All my life I've been good,
But now whoa, I'm thinking what the hell
All I want is to mess around

My eyes hurt from the sudden transition of darkness to blinding light. When they finally adjusted, I saw my parents, who looked like Jesus coming down from heaven, were standing in front of me with their arms crossed.

"Geez, Dad," I exhaled, my shoulder sagging with relief. "Don't scare me like that next time."

He only narrowed his eyes at me. "So, who was that?"

"No one."

"Oh, he wasn't no one," Mom said. "Not when he was smiling at you like that."

"Were you guys spying on me?" I questioned incredulously.

You see, my parents could be somewhat protective over me sometimes, given that I was their only girl. They didn't trust guys with me, and Brett breaking my heart only made them more protective.

"No," Dad denied, running his hand through his blonde hair. "Spying means watching you secretly; we were watching you openly get out of the boy's car before coming inside."

I rolled my eyes. "He just brought me home, Dad. No need to worry."

"You should've been home an hour ago, Katherine. Do you have any idea what time is it?"

"We just ate out, Dad."

"Well, I don't want you eating with him anymore. He looks like a heartbreaker."

Oh, little do you know.

Mom studied me for a second before wrapping an arm around his, calming him down.

"Charles, you can't just order her not to hang out with her friends," she threw me a cheeky wink. "Besides, I trust her."

I smiled at her. I loved my mom; she was always the more sensible and understanding one out of the two of them.

"Yeah, well, I don't trust that guy." Dad muttered to her, glaring at the door behind me.

"Nothing's going on, dad. I swear. I wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for guys like Brett again." I promised rather bitterly.

I was pretty open with my parents, so obviously, they knew about Brett. Dad wanted to march over to his house with his a baseball bat when he knew about what happened, but Mom and Kaden were luckily able to refrain him from doing so.

"That's my girl," Dad said proudly. "Take care of yourself, will you?"

"Love you Dad," I answered, sending him an assuring smile. He threw me an 'I'm-watching-you' sign before going up to his room.

I sighed and walked to the couch, letting myself fall on it with a loud thud.

Mom sat beside me. "You understand your father, right? You know he's only looking out for you."

"I know, Mom."

"And it doesn't help the fact that he was a player in your age, so he knows guys like Brett. He was one of them." Her nose crinkled as she remembered their past.

I laughed. I heard their story a million times already, but I never get tired of hearing it. When Dad was younger, he was the number one player in his school. He had a new girl everyday, well maybe not everyday, but you get the point. Mom was his best friend's little sister, who was my aunt. Mom thought that he was in love with her sister, and Dad thought she was in love with someone else so he continued playing his with his girls. Mom's sister kept convincing him to confess though, so he finally did at New Year's Eve. They've been together ever since.

But people like my parents were the lucky ones, and not everyone gets to be lucky.

And one of those many unlucky people just happened to be me.

*~*~*~*~*

"Tell us everything that happened yesterday," Zoe demanded as she plopped her tray down.

"And by everything we mean every single detail." Jade urged, radiating the same excited energy Zoe had.

"Wait, hold up," I pointed my fork at the two of them. "How did you guys know something happened yesterday?"

"Well, duh, it was on Logan's Snapchat." Zoe said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I distinctly remembered Logan snapchatting his food with me.

"What was on my Snapchat?"

We looked up to see Logan casually standing in front of our table.

"The food we ate at the restaurant. I was talking about how good the bread and butter was." I easily lied, shooting Zoe and Jade a look.

He let out a laugh. "Oh God, the bread and butter."

"Yeah," I smiled before cocking my head to the side. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Oh," he said, snapping his fingers as if he just remembered something. "I came by to ask you if you wanted to hangout later?"

"Depends," I drawled. "Is there going to be free food?"

Zoe and Jade face-palmed theirselves simultaneously as those words escaped my mouth.

What? You can't blame a growing, broke girl for being hungry.

Logan, unlike my oh so supportive friends, let out an amused laugh. "Of course."

I grinned. "Well then, count me in."

He smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "Alright, see you later."

"See you."

With one last smile, he strode off to his table.

