Every single pair of eyes in the hall focused on me. My chest constricted, and I couldn’t breathe, no matter how much I gasped for air. This was not happening. It had to be a joke. A sick, twisted, really messed-up joke. And it wasn’t funny. Maybe he had been hit in the head too hard at football practice.
“It’s not working, B.” Chace shrugged and gave me a weak smile.
“What do you mean?” How could it not be working now, after two incredible years? “I don’t understand.” I sniffed back the tears and swallowed the lump in my throat. I wouldn’t cry. Not in front of everyone.
“I need to be single for a while,” he said, hitching his backpack up higher and glancing over my shoulder.
“Single? But…” I couldn’t help it. A sob escaped my lips as I felt my world crumble around me.
“Look, I really need to focus on my studies. We’re starting senior year next year. It’s important. You know how it is, Bailey.”
No, I really didn’t. We were two weeks away from the end of the year. Then it would be Christmas, and after that, we were meant to be going on a month-long trip up the coast to relax before starting senior year. There was nothing to study. At least not for the next two months. “But Christmas and our holiday? How can you do this to me? Please, Chace. I don’t understand what happened. I thought things were perfect.”
“I just…” Chace sighed, running a hand through his tousled brown hair. “I don’t love you, B.”
And that was it. He walked off, leaving me there in complete shock. I didn’t even get a chance to say anything else. Not that I could have formed a coherent sentence.
After two happy years, it was over. Just like that.
My head hurt. My heart hurt. My stomach rolled. I was going to throw up. I lunged for the bathrooms across the hall and slumped down into an empty cubicle. The tears fell freely, unstoppable. He had completely shattered my heart with just four words.
Growing up, I had never been one to believe in those cliché lines like “everything happens for a reason” or “what goes around comes around” that my mother lived by. Fate, destiny, true love—I thought they were all rubbish, until I met Chace Stephens.
He was every girl’s dream guy. Tall, dark, and handsome. He was friendly, funny, smart, and popular. He was gorgeous. He had hypnotic blue eyes that could just suck you in and strong arms that you just wanted to have wrapped around you. But he wasn’t conceited or vain. He didn’t act like he was better than anyone else. Everyone loved him, and so did I.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that he would ever be interested in someone like me. But I was wrong.
The creak of the bathroom door, followed by the click of heels and the unmistakable scuff of runners on the tiled floor, alerted me to Christina and Indie’s arrival.
“Bailey, come on. Get up.” Christina reached out to help pull me to my feet. I shook my head. I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry until the tears ran out. “We saw what happened out there. Come on.”
“Everyone saw what happened out there,” Indie added. Trust her to be brutally honest.
“Indie! Not helping,” Christina snapped as she tugged on my hands again. “Let’s clean you up. You’re a mess.”
We had been best friends since we were eight years old. She was the first girl to talk to me on the playground when I moved to town. The fact that we were so different didn’t matter to us. She came from a wealthy family with a big house and a country club membership.
I did not.
My father skipped out on my mother when I was a baby. I couldn’t remember him at all. My mother was what you would call…unique, a free spirit. She didn’t believe in routine or rules, or staying put, for that matter. In the first eight years of my life, we moved fifteen times before settling here in the small town of Blackhill. My mother fell in love with this town and its quiet streets and friendly atmosphere. The population barely grazed eight thousand people.
I let the girls pull me to my feet and over to the counter. Indie wet some paper towel to dab on my eyes, and Christina dug around in her bag for what I assumed was makeup.
Christina had everything I always wanted. And it wasn’t the money; I couldn’t care less about that. She had stability. She had parents who had rules to protect and keep her safe. She had friends. Things I had never had before. I grew up known as the child of a gypsy—carefree and no rules. My mother always told me that you learn from your mistakes. Because we always moved around, no one ever took the time to get to know me or befriend me. I was always the outcast, the strange girl who didn’t fit in, the girl with the mother who wore too much jewellery. When Christina declared us best friends that first day on the playground, I couldn’t have been happier. I found myself morphing into her as we grew older and finally being accepted by her group of friends. By Indie. By Chace.
Chace. He was the most popular boy in that group. In the whole school. He was good-looking and charming and swept me off my feet. Things were shy and awkward at first. I’d never really had friends before, only Christina. Then, once we got to high school, Indie became my friend as well. I’d certainly never had a boyfriend, but Chace made me feel comfortable. He took me on dates to the movies and to the fair. He met my mother and swept her off her feet, too. She thought the world of him. And now it was over.
All so he could study when it was summer holidays.
The tears spilt again before I had a chance to stop them. “How could he suddenly stop loving me? What changed overnight?” I cried to the girls.
“I don’t know. I can’t answer that,” Christina murmured, while Indie just shook her head.
