I could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of my ear. I sighed, as I felt his presence move around me until he was facing me. I stared deep into his artic blue eyes, which stood out drastically against his jet black hair.

He pressed his lips against mine and I immediately thought of Angie and how she would absolutely adore this passionate moment I was sharing with Peter Clearwater. I could see her jealous face plastered on the back of my eyelids. Her mouth would drop open and her eyes would get real big, like I had told her the end of the world was coming.

I was brought back to the present when I felt my feet flying out from under me. Peter had picked me up in his strong arms and was now carrying me towards the bed.

My heart immediately began to do flips. He gently laid me on the bed and began to softly kiss my neck. I shuddered as he moved up to my jaw, caressing every inch of my skin with his tongue.

My body shook.

He did not stop until his lips had, again, met mine. I closed my eyes and allowed Peter to work his magic.

When I did finally open my eyes, my head began to spin with confusion and worry. Peter noticed my sudden distraction and stopped. He slowly moved his all too perfect face away from mine and I immediately regretted stopping. I began thinking of ways to reset the mood, but I stopped when I saw the look of worry that was stretched across his beautiful face.

“Rose.” He said my name and my heart fluttered. “Rose?” He said it again, this time in desperation.

“I’m fine, Peter,” I said to him. “Don’t worry about me.” His look remained the same. Why doesn’t he believe me, I thought to myself. I really was not lying. How could any girl not be okay in his well-toned, muscular arms?

He rolled his body off of mine and lay next to me. During the long silence that followed I tried to match my breathing to his, but that was impossible; I was breathing so much harder than he was. I turned to look at his face, and I smiled as I took in his perfect features. I would never forget this, I promised myself.

“Rosalie?” I shifted my gaze to his eyes, and by the look of the expression on his face, he was still worried.

“Peter, I’m fine!” I insisted. For a one night stand he sure did seem extremely worried about what I was thinking; or was this a one night stand? Could this be Peter Clearwater expressing his newly found love for me, the girl whom he always knew, but never really saw until now?

I smiled at the thought of this, but immediately shook the thought out of my head.

I cannot get carried away, I thought to myself. I have to accept this for what it is. Accept what he is; what I am. I knew when we went back to school after Christmas break, nothing will have changed. We would still be completely different people living completely different lives.

“Can I ask you something?” I jumped at the sudden sound of Peter’s voice.

I smiled wryly. “Sure…Anything.” As these words came out of my mouth, I hoped to God I would not regret them later.

“Well…” Peter stammered. “What do you think?”

I did not quite understand what he was asking me, but I smiled at him curiously and batted my eyes. “What do I think of what?”

I saw the blood rush to his cheeks, turning them a cherry red. “I mean, what do you think about this?”

My eyes zoomed away from his cherry cheeks to the open window next to his lamp stand.

I struggled with my next words, not knowing exactly what he was wanting me to say. “It’s very… unusual.” His face became contorted at my answer and I knew I had said the wrong thing. “Oh, no! Don’t get my wrong. This is beyond anything I have ever dreamed. Well, I have dreamed about it, but I had never thought it was going to be this… this…”

I was unable to finish my sentence. Peter had pulled my body closer to his and my mind was immediately lost in my fantasies of being with him forever. I realized what I was doing and stopped myself.



It was January 11th; the first day back from school. It had been at least a week since I had been with Peter and my thoughts were so clustered the only thing I could think about was seeing his angelic face again.

Angie’s mom’s dark red mini-van sat parked on my driveway at exactly 7 o’clock every school morning. This morning was no exception. I was always ready when she did come, but this morning I had spent an extra 10 minutes on my hair and I was running late. She flashed her brights on and off in the direction my window, signaling to me that she was there and more than ready to go.

I grabbed my North Face jacket off the back of my computer chair and walked into the family room.

“Rosaaaalieeee.” My mother sang my name. “Don’t forget your lunch!” I sprinted back to the kitchen, grabbed the brown paper bag that was labeled with my name, and was out in a flash.

The weather outside was retched. The storm clouds had come late in the night and the wild winds had transformed my yard, and all the yards surrounding it, a home for the many leaves and branches of the trees around them. The dark storm clouds stood in front of the sun blocking its rays, making their presence known.

