"Uh...what do you mean?" Ryder asked me.

I just smiled and took a step towards him. I punched his abs and he let out an 'umph'.

"Why do you always do that? Didn't anybody ever tell you that violence is not the answer?" he said and rubbed the spot where I hit him.

"Why are you always like that? Didn't anybody ever tell you not to be an idiot?" I fired back.

He rolled his eyes.

"Just for everything that has happened in the last five minutes, you're paying for my stuff," I told him and crossed my arms over my chest.

He chuckled. "Oh darling, if you really think that, you're delusional."

I chuckled softly to myself and took a step closer to him.

"Uh...what are you doing?" he asked me when I ran my hand up his chest.

"Nothing," I answered and smiled sweetly.

I pressed my body against his and tugged slightly at is earlobe with my teeth. He took in a sharp breath. I started kissing his jaw softly. Thankfully, we were in the back of the store where no one could see us so easily.

He wrapped his arms around my waist but I took them off of me.

"What are you doing?" he muttered in a husky voice.

My hands traveled back down his chest and to his waistband.

If you're thinking what I think you are...no. I am not going to do that. Who do you think I am?

I reached into one of the back pockets of his pants and pulled out his wallet. Ryder didn't seem to notice.

I looked at him and he smirked at me.

"You know I think it's hot when you get all possessive," he whispered.

"Oh, I'm not getting possessive," I whispered back.

He wrinkled his forehead and gave me a questioning look but I kept quiet and stepped back.

"And you might wanna take care of that," I said and nodded at his lower half.

He looked down and rolled his eyes when he noticed the buldge in his pants.

"I think it's cute that you like me that much," I teased. "Well, I've got to go but I suggest you think of something before going anywhere. I'll meet you at the food court," I said and skipped out of the store.

I looked around and walked in the direction of the food court. Justin, Mike, Connor and Blake were already sitting at a table and devouring a ton of food.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted and sat down next to Blake. "Are you all feeding an army?" I asked when I saw all the food.

"No, but shopping makes a person hungry," Connor answered with a mouth full of food.

"You didn't even do any shopping," I told him.

He shrugged and continued eating his sandwich.

"Where's Ryder?" Blake asked and took a sip of his soda.

"I don't know. He said he would catch up," I said and shrugged.

I pulled a plate of fries towards me and began to eat. That's when I noticed Ryder walking towards us like nothing ever happened. He had taken care of his problem too. He sat down opposite of me.

"Sup guys," he said.

"Where were you?" Justin asked.

"I got held up," Ryder answered with a blank look and looked directly at me.

I sent him a smile before going back to eating.

"I'm gonna get a slice of pizza," I said and stood up. I walked to the place that sold pizzas and stood in line. There were three people in front of.

I felt someone walk up behind me.

"You have something that belongs to me, darling," a voice said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied without turning around.

"Oh I think you do."

I turned around and saw Ryder standing in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. He cocked an eyebrow, waiting for me to give him back his wallet.

"I'm serious. I have no idea what you mean," I lied.

I kept a straight face and turned back around.

"Darling, I'm going to count to 3. By then you better have given me back my wallet," he said.

"Someone stole your wallet?" I asked while studying the board with all the pizza choices.

"Yes. Now give it back."

"I still don't have it."

"Kennedy," he said through gritted teeth.

I turned back around. "Yes?"

He was starting to get just a little mad. Why? It's not like I was going to use his ID to flee the country or use up every last bit of money that he had. So what was so important that was in there?

"One..." he counted.

I looked around, searching for an escape.

Now that I think about it, no matter what happens I always end up running away from him and him chasing me. Weird...

"Two..." he said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I started to panic.

"Three."

I ran off and ran past stores, dodging people. I looked back and saw him walking/jogging towards me. I turned back around and kept on running. I went into a store and speed walked through it.

"Wait, hold up," I said to myself and took a few steps back to look at a jacket hanging on a rack.

"Oooh, this is cute," I said and picked it up.

Kennedy! Remember you're suppose to be running, my conscience voices.

Will you just wait real quick? This is cute.

I turned the jacket around and studied it, when I saw Ryder casually strolling into the store. He looked at me and smiled friendly. I jumped and began to speed walk through the store again, holding onto the jacket because you know, it was cute.

