18.

It had been over a week since Riley and my argument. Tyler had forgiven me, and Em had become a fast friend. When I had told Archer some girl named Erysimum had come looking for him, he freaked out and asked what she had said.

After I had assured him she hasn't said anything out of the ordinary, he yelled at me for answering the door. I just flipped him off. I was still deciding if it would be worth yelling at him about snitching.

He had gotten more and more private with his phone calls. I had stolen it one time, and it had a lock on it. He had only locked his phone once or twice, and if he did he always told me. I asked him about it, and he had ignored me for a very long period of time. Saying I had 'invaded his privacy'. There is no privacy when it comes to siblings, Jerk.

My mum was warming up to Em. She had met her, and suddenly all they could talk about was books. I kinda felt like my friend had been hijacked. But whatever. I, well, I was suffering the wrath of an ice cold Riley. She went out of her way to ignore me, and avoid me if she could. However, she had never been very good at concealing her feelings. I could tell, under her rage, that she was upset. Like, a sad upset not angry.

With the Halloween party rapidly approaching, I couldn't help but feel my spirits lift, even if it's just by a little bit.

Right now, I was procrastinating about doing my homework by sitting on my bed going back and forth between texting Em and scrolling through Instagram. I pull my eyes away from the alluring screen, and my eyes land on something. I noticed my diary sitting under a clutter of things on my bedside table. Sighing, I throw my phone to the side and look at my diary. Flipping it open, and looking through the mundane things I've written. Slowly progressing past my entries written about when Harris and I were dating. Early September I had caught him cheating, at least according to the date. I wish I needed my diary to remember when and how I had broken up with him.

It had been on a weekend, a few weeks after school had started. Harris had gone to a party thrown by Erika. At the time, strangely enough, she had been pretty low on the social web. Her party was one of the first things she did on her rise to popularity. When they started officially dating she clawed her way to the top. We had walked in, the music was loud, but not horribly so. In fact, it was one of the calmest parties I had gone to. Of course, there was some drinking, and I admit I did have some punch. Not too much though, I kept my wits.

About halfway through the party, Harris had disappeared. I hadn't minded, we weren't attached at the hip. I had trusted him. I was naive and stupid, a mistake I wouldn't make again. Thinking about it, I'm not sure what possessed me to fake date, someone. Even if that wasn't what it really was. I could barely handle a real relationship. I eventually had gotten bored and had wandered up to the stairs on the search for a bathroom that wasn't in use and smelling of vomit. The house itself was big, a lot bigger than mine.

There were many rooms in the house, and I had opened the first. It seemed like an office, so I moved on, to the next one. And then the next when it wasn't a place I could release the pain in my bladder. I opened another door and wondered how many rooms were in this house. It had been Erika's, it had a medal, and a picture of her at cheer hung up with some of her friends. I was in the picture.

The room wasn't unoccupied. I had flushed and was about to leave them to what was going on when I realized who it was. I would recognize that hair cut anywhere. My fucking boyfriend. With the beautiful girl who was better than me in every way.

I didn't want to know how long it had been going on, I couldn't bring myself to think if that. He has become more distant. But I had never expected this. I loved him. I fought down a sob. The shock was making me numb. I grabbed my phone and pulled it out. Taking a video, making sure that when I confronted him, he couldn't deny it. I felt broken, useless.

I could see where he was coming from. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I planned on deleting it as soon, as well. Once we had broken up. The thought of it has made my heart hurt. The strange thing was, I wasn't crying or screaming.

I was silent, an uncontrollable feeling invaded my mind. I couldn't help but want to get back at him. It may not have been the most rational thought at the moment, but I knew I would make Harris McKee jealous. Some way, somehow. I would make him understand how it felt, to have your heart ripped up.

I closed the door, and they were none the wiser. Trying to delete the images now plaguing my head and the sounds that accompanied them.

I was holding myself together as I found Riley. She took me home. I explained, my voice shaking about what I had seen. I think she took it worse than I did. Then again, I had been in a state of shock. The fierce protectiveness at that moment made my heart ache for my friend. She hadn't wanted to leave me at my house that night, but I told her it would be best. After all, I had something to do.

I walked inside and texted him. Telling him to come over, even though the last thing I wanted was to see his face. So I waited. A few tears trickled out of my eyes, but I told myself I had to keep calm. To not react. My mum and dad, they have already gone to bed. It was actually kinda late. I pulled on an oversized tee-shirt, one of his, and a pair of sweat pants while I waited.

