Pretty: That's What I Am - Chapter 30

Hayley dad looked passed her and looked at Douglas. "I'm sorry, your name is?" He asked Hayley confused.

"Hayley don't." Douglas whispered moving closer slowly attempting to pull her away.
"Ha- Hayley." She managed to say. "Hayley... Summers."

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It sounded as if it was loud enough, but when she saw absolutely no reaction from her dad face, she could tell she had a frog in her throat, and her answer only came out as a faint whisper. She didn't know if she was happy or disappointed, her vocals had failed on her at a moment like this.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." Her dad said laughing moving his ear closer to Hayley's face, he smelled of car gasoline and car air fresheners, the pine scented one, maybe he was in the car business now. Her heart picked up pace, she could barely remember what he smelled like when she knew him. She then felt Douglas arm clutch around her lower waist.

"I'm sorry, she's a bit cold, were both longtime friends of Ryan, this is Jane, I'm Steven." Douglas said holding his hand out, Hayley watched carefully as her dad hand collided with Douglas.

"Oh okay I'm Peter, and I can tell, you're soaking wet." He looked at Hayley with concern.

"We're just looking for Ryan." Douglas said.

"Oh, he went to the beach I suppose. Well I'm not sure, he took his surfboard though and left quickly."

"His surfboard?" Douglas said with his brow raised.
"Probably to get it wax." Her dad shrugged.

"He was going to look for Dylan in the water." Hayley said to Douglas finally clearing her throat.
"Who?" Peter said with caution.

"Her Boyfriend." Douglas said hesitating feeling panic that he now caught on. Hayley looked at him, he looked more nervous than she was.

"I mean why would he go in the water in weather like this?"
"True, you know surfers it's in their blood." Douglas said forcing a laugh.
"Well I guess." He shrugged. "Well you can come on in and wait for him if you like -

"No that's fine, we should go see if they found each other." Douglas said nudging Hayley.

"No." She said looking at him. "You go, I'll stay here and wait." Douglas stared in her eyes for a moment.

"You're sure?" He said forcing a smile but his eyes remained worried.

"Yes, you go, I'm cold."

"Alright, come on in Jane." Peter said smiling opening the door wider.

"I'll see you in a few." Douglas nodded and hugged her for a long time, he hugged her like it was the last time he'll ever see her.

"Alright I'll be right back." He then gave her a quick kiss before he left. Hayley looked at her dad whose eyebrow had arch, as she walked in pass him. As her dad closed the door behind her, Hayley felt lost for words, she didn't know what to do at that very point. How she planned to meet him, and always felt like she would be prepared when it finally happened but now she was caught off guard. He turned towards her and Hayley couldn't stop herself from shaking when his eyes met her.

"God you're freezing." He walked quickly to a closet and took a folded quilt out. He opened it and wrapped it around her. "There we go." He rubbed her arms with the quilt over it and Hayley looked quickly at the ground as she felt her eyes were beginning to water. Putting a blanket over her felt very fatherly for him to do, why couldn't he had always been there to put blankets over her when she was cold, it was killing her inside. "Sorry." He then said realizing that Hayley looked uncomfortable.

"It's fine." She said still looking at the floor as he backed away.
"Well make yourself at home, do you want tea or anything?"
"Um." Hayley looked around. "No I'm fine."
"You should drink something hot." He said nodding.
"Okay." She said looking at him now." He gave a small smile and went to the kitchen.

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Douglas arrived at the beach as he tried to look through his moving windshield wipers. It was still raining hard. He came out of his car and walked quickly down towards the water. It was very dark, the only light that was helping were coming from the houses surrounding the beach. Douglas looked out into the water.

"Ryan!" He yelled even though he didn't see anything. He blew on his fingers as they were becoming numb. "RYAN!"

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Hayley sat slowly on the couch as she saw her knee shaking uncontrollably. She placed her hand on it to try to control it. She wondered what to say to him when he had returned. Before she knew it he was already walking back towards her with two cups of tea. Both of their attentions then looked up as a sleepy Tommy walked down the stairs in his pajamas.

"Oh Tommy you woke up." He said shaking his head handing Hayley her tea. When her finger touched her dads dumb Hayley almost dropped the cup. He then gave her a look.

"Sorry." She said forcing a laugh taking it from him as he stood straight up still giving her a look as she sipped it. Tommy then ran to Hayley and hugged her. "Hi." Hayley said forcing herself to act normal.

"Oh you guys met." Her dad smiled. "Tommy only greets people he knows."

"Yes, I was here the other day." Hayley said smiling at Tommy as she stroked his blond hair.

"So you say you're a longtime friend of Ries?
"Uh yes." She said still paying attention to Tommy, he was the only thing keeping her from being nervous, his precious smile brought her comfort.
"It's funny, I know all of Ryan's friends, and he never mentioned you."
"Oh... well, we recently just met up again after many years of falling out of contact with each other." Hayley nodded sipping her tea.

"Oh." He nodded. "Well you do look familiar." Hayley swallowed hard. "Maybe I did meet you before, who knows."
"Maybe." She said drinking it down fast now as the mug hid her face from her dads stare.
"So you guys had plans tonight or something?" He asked sitting next to Hayley. Hayley smiled at Tommy who was fascinated by her shaking knee. Her dad was very near her now, and Hayley paused before she answered.

"Plans? No."
"So why are you guys looking for him?"
"He was helping me find... someone." She said sipping again not looking at him.

"Your boyfriend." He said and she nodded. "So you have two boyfriends?" He said smiling at her as her eyes widen, remembering she had kissed Douglas in front of him. "No worries, I know I was a teenager once too." He laughed looking up at the ceiling. "Teenagers have big hearts, Ryan's quite the ladies' man himself, I joke about it with him all the time."

"Yeah." Hayley said, things were getting awkward. "Well, Douglas and I acted that way because he's my... brother." She said and Peter gave her a look. She closed her eyes realizing she made it worst.

"Who Douglas?" He said itching his head and Hayley mouth dropped. "It's fine." He said laughing sipping his tea now. "Let's just switch the subject, that's your business who you kiss not mines."

"Yeah." Hayley faked a laugh with him.
"So you and your brother were just looking for Ryan who was looking for your bf?"
"I guess." Hayley said now giving him eye contact noticing she was being rude for not looking at him much as he talked to her.

"Why is everyone on patrol to look for your boyfriend?" He said giving a face. "I hope he's not a runaway convict or anything?" He joked.

"No he's not." Hayley noticed his sense of humor, he was a completely different person than she remembered, looked the same but acted different, he seemed happy.
"I wouldn't want Ryan to be an accomplice in the act or get involved with anything."
"No I wouldn't do that." She smiled.

"He's a great kid."
"I know." Hayley nodded. "He is."
"You want to watch some TV?"
"Um sure."

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"RYAN!" Douglas yelled walking horizontally across the shore, he then heard someone coughing a few feet away from him. He squinted his eyes as he saw something lying near the shore. He ran as fast as he could towards it and noticed it was Ryan. He was lying on the wet sand near his board as the waves soaked him every few seconds. "Ryan are you okay?" Douglas said bending down as Ryan gave him a shocked look like he didn't recognize him.

"It's me, Douglas!" He shouted as Ryan coughed again. Douglas sat him up as he pat his back hard.
"I...I couldn't -"
"It's okay we found him. We found Dylan." He said as Ryan spit out some more water."
"Good, that's... good." He smiled at Douglas trying to catch his breath.
"You okay?"

"I'm fine." He tried to get up as Douglas helped him, but he collapsed back down coughing.
"Stay down, relax, I'm going to call for help."

"No, I'm fine man." He then started vomiting water. Douglas patted his back as he took his phone out and dial 911.

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"Wow! The weather is really bad." Her dad said watching the news. "It's still raining."
"Yeah." Tommy gripped Hayley's shirt, and she placed him on her lap.
"Tommy you need to go back to bed." Her dad said to him as he frown and shook his head. "That's Ryan's nephew."
"I know." Hayley smiled at him.
"Here you can watch what you want." Her dad passed her the remote and Hayley carefully took it without touching his hand too much. It was silence as Hayley flicked through the channels, maybe she should have just went with Douglas, it was no way she was going to mention the truth to him now.

"Leave it." Tommy mumbled for Hayley to keep it on a cartoon channel. She listened and placed the remote down.
"Not to be annoying or sound like a private detective, but I just don't get why Ryan took his board so fast. He looked very concern, and then you guys showed up looking very concern as well, it kind of scared me."

"Oh... he needed it to go in the water."
"For your boyfriend..."
"Yeah but we found him."
"Wait you guys found him."

"Yeah so we wanted to tell Ryan that it was okay."
"Why would Dylan be in the water at a time like this? It's awful out."

"He wasn't, we found him somewhere else but we thought he was there."
"So you guys found him, but Ryan didn't know, so he took his board to go surfing to look for him surfing?"
"No... I mean... yes." Hayley was getting frustrated with the questions, her dad seemed even more confused with every answer she gave.

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"Ryan they on their way!" Douglas yelled as Ryan closed his eyes nodding. "Hang in there."
"I can't feel my legs man." He said swaying his head, he looked exhausted.
"Come on." Douglas struggled as he lifted Ryan up with all his strength, he then lifted him up over his shoulder and carried him away from the water.

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"I mean, I'm sure Dylan can handle himself." He sipped again. "I'm sure if he was in the water, he would have got out of it just fine."
"Well, he's only 12." Hayley said getting annoyed as she placed her empty cup on the table.