I looked behind me and saw Ryder following me so I dodged  behind a rack of dresses so that I was hidden from his view.

There was a girl about my age looking through the different dresses. She also had pink hair, only hers was a bit brighter.

I got an idea of how to get away from Ryder. But I didn't like it...

I looked at the jacket longingly and sighed. Then, I walked up to the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and looked at me.

"Yes?"

"Um...could you hold this for me real quick?" I asked her and held out the jacket.

"Uh, sure," she said and took the jacket. She smiled at me once more before going back to looking through dresses.

I gave the jacket one more glance before walking past her and hiding behind the other side of the rack. I peeked through the dresses and saw Ryder approaching the girl.

She didn't seem to notice that he was coming towards her. Probably because she was facing away from him.

Ryder smirked as he reached the girl.

"Boo," he said.

The girl turned around and gave him a questioning look.

"Uh...I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else," he apologised.

I stifled my laugh as best as I could but apparently I didn't do a good job because Ryder caught my eyes and glared at me.

I quietly yelped and ran out of the store.

I heard Ryder's footsteps behind me and ran behind some potted plants that went up to my waist. Ryder stopped in front of me and glared at me.

"If you keep glaring, you're face is gonna stay like that," I said and pointed at his face.

"Give it," he demanded.

"I don't know what you mean," I innocently replied.

"Kennedy," he growled.

"Sheesh. What's so important in there anyway? It's not like I can use your licence or anything. Or your ID."

"Just give it," he said and held out his hand.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'.

He ran around the plants but I quickly reacted and also ran around them so that we were still standing opposite of each other.

"Give me my wallet," he ordered. He was getting extremely annoyed by me, but hey. That's what I'm best at.

"Oh! You mean this?" I asked and pulled his wallet from my back pocket.

"Yes. Now give it."

"Fine. But first let me just grab a few bucks," I said and opened his wallet.

"Kennedy, no!" he shouted. He reached for his wallet but I turned around and kept it from his reach.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. I opened his wallet and froze. My jaw dropped at what was in his wallet.

There was a picture of us two. It was when Ryder had been carrying me to the fountain at school. Blake must have taken it or something.

I ran my finger over the picture. We were both laughing and looked like we were having a lot of fun.

I took the picture out of his wallet and noticed that there was another one of us behind it. This time we were sitting at our table at lunch. Both of us were sticking our tongue out at each other.

I hadn't even notice that Blake or Isla had taken a picture of us at that moment.

I remembered it like it was yesterday. We had been disagreeing if curly fries or normal fries were better. I said normal fries were better and he said curly fries were.

I asked Isla what she thought and she said normal fries. Then I stuck my tongue out at him, gloating at him. He then asked Blake, who sided with him, and stuck his tongue out at me in return.

It was one of my favourite memories because it was such a simple one.

I turned around and look up at Ryder. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Why do you have pictures of us in your wallet?" I asked him.

He hesitated before answering. "Because I like having pictures of us together. I don't have any of my family so I chose the next best thing."

"And I'm the next best thing?"

He nodded and looked at down, kicking the ground with his foot.

"Then why do you act like you don't want to be with me?" I asked.

He looked up and ran his hands over his face. "Because...I don't deserve you. You should have someone like...like Connor. He's nice and doesn't get detention. I'm not like that."

I laughed softly. "You think I want someone who always listens to the rules? Because I don't. That's not what I want."

"You don't?" Ryder asked.

"No!" I said. "What I want is you!"

He walked around the plants and stood in front of me. "Kennedy, I--"

He got cut off by my lips. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to me. He immediately responded and wrapped his arms around my waist.

The kiss was slow and passionate. Like we were finally able to let all of our true emotions show.

I pulled away and looked up into his eyes.

"I don't want to disappoint you," Ryder whispered.

"You won't. But if you do, I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve," I said and smiled at him.

He chuckled and gave me a quick kiss before letting go of me. "We should probably get back. The others might wonder where we are."

I agreed and we started to walk back to the food court.

"Hey, how come everything always ends up with me running away and you chasing me?" I asked.

Ryder shrugged and put an arm around my shoulder. "I don't know. I guess it's like our thing."

___________________

This is not the end of the book!

There's still a few chapters left. I hope you enjoy this chapter!