As Winona raced her aching legs through the forest, the dark trees all blur into nothing but a haze. She moved faster than her feet had ever let her in her 15 years of living. 

Her screams of dread echoed, making birds chirp up a racket. The only sound in the pretty much barren woods was her movement. The twigs snapped beneath her mud coated white gym sneakers.   

The bright blue ribbon in her ponytail of blonde curls flew through the wind. The painted 57 on the apple of her cheek was starting to melt from the rain. 

Her revealing and severely un-modest blue cheerleading uniform was causing an eruption of goosebumps to spread across her otherwise bare skin. 

The rain bounced off her skin, weighing down her hair and bringing a slip to the mud before her feet.

"No!" She squealed, sprinting for her life. 

"I'm going to kill you Winona Marshall!" The voice behind her roared, echoing through the secluded spot. They wouldn't be heard. Her screams wouldn't be heard by anyone.

"Stop it!" She pleaded, jumping over a log, ducking under branches and doing whatever she could to escape.

"You'll pay for what you've done!" 

And then she felt two arms, significantly stronger than her. It didn't take much strength to scoop her up, dragging her feet off the ground and keeping a tight and controlling grip on her.

"Please! Have mercy!" She cried out.

The two arms holding her placed her on the ground, still holding her in place, gripping down on her hips tightly.

"You stole my letterman? I know it was you, I found it in my locker and you're the only one who knows my combo. Was it you?" Wally asked sternly one last time. "No-" She tried to plead. "Liar!" He called out, laughing as he resorted to tickle torture.

"Fine!" She finally confessed, but his tickling commenced. "You have your own one, why take mine?!" He responded.

"I'm sorry! It smelled like you!" She cackled, wriggling and squirming in an attempt to escape the tickling which was stealing her breath.

"I had to walk out of the locker rooms in a t-shirt, in mid December." Wally reminded her. His words seemed angry. But truthfully deep down, he didn't have it in him to contain even a drop of anger for his girlfriend. Especially for something so adorable. 

"I wear less for the entire game. Feel bad for me instead." The small girl argued, finally squirming free of his relentless torture and sighing with relief. 

"You're the one who fundraised for the team to get new uniforms." He scoffed, poking her ribs. Despite his joking arguments about the letterman, he slipped it off his shoulders and draped it over the girl's wet and trembling shoulders.

"Well before me, uniforms were grody." She excused with a shrug, slipping her arms through the much larger jacket and snuggling it close. 

"Now they're hot." He agreed as he gave a teasing nip to his girlfriend's exposed hip. She jumped a little, giggling and playfully swatting his arm. 

"We gotta go back, everyone'll make assumptions if we're gone for too long." She said, nodding in the direction they both came from. "Let them assume." Wally mumbled with a little smile, snuggling his face up against her neck and pressing a couple soft kisses.

The girl relished in his tender affection, but ultimately pushed him away in fits of laughter, gripping his hand and running back towards the bonfire, dragging him along. 

The football team and cheerleaders all erupted in suggestive applause and whoops. Winona flushed pink and hugged into her boyfriend from the side. 

"There's our high school sweethearts." His best friend howled out like a wolf. The girls on the cheer team scolded him for being so loud in the woods so late at night. 

"You took so long. What was he doing to you out there you little slut?" Winona's cheer backspot elbowed her in the ribs with a cheeky smirk. 

"Running for my life for the most part." The girl sighed, still exasperated from all the running. "I've solved the case of the missing letterman, boys." Wally joined his friends by the campfire, grabbing two beers and tossing one back to his girl. 

"I couldn't resist the smell." The blonde shrugged innocently, cuddling into the letterman around her shoulders. 

"When's the wedding?" Wally's best friend Michael snorted. In perfect sync, the two chirped up nonchalantly, "March 15th." 

The rest of the large group stared blankly at the couple. "Not this year. March 15th in like 1990. That gives us 10 years to finish school and get a steady income." Wally assured. "Why do you have that planned?" Another guy spoke up mockingly. 

"We want a December baby." Winnie shrugged, unbothered as she flicked open the can and sipped down the beer. 

"I bet they've already named it." Kimberly smiled, directing her best friend to a log where the other girls were sitting. "Her name is Iris." Wally countered, smirking a little to his friends, who chortled and pushed him around teasingly. 

"I call dibs as god mother." Kimberly cheered. "I'll be god father." Michael said hopefully. 

"You think we'd trust you with our unborn and un-conceived child? Think again. I'm not forgetting the fire you set on new years." Winona warned sternly. 

"Water under the bridge. Auntie Kim has a nice ring to it." She hummed, sipping her drink and winking at her friend. 

"You have ten years to prove yourself." Wally snorted. "I can't believe you got him in on your overly-organised schemes." Kimberly ruffled her friend's ponytail. 

