So I was lying when I said I wasn't talking about asking Brendan to the dance. In case that obvious enough. I'm a pretty bad liar. And I suck at cover ups. A really bad combo.

But I asked Danny to help me tonight when we know Brendan will be asleep. We're going in. He's going to help me ask.

It took me a while to think of this very, very, very lame way to ask him. I just didn't want to hand him an invitation and tell him to pick me up at eight. So, I am going to go with my idea. Nerdy, yeah. But then again, that's pretty much me.

I've got the supplies in a huge sack. It looks a little suspicious. Let's just hope there're no cops patrolling the area tonight.

You know, it's just some teenagers out in the dark past midnight. At someone else's house. In dark hoodies. With a huge bag. I don't know what could possibly go wrong if a cop pulled up beside us.

'You're still in right?'

'Yeah, duh. I'll be there at like one. That okay?' -Danny

'Sure thing.'

"Who're you texting?" Brendan asks, leaning over, trying to look at my screen. I quickly turn it off, putting it in my pocket. "What was that?"

"My grandma's dying. It's personal," I reply off the top of my head.

Great cover up. Not suspicious at all.

I'd better work on that.

"Really, now?" Brendan raises his eyebrows. I make the mistake of looking into his eyes. My cheeks start going red... Like they always do when I lie.

"Yeah," I say, but my voice squeaks, unnaturally high.

He smirks at me. Then he nods his head. "Alright."

"You find my grandmother's tragic death amusing?" I ask, eyebrows raised.

"No," he says, still smiling. "But I sure know your grandma's not dying."

"What? How?" I ask, confused.

"You already told me that your grandmas on both sides are dead," he says.

Dang it. Of course I did. "I meant to say, my grandpa's dying in the hospital."

"Okay, Lili, what's really going on?" He asks, taking my hand in his.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with," I say, turning my head away from him.

He opens his mouth like he's going to say something. Then he looks up, closes it, and nods. "Okay."

I can see the smile he tries to suppress.

He knows what I'm doing. I'm sure he knows. But you know what? I'll play along anyways because I'm enjoying myself.

Brendan and I are currently sitting in his bedroom on the couch. It's almost ten o'clock. My mom's in Maine for her job. I'm staying all alone at my house this week.

And let's just say I'm a little freaked out.

Sure, I'm seventeen. A very easily scared seventeen year old. I see anything slightly out of place and pull out my baseball bat. Yes, my little metal baseball bat from when I did T-ball at age ten, I have been carrying that around with me every minute of the day. And my mom only just left last night.

The cops are on my speed dial.

I put all the kitchen knifes in a cereal box, just so if a robber... Or murderer... Decides to come kill me, he won't know where to find the correct utensils.

The doors and windows are locked at all times.

The garage will not open unless there is an extreme emergency.

The lights were all on all night.

If there was a single noise, I would take my bat and head downstairs or into the kitchen or wherever to defend myself.

I'm prepared to battle all evil.

But I've been at Brendan's since about six. So I'm safe here at least. My plan is to basically stay around people as much as humanly possible this next week.

Brendan stands up and kicks off his shoes, then takes off his jacket. And then he gets onto his bed. Rests his hands behind his head. His eyes are closed.

"Are you going to sleep with me just sitting here?" I ask, laying myself out on his couch now that he's moved.

"Yes."

"You can't do that."

No reply.

"I'm your girlfriend. You're supposed to entertain me," I say.

"I know you're pretty entertained by just checking me out."

"Shut up," I say, cheeks going red. "I'm as easily entertained looking at you as I am kicking a wall."

"Whoa, is that sass I hear?" He asks.

"Is that mockery I hear?"

"Might be," he shrugs, eyes still closed.

"And I might be bored."

"If I had known you were so high maintenance and demanding, I would've never asked you to be my girlfriend."

I throw his own shoe across the room at him. It hits him as planned, right in the face. He sits up quickly, groaning.

"That was uncalled for," he says.

"What're you gonna do about it?" I ask, smirking.

He throws it back in response. It hits me in the shoulder when I try to dodge it. I stand up, walk over to his bed and whack him upside the head with the shoe. He grabs my wrist and forces my arm backwards, taking me with it. I almost fall over.

"Wait, what are we even fighting about again?" I ask, standing up straight and tilting my head at him, confused.

"You were being overdramatic," Brendan replies. I hit his arm.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he laughs.

"You don't sound sorry."

"Who are you, my mother?" He asks.

"I hope not. That'd be pretty weird," I say.

"Yeah," he nods his head. "It'd be especially weird about now."

"What, why?" I ask.

In response, he pulls me towards him and presses his lips to mine. His hands wrap around me. Goodness, he smells really good. Is that cologne? Whatever it is, it's fantastic. When he lets me go, he's smiling.

"What?"

"I was just thinking," he says, "about how you absolutely hated me when you first met me."

"Hey, it wasn't just me," I protest. "You hated me too."

"You're right. I did. And you gave me good reason, too."

"Shut up! I was freaking awesome," I say.

"Actually, I don't think I ever did hate you. I convinced myself I did for a while. And it freaked me out when I realized my real feeling for you," he says, green eyes boring into mine.

"Yeah?" I ask, smirking.

"And then you started dating Drew and I was ticked," Brendan says.

"I could tell."

