As soon as the game was over! He was gonna be a Blue Devil. He looked at the pendant, then Emma, who was standing close by, who had apparently heard the entire conversation, because she was smiling wide. Emma had been there when one of his dreams came true. Emma.

Coach went away, smiling, yet grumbling about how sweaty Matt was, when Emma came up to him.

"I guess this pendant did its work", said Matt, smiling as he took it off and gave it to Emma.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it was all you", said Emma, "Duke, huh? I heard the basketball team is...fine."

Matt laughed and hugged her, without thinking, "The basketball team is gonna be better than fine, now that I'm gonna be a part of it."

Matt thought that Mike Rhodes also heard it, because he was giving Matt a total bewildered and jealous look. And Matt had to gloat.

"Suck it, Mike! Guess who's going to Duke and who's not? I wonder if they take criminals into any college, huh?", yelled Matt, so that everyone could hear it.

"Matt!", warned Emma, but he did not care at that moment.

"Whatever, Lewis. Say hi to your sister", said Mike, with a pathetic smile.

Matt advanced towards him, ready to mess up that face again, but Emma wrapped her hands around his arm and pulled him back. The touch distracted him so much, that it gave Mike time to move away.

Emma quickly pulled her hand away.

"Um, I think Kyle is calling me", gesturing to where Kyle was standing, waving at her.

"Oh, okay. See you later."

EMMA

"What's up, Kyle", Emma said, walking over to him.

"Hey Emma, Chloe wants to confess something", Kyle said, as Chloe came behind him, along with Lily, glaring daggers at Kyle. Something was up, Emma thought.

"Come on, Chloe", said Kyle, holding up his phone.

"M-Matt did not cheat on you", Chloe said, in a completely different tone than her usual haughty, I'm-better-than-you tone.

Emma just stared at her, "What do you mean he didn't cheat? I saw it with my own eyes", she said, glaring at Lily.

Lily finally met Emma's eyes, "Chloe paid me to do that. It's not Matt's fault."

Emma stepped back, utterly shocked. So Matt did not cheat after all. And she had been terrible to him these last few months, when he had been nothing but patient. Oh God, he had tried to tell her that so many times. And she never let him.

"How pathetic can you get, Chloe?", Emma spat and turned towards Lily,"And how could you do such a thing for money?!"

Lily looked down again, looking ashamed, but Chloe still kept her head high, not even a trace of apology on her face. That bitch.

"See, Emma, Matt did nothing wrong. Please go talk to him", said Kyle, "you can go now", he said to Chloe with a frown.

Chloe stalked off with Lily and Emma heard a few not very good words about Kyle and Matt coming out of her mouth.

"How did you know Matt did nothing?", Emma asked.

"He told me. And I trust him", said Kyle.

"That was low, Kyle", Emma said, "anyway, how did you get Chloe to confess."

"Oh you know, the classic stalking her and filming her sniffing cocaine", Kyle.

Emma's eyes widened, "Chloe does..."

"Drugs? Yeah. Not very surprising to me though", said Kyle, "Now go talk to him. The guy is still crazy about you."

Emma felt her cheeks grow warm, "I will, Kyle, but not here."

She took her phone out and texted Matt.

Emma : Hey, I know the truth now. Can you meet me at cafe in about 10 minutes. We need to talk.

Matt : Sure. I'll see you there.

Emma felt excitement course through her veins as she put her phone in her bag and went to the parking to take her car out.

Nine minutes later, she stood outside the cafe, staring at the signal, waiting for Matt. She went through what she was going to say. First, she would apologize, then...she would have to improvise the rest.

Matt, it had always been Matt. How could she have been so dumb to not see it? And Matt was so amazing. He had tried so hard to convince her that he did nothing wrong, and she kept pushing him away, but he kept coming back.

She had always wished she could have a relationship with someone like Kyle and Penny's or Shane and Kevin's.

But what she didn't realise was that what she and Matt had was bigger than what all of them had, combined. And she did not even appreciate it till now. She had a chance with the most amazing guy in all of eternity, and she almost blew it because she did not trust Matt.

But now, she would make things right. She would tell Matt how she really felt. She was extremely nervous whether Matt would have her now, after how she had behaved with him the past couple of months. But she had to tell him. Otherwise it would become her life's biggest what-if.

And there she saw his car, at her right, taking a turn at the signal, to come towards her.

Her heart was beating out of her chest. Her nervousness increased.

She could see Matt at the driver's seat, grinning at her.

And then, there was a flash of light and...

CRASH!

Emma was blinded for a second. And when her vision came back, she saw Matt's car veered to one side, the windshield shattered. She saw the car which hit him, backing up, as if preparing to run away. She memorised the car number and then ran to Matt's car.

He was in the drivers seat, blood dripping down his face.

And she screamed till her lungs gave out, pulled open the door with all her might, and took his limp body out. A crowd gathered around her and some people helped her load him into her car.