When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Bonus Chapter

-REECE POV-

I stared at the lockers in the locker room as I sat on one of the benches. The room was empty, besides me, of course.

Empty.

A feeling I was constantly feeling now.

I remember yeserday before going to Violetta's house to have dinner with her family, I was in the towns library, searching for a book for my English assignment. I saw two little kids with their mom, a boy, and a girl. Both were the same height, and both had very similar facial structures. My throat immediately tightened, and my stomach squeezed in pain. Everything reminded me of Riley. Even if I see a little girl with long brown hair on the street, it would remind me of Riley.

Days like this, I really missed my best friend and twin. Back in Australia, I wasn't really into football, but I did play a little bit of soccer with some mates. I remember Riley always attending every possible game she could for support, including my family, also the same with Lily, before she died. Wow, imagine, both my sister, and the love of my life were both murdered brutally, and sadly their lives were cut so short. Yeah, Lily's death struck a cord, but Riley's own hurt the most. It was completely, and utterly my fault that she died. I should have never allowed her to go to Damon's house. She would have still been here.

Images of her sweet angelic smile appeared on my mind, and even though looking like a weirdo in the library, I smiled a little at that memory as I still continued to search for a book for my book report. Then Riley's face immediately emerged to the condition which my family had found her in. Her head was detached from her body, her torso was separated from her legs, and her hands were dispatched from her arms. And Damon did all of that, then just put her into a black garbage bag, and dumped her into a nearby lake like she was nothing. My parents didn't even want me, or any of my siblings to see the state Riley was in, but I screamed, and demanded to see my sister. So, they only allowed me and Robin to see her in the autopsy room where they kept her to determine the cause of death, which was obvious, considering her body parts were not attached to one another. When I saw her, I immediately wanted to throw up. Even her face was so unrecognizable, that they wouldn't even have determined it was her if it wasn't for the ring I gave her on our last birthday we celebrated together, which she always wore.

Her face was badly beaten, and one of her eyes looked a sieve it was pulled out from their sockets. It was like her and Damon got into a huge fight, even after the autopsy examiner stated she was very much raped because there were blood stains evident on her underwear which was tested, and it was her blood, and not Damon's. I knew Riley was a virgin, because we told each other everything, so it made me think, did Riley decline to have sex with Damon, and he simply did not like her answer, so he decided to rape than kill her?

But after Riley died, I gave up sport's completely. When I came to America, I decided I needed some sort of distraction that I could just get all my anger, and frustration out, so, I met Chucky one day, and decided street racing was the golden ticket. None of my family members knew this of course, but even with street racing, I was still depressed, so, my older brother Robin, considered football, and I stuck with it ever since.

" West, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" I heard a voice say, awaking me back to reality . I immediately blinked away the tears, and rubbed my face before turning to see coach Ryan giving me a stern look.

I realized I've probably been in the locker room for an hour, and missed my first period class with Mr. Simon, but I really didn't give a shit.

I scratched the back of my neck, "sorry, coach, just nervous about today." I said, it was a half lie though. I wasn't really nervous when it came to football games, but the season was almost over, so I knew I had to work extra hard today on the field.

Coach Ryan walked up to me and gently squeezed my right shoulder. " I know kid, I know. Just do the best you can today, and kick those East Coast asses. But remember, no pressure. If we loose, don't even think about blaming yourself," he said, once again, giving me a stern look.

Blame myself,  something I constantly felt since Riley died.

I gave him a weak smile, "I know," I said.

"good, now get to class," he said and walked out. But I didn't go to class, I didn't want peoples eyes on me, depending desperately for us to win today's game, because if we loose, I know ill be the one to blame. So I just continued to sit on the bench in the locker room alone, with my depressing thoughts.

Before the game started, I was in the field practicing as much as I could. Running up and down, doing push ups. Trying to throw, and catch the football by myself, which wasn't as easy as some people might think.