"It was pretty bad," he says, "how jealous I was."

We stay quiet for a while. I end up just laying beside him on his bed. I stare at the wall. He might be looking at me. I'm too scared to look and find out.

But I do anyways.

And his bright green eyes are directly on mine.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing."

"And you always make fun of me for looking at you," I roll my eyes.

"I just like to tease you," he smile a little. "You take it so seriously."

"I'm glad you find my embarrassment entertaining."

"I'm glad you continue to entertain me with your embarrassment," he replies.

I look back up at the ceiling. Eventually I end up closing my eyes.

No, bad Lili. You can't fall asleep here. Wake up. You've got to stay awake.

"It's getting pretty late," he says. "Do you want me to drive you home?"

No. "Sure." I don't want to be there alone for three hours until Danny comes to pick me up.

We go to his car and drive away a few minutes later. The heater blows in my face. I put my freezing cold hands in front of the vent thing. It almost instantly warms them up.

It's pretty dark outside. I've never liked driving around in the dark. It just freaks me out pretty well.

I'm an easily frightened person.

My house is lit up. No, not on fire. But you sure can see it from the end of the street. Every single light is still on. And every other house on this street has its lights shut off.

Brendan looks over at me, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Don't give me that judgmental look," I say.

"No judging going on here," he says, but I can see him suppressing a smile.

"Alright, thanks for driving me. I'll see you tomorrow," I say, then get out of the car.

I walk up the lawn and to my door. I am about to enter my house when Brendan lays on the steering wheel horn. I literally jump, heart beating hard. I turn around angrily and am tempted to throw rocks at his car. He's laughing. I just turn around and stomp to the door where I stomp inside. Then I slam the door shut.

I walk through the lit house to my room where I leave the lights on and just lay in my bed. I stare at the ceiling for a long time, afraid to look anywhere else.

What time is it? 10:30? How in the crap am I supposed to stay up until Danny comes at 1:00?

I don't keep my eyes open very much longer. I fall asleep too easily.

*•*•*

"Hello?"

My subconscious is sending an alarm through my body. Wake up.

"Anyone here?" Footsteps come towards my room.

Wake up, my brain is screaming at me. But I am so tired.

Footsteps are closer and closer. I'm tingling with the presence of someone. Without thinking, my hand grips the baseball bat beside me on the bed. My eyes whip open. I look up, seeing someone in a dark hoodie standing above my bed. I scream and swing my arm, hitting the person in the shoulder with the bat.

"What the freaking crap, Lili?!" They scream, gripping their arm, groaning and curling over in pain.

I stand up, still holding onto the bat, ready to take another hit.

Wait, did they say Lili?

"Danny?" I ask, dropping the bat on the carpet.

"Geez," he groans again. Then he looks up, shaking his head. "I didn't realize you're so paranoid. Sleeping with a baseball bat?"

I bite my lip. "Uh, sorry..."

He stands up straight, still shaking his head. His hand is rubbing his arm. "You've got a mean swing."

"Thanks."

"I'd rather you wouldn't use it on my fragile, breakable, super hot bod though," he sighs.

"It's your own fault for coming in here all suspicious looking," I gesture to his black hoodie still pulled over his head.

"You told me to wear this!" He exclaims. "We're sneaking all over Brendan's yard, remember?"

"Oh, right! Wait- How did you even get in here?" I ask, suddenly concerned.

"The front door was unlocked."

"Oh," I answer, staring off at nothing. I was unprotected for almost three hours. I could've died. I'm lucky to be alive right now.

"Should we get going?" Danny asks, bringing my focus back to him.

"Right... Yeah... Lets go," I nod.

"You got the bag?" He asks, rubbing his hands together.

"Yes indeed," I get out of my bed and take the huge body sized bag from the corner. I sling it over my shoulder and we journey out to his truck together.

I throw the bag into the back then hop into the passenger seat.

"Gotta get in the mood," Danny says, turning on the radio to some rap music.

"Get in the mood to ask my boyfriend to a school dance? You chose this music?" I ask, amused, as the angry voice rapping the lyrics continues.

"No, we're getting in the mood to be freaking gangster ninjas," he says.

"But this isn't-"

"Let me live a little, Lili. Let me dream," Danny says. He turns the lights of his car off then stops about four houses down from Brendan's.

We silently get out of the car and he takes the bag this time. We walk down the sidewalk until we stand in front of Brendan's house.

Danny unzips the bag. He pulls out a roll of caution tape, a life size plush dummy, a pack of fake blood, a poster board, and a kitchen knife. We walk into his backyard carrying it all.

"Alright," Danny says quietly. "Where's the crime scene going to be?"

I look around the large yard. There's an edge of it by the house covered in trees. That's the spot. I point to it. Danny nods, smirking, and we walk over there.

I get the caution tape. He gets the dummy. We get to work. I climb the trees pretty easily wrapping the caution tape around all the branches, weaving it between trees, high and low. I cut it at the end.

Then I admire what Danny's been doing. The dummy person has a smiling face drawn onto it now. It has the knife stuck into its plush head and fake blood dripping down. Danny put a white T-Shirt on it that say 'I'm dying to go to the dance with you. RIP Lili.'

We pull the dummy over against a tree trunk by the caution tape. Then we pack everything up and leave, proud of our fantastic creation.