"Your... your... boyfriend is 12?" He said and Hayley stared at her cup, she was getting buried with her lies. She looked at him slowly. "He's -"

"Wait... what's going on here? Really." He said looking a bit mad now.
"What's-go-on-here." Tommy mimicked.
"Please explain this to me, I mean I invited you inside, I deserved to know what's going on."

"I'm sorry, it's just very complicated right now, and we just need to make sure Ryan is okay."
"Why wouldn't Ryan be okay?" He stood to his feet and pulled Tommy closer to him. Hayley felt awful, then her phone began to ring, It was Douglas. "Is he in some type of trouble?"

"Excuse me please." Hayley said feeling bad as she took the call.
"Hey, yes I found Ryan, he's okay, but we're in the ambulance truck right now on our way to the hospital."
"Okay, I'll be there." Hayley hung up as her dad looked at her as if she was an alien. "Ryan is in the hospital."

"W..what?" He said. "W..why?"
"Look I'll explain everything but we need to go there right now."
"Ries okay?' Tommy asked Peter and he looked down at him.

"Yes, Ryan's okay, Tommy don't worry." He said bending down hugging him as he looked at Hayley again like he was angry.
"Please." Hayley said with tears coming up again.

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Hayley and her dad drove in his car in silence, Tommy was asleep in his car seat in the back. Her dad eyebrows were furrowed and he looked a bit mad still. Hayley didn't know what else to say, all she knew was that she realized she was a terrible liar. She remained calm as he continued driving.

"Put your seat belt on." He finally said and his voice awakened her.
"Sorry." She said placing the seat belt over herself.
"Does this situation involve drugs?"
"No."
"Anything illegal?"
"No."

"I wish you would just tell me what happened Jane." He said and Hayley closed her eyes hard.

"Ryan I suppose got hurt in the water, I'm not really sure what happened with him."
"Why was he really in the water?" His voice was raising.

"I will tell you... soon." He gave her a look. "I promise."
"Why not now?" He glimpsed at her. "What's the big deal? I know teenagers lie to stay out of trouble, but this is serious now, you need to tell me the truth, I won't be mad at Ryan. Just tell me what you guys are dealing with? I might be able to help." Hayley shook her head, he had no idea what was really going on.

"It's not what you think it is."
"Since you won't tell me, now I am mad at Ryan." He said turning into the hospital parking lot.

"This isn't Ryan's fault.." Hayley said as he parked. "I promise."

"Okay... well I hope so, because I'm very worried." He said looking at her, she took her seat belt off and got out.

"I'll get Tommy." Hayley said taking him out as he slept in her arms, they quickly walked to the hospital entrance and walked to the receptionist.

"We're here for Ryan Summers?" Peter said, he was breathing hard and Hayley felt awful.

"Are you guys all family." Hayley paused as her dad looked at her.
"Yes." He said lying but he didn't know it was really the truth.

"Okay, room 208." She said as they walked in the elevator, when the door opened as they reached the second floor Hayley saw Douglas sitting down with his head in his hands, his hair was still wet. They walked quickly, Hayley tried to keep up with Peter as she held Tommy. Douglas noticed the footsteps walking roughly towards him. He then stood up quickly as Peter approached him.

"Where is he?" He said madly. Douglas was surprised by his now different demeanor.
"In there." He said and Peter walked in. He then looked at Hayley and then the baby she was holding. Without words he already knew things were bad.
"Does he know?" Douglas whispered to her.
"No but that's not the problem now, we have to make sure Ryan is alright."

"Yeah, he swallowed a lot of salt water, and had some water still in his lung sacs."
"Ahh, this is all my fault."
"No, it's not..."

"Hold him." Hayley passed Tommy to Douglas quickly and walked into the room slowly. Douglas looked puzzled at Tommy and patted his back awkwardly. Ryan was awake but looked very pale. His lips were dry but he kept a confident look on his face as he talked to Peter. He then noticed Hayley.

"Hayley." He said and his eyes lit up.
"Hi." Hayley said with tears welling in her eyes as she moved closer to his bed.

"It's okay I'm fine." Ryan said smiling as she took his hand and Hayley believe it from his confident blue eyes. He then looked at Peter who was staring at the both of them. "Oh this is my... Uncle Peter." He said not realizing the situation.

"We met." Hayley said softly looking down.
"Hayley... I thought your name was Jane." Her father said gritting his teeth.
".... Oh." Ryan said looking frighten now.

"There's something going on here and I demand to know right now Ryan, you tell me right now."
"Alright, just calm down Uncle Pete."
"No, I will not calm down, do you want me to have a heart attack, Tommy is up at these late hours and you know he has day care tomorrow. You know how mad your sister is going to be..." Hayley closed her eyes. "And all I been hearing is lie after lie and now you're in the hospital looking half-dead and no one can possibly tell me what's going on!"
"Okay I'm sorry I -"
"I don't want to hear your sorry, I want to know some answers, I mean why -"
"Stop yelling at him, it's not his fault." Hayley said,

"You be quiet." He said pointing at Hayley and she looked at him angry.
"Stop it Uncle Pete." Ryan said sternly.
"No...You Miss, been lying to me all night." He said angry and Douglas walked in the room slowly, curious at the noise.

"You give me him." He said taking Tommy quickly from Douglas. He then woke up and began crying. "You see Ryan, you have me out here , it's almost 2 o'clock (a.m) and you have me raising my voice in front of Tommy. You know I need to get home to Henry and Michelle, I have more important things than being here...." Hayley's eyes began to water. "I don't have time for anymore lies, I want to know -"

"CALM DOWN DAD!" Hayley yelled in anger and Tommy stopped crying as everyone became quiet.
"What... what did you just call me?" He said confused.
"We're out here at almost 2 o'clock (a.m) because your son, Dylan Summers was missing for hours." She said in anger.

"Hayley." Douglas said moving closer.
"Don't touch me Douglas... not right now." Her eyes remained on Peter. "Ryan... my cousin..." She began to cry. "...Decided out of his caring heart to go look for him in the water for me, because I'm his sister, your daughter..." Hayley said sniffing now. "So if you have better places to be, better things to do that's fine... but you wanted to know the truth... I didn't want to tell you this way but... you demanded it." It was silent which seemed like eternity.

"What..." He looked around the room. "Is... Is this a joke?" He said and Tommy looked in his face and shook his head. "Ryan." He whispered walking closer to him.
"It's true." He said softly.
"Why... why would you do that?" He whispered low expecting Hayley and Douglas not to hear, his lip was trembling, Hayley rolled her eyes. "You went out searching for family, how could you do that -"

"I didn't go out searching for family Uncle Pete." He whispered back. "I actually liked, liked Hayley when I first met her, I didn't know she was my cousin -"
"Ah..." He laughed nervously. "Ah you know I can't have this, that's the past, you know how hard I tried to keep my past away."

"So that's it?" Hayley said aloud. "You know the truth now and you can't say anything to me?" She cried. "You thought you could just push us into a box, and shove us in the side of your closet? To be forever forgotten?" He stared at Hayley for a long time.
"I'm sorry I...I can't do this." He held Tommy closer. "I'll talk to you later." He said to Ryan with a tone more calmer now. He walked quickly pass Hayley and Douglas. Hayley quickly followed as Douglas followed behind her.

(Puddle Of Mudd - Blurry)

"So that's it dad?" He continued walking quickly as Hayley cried. "You see me again after years and you're doing the same thing I remember the last day I saw you, walking right out of my life." He then stopped walking. He attempted to look back but instead began walking again. Tommy looked over his shoulder as he got farther and farther way, he then waved goodbye to Hayley sadly until they were out of sight. Hayley stared at the now empty white hallways of the hospital before her. Ryan then appeared next to her and Douglas in his hospital gown.

"Hayley, I'm so sorry -"
Douglas placed his hand on Ryan chest, and shook his head. It was no use to saying sorry, there was nothing they could have done in that moment.
"Sir, you should be back in bed." A nurse said coming down the empty hall, which Hayley was still staring down.

"I will." Ryan said.
"Now, please." She said bringing his arm back into the room, Ryan nodded at Douglas as he left. Douglas stood closer behind Hayley afraid to touch her, as she still stood there staring down the hallway, not crying anymore but she was completely dull.

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Douglas and Hayley drove in silence, she looked straight ahead, breathing calm. He looked at her every now and then, but she didn't show any emotion.

"You okay?" He finally said softly, and she nodded still showing no feeling. Douglas knew he couldn't bring her home like this, he decided to drive to his house. When they reached, Hayley came out the car slowly. They walked to the front door in silence and Douglas unlocked the door. Hayley walked in quickly and Douglas looked at her worried as she disappeared into his kitchen while he hung his damp jacket up. He walked to the kitchen after and saw Hayley pouring herself a cup of water. He watched as she drank it down fast. "I'm going to get you some dry clothes." He said softly nodding as he walked away. As he walked up the step heard a crash, like glass breaking. He quickly ran back to the kitchen to see Hayley on the floor crying, sitting in the now broken glass. She then stood up quickly and threw everything off of Douglas kitchen table, as it crashed to the floor. She opened his cabinets crying hysterically as she viciously started pouring out all the plastic bowls. "Hayley stop." He said grabbing her arm as she pushed him off. "STOP HAYLEY, CALM DOWN." He said grabbing her face. "Stop, you're scaring me." He said and Hayley paused, she then looked around at the mess she made.

"I'll clean it up." She said crying again. "I'll clean it up." She forced her face out of his hands and bend down to retrieve the broken glass. She scooped it up into a pile with her bare hands.

"Stop you'll hurt yourself." She didn't stop, Douglas bent down, Hayley held a huge part of the broken glass in her hand as Douglas tried to take it away from her. "Let it go." He said with a bit of anger.

