"It's a photo," I answer dully.

Imogen looks at me incredulously while I begin to feel the usual symptoms of panic: sweaty palms, a racing heart and hurrying thoughts, all magnified much more than the usual feeling of dread.

"I can bloody well see that!" Imogen cries, looking down at the screen again quite clearly aghast. "It's you... snogging, snogging Levi Parker!"

"Keep your voice down!" I hiss, terrified that someone might hear. Luckily in the bustle of everyone finishing the last day of school and spilling out in chattering masses means that no one does, yet I can't help still feeling unnerved- the last thing I need is someone else finding out.

"Oh my god," Imogen mutters to herself, looking at me as though I'd just grown an extra head.

"Imo-"

"Oh my god!" she yelps startlingly loudly, turning away from me and looking towards the heavens like the utter drama queen she is.

"Please, just-"

"I knew it!" she suddenly declares, swerving back to face me. She loses her disbelieving expression which is replaced by something verging on accusatory. "I knew something was up!"

I look at her curiously. "You... did?"

"Yes!" Imogen cries. "For the past month he's just been... and you've been- I knew it!"

I nod, attempting to process her garbled words. "Judging by how much sense you're making, I think you might need to calm down."

"But this means..." A shadow passes over her face and suddenly she's turns serious. "You've cheated-"

"I'm back!" a bright voice says behind us. Turning around we see Oliver standing behind us, looking slightly red in the face and relieved. This is just getting worse and worse.

"I forgot to hand in this thing for Art but luckily Mrs Greening was still in her classroom, she wasn't too happy about me handing it in late though," Oliver explains whilst Imogen looks wildly between him and me.

With slowly dawning worry, I realise what she's about to do. "Imogen, keep-"

"Ruby's snogged Levi!" she blurts before I can stop her. Oh dear god, I'm going to kill her.

Oliver raises his eyebrows, looking at me for confirmation.

"Sorry! I just couldn't contain it," Imogen says, finally handing me back my phone and shaking her head. "Do you know how insane this is?"

I grimace, perfectly well knowing how messed up this all is.

"What?" Oliver asks, his eyes now bulging when he realises it's not some joke. "It's true?"

"Uh," I stutter, feeling my insides squirm uncomfortably. Anything I'm able to do is restricted to just stuttering and being able to predict you'd probably be able to fry an egg on my face if my cheeks got any hotter.

"Bloody hell..." Oliver's mouth hangs agape. "How... When did this happen?"

"Why did it happen?" Imogen asks- the both of them give me a demanding stare that has me further flailing around speechlessly.

"I think you guys just need to stop and-"

"I think you need to explain," Imogen says, crossing her arms.

Desperately I try thinking of something to say, something to explain why exactly I'd been kissing Levi without sounding unhinged. "It was a precaution, that's all!"

From the looks on their faces I can tell my answer isn't that successful.

"Well done, Ruby, that's a perfect explanation!" Oliver's says, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he gives a slow clap. The dread I feel at being found out doesn't stop me from scowling at him.

"I kissed Levi for a reason," I say.

"Hormonal needs?" Oliver asks. This time I hit his shoulder, deciding a glare wouldn't suffice.

"No! It was the exact opposite, actually," I say loftily, watching him rub his arm. "Something happened in November that meant... er, privacy was compromised for both of us." Inside my mind's still formulating a way to give an explanation without giving anything much away.

Imogen looks even more disbelieving, if that were possible. "You sound like you're on some FBI mission!"

"What I mean is that... Levi found out something about me and I found out something about him."

Imogen narrows eyes before asking, "How?" just as Oliver asks, "What?"

I close my mouth, pressing my lips into a thin line before giving a slight shake of my head. "I can't say." The answer to their questions will effectively give everything away and the picture, the panic; everything will've been for nothing.

"Just trust me on this, guys, OK?" I look pleadingly at them.

Oliver and Imogen look nowhere near trusting me, if anything they look more confused. I don't really blame them.

"But how did this lead to you guys getting off together?" Oliver asks.

I make a choked noise. "Do you really have to word it like that?"