I pulled the black jacket over my freshly straightened hair and sprinted towards Angie’s van. I opened the door of the van and slid comfortably into the passenger seat, throwing my backpack behind me in the process. It landed with a thud on the seat behind me.

I turned to Angie, and smiled.

“You’re in a jolly good mood today,” Angie noted.

“Not just today,” I replied. “I’ve been happy-go-lucky pretty much all week… ever since Martha’s Christmas party.”

Angie nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I lost track of you towards the end of the night. Where’d you disappear to, Peter Clearwater’s house?” Angie laughed at her own joke, not knowing that she had precisely hit the nail on the head. My smile became broader. She noticed this and her laughter ceased. Her eyes popped out of her head and her mouth dropped open, exactly like I thought they would.

“What?” Her voice was stern and she sounded angry. This was not the reaction I was hoping for.

“Well…” I began, but she did not let me finish.

“I cannot believe you!” she screamed at me. Her anger was more apparent than the storm clouds cluttering the morning’s sky. “What were you thinking? I mean, Peter CLEARWATER? How could you put yourself in that position? He’s going to hurt you. I thought you understood that! He’s been nothing but hurtful to you ever since the 3rd grade! He’s nothing but trouble, Rose.”

Although her ranting did not stop until we had arrived at the school, I had stopped listening the moment we had hit the main highway. My brain was cluttered with images of what Peter and I could be.

Angie turned right into the road leading to the student parking lot of our school, Big Canoe High. I looked around at the tall Pine Trees surrounding the football stadium and I smiled at all my peers and their clicks walking by Angie’s now parked van. I turned to look at Angie. Her face was red with anger and she was staring out her window. She was obviously not over my Peter Clearwater fiasco.

“Angie.” As I said her name she turned to face me. “I really-” I began, but I could not finish my sentence.

There he was leaning against his black Porsche, looking as beautiful as ever. Angie’s eyes followed my gaze and I saw a look of disgust emerge on her face.

“Don’t hold your breath,” she said to me. “He’s just going to ignore you like every other day of his life. He’s probably waiting for Kayla.”

I frowned at the thought of Kayla Andrews, homecoming queen, prom queen, valedictorian, i.e. student body goddess. If anyone was meant to be with Peter Clearwater it was her. She was the only one anywhere near perfect enough.

Angie drew a breath. “I was only kidding you know.” She said to me. “I guess we’ll see what his intentions are here in a minute.”

My stomach flipped over. His intentions; I had completely forgotten that nothing was written in stone. I was probably just another girl who he had hooked up with at another party. I leaned over the back of my seat and grabbed my backpack.

“Let’s go,” I said to Angie.

And we were off.



“I cannot believe what I just witnessed!”

Now this was the reaction I had hoped for the first time. Her eye balls were popping out of her head and the moment Peter was out of ear shot, she had screamed with delight.

We had exited Angie’s van and had begun towards the school. I was well aware of Peter’s presence, and his eyes on me, but I refused to return his gaze. My eyes had stayed locked on Angie’s and I was almost positive I had laughed much too loud at Angie’s joke about the dead babies hitting the wall. Now that I think about it, it wasn’t funny at all, but the loud laughing had made me feel a little less uncomfortable and much more confident in myself.

As we passed Peter and his Porsche, a wave of sadness had washed over me. He hadn’t said anything. Angie had felt the sudden shift in my mood and had quickened her pace, knowing that I needed to get far away from Peter Clearwater before the waterworks started.

We were at the edge of the school’s sidewalk when I had heard him. Peter’s voice was echoing through the morning mist, and when I had turned to look in his direction I saw him running towards Angie and I. Once he had reached us, he took my hands in his and looked up at me.

“Rose,” he began, “how have you been?” A smile had stretched across his face and I had forgotten why I had been so upset in the first place.

“I’ve been fairly well,” I had replied back. His smile broadened and he laughed under his breath.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” Those words alone had made my heart melt and Angie gasp. Those words alone had taken me away from the present day, and into the future; my future with Peter. Then, Peter leaned his flawless face in close to mine and he, Peter Clearwater, not caring who saw or what they thought, had kissed me.