It's time for mine and Cory's 'date'. I dress in some casual clothes, just like he wants. Then I leave the house quietly, whispering to Jacob that I'd be staying at Cory's for the night.

I slowly walk up the hill in the dark, stopping when I reach the top as Cory comes into view.

He's wearing grey joggers with a black hoodie. He smiles brightly at me as I go closer.

"Hey." He pecks my lips before holding a rose out to me.

I take it, bringing it close to my chest, "Thank you. This is very unlike you, Cory."

"What can I say? You're special." He winks.

He sits down on a blanket before patting the space beside him. I lower myself down, immediately laying on my back. He does the same, but turns his head to me.

"Are you wearing makeup?" He asks when I finally get myself comfortable.

I look over, my eyebrows slightly furrowed, "No. Why?"

"You are."

"I'm not," I look back at the sky, "Okay, maybe I am."

"Why?" He whines.

I shrug and he grumbles under his breath,

"You don't need it, you know you don't."

"I only put lipgloss on." I laugh.

He pouts, "You still don't need it."

I smack his stomach gently, "Look at the stars, not at me."

"But you're prettier than them."

"Don't disrespect stars like that. They are beautiful."

He looks up at them, "What's that one?"

I follow where his finger is pointing.

"That's the big dipper. It's the most well-known one because it's easy to identify."

He nods, "Do you think aliens are real?"

"I'm not sure, I'd have to see one to say yes."

"I believe in 'em." He chuckles, "I want to meet one."

"Even if they blow your brains out?" I raise an eyebrow.

He glances at me, "Even if they blow my brains out."

I smile, "But then you'd be dead."

"I'll be dead after tomorrow anyway." He groan.

"Why?"

"Rugby match."

Shit.

I groan, "I completely forgot. Fuck. We're shit - we'll loose."

"We aren't that bad. You never know, they may suck."

I roll my eyes, "When did you become an optimist?"

He scoffs jokingly, "Don't you like the new me?"

I laugh, "New you?"

"Yes. New me - optimistic, fun, polite, kind."

"That's a whole different person." I snort, looking at him.

"Oi. Go back to looking at the bloody stars."

We're silent for a few minutes, while my eyes wander all over the pretty sky above us. Cory's eyes however, are still just glued to me.

"How's Mr Quereshi's anger management lessons going?" He asks, a small smile on his face.

"Good. He's proper nice. He's fiancé is lovely as-well."

"When did you meet 'er?" He raises an eyebrow.

"She came in for one lesson, not sure why. I reckon she just wanted to be with him." I shrug.

"It's reassuring to know that you won't go all hulk on me again." He laughs.

"I've never gone hulk on you."

"You have actually. When we were like seven and I said that Tangled were a shit movie."

I chuckle at the memory, "Fair point. But I didn't hurt you, not physically. I may have damaged your ego a bit."

"A bit? A bit? I think you mean, a lot." He rolls his eyes.

There's more silence, this time both of us are watching the gorgeous stars as they twinkled.

"I love you." He whispers, breaking the quietness.

"I love you too." I roll onto my side, so I'm facing him with my head resting on my hand.

He gets into the same position, "Should we go back to mine? It's freezin'."

I peer down at the goosebumps on my arms, "Good plan, batman."

He stands, tilting his head at me, "Batman?"

"He's a-"

"I know who batman is. Just you saying it to me is ... weird."

I jump up, allowing him to lift the blanket, "How is it weird? Actually, it doesn't matter. Let's just go back before my tits freeze."

"They can freeze?" He smirks and I smack him as we trudged down the hill.

___

We're all in our kits as we arrive at the pitch for the match.

"I don't wanna do this." I mumble, looking over at the other school we're playing against.

"Why not? It'll be fun."

"Because our team is shit and I'm the only girl on it."

"You'll be fine - we all will be."

"Okay, shush now, Mr Optimist." I laugh, patting his shoulder.

"Peyton, Cory. Good to see that you finally turned up." Mr Bell says.

"Happy to be here, sir." Cory nods proudly.

"I'm bloody not." I grumble, tensing my jaw.

"There's no pressure, don't worry." Mr Bell speaks calmly.

I scoff, looking at the crowd around us, "All of the students are here and the whole rugby teams parents. Totally no pressure."

"Okay, maybe there is a little bit of pressure. You'll be fine. Get into a line."

We get into a line, the opposite team, who are wearing black and white, are in front of us. I glance over at Nas and Missy. They both give me a small smile, which I attempt to return.

"Stand firm, lads." Cory shouts as the other team walk over, "And girl." He winks.

I lean forward to stare at him sternly until Jordan shoves me back so I'm standing straight again.

