"How are you feeling?" I asked Jack as I placed a frozen ice pack on his cheek. He winced on impact but took it from my hands nonetheless, pressing it more to his skin. I sat on the armrest of the armchair Jack was sitting in. I frowned at his appearance.

Jack just recently came home about ten minutes ago after John dropped him off. Dillon had taken me home on my motorcycle, despite my protest since I didn't want him driving my bike. Apparently, after I left, let's just say, the girls took their anger out on him.

It was lucky John came to the rescue to tell them all to back off. The teachers were God knows where. The girls more or less slapped him rather than punched him, except one who kneed him in between the legs. As much as that part made me want to laugh, I kind of felt bad for him.

"I feel like I got beat up," he muttered. I rolled my eyes.

Smartass

"I'm surprised so many actually hit you," I said.

"I'm not, don't tell me you didn't think about it when you thought that shit was mine," Jack pointed out.

It's true; I did want to slap him. For just a single moment, while I was indignant by the belief he was using me to just tick my name off that damned list, I was tempted to slap him. It was, still is, degrading to have a name in a book to tick off once you've slept with them or to call others for your own personal gain; for you to use. Wayne ... Oh how much I want to bang his head against a desk.

"Ok, so you got me there but still, I mean what? Did you sleep with all of them?" I questioned, raising a brow.

I was slightly curious but I also didn't want to find out. I only know what Amanda told me while I was away, which wasn't much since a lot of the time, I didn't want to hear about him, let alone even a mention of his name. However, Amanda did tell me that Jack was a 'player' but never elaborated further since I stopped her at that.

"No, I may have slept with a few but they knew what they were getting into and it all stopped last year when I got into a relationship with Thalia," he explained. I simply nodded.

I mean, at least he stopped when he got into a relationship. But now I wanted to know what happened after his break up with Thalia and what made them split in the first place.

"Is it too much to ask why you two broke up?" I asked hesitantly. He sighed and rubbed his temple.

"Believe it or not, she cheated on me," he answered. Oh, I believe it, unfortunately.

"You really loved her huh?" I raise a questioning brow.

"Yeah, after the breakup, it took a while to get over it but it got me thinking, after witnessing first-hand the witch in incarnation from the Salem trials, that I wanted to change," he admitted. I raised a brow. "Actually, I thought about you when I wanted to change and how I treated you; I was filled with regret."

"You did?" I questioned, my eyes wide in surprise. That's somehow hard to believe.

"Yes, you were on my mind for about a year maybe until you came back and then you were in my life again, quickly becoming a constant, which not only made me want to try and get you to forgive me for everything I've done to you but also made me want to...kiss you," he continued. I looked away, my cheeks heating up as I awkwardly coughed. Shit, I have to stop him before he says something that he'll regret or just something I don't need to hear.

"You know what, I just remembered I have to call Amanda," I lied. Before he could say anything, I quickly got up and ran upstairs, stumbling as I did so. I placed my forehead on the closed door of the bedroom, sighing. "Fuck."

I don't know what he was going to say after that but I didn't want to know. It would just complicate things further than they already are. I'm still with Dillon, I can't betray him. I needed to get my mind off of this. It's too much for one day. I just need a break. I grabbed my phone, dialling the only two people I knew I could talk to and who could help me.

"Hello?" both Sarah and Amanda answered the three-way call.

"I need help," I mumbled.

"What? Why?" Sarah questioned.

"What happened?" Amanda asked.

"Jack just admitted to wanting to kiss me and I'm afraid of what more he can add to that," I explained. It was silent between the two.

"How do you feel about him?" Sarah asked. I scrunched my eyebrows together and frowned. What made her ask that? I'm with her brother. I don't have any feelings for him, nothing romantic at least.

"Absolutely nothing other than friends maybe, oddly enough," I replied with a shrug. Amanda hummed in a way that made it seem she didn't believe me.

"Are you in denial?" Sarah continued to ask.

"No," I answered. I didn't think that I was in denial, I feel like I would know if I was.

"Then maybe you should distance yourself from him and possibly break his heart by letting him know you don't reciprocate his feelings," Amanda advised. I bit my bottom lip and stared at the ground.

