Chapter 1

I rolled over, groaning in pain even when I didn't want to and Ivy was cursing at me. "For Pete's sake, get a grip, girl!"

"I'm trying" I retorted, sinking my pale face into the warmth of the pillows and biting against my underlip so I didn't suddenly burst out in tears.

Ivy couldn't stand me anymore. She's been trying to get me to at least breathe after Liam broke up with me which was two weeks ago already and yet still—all I did these days was cry, cry, and cry. It was the weekends, and we usually spent it in the most epic way before the weeks rolled over and we had to go through consecutive tiring school days again but here I was, pulling out tissues and sobbing on my tears.

If that was even possible. Ivy sprung to her feet, resting her hands on her hip. "You know what? I've had enough "

My groan was cut short by the fear that she was about to kick me out of her room. I looked up, blinking at her fierce and annoyed face. I didn't want her to kick me out. If she did, I didn't know where next I'd go. My parents were always out and running their adult life with a huge company to handle, so they certainly didn't have time to waste on me.

This, in turn, made my house the bulk of creepy silence. I'm not kidding, you could virtually hear a pin drop on the floor. If that wasn't devastating enough, I was heartbroken, but somewhere behind my head. I was still very wary of the things I saw in horror movies. I didn't want to be the next Walking Dead.

More seriously, I didn't want to stay anywhere devoid of life. Especially not now that I could barely keep my feet on the ground without wobbling. Ivy sighed, tearing her gaze away from my pitiable frame. "I'll be downstairs. You can have the room"

"Dont...t l..e..leave me alon...—"

Bom*

I shivered at the force she exerted on the door. Ivy always took her anger out on inanimate objects. I recalled the time she pulled all the hair out of her Barbie doll when she was frustrated about failing chemistry, then the time she kept screaming at the TV because it refused to play her favorite show, and also the time when she smashed all the mirrors in her room because whenever she looked into them, they reminded her that a terrible hair stylist just destroyed the last strand of beauty in her hair. She was still recovering from that mistake even now, and often wore a beanie everywhere she went and not to mention that her mum, Natasha didn't take that lightly with her.

Natasha was a single mother. I called her sash for short. She saw me exactly as her own daughter because she grew to know me with her daughter. I was most often with Ivy and we were so close that we could be twins. Ivy and I have been friends since sophomore year. Our friendship started right from when I accidentally closed my locker shut on my long blonde hair, she was grinning her tooth away when she saw that and after helping me out, we became friends. She has always loved my long blonde hair because hers was a total disaster. I spent the whole of sophomore year convincing her that she could look beautiful with or without a great-looking hair and now, I thought my lectures really paid off.

She became very comfortable in herself and sometimes, I thought she had even more confidence than I did. For instance, look at me—crying and sobbing over a guy who ended what we had just to be with some other girl in school. Wasn't I beautiful enough? Did I dress badly? In what way have I annoyed him so much that he would want to end our two-year relationship?

These thoughts kept creeping into my mind unannounced, surfacing and re-surfacing and I groaned my face into the pillow again, wiggling my legs in frustration and then suddenly realizing that the last thing I needed was to be alone. I needed some noise around me to distract me from the pain rooted deep in my heart. I decided to join Ivy downstairs though I was very aware that she most certainly wouldn't appreciate my lovesick presence, but I was in my desperate time.

I fixed my feet into my slippers and took my wobbling legs toward the door, walking like some person who made it only an air breathe away from being crushed by a speeding truck. I didn't know I was so close to the door until my head hit against the door panel.

Tsk* Tsk*

I retreated my head, moving it behind and feeling blood slowly dripping from my nose. I rushed to the bathroom to get it cleaned and then stuck tissues inside it. I made my way downstairs after that and I was halfway climbing the stairs when Natasha noticed me.

"Oh my god!"

The book she was reading fell out of her hands. Natasha, was a novelist, living a care-free life and married to a rich CEO. I bet she was living out her own fictional dream until divorce papers came knocking against her doors. She and Damien were constantly fighting and he thought it was high time they separated. Natasha, having her own ego to save, looked him right in the eyes and told him that she thought it was a great idea.

After the divorce, she's been pretending to be alright and engrossing herself in more novels than she usually did. I thought that it wasn't at the worst, since, Damien still took responsibility for Ivy and sent enough money into Natasha's account every month for upkeep.

"Are you alright?"

She gushed after a brief moment being lost in time assessing my horrible state. Ivy who was practicing her dance for the cheerleading team for next week was turning to give me the stinky eyes. "Mum. Our dear Jamie is heartbroken"

I squinted my eyes at her, thinking that she was indeed running out of ideas for my problem. I couldn't believe that she was telling the adults now. I thought it was the teen thing, Natasha didn't surprise me when she chuckled and uttered. "High school drama"

She patted the seat next to her mountains of novels. "Come over. Let's talk a little" I squinted my eyes at the huge books, wondering if she finished reading all these in the space of yesterday and now. Somehow. I thought that our issues were nearly similar and only the age gap pointed out a great difference between them. "Who is the guy?"

She uttered, wiggling her brows at me and I sighed, deciding to just open up to her. After all, Ivy has put me on sale already. "Liam"

"Liam"

She mimicked, smiling as though lost back in time in her own high school days when she was jerking out of it. She muttered. "One thing about high school guys. They aren't worth it"

She shifted in her seat and I listened in. "Take my advice for it. You can't force anything, most of all, love. If he is the right one for you, he wouldn't leave"

"Yeah. The right guy is just around the corner"

Ivy inserted from behind and I resisted an arched brow from her statement. Right, he must be on his way even till now that we were in our last year in high school but no worries! He was still trying to find me right?

"Or you can be like me and remain single"

She supplied and I wanted to help her blur out the question mark behind her statement because technically, she wasn't staying single. She was just strictly into flings but since, Natasha was here. I decided to spare her. "Right, be a good girl like Ivy"

"Exactly"

I murmured a hint of sarcasm inside my words and she was giving me the whole I would kill you if you say anything more gaze. I smirked at her but Natasha was interrupting our eye battle by uttering. "Ivy. Come deliver these things to your dad"

"Huh?"

She muttered from where she was and unplugged her ear pods from her ears. "These are a few of the things he forgot here"

Natasha eyed it, anger obviously evident in her eyes. "I don't want to see them lurking here and there in my house"

Ivy groaned. "And I have to take them right now?"

"Yes! Right now!"

I blinked, jerking behind to look at Ivy and searching for the expected sadness in her eyes from the reality of her parents being separated. I didn't find any. Ivy walked over to the pile of boxes, trying to get her arms around it without breaking them. "Arggh"

She gritted. "Mum. What did you fill in this?"

"Just get it out of here. I don't want to talk about it anymore!"

Natasha uttered instead, making her way to the back side of the house. The same one with a very comfortable, relaxing, and large balcony. Natasha's house was really big almost like mine but better since it wasn't always dead-drop silent and no doubt, Damien had built it for her. It had everything a mansion should have and I thought that that was why I constantly forgot myself here. There was practically no downside to being here. It was bliss, bliss, and bliss.

I was soaking myself into the comfy couch when Ivy called from outside sounding like a hungry lion or... lioness in her case. "Get your ass here, Jamie!"

She was breathless, I noticed and a frown creased over my brows as I dragged my legs to meet her wherever she was and I wasn't liking the sight of what I was having in front of me.