Making my way through the dancing teenagers, I followed Adam to an unoccupied room on the ground floor. I even called his name but because of the music bursting out of speakers, he couldn't hear my voice.

"Adam!" I spoke when I entered the room and he turned around to look at me, his eyes brimming with an inexplicable emotion.

"Hmm?" he mumbled, confusion laced his face when I shut the door and stepped towards him.

"Where is my gift?" I asked, pouting a little and his face showed his discomfort.

"I.. I didn't bring any." he stammered, obviously lying.

"Really?" I inquired, taking one step towards him.

"Really!" he whispered, taking one step away from me.

"Then what's in this pink gift wrapper?" I pointed towards his pocket from which the small box was peeking out and his own face turned red in embarrassment. Hesitating a bit, I leaned forwards and pulled the wrapper from his pocket.

"It isn't-" He tried to complain but I had already opened it. A huge smile broke on my lips when I found what was inside the box. It was a silver pendant, a guitar outline with a small heart in the middle.

"It's.. It's really pretty." I praised, running my index finger along the margin. Nobody else in the school knew about my interest in music so his gift felt strangely intimate. "Why didn't you give me before?" I complained.

"Because it is cheap." he admitted, looking at it with contempt.

"You don't get to call my pendant cheap." I countered and he looked at me as if I had grown two heads. I kept the box aside and wore the necklace around my neck, ignoring Adam's intense stare on my neck.

"It's nothing like Noah's gift." He muttered under his breath but I heard it anyways.

He needed to know how much it valued to me and I was going to show it to him. I stepped closer to him until our chests were touching. Adam, who was previously looking somewhere in the distance, was now staring down at me with his beautiful eyes.

"Yes. It is nothing like Noah's gift." I said and something like pain flashed inside his eyes.

"It's much more precious to me." I spoke in hushed voice. The distance between our faces had somehow decreased to few inches now.

"Why?" he asked, his hand moved towards my face and he grazed the back of his fingers along my cheek, causing me to shiver under his touch.

"Because.." the distance decreased some more, the tip of our noses touching.

"Because?" his lips hovered over mine. Everything felt hot, every touch felt intensified, till it became unbearable for me to stay away from him.

"Because it was your gift." I answered and leaned forwards, claiming his lips with mine. He hesitated for a second but responded at last. Unlike last time, nobody disturbed us and I took this moment to relish in his touch. Our lips were moulded together, fitting perfectly against each others. The softness of his lips made me feel things I have never felt, the passion made my core ache for more.

It felt like it wasn't enough. I needed more so when his tongue dipped inside my mouth, my heart almost exploded. My hands found their way to his soft hair, pulling gently, teasing, massaging, causing him to let a deep moan.

His own hands were trailing down my back, leaving a path of goosebumps all along. My skin had become super-sensitive to his touch, partially because of our nearness and partially because of the thin material of the swimsuit.

I let out a soft moan when his hands gripped my butt, the speed of my own tongue increasing against his until we both had turned into a breathing mess. I didn't want to pull away but the desire to finally breathe forced me to jerk my face away.

Resting our foreheads against each others, we stayed there standing, enjoying the solitude. There were many things that I wanted to say, there were many things that I wanted to ask, but I didn't want to ruin that moment so I kept my mouth shut.

It was until a knock on the door broke the trance and we pulled apart. My own cheeks started burning because of the kiss and by the reddish tint on his face, he was feeling the same.

Clearing my throat, I reached the door and unlocked it, letting a drunk couple inside who didn't acknowledge us and started to tear each other's clothes. Not wanting to witness live pornography, we both left the room and joined the party going on outside.

Adam began to say something but Emily interfered, taking me with her to the dance floor. Being the birthday girl, I was supposed to be in the middle of the hall but I really wanted to talk to Adam. Though all my efforts of ditching the dance failed and I had to give in.

By the time the house started to clear and everyone finally let me go, Adam had already left so I couldn't even ask what the kiss meant to him.

I spent that night with my friends in Sophia's house. Throughout the night, I kept looking at my phone, deciding whether to call him or not. Even Emily had sensed that something was wrong but I didn't tell her. At the end, I finally switched the phone off and decided to confront him tomorrow.

...

Even though I planned on talking to Adam the next day, I couldn't. I spent half of the Sunday with Emily and Sophia and the other half with Dad. It was quite late when I returned home from the mall. Without telling Dad, I went to Adam's house but Tiffany informed me that Adam had gone somewhere and he said he would return late.

That explains why I hadn't talked to Adam yet about what happened on my birthday night. I expected to see him during Literature class but he came late and left early, even get some admonishing from Mrs. Cooper too.

"Pink suits you." Noah said during P.E class and I looked at him in confusion. I was wearing my P.E shorts which were brown in color so either he was color blind or he was messing with me.

"I am not wearing Pink." I said.

"Are you sure?" he nodded towards my chest where my shirt was now sticking to my skin because of the sweat, making my pink bra slightly visible.

"Noah." I yelled, slapping his arm and he just laughed in return.

The rest of P.E passed just like that, with Noah's indecent remarks and my brief replies. When the bell rang again, I was the first one to rush out and made my way towards Biology class.

Instant relief filled me when I found Adam sitting there already. The seats were mostly unoccupied so I sat down on the one beside Adam. He hadn't noticed me yet because his gaze was focused on the empty desk. By the look on his face, something was clearly bothering him and I had no idea what.

I didn't feel like pulling him out of his thoughts so I waited until he would realize my presence. But it only happened when Mr. Walter walked inside and everybody straightened up. Adam did the same and when he found me sitting beside him, surprised laced his face first before he whispered a small 'Hey'.

"HI." I smiled and he mirrored my smile but there was hesitation in his eyes.

"Look at the board Mr. McArdle." Mr. Walter interfered before we could talk further. We turned our attention to the board and listened to Mr. Walter uttering plain nonsense for the next forty five minutes.

After returning our tests back (In which I got an A), he let us free at last. But the same thing happened again. Adam left the class before me. I felt annoyed at him for not waiting for me. We needed to talk about what happened back at the party but he was not giving me any chance.

Making up my mind, I rushed behind him in full speed. He was walking towards the library so I decided to skip the lunch break and follow him.

"Adam." I even shouted but he ignored it completely, now walking forwards in full speed. I struggled to keep in pace with him because running was not an option. I didn't want to create a scene.

"Adam." I yelled angrily when I reached him and gripped his wrist to stop him. But his wince caught me off-guard. His face contorted as if he was in pain. I gasped when I looked at his wrist which I just gripped. It was covered with many cuts and gashes, not like the one you found in the wrists of a suicidal person but the kind of wounds you get in a fight.

"What happened?" I asked in surprise, assessing a bruise on his neck which was now peeking through his sweater.

"Ssshhh." Adam panicked. After looking around, he grasped my hand and took me inside the nearest door which happened to be Janitor's closet.

"What the fuck Adam?" I asked as he pinned me to the wall. I tried to push him away but he backed away himself, blocking the contact of my hands to his stomach. Doubt filled my mind and I stepped closer to him. My hands reached his shirt and without his permission, I pulled it up. And what I saw next rendered me incapable of speaking.

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