I heard a tap on my window and I saw a rumpled looking Harris. I opened it, and let him in. He crawled in rather awkwardly. He was slightly flushed, his hair ruffled like someone had been running their hands through it. His lips are redder than usual. A wave of sorrow washed over me, and I had to hold back another sob. I have no idea how I maintained decent calm that night. Once he righted himself, he smiled cockily at me. A smirk I used to adore made his lips twitch up.

"Hey, babe. Sorry about ditching you at the party, hope you enjoyed yourself." He says, walking toward me. He wrapped his arms around me. Pressing his lips to my head tenderly. Lips that had kissed another girl. I shoved him away, anger filling me. I bought it back, but not before I reacted.

"Yeah, I'm sure you enjoyed yourself." I practically snarled at him. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, and maybe even a hint of fear. Like he knew there was a chance I knew, but figured playing dumb would be better. I wonder how I would've reacted if he had told me then and there we were over. He didn't.

"Don't be that way babe. You know I enjoy parties. Anyways, you invited me over. Don't you want to, you know, do something." He says, his face dipping down, as he skimmed his lips along my skin. Against my cheek. Before I would've smiled. And laughed, and said yes. Now? Not so much.

"I'm sure you've had plenty of fun for the night." I snap. He again looks confused. Moving his face back into my line of sight.

"What are you talking about babe?" He says. I backed away. He followed me, his arms caging me. I was at the edge of my bed, and his face was mere inches away.

"How long?" I ask. Closing my eyes.

"What?" He asks. His breath smells like alcohol. Acidic and disgusting, a nausea feeling fills me.

"How long have you and Goldilocks been together?" I ask calmly. It may seem strange, but I couldn't say her name. Just earlier today, we had been talking at cheerleading. She had encouraged me to come to the party. Said to bring along my Harris, and that it would be fun. I had said sure, after all, she was sorta my friend. I thought she wanted to have more popular people come, I wasn't wrong. I just wasn't right in her reasoning.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" He says. And I can tell he is scared now. He didn't have the right to feel that way.

"I saw you. With Erika. How long has it been going on?" I asked. My words shaking.

"Babe, I think you're mista-"He starts. I grab my phone and blindly pull open the video. Tears make my vision fuzzy, but I ignore them. Shoving it in his face. He visibly paled, and he looked at me. An excuse bubbling almost immediately from him.

"I love you, babe. I have since, hell, since middle school. I was just drunk it'll never happen again, I promise." He says, and I can tell it's a lie. The never happen again part, that is. He won't meet me in the eye.

I turned away from him. Tears streaming from my eyes. Emotions crashing down on me.

"You were my first, everything. You were the most important person. I loved you." I sob. A thousand emotions rushing through me. Most prominently betrayal, hurt, jealousy, and sadness

"It won't happen again. I'll change, that was the first time. I was drunk." He says again, as I'll believe him. He's a liar. And I can't even look at him.

"I'm done with you. We're done, I can't deal with you,  or your lies. I don't want to see you." I closed my eyes, fists tightening.

"Babe, why are you doing this? You're ruining any chance of us. I fucking love you. What don't you understand? I want to be with you." He says, and he sounds miserable. I freeze. Oh, so it's my fault?

"If you really wanted to be with me, you wouldn't have done that. You wouldn't have fucking broken my heart. I am not at fault here. I was not the one cheating. I wasn't in bed with another girl less than a few hours ago. It was your mistake, this is the consequence of it. We, you and I, are done." Tears start to freely flow down my cheeks. He moved to wipe my tears away. I pushed him away, as gently as I could. Holding myself back.

"Babe-" He had started, his voice breaking.

"Leave. J-just leave. Get out of my house." I cried. And turned around. Grabbing the nearest thing, a pillow heart, I dug my nails into it. Hands shaking with the effort, trying to refrain from physically attacking him. My body urged me to do something. To make him hurt, but I didn't. I let him leave unscathed.

He backed away, regret visible on his face. I tried to stay calm as tears trickled down my cheeks. He climbed out my window, and I fell into my bed.

I had lain there, sobbing. How could he? He had just shattered me. My heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces. And I let out a gut-wrenching sob, and they continue. I think I had some sort of attack, I couldn't breathe. The whole world was crashing down on me. I desperately tried to inhale, but my breath was hovering away from me. My mum must not have been all the way asleep. Or, I was crying louder than I thought, because she came into my room, and pulled me into her arms. Whispering how it would be okay, and asking what was wrong.

"I-I broke u-ppp" a huge sob "with Harris." I gasped out loud. And she hugged me closer to her.

- - - - - - - - - -

A/N ~ Roughly edited ~

This was kinda hard for me to write, it made me really sad.

Question; What do you think of Melody?

Until Tuesday,

~ Skye