C H A P T E R T E N

"You're the most dramatic person I have ever met." Jack says to me, rolling her eyes. I narrow my eyes at her, my mouth opening in surprise.

"How?" I snap.

"Because you're always complaining about Quinton, when your equally as rude to him." She admits honestly, a bored expression on her face. I scoff, stopping in my tracks on the sidewalk we've been walking on for the past twenty minutes.

"Are you seriously taking his side?" I snap, glaring at her back as she just keeps walking. "I thought you were on my side."

She sighs and turns around, looking at me with a hopeless expression on her face. "I'm not taking anyone's side." She shoves her hands in her pockets. "I'm just saying that this little hatred that you have for him is getting a little childish."

"It's not just a little hatred, not to me." I state before stomping past her. After everything that Quinton has said to me, she still believes that he deserves to be forgiven. I would rather cut off my right leg than ever forgive him.

She just doesn't know how deep this hatred really goes. He digs out the deepest insecurities that I try to hide and makes them worse. He uses my weaknesses against me. I may sound like a dramatic teenager, but it's the truth.

"Ev, stop being so stubborn!" Jack yells after me, her sandals slapping against the pavement as she hurries after me. "You know I'm right."

"No, you're not." I glare, balling my hands into fists. "He's terrible."

She scoffs. "He's not terrible, Ev. He's human, he makes mistakes."

"Bad ones." I sigh, running a hand down my face in an attempt to calm myself down a bit. I wish she knew how much he's hurt me.

She lets out a tired breath. "You can't say that you've never made a bad decision before."

I shrug my shoulders, staring down at my feet as I walk, thinking about all the times Quinton has hurt me in the past. I'm angry with him. . .but can you really blame me? He's said some hurtful things to me in the past, and it can't just be easily forgotten. Yes, it would be the mature thing for me to forgive him and let this all go. . .but I'm obviously not ready for that.

I don't think I ever will be, if I'm being honest.

"Of course I have." I say with a sigh, finally answering her question. "But I'm not ready to let this go."

I look over in her direction to see her nod her head in understanding, a sincere smile on her lips. "I understand. . .but when you finally are ready, I'm here for you."

A smile of my own appears on my face, even though I'm quite certain that that day will never come.

"I know." I say. "Thank you."

We keep quiet after that, just enjoying the sound of the breeze in the trees and the ocean waves not to far away. Jack has been pushing me to forgive Quinton for a while now. I know she just wants me to be okay, but I'm getting kind of tired of her nagging.

"You hungry?" Jackson's voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and I notice that we've reached town. I look over at her with wide eyes and a large grin.

"Yes. I haven't eaten since this morning." I admit, rubbing my stomach as I feel a small growl irrupt. It's nearing sunset, meaning that it's at least seven. I don't know why I didn't eat lunch, but it was a very stupid mistake because I feel like I'm about to fall over from how weak my body is.

"Okay, I know exactly where to go." She says with a grin before grabbing my hand and pulling me with her as she speedily makes her way through town.

☆

"Ugh," Jack grumbles in her hunched-over position on the table top. "I'm never eating again."

I nod my head in agreement. "Same."

We sit there in silence for a bit, patiently waiting for our food to digest. Me, being way to stupid for my own good, ordered a whole pizza for myself, thinking that I could eat all of it and still have room for desert. Of course, I couldn't. I still have half a pizza left over. It was probably a spur of the moment thing, and my body was screaming at me to get food, so I went for it. I guess I should just blame my stomach for this mistake.

"So. . ." Jack blurts out after at least ten minutes of silence between us. I look up at her from my position.

"So, what?" I ask, letting out a slow sigh from the bloated feeling I'm currently suffering from. She smirks, tapping her fake nails on the table top.

"Seth Barker is having a party later tonight, and he wants to know if we want to go." She explains, placing her chin in her hand as I process this information. A party? That I'm personally invited to?

That's new.

"Since when does Seth throw house parties?" I bluntly ask, my eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"Probably since he decided to cut his hair and start showering." She lets out an obnoxious laugh, leaning back in her seat. Her face soon contours into one of pain and her body quickly scrunches back into a hunched position. "Ouch. Not my best decision."

I raise my eyebrows at her in pure concern. "You good?"

"Yes, just extremely bloated." She lets out, her face in a scrunched up expression as she holds her stomach. I let out an airy laugh, rolling my eyes at her drama.

"Anyway," I say, "no, I don't really feel up to it."

Almost immediately her pained expression is replaced with one of annoyance, her eyes forming into slits as she looks me up and down.

"Why not?" She questions, her eyes getting even smaller in size.

"I just don't want to go." I state, crossing my arms over my chest. She scoffs at my answer, flicking her hair off her shoulder.

"You're going tonight, and that's final." She states before standing up out of her chair, slightly whining from the pain in her stomach. I roll my eyes at her back, slightly annoyed.

This happens every time she wants me to go to a house party with her. I hate parties, they're way to crazy and loud for my liking. "Yeah, right."

I will not let her drag me to another stupid party. I'll do my best to fight against her demands.