Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

High school will devour every little drama and make it the hottest topic of the week.

Diego and I are the hottest topic of this week and we're getting all the fucking attention, aside from that, people are convinced that I'm in a serious relationship with Cassandra Richardson.

How did this happen?

Oh, well, whenever one asks around why I did what I did to that person's car, the name Cassandra Richardson is mentioned in every response, and of course I couldn't have done something like that for a friend, so they concluded that we're in a romantic relationship.

Which is going to be complicated now that I have a real girlfriend.

I wanna kiss Olivia all the fucking time, I wanna hold her hand, laugh in the hallways before class, take her for a ride on my motorcycle but I can't do all those things if the world around has already put me in the hands of another girl, not to mention the fact that Cass is a fucking celebrity, me being seen with another girl two days afterwards will be like starting a war with her fans and by fans I mean every girl who's gonna use girl code to come after Olivia and bully her into breaking up with me.

And we do not want that to happen, now, do we?

I stare at Olivia from across the cafeteria, she's sitting with a redhead, I don't know if they're friends or just classmates but Olivia looks bored.

I told her to come sit with us earlier but she declined, she doesn't want our relationship to be public, not because of the whole Cassandra situation, no, but because she doesn't want to have all the attention.

I understood that, once I start dating someone, people start paying attention to them and what they do, sometimes I think that's why they dated me in the first place.

I love that Olivia doesn't want that, that she doesn't like the attention that most girls would sell their souls for.

Someone stands in front of me, blocking my view of Olivia.

My eyes raise to this person's face.

Cassandra.

She looks pissed off.

"Oh-oh." Diego whispers beside me.

"Can we talk?" She folds her arms over her chest.

"Yeah." I withdraw the empty chair next to me, gesturing for her to sit on it.

"In private." She jerks her head to the side, pointing to the cafeteria exit.

"Ooow." Matt, Blair and Diego tease in union while Daisy giggles, Cass rolls her eyes at them.

"Shut the fuck up, all of you." I scrunch my face at their cringe-childish reactions before standing and walking with Cass, I hear Diego making wolf noises behind us which draws a lot of attention to us.

I see Harriet Jensen pull out her phone to... I don't know, film us?

The fuck?

I show her the finger, smiling.

We make it out of there in one peace and that's when Cass grabs my hand and drags me into the empty classroom across the hall.

She shuts the door behind us and paces the room, gripping her hair with both hands then settling them on her hips.

Okay. So she's mad mad.

"Why are you panicking?" I lean against the wall beside the door, crossing my leg over the other.

She doesn't respond, she looks like she's trying really hard not to attack me and rip me open with her nails.

"If it's about the goddamn rumors, it's okay, they'll forget about us in a week." I speak again when she doesn't respond.

She sits on the teacher's desk and suddenly starts sobbing.

I sigh.

"Goddamn it, Cass, you don't have to cry." I stride towards her, placing my hand on the side of her face when I reach her, she glares up at me through watery blue eyes and her palm collides with my cheek, causing my head to whip to the side.

I don't know why she just slapped me but I hope it helped.

I clench my jaw, feeling the sting of her slap lingering on my skin.

"Do you have any idea how much damage your actions cost?" She asks, I turn my head to face her again.

"No, tell me." I try to act interested.

"Do you know what I had to go through so you and your stupid friend could get out of jail and not find yourselves in a muddy pit in the middle of nowhere?" She questions, her tone breaking.

Now that gets me interested.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"And these stupid dating rumors, you have no idea what you just got yourself into."

"I don't care, rewind, what do you mean you did something to keep Diego and I from ending up in some pit?" My mind goes wild thinking about all the things she could have done.

She swallows, her chin quivers and she wipes a tear.

"Doesn't matter, it's not like you can change the past anyway." Her shaking hand tucks golden hair behind her ear and she keeps her gaze down.

"No, Cass, I need to know." I grab her chin, making her look at me.

"And then what?" She shoves my hand away and slips passed me, "I told you not to do anything stupid, Jace, you realize that those people could have ruined your life forever, right?" She questions behind me.

"Cassandra, What. Did. You. Do?" I don't turn to look at her.

"Forget it."

"I can't! Goddamn it, I can't just forget it!" I snap, turning to her, "Did you sleep with him? Suck his dick?" I ask my thoughts, Which earns me another slap.

"Cause I look like the type, right?" Her voice breaks and more tears escape her eyes.

