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I quickly scrambled for a thank you to Carmen and Hunter. He waved his hand, giving a shrug.

Carmen plastered a tight lip smile back at me. "Anytime, Canada."

I arched a dark brow. "Canada?"

"Yeah." She pointed to Hunter. "Isn't that where you said she's from?"

"I said she was from the New England area, Carmen." Hunter reminded her.

She breathed sharply, glancing up at me like this is the first time she's ever seen me. "Wait...You're British? That's so cool. I couldn't even tell."

I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she really asking that? Wait. Wrong question. Was she really that stupid? I half contemplated on saying something in an English accent, just to mess with her.

"I'm from the state of Maine," I said instead.

"Maine is like basically Canada," she said, rolling her eyes.

"But it's basically not. Have you looked at a US map before? Cause Maine is like clearly there." I mimicked her airhead tone. Was she high on crack? How many times had she been dropped as a baby? I was quite concerned for her and her possibly offspring. How'd she get to her senior year like this? -These were all very, very important questions that desperately needed answers.

"Maine is totally the same thing as Canada, right?" she looked around the table for sympathy and for someone to tell her she was indeed correct. Why was this even up for discussion?

"Yes, Maine is very close to Canada, but last time I checked, my birth certificate says I was born in America." I could lie about a lot of things about myself and hide what I've gone through, but I couldn't lie about where I was from.

"Canada is America's hat, so like yeah it is the same thing." She pressed on. With the serious look on her face, I wanted to slap her but I'd contract the illness that was eating away her intelligence. If she had any to begin with. "It doesn't matter. You're welcome and whatever for what I did just now. Franklin won't be bothering you anytime soon."

Nothing about her 'you're welcome' seemed sincere. I would've never thought she'd stand up for me. Hunter was nothing but nice to me since I got here-for reasons I didn't know other than the fact that we happened to share the same house and our parents are unfortunately married to each other. I didn't get why Carmen stepped in like that though.

She just saved your reputation. Does it even matter why she did it?

The bell rang, cutting into my thoughts and moving my attention away from the stupidity coming out of Carmen's mouth. I huffed a breath and walked over to a hallway. I had to get to room B103, which my map said was in a different building. Gazing down at the map, I abruptly came to a halt when someone called out:

"And she's alive!" It was Xander. He pounced to his feet and reached my side. Bethany was right behind him. "Oh, my. She's breathing and walking still. How is this possible?"

I gave a short recap on what happened, repeating the exact words Carmen had said about Franklin and his "lack of equipment." Similar to how the jocks at the table responded, they were both very amused with what they'd heard.

"For about a second, I did feel a little sad for what they said about Franklin," I admitted as we walked down the crowded hallways, bustling with students and staff members. "But then I remembered that I was a cyborg and I don't have emotions."

Beth snorted. "The guy is rude to have done that to you and other girls-it was Karma. I wouldn't feel a little sorry. It was meant to happen eventually."

"I bet if it was Pierson spreading rumors like that about you, then you wouldn't care. You wouldn't even go as far as to say the rumors weren't true." Xander revealed, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way. "Isn't that true?"

"Shut up!" She shouted and pinched him. "Pierson wouldn't ever say untruthful things like that about anyone, anyway."

"Who's Pierson?" I asked, quite curious. "Are you dating him?"

"Oh yeah. She's totally dating him-in her wet dreams." Xander hooted.

She became flustered, fidgeting with her curls and gnawing on the corner of her lip. "Let's talk about something else. Who wants to talk about something else? I do. I really, really, reeeeally do."

"Tell me who this guy is," I said to Xander, completely ignoring her request.

"Pierson Redmond is possibly the most loved and adored living being here in Crescent Heights. Every girl and grown woman wants to jump his bones. People treat him like he's some Greek god who was sent down here for us poor mortals."

I rolled my eyes, yawning. "He sounds like every romantic lead in a teen rom-com." I poked Beth. "How long have you had a thing for him?"

"I have more than a thing for him."

"It's more like an obsession," Xander whispered. Beth, unsurprisingly, heard him and pinched his arm again. "What?! It's true! Are you telling me if he came over here right now, you wouldn't melt into a puddle and let him do anything to you?"

"Alex, you already know this. I've said it a million times. If he gave me the time of day, I'd let him screw me backwards, upside down, on the ground, up a tree, in a house, on a couch--"

"Whoa, calm down there. You sound like a hormonal Doctor Seuss," I cut her off. "We get it. We get it. You'd let him do just about anything, anywhere."

"Sadly that'll probably never happen." Xander sighed. "Rumor has it he only sleeps with older women, though. Like women in their thirties."

"What kind of Momma trauma does he have?" I chuckled.