Of course, before the game, coach made sure we all practiced for one, to two hours tops, then go home and rest, or practice more before the game.

I was currently in the locker room once again, wearing my gear since the game would soon start. I got my mouth piece, along with its cover from my locker and placed it in my bag. I wasn't going to wear it now. The coach had already prepped us, with new approaches, and defenses to use with the other team, and tactics.

"dude, I'm heading out now to the field, you coming?" I turned to see Chase look at me as he made sure his shoe laces on his sneakers were tied properly.

Chase Arlington, and I completely hated each other before. We would fight constantly, he thought I was an arse, and I thought he was a whiny bitch, but all that changed when a certain girl forced us to just clear the air between us.

Violetta Maxwell.

I've been thinking about her crazy lately, and I wasn't the type of guy to deny when I like someone. I just didn't like her, I was crazy about her.

But, I mean, what wasn't to like about her? Her chocolate dark brown eyes, her long dark blonde hair, her beautiful laugh, the way she cared for others before herself, her weird obsession with Harry Potter, and most of all, just how beautiful she was.

I almost kissed her yesterday night, I was going to, in fact, I was desperate to. We were on her porch, and she was just... there. Looking beautiful as always, and in no doubt, I knew I wanted to be with her, and not Brooke.

I only liked Brooke because she reminded me of Lily, not of personality of course, but rather, facial structure. Both had raven black hair, caramel skin, pointed nose, and dark green eyes. Part of me just pretended I was dating Lily instead of Brooke, which made me a complete douchebag, I know.

But, Lily would want me to move on, I needed to stop comparing every girl to Lily, and start liking someone for who they really are.

And Violetta Maxwell didn't have a clue she already won.

I nodded at Chase, "cool, ill be out in a second," I told him. He nodded as he left to go out into the field. I finished wearing my gear and brought my carry on bag with me and walked out of the boys locker room. As I left, I immediately heard roars of noises, and a small smile appeared on my face as I made my way to the field.

I blocked out the noise, and rested my bag on the benches where the teams were sitting.

"Bro, this place is packed, damn." Miles said swiftly whistling, and I chuckled as he walked up to me. I quickly got my water bottle from my bag and took a quick sip.

"well, I just want to get this over with, been stressin' me out for weeks," I groaned.

This causing Miles to smirk, "Why? Plan on telling Violetta you actually like her?" Miles smirk deepened, and I immediately punched his arm and looked around us to make sure no one heard.

He groaned in pain, and covered the place where I had punched him with his free hand where a bruise would most likely start to form.

Okay, so maybe I accidentally slipped to Landon, Jake, and Miles that me and Violetta were fake dating a few weeks ago. But in my defense, we were hanging out by this creek we usually go to, and I was drunk, and also high on weed, so don't judge me...at-least, not fully.

"can you shut up, why don't you bloody let the whole school know." I hissed at Miles, but as usual, his annoying cocky self smirked.

" Reecy likes Vio, Reecy likes Vio, he wants her babies, he wants her punani!" Miles sang horribly loud as some of our teammates raised an eyebrow, and coach Ryan shook his head in annoyance.

I punched the same area of Miles arm again, and a tear threatned to roll down from his eyes. "stop hitting me!" he shouted.

"then stop bein' dumb!" I shouted back. We both glared at each other, before we bursted out laughing. I turned away from Miles for a second to search the seas of the crowd until my eyes landed on a certain blonde.

I'm sure she hasn't seen me yet, she was chatting with Veronica, but still had her eyes on the field. I felt knots form in the pit of my stomach. A small smile formed on my lips when she rolled her eyes at something Veronica said before she turned her full attention to her best friend.

I'm not sure when I actually started to feel this way towards Violetta, it probably was when she helped clean my wounds at her house the day I got into a fight with one of those douchebags at the racing track. The way her face was so close to mine immediately made me nervous, and I knew I needed to get out of her house immediately before I get completely fucked.