I sagged in relief, massaging my cheeks. "God, it hurts to smile too much."

"Probably because you're usually scowling or frowning." Jade remarked.

"Hey, I smile a lot." I defended myself.

"Only when there's food around," Zoe chimed in.

I pouted.

"Aw, come on, cheer up Kath!" Jade nudged me cheerfully. "You still need to tell us about last night."

"Everything about it," Zoe reminded, narrowing her eyes at me.

With a groan, I finally filled them in.

"Woah," they said once I was finished.

"Mhm."

"I'm... shocked," Zoe said slowly. "It sounds like you guys actually had a good time."

Jade nodded in agreement, pushing her glasses up when she nodded a little bit too hard. "And he doesn't sound that much of a—a bad person after all."

Zoe rolled her eyes at Jade. "You could've just said an asshole, because that's what he is. We should not let that obviously fake facade fool us!"

"It's fascinating though," Jade marveled, her green eyes looked dazed in thought. "It's like the he found his metiér as a born heartbreaker. Based on your story Kath, it almost seemed like he was genuine."

Zoe and I just stared at Jade.

"I don't think you're only talking about Logan." I said as Zoe exclaimed at the same time, "What the fu—hell is a met-yay?"

I tipped my head towards Zoe. "Actually, that question too."

"Look it up," our nerdy friend simply said.

"Not my fault you use such fancy words," she huffed, and I nodded in agreement. "Anyway, boy problems Jade?"

She sighed, resting her head on her hands sadly. "Problem. It's only ever been him."

It was kind of weird to think of the fact that my close friend and my brother had a thing, but I was still on Jade's side since Kaden was at fault after all.

"You know, you didn't have to keep it a secret," Zoe said softly, putting her hand on her shoulder.

Jade glanced at me. "Well, I knew if I told you guys then Kath would've—"

"Ended it?" I finished off. "I probably would have and if Kaden didn't allow me to, then maybe I would've told him not to hurt you, and it would have been easier."

Jade sighed. "I'm sorry, Kath."

"It's fine, I don't hold anything against you," I waved off. "All I care about is if you're okay."

"I'm fine, it's just—some days it hurts so much because I miss him and he's not one phone call away like before," she said sadly before chuckling. "I'm sorry, this is just stupid. I should be focusing on my studies, not some boy who broke my heart."

It was heartbreaking to see one of my closest friends so sad. Jade was the type of person who never cared about her looks, who never cared about what people think of her, and most especially, she didn't care about boys. She was always focused on her studies and her happiness were books and fries. Even though she was made fun of not going to parties and almost always wearing turtlenecks, she stayed strong and held her head up high.

Which was something that seemed hard for her to do right now.

"It's not stupid," Zoe said, her features softened because of our sad friend. "There's nothing stupid about talking about your feelings. I know how you feel, Jade. And I know it sucks, but at least you have us, right?"

"Yeah," I smiled softly at her. "He may be my brother, but I'm on your side, okay?"

"Thank you, you guys are the best," she beamed. "By the way, what was this date you were talking about earlier, Zo?"

She snapped her fingers. "Oh, right! There's this guy I met..."

I sort of dozed off at the new guy that she met. Dating numerous guys was how she was coping with her recent break up; it was getting harder to keep up. But even as she told her stories about this 'amazing' guy, she was still sneaking glances at Ryder with a longing look in her eyes.

"You know I just realized something," I spoke up when Zoe was done talking. "We're all hung up over some douchebag."

"I don't know if that's cool or if it's just plain depressing." Jade quipped.

"It's actually quite cool," Zoe's lips spread into a smirk. "We can be the heartbroken squad!"

Jade and I looked at each other before nodding in some silent agreement. "We're definitely depressing," we said in unison.

Zoe rolled her eyes at our pessimistic attitude. "Whatever. At least we're hot."

We laughed in spite of our situations. I looked over at Jade and Zoe's happy faces and realized that my friends deserved to be happy, that we, heartbroken women, deserved to be loved properly. I snuck a glance at the Playboys' table, feeling inspired.

I was going to watch them break one by one, because they deserved to feel the pain they caused to heartbroken girls like us.