"I got it." She said trying to see through her blurry eyes. "Let me fix this."
"Let it go Hayley." He then grip hold of it "Let... it... go." He held hard pulling it away from her, Hayley then felt warm liquid pour on her thumb, she knew it wasn't from her. Douglas was bleeding. She let it go while he threw the bloody piece in the trash angry. He then scooped up the rest with his bloody hand.

"Stop, you're hurting yourself." Hayley said with her voice shaking.
"Oh so, you can hurt yourself but I can't?" He said stern close to her face. Hayley looked down.
"I'm... I'm sorry." She said looking at him again, his angry expression then turned completely sad, he then began crying.

"Hayley stop this." He said crying close to her face. "I knew something like this would happen, that's why I didn't want you to meet that guy!"

"That guy... is my father Douglas."

"Bullshit." He hissed and stood to his feet. "Just because he's your biological father doesn't make him a father, he's a selfish asshole, and I warned you about this!" He said pacing.

"So what was I to do? Not meet him?" Hayley stood up. "He's... he's part of me." She said crying. "I needed to know."

"So was it worth it." Douglas said leaning against his kitchen wall. He asked blankly staring at her.

"Let me clean your hand." Hayley said looking at his damage hand, amazed how he acted like he felt no pain.
"Was it?"
"I rather know, then not know." Hayley said. "Even though it wasn't what I wanted from him, I don't regret tonight."

"He left the best thing Hayley." He moved closer to her quickly. "He left you and your family, he lost the best thing and I don't want him to take the best thing away from me too." Hayley looked at him sadly. "I don't want you hurting yourself just because he hurt you... I'm here, let me be here... I might not take all the pain away but I'm trying." Hayley watched a tear roll down his face. "I'm trying." She wiped his face and kissed him hard. Hayley then placed her hand in his bleeding hand and eloped her fingers with his.

"I'm sorry." She muffled against his cheek. They held each other for a long time.

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It was morning, a bright sunny day. Hayley was in the kitchen mixing a bowl of pancake mix, she heard Douglas front door open. Scott then appeared by the kitchen door, his smile faded as he saw bowls scattered on the floor and dishes everywhere.

"Good... morning?" He said in shock walking over the mess.
"Hey." Hayley said looking back at the pancake bowl. He struggled as he made his way to the table still amaze at the mess and sat down slowly. Douglas then walked in shirtless with his hard wrapped in bandage. Scott looked puzzled at his hand and back at Hayley.
"Uh rough night?" He said confused.
"No, why you think that?" Douglas said walking to Hayley as he kissed her neck. "Making pancakes?"

"Yep." She said nodding.
"Should I..." Scott laughed nervously. "Should I leave?"
"No, I'll make you one." Hayley said to him.

"Not what I meant." He mumbled under his breath. Douglas then sat at the table opposite of him as Scott ach his brow but Douglas acted normal.
"Alright one pancake is done." Hayley said looking through the cabinet.
"Oh here." Scott said picking up a plate up off the floor sarcastically handing it to Hayley. Hayley and Douglas couldn't resist but laugh, Scott laughed too. "Really what happened, it looks like a hurricane in here."
"Uh -"

"I met my dad last night." Hayley said interrupting Douglas. "My real dad that I didn't see in years."
"What? Really?" He said shocked.
"Yup." Hayley said and Douglas nodded.
"How was that?"
"Let's just say it wasn't a scenery of a beautiful flower field, full with wide open arms running in slow motion." Hayley said softly, pausing from stirring.
"That bad?" Scott said feeling bad.
"Yeah, yesterday was like one of the worst nights of my life, Dylan missing and then meeting my dad..."
"I'm sorry." Scott said.

"It's fine, don't be." Hayley forced a smile.
"Well... what did he say?" Scott asked taking the fresh plate from Hayley's hand.
"That's the problem he didn't say anything much." Hayley looked down.
"He ran away like a coward." Douglas said under his breath and Scott looked at him.

"Well, I did lie to him in our first conversation. I made his nephew end up in a hospital, and Tommy was up late, it definitely wasn't the right time to blurt out - oh yeah I'm your daughter, how's life?"
"Who's Tommy?" Scott asked.
"What? So you're blaming this on yourself?" Douglas said madly. "You need to stop blaming yourself for everything Hayley."
"I'm not exactly blaming myself, I'm just saying... it wasn't what I pictured it to be and he was already in a bad mood..."

"You... always seeing the good in people." Douglas said looking down.
"Douglas I -"
"I wish I had that characteristic..." Douglas said. "Have a dosage of optimism... I'm always seeing the bad."
"I just don't care." Scott said shrugging taking a bite of his pancake.

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"Well, I'm glad last night what had happened, now he could relive the guilt all over again, knowing that he saw me, and I saw him... even if he keeps running, he will always remember last night... the guilt may eat him alive this time." Hayley said finishing another pancake. She then passed it to Douglas.

"He's a jerk." Scott said. "You don't need him."
"I didn't necessarily want him, I just wanted an explanation." Hayley said shrugging as they both stared at her, it looked like she was about to cry. "Well I should go."
"Where are you going?" Douglas said.
"I need to see Dylan, he had a rough night also."

"You want me to drop you?"
"No, your hand is hurt." Hayley said as Douglas stood up. "I'll call a cab." She kissed him quickly. "Talk to guys later." She then walked out the kitchen.

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(Stars and Boulevards - Augustana)

Hayley opened her front door, the house was quiet and everything seemed calm. She hung her jacket up and walked in the den but no one was there. She slowly walked upstairs, she pushed Dylan's door open but he wasn't in his bed. She then opened her mom's door slowly and saw them sleeping sound asleep, cuddled close. Hayley smiled. She walked to her room and went to the mirror. She stared at herself, she looked exhausted, she had dark circles forming under her eyes. She quickly went to the bathroom and washed her face. She then took a brush out and began brushing her hair, trying to look like life was in her instead of looking like a corpse. She forced a smile as she brushed her hair, her lip began to tremble and she found herself crying. She couldn't help but wonder how could her dad just want to forget them like that. How could he just walk away, he owed her so much more than his back disappearing down an empty hallway. She wiped her tears but more kept coming. Hayley then wiped her face clean and took a deep breath. She walked back to her mom's room and went in. She slowly crawled over to an empty side and snuggled next to Dylan. Her mom woke up as Hayley pulled some sheet over her.

"Oh hey Hayles." She said tiredly.
"Hi mom." Hayley said as her voice cracked.
"You okay?"

"Yes, I am." Hayley said not wanting her mom to worry. "I'm fine right here, with you and Dil." Hayley said smiling. Her mom smiled back and Hayley closed her eyes moving closer to Dylan and her mom wrapped her arm around both of them as they slept.

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"So you're not mad at me?" Dylan said eating a teddy gram sill in his pajamas, Hayley and him were sitting on the couch watching TV in the afternoon.
"No I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed."
"Disappointed?" Dylan said frowning.
"Yeah, that you would make us worry so much."
"I was going to come back home."
"What the next day?" Hayley said sarcastically.
"No... when I caught the fish."
"So you were fishing the whole day when you weren't in school?"

"No... when I came off the school bus... I walked to the library to get some directions." He paused. "I wasn't any good at it, so an old lady told him which buses to take when I told her the Lake name. I then walked to the park then I counted my lunch money. I took the two buses she told me to take, I didn't know when to get off the last bus, but the place looked familiar to the lake Douglas took us too so I got off.

"You then kept fishing?"
"I kept catching little fishes." He said drinking some milk. "I even got tired and just laid down by the tree next to me." Hayley watched him as he spoke. "I wanted so bad to just catch a big one, it then started raining and I was getting frustrated... just one more time, but nothing would catch my bait."

"You weren't scared?" Hayley said brushing his hair back.
"No." He shook his head.
"How did you get a fishing rod?"
"Douglas made me have one." He ate another teddy gram.
"So why did you decide to go fishing alone? We could have always go back, us three."
"I felt... stress." He said and Hayley eyes opened, her little brother was stressed and it was because of her. "I didn't want to be in school yesterday... I wanted to just do something fun to forget about everything but I knew I couldn't because it was a school day, mom would have said no... so I went fishing alone."
"Is it because of what I said?" Hayley said holding her breath and Dylan looked straight in her eyes.

"Do you know if you're going to die?" He said quietly.
"I'm not going to die Dil." Hayley said smiling but Dylan didn't.

"If you are, or rather you tell me now, let me feel the pain now, then later." He said seriously.
"Well I'm not, the doctor said it can be removed, and I'm going to get it removed next month."
"They're going to cut you open?" Dylan said with wide eyes and Hayley laughed at his reaction.
"Yes, just up here though." Hayley said parting her hair with her fingers.
"Is that why you cut your hair?"

"Sorta, I wanted to not make my personal image affect what I was really going through, sometimes there's more important things than physical appearance... I wanted to prove to myself I was strong enough for anything." Hayley said.

"Oh." Dylan said nodding. "Well that's why you should convince mom to let me grow my hair out, because physical appearances isn't everything." Dylan said and Hayley laughed messing his hair up as he smiled.

"Nice try." She hugged him. "I'm just glad you're okay and safe." Hayley said kissing his forehead hard as he laughed slightly pushing away.
"Wet one Hayley wet one." He said wiping his forehead as Hayley smiled.
"The wet ones are the most meaningful." She said then stood up. "I'm going to visit someone in the hospital.

"Who?"
"Ryan, the blonde guy you saw when we went shopping in the mall for Lilly." Hayley said and Dylan made a face when she mentioned Lilly.
"Oh, why is he there, does he have a tumor too?"
"No, he was..." She paused she didn't want him feeling anymore stress. "He's a surfer, he got hurt."
"Surfing, cool, I want to learn that."