That would probably be the appropriate idea, not the 'breaking his heart' bit, but letting him know I don't feel the same way and distancing myself. But I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it. I can't lead him on but I don't want to push him away either, despite the fact it's the right thing to do, especially for my already rocky relationship with Dillon.

"You're right but right now, I just need a break and to get out of the house," I mumbled, rubbing my temple.

"Hm? I got an idea, we can crash a party going on tonight," Amanda suggested.

"Party? What party? How do you know about a party?" Sarah interrogated.

"Easy, John told me since he was originally invited but wasn't going to go, it's a beach party and invite only," Amanda explained. I smirked.

"John ay?" Sarah and I said in unison.

"Shut up bitches," Amanda hissed. Sarah and I began laughing while Amanda huffed in annoyance. "So? You in for crashing a party ladies?"

"We're in," Sarah and I said in unison again.

"Perfect! I'll be over to pick you up in thirty minutes Amy and you Sarah in forty minutes," Amanda stated.

We hung up the phone before I quickly started to get ready. It was lucky today was Friday or I wouldn't have gone because I'm not about to go to school with a hangover and wanting to punch everyone if they dare speak a word. It isn't great.

I've been hung over before on a school day and Caleb and Nate were the ones who had to cover for me since Sarah, Chloe, and Ricky were no different. Dillon had taken that day off to help his dad at his auto shop; he never knew about it.

I tied my hair up into a high ponytail before fixing my glasses. I grabbed my phone and keys and headed outside. I stopped by Catherine's room. She and Max were playing with her dollhouse. I smiled and knocked on the doorframe lightly. Cat turned to me before instantly brightening up and running over to hug my left leg. I chuckled as I hugged her back.

"How are you today?" I asked, kissing her forehead. She giggled.

"Great! I got Max to play tea party with me!" she chirped.

"That's good," I nodded. Catherine went back to continuing with her tea party. "I'm heading out, is that alright?" I asked Max. He tilted his head and smiled.

"I'm not going to keep you here, you're a grown-up, I'll let Lisa know you went out for the night, just make sure you call me when you're on your way home, no matter what time it is," he said sternly. I ran over and hugged him. He chuckled as he patted my back.

"Thank you, I'll see you later," I beamed.

They both waved at me as I walked out to head downstairs. I halted when I got to the middle step of the stairs just as Jack stopped at the first few from the bottom. Crap. I just wanted to get by without conversing with him and making things between us even more awkward than they already were.

"Excuse me," I mumbled. I was about to walk around him to go downstairs but Jack caught onto my upper my arm. I didn't look back at him; I just kept my eyes on the front door.

"I'm sorry I made things awkward," Jack apologised. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before frowning.

"No, it's ok but I seriously must be going," I lied. I didn't even think Amanda was here but I was going to wait for her either outside or down the street to avoid Jack.

"Listen I didn't mean to make things awkward; how about we forget what I said?" he suggested. For some reason, I didn't want to forget it but I nodded, agreeing to it nonetheless. We both walked down the rest of the steps. "Where are you going?" Jack asked.

"Just out to a party," I shrugged.

"Want me to drop you off?" he offered.

"Oh no thank you, Amanda is picking me up," I declined.

"Please? I just want to talk so we can sort this out because I can tell you're still uncomfortable and I can see you're tempted to avoid me," he pleaded.

I bit my bottom lip in contemplation. I glanced down at my phone that I took out of my bag. No new messages or missed calls from Amanda to let me know she was here. I looked up at Jack who was standing in front of me patiently awaiting my answer. I nodded slowly.

"Ok," I said. He instantly grinned.

"You won't regret it."

Oh god, I hope it's not awkward because then it's all my fault. I messaged Amanda that I was getting a lift there. She didn't question it; just said she would pick Sarah up instead and that she would see me there. Though the winky face she sent me indicated she knew whom I was going with, of course. It's weird that she still dislikes Jack, yet, she loves to tease me about our 'chemistry'.

"Listen, I don't know what I was saying, I think I had one too many slaps to the face but I never meant to make things awkward between us," Jack said as he began driving to the place. Luckily Amanda sent me the location after asking her multiple times.

"Nothing is awkward between us," I lied. He glanced at me with a raised brow. I rolled my eyes and huffed. "Ok, maybe a little bit but it's nothing."