"I'm hardly going to call it making love with your lips am I?" he scoffs. This time I don't know what to say, that term is infinitely worse.

"All I can say is that Levi got worried. He wanted to make sure I wouldn't say anything, same as me really. So we kissed and, er... took a picture of it as a precaution." Even though I try to explain the situation as logically as I can, it still sounds completely ludicrous.

"What the heck?" Oliver cries while Imogen just looks at me speechless. Their shocked expressions mimic the initial horror I'd felt at Levi's plan back in November. Why on earth had I thought it'd be a good idea?

"It seemed logical at the time!" I try and defend myself but end up sounding like I'm just making excuses. Which I kind of am. "It works because if I let slip what I'd found out then he could post the picture and ruin the relationship I have with Ryan, the same goes for him and Elle if he spills the beans."

Imogen looks at me with an expression I can't quite make out. It appears to be a mix of disappointment and surprise. "But this means you cheated on Ryan."

My stomach plummets. Some naïve, deluded part of me kind of hoped they wouldn't realise that bit but who am I kidding? I lose the ability to look her in the eye as guilt swoops through my stomach. "Yeah."

"I just... I thought you and Ryan were really good right now," Imogen says. My stomach drops further when I hear the disappointment in her voice.

"We are good!"

"Enough so that you snogged some other guy," she argues.

"As a precaution!" I shoot back.

Imogen opens her mouth to argue back before suddenly shutting it, her eyes widening.

"Are you guys coming?" A horrendously familiar sounding voice asks behind us. My heart lurching, I turn around to see Levi standing a few feet away. He raises an eyebrow, waiting for us to answer.

I realise Oliver turning up isn't as worse as it can get, but this on the other hand? I can already foresee the goddamn picture being put up on Facebook by the time it takes to say: "Ruby's a moron."

"What's wrong?" Levi asks, narrowing his eyes. I glance to my side to see Oliver looking embarrassed while Imogen's presses her lips into tightly together.

"Er, nothing," I say, trying to sound calm.

"You all look like you've seen a ghost," Levi replies suspiciously, staring at Oliver who's nervously started laughing.

"No, I've seen something else," Imogen suddenly says. I'm quick to elbow her hard in the side and give Levi a nonchalant smile.

"What?" he asks, looking more confused now.

"I'm going to go to Max," Imogen suddenly says, tucking her hair to the side as if to compose herself. "He's probably been waiting." With that she abruptly leaves, stalking off at a pace somewhere between walking and jogging. Levi looks after her before glancing back at me. Lately I've been noticing just how fast my heart jumps when his eyes meet mine.

"Are you coming then?" he asks Oliver and I.

"Yeah, just give us a second," Oliver says, giving a quick grin. Levi nods before throwing one last questioning look at me and walking off in Imogen's direction. Oliver waits until he's out of sight before swerving to face me.

"Are you alright?"

"What?" I ask, staring blankly at him. The sudden arrival of concern fills his eyes and he gives a light thud of his hand against my shoulder.

"Are you alright? Imogen and I knew something was up for a while, we thought you were ill or something but we weren't expecting this." He gives a quiet laugh, shaking his head and looking at me in amusement. It's an expression I've often seen, one filled with childlike humour that makes me want to start smiling too.

"I'm fine," I say, shrugging my shoulders casually and grinning. "This whole thing's a bit messed up to honest."

"No kidding." Oliver nods. He suddenly smirks. "You know, it turns out I was thinking along the right lines." Him too? Are all my friends bloody detectives or something?

"How?"

"Even though I'm a guy and a bit dim when it comes to relationships," Oliver says, grinning when I give an approving laugh. "Watching you and Levi... I guessed something was up between you two."

I stop laughing and instead look at him in shock. "What? There's nothing going on between us!" I say defiantly. "All he does is just piss me off!"

"It's not just that, Rubes." Oliver says, suddenly looking all omniscient and strangle-worthy. "I've noticed how red your face gets and how you get all flustered."

"That's usually what happens when someone pisses you off," I respond hotly.

Oliver gives a hum of thought and inclines his head to the side. "Or when you're around someone you like."