"As long as she's happy, I'm happy." Wally replied with a smirk. "Is it a crime to have a plan?" Winona frowned, her perfectly groomed brows knitting into one. 

"You're 15. You have no reason to have your child's name and date of impregnation planned." Kimberly giggled. "Don't listen to her, baby, whatever keeps you sane." Wally gave a playful grin, rounding the fire to hug his girlfriend from behind. 

"Actually, over-planning is proved to have negative impacts on a person's standards. Not just standards for themselves but their achievements and those around them too. It's really unhealthy to try and follow a plan, it just makes the disappointment if things going wrong even harder." Michael chimed in. 

"Okay Mr-psychology-degree."  Kimberly giggled, her and Winona sharing a mocking look. "That's the plan." He retorted without missing a beat. "I thought plans were bad?" Winona retorted, he flipped her off. 

"Let's play truth or dare." A senior on the cheer squad suggested, everyone else echoing approval. 

"Alright, Kim, truth or dare?" Michael said after a few rounds of playing. "Dare." Kimberly shot back boldly.

"I dare you.. to strip to your underwear." Michael challenged, leaning forward with a proud grin. A couple guys wolf whistled, getting excited.

Kimberly didn't even hesitate, freeing herself of her cheer vest until she was wearing merely a bright blue bra and her skirt. She held eye contact with Michael as she reached down to her skirt and slowly rolled it down her thighs.

Everyone erupted in cheers and admiration, the girl showing no embarrassment as she twirled around proudly.

"Michael. Truth or dare." Kimberly shot back, kneeling down before him in an achingly quiet whisper. "Dare." He murmured.

"I dare you to strip down to your underwear." She shot back. He laughed and sighed, standing up. "Karma." Michael stated as he ridded himself of his clothes in the cold night air.

"I could easily dare you to take off your underwear right now." Michael warned. "But you know what your dare would be." Kimberly countered. "I do. So instead, I say.. Wally, truth or dare?"

The taller dark haired boy considered for a moment. "Truth." He decided, an adventurous spark in his eyes.

"What's your favourite position?" A senior football guy asked. He flushed pink, looking down and then looking over to his girlfriend.

"It's a little unique, you might not know it. It's uhh.. it's called the nunya?" Wally stated shyly. "Gnarly. What is it?" The guy asked. "Nunya business." Wally shot back in an instant, most of the guys laughing, others playfully smacking the guy who asked the question.

Winona giggled sweetly, looking up at the boy, who winked down at her. 

"You didn't even answer my question dude." Michael huffed disappointedly. "You asked a stupid question." Wally retorted unwaveringly. 

"Fine. Truth or dare?" Michael replied. Wally sighed. "Truth or Dare, Clark." Michael warned. "Dare. Obviously dare now that I've heard the truth." Wally snorted a laugh. 

"Rub my feet for twenty minutes." Michael ordered. Wally laughed, then saw he was being dead serious. 

"Winnie, we're leaving." He teased, looking to his girlfriend. "Rub the boys feet, Walter." She encouraged. "I'm not-" Wally started. "Rub." Michael interjected, kicking off a shoe and slipping his sock off. 

"I need a new best friend." Wally joked as he got to his knees in front of his life-long best friend, rubbing his foot. "Whilst you're at it get me one too, preferably someone who has soft hands. Yours are all hard." Michael squirmed. 

"It's all the manual labour." Wally deadpanned. "You wouldn't know manual labour if it slapped you in the face, Clark." Coach Marshall scoffed, everyone jumped and hurried to hide away their booze. 

"Relax. I'm off teacher duty. I'm heading home now, you kids need a ride?" The man asked, eyes flicking between his daughter and Wally. Winona stood up, dusting off her skirt. "You coming?" She asked her boyfriend, who jumped at an excuse to stop rubbing Michael's feet. 

"Night babe." Kimberly hugged Winona from the side before the couple left. The two said their goodbyes and followed after the coach. 

"Daddy, can Wally spend the night?" Winona asked gently, squeezing her boyfriend's hand. "Your Mom got her young thing home?" He hummed with disapproval. "Yes coach." Wally sighed with disgust. 

"Hey! Thought I thought I told you to call me Joe." The man warned. "Sorry Joe." Wally cringed. "You're a good kid. You don't need to ask to spend the night anymore. I trust you kids. And I know what home can be like." He told the boy with understanding. 

Winona looked up at her boyfriend, squeezing his hand, Wally smiled sharply and nodded gratefully. Wally was like a missing puzzle piece for the Marshall's. He was like a son to Joseph and Melissa. Winona's eldest brother, Joshua, was one of Wally's closest friends. Her elder sister Jennifer was a guitarist, so Wally would always sing the songs she wrote because she had the singing voice of a wounded cat. Amanda was the baby of the family, and Wally always treated her like a princess, ditching plans with friends in order to attend tea parties. 

He was everything to that family. He was a part of the family.