"You're a cheater," Nolan accused as we left the ring toss booth.

I couldn't help but laugh at the way he pouted. "If it'll make you feel better, you can take Mr. Penguin home with you." I held the giant stuffed penguin I won out to him.

He shot me a look. "Mr. Penguin? That was the best you could come up with?"

"You have a better suggestion?"

He thought for a moment, running his finger through his hair to get it out of his face. "Spike?"

"Spike?" I echoed.

"Yeah. It sounds bad ass."

"Penguins aren't bad ass. They're cute."

"Why can't they be both."

Good point. "Well, I guess I have a cut bad ass penguin named Spike."

"That you cheated to win," he mumbled under his breath.

I bumped him with my shoulder, knocking him off balance. "I didn't cheat."

As we continued roaming the carnival grounds Nolan was being surprisingly social. He was way more outgoing than I was, that's for sure.

He congratulated players as they passed by, shocking them with fist bumps and high fives. It amazed me how effortless he made everything look. How he smiled and rambled off some football terms that apparently made since to the jocks he was talking to. How, whenever a crazed fan shouted Grizzlies, he'd respond with a growl, just like any other overly enthusiastic fan in the general vicinity.

I found myself just watching him. Admiring the way he interacted with people. You'd never guess that he hated Bellcreek and was desperate to get out.

"You're going to lose your voice if you keep it up," I told after he shouted "Go Grizzlies" for the hundredth time. My own voice was going to be gone just from all the screaming I did during the game.

"No pain, no gain. Right?" He grinned. It didn't looked forced or fake like at the beginning of the night. I started to think he was buying into the idea that he was a Bellcreek fanboy. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying seeing that side of him.

"So, what do you want to do next?"

"We should do something you can't cheat at." I rolled my eyes, nudging him.

A crowd forming off to the side caught my eye. It was Mr. Barton at the dunk tank, a group of students surrounded him complaining about something. I walked over, Nolan in tow, to see what was wrong.

"I'm really sorry, but Mr. Hughes had a family emergency," Mr. Barton told the crowd. They were apparently upset they didn't get to dunk the World History teacher as promised. He was definitely Bellcreek's most hated faculty member.

"Now if any of you are volunteering take his place..." The crowd quieted down to a murmur. "That's what I thought."

Before I could fully think it through, I was handing Spike and my purse to Nolan.

"What are you doing?"

"Volunteering for the dunk tank."

His eyes widened. "These are the same people who threw eggs at you." Concern across his face, taking me by surprise. Did he actually care?

"Exactly. Now they can channel their aggression into something that'll raise money for the school," I explain, feeling confident in my plan. "It's a win, win."

His gaze shifted to the now disbanding crowd, before coming back to me. His 'I don't care' attitude seemed to crack before me. "You're sure about this?"

"Yes," I assured him.

Like Nolan, Mr. Barton was hesitant about the idea. After assuring him I could handle it he gave me the green light.

Nolan still didn't like the idea. It was evident in his mood change as we followed Mr. Barton to the student store. I needed something to change into.

Minutes later I was ready for the dunk tank after trading in my jeans for some Bellcreek gym shorts.

Nolan waited for me outside the girls locker room. He still looked worried. "Mr. Barton told everyone you were replacing Mr. Hughes," he told me as we made our way back. "You should see how many people are waiting in line."

"Relax, Nolan." I stopped, looking up at him. "If I do this, let everybody take their anger out on me, maybe that stupid cheating rumor could be put to rest. Then we'd have better chances when prom rolls around."

He didn't look convinced. Still, he kept his mouth shut.

When we got to the dunk tank the crowd from before had doubled. Mr. Hughes might've been the most hated faculty member, but I was the most hated student.

"Change your mind yet?"

My eyes shot up at Nolan. "Nope."

It was a complete lie, the size of the crowd did make me a little nervous. Once everything was set up and I was sitting on a seat that would collapse when the trigger was hit the regret started to seep into my mind.

What the hell was I thinking?

Nolan stood off to the side, hugging Spike to his chest like he was nervous for me. I sucked in a deep breath and prepared to be emerged into the pool of water below me as the first kid bought his ball.

It was that guy from shop class, Quinton. He had a smug grin on his face as he rolled the baseball in his hands. Then, in one quick motion, he threw it. I gasped and shut my eyes, ready to come in contact with the water. Only it never came.

I opened my eyes to see that he had completely missed the target. Mr. Barton had to chase down the ball that had rolled off near the pretzel cart.

I snorted a laugh, turning to the guy. "That was just sad." My nerves calmed a bit, realizing that most of these people probably had terrible aim.

That was proven to be true as the night went on. There were a lot a misses, a few almost and only three dunks. My trash talking might've been throwing them off, too.

I stole a glance at Nolan. He had loosened up, back to his loud, cheering, school spirit filled guy he was earlier. He egged on the crowd, encouraging them to dunk me. I felt especially betrayed when he joined the line.

When he made it to the front Mr. Barton handed him a ball. "You know what this is for, cilantro."

