A feeling of numbness takes over my body and suddenly I'm unable to talk, move, or do anything but stare into the neverending abyss.

How could he?

Did I do something wrong? Was I too clingy?

"Kat, what's going on? Why are you standing all alone in the dark? Where's Will?" Ashleigh bombards me with her questions. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

I blink the tears out of my eyes and look at her. "We should go. It's late."

"Kathryn, what happened?"

"He dumped me. Will dumped me."

Ashleigh responds by widening her eyes and gasping, looking more as shocked as she can be.

"You have your car, right?" I ask and she nods.

We sit in silence and I can tell that Ashleigh has a million questions to ask me. However, she sits quietly, holding them all back. Eventually, I spill everything to her and she listens patiently.

"I'm so stupid," I sigh. "Literally less than two days of being official and he already had enough of me."

"No you're not." Ashleigh denies. "I can't believe Will would do something like this all of a sudden."

"Oh my god, Ash, I'm so sorry," I say, suddenly realizing. "I never should have put you in the middle of this. Will is such a good friend of yours and I would never wanna get in the way of your friendship."

"Kathryn," She looks at me like I'm stupid. "Will is a great friend, but you're my best friend."

"Really?" I ask, surprised. Ashleigh has tons of friends.

"Duh!"

"Wow, you're my best friend too."

"I know," she grins.

With the mood lightened, we talk about anything and everything except Will Walker until we reach Riverbrook.

"Don't make any plans for tomorrow, okay? I have something in mind." Ashleigh waves as I get out of her car and drives away.

"You've been gone for a long time," Wyatt raises an eyebrow as soon as I enter my house.

"Hello to you too, brother."

"Mom and called," He states. "I said you were at Ashleigh's. I didn't think they'd have been too thrilled to have known that you went on an impromptu road trip with your boyfriend and his druggie best friend. You're welcome."

"Well, he's not my boyfriend anymore anyway so I think they'll be fine." I say and run to my room.

"What happened?" Wyatt asks after following me.

"None of your business."

"Do I have to beat another dude up? 'Cause I don't mind..." He offers.

"Wyatt," I give him a warning look.

"Okay, okay, are you going to tell me what happened?"

"I kinda just wanna go to bed if that's cool." I yawn.

"Alright," he sighs. "Goodnight."

***

I can tell from the minute I wake up that it is going to be a lonely day. I reluctantly rise, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

I look into the mirror as I brush my teeth. With last night's makeup smudged all over my face, I look like a zombie bride. A zombie bride wearing pajamas with donuts on them.

I check my phone to see a million texts from Ashleigh, Starla, and Darla.

'Wake up!'

'It's 12pm, where are you?'

'Wake up, bitch!'

'I'm up, what's going on?' I type and hit send.

'Darla will be there in an hour, be ready.' She replies instantly.

I do as she says and enter the kitchen to have the aroma of freshly made waffles and maple syrup enter my nose.

"Is that for me?" I lick my lips.

"Yes. You're welcome." My brother smiles.

"Thanks!"

"So, um, it turns out that Lindsey and I did hook up." Wyatt says quickly.

"What did you just say?" I demand.

"And now she's got some twisted idea that we're together," he continues.

"WHAT?" I yell.

"Yeah." He shows me his phone and Lindsey's new 'In A Relationship' status.

'How could you?!" I yell again.

"I was really drunk!" He defends himself. "You know I'd never knowingly do your arch nemesis."

"Arch nemesis? What am I, Perry the platypus?" I roll my eyes.

"Well, you did insist on buying that Perry the platypus hat from Disneyland last summer." He laughs.

"It was a really cute hat!" I defend.

We eat our waffles and I vaguely tell him about everything that happened over the last two days.

"But why? Did something happen?" He ponders.

"I don't know. It was all so abrupt," I admit.

"Talk to him," he advises and I nod.

The doorbell rings and I quickly get my stuff from my room.

"Fix the whole Lindsey problem." I command my brother and then leave.

"Hey, gurl!" Darla greets me.

"Hey! Are you going to tell me what's going on or am I going to have to guess?"

"I was on my way back from my morning shift at the cafe when Ashleigh told me that you're finally awake! She's waiting for us at the McKnight mansion with Starla."

"Cool!" I smile.

"Hop in," She leads me to her little blue car.

"Thanks for picking me up,"

"No problem! Ash told us what happened with Will. I'm so sorry, Kathryn." She smiles at me apologetically and I awkwardly smile back. "That kid ain't knee-high to a duck."

"I have no idea what that means, Dar," I laugh.

"Well, at least I made you laugh!"

***

We reach the mansion quickly and let ourselves in.

"Finally! It took you long enough." Ashleigh waves.

"What's going on, Ash?" I ask.

"We thought you needed a bit of cheering up so we ordered brunch from Iaconetti's," she says.

Iaconetti's is a fancy Italian restaurant about an hour away from town. It has the most delicious brunch menu ever. Ashleigh must have pulled some strings since they don't deliver. Especially not to places as far away as Riverbrook.

"I guess it's more of an evening snack now though," she continues.

"Aw, you guys! That's so sweet of you," I smile brightly.

"Yeah, we kinda ate it all," Starla says sheepishly.

"You did what, now?" Darla raises an eyebrow.