"So you can skip school to go surf? I think not." Hayley said messing his hair up again as she stood to her feet.
"I wouldn't do that." Dylan said laughing laying down.
"Be right back, be good, listen to mom."
"I did one bad thing and you act like I'm a nuisance." Dylan said frowning.
"Love you." Hayley said smiling as she closed the front door behind her.

**************************************************

Hayley entered the hospital and horrible flashbacks came back to her as she walked the hallways to Ryan door. Her dad image appeared, disappeared and reappeared in front of her as she walked more faster. She turned into his room and saw an empty white cover bed. The machine was turned off and the nurse was cleaning up. Hayley heart dropped.

"What happened to the patient who was in here?"
"Oh we changed his room, he needed a better oxygen supply." The nurse said smiling.
"Oh." Hayley said nodding.
"Room 219." She said folding a sheet.
"Alright thank you." Hayley walked quickly to the room to see Ryan with his hospital gown open, revealing his bare chest as he examined his stomach area with his fingers. Hayley closed her eyes and tried to back out but Ryan caught her in his peripheral.

"Oh Hayley." He said closing his gown as he laughed embarrassingly.
"Hey." Hayley said laughing. "Sorry I should have knocked.
"It's cool, I was the one being a weirdo." He said smiling as Hayley walked towards him.
"You're not a weirdo." Hayley said smiling at him and he smiled back for a long time.

"They uh...they pumped my stomach, I feel so weird, like they took my stomach out or something, I have completely no appetite." He said as Haley looked at the hospital plate next to him full with food.

"They pumped you..." Hayley said noticing he was in bad condition.
"Yeah, I kept throwing up salt water, they didn't want so much salt to get digest in my system so they pumped me." He said laughing. "Feels really weird."
"I bet." Hayley said as she watched Ryan rub his stomach looking uneasy. "I'm sorry..." Hayley said softly.
"Oh don't be, it's not your fault."
"But it is, you could have got -"

"But I didn't." He said smiling. "I got a muscle contraction, after the waves pulled me down a few times, my legs failed me." He said laughing but Hayley didn't, she felt really bad, "If it wasn't for my board..." He paused. "I held my board like it was the last thing I'd ever hold, I just relaxed on my stomach on my board. I tried paddled with my hands back to shore, I was pretty far, but somehow the waves pushed me right out."

"Good... because... I don't think, I would ever forgive myself if you..." Hayley's voice cracked.
"Hayley I'm fine." He said leaning over as Hayley hugged him hard.
"A little softer." He said in agony.
"Sorry." Hayley said releasing her grip.
"Even though I came out of the water alive, I was completely drained, I felt like I been through a washing machine, I just wanted to lay down. Douglas really helped."

"Yeah." Hayley said smiling at the thought.
"He carried me on his shoulder Hayley." Ryan said amazed and she laughed.
"Really? He didn't tell me that."
"Yeah." He nodded. "I'm truly convinced he's a great guy."
"He is." Hayley said nodding too. "How long are you going to be in here?
"One more day probably." He said.
"Did your... uncle comeback?" Hayley said trying to sound casual.
"Um..." His expression changed. "He called but that was about it, to see how I was doing."

"Oh." Haley said nodding.
"But my sister is coming later." Hayley was quiet for a while. "I'm sorry too."
"Oh, it's not your fault."
"I just know how bad you wanted to meet him, that wasn't at all how I pictured it."
"Me neither." Hayley said laughing melancholy. "Me neither." She repeated softer.

"Are you okay though?"
"Yeah I'm fine, I'll be fine, I went years without him, I'm sure I can keep going."
"I could talk to him if you -"
"No, there's nothing me or you or anyone can do at this point, he has to put matters in his own hands now." Hayley said confidently.

"Alright." Ryan said and there was silence. "Well how's everything else?"
"Good, Dylan's good, my mom -
"I mean with your head..."
"Oh." Hayley said remembering her tumor. "Surprisingly didn't give me any pains in a while."

"That's good." He said smiling again. "And you're getting the surgery?"
"Yes, next month, well in a few weeks I should say."
"Aren't you graduating too this year?"
"Yes, prom is like..." Hayley thought. "Wow."
"What?" Ryan asked.
"Prom is in a few weeks too."

"Are you going to go?"
"It's a day before my surgery date."
"Oh."
"I don't know if I should. I mean I should prepare for the surgery, plus I don't even want to go anymore."

"Yeah I always thought school dances were lame." He laughed.
"Yeah." Hayley said laughing too not really sure of her decision. There was a long silence as she pondered while Ryan was daydreaming, suddenly Ryan stomach then made a weird noise. "Sorry." He said turning red and Hayley laughed with him.

**************************************************
"So he just walked away, he didn't deny it or anything?"
"Deny what? He knows Hayley is his." Douglas said nailing a nail into the wall as Scott held some cartoon picture frames in his hand. The baby room was almost finished.
"I just don't get how a father can just leave a child... I can't imagine leaving my baby, and he's not even born yet." Scott said shaking his head.
"I know." Douglas said taking one frame away from him and hanging it up. "Sometimes it's good when the dad leaves."
"How so?" Scott asked as he followed Douglas to another side of the room.
"Some dads stay but turn out being abusive... like my dad... there's many times I wanted him to just... leave." Douglas said nailing another nail in.
"Yeah I know...." Scott said thinking. "You want me to take it from here?" Scott said looking at Douglas hurt hand.
"Uh..No I'm fine." He paused. "He always went for my mom when he was mad, never me because he knew I would whoop his ass." Scott laughed a little. "Or maybe because my mom never let him get to me, always standing in front of me when he came near to it." He paused and took another frame from Scott. "It's weird because his abusive ways stopped after my mom passed, like he couldn't find anything else to beat on..." Douglas gritted his teeth.

"Hey man." Scott touched his arm as he snapped back to reality.
"But he's gone now and I can't live hating him, Hayley's dad is still alive so I guess I understand her tendency to fix things now, especially with her condition..." He said softly.
"Yeah I know." Scott said looking down.
"Maybe you should have moved it a little more to the left." Mary said appearing at the door.
"Maybe you should move it a little more to the left." Scott mimicked to her in a girly voice. "You want to do it." He asked sarcastically while smiling.
"Shut up." Mary said smiling walking in the room more. "It looks nice."
"Thanks." Douglas said nailing another nail as Mary covered her ear.
"Where's Hayley now?" Scott asked.
"She's home looking after Dylan I guess."
"You didn't call her since this morning?"
"I texted her, I guess she needs a little space, since everything last night, probably sleeping."
"I'm glad she's alright." Mary said rubbing her stomach knowing the whole situation.
"Yeah, you guys had a rough night, you really don't need to help me today dude."
"I'm fine." Douglas said continuing.
"Geez Douglas did you nail your hand?" Mary said frighten by the sight as she noticed his hand.
"No, I was cleaning glass." He said taking another frame.
"Did you go to the hospital?"
"No, I'm fine." Douglas said knocking the hammer into the nail hard trying to tone Scott and Mary questions out, he continued as the hammer hit his thumb. He jumped quick and Mary and Scott jumped too as they looked at him in shock. "I'm fine." He said sucking his thumb.

**************************************************
"I don't get why I can't take the bus." Dylan said licking the syrup off his fingers as he ate his waffles."
"Because I want to make sure you get in school this time." His mom said brushing his hair.
"Mom please don't start treating me like I'm 3."
"Next time you'll double think of running away." She said fixing the button on his shirt as he rolled his eyes, Hayley then walked in and poured some water out.
"Good morning." Hayley said tiredly.
"Good morning dear." Her mom said smiling.

"I didn't run away." Dylan said annoyed. "I just left for a while."
"You left for hours, and the school should be ashamed that you didn't go inside the building."
"Mom."
"Come on, you're going to be late." She wiped his mouth as he moved away from her grip, he grabbed his book bag. "Tell you sister bye and let's go."
"Bye Hayles." He said hugging her slightly as he left through the front door.

**************************************************

Hayley walked to her locker as she tried to adapt back to her normal school position, she then saw Cassie walking with a baggy shirt on and sweats. She looked like she did when she first started to dress down. Cassie looked down as everyone in the hallways stared at her in amazement. She pushed her hair behind her ears as she continued walking, she looked up and saw Hayley. Hayley smiled a little at her, and Cassie slightly smiled right back, she then waved and Hayley nodded as Cassie turned the corner. She tried not to feel bad for Cassie but she did, Cassie helped her out a lot even if it was to win Damon's heart back. She still felt like Cassie had a good heart somewhere inside of her. "You... always seeing the good in people." Hayley imagined Douglas' very words as she closed her locker shut. She walked into math class and sat down. It felt like she closed her eyes for a second, but the bell rang and Hayley was sleeping for the whole period. She sat up tiredly as Frankie packed his bag and gave her a look. Hayley rubbed her eyes and began to pack up too, she hardly got any sleep the night before. She continued out the door when her math teacher stopped her.

"Hayley." She said smiling. "I hope you're ready for the final tomorrow." She said and Hayley blinked twice.
"Oh yeah, I am." She said rubbing her eyes again.
"Are you okay?" She said concern.
"Yeah I just had a rough night."
"Mhmm late night partying." She assumed and Hayley nodded slowly. "I know teenagers think the best thing to do is party, but really grades are important okay."
"Yeah I know." Hayley said. "I'll study hard."
"That's girl." She said smiling. "Have a good day."

"You too." Hayley walked. She should be out partying late, doing normal teenager things but instead she was dealing with a brain tumor, founding out her real dad and trying to be there as much as she could to her little brother. From the corner of her eye she suddenly saw Douglas standing by a wall waiting for her. "Hey." She said and he pulled her in and hugged her.