The other team smack their chests roughly, "St Mark's, St Mark's, St Mark's, St Mark's. Aargh!"

I nearly laughed in the boy's face but they move back, as I bite my cheek in attempt to not say anything stupid.

"Are we really gonna do this?" Riz mumbles to Cory.

Cory smirks before whistling. Three female women walk over, playing some drums. And I nearly pass out from holding my laugh in for so long.

"Is this really necessary?" I snarl at Cory.

"It's Ackley Bridge. We do stuff differently here. Why do you think you're on the team?" He chuckles and I purse my lips.

Motherfucker.

The boys on our team move forward to stand infront of the other team, while I remain still. I am not dancing, either I would laugh way too hard or I would die of embarrassment.

"Go on, Peyton!" Missy and Nas shout.

"Peyton, join in!" Mr Bell smirks, clapping.

I stare at them before placing my hands on my hips, telling them that there was no way in hell that I was going to dance.

Everyone finishes the mini parade and walk back over to me, cheering and clapping.

"Why didn't you join in, Pey?" Cory sticks his bottom lip out.

"I had too, you should have as well." Riz rolls his eyes.

We move onto the actual pitch, getting into our right positions. I don't want to do this, in the slightest but I do want to beat them.

Mr Quereshi, who is the line man, looked over at me before taking a visibly deep breath, telling me to do the same if I start to get angry. I send him a thumbs.

They get the ball first, immediately running on. Some of our boys attempt to tackle them, but they quickly pass back. Jordan manages to steal the ball, sprinting forward until he's met with an elbow to the face. He goes rolling and the crowd grimace.

"Oi, what you playing at?" Zain snarls.

"Almost took his head off!" Riz yells, shoving the boy's shoulders.

"Yeah, saved you a job, Taliban Tom." The guy retorts.

"What the fuck?" I shout, standing beside Riz, "Don't say shit like that."

"Why are you even playing? You're a fucking girl."

I roll my eyes before jumping at him. Cory catches me before I send him flying.

Why does he always catch me?

"Stop. Calm. Talk a deep breath. We still have a whole match to play, don't start going she-hulk at the very start." He soothes.

I push out of his grasp, "Alright. Okay. Let's just get this over with."

Mr Quereshi whistles, catching my attention while we return to our positions.

"Deep breaths." He mouths.

I nod, taking a deep breath and running a hand through my hair.

__

It's a draw so far and there isn't much time left. We need to win.

Cory passes the ball to Dan, who runs forward a little until he is met with a couple boys in front of him. I shout his name, catching his attention and getting him to look my way.

He throws the ball back and I catch it, swinging it into the crook of my arm as I sprint on. It's a straight, clear line to the end. I swerve round a few shoulders before squidding to the floor, smashing the ball onto the try-line.

The crowd's cheers get louder when the whistle is blown, telling everyone that the match has ended and we won. I hold my arms up in victory as my team come over, patting my shoulder and back.

"How's that for a girl?" I spit at the boy from earlier as we walk passed them.

We jog over to Mr Bell, who's extremely close to Mr Nawaz, speaking to him angrily. I tap his shoulder getting him to turn.

"Well done, Peyton. Well done to the rest of ya." He smiles, his face completely changing from before.

Cory and Riz lift him onto their shoulders as we all cheer his name while running into the changing rooms.

"You did great today, Pey." Cory swings his arm round my shoulder after putting Mr Bell down.

"We all did." I correct him, patting his chest before leaving him to go get changed.

__

I walk into Miss Carter's office because she had asked for an update on Mr Quereshi's lessons, so I decide to give her one now.

But, she's sat on her desk chair, her head in her hands with her elbows on her desk. There are small sobs leaving her lips.

"Miss?" I ask quietly.

Her head shoots up. There are mascara tear marks running down her cheeks.

"Peyton?"

"I can come back later." I mumble.

"It's fine." She wipes her cheeks, plastering another fake smile on her face.

"Miss, what's up?"

"I cheated on Steve with Sadiq. I told Steve and now they both hate me." She blurts, her hand slapping over her mouth after realising what she just said.

My mouth hangs open, "You cheated on him.. with Mr Nawaz."

"I know, don't make fun of me for it. I regret it. I regret it so much."

"Tell him that then. Tell Steve that it was an accident."

"I've tried. He won't believe me."

I purse my lips, "I'll talk to him."

"Peyton, no. You're our student, not our child. I shouldn't have even told you."

"You've both been better parents to me than mine ever have, so don't worry."

I waddle over before pulling her into a side hug.

"I've always seen you as more of a Mum."

"Now, get home before I call your actual mum."

I chuckle and go over to the door again, "She won't answer. But, Miss, talk to Mr Bell, he loves you - he'll come round."