I never intended to have feeling for her, believe me. Heck, I thought her name was Vicky at first before I even knew her actual real name. Sure, before we began talking I noticed her a few times in the hall. Talking to either Veronica, or Chase, or drooling over Xavier Chamberlin as he walked past her. My blood immediately boiled with rage remembering he was the guy she liked, and not me.

But anyways, when she damaged my car, I literally wanted to take her arse to court, I really did not like her, then Brooke cheated on me, and since Violetta couldn't pay for my car expenses, a brilliant plan formed in my head.

Instead of her paying to fix my car, why not let her debt be reformed by allowing her to help me win Brooke back, no feeling attached to our deal of course.

But, then my dumb-arse caught feelings, and honestly, I don't know what to do. I tried telling her, or proving it to her in a form of an action, but I always seemed to get interrupted when about to do so.

"you know, you should just tell her how you feel man," I turned to realize Miles was still beside me, and was probably observing me as I stared at Violetta for like a whole five minutes.

I snorted, " what good would that do?" I asked, but he didn't respond. I looked at him to realize his eyes were on someone. I followed his eyes to see he was watching Zoey in the crowd. She was discussing something with the other class presidents of each grade, and some teachers.

" believe me Reece, loving someone, and not being with them is the worst possible pain to have." he said before turning to me, pain evident in his eyes. "I'm telling you this because you're my best friend. Tell Violetta how you feel before its actually too late." he said giving me a small smile, and gently squeezed my shoulder before walking away to talk to our other team members.

I gently bit my lip before looking at Violetta, I grabbed my spare jersey from my bag without really thinking about it, maybe I wanted to give her my jersey as an excuse to just talk to her. I didn't even realize I was jogging towards her, I saw Violetta give Veronica a confused look before Veronica pointed towards me as I was already near the bleachers.

Violetta turned to see what Veronica was pointing at, and her dark brown eyes immediately rested on me, I felt my heart clench due to that action. She gently smiled at me, and I found myself doing the same thing. She made her way down the bleachers and I moved closer to where she was and immediately hugged her without even thinking of it. Her small frame engulfed me, and her blossom-vanilla scent filled my nostrils.

God I love that scent.

When I removed myself from the hug I handed her my jersey. "This is my jersey, it's very special to me, please don't loose it," I said smiling at her, of course, I trusted her anyways. She smiled back at me before she removed her jacket and wore my jersey. It was a little big for her, but I probably weighed twice the amount that she was, so it was understandable. Nevertheless, I nodded in approval at her appearance

"WEST, LET'S GO!" Both me and Violetta turned to see coach Ryan calling me over, signaling the game was about to start, and needed to finalize the tactic my team and I would use against our opponents.

I turned back to Violetta and grabbed both of her hands gently. I needed to tell her how I felt about her today like Miles said, or I will regret it for the rest of my life. "There's somethin' I've been dyin' to tell you for a while but got interrupted that time we went to lunch after your ballet class, but you're just goin' to have to wait until after the game okay," I said, and she immediately showed me that beautiful smile of hers.

Man, I am whipped.

"WEST!" coach ryan yelled again. I ignored my coach and smirked at Violetta, gently kissing her left cheek before removing her hands from mine with much effort since I didn't want to let go. I eventually jogged back towards the field where my coach and teammates were.

"Well, glad you're back from your honeymoon stage, West," coach ryan said sarcastically and I smirked at him.

"you bet," I said back. He rolled his eyes mumbling ' I don't get paid enough for the shit' before addressing my other teammates.

"So, how'd it go. Did you tell her?" I turned to see Miles behind me, giving me a questioning look.

I shook my head no, "after the game," I said back and he nodded.

The game was about to start and the teams were opposite of one another and Jacob, East coast football captain smirked at me, all I really wanted to do right now was to throw the football harshly at his face, causing a concussion.

