Kayla's POV:

The next day, I make it to school just as the warning bell rings. I walk to my locker calmly, no rush at all – I plan to get to class at least three minutes late.

Waiting by my locker are Steph and Quinn.

"Hey Kay", Steph leans forward to hug me, burying my face in her red hair. She pulls away from me and studies my face. "How have you been?"

How have I been? Good question.

My first instinct of course is to laugh it off, pretend like I don't know what she is talking about. But I remember our conversation last night when both of them came to my house. I remember how I cried about Aaron, how heartbroken I felt and how my gift of art seemed to have deserted me. I remember them hugging me as we ordered pizzas and watched a movie, trying to cheer me up.

Last night was the first time I had ever been open with anyone, and I decided then that maybe talking about my feelings wouldn't be so bad.

"I'm working through it", I tell Steph who has been watching me expectantly.

She nods with a smile. "We're here for you", she says. "And if you want revenge on Aaron, just say the word. I know just how to handle it"

"Are you going to fake date someone to get Aaron jealous?", Quinn asks, her eyes wide.

Steph rolls her eyes. "No Quinn. We handle it the good old fashion way. I'll open Lion's cage and set him on Aaron."

"Lion", Quinn asks, her eyes looking a bit frightened.

"That's Steph's pet snake.", I inform her.

Quinn looks like she is about to faint when Aaron's friend – what's his name now – walks over towards us.

"Quinn", he says from a distance, "may I kindly remind you that you ought to be attending your scheduled class presently, and I have previously instructed you to refrain from associating with those girls."

Quinn rolls her eyes and mutters 'overprotective', before she walks down the hall, past him and towards her next class. Aaron's friend (Quinn's brother) glares at us, then walks away.

"Sometimes I forget that they are twins.", Steph says. "Quinn is literally so chill but Keon acts like he has a stick up his 'posterior'", she mimics a British accent.

"Mhmm", I say absently. Seeing Keon reminds me of Aaron.

"Well, I've got to be off for class right now", Steph says. "Are you going to be okay?"

I give the best smile I can muster. "Of course I will."

She hugs me again, and I watch her as she walks off.

The final bell rings just at that moment, but I don't move. I am not ready to face class yet, especially not Calculus with Mr Kabab.

I wait for a few more minutes, enjoying the quiet in the hallways, waiting for the artistic inspiration that would usually have gripped me by now.

Nothing.

I sigh as I finally move off to my calculus class. I hesitate outside the door for a moment as I hear Mr Kebab's loud voice teaching something in the class.

Then I push open the door and step inside.

Mr Kebab is standing in front of the board, but he stops teaching the instant he sees me.

"Glad you finally decided to join us Miss Barnes", he says in a voice that does not sound glad at all.

I give him a cocky smile. "Glad that you are happy to see me."

He glares at me, and I smirk.

"I am not in the mood for your shenanigans this morning Miss Barnes", he snarls. "Have you done your homework?"

Ah right. One of the demerits of breaking up with Aaron is that there is nobody to motivate me or threaten me to do the homework.

I hesitate, and Mr Kebab gives an exasperated sigh. "Of course not. I don't have your time this morning, so I suggest you sit right over there and do your homework before the end of this class."

I follow his pointed finger to the seat he is pointing at and... oh no.

Aaron Delany is in the seat beside me.

Of course, I would sit with the one person I never want to see again yet long to see.

I wonder if Mr Kebab would allow me to sit somewhere else, but one look at his frustrated face compels me to take my seat. I walk slowly towards my chair, and I notice Aaron firmly looking away from me.

I draw out my chair, sit and take out my notebook to start working on the homework, trying to ignore the fact that Aaron is beside me and totally pretending that he has never seen me before.

What a jerk. A month of fake dating and he suddenly forgets who I am?

I feel hurt and anger begin to bubble inside of me.

Angrily, I take out some gum from my pocket and begin to chew. The I make a huge bubble and pop it. Loudly.

I notice Aaron flinch, but he doesn't stop looking at the board where Mr Kebab is teaching.

I make another huge bubble and then pop it.

Aaron drops his pen and grits his teeth but still keeps his eyes away from me.

I grin as I make the biggest bubble I've ever made in my life. And then I pop it

It is so loud that even some of the students on the front of the class turn to look at me. Aaron turns to face me with a glare.

"Stop doing that, Kayla.", he whispers.

I glare at him. "Oh wow, you know my name. How awesome is that. I thought you had forgotten who I was."

"Is that what this is about Kayla? Getting my attention in the middle of an important class?", he says with a voice of disdain. I hate that. I hate how is looking at me right now as if I am a stranger.

By now most of the people around us are looking at us in interest, but I don't care.

"I cannot believe that after all we went through you still went back to Alicia". It feels good to say the words, almost liberating. I realize that it has been bothering me so much that he went back to Alicia and now I've finally gotten it off my chest.

Aaron's eyes shift away from my face. "We had a deal, Kayla. You were to help me get Alicia back, and you did. Those were the rules."

"Who cares about the rules?", I cry out a bit loudly. "Your parents manipulated you into dating Alicia. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you actually love her?"

Aaron glares at me. "Stop this, Kayla. You said this yourself that day in the cafeteria – I was a fun game. Nothing more. So why do you care so much now?"

Did I say that? I remember some of the things I said in the cafeteria, but I said them mostly out of anger. Anger that he was back to Alicia, anger that I thought I had a chance with him.