"How are you?" He whispered in her ear.
"I'm fine." She said hugging him back feeling better in his arms.

"Dylan's fine?"
"Yeah he's great." She said looking in his eyes now.

"You doing bad in school again?"
"No I uh, I have a math test tomorrow." She said shrugging.
"I'll help you study for it." He said lifting her chin up.
"Thanks." She said as he kissed her. "How's your hand?" She examined it as it was freshly wrapped.
"It's getting better, I'm a fast healer." He said smiling at it.

"What happened here?" Hayley said seeing a red spot in his thumb.
"Oh I was helping Scott with the room yesterday... it's nothing." He moved his hand away and pushed her towards him again.
"You really need to stop hurting yourself." She said smiling.

"When you stop worrying I will." He said seriously and Hayley's smile faded. "I hurt whether it's physical or emotional, when you worry so much and I feel like it's a task I can't completely fix, I just feel bad."

"I'm sorry." She said resting her head on his chest.
"And it's bad for your brain, too much stress."
"Take it all away." Hayley said mumbling in his shirt frowning.
"I wish I could." He whispered in her hair smiling. They both turned as Cassie appeared walking towards them slowly.
"Hey." She said softly.
"Oh hey." Hayley said pushing her messy hair back. "What's up."
"Um I just wanted to let you know the gym is close today so you don't have to go." Cassie said nodding.
"Oh okay thanks Cass."
"No problem... Hi." She said looking nervously at Douglas. "You're Douglas right?"

"Yes that's me." He said nodding and Hayley gave him a face.
"Well I should go to class." Cassie said laughing nervously. "Later."
"Bye." Hayley said and Cassie paused.
"I know it doesn't really matter to you anymore. But the real reason I came up to you is that I wanted to know, if you were still going to go to prom?"

"Um, I don't know..." Hayley said shrugging. "I really don't."
"Well I do hope to see you there." She said smiling as she walked away.
"Am I missing something here?" Douglas asked confused watching Cassie as she walked away.

"She's in bad condition."
"And when you were, she didn't care."
"I know but... she was my best friend."
"But -"
"Shhh." Hayley said pressing a finger to his lips. "Let's just drop it please."
"Alright." Douglas said surrendering. "I'll see you in third period."

**************************************************

"Damn don't think too hard Hayley you might hurt yourself." Scott said sitting opposite side of her at the cafeteria table.

"Oh sorry." She said laughing.
"Are you feeling better?" He asked looking at her as he drank down his milk.
"I guess." Hayley said rubbing her arms. "I just feel like I'm... I don't know... like I'm running out of time."

"Out of time for what?"
"Well everything is happening too fast, and at the same time."
"That's life for you." He said with a milk mustache.
"I'm..." Hayley laughed. "I'm serious." Hayley said wiping his mouth quickly with a napkin as he laughed wiping the rest.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just happy the room is almost done. you know I'm just finally feeling really excited more than the fear I had." Hayley smiled at him. "Sorry I don't mean to like parade around with my happy moods when you're feeling down."

"No no that's fine, I want you and Mary to be happy, that's all I want is for everyone to be happy and not really worry about me so much."

"I mean we worry about you..." He said putting ketchup on his fries. "It's not something you can just turn on and off."
"I know..." Hayley said nodding.

"You know I use to wait almost 30 minutes by the staircase waiting for Douglas, so we could grab lunch, now I can just walk in here and see you sitting down, he use to have me starving waiting for him." Hayley laughed.
"You guys never used the cafeteria right?"

"Nope, we didn't have a reason to, just drove somewhere, but since Mary got pregnant my appetite just increase, sometimes I feel like I'm the one who's pregnant, and school lunch is much cheaper." He said eating. "Gotta save the most I can."

"Yeah."
"Plus my job from that Pizza place gave me my first raise." He smiled bright.
"That's great." Hayley said feeling proud for him. His smiled then faded.

"But sorry for keep getting all off topic, how do you feel like you're running out of time exactly, I'm listening?" He said and Hayley laughed. "Honestly." He said pausing giving Hayley his full attention now.

"Well...I didn't expect to..." She moved in closer. "To have this in my brain, or to fall in love with someone, or meet my dad all in the same year." Hayley said.

"I didn't expect to be having a baby neither but I just try to take a deep breath and accept it all, because I can't go back in the past... and as cheesy and overuse as this line is, things do happen for a reason."

"Yeah, I feel like I got this... thing because I became such a materialistic bitch during high school, like I'm somehow being taught a lesson."

"That's not it." Scott said laughing a little. "That's crazy - I mean it's not crazy but things grow in our body, we can't control it Hayley, even the healthiest person can get something and these experiences do change us. I feel like I'm changed, and I'm still changing... I didn't know you before but." He smiled. "I know you weren't the same person as I'm conversing with at this table right now.". Hayley smiled as Douglas appeared.

"Hey sorry I took so long." He said sitting down kissing Hayley quickly on her cheek.
"It's cool, it's expected." Scott said and Douglas smiled.
"Shut up." He replied and a guy placed a limo ride flyer on their table.
"This is my dad limos business; all prices half off for prom, so check it out." He said going to another table.
"Oh right Prom is right around the corner." Scott said not looking at it as he continued to eat.
"Yeah." Douglas said taking the flyer up. "Are you going to go?"
"No way." He said laughing. "And with whom? Mary thinks she's too grown for that plus she's pregnant."

"She would mind you going with someone else?"
"No I mean, I don't think so." He said arching his brow.
"Or you can go alone."
"Um... I guess buy why?" Scott asked confused.
"I mean, I'm going to take Hayley, and I wanted someone else there with us."
"Oh I'm not going." Hayley said softly.
"What?" Douglas said. "Sure you are."

"I don't want to." Hayley looked down while playing with her food.
"Yes you do, you been dreaming of this night." Douglas said.
"I know but I can't."
"You can't or you don't want to?" Scott asked.

"I have the surgery the next day, and I'm different now, prom doesn't matter to me anymore."
"But Hayley -"
"And I have a math final tomorrow, there's just better things to do..." They both stared at her as the bell rang. "I'll see you guys later." She got up quickly and Douglas looked at Scott worried.

**************************************************

Hayley walked into her house, it was about 5:00 p.m., she came in and shut the door behind her slowly as she closed her eyes and rested on the front door for a bit.

"Oh hey Hayley." She heard Ben voice and she turned towards him.
"Hey Ben." She said forcing a smile. He was around the kitchen table with Dylan. Dylan quickly waved.
"How are you?" He said.
"I'm... fine." She said walking closer. "What are you guys up to?"
"Ben is helping me with my essay." Dylan said erasing a sentence off his loose-leaf paper."
"Oh."

"Yeah I dropped him home and then he asked for my help so here I am." Ben said laughing.
"That's good." Hayley said as she messed Dylan hair up.
"Hayley quit it." Dylan said focusing.
"Where's mom?"

"She's in her room taking a nap, she seems very tired, I understand because the Dylan situation." Ben said and Dylan made a face like he felt bad.
"Yeah, I'm going to take one too, it was nice seeing you." Hayley said.

"You too." Ben said and returned to Dylan as Hayley jogged up the stairs. She collapsed on her bed and thought about [prom. Flashbacks from when Cassie and she went shopping for prom dresses came to her mind. She then walked to her closet and took her dress out. She placed it on the bed and looked at it. It was beautiful, maybe she could wear it to something else formal. She frowned, she knew she wanted to really go still. She crawled on the bed next to the dress and wrapped her arm around it as if it was a person. As she was about to drift off into sleep her room door opened. It was Douglas.

"Wake up sleepy head." He said smiling as he closed the door behind him.
"Douglas... what are you doing here?" He made a face. "I mean, what sup?"
"I have to help you study for your finals."
"Oh right." Haley said remembering as she sat up slowly.

"Yeah so let's hit the books, no kissing me or anything." He joked and Hayley smiled.
"I'll try my best." She said as Douglas took her bag up off the ground.
"So let's talk math." He crawled next to her with her math textbook and then realized the dress.
"I'll turn to the page." Hayley said trying to block his view as she took the textbook from him. "Here it is."

"You would have looked beautiful in it." He said staring at her.
"Yeah." She laughed nervously.
"You should go." He said softly by her ear touching her arm.
"Douglas I can't." She closed her eyes.
"You'll be fine, and after you can get the surgery the next day."
"It's going to be my last day." She said quickly and Douglas looked at her blankly.

"What is that supposed to mean." Hayley paused. "You keep saying things like that as if you're not going to make it." He said with a shake in his voice.'
"It's not that, I just want to spend it with my family and everyone." Douglas was quiet. "Can we just talk about this later."

"You keep saying, let's talk about this later, now it's later and you still don't want to talk, it's like you keep rolling everything I say off your shoulder."
"What are you talking about?" Hayley said getting annoyed.
"Well like the Cassie thing in school, you just wanted to drop it, am I getting annoying to you now?"

"No you're not."
"When we first started, you always followed me around and wanted to talk -"
"Wow thanks for making me sound like a stalker."
"And now you don't seem interested much."
"I am interested." She said sternly. "You're my boyfriend... and I love you."

"Say that once more with feeling." He said hurt.
"Douglas, why is the Cassie thing a big deal?"
"Because you shouldn't surround yourself with negative people because I'm the one who's there who has to help you on your feet again after the outcome."