The game began, and both teams immediately started to tackle one another to get the football, and defend their teammates to score. Landon passed the football to Daniel, who passed it to me. Jacob immediately came to my side, wanting to tackle me, but I quickly threw the football back to Daniel. John signaled he was open, and Daniel passed it to John. John was one of our fasted runners, and he easily scored a touchdown, making the game 6-0.

Our side of the field screamed with cheers. As the game continued on to the last quarter, the score was a tie, and each team was neck to neck. Who ever won would take the trophy home today, and ill be fucking damned if I'd let Jacob annoying arse take it.

"DOWN SET HUT!" I shouted, and the last fourth-quater began. This quarter was rougher than ever, and each team fought with their last breathe. Miles passed the football to Alex, Alex ran for his life, when he was about to be tackled by a East Coast player he immediately threw the ball to Chase, who passed it to me.

I needed serious back-up right of now as the East Coast players started to come at me, to the point where they were blocking some of my teammates. The pressure was running through my stomach, and the fact that Violetta was here, put even more pressure on me.

The whole field was quite with anticipation, but I didn't give up. I pushed past as many rivals as I could and with much effort, threw the football to the first teammate I saw which was Carlos. My head started to hurt, and my running slowed down, but I chose to ignore it. I watched as Carlos ran with much effort, and the rest of the team backed him up until he was able to score a touchdown, making us win the game.

I heard the crowd from our side of the school roar with excitement, cheerleaders were doing flips, and splits , chanting our schools song and coach Ryan immediately ran like the wind, collecting our trophy and hugged it for his dear life before walking towards me,  and handed it to me.

"you guys did good tonight, proud of you son, proud of all of you," he said patting my shoulder, and smiled at my teammates. Immediately as he said that, I felt myself being lifted up, as my teammates raised me, screaming with joy. I kissed the trophy screaming in victory until my lungs hurted.

Few minutes later, I was put down, and my family came to congratulate me, and even Violetta's family as well since they came.

Violetta.

I looked around the bleachers and didn't see her. I slightly frowned before I started to look for her.

It's now, or never.

I thought as I began to search for her. Smiling, and thanking people as they congratulated me. Minutes later, I found Veronica, Laurianne, Ocean, and Zoey near a corner discussing and I walked up to them, hoping they knew where Violetta was.

"hey guys," I greeted them, and they immediately turned to me.

"omg, congrats Reecy!" Ocean said about to hug me, but deciding against it. "um, you know what, ill just hug you after you take a shower,"she said wrinkling her nose in distaste, and just gently patted my shoulder, then wiped her hand with her jeans, giving me a smile.

I raised an eyebrow at her action, but chose to ignore it. "thanks, anyways, have you guys seen Violetta?" I asked.

"yeah, she said she wanted to quickly use the bathroom," Veronica said. I quickly thanked her before leaving them.

"make sure to use protection!" Zoey screamed, causing some people to glance at us. I gave her the middle finger without even turning back, and made my way to the schools building.

Alright, so how do I say this.

'Hey Violet, I like you, do you like me?'

Nah, too direct, I have to put meaning into it.

'okay Violet, I know this whole fake datin' thin' was just a way to get Brooke back without any feelin' attached from both of us. But, through out this month, I've gotten to know you, and I really, really like you, like fuckin' alot'

I groaned, oh screw it, whatever comes out of my mouth when addressing her is what i'll go with.

Trying to control my nervousness, I entered into the schools building.  People were inside, as they walked down the halls, either going to their locker, or using the bathroom I presume.

Some greeted me, congratulating me on the win, and I thanked them all. I turned to a different hallway where the first bathroom was located and stopped in my tracks to what I saw.

Violetta and Xavier, I watched with angry, and curiosity as Xavier gently pushed Violetta against the bathroom door and I felt my hands turned into a fist. Their faces were extremely close, and I felt my breathe hitch. Of course she still fucking liked that arsehole. Xavier eyes flickered towards me, and he gave me a victory smirk, basically saying 'I've already