I only see Chase back in school again on Friday when I run into him in the hallway. His eye is black, swollen, and barely open.

"Wyatt did that to you?" I ask, feeling guilty. I know I shouldn't feel guilty but I do. Then I remember the horrible things he said and suddenly don't feel guilty anymore.

"No, he didn't. I told you I was sorry! Why did you have to tell your friend to punch me?" He questions.

"What friend? What are talking about?" I ask, confused.

"Colt! He cornered me yesterday and punched me in the face! He said that he'll finish the job if I ever hurt you again," he whines.

"Colt? You mean Will and Alex's friend?" I'm even more confused now. I haven't seen that guy since Ashton's party!

"Yeah, the creepy British guy," he says.

"I really didn't ask him to do anything. But you deserved it anyway." I shrug and walk away.

I've avoided Macey all week and I've been hanging out with Will, Alex, Ashleigh, and the twins. It's been really fun. When I'm with them, I don't really care that the rest of the school hates me for getting the quarterback beaten up.

I catch up with Will in algebra after lunch. He's surprised when I tell him what Colt did. He says that he's barely seen him around either.

*
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*

"I really like your place," Ashleigh says as we enter my house after school. "It's different when it's not packed with people."

"It's like one third the size of yours!" I say, laughing.

"Well, I like it. It's cozy. And so tastefully done!" She appreciates.

"My brother did it up." I say.

"Wyatt, right? He goes to Riverbrook U?" She asked.

"Yup." I reply.

"I've seen him around! He's cuuuute," she says.

"Ew!" I laugh.

We hang out in my room for a while and watch a few episodes of Gossip Girl. Ashleigh is the kind of person you can open up to really easily. I feel awful about judging her before getting to know her.

"I'm sorry, Ashleigh." I sigh.

"What for?" She asks.

"For not being nice to you at first. For judging you before I even knew you." I reply sheepishly.

"Believe me, I judge people all the time too! It's okay! It's natural. I know I can come on a little strong." She smiles. That's a relief. "Besides, I bet Chase and Macey didn't exactly have nice things to say about me."

"You've got that right," I chuckle. "I still don't know what went down between you and Macey," I say, hoping that she'll explain.

"Okay, I'll tell you," she says.

"Yay!" I squeal and the she pours the whole thing out.

"Chase and Macey secretly dated a while ago. I don't think it was too serious," she starts. "They broke up after a little while and Chase started to get hotter day by day. He was nice and gorgeous. I started to fall for him." She looks down at her feet.

"Ay dios mío! Ashleigh, he's your brother! " I yell, disgusted and she starts to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"He's my stepbrother, you idiot. We're not related by blood at all. Didn't you know that? " She continues to laugh.

"I most certainly did not know that," I say with my eyes wide. "Oh my god. You dated Chase and you never even mentioned it!"

"I'm sorry! It just never came up!" She explains.

"Really? Whenever we were at your place and he hung out with us for a while, you couldn't have once been like 'hey guess what? Chase and I used to go out.'?" I demand.

"Look, Kat, I'm really sorry okay? It's just really embarrassing. Anyway, yeah. Chase and I started to date. We were in love. At least I was. Macey was convinced that I stole him from her. I didn't even know that they were together until we broke up," she continues.

"Why did you break up?" I ask. This is so surprising.

"He cheated on me with the entire cheerleading squad. And then he dumped me. For Macey," she sighs. "And then he convinced everyone that I was the one who cheated on him." She laughs without humour.

"Ash, I'm so sorry." I place my hand on her shoulder.

"Whatever, I'm over it. I just wanted you to know what a snake he is," she shrugs.

"I know now."

I hear the main door open. "That must be Wyatt," I say.

"OMG, let's go say hi! You can offically introduce me to him!" She says, suddenly excited. She runs out of my room and I follow her.

"Wyatt, this is my friend Ashleigh. Ashleigh, this is Wyatt. You guys probably met at the party the other night. You remember, don't you, Ash?" I introduce them as Ashleigh elbows me.

"Ow! What was that for?" I complain as she laughed nervously.

"Nice to meet you, Ashleigh," Wyatt said with a smile.

"You too. Good job beating Chase up, by the way." She laughs.

"Thanks!" He laughs too and I roll my eyes.

My phone buzzes and I look at it to see a text from Jules.

"Oh my gosh!" I scream.

"What is it?" Ashleigh asks.

"Jules is coming to Riverbrook tomorrow!" I say excitedly.

"That's awesome!" Wyatt grins.

"You're gonna love her, Ash. You two are a lot alike." I say.

"I'm looking forward to meeting her!"

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A/N

What did you guys think of this chapter? Is Colt shady or what? What about Ashleigh's revelation? Were you surprised? Are you excited to see what Jules is like?

Thanks for reading!

Please vote and comment xx