Axel McCarthy. The same Axel that broke my heart in my own generation, was holding me in his arms. I blinked, trying to figure out if I was imagining it or if it was real, and sure enough, he was all real.

"I-I'm Michelle." I stutter, and he sets me down. His smile never fades, and he grabs my hand, pulling me towards the water.

"Nice of you to finally show up." Pam says, rolling her eyes.

"I had some business to take care of, if ya know what I mean, sis." He winks at her, and Pam gags. The boys burst out laughing, and he leads us into the water.

The eight of us start a splash war, and somehow I end up locked in Axel's arms by the end of it. He keeps his arms firm around my waist, and the rest of them continue their fight. When they finally finish, they walk over to us, and smile.

"Let's go chill on the grass. I'm getting tired." Danny says, and the rest of us agree. We walk out of the swimming hole and grab the blankets we brought with us, laying them down on the grass. Danny lays with Pam, Rickie lays with Bonnie, Rocco lays with Bev, and I end up laying right beside Axel. He wraps his arm around my shoulder, and I lay my head on his shoulder.

"Michelle Hawley. I never thought I would live to see the day where you would be a pink." He says, looking down at me with a smile.

"What's so surprising about that?" I ask him, wrapping my arm around his stomach. He plays with my hair, and chuckles quietly.

"You have always been the good girl. Never a bad ass."

"Then maybe you just need to get to know me better." I whisper, and he smirks.

"I like you already, Hawley." He starts to lean in slowly, and our lips almost touched until someone yelled at us.

"Axel, I swear to God if you make out on my blanket, you won't live to see another sunrise." Pam yells, and Axel rolls his eyes. He stands up, pulling me up with him, and he looks back at his sister.

"Chill sis, it's not like you and Danny haven't done worse on this blanket." Pam's eyes flash with rage, and she almost gets up from where she was, but Danny stopped her.

"You are cruisin' for a bruisin' man." Rickie tells him, and Axel laughs. He grabs my hand, and we walk away from the group.

"Where are we going?" I ask, and he smiles at me.

"My secret place." He whispers, and I nod as we continue walking. He leads up to a hill, where you can see the whole city from it. I smile at the view, and he lays the blanket down, pulling me down with him.

"Wow." I say breathlessly, and he smiles at me.

"Remember the day my sister and the girls came up to you?" He asked, and I nodded my head, laying it on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I told them to find you." He states, and I look up at him.

"Why?" I question, and his smile grows bigger.

"Let's say I knew you for a long time, and one day, you sparked an interest." He smirks at me, and I smile at him.

He definitely acted like the Axel I knew and loved, but he had this different vibe to him. I couldn't place my tongue on it, but I loved it.

"Okay Mr. Mysterious, so you have been creeping on me for years?" He bursts out laughing, and I laugh too.

"No, I'm not a creep. I just thought you were pretty would be good for our group." A blush creeps up my neck and to my ears. I look down, and smile.

"Well, thanks. No one has ever said that to me." He locks his index finger and thumb on my chin, lifting my face up to his.

"Well I am, because you deserve to know." He starts to lean in slowly, and I do too. Our lips meet, and he kisses me gently. That kiss made my head spin, and when we pulled away, he pulled me back for one more. This time, we pulled away smiling.

"Michelle! Axel!" Pam yells, walking through the trees until she finally sees us. "Let's go!" Axel and I stand up, and we walk down the path, our smiles never fading and our hands intertwined.

***

When we reached our houses, Pam, Axel and I hopped out of her car. Their mother came out on the porch and smiled at us.

"Did you guys have fun?" Pam and Axel nod their heads. She smiles at me, and walks down the stairs.

"Michelle, can you help Axel babysit on Sunday?" I nod my head, and her smile grows bigger. "I don't trust him here by himself." She winks at me, and I laugh.

"I'm right here, mom." He rolls his eyes, and I swear, I have never seen anyone do it better.

Rose walks back in the house, and so does Pam. Axel walks me over to my house, stopping right at the door.

"I had fun tonight." He says, and I smile, looking down at my feet.

"I did too." He leans in and plants a quick kiss on my lips. I smile at him, and he walks back to his house.

***

"This year we are going to bring home the win, Grizzlies!" The head football coach yells, and everyone cheers.

We were currently at the pep rally, and all of the cheerleaders stood around the bonfire. The band started to play the music, and we did our routine. I was in the middle since I was captain, and it felt great. After we did our routine, we were allowed to hang out, so I went and found the girls.

"Pink lady by day, cheer captain by night." Pam says, smirking at me. "I dig it, Hawley." We laugh, and the boys walk up.

Axel was in front of them, and he looked amazing in his leather jacket and black pants. He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close, and I smile.

"I do too. I like this whole cheer captain thing." He whispers, kissing me on the cheek, and my face heats up.

"You even got some fancy stompers." Rocco says, and we burst out laughing. My shoes were just white cheer shoes. We all look to Rickie and Bonnie, who are nervously smiling at each other.

"Rickie, just do it already." Axel says, winking at him. "We all know you two are stuck on each other." He winks at me, and I smile.

"You're full of it, McCarthy." He rolls his eyes, but shoots Bonnie a knowing smile. "What about you and Hawley?"

"Yeah, what about you and Michelle?" Rocco joins in, and I look up at Axel.

"Are you guys writing a book?" He asks, rolling his eyes, but the smile never disappears from his face. Rocco and Rickie argue about it, and Axel pulls me closer.

"Let's get outta here." He whispers, and I nod. We left, and I'm not even lying when I say this.

I had the best night of my life with him.

//////////////////////////////

Hey guys!

Can't believe I have to go back to school in three weeks 😭

Anyway,

"Are you writing a book?" Means they're asking too many questions.

Thanks for reading!

-Abby