“Everything was fine last night. Well, I thought it was. He came over for dinner and a movie like he does every Sunday. He spoke with my mum for ages. Everything was normal. I don’t…” I sniffed again, trying to control the tears. “…I don’t get it.”
The girls sat with me in the bathroom through homeroom and our first class, not caring at all that they were missing school. They were the best friends I could have asked for. I eventually stopped crying, but no matter how hard they tried to fix me up, it was impossible to hide the redness and puffiness of my eyes.
The downside to being Chace’s girlfriend—well, now ex-girlfriend—and Christina’s best friend was the attention I attracted. All morning, everywhere I went, people were talking and whispering behind my back. Half of the students didn’t even bother to hide the fact they were gossiping about me.
I couldn’t handle it any longer. I skipped the last period before lunch and ran to my car. I was grateful to my mother for allowing me to drive myself that morning. Usually, she would drive me.
I was trying to pull myself together when a knock on my window startled me enough to stop my crying. Maybe if I went home and went to sleep, I’d wake up and find this was all a nightmare. A second tap ripped me out of my thoughts. I looked out the window into the bright green eyes of Ryder Jones. What?
Why was he at my car knocking on my window? I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. Ryder Jones didn’t speak to me. Ever. Ryder Jones didn’t talk to anyone unless it was to tell them to piss off.
He motioned for me to wind my window down, but I didn’t. I couldn’t function. Ryder Jones, the school’s most desirable bad boy, was standing at my car. I couldn’t breathe. What did he want?
He rolled his eyes, yanked my door open, and crouched down so he was at my level.
“I saw what that jerk did in there this morning. You okay?” he asked. His jaw was tense, and his eyes were burning with anger. My eyebrows shot up so far, I was sure they had left my head. He was asking if I was okay. Why? He shouldn’t have cared about my personal drama.
“Bailey?” He reached out and wiped a tear from my cheek that I hadn’t realised was still falling. I still couldn’t move. All I could think was: Ryder Jones just touched me. He touched me. Oh my God.
“Look, Chace is a douche. You don’t need him. You’re better than that. You need to show him that. Nothing will hurt him more than knowing he hasn’t broken you. I can help you.” He winked at me, but I just blinked back, confused.
It couldn’t be real. Ryder Jones didn’t talk to girls. They threw themselves at him. But there he was. Talking to me. I was most definitely not throwing myself at him. In fact, I was still staring at him open-mouthed, like a fish. He laughed and, oh, it was a glorious sound. I swear I heard a harp playing a tune and saw the light brighten when he smiled.
“So, anyway, think about it. We’ve got all summer to work on it.” All summer to work on what? He ran a hand through his curly brown hair before asking, “Have you got a phone?”
A phone? Of course, I have a phone. What teenager doesn’t these days? He rolled his eyes again when I didn’t respond. He reached across me into my car, his shirtsleeves pulling up slightly to reveal the scattered tattoos on his arm, and grabbed my phone from where it was resting on the dashboard. I watched as he called a number and handed it back to me with a smirk.
“Now you have my number. Call me if you want to get payback. I know I do.” He stood up and closed my door without another word and strutted toward the school, leaving me paralysed and staring after him.
I started my car and headed home, baffled by Ryder’s offer and unsure what to make of it. It was strange that he’d approached me in the first place but even stranger that he wanted to get payback. For what? I couldn’t understand. But I knew one thing: I wasn’t a vindictive person. Chace broke up with me for reasons unknown, and I wasn’t about to stoop to his level for a little revenge.
I sought comfort and support from my wonderful friends and avoided everyone else for the next couple of days. Christina was amazing. She became my supplier of ice cream and peanut butter, even spending nights curled up in my bed watching sappy, romantic movies. I’m a sucker for punishment.
The few times I came across Chace in town, on those rare occasions I ventured out of the house, he looked the other way and pretended he didn’t see me. Maybe because I was a blubbering mess with my tangled hair in a bun, with tear-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes. I was not looking my best if I was honest. But our breakup didn’t seem to affect him. At all. He was laughing and joking with his mates at the ice cream shop like nothing had happened, looking all gorgeous with his tan skin and golden-brown hair, lightened by the sun. He was happy without me, and that just made me miss him more.
I called Christina to tell her I would not be going on the road trip with them now. I couldn’t face Chace. Another month with him would kill me.
Christina begged and pleaded before calling in reinforcements in the form of Indie.
“Don’t let him ruin your fun,” they argued.
“The girls are right, sweetheart. You were all excited for this trip. Don’t let Chace ruin it for you.” My mother even sided with them. So, after much arguing and sulking on my part, which they ignored, I agreed to still go on the road trip.