And I wasn't going to show them any mercy.

By the time lunch was over, Zoe and Jade had a class together and rushed to their classroom because their next teacher was a nightmare. They bid their goodbyes before literally dashing to their classroom, scared that their teacher would bite their heads off if they were a minute late.

I, being the chill person I was (which was probably a bad thing), walked to my next class calmly, even though it was at the other side of the building. The hallway was empty by that time since everyone was rushing to class, but I just didn't have the strength to run like everyone else.

Which was in fact, another bad thing.

I was just minding my own business when a hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me to whoever owned the hand. I furrowed my eyebrows when I looked up to see Ryder Rowland smirking down at me.

"What the hell is your problem?" I fumed, wriggling my wrist out of his grasp. He didn't let go. He simply continued looking at me as if I was his prey.

His smirk widened as his face inched toward mine. "Katherine Solace," he said as if he was trying it for size. "I've heard a lot about you. Apparently, you managed to snag Golden Boy on the first day you tried dressing up."

I wrinkled my nose. I knew privacy didn't exist these days, but I didn't think it was this bad.

"And I heard you're going to be beat up if you don't let me go right now." I growled, spearing him with my deadliest glare.

The fucking ass had the nerve to pat my head after my intimidating stance. "You know what?"

"I don't."

He ignored me. "You remind me of a kitten."

I snorted. "Kittens are cute. I am most certainly not cute."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I think 'hot' is more flattering for me."

Clearly not expecting that answer, he burst out laughing.

"God, you're hilarious," he ruffled my hair, again.

"I know. Can you let me go now?" I asked impatiently. Though our conversation was weirdly amusing, I was getting annoyed at his hard grip on my wrist.

"No," he said before moving his face closer to mine that I could actually see his pores. "I want you tell me what goes on in that pretty little head of yours."

For a moment, I thought that he had figured me and my whole plan out. Judging my the lust and amusement in his eyes though, I was relieved to realize that he was only flirting with me.

I was getting irritated at the way he was still holding me, so I contemplated whether or not to knee his balls. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make my
dreams into reality since a voice cut me off.

"Let go of her, man. The poor girl looks so disgusted."

I mentally applauded whoever said that.

Ryder loosened his grip, so I took the opportunity and wriggled my hand off his. I ran towards the speaker, who I still couldn't identify since Ryder was covering him with his freaking tall frame.

Until I got nearer.

It was Zachary Hunter, Ryder's best friend. They were both topping the player chart with the amount of girls chasing after them. With his perfect black hair, sharp cheekbones, gorgeous light blue eyes and full lips, his face was the epitome of perfection. Zachary was part of the basketball team, and he was co-captain. Just like Ryder, he was good. According to the notebook, majority thought that Ryder was the more outspoken one of the two. Zachary mostly kept to himself, and that was why girls loved him. They love his mysterious vibe. For me though, he was just a self-proclaimed bad boy that loves the attention.

I remembered Zoe's writing on the notebook that one of Ryder and Zachary's differences was that Ryder was the one usually chasing girl after girl while Zachary just waits for girls to come to him. People think that they were equals, but I personally think that Ryder was douchier.

But maybe that was just because he broke my best friend's heart.

Anyway, was life shitting me right now?

"Aw, come on, man. Look what you did." Ryder sighed when he realized I had escaped.

"I simply did her a favor." Zachary teased, casually leaning on the locker beside him with his arms crossed. "You're moving too fast."

"Am not! She totally liked it!"

I coughed, catching their attention. "Can we please stop talking as if I'm not here please? And Ryder, I'm going to have agree with Zachary on this one. I did not like it at all."

Zachary looked triumphant, but Ryder was still as cocky as ever.

"Whatever. I know you're going to beg for my attention some day," Ryder said before striding off.

My jaw dropped. That guy had a huge ego, and I did not like it at all. How did Zoe ever love this guy?

I shook my thoughts away and started walking, completely ignoring Zachary.

"What, I don't get a thank you?" he called out.

I exhaled loudly through my nose before facing him. "I can handle myself, thank you very much."

