"What happened, Tamsin?" My mom asked when to get up from my bed.

At first, she was going to force me out of my bedroom and enjoy my spring break with them. However, one look at me stopped her. My eyes were swollen and baggy. I didn't get any sleep because I kept having nightmares of everyone laughing at me.

My mom sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to smooth back my hair.

"You can tell me, baby." The tender look she gave me made me want to cry all over again.

"Nothing," I replied. "I just want to stay in bed."

"Did something happen last night?"

I exhaled slowly and covered my face with both of my hands. She would not leave me alone. I know my mom and she would pester me until I say something or worse, she'll take off work to stay home with me. I needed to be alone.

"Mom..." My voice broke.

"What, baby?"

I removed my hand to look at her and tears welled up in my eyes. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and looked down in shame.

"I went to a party last night."

My mom stiffened, because I didn't tell her about it. She didn't know I was at a party. I knew she was angry with me.

"I'm sorry, mom. Before I left, I should have asked you or dad, but I wanted to have fun. I was invited, and I thought it was just a party that nothing would not happen."

"What happened?" My mom's voice grew harder and more panicky.

I looked up at her and saw that she was trying to hide her emotions. But I saw the hard set in her jawline. The way her eyes grew a little more distant.

I looked down at my hands that were in my lap.

"I got pushed into the pool and I was wearing a white dress. Everyone was laughing at me when I came out of the water. No one helped me. Later, I found out that several people recorded me and posted me online. The entire school must know by now how stupid I am."

My mom sighed and placed a hand over mine. She squeezed it gently.

"Look at me, Tamsin."

I looked up again, and she cradled one side of my face.

"You can't avoid these problems for long. As your mother, I want to scold you for going behind our back. But I realized you are growing up. You'll have to go through these things in order to grow. I can try to protect you as much as I can, but even by protecting, I could also do you a disservice. I never wanted you to be in this situation, which was why I try so hard to keep you close. You went behind my back. I am disappointed. We were able to talk to each other about these things. I guess I've been too busy to be there for you."

I shook my head. It wasn't her fault. I decided to go.

"It's my fault. I should have talked to you. I thought..." I fell silent.

My mom looked at me for a minute before she sighed and squeezed my hands again.

"Do you want me to stay home with you today?"

I shook my head immediately. "Avery is coming over soon."

My mom nodded her head in understanding before standing up.

"You can call me if you need anything."

She walked out of my room after I nodded my head. I collapsed onto the bed and covered myself with a blanket. I didn't tell her that everyone practically saw me almost naked. The panties that I wore a little on the sexier side. I wasn't a skinny girl, but a slightly thicker girl. Everyone must have seen my love handles and back fat. I wanted to die when I thought about what happened last night.

I don't know how long I laid down like that or when I fell asleep, but I woke up to furious pounding on the door. Wrapping the blanket around my body, I walked out of my bedroom and into the living room. I could hear Avery shouting from outside.

"You better open this door in three seconds or I swear I'm breaking in and you can't call the cops on me!"

I opened the door and gave her a glum look. She took one look at me and walked right inside. Immediately, Avery wrapped her arms around me tightly.

"Girl, I'm so angry right now. I could walk right over to Ava and beat the crap out of her. Why did you go without me? I didn't even know you were going."

"It was last minute. Dean invited me."

"That boy is trouble. He has a fucking crazy ex. She's a fucking psychopath. Who does she think she is?"

I pulled away from Avery and walked into the kitchen. She followed behind me, still ranting about Ava. I grabbed the milk jug from the fridge and turned to look at her.

"It's okay. I'm fine."

Avery's eyes swept over me, and she shook her head.

"You are not fine. You look like Wednesday Addams. Your face is pale. Your eyes are bloodshot with dark circles, and is that dried up snot on your face?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ok, I'm not fine."

"Of course you're not. Tell me what we are going to do next. I'm there."

Avery was the kind of friend who would hand you a knife if you said you were going to stab a bitch. She was the type of friend who would drive the getaway car if you decided you don't want to follow through with your wedding. You tell her who and she would say where and when. This is why I love her so much.

"We will not do anything."

"Did you see the viral video? It's flying all over our school media. Do you want me to contact someone who can take that shit down? How about I just go over and kill the one who created this?"

