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My eyelids flickered open to an unlit room. Even with the surrounding darkness, I couldn't help but form a big smile on my face, feeling happier than I had in a very, long time. Being around Izzy made me want to smile. Before, being happy was a relative term. A foreign one at that. But being with her, I didn't have to fake it. It came so naturally to me. Just seeing her cautious grin exploding into a radiant smile, made me want to do the same. It made me want to go back to the way things were, before that happened—when everything came crashing down.

Fuck. I shut my eyes. Not again.

I forced my thoughts back on Izzy, locking that part of my memories away. Immediately, a weight was lifted off my shoulders, and the smile was back on my face.

Running my hands through my unkempt hair, I stood up. The moment my feet touched the ground, my body shivered. Even with a rug underneath my feet, the ground was lumpy and cold.

With a long exhale, I grabbed the first set of clothes I saw from the pile of clean clothes I kept off to the side. Heading towards the bathroom, I quickly got ready, and made sure I was presentable.

Opening up the bathroom door, I walked across the hall towards Megan's room. When I glanced inside, she was still sound asleep with the top of her head poking out. I let out an exasperated sigh, as I saw the time on the clock above her bed. She was going to be late if she didn't wake up soon; I knew how much she hated being late to well . . . anything. Ever since I could remember, she was always that one kid that liked to show up an hour early to every event she attended. Even playdates that didn't have a scheduled time meeting.

"Come on, Meg." I lightly tapped her shoulder. "It's time to wake up."

"In a minute," I heard her grumble under the covers.

"Megan, if you don't wake up now, you're going to ruin your "no-tardy-and-an-hour-early-to-school" streak," I warned her.

When she heard that, she bolted right up, almost whacking me upside the head. Kicking her covers aside, she sat on the edge of her bed. She stretched her arms above her head, and let out a loud yawn.

"Is there still time for breakfast?" she asked, while she looked up at me with those wide, innocent eyes of hers.

I put on a smile. "If you hurry."

"Yay! Give me five minutes."

In a split second, she hopped off her bed, and ran past me. When the bathroom door shut, I made my way over to the kitchen. Once I'd gathered the ingredients needed for Megan's breakfast, I preheat the pan, and poured some of the vegetable oil in. When I saw the surface glistening, I added the batter, and waited for it to turn a golden yellow.

Making a total of four pancakes, I piled the stack of pancakes onto the kitchen table. Just as I was grabbing the bottle of orange juice, Megan appeared with her uniform on.

I smiled at her, thankful my parents left us an emergency fund for Megan's tuition. If it wasn't for that, there was no way in hell I would've been able to afford her tuition with the two jobs I currently have.

Sometimes, I just wish I could shower her with anything she wanted. I hated seeing her face whenever I'd to tell her we couldn't afford it.

"How do I look?" she asked, doing a quick twirl.

"Cute as always."

"Thanks, Tommy." She gave me a big grin. "Did you make me pancakes?"

"Of course." I nodded to the stack of pancakes in the middle of the table. Her eyes grew wide as she took a good whiff. She made her way to her seat and took two pancakes for herself. I watched quietly as she poured the maple syrup onto her plate, practically drowning her breakfast with the substance.

"So, Tommy," she said, and took a quick bite from her pancake. "Is Isabella, your special friend?"

I nearly choked on my spit. "W-what did you said?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Not exactly . . ."

Her face fell faster than the time she got an A- in music. "Why not? You like her, don't you?"

"I do, but it's not that easy, Meg."

"What do you mean?" she asked. "If you like her, just go and ask her to be your girlfriend! It's that easy."

"Megan, you're too young to understand this right now. It's complicated."

"What?" Her mouth hung open with her lips slightly parted. "I am not. I'm going to be nine in a month!"

I chuckled. "I know." How could I not? She's been hinting at me to get her that violin she saw at the mall for the past week. "But I can't just go up to her and ask her to be my girlfriend."

