(This chapter is Zak's backstory as to why he became a player. Which would explain the song, since it basically explains the process of becoming a heartbreaker, or in other words, a player.)

Zak's Pov:

     I have been asked before why I became a player. But I have always dismissed the question. And I have been asked multiple times by people who I have dated and/or broken the heart of, that why do I do this? And I always answer with, "Just to have some fun."

     But that could be far from the truth. In all my years of high school, I have pretended to be something I'm not, a player. A heartless and cruel person who takes joy out of playing with people's feelings and breaking their hearts. Of course, there are moments where I show my real personality and characteristics, but when I'm doing my player shenanigans. I'm a whole different person. I put up an act.

     Everyone has always said that I've never once regretted what I've done. That I genuinely enjoy what I'm doing. But boy are they wrong. At the end of each day that I've broken someone's heart, I always beat myself up with the amount of guilt I get. I always go to bed taking in the internal pain I bring to myself. Some nights, I don't even get much sleep because of it. But I do this for a reason. And even though the reason may sound stupid, it is quite important to me. And this reason for which I have brought myself pain because of it, it only exists because of one person. One person that completely changed me because of their mistakes, for which have made me make mistakes as well. Though I know that it's no excuse for the things that I have done.

     This person is none other than Holly. My ex. My first love. I'm going to explain what happened between us. I don't know how long this will take, (same Zak, both in writing this and in actually reading this) so I hope you have a snack with you or have a chair pulled up, because this will be quite a ride. Well- at least it was for me, when I experienced it. I don't know how you will take my story. (My exact thoughts)

     This takes place back in middle school, in 8th grade. Near the start of the year, Holly confessed to me that she liked me and asked me to be her boyfriend. I was happy and agreed to be her boyfriend. Since I had a crush on her since 6th grade. We dated for a few months, and at the start, it was amazing. We acted all lovey dovey with each other and kept saying to each other that we love each other. Sometimes we would make out, but we never took it farther than that. (Thankfully)

     But then, out of nowhere, I felt like Holly was distancing herself from me. She wasn't giving me much attention, sometimes she would ignore me, she would spend a lot of time on her phone, giggling and blushing over texts from who knows who, and when I said that I loved her, she would respond with, "Yeah yeah, whatever."

     But despite all of this, I still loved her, and my feelings didn't die down, even though it hurt me a bit how she was treating me. But what I didn't realize at the time was that she manipulated me. Whenever she would give me attention, it was only because she wanted something out of me. It could be anything, from carrying her items, giving her money, or doing her homework. Whenever I couldn't do something for her, she would cry and whine and say stuff like how I didn't actually care or love her, and that she would hate me. I would feel guilty to the point where I felt forced to do something for her. But not only to me was she manipulative, but she also manipulated other people without them knowing because of how good she was at acting. She would always make herself seem like the victim, but she was still loved by many people because of how nice she would treat everyone.

     But everyone was oblivious to Holly's true nature. One day, as I was coming back from the bathroom to the class where my club was afterschool, I heard some noises and slight moaning from an unlocked classroom door. As I made my way inside the room, it was dark, so I turned on the lights to reveal Holly making out with some dude. I stared wide-eyed and shocked from the scene I was witnessing. Once the two finally noticed me, they just shamelessly laughed at me in front of my face. I demanded for an explanation. But Holly just said, "Did you really expect me to actually love a loser like you? You're not even attractive, I was just using you for my own benefit. You were just a toy to me, though I guess you were a good kisser, but I don't like you at all."

     I went home crying that day, heartbroken. Days passed by where I walked around the halls of the school brokenhearted, watching Holly seem completely unaffected by our breakup. But after we officially broke up, Holly didn't come out to be dating that other guy she maked out with. Either it was a one-time thing, or she was dating him secretly because she knew that if she came out with a new boyfriend out of the blue, everyone would start wondering how Holly moved on so quickly. Because nobody would move on that quickly, unless they never had feelings to begin with. Hiding away like a coward.

     I know you may be thinking, why didn't I just expose her and tell everyone she cheated on me? Well, Holly basically had everyone's trust, so nobody would even think of believing me. They would claim me as a liar. As days went by, my sadness slowly progressed into rage. I started thinking how unfair it is that I was here suffering, while Holly was living out her life like nothing happened. So, I decided to change that, and take my revenge on her. I needed to give her a taste of her own medicine.

     The first step was to completely change me appearance because honestly, I wasn't that good-looking back then. So, I changed my whole style to make myself irresistible in the eyes of Holly, so that she could see what she was missing out on. Once I changed my style and started to take better care of myself, I was glowing with confidence to school. I seemed like a whole new person. Once I was near Holly's sight range, her head immediately snapped my way and her jaw dropped at the sight of me. I could even see some slight blush.

     After a day or two, Holly came up to me and basically begged for forgiveness and asked to give her another chance and date her. I agreed to the following, though I didn't actually forgive her. We started dating again, and I treated her really well at the start, but then I started treating her how she used to treat me, I started to ignore her, barely give her attention, leave her on read, miss her calls, everything except manipulating her. Because then I would stoop exactly to her level, make yourself be the victim and hide away like a coward in order to not get caught.

     Then one day, I finally got revenge by kissing a girl in front of her in the middle of the hallway, for everyone to see. Now, why didn't I just do it in secret like she did? Because I wasn't going to hide and do things behind other people's backs just like a coward. But of course, it made me seem like the bad guy. Holly made a whole scene by crying and throwing a fit, saying how I could betray her and do such a thing to her like she didn't do it to me first. She made herself the victim in the story, But I didn't care, because I was pleased with my revenge. Everyone in school of course ended up hating and blaming me for everything. But I didn't give a sh*t.

     Then, after that school year, I moved with my sister to our apartment and switched districts. After what happened with Holly, I told myself that I wasn't going to fall in love with anyone again until I graduated from high school. Because to me, teenagers didn't to take love and relationships very seriously, they weren't mature enough for such commitment, and for some it was just a game. That what I made it seem like how I took love, a game. I decided to become a player so that I could make other people hate me so that I could prevent myself from falling in love or get into a genuine relationship, since I knew if I fell in love with someone, it couldn't possibly work out because they either hated me or couldn't trust me.

     I would much rather be feeling the pain I am left with when breaking someone's heart than get my own broken again into a million pieces all over again just because of some stupid teenage romance that was never even going to work out. I needed to be in a genuine relationship with someone who be mature enough and would take everything seriously. ...But of course, it had to be ruined by Darryl Noveschosch. And honestly, I'm not mad at him for it.

     Darryl... My feelings just had to get the better of me and make me fall for you, didn't it? I really do hope and wish that we could work out. I am even guilty to say that I have already imagined what our future could be like together. But Holly just had to come along and ruin these plans. I don't blame you for believing her over me. Honestly, if I was you, I would probably also have some hidden doubts deep down, just waiting to be given enough reason to act upon. It hurts, but I don't blame you. I just hope I can fix things, and everything can go back to the way it was.