I giggled while pouring myself a cup of milk. She was making me feel a little better at her jokes. When I filled the cup up with milk, I sat the jug down and took a gulp.

"I saw the video and there are so many more. Clips of me falling in and out. The look on my face as I emerged from the water. The way people laughed at me. All clipped and posted for everyone to see." I placed my cup on the counter and looked down.

Avery walked to my side and grabbed me by my arms.

"Look at me," she said firmly. "Who gives a fuck what anyone thinks about you? They are nobody important to you. In just a few months, we all would go our separate ways and all of this would be nothing in a few days."

I nodded my head. "I know. I just need to get over it at my pace."

"I'm still so upset that no one helped you," Avery muttered.

I thought about Kai staring at me. I think that hurt me more than anything else. He didn't have to come rescue me, but I thought we were closer and that was why it hurt. However, it wasn't his fault. I wanted to end things between us. I thought it would clear whatever thing we had going on. That wasn't the case when I saw him with Chloe.

"I saw Kai at the party."

Avery's eyes snapped to me.

"And he didn't save you?"

"Why would he? He isn't responsible for me. I didn't ask for him to save me."

Avery nodded her head, but still she was upset.

"I thought you two were friends."

Friends? Did I look at Kai as a friend, or was it something more? Avery studied me for a minute before she gasped.

"Don't tell me you like him?"

"W-what? No!" I exclaimed.

"Oh my god, you do! You so do! I can see it on your face. What did he do? Why do you look upset at the mention of him?"

I sighed and covered my eyes with one palm. A second later, I threw my arms up into the air.

"It's just that he came to the party with Chloe. Why her? Why Chloe? When I saw them together, I felt a strong hatred towards her. I wanted to go over there and slap her face and hands away from him." When I spoke it out loud, I knew these words were true. They were my true feelings.

"Oh my god, you're totally jealous."

"Jealous? No, I wouldn't say I'm jealous."

"You didn't like a girl hanging onto your man. You wanted to scratch her face and pee all over him to mark your territory."

"Ew! Not to that extent!"

"You know what I mean. When did you start having feelings for him?"

Feelings? Did I have feelings for him?

"But Dean..."

"Dean might have been an ideal guy, but you don't want your ideal man. Instead, you want Mr. Badboy."

"I don't think so."

"Let's look at it this way. Do you think he's hot?"

I thought back to when I fell on top of him at the store. At that time, I admitted he was actually really hot. My heart did all kinds of flips, while my stomach had butterflies all over the place.

"I can see that you do," Avery said confidently.

"You get angry and irritated when another girl is around him, especially one that you know he has a past with."

I shuffled on my feet and huffed. Avery grinned.

"When he is in close proximity to you, you feel your heart race and your mind go blank. You want him to kiss you and you want to wrap your arms around him."

My heart raced when I thought about Kai kissing me and the way he grabbed my body. I blushed and looked away. Was I that blinded by my obsession with Dean that I didn't realize how much I liked Kai?

I thought back to every situation I encountered with Kai. He has always been there for me. The way he took care of me by wrapping his sweater around my waist when I had my period. The way he stopped me from falling onto the hard ground floor of the store. When I saw him hurt, I panicked and worried about him. I care more than I wanted to admit.

These feelings continued to grow the more time I spent with him. Although he could be a total dick at times, I found that I liked even when he was a total dick.

I wished I had looked harder at my feelings and not been so stubborn. I could've stopped what would have happened. No. I wouldn't be able to stop anything. Bad things would happen no matter what. Like my mom said, I could try to avoid it. I could hide away from everything and everyone. I could go to school and come straight home, but what kind of life would that be? Before, I wasn't happy. Why would I be happy now? Wasn't this the reason I kept sneaking out after school? I wanted to see more.

"So..." Avery raised an eyebrow.

I looked up at her and whatever she saw, Avery smiled before moving to hug me. She squeezed me tightly in her arms.

"I'm glad you know what you wanted, and if you take it from me, Kai isn't all that bad."

"He isn't. He's just a total ass at times, but he's not." That was the truth.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

I smiled before shrugging. "I don't know, but I am going to live these next few months for myself. Nothing else matters."

"And Kai?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I have six more days before school starts again to convince myself that my feelings for him are more than just friends."

Avery nodded her agreement. "Good luck! Don't let the world knock you down. Catch the world by your hands because you're a goddess!"