"I'm sorry," he muttered. I turned to him with a frown and tilted my head. "Firstly, for everything I've done to you two years ago and secondly, for saying what I said earlier even though you were still with...you know."

"Oh."

Right, I was still with Dillon.

"It's fine," I shrugged.

"Still."

I simply nodded again. I remained silent the rest of the drive there since I didn't know what else to say. I can't add anything to that. I attempted to enjoy the ride with the music playing on the radio.

We put on a station, which played the classics. That's when things became less awkward and we, mainly me, started to loosen up a bit. We both bopped our heads to the rock music as I sang along. At some point, Jack joined in but he was hesitant at first.

We were laughing by the time we got to the beach. We turned our heads to each other and smiled. "Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome; call me if you need me to pick you up," he offered.

"Do you want to join us?" I asked.

"I don't think I want to crash your fun tonight," he declined. I glanced at him up and down.

"You're always free to join whenever," I said.

I got out of the car and waved at him goodbye. I walked over to where I saw my friends. We weren't far from where the party was. The flames from the bonfire gave away their location. That and the loud thumping of the music. It's not my type of rhythm but it's alright to dance to, I guess.

Familiar students were drunkenly dancing and clumsily falling onto the sand while laughing way too loudly. They were extremely careless. It's as if what happened this morning never happened at all.

"How are you feeling?" Sarah asked.

"I feel better," I grinned. She raised a brow but didn't question any further than that.

"Shall we crash a party ladies?" Amanda jokingly asked.

Sarah and I nodded rapidly with bright, eager smiles on our faces. Sarah grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the group of dancing teens while Amanda followed behind. It was easy to blend in while we grabbed a bottle to drink. Amanda, however, decided to grab a bottle from one of the drunken guys stumbling passed her.

"Really Amanda?" I questioned, putting one hand on my hip and raising a brow. She shrugged and took a swig of the unknown substance, which was quite concerning and disgusting to say the least.

"Come on! Let's dance!" Sarah shouted over the music.

I was about to decline but she grabbed my hand again and pulled me towards where everyone was dancing by the fire. I almost missed the table trying to put my drink down but successfully placed it on the target. Amanda ran over to join us. I laughed as all three of us began dancing.

"Want to dance princess?" I heard from behind me. My eyes widened as I spun around to face Wayne. He had a smug toothy grin on his face. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"No, I'd rather be eaten by wolves," I said bluntly with a glare.

"Aw, come on babe," Wayne attempted to persuade. I rolled my eyes.

"Firstly, aren't you with Thalia? And secondly, I said no," I said, standing firm. I shoved Wayne away when he tried to put his arm around me.

"She doesn't have to know," he whispered. My face contorted into one of disgust before slapping him across the face, watching in satisfaction when his head whipped to the side. His hand flew to his cheek where it was starting to turn red.

"Shoo, shoo now, she said she's not interested, now off you go," Amanda shooed.

"Yeah, fuck off," Sarah glared, her eyes filled with hatred and anger. The boy narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think you control her," Wayne retorted.

"You're right, they don't, but in this instance, they're right, I'm not interested and I want you to leave, I know what you're up to," I said, looking directly into Wayne's eyes.

"And what am I up to princess?" he smirked. I clenched my fist but avoided the temptation to act upon my fury. The word 'princess' irritates me beyond words, especially when it comes out of his mouth.

"I know about the book being yours," I told him. His eyes widened for a moment. Panic flickered in them for a mere couple of seconds before he composed himself.

"Bullshit," Wayne spat.

"Then why are you nervous?" I smirked.

"No reason," he lied.

His voice went high-pitched for a second, shaking almost. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing as he gulped. I didn't think he would be that easy to break. He may not have said anything but he might as well from the guilty expression. His body language says it all right now.

"So, the name written on the book, spelt exactly the same as yours, was not your doing?" I questioned.

That seemed to get to him, despite it being a blatant lie. I didn't even know if the damned thing had a name written on it, even though if it did, it would be quite stupid. They wouldn't be good at hiding their filthy acts of idiocy.

But Wayne believed it so I was going to play into it to get him to speak. I didn't care how nervous he was; he deserved it. He knows what he did and is only like this because he most likely just got caught by someone.