"Like!?" I splutter. "How many brain cells do you have Oliver? That's insane! I do not like Le-"

"Yeah," Oliver cuts me off and gives me a smile that's too similar to those a parent gives to their kid when they tell them they're going to become an astronaut or something. "Come on then," he says, starting to walk off too.

"I'm with Ryan anyway!" I call after him fiercely, unable to take this as some joke. After muttering furious things that deem the guy an idiot I trudge after him.

"Oh so you're finally here," Luke says when he sees Oliver and me. I notice that Max and Imogen are standing huddled together while Levi's talking to Natalia about something. Luke himself looks both impatient and freezing as he stares questioningly at us.

"Sorry," Oliver says, "had to sort something out with my art stuff."

"No matter," Natalia says, shrugging. "But while you were away, we were thinking of not going to town but someplace else."

"Where?" I ask.

"Well there's that ice rink place at Melford Park's opening again, and the last day of school's a good cause for celebration, isn't it?" Natalia replies. My heart sinks. Ice rink?

"Alright," Oliver says brightly, looking more than up for it.

I shake my head, feeling completely the opposite. Memories of being ten years old and holding onto the side of some ice rink suddenly come flooding back. I shake my head. "I'm not going."

"Why?" Max asks as he and Imogen walk over.

I give a quick, embarrassed smile before swallowing. "I can't exactly skate."

"Nor can I," Luke says miserably before patting me on the back. "But don't worry; we can fall on our arses together." I open my mouth to protest further but the rest of them won't hear it, especially Imogen who claims she 'won't lose sight of me', sounding both a little crazed and very ominous.

So in the next few moments, through not much choice of my own, I find we're all heading to Melford Park.

* * *

The ice rink at the park's quite new and boasts a large number of visitors. It's situated a little way outside Wickworth and runs through the majority of winter.

Luckily, Imogen and Oliver are acting normally, as though they've completely forgotten about what they've found out, really, I already know I'm going to get bombarded with another assault of questions but it's something that'll hopefully happen later (or never at all).

When we get there, all of us appear impressed. Melford park's always been a beautiful place, with its stunning Christmas decorations or without. Its outdoor ice rink held centre position and looked beautiful in all its glory. As soon as we enter the park we head over to the area to buy tickets and get our boots to put on.

The prettiness of the rink can't stop the unease in my stomach as I get handed my ice skates, hating the look of the blades fixed in them. I wasn't looking forward to the next few hours at all. Solely because of two reasons, the first being that I can't skate to save my life and the second a particular person who'd appeared particularly amused at my inability to skate and would most certainly piss me off all afternoon- this is proven by a single, annoying greeting: "Hello, Bug."

I look up from tightly tying my laces to see Levi grinning above me.

"Piss off," I mutter, not in the mood for Levi and his idiocy.

"Ah, nice to see you're as merry as ever," Levi says, grinning. His mood seems to have remarkably picked up ever since the car ride here, as if he's looking forward to this. The idea of Levi liking ice skating's more than odd.

"And you're as much of a prick, I see," I reply, smiling sarcastically.

"Now that isn't getting into the festive spirit," Levi says, shaking his head derisively.

"Oh don't talk to me about 'festive spirit', you'll probably get a lump of coal in your stocking if Father Christmas were real," I say, finishing lacing up my boots and straightening to stand up.

Levi nods, surprisingly appearing to agree with me. My surprise disperses when he leans in and gives a wink. "Well we both know how bad I've been,"

My cheeks immediately flush at the remark and I come incredibly close to hitting him. A part of me thinks he's alluding to the kiss and by god, if he is, then I'm going to making him-

"Oh look," a woman suddenly says, coming out of nowhere and smiling serenely at us. She points up the ceiling.

Levi and I both look up and to my utmost horror I see mistletoe dangling above us from a post. My reaction's instantaneous; I immediately leap away from him, tripping into a nearby bench behind me while Levi adopts a much calmer response.

He lets out an amused breath as he stands watching my erratic response, all the while staying where he is.

"Oh... are you not together?" the woman asks, eyeing me strangely. I place a hand against my heart which has started beating faster from the sudden movement and shock.