Actually, I didn't. Was it the face paint? Forcing him to wear that shirt? The list could go on.

I smirked, sitting confidentiality with my arms crossed over my chest. "Come on, we both know how bad your aim is, Lanny."

His eyes narrowed at the horrible nick name. The crowd egged him on, hyping him up. He took aim at the target, releasing the ball in one swift move. Suddenly I was under water.

When I surfaced, Nolan was standing at the edge of the tank, a smirk on his face. "What's that you were saying about my aim?"

My eyes narrowed and then I splashed him. A laugh bubbled out of him as he walked away, wiping water from his face with the bottom of his shirt.

After a few more misses and even fewer dunks Mr. Barton announced that the dunk tank was closing after the next three people. Next in line were a girl who couldn't be more than twelve, a guy I recognized from one of my classes, and Farrah Grice.

Farrah turned around, talking to someone I couldn't see in the crowd behind her. Then, from the crowd emerged Deshaun. I was so focused on him that I didn't register that the two people before him had tried and failed to get me under water.

There was no way Deshaun would miss the target. Colleges were lining up to get them to join their baseball teams. I might've been dumb when it came to sports, but I knew Deshaun was one hell of a pitcher.

Being dunked in the water didn't faze me as much as the look in his eyes. The mixture of hurt and anger. Why did it make me feel guilty? I should hate him for starting those rumors, but I couldn't bring myself to.

Who knew how I would've reacted if I had confessed my love to someone and they rejected me.

I knew this might be therapeutic for him. Maybe he'd be able to move on. Stop spreading rumors.

He threw the ball and I fell into the water. Hopefully when I resurfaced things between Deshaun and I would be different. Not that I wanted to be friends, but the rumors had to stop.

When I did come back up for Deshaun was already gone, brushing past Nolan before getting lost in the crowd.

* * *

I was back in the girls locker room, trying my best to dry off and get back into my jeans. My plan worked, at least it seemed to. A few people who had avoided me like the plague since school started came up to me, telling me how cool it was that I did the dunk tank.

Nolan was waiting for me outside when I came out, like before. Only that time he wasn't out there alone. I froze when I heard the sound of a girls voice coming from just around the corner.

"Don't be like that, Nole." The girl said. She didn't sound familiar. Who was she? And how did she know Nolan well enough to give him a nickname? He said he didn't have any friends. No connections.

"I'm not doing this right now." His words were clipped. Curt. Aggravated.

"God, you are still the most stubborn person every!" The girl giggled. "Why won't you forgive me. We can go back to old times. Travel, like we planned."

I shouldn't be listening to this. It was none if my business. It broke his number one rule. My legs refused to move, though.

"We can leave. Tonight," she said, eagerly. "Just go. Me and you."

"Just like that I'm supposed to forget what you—"

"We were broken up," she cut in, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"And that gave you the right to fuck my cousin?"

I clamped a hand over my mouth, muffling the involuntary gasp. Shit.

Nolan must've realized he was shouting because he lowered his voice. I couldn't make out what he said or how she responded. But I did hear the footsteps.

I pressed my back against the brick wall, hiding deeper in the shadows. The girl walked away in a blur of a leather jacket, combat boots and bright orange hair. The thing that stood out most was the blue plaid skirt. It was part of the Dessen High uniform.

Was she the reason he had been on edge before the game? Was it her ring he wore around his neck?

On the other side of the wall I could hear Nolan ragged breath. He was probably trying to calm himself down. Whoever that girl was really got to him.

I wanted to go to him. To be there for him. But I couldn't because I wasn't supposed to know any of what I just heard. It was in clear violation of his rule.

However, I did have to go to him. I had to smile and pretend that I hadn't over heard anything. He might've had the whole not caring thing down, but it was something I struggled with.

I counted to ten before revealing myself, acting as if I'd just gotten out of the restroom. Nolan grinned and acted like he didn't just have a run in with and ex-girlfriend.

Even though the area we were in was practically abandoned, he wrapped his hand around mine. Our fingers intertwined and I tried not to read too much into it. Still, part of me wondered if it was just to keep up appearances or if it was what he needed at the moment.

"What next?" He asked as we headed towards the noise of the carnival.

"Home," I said, knowing that was exactly where he wanted to be. "I think we've done enough self promotion for the night."

He looked genuinely happy about the idea. As we headed towards the exit I spotted a photo booth, like the ones that are usually in malls. Nolan wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea.

"Photo booth picture are a staple in any relationship." He groaned, but didn't fight as I dragged him into the booth. "Two goofy, two cute?"

He shrugged and I feed my money into the machine. He managed a smile for the first three photos. Then for the fourth, he kissed me. Just barely. He got more of my cheek than my lips. The shock on his face told me it wasn't on purpose.

"I wasn't trying to—You turned around," he said quickly, his tone apologetic.

"it's fine." I waved it off like it was nothing, like that small taste of him didn't ignite something inside me. Something I didn't know how to describe because I had never felt it before. All I knew was that I wanted more.