I THOUGHT THAT AFTER our breakup, I would immediately see Molly and Travis holding each other as they passed the hallways. Instead, all I saw when I finally decided to come back to school was just Travis with Lucas, Robbie, Riley, and Travis by his side while Sean was on mine.

It was a big awkward mess that nobody wanted to talk about except for the Golden Sisters, but they didn't decide to torture me about it because of my situation. The guys, I could tell, wanted to talk to me half the time but I decided to ignore them just like I was ignoring Travis. It was a full week and a half before he decided to give up on knocking on my door, throwing small rocks on my window, and calling my phone nonstop.

I kept telling myself it was for the better, that I had better things to do like talk to the principal.

The principal had understood what happened to me—after all, it was already broadcasted throughout the school that I had been kidnapped by some people who were after my father's money and the healing bruises and wounds around me were proof enough that I wasn't lying about it.

Of course, we couldn't say anything about Max, we couldn't say anything about how the Mayor's son just decided to come back from the dead in order to torture me. It would cause chaos and the simpler way to talk about it was that I was kidnapped by people whom I didn't know and when I escaped and told authorities were they were, when they got there they were gone. So, now, I'm trying to keep everything normal.

In order to do that, I had to go to school first and catch up on my studies so I would be able to graduate and to achieve that, I would have bigger work than others. Which they did—the days-load they gave me to do would take weeks for people, even me, to finish. It meant no sleeping time so I could finish them and it was a good thing, also.

It could keep me off of thinking that breakup. Some teachers didn't want to give the task to me but I had to insist. The more stuff I could do, the more I could forget in an instant what had happened—the kidnapping, beating, torturing, killing, and breakup.

"Alright, Romeo and Juliet," Mrs. Saunders, slammed the book down the teacher's table, smiling at everyone. "I made this an assignment. So, all of you better read this. If not, Advance Placement doesn't seem so advanced—"

"Romeo died because he loved Juliet so much," Everyone, except me, stared at Travis, watching him talk about Romeo and Juliet. "It was a beautiful tragedy. When she woke up from a fake death, she killed herself, loving him too much."

My head shook, chuckling. "It was toxic. They should've just ended their relationship because none of their families wanted them to be together. If they did, then, no one would've died. Romeo would move on and Juliet would just, I don't know, move on too. It'd be better."

"Better," he scoffed. When my eyes met his, he immediately rolled his eyes at me. "Better isn't always better. You think it's good to break up with someone just because everything gets a little too much for you? Romeo was in love with her. He worshipped the ground she walked on. So much so, that he couldn't live with her."

Even Mrs. Saunders probably already knew that he wasn't talking about the book. This was good—anger was good. It meant that when he hated me, he'll be able to get over me.

"Juliet didn't need that sort of baggage, the best—"

"Baggage?" He hissed, narrowing his eyes at me. "Wow. So that's what you thought of it? Romeo would have been there for Juliet; he would've bent over backwards for her and that's a show of dedication when he killed himself. Would you be like Juliet? Were you really in love or were you just too afraid of commitment when things get tough?"

Everyone stared at us, waiting for my answer, completely unknown of how we suddenly hated one another.

I mean, I didn't hate him—I still loved him. And it hurt every inch of me.

"He doesn't have to know," Elizabeth tightened her grip on my hand. "Please, don't tell him. If he finds out I told you to breakup with him, he's going to get mad at me. He might not forgive me for this one, thinking I screwed this up."

The bell rang. Our eyes still locked while everyone left.

* * * *

"Did you feel humiliated?"

Dr. Shelly was my therapist for the past three weeks now, whom my father recommended, and had Sean and Alex come to me to convince me to try at least one session with her. Like any other person, I didn't say anything at the first session, or at the third, or fifth session but who's counting, right?

But at least, after everything, I managed to open up as much as I could and she had started giving me medicines for my PTSD and other mental illness degrading on my mental health.

I shook my head. "I didn't. He was mad, I get that but I just felt like it was unfair for him to think that I broke up with him because everything was just too much for me. Even after everything, I didn't break up with him because of it. I broke up with him because he didn't need my problems, and his sister asked me too for his good."

"Do you think her sister was right?" Her brows furrowed.

Nodding, I crossed my arms. "If I didn't break up with him, his parents would've made sure that my family would suffer, and manipulate him harder than they're manipulating him now. If he isn't with me anymore, he doesn't get to worry, his parents would think I was just one of his short-lived relationships, and he and her sister would focus on getting himself out of that engagement without causing a massive scene that would hurt the two of them. On top of that, I still believe that he doesn't need a damaged girlfriend walking beside him. So, yeah, I think she was right?"

"Is that what you think of yourself?" She inquired, holding her hot mug. "Do you think of yourself as 'damaged'?"

"I'm a patient of a psychiatrist, taking pills to stop my hallucinations that I was back on that hellhole, taking pills to sleep, and taking pills to make myself happy or numb," I blurted out, giving her a flat look. "On top of that, I haven't even visited my mother's grave who I believe if she was alive, would slap me at the back of my head really hard."

"I thought you said, you would go yesterday?"

"I would've but I got too nervous," when I saw the big hand going straight to twelve, I shrugged and collected my things, not waiting for her to tell me to go. I didn't care. Talking about my dead mother wasn't on my list today. "Well, that concludes our session. See you around, Doc."

"This Saturday at 8AM this time," she called out. "Do not be late, Sam."

I just gave her a wave goodbye with my back facing her.

Alex was on the couch when I got home, wearing a tuxedo. "Hey, your brother let me in. He's gone to work but he told me that he'll be back before it gets dark to cook dinner."

My brows furrowed, giving him a sly grin. "Either you're going on an expensive date with someone, or you're just here to impress me. It better be the former one because you really don't want an unstable freak as a girlfriend."

"Will you stop degrading yourself?" Alex's tone rose a little but he soon calmed himself down. "I'm officially working for my mom. It was part of the deal to have me tag along in your rescue. I'm just here to check on you, see how you're doing."

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the kitchen cupboard, grabbing a mug. "I'm fine, Alex. Same as the last time as you saw me which was two days ago. You know, if you keep coming often, my dad will think you're getting it on with me. You should leave me alone, maybe about a week? A month? Or like, ever?"

Alex shook his head, clearly unfazed by my character. "I know it's in your nature to push people away but you can't do that shit anymore. Everyone is worried about you."

My hand ran through my hair. Everyone is always worried about me when all I want is some space. Everyone thinks that each time I lock myself in my room, I'll go on a psychotic break. Everyone thinks I'm a danger to myself.

I'm so sick of it all. I want to just go away.

Forget about their worries about me, forget about their technique to suffocate me all the time.

But I can't, because like what Doc said, I always have to face everything head on.

So, I gave him a small smile, shrugging as I drank the water from my mug. "I'm okay, Alex. I just need the whole house for myself. You can leave me alone because I don't really have anywhere to go, okay?"

Alex nodded. Leaving.

But I lied.

Hours later, I decided to go to the cemetery.

"Hi mom," I said, facing mom's tombstone. I fished out a small folded envelope on my back pocket and shrugged. "I guess this is the right time to open this?"