No one laughed at my joke, causing me to duck my head in embarrassment for zero point two seconds.

"It's a stupid, untrue rumor," Beth spat. "And people have no evidence to back it up. He's had girlfriends our age before."

"Yeah, in Ireland. Who knows if that's true or not?" Xander rolled his eyes. When he noticed my confused look, he went on to explain. "The guy transferred here back in our freshman year. He's got a granddad up in Winchester Hills and I guess his mom wanted to take care of him after he got cancer. They're from Sligo."

"Mmm, I like your taste, Beth." I nudged her. "Why don't you do something about it and make a move on him?"

She walked slower, slumping her shoulders. "Have you looked at me long enough to notice why I would never get with him?" she sighed. "It sucks really-it's like I only ever have a thing for guys I have no chance with. Somethings wrong with me."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Nope, that's how it is for all humans. You can't blame yourself."

"Blame it on his a-a-a-a-abs, baby." Xander sang, cutting into our somewhat-serious moment and causing us to laugh. He went on to sing the rest of the song, shaking his hips just to get Beth to smile again and it worked.

Honestly, I was quite surprised when I heard the insecurity in Beth's voice. She was such a confident person at the party, and to see her literally deflate in front of me at the sound of this guy's name was unexpected.

In a way, it reminded me of the failed relationships I had found myself tangled inside of in the past. It was more of a sad realization. The way Beth giggled about Pierson was nothing like how I acted around the guys I involved myself with.

I dated boys with more issues than love in their hearts. Fog framed their vision, begging to blur their sight even more after whatever they'd seen in their lives. And when Lenard was gone, I found myself craving a distraction just as much as them, wanting something to pull me out of my temporary hell at home.

When I was truly at my worst of times, I had a set of rules. And always, the boy has his own rules. Both of them matched in one area, and that was more of an unspoken agreement that was beyond obvious. What we were doing had nothing to do about love and everything to do about lust. I wasn't losing myself in him, and he sure as hell wasn't falling in love with me.

And no, this isn't the part where I tell you I met a guy who I accidently got feelings for and we ended up being together-all happy and running into the damn sunset, hand in hand. That's how people want things to turn out-like it some dang movie or cheesy TV show.

Life doesn't play out how it does in those films. The guy doesn't always get the girl. The girl doesn't always "fix" the broken boy by loving him. And of course, happily ever after endings only exist in fairytales...

But hey, I guess you already knew that by this point in your life.

...

I wasn't completely alone for my first two classes. Xander was in my first period and both of them were in my second period. I had them in my other classes throughout the day, but they weren't in the class I had before lunch.

Beth's math class was next to mine, so we walked and talked on our way to my AP Government class. Once she got to her stop, she waved a short goodbye and entered into the room. Unlike her, I didn't rush in. It was a habit of mine when it came to first days, can you blame me?

Inhaling deeply, I yanked the door open. I scoped the room for an empty seat. It zeroed in on a seat near the window. Dropping my things to the desk, I sat down and tried not to make any eye contact with anyone. The teacher was already at his desk, waiting for the classroom to fill up. After the two-minute warning bell rang, he got up to his feet and paced the front of his desk.

"Oh, God," the girl next to me groaned, crumbling into her seat. "I forgot this was Mr. Finley's class. Please, someone shoot me now."

"Wait, why? Is he a hard teacher to get an A from?" I whispered to her.

"He gives assigned seating and group projects." She answered.

"That's not so bad."

She flinched at my words, almost like she was insulted. "Group projects have no purpose in my book. All it's ever taught me is that I don't like working with girls. Or boys. Or really anyone. I don't like people at all."

"Faye, we already know that," a boy beside her said. "I think everyone figured that out after you bit Carmen Gomez in second grade over some sandbox turf drama."

Faye chuckled. "She totally had it coming."

"You don't like Carmen?" I questioned, making sure to lean a little away from her. I had no intentions of being bitten.

"Who does like her?" She sneered. "I mean, besides her brainless chew-toy of a boyfriend."

"That brainless chew-toy is my step-brother."

"Yeah, I know that." She said bluntly, unaffected. "Doesn't change the fact that I think he's her chew-toy. I must admit though, Hunter is better than her last boyfriend."

"Who was her last boyfriend?"

"Dakota. But it was way back before Hunter and his brother moved in to town. Pretty sure they broke up not too long after they got here."

I gasped. I'd never thought Dakota would go for a girl like Carmen. Then again, they were both rude. So in a way, they were pretty perfect for one another.

The door flew open, right on cue with the bell. My eyes, along with the rest of the class's, zoomed over at who had walked in. Hunched over with a backpack low on his shoulder, Dakota stood at the mouth of the room.

____

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Song: Mess Around by Cage the Elephant

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