"We saved you a croissant and a doughnut though!" She hands us a little paper bag.

"Dibs on the croissant," I say, pulling it out and taking a bite.

We relax in the large balcony connected to Ash's room and I fill them in on the Lindsey and Wyatt situation.

"That girl is absolutely insane," Darla sighs.

"I can't believe Wyatt would do that," Ashleigh purses her lips.

"He regrets it," I shrug.

"I'd regret it if I slept with Lindsey too." Starla looks horrified and we all laugh.

"I told him to take care of it. You know what? I'm gonna call him right now," I say and rummage through my handbag for my phone. "Shit, I think I left my phone at home."

"We can go get it later," Ashleigh offers.

"I'll go get it right now." I say. It's not like my place is too far away from here. Nothing is too far away in Riverbrook, after all.

"I drive you." Ashleigh offers quickly. "Can we take your car, Dar?"

"You wanna see her brother, don't ya? Sure" Darla winks. "Starla and I will wait here. Hurry up!"

***

Ashleigh and I enter my house to see Wyatt and Andy sprawled on the couch with loads of books around them.

"Whoa, are you guys actually studying?" I ask.

"Yes, Kathryn. Don't look so surprised." Wyatt replies.

"Coach said he'll kick us off the team if we don't get our grades up," Andy informs me.

"Wow. Okay then. Don't let us disturb you." I say.

"By the way, what's going on with Will? He's been moping all day. Really killing my vibe," Andy rolls his eyes.

"Ask him." I shrug and leave the room.

"Did I say something wrong?" I hear him ask.

"Yes, idiot." I hear Ashleigh respond.

The thought of what happened with Will makes me throw myself onto my comfortable queen sized bed. I look up at the plain white ceiling and sigh.

"Snap out of it, Kat," I say to myself. "He's just another stupid boy."

I feel something poking my back and get up to see that I was laying on my phone. I quickly slip it into my bag and go back out.

"Ugh, econ is such a pain. I'm definitely not taking it when I'm in college," Ashleigh says.

"Wise decision." Andy nods.

"Wyatt, did you handle the Lindsey situation?" I ask, hopefully.

"He didn't." Andy says, showing me a little basket of cookies.

"Is that from her?" I cringe.

"Yeah. She brought them by an hour ago for her 'boo'." Andy laughs.

"Gosh, I ate one of those! What if they're poisoned or something?" Ashleigh's eyes widen and I laugh.

"Come on, you've gotta admit that the cookies are good," Wyatt says.

"Don't tell me you're falling for her sweet as sugar act, Wyatt." Ashleigh says. I can tell that she's trying hard not to sound jealous.

"What if it isn't an act? Maybe she genuinely is nice," Wyatt suggests.

"You can't be serious!" I protest.

"Maybe I should give her a chance." Wyatt ponders.

"You have got to be kidding me. Let's go, Ash." I roll my eyes and we leave.

We return to Ashleigh's and I'm startled to see none other than Chase McKnight face to face with me. I don't know why I'm surprised since this isn't just Ashleigh's house, it's his too.

"Oh, uh, hey Chase," I try to act normal but the awkwardness in my voice is extremely evident. Chase has been avoiding me like the plague ever since what happened and I can't say I've been trying too hard to see him either.

"Hi Kathryn," He says just as awkwardly. "It's really nice to see you." While he sounds extremely awkward, he sounds genuine.

"Kat, let's go in. The twins are waiting." Ashleigh gestures and goes to her room, completely ignoring her stepbrother.

"See ya," I say to Chase and start to follow Ashleigh.

"Hold on," He commands, making me turn around and and give him a confused look. "Can we talk?"

"I really don't think we have anything to talk about, Chase." I chuckle nervously.

"I wanted to say that I'm truly sorry," He scratches the back of his neck. "I deserved what your brother did to me."

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I had no idea that he'd do something like that," I shrug.

"I know, it's okay. I just wanted to let you know that I've broken up with Macey. I never should've listened to her and spread those stupid rumors," He admits. "My love for her made me do stupid things."

"It was stupid," I shrug. "But I'm over it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I forgive you," I give him a small smile. My ability to forgive surprises me. When did I get so mature? I guess with everything that's going on with Will right now, this just seems small and insignificant. 

"Thank you, Kat! That means so much to me!" He beams and leans in for a hug.

"Whoa, hold your horses, cowboy!" I back away from him. "We're not that cool yet." I flip my hair make my way to Ashleigh's room.

I enter her room to see a giant hair shaver kept on her bed.

"Did I miss something?" I question my three friends. "Is someone getting a haircut?"

"Well, only the one who loses." Starla smirks.

"What are playing?" I question them, dreading the answer.

"We, my sweet and sad friend, are playing Triple Dog."

...

A/N

Hi! I know it's been so long since I last updated! I feel like all I've been doing lately is hunting for good universities. It's honestly so stressful, I think I'm going crazy!

Anyway, what did you think of this chapter? What was it like seeing Chase again after so long? Do you forgive him like Kat says she has? Do you agree with Wyatt about giving Lindsey a chance?

Thanks for reading! I recently hit 20k reads which is honestly so incredible! Thank you all so much!
Don't forget to vote and comment x

Oh and watch out for the next chapter! It might get a little wild ;)