Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

The drama.

The fights.

The scolding.

The hard training.

The excitement.

The laughter.

The meaningless relationships.

It's all over in just one day.

As I watch all the seniors run wild with excitement, ripping pages out of their notebooks and littering them around because whatever is on there has officially become useless to all of us, my thought is, what was the point? What was the point of high school?

"School's out forever, bitches!" Matt screams in my ear and his girlfriend Daisy squeals after him.

I push his face away from my personal space.

"Fucking finally!" Diego responds to Matt with the same energy.

"Did you guys hear about the last party ever?" Whispers Daisy as she wraps her hands around Matt's arm.

"What party?" Diego sounds just as lost as I am.

"Dunkin dumbass Dickinson is throwing a graduation party at his cabin tomorrow night," Says Matt with an eye roll.

"Yooo, his fucking cabin is sick!" Diego slaps my chest with the back of his hand.

"Yeah but it's up on cove road, it always rains up there and drunk over excited teenagers driving isn't a story I want to see on the news a day after my graduation," I say.

"Fine, be a pussy," Matt laughs and I sent him a glare.

"Oh c'mon, Jace, it's gonna be fun, it's a graduated-seniors-only type of thing, you're gonna love it," Daisy claps her hands and bites her lip in over excitement.

"So what do you do to the non graduated seniors?" Asks Diego.

"Bad bad things," Matt spanks his girlfriend's ass, I scrunch my face and scoff at them.

"Damn, I wanna spank some," Diego pushes off the wall.

"Fuck off, she's mine," Matt playfully shoves Diego's chest and leads Daisy away from us.

"I feel like we're going to be receiving invitations to their wedding in a few years from now," Says Diego as we watch their retrieving backs.

"Ours too," Blair appears with Cass, Diego and Blair immediately get disgusting with their mouths and I'm forced to stare at Cass.

"Don't look at me, I'm too fruity for marriage," she stands beside me and wrinkles her face at our friends, the face she makes makes me chuckle.

"Hey guys, Jace can we talk?" Someone stands in front of us.

Olivia.

Everyone is quiet, probably waiting for me to say something or waiting for her to take the hint and run before they start spitting out their thoughts.

I don't know why but I feel this weird urge to protect her from them. I shouldn't be feeling that way right now, she's no longer my problem.

I'm about to break the silence when a random girl appears from nowhere, fists my shirt and slams her lips on mine.

She peels away and glances into my eyes.

I recognize her but I don't know her name.

"Shit, I've always wanted to do that!" She shouts in my face for some reason, "God, you're so hot," She pecks my lips again and then literally runs off.

"What the fuck?" I wipe my lips and straighten my shirt.

"And then suddenly, all the fan girls want a taste of Jace," mocks Blair, Cass laughs.

"Wait till we tell her you got cheated on by a junior," Diego adds, everyone goes silent again.

My eyes dart to Olivia's face, she's now looking down at her shoes, kinda like in shame.

"Alright, c'mon, let's go talk," I offer her my hand, she looks at it and hesitates before placing her hand in mine.

"Yo, seriously?" Diego asks in disbelief.

"We're just gonna talk, man, chill," I say to him before walking with her hand in hand in the messy hallway.

We end up in the music room, the same room where I first met her, where all of it began.

I remember our conversation being so pure that night, she made me feel safe and hopeful, vulnerable.

I liked that about her but now we're in here because.... wait, I don't even know why.

We sit in the middle of the room, facing each other, just like before.

"Do you remember that night we met in here?" My eyes roam around the room.

"Like it was yesterday," she releases a forced laugh.

"I told you we were gonna do great things together," I remind her and her face turns into a painful expression, "What a shame," I mutter underneath my tone.

"Are you staying for the summer?" She's looking down at her fidgeting hands.

"No," I answer honestly.

"Were you planning on staying before......?" She trails, not bringing herself to say the words.

"Before you fucked your ex? Yes, I was going to stay," I look to my side.

"Well, where are you going to spend your summer?" She asks, she's actually stalling and I don't quite like it.

"What do you wanna talk about?" I get to the point.

"I know you hate me and you don't wanna talk to me right now but you're graduating tomorrow and I just want to make things right before you disappear from my life forever," She explains, I nod my head in understanding.

"Okay but I doubt-"

"Just hear me out," she cuts me short.

"I'm listening," I rest my elbows on my knees, giving her my full attention.

"Cassandra," She starts.