"No, of course not, I'd never judge you, Cass, you know that but the thought of you doing something to clean up my mess? That doesn't sit right with me." I explain.

"Fine." She exhales, "When I heard that you guys got arrested, I knew that Jake's father would harden the case, he would make sure you both got the punishment of a lifetime, I didn't want you to get into deep shit for defending me so I called Jake, I couldn't convince the fucker to talk to his father so I made a couple of phone calls..." She pauses, her face scrunching like she's about to cry again.

"And then what?" I push.

"Someone finally gave me Jake's father's number and I called him, he knew exactly who I was and I explained the situation, he..." She sniffles, "He sounded like he understood at first but then... but then-"

"But then what?"

"He asked me to go talk to him in person, it was around three in the morning and I knew things would start being dusty for you guys in the morning  so I drove to his house, their butler escorted me to his office where he was still working. I didn't waste any time, I just started explaining all over again but he cut me off by asking me to take off my top." She says, I shut my eyes, shaking the image out of my brain.

"You didn't." I state instead of asking.

"I didn't want to-"

"Cass." I run a frustrated hand down my face, breathing through my nose.

"He said he'd stop his guys from beating the shit out of you guys, Jace, they were gonna torture you-"

"So what? You take off your clothes so we don't get a little beating?"

"A little beating he says." She laughs through her cries, "You have no idea what you're talking about, Jake's father? my father? They are monsters-"

"Stop, stop talking, I don't want to hear anymore." I look anywhere else but her.

"I didn't fuck him or suck his dick, I swear." She assures me.

"Then what did you do or rather, what did he do?" I ask curiously.

"You said you didn't want to hear anymore." She reminds me, raising her shoulders.

"Not in detail." I say, she sighs, shaking her head and looking hurt again.

"He made me take off all my clothes then he jerked off to the sight of my naked body." She answers.

"Jesus Christ." I mutter, blood boiling in my veins. "We're reporting this son of a bitch."

"To who? Bet you won't believe me when I tell you that he owns the fucking police." She says.

This would be a good time to punch her ex in the face, or maybe me because this is entirely my fault.

"I felt disgusted, I still do. I used to look at that man as my future father in law and now I just, I don't know and Jake just..." She trails, searching for the right words, "All the guys I date turn out the same, but maybe I'm the one who somehow turns them into total assholes."

"Cass, any good guy out there would cut off their left nut just to be with you." I cup her face, wiping her tear-stained cheeks.

"Would you?" Her blue eyes stare at my face.

"I don't believe I'm good enough for you, sweetheart." I chuckle.

"That doesn't answer my question, Jace." She whispers in the kind of tone that makes the hairs on the back of neck rise, I wanna reach my hand to the spot and rub the feeling away but I don't.

"I would, if I didn't have a girlfriend, I would." I take my hands off her, shoving them in my pockets.

"Huh?" She seems confused.

"I asked Olivia to be my girlfriend and she said yes." I explain myself.

You should have led with that, asshole.

"And yeah, she broke up with her boyfriend for me." I add, forcing a smile, like that's something to be proud of.

"Aww, that's actually pretty romantic." She playfully punches my shoulder.

"Thanks?" I say awkwardly.

"My manager said that this little fake relationship of ours is a good publicity stunt considering the fact that I gained a lot of followers after that "protective boyfriend" video went viral so now she wants to meet you and so does my Mum, but that's not my concern right now, my concern is what are you going to do now that you have a real girlfriend?" She asks the ultimate question.

"She doesn't want our relationship to be public so I don't think that will be a problem." I shrug.

"You mean you're gonna keep fake dating me regardless of being in a real relationship?" The shock in her tone doesn't go unnoticed.

"If it means I'll be helping you with your career or whatever then  yeah, you helped me and I wanna return the favor." I nod.

"Jace." She laughs, holding up her index finger, "You can't just decide that your girlfriend will be cool with you having a public relationship with someone else while she watches from the shadows." She tells me.

"We don't have to do anything that will make her jealous or insecure, I'll explain everything to her." I wave a dismissive hand.

"I don't know, I think this is a bad idea, someone might end up getting hurt." She says, second guessing everything.

"Cass, it's not like you and I are gonna fall madly in love with each other, think of it as a game, that always helps." I advise.

"A game? Seriously? What's wrong with our generation?" She mumbles to herself.

"Can we go eat our lunch now?" I let my hand out to her, she looks at it and scoffs, turning on her heel and heading out, leaving my hand hanging.

Rude.