Until Kaylah stormed her way through the door.
She hated me. I could see it in her eyes. She thought I was like all those other girls who used her to get close to her brother. She never knew how I felt about him, but I went a long way in making sure she didn’t. She would have hated the idea of us together.
In her eyes, I’d betrayed her in the worst possible way, and in that moment, I saw the regret flashing over Jackson’s eyes. That moment everything changed.
What was so incredibly special for me, was just another random girl for him to regret.
By the time school came around on Monday morning, neither of them were there and I haven’t seen them since. That was maybe eight months ago. Kaylah ignored my texts and I didn’t bother trying with Jackson. He had gutted me and I’ve never been the same.
I still can’t believe it actually happened. The sweetest moment of my life was turned into the worst in a matter of seconds. I just…I need to see him just once. There are so many questions in my head, all of which I’m sure I won’t like the answers to.
Jackson would be starting college now and rumor has it that he’s found ‘the one’ and is destined for greatness on his college football team. I don’t doubt it for one second. When it came to football, he was simply the best. But the idea of him falling in love with someone else…I simply can’t handle it. I had always dreamed that it would be me. That he was waiting until the right time to claim me as his own. What a disturbed little fool I was.
Kaylah though, apparently, she’s dating the king of Broken Hill High, Jesse Ryder. I heard the guy was a douche so I don’t know what the hell she’s doing with him. I’ve never actually met the guy, nor do I want to. I’d also heard he was the biggest manwhore in Broken Hill, you know, right after his older brother, Nate.
Good luck to her.
So, now…it’s just me left here to fend off the bitches of Haven Falls Private by myself without a best friend’s comfort or the protection of Jackson and the football team. Now, it’s a free for all and all they’ve ever wanted was to see me break.
The only good thing that has happened to me over the past eight months was when summer came around. It gave me a chance to escape the whispers and taunts, but now that school is back and I’m a senior, it’s all come back with a vengeance. I swear, every fucker and their dog thinks they know what went down, which means they blame me for Jackson leaving. Without Jackson, the football team had no chance in hell.
Well, fuck ‘em.
The bell rings and I get up, scraping my chair across the floor as I go. I grab my book off the desk and leave the room, leaving the mess of my pink detention slip behind.
By lunch, I want to drown.
Today sucks. I’ve had some skank ram her elbow into my ribs in the hallway, some jerk jock requesting me to sit on his dick because losing my virginity to Jackson Millington means that I’m now the designated Haven Falls whore, and to finish it all up, I’ve had the whole cheerleading team do a spontaneous performance in the quad, specifically to call me out as a loser.
FML.
I will not break. I will not break.
Holy hell, I think I’m going to break.
Usually, I can handle this shit. I’m strong. I have a backbone from years of being tortured by cheerleaders and skanks wanting to get in with Jackson, but it’s been hit after hit since I woke up. Slept in. Dad gone. The state of my home. The truck. Those stupid jocks in the car. The list goes on and on.
I walk into the cafeteria to the familiar noise of one hundred students’ murmured conversations. If I keep my head down, I might just make it out of here alive.
I line up to get myself some lunch and sigh as I notice that all they have on offer today is spaghetti Bolognese. I mean, isn’t this supposed to be a private school? Shouldn’t there be a whole selection of meals, all healthier than the one before?
I take my bowl of spaghetti and turn towards the tables, spying one in the back that looks lonely enough so I can avoid talking to anyone. I start beelining towards it when someone grabs a fistful of my hair and jerks me back with a hard pull.
“That’s my fucking shirt, bitch,” a prissy shout is yelled in my ear, as I screech out, desperately trying to release my hair.
I whirl around and come face to face with none other than Candice McGillies. Fuck me, out of all the lockers I had to break into, it had to be hers. Jackson’s on again/off again girlfriend for the past two years. You know, excluding when he left to go to Broken Hill, they were seriously over then, which naturally, she blames me for.