PROLOGUE

I thought it was a joke. It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone, I swear.

All I wanted was to get one legitimate valentine that I could brag about. It wasn't often I did anything of the sort and I knew my group of friends tended to, bit by bit, exclude anyone who didn't match up to their standards. I had seen the look in their eyes as they interrogated me on my love life, making me almost choke on the sudden sourness of the sandwich and spit out the dreaded word: nothing.

It was—still is—a game for the boys at the top. And I knew the next time I saw them, my throne would've toppled over and the only thing I would have left to remind me of my former position, would be a single note that deemed me too embarrassing or boring to be seen with. That was how every other golden boy had fallen from his throne and if I didn't do something fast enough, I would end up as another tally to their board.

Another golden boy fallen. Another one to find.

So, the note was nothing short of a blessing to my inner self that had been desperate for gossip, desperate for anything that could make me stay on top.

I didn't mean to hurt anybody, I swear.

I thought it was just a joke.