Ryder POV

I knock on the hard wooden door.

"It's open!" Matt yells from inside. I twist the knob and walk-in. Soon as I turn right, I see Matt sitting on the raggedy old grey couch. Zach is on the other couch, along with a familiar-looking girl sitting on his lap. She has dark skin and long braids that are pulled into a ponytail. I forgot her fucking name, but I know she goes to Harrison prep, that private school at the end of town.

The girl looks at me, and so does Zach; by the look she gives me, I know she remembers exactly who the fuck I am. She removes her body from Zach's. "You still hang with this dick?" She asks him. He looks at me and then back to her.

"Baby, I have to. He's my QB.," he says. She scoffs and looks away from him; she slides off his lap and onto the couch. She stares with frustration and annoyance.

What the fuck did I do to her? I really don't give a shit, but she keeps fucking staring at me, giving me this burning glare. It's irritating. "I'm sorry, did I do something to you?" I narrow my eyes at her and ask.

She scoffs, "You really don't remember?" she says. Did I fuck her? I'm pretty sure I didn't. "Raven!" she shouts. It takes me a minute, but then I remember.

"Oh yeah, I forgot your Raven's best friend?" I sarcastically ask, knowing who she is. She rolls her eyes and looks away. I think back to the party over the summer—the one in the woods. With all the kids from Harrison and Crossland, there were a few Ravenswood people too.

I wouldn't have gone; I'm not the partying type unless I'm drunk. Or feeling lonely. My parents were away on yet another one of their extravagant fucking trips. And I didn't want to be in the house.

So I went, I saw Raven, and I wanted to fuck her, and by the way, she was looking at me, I know she wanted me to fuck her. I was still with Ashely at the time, well, sort of.

Anyway, Raven came over, talked to me; I pretended to be interested in whatever the hell she was talking about. She was desperate. I knew it the minute I saw her. Fast forward, Raven and I were in the woods; I had her bent over against a tree, her long black hair wrapped in my hands. We fucked for a while. She was a nasty one, an experienced one, just before I came, she got on her knees and took me in her mouth, and then I released into her.

So I don't know why this chick is mad at me. I wonder if she knows that her bestfriend asked me to fuck her.

I wouldn't have even noticed her if Matt didn't point her out. Oh, right, Matt. I turn to Zach. "Where is he?" I ask. He jerks his head to the side, directing me into the dining room. I walk past him and the bitter girl into the small kitchen. Matt is sitting in a chair, and a black laptop is on the table. He notices me and looks up from the computer.

"You finally made it!" He says. I pull out the chair from beside him. "Ashely wasn't trying to let you go?" he asks. I look at him, pressing my lips together. He's asking me too many fucking questions. "Hey man, it's just a question." he puts his hands up.

"Did you find anything?" I ask.

He turns the computer around. I look at the face on the screen; it's Travis.

"I wouldn't call it something, but." He clicks the computer. "So this guy Travis isn't from here; he's from Ohio."

"So, what is he doing here?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know, he got into a lot of trouble in Ohio; he's been in and out of jail since he was 13. He moved here when he turned 19."

"Has he gotten into anything since he's been here?"

He looks back at the screen, and his eyes scan the page. "Uhhh well, it says early this year, he came into the hospital, with cuts and bruises and a mild concussion. He stated he got into a bar fight. Police checked it out, but they didn't find anything; they figured he was just lying or whatever." he looks from the screen back at me.

I lean back into the chair. This helped none; I'm still not seeing the connection between him and Jayda; why the fuck would she be around him? Zach and that girl walk into the kitchen. The girl takes a seat at the end of the table, Zach walks around, and behind us, he opens the Refrigerator.

"Who does he know here?" I ask, without asking specifically, if there's a connection between him and Jayda.

"You guys need drugs?" Zach asks.

"What?" I look back at him. He walks from behind me and sits in the seat across from me.

"That guy, Travis." he pops the cap off of his beer.

"You know him?" Matt asks.

"Well, not personally, but I do know he's a dealer; he sells shit to people at school all the time."

"How come I've never seen him?" I'm sure I would remember him.

"Of course, he doesn't sell them himself. He has people in the school selling for him... most of the shit that we have at the parties, it's from him," he explains.

"Who sells for him?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Nobody knows. We just request whatever we want from this number." He shows me the number on his phone. " And then they'll send the pickup spot. We leave the money there, go, and then come back, and boom, the drugs are there."

It really is a smart operation; no one can be tied to him this way. "And no one has ever seen who it is? Is the pickup spot in the school?"

"It was at school the shit would pop up in lockers, desks, gym bags. But Nobody has ever seen who it is. Now though, it's being put in mailboxes." he says.

I run my hand through my hair, pushing it back out of my face. So why did the selling stop happening in school? I look back at the computer screen. "Who's that?" There's a redhead girl on the screen.

"Her name is Katie Washington; she goes to Harrison Prep." He scrolls.