"Yeah, sure," he drawled in a mocking tone. Before I could defend myself, he straightened up. "See you around, Katherine."

I watched his retreating back, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

What just happened?

Did I just talk to the top two players in a span of ten minutes? How did I even manage to do that?

Ryder's insufferable smirk and Zachary's annoyingly bored looking eyes entered my mind, making me shudder. I had to hangout with these two soon, and I know I should be begrudged by that.

But why do I feel so excited?

Maybe it was because this would be the biggest thrill I would ever do. I had never done something this daring before, even though I seemed a little crazy. I never put my heart out in the line, and that was probably why I was so ecstatic about this.

I shook my thoughts away before entering the classroom. Mr. Florence, my Social Studies teacher, immediately stopped talking to glare at me as everyone else stared at me. I glanced around the classroom only to meet the eyes of none other than Zachary Hunter.

I was confused to why he was here and how the hell he got here before me. I knew he was in this class, but I never really acknowledged him until today. I never had the reason to anyway.

"Good afternoon, sir," I greeted sheepishly.

"Good afternoon," he greeted back, his tone not as light-hearted as mine. "Tardiness is not acceptable in my class, Ms. Solace. You know that."

"But you see, sir, I had some lady problems, if you know what I mean." I excused, making myself look kind of embarrassed.

He simply glared at me through his old man glasses, his balding head shining because of the lighting. "Not my problem. Detention later, along with Mr. Hunter—"

My eyes widened. "But sir—"

"No excuses, Ms. Solace. I will not tolerate tardiness in my class, understood?"

I nodded solemnly, knowing that nothing could untwist the knot in his undies."Yes sir," I sighed before sitting on usual seat at the back.

I never really liked Mr. Florence. He was a class A bitter asshole that has anger management issues. His deep, monotone voice always made me want to stick my eyeballs out with a fork, and it didn't help that he had the habit of saying 'okay' at the end of each sentence as he discusses his lessons. He also needed to calm the hell down most of the times, or else the thinning layer on his shining, balding head would fall off.

Sorry, but I just really, really, really don't like him.

As I was dwelling on my hatred for my teacher, someone kicked my chair. I turned around to glare at the person who interrupted my wicked schemes, only to meet Zachary's gaze.

How the hell did he end up behind me? As far as I remembered, he was at the other side of the room.

I voiced out my question in a low voice.

"Why, I walked, of course." He answered sarcastically.

"Oh, really? Wow, I didn't know that!" I retorted dryly.

"Wouldn't be surprised," he muttered.

"Did you just call me dumb?"

"You were implying it."

"There's this thing called sarcasm, you idiot."

"Mr. Hunter, Ms. Solace, stop that nonsense chattering before I lengthen both of your detentions. The classroom is not the place to flirt." Mr. Florence said sharply, cutting off our little argument.

"So you're saying that detention is where we should flirt?" Zachary retorted in a bored tone.

My eyes widened. What the hell is this idiot thinking? We'll get into more trouble!

Mr. Florence was red in the face from anger and annoyance. "How dare you talk to me like tha—"

"I was simply asking because I was confused, sir," he continued, clearly amused by how easy he could irritate our teacher.

"That's it, two weeks of detention for the both of you!" Mr. Florence sputtered out.

"What? But I didn't do anything!" I exclaimed.

"Zip it, Ms. Solace. I'm the teacher here, and you do as I say."

"But that's so unfair! It's not my fault he's a pain in the as—butt!"

Zachary made a sound of protest, but I ignored him.

I can't have detention! Having detention meant losing an hour of training, and that meant a very unhappy coach when he finds out.

"Three weeks if you don't stop questioning me, Ms. Solace." Mr. Florence threatened.

I exhaled loudly and sagged on my chair, a sour expression on my face. I flashed Zachary my middle finger, but it only made him snicker.

Coach was so going to behead me.

*~*~*~*~*

Apparently, I didn't have to worry about coach killing me. He texted the team at the last minute, stating that training was cancelled today because his pregnant wife just went into labor.

"Go away," I grumbled as I trudged depressingly to the classroom where detention will be held at.

"Can't exactly do that, Katherine. You