Chapter 1.

***Present day***

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

I groaned and rolled over, then slammed my hand down on the alarm clock as I got up. A smile lit my face as I thought about what week it was-Tyler's birthday week! I quickly showered and got dressed, then ran down stairs and into the kitchen. Someone else's toast popped up but I grabbed it, along with the glass of orange juice that was sitting there.

"Hey that's mine!" My dad complained as I stuck the toast in my mouth.

"Sorry, in a rush!" I smiled and downed the juice. Then I waved and ran out the door with the piece of toast in my mouth. My dad just laughed and shook his head at me.

"Tell Ty happy birthday for me!" I heard him yell but I didn't respond, I just hopped in the car, my mom already waiting in the drivers seat, and went off to school.

Tyler had left for the summer, he went away for a job opportunity. I was miserable without him... we hadn't ever spent that long apart before, but I wanted him to be able to have a bright future so I pretended to be okay with it. He called me when he could, he texted me every day, and he sent me many photos. One in particular caught my interest during the first week is when he cut off all of his hair. I loved his hair in the short cut, but he had it even shorter. When I asked him why he cut it off he had said something about the summer heat out in California being easier to handle with shorter hair. Silly boy.

When Tyler had finally got back, we made sure to hang out every day. The look in his eyes changed a bit, he seemed older somehow. And he was slightly more built too. Though his years as the football captain kept him in great shape already. He was still the same old Tyler though, he was still my best friend, the one I could count on for anything and who was there for me practically my whole life.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder, telling my mom a quick 'goodbye, love you', then practically jumped from the car as soon as it stopped. I quickly made my way to the front of the school where I could already see Tyler and his other friends, then quietly snuck up behind him and jumped on his back, causing him to startle.

"Happy birthday week, Ty!" I sang happily and loudly right next to his ear, causing him to cringe from the loudness.

"Jesus, Kota. Scare me half to death why don't ya?" He chuckled, bringing his hands under my thighs to hoist me onto his back more securely. 

"I try." I said with a chuckle. Tyler's 6'3 and very well built frame held me up easily, he never seemed to have a problem holding me though as we grew up. I smiled at him, my head peaked around his shoulders, catching his green eyes as he smiled back at me.

"So what's up?" He asked me, ignoring his friends who were still in conversation. My eye's went wide at the question, he doesn't remember, I thought to myself.

"What's up... What's up? Dude, It's your birthday week! We have to spend it any way we can celebrating it, what do you mean 'what's up'?!" He chuckled at me wholeheartedly and I immediately know he was messing with me, I rolled my eyes in response. "You said that on purpose, didn't you?" I mock glared at him.

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged his shoulder.

"Whatever." I huffed and jump down off his back.

"Oh not so fast young lady, where do you think you're going?" He asked, grabbing my wrist as I tried to walk away. 

"You obviously don't want to celebrate your birthday-week, so..." I shrugged and tried to walk off again. 

"You know I didn't mean it like that." He groaned and pulled me so my back was against his chest, his tall frame towering over my 5'4" self. 

"Yeah I know." I chirped, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. "Now come on, we gotta get this week started!" I said as I grabbed his wrist and started pulling him along, his friends started chuckling at him and called him whipped.

Ty chuckled and followed me as he flipped his friends off over his shoulder, which only caused them to laugh even harder. As we entered the mostly empty halls, I dug out from my backpack some window paint and streamers, handing some to Ty as well, and then grabbed the tape. We grinned at each other with mischievous smiles, then ran to the bathrooms.

Every year we write 'Happy birthday!!' on the bathroom mirrors, add mustaches or glasses, and then put streamers all over the halls. The principal never minded, sometimes he even asked what he could do to help out, the perks of being in a small town I guess.

When I was done with the mirrors in the girl's bathroom, I ran out to do the next one's, making sure to hit every bathroom mirror possible. When Ty and I were done decorating the bathrooms, he picked me up onto his shoulders and we started putting streamers all down the halls.

I laughed and looked back to see our work, a smile on both mine and Ty's faces. My friend Carrie then came through the school doors with about two hundred balloons, with the help of her twin Jamie, also my friend. I gave them a thumbs up, and they then took off running, letting the balloons go, and filling the halls with them. I laughed with glee as I saw the hallway in its finished glory, completely covered in balloons and streamers, it was definitely birthday ready.

"Part one of the party week, complete." I said happily. 

"It looks great." Ty smiled and hugged me from behind, resting his chin on my head.

Every year we had decorated our halls, so people are kind of used to it now. Plus this year we made it extra special since we got to decorate the seniors hall, to do it over the top we added a few banners, and on Saturday I had talked to the principle about how he could help since he offered, and he agreed to play music over the intercom for the first fifteen minutes of the morning before class started.

People started coming in when the 15-minute warning bell went off, and then music started playing over the speakers. At first people were surprised at the sight in front of them, but then the music reached their ears and they knew what was going on. They all enjoyed it, some people were even goofing off and dancing along with their friends.