"Well I'm sorry I give you so much work." She attempted to get off the bed but he stopped her.
"It's not work for me, I just don't get why you're talking to her again, after everything she done."
"She's not that bad."
"She's walking around with your ex-boyfriends fetus." Douglas said and Hayley stared at him.
"Thanks for reminding me." She said getting fully off the bed walking to the door..
"Okay okay I'm sorry." He said grabbing her arm after her. "You can talk to whoever you want, you know I'm just trying to protect you."

"I know but." Hayley held her tears back. "There's no time..." Her voice cracked. "... to hold grudges Douglas." Hayley whispered out staring in his eyes as she swallowed down. "I can't."

"I know." He pulled her in closer and hugged her.
"I don't want to argue anymore." She muffled in his shirt. "Please." He nodded.
"I'm sorry." He kissed her wet lips and hugged her again. "I'm sorry." He repeated. Hayley gripped the end of his dark blue shirt and pulled it over his head. He looked down at her as she fixated at his belt. He helped her with it still keeping his eyes on her. Hayley dimmed her room light down and pushed Douglas against the wall. She kissed him softly and he kissed back pulling her shirt over her head. He ran his fingers through her hair as he lifted her up unto him and collapsed on the bed.

**************************************************
Hayley rolled off of Douglas panting as he did too. She then cuddle close to him under the sheets, Douglas pushed his hair out of his face as sweat ran down his collarbone.

"Okay now can we study?" He said and Hayley laughed pushing her hair behind her ear. "I told you no kissing or anything." He said smiling grabbing the text-book from the corner of the bed.
"I honestly did try." She said smiling as he opened the book and got paper out as they began.

**************************************************

Hayley awoke to see Douglas coming out of her shower naked, he didn't notice she was up, he scanned the room as she smiled at his glistening butt.
"Quit staring perv." He said sarcastically looking through her draw and Hayley's eyes widen.
"Uh..." She pretended as if she was just getting up.
"Do you still have any of my old shirts here, and hurry up school is about to start."
"Yes there in here." She took a folded one out and gave it to him, his eyes arched as he realized about six of his shirts were in there. "You keep leaving them." Hayley said laughing as he placed it over his head. Shortly after they walked downstairs hand in hand to see Dylan and her mom getting ready to leave.

"Oh Douglas you're here." Her mom said shocked.
"He helped me, um studied last night." Hayley said awkwardly.
"If I knew I would have made an extra plate of breakfast."
"It's cool." He said as Dylan looked embarrassed as his mom fixed his collar.
"Okay let's go Dil."
"Mom how long are you going to be taking me to school?"
"Until you're married." She joked opening the front door.
"Bye Douglas, bye Hayley." He said leaving.
"Bye." They both said.

**************************************************
The bell rang as Hayley placed her exam on the teacher's desk, she looked at another girl's scantron and it was almost identical. She felt confident that she did well.

"Remember guys to bring your gear for senior trip tomorrow." Her teacher said aloud taking the paper quickly as people rushed out of the classroom.
"Are you going?" Jeremy said behind Hayley placing his test on the desk.
"Um I forgot all about it."
"Wow how can you, it's been talked about for weeks."

"Mhmm yeah I guess I missed it." Hayley said and Jeremy gave her a look. "Well where is it going to be?"
"We're going skiing in the Alaska Mountains." He said excitingly.
"You guys are going all the way to Alaska?"
"Yeah, the plane is reserved for our senior class since it never snows here, it's something new."
"Wow." Hayley said feeling a bit jealous.

"We're staying for 3 days, we're going to stay at this hotel that's supposed to be haunted." He said with wide eyes. "Sweet huh?"
"Yeah that's great."
"Yeah you should have come." He bragged.
"Yeah I know." Hayley said smiling looking down.
"Cassie backed out, she doesn't really want to be uh... skiing at this time." He said and Hayley nodded.
"Is Damon going?" She said uncomfortably.

"Yeah he is..." He said uneasy.
"What?"
"He's been acting different, missing a lot of practice."
"Maybe it's because he's becoming a dad." Hayley said bluntly.
"Oh you know he's the father?" Jeremy said shock.
"Yep, well you guys have fun...get some frost bites for me." She joked
"Alright, but you are going to prom right?" He asked as they both walked to the door.
"Um-
"Wow." Jeremy said shaking his head. "That would be crazy if you didn't." He laughed leaving the classroom.

"Yeah." Hayley said quietly to herself. She walked into the hallway as most of the bulletins were empty, prom flyers were everywhere and people were talking about the trip, school was finally ending and it suddenly hit Hayley like a pack of bricks. She was glad that the school made them apply for colleges in their junior year. She had so much on her mind that senior year seemed to pass by. Suddenly arms wrapped around her waist and pressed against her from behind.

"How was the test?" Douglas asked in her ear, she turned towards him.
"I Jimmy Neutron it." She said sarcastically and he smiled.

**************************************************
"Who cares about that stupid senior trip." Scott said placing 2 huge pizza boxes from his job on the middle of Mary's den room table. "Who wants to go skiing anyway." He said taking a slice and biting into it.

"You would like to go." Mary said arching a brow.
"Well..." He said shrugging. "Okay maybe it would have been nice but whatever."
"I forgot about it completely." Hayley said taking a slice, as she reached for it her head gave her a pain that felt like a spasm. She flinched and Scott noticed. Hayley gave him, 'I'm okay' look and bit quickly into her pizza.

"The tickets were like 300 something dollars alone." Douglas said coming in with soda cans. He then passed Mary and Hayley a water bottle.
"Aww thanks." Mary said taking it.
"I could drink soda." Hayley said smiling up at him.
"I know but I gave you water to dilute it." Douglas joked.
"I don't have diabetes." Hayley said and Scott let out a small laugh he seemed like he was trying to hold in.
"Fine." He said collapsing on the couch next to her passing her a soda can now. He kissed her. "Happy?"
"Yes." Hayley said trying to open it and Douglas opened it for her.
"We could make our own senior trip."

"Like what?" Mary said leaning on the wall.
"Sit down babe, why do you like standing so much."
"I'm fine." Mary said rubbing her stomach.
"Oh like we could like set up fake snow, buy skiing gear and ski in your backyard?" Douglas asked sarcastically taking another bite of his pizza.
"No." Scott said giving him a straight face. "I was thinking maybe we could go to the water park or something."

"I'm pregnant." Mary said.
"Well... we could." He thought and Hayley head gave her another spasm that Douglas felt the flinch.
"You okay?" He whispered looking at her.
"My head hurts." She said finally being honest with him.
"You want to go -"

"No." She opened her bag and took out her medication.
"You okay?" Mary said.
"I'm fine." She swallowed two and drank it down.
"Those pills are huge." Scott said staring at them.
"Yeah." Hayley said laughing as Douglas rubbed her shoulder. She then took another pizza trying to take the attention off of her.

"Well we definitely have to do something tomorrow to get over this post senior trip depression." He said drinking down his can. A few hours passed as Hayley drifted asleep on Douglas.
"We're gonna head home." He said easing up as Hayley awoke.
"No it's okay."

"You're tired, let's go." He held her hand and brought her to her feet.
"Okay see you guys layer." Scott said leading them outside the door. Douglas drove Hayley's home as she slept. When she opened her eyes she was on her bed as Douglas took her pants off.

"Wow we're home already."
"Yeah." He said taking her shirt off too.
"How did I get upstairs."
"I carried you silly." He said smirking placing a big t-shirt over her head.
"Without me waking up? I must be really tired."
"Yeah, so less talking and more sleeping." He went under the covers with her as she rested her head on him. "Uh... Hayley he said.

"Mmmm?" She said nuzzling his neck.
"Are you...are you sure you don't want to go to prom?" Her eyes open and she looked up at him.
"I'm not trying to be annoying I'm just asking..."
"You're not annoying." She said staring at his parted lips. "...but I know I shouldn't go."
"You don't want to?"
"I don't think so.. .no... I don't really see the point."

"And you're being honest with me? I don't want you to feel like you can't because of the surgery, I don't want you to feel like anything is holding you back."
"I'm fine, I don't care." She said tiredly. "I don't want to go."
"Okay." Douglas said still uncertain but he knew she was too tired to talk further, soon after they both fell asleep.

**************************************************
(Bon Jovi - It's my life)

Hayley awoken to loud music playing outside her bedroom window. Douglas squinted his eyes as he heard the music too. He leaned up and looked through her blinds. It was Scott singing loudly with the music as Mary laughed. It was sunny, he came out of his car and walked towards the house, Douglas laughed,

"Who is it?" Hayley said tiredly.
"It's good old Scott." He said laughing getting up.
"What." Hayley said laughing. Douglas opened the door and jumped at the sight of Scott already in the hallway.
"Good morning beautiful people." He said jumping unto the bed and Hayley pull the sheets over her head. "We are going swimming."
"Swimming?"
"Yes...in a pool, not the beach." He said and Douglas gave him a face. "Yeah Mary feels safer that way, gotta please the pregnant lady."

"I understand that but -
"It's my life! It's now or never!" Scott sang loudly. "I'M NOT GONNA LIVE FOREVER!" He sang head banging his brown hair.
"Calm down Mr. Hyper." Douglas said laughing.

"Get ready, come on." He said getting off the bed as he headed back downstairs and Hayley laughed getting out of bed. Shortly after they walked downstairs.

"Where are you guys going?" Her mom said confused still in her night-gown.
"We don't have school because of the senior trip, so where going to the local pool." Hayley said passing Douglas a towel.
"Oh okay you guys have fun."
"Dylan went to school?"

"Yeah he prefer Ben take him." Her mom said laughing.
"Oh." Hayley smiled and watched Douglas leaved the house. "Well bye mom." She waved as Hayley walked to see Mary finally turn the volume down.
"Oh come on babe I was jamming."
"It's too loud and you said you were going to listen to calmer things around the baby."
"But this is a classic, and my boy will know about classics."