"Katie!" Raven's friend laughs. "Wait, are guys talking about Travis Ford, blonde hair, cross tattoo on his hand?"

"You know him?" Zach asks her.

"No, but I do know that's Katie's boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend, I haven't seen them together in a while." The girl says.

Matt continues scrolling. "Well, she sent him endless messages last month and the month before that." I read the messages as he scrolls on the computer.

The word rape, and drugged stands out the most. Who the fuck is this guy?

"And look, whose name comes up." Matt gives me this sneaky smirk. I look back at the computer to where the mouse points. Jayda. What the fuck? Does she know her? I need to talk to this girl.

"Where is this girl Katie?" I ask.

The dark skin girl looks at me and hesitates. "Why do you wanna fuck her in the woods too? She snaps. Laughter falls from Zach and Matt's mouth. I shoot them both a warning glare.

"Can you give me her number or something?"

"No." The girl simply says.

My jaw clenches in anger. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I don't want to." she turns her head to the side and gives me a smirk. "Plus, I don't want to be responsible for your death."

"What?"

"Look, Travis isn't a guy you should be going around asking for," she says.

"Why not?"

"Because he's dangerous and crazy." She says as if I should know this. I don't even know who the fuck this guy is.

"I don't give a shit." My subconscious laughs. This girl doesn't know me at all like I actually give a fuck that this guy has a reputation. Does she not know I have one too? Not a good one either.

Fuck this. I'll find her myself. I head for the door.

"Why are you so obsessed with this guy?!" Matt yells before I exit the kitchen. I ignore him and keep walking; I walk straight out the door and get into my car.

I'm fucking furious.

I take my hand and hit the steering wheel; I feel a familiar sting; the pain would probably hurt more if I wasn't so used to it. I take a deep breath. Here I am doing exactly what the fuck I said I wasn't going to do.

As we walked down the hospital hallway, that girl Blair told me to stay away from Jayda and leave her alone because all I would do was ruin her and make things worse for her. I told her I would do what the fuck I wanted to do, and then I walked away. But on the plane ride back here, I thought more and more about what she said; I realized she was right. I texted Matt on the plane and told him to forget about everything. Whatever the hell Jayda got herself into, she did that herself.

I came back here, moved on, and went about my fucking life, it's been a month, and I haven't thought about her at all.

That is until the other day when I saw her getting out of Travis's car.

It felt like someone had literally stabbed me in the fucking stomach. I don't know if it was because I saw her, or maybe because I saw him with her.

Fuck! Should I even try to find out who the hell this Travis guy is? Or should I leave it alone? Is this really something I want to get myself into? It doesn't have shit to do with me.

I don't have to help her; she doesn't mean shit to me.

I mean, yeah, she makes my cock hard sometimes, but besides that, I feel nothing towards her.

I don't.

If I don't, why do I have a burning desire to unlock every secret this girl has hidden?

...

Jayda POV

"How do you think you did?" The test administrator asks me.

"Fine," I hand her the paper and walk out of the classroom. As soon as I walk out, I take a deep breath and then blow the air out. It feels like I can breathe again—this whole time, I was freaking out about who would be here. I should have been freaking out about taking that hard test. Half of the things that were on the exam, we haven't even learned. How do you test someone on something they haven't been taught? What did they expect me to do, pull the answers out of thin air?

I walk down the hallway heading towards the exit. The door comes open, and incomes, Ashely. Shit. She spots me, and a bright smile comes across her face.

"Jayda!" she says. I look at her but don't say anything? What the hell? "We have missed you." I narrow my eyes at her.

Is she for real? I expected her to make a big scene or something.

Then again, none of her friends are around. People tend to only act tough when in groups.

"Oh, gosh, are you alright?" she asks...not sincerely.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Well, because of you and Caleb... the break-up." Immediately I feel a sting in my eyes; just hearing his name makes me want to cry. "I saw the picture online with him and that girl. Monica was at that party; she said they seemed pretty close." I see the look in her eyes; she knows what she's doing. "Have you talked to Ryder?"

"No," I say softly.

"Oh, well, I'll tell him you said hello when he comes over tonight." She emphasizes the word tonight.

"Ok." I don't know what else to say. I turn around and walk away down the hall. The main office door is open; I see my dad standing in Ms. Moore's office. He is standing in front of her; she's leaned back on the table with her arms folded. I turn and walk into the office. When I enter, my dad takes two steps back away from her and then looks at me. His eyes are wide; he looks like a child who just got caught doing something that he's not supposed to be doing.

"Jayda." He says. He puts his hands in his pockets.

"Hello Jayda," Ms.Moore says. I turn my head to look at her. She looks different, she's put on some weight, and her hair is cut short now.

"Hey," I say softly. I look back at my father. "What's going on?" I look over at Ms.Moore and then back to my father.

" Good news!" my father says, forcing a smile. "You're coming back to school...Monday."