"Looks like we did pretty good! But now it's time for class." He said, making me support a pout. Since Ty is two and half years older than me, we always had different classes. "Awe, you know I always walk you, don't go pouting on me." He laughed,, causing me ti grin, then he grabbed my hand. The bell rang again, signaling five minutes left, we shared a look before smiling and bolting down the hallway. A few people chuckled and shook their heads at us as we ran by, but they were pretty used to seeing either one or both of us always in a rush to get to class.

As we got there, the clock said we had 2 minutes left, and that was just enough time for Tyler to get to class. He gave me a hug, kissed my forehead and then left down the hallway. I went in and sat down, then soon my friends came in, trailing one behind the other. The rest of my classes went by in a blur and soon it came to my favorite part of the school day, lunch.

As we walked into the cafeteria, I smiled. My friends followed me and we headed towards our table. It wasn't the popular table, but it was the on we all like best, and it was right in the center of the room. I stood up on the table and grabbed the mega phone from Carrie, pushed the button on it a couple of times so it squealed. Everybody put their hands over their ears for a second till the nose calmed down, then turned to look over at me curiously.

"Wow, now that I have your attention..." I said into the mega phone. "I would like to remind you all if you don't already know; it's Ty's birthday week! In order to celebrate day one, two of my friends and I, made up a dance for him. Hit it!" I screamed into the mega phone, then tossed it to one of the guys that were standing around.

Carrie and Jamie got up on the table next to me, and as the music came on, we started our dance. It was short and sweet, something I came up with after my dance classes one day. There was a lot of cheesy moves in this dance, my only excuse was that I was born in the 90's and it left its impression on me.

By the time it was almost over, we had everyone clapping along to the beat of the song. Just for kicks we had also thrown some funny moves into the mix like, 'the sprinkler' and, 'the lawn mower'. When the song started to come to an end, I turned around and did a backflip off the table, then turned and kneel'd with my hands out as the twins and I yelled out-

"Happy birthday Ty!" Everyone clapped for us and some were even wolf whistling. Ty, who was smiling brightly and also shaking his head, made his way over and gave me a hug.

"How you seem to get away with this every year, is mind blowing to me," he chuckled. 

"Yeah, same here." I smiled widely up at him. 

"Come on, we've got to eat sometime today, don't ya think?" He said and pulled me to the food line. 

As the day went on, I couldn't help but notice that something was off about Ty. Something was on his mind and by the looks that would cross his face, It was big. But if he wasn't bringing it up to me, I wasn't going to pry, at least not right now. I just hoped he would come talk to me first, I didn't like having to pry.

~

The next day at lunch, a few friends and I were running around the cafeteria with air horns and throwing confetti. Just something small to celebrate Ty's birthday. People had a good laugh, that was for sure, but the next day was my favorite plan I had been waiting to do. 

I arrived at school with my friends, each of us carrying several boxes of homemade-but not at all edible-cupcakes. We sat them on our table and then I reached over and grabbed my mega phone from Carrie, then sat it on the table for later. When lunch came around, I waited till the the cafeteria started to fill up, then I stood in the middle of the table and put the mega phone up to my mouth.

"Attention everyone! Could I please have Tyler Anderson come up here?" I called out. Ty stood up from his seat and started making his way over, raising his eyebrow in question as he did. "Come on Ty! Don't be shy. Stand on the table with me." A few people were laughing, but he still got up here with me. "Okay, as you all know, today is day three of Ty's birthday week!" I smile. "And to celebrate this day, I brought everyone cupcakes." Cheers erupted around the room. "So everyone, please make your way to my table and each grab one cupcake!" People started piling around me, taking cupcakes out of the boxes.

"But-" I started, everybody stopped what they're doing and gave me curious glances. "Do. Not. Eat them. Yes, they are-in some way-edible, but I wouldn't eat them myself because they probably taste like crap." I told them. "Now, these are not for eating because... We are going to throw them at Ty!" I said happily, making everybody turn to his or her neighbor and friends, grinning. 

"Kota, please don't do this!" Ty immediately turned to face me, pulling a puppy dog face to try and get out of it. 

"Oh, Ty," I sighed as Jamie handed me a cupcake from behind my back, an evil smirk pulling at the edge of my lips. "but this is fun!"

"What's fun?" He asked, his eyebrows pulling together. 

"This." I shouted, then shoved the cupcake on his head. He looked back up at me, shocked I had actually done that, but also trying not to laugh. "Fire!" I shouted into the megaphone and everybody started throwing their cupcakes.

Most had hit him while some over shot, but all in all, he was covered in only slightly edible cake... 

~

The next day I had Jamie and Carrie call him up to the table, and tell everyone to sing when they saw him enter the cafeteria. Today was his actual birthday, though we were still celebrating it the next day and for the rest of the week. When they called him up and he entered the room, everyone started singing 'Happy Birthday' to him as planned. By the time they were on the second verse, I made it halfway down the center isle, carrying a cake that was just for him.

"Happy birthday, dear Ty..." Everyone sang as I got on the table with him, holding the cake out. "Happy birthday, to you!" Everyone cheers and claps as he blows out the candles. I quickly tossed the used candles to the side and out of the way and held the cake up to him again. 