"Why not?" she demanded. "That's how you do it, right?"

"One, she'll probably say no," I assured her, "and two, I already have a girlfriend."

"What?" Her eyes were as wide as they could stretch. "Who?"

"Rachel."

"Can I meet her?" I almost laughed at this. Rachel meeting Megan? Like that will go well. She hated children more than she hated kittens, and she hated cats, a lot. Ever since a stray cat peed on her skirt a few years ago, she deemed the animal a taboo subject.

"Sorry, kiddo." I ruffled her hair. "We're not going to be together for that much longer."

Her bottom lip jutted out. "Why not?"

"We're not exactly working out," I put it simply.

"Oh." She played with her food, drowning the last bit of her pancakes in syrup. I thought that was the end of the conversation when she looked back up, with a wide prominent smile. "Now, you can ask Isabella to be your girlfriend, right?"

I chuckled at her, but nodded anyway. "I'll think about it."

"Yay!" she shouted, her eyes alight. "Promise me, you'll tell me when it happens."

"I promise." I flashed her a smile. "Now eat your pancakes before they get cold."

She nodded, and ate her breakfast, smiling widely.

Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was half past six. Great. Only forty more minutes to go to come up with something that doesn't involve Rachel getting angry.

I shook my head. Who am I kidding? That's impossible.

Ugh—screw it. I'll just wing it.

How bad could it be?

. . . right?

The moment I arrived at school, I saw Rachel leaning against her car in her usual spot. When her eyes made contact with mine, I almost wanted to avoid our "talk" and pretend like nothing was wrong. But, I knew it was inevitable. This needed to be done. I couldn't put Rachel through anymore pain, especially since I knew her feelings for me were more than just the occasional fuck buddy.

With as much confidence as I could muster, I walked towards her, and tried to keep a smile on my face.

"Rachel, we need to talk," I uttered before I could back out.

"Sure, baby," she said, while she wrapped her arm around my waist. "What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "We need to break up."

She jerked her hand away. "And why the hell should we break up?" She snarled more than spoke.

I kept my eyes steady, resting on her face. The sorrow in her eyes was already building. "Rachel, you and I both know the only reason why I went out with you was because you said it was an open relationship."

"Right, so I don't see why you're breaking up with me."

"Rachel, we have to. It's not fair for either of us if we keep on dating. You and I both know that."

"But Thomas, I love you," she shouted, drawing a crowd. Soft mumbles was heard amongst the group of teenagers that had inched their way towards Rachel and me.

I swore loudly when I saw one of them taking out their phone. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid.

I went to grab her hand when I saw the look on her face. My heart stirred, seeing her facade almost breaking down. Her hands were in tight fists as she stared into my eyes, determined not to cry. But, I knew Rachel. No matter how much this was hurting her, she wouldn't break down. She wouldn't go that far and ruin the mask she'd built up for years.

"I know, but I don't," I forced myself to say. I wish I did, I really did, but she was just another pretty face to me. And sadly, that wasn't enough anymore. I wanted something real—I didn't want this fake replica of love that was built on purely desire and lust. I wanted a real connection, something I didn't have with Rachel.

"Please, Thomas," she begged and tightened her hold on me. "Don't leave me."

"Rach, please don't make this harder than it already is," I whispered, as I caressed her cheek. "We can still be friends."

As soon as those words left my mouth, she slapped my hand away, and took a step back. I watched as her irises glowered a hard teal, allowing her face to return to its usual cold, hard gawk.

Her stare pierced through my heart, as I drew in a quick breath. I was never afraid of Rachel when she was mad. Her episodes were usually short lived, frequent and fast. But, this time, I could tell it was different. The bitterness in her eyes was slowly burning and it didn't look like it was going away anytime soon. Forgiveness was definitely not an option anymore.

"No, thanks," she said, confirming my thoughts. "But remember. You will regret this."

Thank you, theAnovelAunwrittenA for making an awesome fan trailer <3

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