She smiled and waved before walking down the bleachers and side stairs to get over to the fence to him. She watched as he pulled off his helmet and smiled down at her with his straight white smile. Seeing him in his full football uniform like that took her breath away and made her paralyzed in place. He had never looked so good.

"What did you think of the game?" he asked her as fans walked by patting him on the shoulder and telling him good game.

"I really liked it! Normally I'm not into football and I don't know anything about it but your Mom explained what was going on and seeing her so excited about it got me into it. It was fun watching you play. You're really good."

"Thank you. I'm glad you had a good time. I wanted to come over here and let you know I've gotta go in the locker room and shower and change and then I'll meet you out here," he said before running towards the tunnel.

A little while later Jolie was leaned over the fence looking out at the field when a tall figure stood very close behind her, so close that she could feel his hardness pressing up against her lower body and he slid his hands under her shirt and placed them around her bare waist.

"Austin?" she asked, standing up straight and turning around, but she was shocked to see that it was Chaz Hernandez.

Instinctively she pulled her hand back and slapped him hard across the face and the nearby onlookers gasped and then started laughing.

"Don't EVER touch me like that again you perverted creep!" she screamed in his face. She felt so violated and couldn't believe he thought that was okay. She pushed him away from her and turned around and ran towards the parking lot, tears burning in her eyes.

She found Austin's Jeep and sat on the step rail and tried to catch her breath, her heart pumping hard from adrenaline. A few minutes later she finally spotted Austin walking towards the Jeep and she was filled with relief. She felt so much safer with him around.

"I was walking around looking for you. I thought you were gonna wait on the field for me?"

Then he heard her sniffle and realized something was wrong.

"Jolie are you ok?" he asked, sitting on the step rail next to her.

"No," she said sniffling and trying to catch her breath. "I was leaning over the fence looking at the field, waiting for you when I felt someone come up behind me and grab my hips and press their lower body all the way up against mine. I could feel their hard-on pushing against me and everything. Then they slid their hands under my shirt and around my waist."

She was having trouble getting the words out as she cried. "I thought it was you but when I turned around I was shocked to see Chaz standing there. I slapped him really hard across the face and ran out here to your car," she sobbed, as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Where is he? I'll kill him for having the nerve to put his hands on you like that," Austin said through gritted teeth, looking around.

She reached out and put a hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes, "Austin, don't go after him. Please. Let's just let this go. He's not worth getting in trouble over. I'm shaken up but I'm okay."

She could see that his body was still tense and the anger was radiating off of him.

"Austin!" she said loudly, getting his attention and he stopped looking around and looked down into her eyes. "Hey," she said softly. "I mean it. I want you to forget about this. I'm fine and I don't want you doing something stupid and getting in trouble. I'm pretty sure the hard slap I landed across his cheek sent the message that he's not allowed to touch me."

"You slapped him?" Austin asked with a smile appearing.

"Yeah. Really hard too. My hand actually hurts because of it," she laughed, shaking her sore hand.

Austin looked down at her, studying her face for a minute.

"What? What are you thinking?" she asked, feeling self conscious under his stare.

"I was just thinking about what you said. You made it sound like you were okay with all of that when you thought it was me behind you," he asked with a curious expression.

That was when she realized what she had said and her face flushed red with embarrassment and she looked down at her hands to avoid looking at him. Her silence told him that she couldn't really answer that.

"I'm so sorry he did that to you Jolie. He's always been such a douche bag when it comes to women. If you change your mind and want me to kick his ass just say the word and I'll happily do it."

That made her smile and she looked up into his blue eyes and she could see that he looked worried about her. He really did care.

"Ok. I will," she sniffled, wiping the tears out from under her eyes and taking a deep breath.

He stood up and turned around, holding his hands out to her. "You ready to go to the diner now?"

"Yes! I'm starving." She smiled and slid her hands into his and he pulled her to her feet right in front of him. They were nose to nose with her back up against the Jeep. He was staring into her eyes, studying her face.

She held her breath as she looked up at his soft lips, her mind wondering what it would feel like to kiss him. His blue eyes locked onto hers and they stood there in silence studying each other. He moved in slightly closer, looking down at her lips. She closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her, her heart pounding out of her chest.

She held her breath and closed her eyes, expecting him to kiss her, but then he stepped back and said, "Well if you're starving let's go," and he turned and walked around the Jeep.

She leaned up against the Jeep and exhaled, trying to catch her breath and slow down her heart. Maybe he hadn't been about to kiss her and she was just imagining things. Maybe he didn't even like her like that and just wanted to be friends. She felt so silly for thinking she was actually about to get her first kiss and that it would be with Austin Fox, the hottest guy she had ever seen.

When she climbed in the Jeep and shut the door, Austin was looking at her like he wanted to say something, but instead he just exhaled and turned the key.

Without saying a word he turned on the radio as he pulled out onto the road and the song "Forgot About Dre" came on and she looked over at him and smiled as they both started rapping along to it in unison. They drove down the road towards the diner with the windows all the way down, wind whipping through her hair, both rapping loudly and laughing.

He pulled into the parking lot of Roller Gals Diner and shut the Jeep off right as the song ended and she smiled over at him and said, "Thank you for cheering me up after what happened with Chaz. I always enjoy myself when I'm with you. I can't even imagine what school would've been like here if you weren't my neighbor."

"I think I still would've been your friend and we would've hung out even if you weren't my neighbor because you're pretty amazing," he said with a smile, before opening the Jeep door and getting out, walking towards the diner.

Jolie felt like an arrow had struck her heart. He just used the word 'friend' to describe their relationship. Maybe he had been so protective and jealous over her because he's like that with all his friends. Maybe she had been reading his signals all wrong.

She looked up and saw him standing at the entrance of the diner waiting for her with his letter jacket on and his hands stuffed in his front pockets, looking as gorgeous and perfect as always.

'Of course he just sees me as a friend. Look at him. How could I have fooled myself into thinking he might want more with someone like me?' she thought. She was suddenly not as excited about going to the diner instead of going home now that she knew it wasn't a date. She was now having a terrible day just because of that one powerful, horrible word "Friend." She was stuck in the friend zone.

Finally she got out of the Jeep and followed him inside the small rectangular shaped diner that had a 50's theme with neon lights and waitresses wearing poodle skirts and roller skates carrying trays of burgers, fries and milkshakes to the tables. She also saw several familiar faces from school. The whole football team was here, all the cheerleaders (including Mandy), Bailey (her new friend from English class), and even Blaze McDaniels was in the corner booth sitting with a couple rough looking characters.

"Ummm, I need to run to the restroom real quick. I'll be right back," she told Austin. Since she had been crying earlier about what Chaz did, she wanted to see how bad she looked.

It wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be so she just got a paper towel wet, dabbed a little soap on it and wiped carefully under her eyes. When she went back out she didn't see Austin anywhere so she slid into an empty booth and started reading a menu. That's when someone slid into the booth across from her and she lowered the menu to see Blaze McDaniels, smiling back at her.