Aaron pushes his glasses up his nose firmly as I search for an answer. "That's what I thought. At least Alicia wants to date me while you just see me as some new toy."

"You know what I thought your glasses were fake, but maybe you do need them because its very clear that you can't tell when someone is in love with you."

Aaron gasps and opens his mouth to say something when...

"KAYLA BARNES STAND UP NOW"

We all turn forward to find Mr Kabab practically steaming at me, his face red.

"Detention Miss Barnes."

I look at Aaron one last time before grabbing my bag and walking out of the room.

I walk calmly and collectedly to the detention class, but the moment I get there, I slam the door shut and throw my bag against the wall.

How can anyone be so blind

I stamp my foot in anger and punch the door which only causes my knuckles to hurt.

That doesn't stop me though, and I punch the door a few more times for good measure before I finally run out of energy and sink to the ground.

"So... are you done?", I hear a voice from behind me. Instantly, I whip around to see my ex – my original ex.

Yep Jason. The reason I even started fake dating Aaron.

"What are you doing here?", I ask him.

"Same thing as you. Detention."

He offers me a smile, and I roll my eyes.

"Look, I know things between us ended badly..."

"That's an understatement", I say, and he winces a bit.

"Ok I cheated on you and I am a very trash person for doing so." He looks at me for permission to continue, and I nod. "But before we dated, we were friends, and it hurts me to see you in pain. So for a moment, let's forget that we dated and go back to being friends."

"Dude please shut up. You cheated on me and now you want to play it off like nothing happened. Even if you didn't like me you should have told me instead of cheating and..."

And making me get into a fake relationship which has broken me completely.

The words die in my throat and I close my eyes tightly to prevent crying while rubbing the skull shaped ring on my finger.

"Kay, I have no way to apologize to you for the really shitty thing I did but you need to understand that it wasn't you. As cliche as it sounds, it was all me. And I know I was a real dick about it, making it about you and you not wanting to sleep with me", I cringe a bit here and he notices because he quickly moves on "Look you're unhappy and I'm genuinely concerned"

I nod again, but I don't say anything.

"Is it because of Aaron?", he asks, and I nod, tears threatening to cloud my eyes.

Jason puts an arm around me. "Breathe, Kayla, breathe." He reaches his hand into his pocket and pulls out a snickers bar. "You look like you need some snickers to help you calm down", he says.

I give him a small smile as I collect the snickers bar from him and open it. Gently, I take a bite.

"Feel better?", he asks, and I nod.

For a while we don't say anything, just sit there as I munch on the snickers. He reaches into his pocket, brings out another snickers and begins to munch on that, so we are just two people sitting together, eating snickers.

"For what its worth, I think Aaron is also very hurt about breaking up with you.", he says, and I turn to look at him in surprise. "His game was totally off yesterday and I think its because he's upset about something, probably you."

I frown. "Aaron is the one who left me for Alicia. If he is upset, why wouldn't he just come back to me?"

See this is what Aaron has turned me into - a person seeking closure from an ex that I should have hit by now.

"I don't know Kay, but things around here seem a little fishy. Maybe I can dig around?"

I look up suspiciously. "Why would you suddenly help me. You hate Aaron."

Jason chews up the last of his snickers then gets up to throw the wrapper in the bin. He comes back and sits beside me. "Look, Aaron and I have a childhood argument because his parents and in know each other and my parents are far more lenient than his are. His parents act like stereotypical Asians, no offence. Have you met them?"

I nod, indicating that I have.

"They have some irrational fear that their children are going to be failures so they push them really hard. Aaron's dad's brother was a footballer but he broke his leg and became totally useless since he didn't have a degree in anything else. Meanwhile, Aaron's mother was pushed hard by her own parents. So obviously, they'll push Aaron and his other siblings really hard. They even make Aaron wear fake glasses so he looks smarter."

"Hold up, how do you know all this?", I ask.

"I told you, my parents know Aaron's parents, so they talk a lot. They are always trying to convince my parents to be stricter with me but my parents don't do that, so Aaron is a bit envious. And of course, when he was out on the football team which was my passion, I became envious so we kind of hate each other."

I rub my hand on my temple. This is getting very confusing.

"You look like you need another snickers bar", Jason says, and I nod as I watch him fish out another one from his pocket and hand it to me.

"So what now", I ask, taking a bite out of the chocolate.

"Well, I can investigate if you want", he says as the bell rings.

We both get up and I head towards the door and open it.

Standing outside is Aaron, and it is obvious that he was waiting outside, maybe for me. But right now he is frowning. He looks at me, then at Jason and his frown deepens. Then wordlessly, he turns and walks away.

I slump visibly. The pain I feel every time I think of Aaron comes again.

Jason gives me a small pat. "Look, it's going to be hard, but you have to be strong ok. You are Kayla Barnes. Remember that."

I nod. The pain in my heart is still there, but I don't succumb to it.

Instead, I feel an artistic urge come into me. It isn't the normal way my art feels. This one feels sad, a bit manic and very different.

I watch as Jason walks away, then I quickly get out my sketchpad, drawing what I fell in light strokes. When I am done, I know that I can make it. I won't succumb to the pain of not being with Aaron, no matter how hard it may be.

One step at a time, I move – out of the classroom and forward.

A/N: OMG  we are on 2k reads. Thank you all so much for reading this book, for all your votes and comments.

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