"I'm gonna go," I announce before she says anything else.

"No, stay," She stops me from leaving, I stay, "When you look at her, what do you see?" She asks.

"Cassandra Richardson," I answer in a bored tone.

"Right but you do see how beautiful she is, don't you?" She questions.

"Olivia, if this is about you comparing yourself to every girl I've ever talked to then I don't think I have time for the same old bullshit conversation," I say to her.

"I have a feeling that she's not what I want to believe that she is and I'm sorry that my jealousy drove me as far as slapping her but put yourself in my shoes, you were my boyfriend and you were head over heels for her-"

"Listening to you talk right now, is like listening to a song you hate on repeat," I cut her short and she sighs.

"Will you just listen?"

"I'm done understanding you, Olivia, from the very beginning, you lied to me about pretty much everything, From you being in a relationship, to you kissing me while you were in said relationship and then you stood there  and told me he was your boyfriend like my fucking feelings didn't matter, you lied to me about your goddamn virginity for Christ's sake and I let that slide too and then you didn't want to introduce me to your parents because apparently, I look like someone who every teenage girl should be afraid of, I understood, but then I had to watch you walk side by side with your ex boyfriend in the hallways, you said I was overreacting when I wanted to break his face then you went right ahead and had sex with him and you still stand here, trying to somehow compare all of that to some silly crush I had on a literal celebrity?"

"Still.."

"Still what? The same thing? Olivia, you're not fighting this battle with me or the girls I've dated, you're fighting this battle with yourself, you can't keep looking at yourself in the mirror and telling yourself you're not pretty enough, I've told you how beautiful you are and it's true, you have no idea how easy it could have been for me to go for any other girl but I didn't, I went for you, even when the signs screamed retreat I stayed, I stayed because I had faith in you!" I let it out.

"So you guys never did anything?" She asks.

"For the millionth time, Liv, I didn't cheat on you with Cass or anyone else," I respond.

"Well, I guess I'm the bad guy now, huh?" She purses her lips like she's trying really hard not to cry.

"I don't think so, I mean, I fell for her while I was dating you, so who am I to point fingers," I shrug.

"Can we just start over, fresh start?" She suggests.

"Sure, right after you answer these questions honestly,"

"Okay," she's eager, desperate even.

"While you were fucking him, did you ever think about me?" My throat tightens as the words leave my mouth.

"No, the idea was to not think about you," She answers honestly but ouch, that went straight to my heart and it burned.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"No," she lies, I raise a brow at her, "Yes," she changes her statement.

Ouch again.

"Did you climax?" I ask, I know it's so unnecessary but you have no idea how necessary it is for me to know.

"Yes," she looks away from me.

"Afterwards, did you regret it? Did you think about me?"

"No but when I got home, I really did start regretting it," her voice becomes hoarse and she clears her throat.

"Well, in that case, I think I'll pass, I haven't been single in a long time and you know what? It's not the worst thing, I picked up a book the other day and it was better than any text message or nude picture a girl has ever sent me. It felt like the kind of change that I was looking for when I broke up with Sandra," I explain.

"Jace, you told me to be honest," She points out.

I move to sit next to her, intertwining our hands and kissing the back of her hand.

"My mom once told me that some people will drown you but I didn't understand it at the time," I stare down at our locked hands, "You drown me, Olivia, we drown each other every time, and your response just made me realize how much we're both worth, I think I deserve someone who will hold my hand and show me off to the world because of how reckless and tattooed I am, I deserve someone who won't lie to me about something just because she wants me to make her feel good, I want someone who'll tell me anything, no matter how personal it is, someone who will picture a future with me and not fight with me every second."

"I deserve better too," tears down her face.

"Yes, yes, baby, of course, you deserve someone who won't make you feel so insecure for falling for their female friend while their dating you, someone who won't..... what else did I do apart from that?" I ask her cause I've honestly forgotten.

"That's pretty much it," She laughs and wipes her face with her sleeves.

"You know, I used to be a very shitty boyfriend to Sandra, used to do all those things behind her back and... I kinda feel like apologizing but I wanna start with you first," I face her.

"Okay?"

"I'm sorry," I tell her, "If there's anything bad that I might have done to you that you can't let go of, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me," I say the words while staring into her eyes.

For some reason, my words cause her to break down.

"Hey," I wrap my arm around her and pull her to my chest, "It's okay," I rub her shoulder, kissing her head.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this," she slides off the desk and makes her way out of the room.