"Yeah it's Bon Jovi." Douglas said opening the back seat.
"Hey Douglas." Mary said smiling and Hayley came after. "Hi Hayley."
"Hey." She placed her seat belt on while Scott hummed the song and closed his door.

"Everyone set?" He said excitingly.
"Yes." Douglas said and he drove off.
"Can we pass buy the school?' Hayley said.
"Why?" Scott said looking at her through the rear view mirror."
"I don't know."
"Just do it." Douglas said.

"Alrighty." Scott turned and soon they were driving pass the school slowly, a lot of coach buses were parked outside the school. Hayley watched as people held their luggage's and one guy was trying on his ski mask with a friend. Hayley looked as her senior class laughed and loaded on the bus.'

"You okay?" Douglas said near her.
"Yeah." She said.
"I hope they freeze their asses off." Scott said as they drove away.

**************************************************

Hayley jumped first in the pool and waited until she sank to the very bottom, it was 8 feet deep and she felt so free under the water, no one was hardly there since it was a school day. She swam back to the top to see Scott running towards her.

"Summer salt!" He yelled and crashed into the water.
"Scott be careful." Mary said a loud while putting on sun screen.
"I got it." Douglas said helping her put some on her back.

"I'm fine." Scott said aloud splashing Hayley and she splashed him back. She then watched as Douglas took walked to the pool edge in his trunks, she watched him as if it was the first time she ever seen him, boy was hot. He caught her staring at him and he winked. Hayley smiled as he jumped in, he swam back up with his wet hair pushed back, he swam next to her and lift her up.

"What are you doing?" Hayley said laughing as he blew on her stomach making her laughed.
"Come in already babe?" Scott said watching them then he turned to Mary.
"I'm going to relax for a bit." She said placing her glasses on her face.
"Oh come on grandma, we came here for you."

"Oh really?" She said kind of mad.
"Just come in, what's wrong?"
"I'm pregnant."
"So, do you think you're going to... what... sink?" He said laughing and she gave him a mad expression. "Okay but what? You think you're going to drown the baby? Swimming is good for pregnant woman."

"It is." Douglas said after kissing Hayley.
"But what about the chlorine."
"It's safe babe, do you want me to Google it on my phone?"
"No." She said shaking her head sadly.

"Is this about your body?" He said low coming out feeling heavy from the water, he walked to her.
"No why?"
"Because you're hiding behind your big pink towel." He said taking it off her.
"Stop." She said but he didn't.
"Come on your sexy." He said exposing her in a bikini with her baby bump showing. "You are." He whispered by her ear. "Your sexy exotic red hair, and green eyes, damn I want you right now." He said in her ear and she laughed.

"Stop." She said pushing him away slightly.
"Come on." He said smiling and he took her hand, Hayley watched as she uncomfortably walked to the pool.
"You look good Mary." Hayley said. "You're glowing." Mary smiled at that and walked into the pool by the steps as Douglas helped her in with Scott.

"See it's not so bad." Scott said swimming by her.
"Whoa it's cold." She said.
"I'll warm you up." He said hugging her as she adapted to the water. A while after they were splashing each other and swimming while laughing. After about 30 minutes Hayley walked Mary to the pool bathroom a second time.
"I have to pee every 5 minutes I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She stopped Mary as she dried her feet with her towel before they walked into the bathroom. When they came back out Mary and Hayley walked to the shower and pulled the sting as they rinsed off.
"Aw you guys aren't coming back in?" Scott said holding Douglas sin a head lock.
"We're taking a break." Hayley said washing off with her.

"Damn look at those two sexy girls." Scott said to Douglas and Mary smiled. "I got dips on the red-head." When they were done, they sat down on sun chairs and laid back. Mary placed her sunglasses on as they watched Scott climb on Douglas shoulder and jumped off as they laughed like two little boys.

"How cute are they." Mary said watching.
"I know." Hayley said. "How many more months do you have?"
"Four." Mary said rubbing her stomach. "Almost there."

"Yeah, and you have no marks.
"It's amazing isn't it." She said examining her skin.
"Yeah, and Scott seems so excited now."
"He is, I hear him call out baby name sin his sleep." Mary said and Hayley laughed.
"Aww." She said.

"Hey YOU GUYS BETTER NOT BE TALKING ABOUT US!" Scott said looking at them.
"Or what?" Hayley joked back and Scott tapped Douglas as they whispered.
"You're gonna take that?" Scott said to him and he swam out of the pool.

"Oh him so scared." Hayley said laughing as Douglas lifted her up. "OMG no Douglas stop!" She yelled laughing over his shoulder. "You're lucky you're with child Mary." He said to her and she laughed lifting her hands up. Douglas then jumped in the pool with Hayley. Later they arrived back at Hayley's house still laughing. Scott slowed down to see a blonde guy sitting In front of Hayley's house.

"Who is that?" He asked.
"Ryan." Hayley said shocked and Douglas looked too.
"Who?" Scott said parking, Ryan stood to his feet nervously until Hayley came out the car and he smiled.

"See you guys later," Douglas said to Scott.
"Oh um okay, later." He said to him driving off slowly.
"Hey." Hayley said walking up to him, he looked a lot better.
"Hey... hey Douglas." He said to him.
"Hi Ryan." Douglas said wiping his dripping neck with the towel.
"I don't know if this is a bad time-
"No what's up?

"Um, well...your dad wants to talk to you." Douglas looked down.
"Ryan I told you ,you didn't have to talk to him."
"I didn't, I forgot about the whole thing but he really wanted to meet up with you again, he won't stop talking about you whenever I and he talk."

"When does he want to talk?"
"Now if possible, he doesn't have work today." Hayley looked at Douglas.
"I'm going to talk to him okay?" Hayley said to him and he nodded.

"Alright, call me if you need me." He said knowing that she needed to do this alone.
"Okay." She hugged him.

"He wants to meet at the park, I'll drop you there."
"Okay let's go."

**************************************************
Hayley sat down on the bench in the park she shook nervously, She insisted Ryan to leave and no wait with her, she was a little calmer since he knew about her now but still felt nervous. She sat there playing with her fingers while the only confront she had been the warm heat beaming on her from the sun. Hayley heart skipped as a car parked in front of the park gates. She bit her lips hard as a man and his grandma came out. Hayley released her breath in relief, she played with her hair as she waited. Maybe he wouldn't show, but why would she hope he didn't show? She did want to talk this out didn't she? She decided to play a game on her phone, she was up to the third level and he still wasn't there. Her nerves had calm down now, he was taking too long, she pressed continued to level four until she heard someone near her walk up. Hayley looked up to see her dad.

"Hi... Hayley." He said slightly smiling, he seemed fidgety.
"Hi." Hayley breathe out. "Peter." She said unaware if it was appropriate to call him dad. He stood there for a while and then sat next to her. There was quite a few distance to them on the bench, Hayley ignore it.

"I'm so glad you came." He said just as nervous as she was.
"Yeah, Ryan told me you wanted to talk."
"Yes I did actually." He looked at her phone. "Is that the new evo phone?" He said laughing nervously.

"Uh yes." Hayley said as he took his one out,.
"I have an evo too, but it's the old kind, the battery is great huh." He said.
"Yeah..." Hayley paused and then laughed.
"What?"

"We're... talking about phones?" She said confused.
"Yeah why not?" He said putting his phone away.
"I don't know, guess I didn't picture our first real conversation would be about electronic devices." Hayley said straightly.

"I mean this isn't quite easy for me." He said now serious. "It's not like I practice in the bathroom mirror of when this day was to come."
"Because you hoped it would never come." Hayley said madly.
"That's not it -"

"Why? I just want to know why you left?"
"Ryan didn't tell you?'

"I want to hear your words." She turned to him which made him more uncomfortable.
"Wow you look so much like Michelle." He said laughing nervously and then he paused. "Michelle is -"

"I know who Michelle is, and Michelle looks like me, I'm older remember." She said sternly.
"Right." He nodded. "So you know pretty much everything, everyone?"
"Pretty much."
"Does... Sharon know?"

"No mom doesn't know."
"Are you... are you going to tell her?" He said nervously.
"I don't know..." Hayley said truthfully.
"Does she... talk about me?"
"Never." Hayley said coldly and saw the hurt hit his face.
"Look, I'm sorry."
"Yeah I bet." Hayley said madly, how can he just say sorry, sorry was just a word, how can he expect that to be the answer to what she was looking for?

"I'm also sorry about that night in the hospital, I just couldn't believe everything was happening, and I didn't expect you to be my actual daughter, I mean I was talking to you and then you admit to me an hour later, it kind of freaked me out."

"Well that's sad you can't even recognize your own flesh and blood."
"Look Hayley... Sharon...your mom was the other girl." He said low and Hayley looked down. "I was already married for 2 years when I met her."

"So why the hell did you get involved?"
"I... my wife and I were having problems."
"So you ran away from THAT problem too? because that's what your good at, running away huh." Hayley said forcing herself not to cry.

"It is what I do." He said softly. "I met your mom at an internship, we were walking at the same place the time, she was full spirited, a good friend to talk to, I always felt better when I talked to her." His eyes remain calm, like he was trying to be nice, he seemed like a nice guy overall but she was too hurt to talk to him calm, not now.

"Yeah mom is great." She said bluntly.
"Yeah Hayley, you don't think I know that." He said getting annoyed by her attitude.
"So you give her two kids and then hit the road, nice job."