"What did you wish for?" I asked.

"If I told you, it wouldn't come true." He smirked, a glimmer in his eyes. 

"Would it happen to be.... to have this cake shoved in your face?" I asked, trying to hide the smirk that wanted to etch itself onto my face. 

"What?" he cocked an eyebrow quizzically. "Why would I-" before he could finish, one of his friends came up behind him and shoved his head down, face first into the cake. Everyone laughed as he slowly lifts his head up, dramatically wiping the cake out of his eye. I set the cake down as he looks over at me. "You better run." He threatened in a playful voice.

I squeaked and jumped off the table, and he ran off after me. Just like that, I was being chased around the cafeteria. I laugh as I ran and people were giving us amused looks as they went back to eating, I looked behind me briefly and see 'cake face' still chasing me. Quickly, I ran out of the cafeteria and rounded the corner  to the hallway, my feet going as fast as they could. I thought I could make it at first, that I was in the clear, but then a hand suddenly caught my wrist and pushed me against the lockers. My eye widened as I look up into a pair of bright green eyes, then I chuckled.

"Hello cake-face."

"You've got some nerve shoving my face into cake in front of everyone!" he said with a playful smile, putting both of his hands on either side if me, trapping against the lockers. 

"Oh really, everyone was watching? I had no clue," I shook my head, trying not to smile but ended up failing.

"You know, I never got to taste my cake." He playfully glared at me.

"Well..." I smiled with amusement in my eyes and leaned my head closer to his face. He just stood there, shocked, as I got closer and closer. I put my hands on his shoulders as I leaned up licked his cheek where some cake was smeared. He stiffened for a second, but didn't move as I leaned back against the lockers again, smiling up at him while licking my lips. "Taste like some good cake to me."

His eyes glance down to my lips for a second, making me stop moving and suck in a breath. My heart skipped a beat inside my chest for a split second. But then, an evil smile started to pull at his lips as he leaned forwards. I dared not move an inch, not knowing what to do with myself, when suddenly... He starts rubbing his face all over mine. I gasp sharply and then glaring at him, I pushed him away. 

"What?" He said all innocently, then leaned in and licked the cake he smeared on me, off of my cheek. I brought my hands up and pushed him away again, causing him to start laughing. "Your right, good cake." He chuckled and I glared at him.

"You know, you could have just gone back in there to eat your cake, you didn't have to get my face all sticky." I complained, pouting with my bottom lip out.

"What?! You did it first!" He cried out in fake outrage, you could hear the playfulness in his voice.

"And that invites to you to put your cake on my face?" I asked, throwing my hands out with a disbelieving look on my face.

"Yes, yes it does." He said with a triumphant smile on his face. I shake my head at him, fighting off a smile, then face-palmed my self, slowly dragging my hand down my face for emphasis.

"Come on, we gotta go clean off our faces," I sigh, tugging on his hand and leading him to the bathrooms. He pulls me to a stop, shaking his head as he see's which one I was pulling him to.

"I can't go inside there,"

"you have before." I raised an eyebrow challenging him, he conceded and let me pull him into the girls bathroom.

I grab some paper towels and run some water to warm it up. I looked back over to Ty, who was now sitting on the counter, cake still covering his face. Not just his head, but also some dripping down his onto his shirt. I started laughing at the sight of him and he looks over at me weirdly.

"What's so funny?" He demanded, raising a cake covered eyebrow which caused me to laugh even more.

Instead of answering him, I walked over to him and ran my finger down his face. When it came away covered in cake, I licked it off and smile at him. A look crossed his face for a second as he watched me, but before I could decipher it, it was replaced by a pained and longing look that confused me.

I grabbed the paper towels I had set aside and started running them under the water, wondering what was on in Ty' mind. I handed one to him and he jumped off the counter to face the mirror, cleaning his face, then I started to wipe off my own cake-y mess. When I was done, I checked to make sure I got it all off, then leaned back against the sink. Ty finished, then threw his rags away and set his hands on the sink, his eyes gave me that same look that he had on his face earlier, but It was mixed with something else too. 

"Kota," He sighed, looking down at his feet. "we have to talk-" the school bell rings, cutting him off. I glanced over to the door, knowing people would be in here soon.

"Come on," I grabbed his hand and towed him out of the bathroom. "You don't want to be caught in the girls' bathroom during class time right?" I teased, he shook his head at me and chuckled. "What were you saying in there?" I asked a little hesitantly, once we're clear of the bathrooms and on our way to class, my hand still in his. His hand tightened a little and then he let go, confusing me once again.

"Um, I'll tell you later." he scratched the back of his head. The look of dread in his eyes about whatever he had to say. I was pretty sure it was the same thing that was bothering him a couple days ago. I smiled encouragingly, happy he was at least ready to tell me whatever it was.

"Yeah, okay..." I nodded as we stopped by my classroom door. "So, I'll see you after school for your birthday dinner!" I smiled and waved to him as he started to leave.

"Yeah, see you then." he mumbled, a smile forced it's way onto his face.

Whatever it is that's bugging him was definitely something big.