To say that Melanie was ecstatic to see a pair of piercing blue eyes peering down at her would be an understatement. It did not help that the person those eyes belonged to happened to be none other than Jake Wilson.

"I cannot believe you're making me do this, Mel." Jake Wilson seethed, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"I'm not making you do anything, Jake. A dare's a dare. If you can't take it, then just say so." Melanie said as she pulled on the straps of her backpack with a smug expression on her face.

The dares had first started when Jake challenged Melanie's nine year old authority on the school playground by saying she was incapable of kicking a soccer ball because she was a girl. Melanie, of course, proved him wrong with a pretty little scar as a reminder. From that moment on, they were constantly throwing out dares to each other, in hopes of exposing the other's weakness. Though, their efforts were futile, since both never deigned to back down from a dare.

"The hell I am, but just a warning; your next dare will be nothing compared to this." He threatened as he strode towards the school's head cheerleader, Leah Evans.

Leah Evans epitomized every male's fantasy, with the exception of Jake, who made his disinterest blatantly obvious. Nevertheless, Leah remained persistent, despite his thwarts against her advances. She was relentless in her pursuit and clung onto him like a leech.

Melanie languidly leaned against the locker as she watched Jake proceed to ask Leah out on a date. She noticed his hesitation as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. Melanie was enjoying his discomfort when her body suddenly stiffened from the deafening shriek of Leah Evans.

"I'd love to go on a date with you, Jake!" Leah exclaimed, while she wrapped her arms tightly around Jake's form.

Why any girl would want to go on a date with him was beyond her because he infuriated her to no end. Most of the girls Melanie knew considered Jake hot. Some even went so far as to call him sexy. Melanie, on the other hand, found nothing appealing about Jake Wilson. Though she would have to grudgingly admit, he was far from ugly.

As Leah skipped down the hallway to bear the good news about her hot date, Jake stared blankly across the wall of lockers with an unreadable expression on his face. Without so much as a glare or a smirk in Melanie's direction, Jake began to walk away.

The week had passed fairly quickly, and Melanie saw very little of Jake, until that very morning. Needless to say, Melanie was taken by surprise when he pushed her against the lunch table as she stood to leave for her first period.

Unable to resist, Melanie asked with a knowing smile, "Did you enjoy your date, Wilson?"

Jake rolled his eyes and loosened his grip on both her wrists, "Absolutely lovedit, especially when Leah discussed our wedding and the amount of kids we would have."

Melanie attempted to suppress her laughter, but to no avail. "Done laughing at my expense, baby? You'll miss your next dare, if you keep it up." He said with a smirk.

"Do your worst, Jake." Melanie said with a hint of sarcasm.

Jake gently pulled Melanie toward his body. They became so close that if either of them were to move, they would be touching. Melanie almost lost herself in his eyes, but stopped when Jake whispered softly into her ear, "Melanie Carter, I dare you to plant one on me, in the middle of this cafeteria."

Melanie roughly pushed him away from her and scowled, "What the hell are you playing at, Jake? We hate each other, so why would you put us both through that torture?"

"Nothing, Mel. I just figured this is finally the dare you won't go through." Jake shrugged.

"There is no way in hell I am kissing you." She strongly affirmed.

"What could possibly be more worse than us kissing, Melanie? Is it because you're scared you'll look into my dreamy eyes and fall in love with me?" Jake asked as he brought his face closer to hers and stared at her with such intensity.

Melanie snorted, "Yes, Jake. You caught me. You're so damn irresistible that I turn into a love struck idiot around you."

"Baby, if you feel that way, there's no need to hide it." He smirked.

"Save your bullshit for some other girl, Jake." Melanie snapped and began walking towards the exit.

"Does that mean you won't do it?" Jake called out. By the time he did, the cafeteria door had swung shut and Melanie was gone.

Melanie was still absolutely livid as the day was nearing its end. Over and over, she replayed her and Jake's conversation in her head and became angrier each time she was reminded of the jackass. She was confused as to why he would subject himself to such a punishment. Locking lips with his sworn enemy did not seem like the top of his list of things to do. His motive was for daring her to kiss him piqued her curiosity because it made absolutely no sense to her.

All she knew was that there was no way she could back down from this dare. Too much was at stake to give up, especially her pride.

There was no way Melanie would give up on a dare so easily. The more she thought about it, the prospect of kissing Jake didn't seem entirely too bad. She was sure Jake would enjoy their predicament just as much as she did. Even so, Melanie still didn't want to kiss him and needed to think of a plan of action when she saw the jerk next.

As Melanie continued walking down the empty hallway, she spotted Jake heading in her direction with a soccer ball tucked underneath his arm, most likely coming back from soccer practice. He did not seem to notice her and Melanie took this as her chance.

Without giving it a second thought, Melanie forcefully grabbed Jake's arm.

"Woah, Mel, what are you doing?" Jake asked with a surprised tone as he was dragged along.

Melanie pushed the entrance of the swinging cafeteria doors and continued walking, until she came to a stop and dropped his arm.

"You know, if you wanted to have your way with me-"

Before Jake could even finish his sentence, Melanie grabbed the back of his head and brought her lips to his. Not missing a beat, Jake returned the kiss with the same fervor that Melanie almost missed the thud of the soccer ball as it fell to the ground. Melanie found herself treading her fingers through Jake's hair as she deepened the kiss, causing him to groan in appreciation.

When they finally broke apart, both were out of breath. Melanie's arms were around his neck, while his were situated on her waist as their foreheads touched.

"I didn't think you'd go through with it." He finally voiced out loud.

"What? Did you think I'd let you win?" Melanie playfully joked.

Jake met her eyes with a serious expression on his face. "Well, I was hoping you wouldn't."

"And why would you hope for that?" Melanie inquired, looking up at him.

"So, I could finally kiss you." Jake said in a soft tone.

"How long have you felt this way?" Melanie asked breathlessly.

"The day you gave me this scar." Jake announced as he gestured to the barely visible white line above his brow.

"Oh really? How about you prove it?" Melanie lightly traced the skin above his eyebrow with her thumb and smiled at him.

Jake smirked, "Baby, is that a dare?"

"What do you think?" She asked, rolling her eyes in the process.

Without a moment's hesitation, Jake closed the distance between them and bent down to kiss her.