"I was going to get a divorce!" He said a little louder and then he calmed back down. "I was going to end things with her...she kept arguing with me over and over, I was in love with Sharon now, so I told my life I was leaving her, I left for about 4 months to move in with Sharon, my wife thought I had an apartment. After about 6 months Sharon got pregnant." He looked at her and Hayley looked down. "I was happy, I'm not going to lie." He smiled. "You were my very first child."

"Yay me." Hayley said smiling as tears welled in her eyes as she looked away quick.

"After about 2 yeas my family got completely mad at me, kept contacting me, telling me my wife, Reana is her name, was going crazy, she was missing me and the bills were hard on her, How I just disappeared for 2 years and it was horrible. They all resented me my whole family loved her, no one In my family met Sharon, no one knew about her. So I told her mom I was going away for a few days for a business trip. I went back to see Reana, she was in bad condition, she was also seeing a therapist and I felt bad, she wanted me back."

"And you went back." Hayley said nodding.
"Not exactly, I confided in her for a while but I knew I couldn't stay long away from Sharon, because my heart was with her. A few days after I went back to Sharon, but to Reana and my family I told them my leas eon the apartment wasn't up yet so I couldn't over back...I stayed with Sharon 3 more months until my cousin Jeff called me and told me Reana was with child."

"So you slept with her within those few days."
"She was in bad shape."

"Wow." Hayley shook her head. "You cheated on both of them at the same time, how does that give you any excuse?"

"I know I know..." He shook his head. "I wasn't there for Michelle birth, I stayed with Sharon but my family kept calling me, they even found out where I was staying really and told me I had to leave...your mom kept asking me to get married because she really wanted to, but I couldn't." He laughed nervously. "I was already married and I kept holding it off." Hayley looked at him as his eyes studied the grass.

"And then what?"

"I didn't care, I cut off all contact with my family because I loved Sharon, for about 6 years U didn't see them, soon enough child support documents were being mailed to the house a lot. Your mom almost saw them. It made me very anxious she would find out....she sensed something, she was made I wasted about 8 years of her life without marrying her, our arguments got so bad that she kicked me out."
"She kicked you out?"

"She told me to leave so I did." He breathed out. "I had nowhere to go so I went back to Reana for a while, she was different, she was different, looked healthier, she lost weight, she was doing really good, she started to talk to me more calmer and told me she was alright with the divorce. She didn't need me anymore or want me and it made me furious...she was fine."

"So why didn't you just get a divorce then?"
"She became pregnant again...." He said shaking his head. "I knew two children and marriage was too much to leave, I loved your mom but she was just this other woman-
"Stop saying that." Hayley said angry. "She wasn't just this other woman, you loved her and you had a child!"
"I did but I started to fall back in love with Reana too."

"Oh please." Hayley said wiping her eyes quickly.
"It's possible to be in love with two people at the same time Hayley." He said close to her.
"Yeah but you can't have them both."
"And I realized that." Hayley leg began to shake. "Hayley listen-

"Just finish what you were saying....

"I decided it was time to leave Sharon, I became really distant from her because we were arguing about getting married a lot...she then felt like I was cheating on her, I got my cousin Jeff to tell her I was really staying with him those days I was gone...my final goodbye was one more month with her, my family told me I had to forget about her...but when I found out Sharon was...." He paused as his bottom lip trembled. "When I found out she was also pregnant, only a month after my wife was pregnant I felt like satan, why did I keep doing this." He gritted his teeth. "I had to leave now or I would keep making the same mistake...so I-

"You left into the night." Hayley finished. "Mom kept yelling." Hayley pictured herself 8 years old in her pajamas as it rained hard outside. Her mom cried and yelled asking him where he was going. She was pregnant at the time but Hayley didn't know since her stomach was still flat. He didn't say a word as he took his suitcases with him to the front door. It was thundering and Hayley sat at the bottom of the steps watching, he looked at Hayley one more time before he disappeared into the night. "And you never came back..." She whispered.

"I couldn't."
"You weren't there when Dylan was born."
"I know...how is he doing?"
"Don't try to care now dad!" Hayley stood up.
"I told you why I couldn't do it."
"So why did you cut off all contact with us? What about your kids? Why not still contact us after a while." He looked down. "You just thought we would get over it?"

"I'm sorry...the whole thing was a mistake..." Hayley swallowed hard as his words felt ice-cold.
"Yeah....maybe it was better to not see you."
"Hayley."

(Paramore - Turn it off)

'I scraped my knees when I was praying, and found a demon in my safest haven' the song began.

"No...I get it, your confused." She said with no emotions. "I would never want you to break up a family but you didn't have to be created two...Mom is great she found an amazing guy, and Dylan is growing up to be a great guy as well...we are doing fine without you so it's fine...I wanted to know why you left, and I'm glad that I do now." She nodded. "Don't worry I won't tell mom, or Reana or try to interfere in your life anymore."

"That's not -

"Goodbye Dad." Hayley said and walked away as he sat on the bench alone.

**************************************************
Hayley walked into her house, she saw her mom cleaning up the kitchen with a smile on her face, Hayley walked in.

"Oh hi Hayles." She said wiping the counters, Hayley then hugged her from behind. "Okay what did you do?" She joked and Hayley laughed.

"Nothing, I just wanted to hug you." She said still in her arms and her mom turned around and hugged her back a she brushed her hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." Her mom said. Hayley knew it was best to not tell her mom, she was happy now and so was Dylan and that's all that really mattered. "You okay."

"Yes." She said nodding as a tear rolled down her face.
"Hayley what's wrong?" Her mom said worried wiping her face.

"Nothing." She smiled. "I'm just happy." She said honestly. "I'm finally really happy." She said.
"Me too." Her mom said as her voice crack. "I'm happy too." They hugged again as she rubbed her back. They shared a moment and then Hayley released. "Look at us being so emotional." Her mom said fanning here lf. "Are you hungry?"

"No I'm just going to go to bed,2 more days of no school since that trip."
"Oh right, well okay, good night."
"Good night." Hayley said walking up the stairs.

(Plumb - stranded) [Listen to this while you read please]

Hayley opened her door to see lit candles all around her room, white roses were scattered all over her room and bed, she looked up to see Douglas walk out of the dark corner, he was dressed in formal wear, his hair brushed back and he looked nervous. He walked towards her slowly.

"Dougl -"
"Shhh don't talk." He said walking up slowly. "I never did this for a girl before...I know it's kind of cheesy, so I used white roses like it would make a difference." He laughed nervously. "....I know you said you didn't want to go, I understand that, ...I do....but I want you to go, not just for you but... for me, I never cared for these lame dance things but since I met you it's all I'm looking forward to...I want to have that slow dance with you and...make fun of the cheesy dance moves people make." Hayley laughed as her tears welled in her eyes. "I want to see the look on your face when you win Prom queen and I actually want to show you off in front of Damon when you're in your beautiful red dress." Hayley smiled as he was really close to her now. "So I'm asking you...Hayley Summers.." He kneeled to his knees. "Will you go to prom with me?" He said opening a jewelry case which showed a beautiful necklace.

"Omg." She said halfly gasping.
"It's real." He said laughing. "I got a job so I could work hard on getting this for you, I had enough money to pay for the house bills....and it was something to go with the dress." He said and Hayley laughed.
"It's beautiful."
"You still didn't answer my question." He said smiling up at her.

"Yes." She said nodding as tears rolled down her face, "Yes I'll go to prom with you!" He stood up and kissed her. Hayley jumped on him and kissed him back. She laughed in between the kisses as he held her tightly.

**************************************************

Okay guys I can't believe I got up to Chapter [30 - I imagined the number I would have been if I continued writing this story in short versions for chapters, probably up to chapter 70 something lol. Anyway I hope you guys liked this chapter, I'm going to write all the songs I listed in this story from chapter 1 and so on and post it for you guys. Thanks for all the comments, even though I don't reply individually anymore I'm so glad when you guys still post, I have a lot of views but not even half leave me feedback. So I appreciate you guys' thoughts and I made some of you cry lol, I'm sorry I didn't mean to.

Faith K the faith part was also me writing in my own words I'm a Christian and I feel just like what Douglas say, I'm developing even a strong faith as I get older. Also I hope Brad and his sister Megan are doing great, they were my past readers and I hope you see this or is still reading if anything.

[Your Biggest Fan Really? Awww thanks, I wish I put in the descriptions of my chapters what actually happened in that chapter then copying the same description, in case you guys wanted to reread a certain chapter, or one of your favorite chapters again, not even I know what chapter they first kissed etc., but thanks, and nope Ryan didn't die lol.

Hora Venus NO I WON'T kill off Ryan, but I did think about it honestly but I couldn't that would have been too much.

Chad - Aww thanks, I'm not ready for marriage but I'll let you know lol.

Real Me Leotie - I know, and it's like I post a chapter a month lol how terrible am I lol geez, I'm sorry for the waits I endure upon you guys smh wish I could update much faster.

Katie - Thank you.

Ria - Thanks so much.

Sona - Aw so many ppl didn't want Ryan to die lol and he didn't, thanks for reading!

Erica - Thanks for being there since day one with my story, I'm glad I kept most of you guys interest this long! I'm happy I did, and things didn't get boring after Hayley and Douglas finally went out, thanks.

Nevershoutemily - Thanks Emily, Ryan is fine. Do you like the band Nevershoutnever? I love them, that's for reading,

Lizle K - Thanks! I can always rely on you to post some feedback lol thanks

Tammy - Thanks a lot, sorry for the wait ..again :/

Tom Thanks for reading!

Maria Hope you liked what happened next lol *fingers crossed.

Renéa - Sorry I made you cry lol sorry for the wait

Bria - Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the chapter

Ann - Sorry for the wait, hope you liked it.