"No!" I cry as Levi simply shakes his head, still looking as composed as ever. Actually he seems more humoured than indifferent, judging by the way his eyes have just lit up with bright amusement.

"Right," the lady says, giving a confused nod, "I just thought... whatever." She shrugs her shoulders before giving us a smile and walking off to help a boy with his ice skates. I look after her agape, realising that this is the second time someone's thought there's something between Levi and I.

"Why getting so ruffled by some mistletoe, Bug?" Levi asks, chuckling.

I scoff. "Maybe because that was mistletoe?"

Levi merely shrugs and smirks slightly. "Mistletoe just means a kiss, right?" His smile broadens into something more impish. "Well, it's not like we haven't been there before."

Speechless, all I can do is stare at him slack-mouthed. I can't for the life of me understand how he found it so easy to bring up that damned subject and I bloody hate how much of I wreck I turn when he does.

Levi continues to smirk at my speechless response. Without saying anything more, he turns and skates off out into the ice, probably to terrorise some other helpless victim. I shove my hair away from my face, cursing how flushed it's become. Someday, I'm going to kill that-

"Oh Ruby," a voice suddenly says behind me. I turn around and see Oliver standing a metre away, grinning madly. "You know I'm so completely right."

Being unable to handle getting pissed off by two complete twat heads I simply huff before wobbling to the edge of the ice rink and holding on tight.

Grasping onto the railings at the edge of the ice rink while watching your friends skate about isn't what I'd call having a good time. It turns out Luke can actually skate, not that well admittedly but enough so that he can actually go out and move.

I, on the other hand, have been clutching the railings for the past fifteen minutes, shaking my head whenever anyone attempts to make me join in. I'm completely thrown by the fact that two slithers of metal are all that's meant to support me and know for a fact I'm going to go tumbling down to my knees if I so much as move an inch.

Letting out a bored, self-piteous sigh, I watch the others. Max and Imogen skate around the ice rink, holding hands and sharing kisses whilst Natalia helps Luke move along; he seems to be getting better with each passing minute. Lucky git.

"Are you going to stay at the side all day?" My gaze reverts back to in front of me to see Levi standing before me. My heart stutters when I see just how pink his lips and cheeks have gotten from the cold, the colour delicate and tantalisingly inviting...

Cursing myself, I focus upon Levi, rather than just his mouth.

"Yes," I say, trying to look less bored. "I'm fine here; I'm having loads of fun."

Levi looks at me flatly.

We both know clutching onto the plastic barrier is probably about as fun as shoving a stick up your nose but there's no way I'm showing Levi any disadvantage.

He looks at me silently for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing as if he's making some decision. I'm about to open my mouth and order him to go away before he abruptly skates towards me. He comes to a halt a mere foot away.

My pulse begins to thrum more quickly from the loss of space and, startled, I find myself torn between telling him to shove off and asking him to skate even nearer.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Levi mutters to himself. Before I can ask what, however, he suddenly holds out both his hands, gloved palms facing upwards. I look down at them curiously before looking back at him with justified suspicion.

"What are you doing?"

The corner of Levi's mouth tugs upward as he regards me with a friendlier expression than I'm used to. The look sends the sensation of butterflies flying amok in my stomach and suddenly I'm aware of how strangely warm I feel in an ice rink.

"Take my hands," he says, gesturing towards them with an inclination of his head.

"What?" I ask, growing more doubtful. "Why would I want to do that?"

Levi huffs out another impatient sigh, not appearing too impressed by my distrust. "Do you want to be clinging onto the edge all afternoon?"

I have to admit I don't know how much more of staying at the sides I can handle.

I glance over at Oliver who's skating brazenly through the rink, attempting to catch the attention of a group of girls huddled together whilst Luke's skates by him with Natalia, acting moody but nevertheless still joining in, and secretly I think, having fun.

Looking back at Levi I'm a little surprised to see he's still holding out his hands. By now I'd have thought he woudl've given up but he hasn't. He's still looking at me, dark eyes expectant as ever. "Come on."