"How do you know my name is on it? I made sure there was no evidence to prove it was mine on it," Wayne looked smug at his retort. Sarah and Amanda started laughing while I face-palmed and shook my head. That was easy weirdly enough.

"And now we've got proof!" Amanda shouted, holding up her phone with a wide toothy grin.

"Fuck," he swore.

I gasped when a tub or something full of water, at least, I pray that it was water, was poured all over my head. Nope, the smell indicates it's something else. Oh god, this feels horrible.

Roars of loud cheers were heard as the guys that surrounded me now shoved me to the ground roughly. I was lucky I was on the beach or else I would have had scratches or something from the concrete. I winced at the boom of voices chanting.

"What the fuck was that for, you little shit?" Amanda raged, shoving the guy who poured the barrel of alcohol on me. I fixed the glasses that were practically falling off my face at this point. What a day to bring them to a party.

"It's a party sweetheart, loosen up!" the guy shouted drunkenly. Sarah had to hold Amanda back from lunging at him as they both scowled. I got up and attempted to dust off the sand now stuck to me because of the bloody alcohol that smelt like pure death.

"You call me sweetheart again and I'll show you just how sweet my heart is when I beat you up," Amanda growled.

"Guys, that's enough, I'm fine," I sighed, wringing my hair out.

That didn't seem to work because Amanda continued to threaten the people involved in drenching me in shit. I huffed as I walked off to sit under the pier with my back against the wooden stand and my legs to my chest.

I doubted the guy's claims that he poured that crap over me because...it's a party? Because I feel like there could be another reason other than that, perhaps to rescue Wayne, who knows.

I took my phone out and searched for Dillon's number. Maybe he can help calm me down. I need to talk to someone before I lose my mind. But he didn't answer his phone because it went straight to voicemail without a single ring. I guess he must be busy, maybe I shouldn't disturb him. Though now my head was spinning and I wanted to go home.

I scrolled down to Jack's number, my finger hovering over his contact. Maybe he's busy as well. But then again, he did say to call him if I needed a ride home. I pressed on his name and it rang for about a minute until it went to voicemail. I huffed in annoyance. I mean, I just wanted to go home, shower, and crawl into bed so I could forget this whole ordeal ever happened.

I jumped when I suddenly heard yelling. I quickly got up and spun around. I could see from a distance two people arguing, I think? I'm not sure if it was my glasses or if it was me being too far. I slowly walked forward, not wanting them to notice me approaching. I hope it's not a fight but it's a party and I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"You better shut up about this Reece!" one of them snapped.

Reece? Wait, as in Jack Reece? No, that can't be it. It must be someone who has a similar name.

"How could you do that to her?! She loves you!" The other one sneered.

Once I was close enough, I could finally see the two guys standing in front of each other. It looks like one of them already took the first punch and drew blood in the process. I could see the blood on one of their knuckles. My eyes trailed up to their faces and a small, almost inaudible gasp, left my lips.

No way! What the hell are Jack and Dillon doing here?

"Shut up Reece! I'm warning you, it's none of your business," Dillon growled.

"You're fucking cheating on her! And with Thalia nonetheless! She has a right to know how much of a dick her boyfriend actually is," Jack fumed with narrowed eyes. He had blood coming out of his nose and now onto his mouth. My whole body tensed up.

What the hell, that's not right. I must have misheard that. There's no way Dillon would cheat on me, especially not with Thalia when he knew how much I hated her after the shit she's caused. We may have been distant but I don't think he would hurt me like that. At least, I'd like to believe he wouldn't. He never even communicated he had a problem with our relationship.

"It was only one time with Thalia, it's merely a fling," Dillon argued.

Can you still be alive if your heart breaks? I think I heard it crack inside my chest but it was hard to tell with all the back-and-forth arguing going on between Dillon and Jack. My vision became blurry as my eyes brimmed with tears. I tried to blink rapidly as if that would help stop the tears from spilling. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

"She deserves someone better than you, you piece of shit," Jack snarled. "Did you even love her?" he questioned. The final nail in the coffin was Dillon's shrug at the question.

"What?" I squeaked out. Both the guys froze, tensing up at the sound of my voice that was barely audible. They turned their heads to face me. Dillon looked like a deer caught in headlights with his eyes wide.

"Fuck," Dillon cursed.