Katie MacIntyre was henceforth my nemesis.

     I'd skidded to a halt in the living room, searching for Tyler only to watch as Katie peeled herself off of him, sitting exactly where I had been moments before. I didn't miss the fact that her cherry red lipstick was all over his mouth. But instead of throw her off of him, all Tyler did was look around with a thoroughly glazed look on his face. Katie's eyes were on me, trouble written all over her smug little face. A set of empty shot glasses sat on the table before them, but I couldn't even process what the hell that meant. Already I felt the hot prickle of tears in my eyes.

     "Maddie-" Tyler said weakly, finally seeing me through his drunken haze, but he was cut off as the front door burst open behind me and a cacphony of noise assaulted everybody's eardrums. I used two seconds of the distraction to try to gather my wits, another half second to give up restraining myself, and the last three to lunge towards Katie, who had leaped off Tyler and was coming to investigate the source of the noise. Two inches from raking her face with my nails, a set of strong arms held me back.

     "You bitch!" I screamed, fighting with all my might against whoever was holding me. Katie sneered and had drawn her hand back to slap when Jeff appeared out of nowhere to pin her arms behind her.

     "Maddie, cool it!" said Brad's voice in my ear.

     "That's for what you did to Amber at the soccer party!" Katie screamed back, "Or maybe I should tell Tyler about that too and see if he'll still want to be kissing you!"

     Katie's words finally coaxed forth the tears that had been brewing. My insides felt as mushy as applesauce and my brain was unable to form a coherent sentence as it replayed the image of Katie kissing Tyler over and over again. I'd stopped struggling as the mascara ran down my face, Brad's hands loosening their grip on my arms. I could see the crowd forming through my blurry, watery vision and caught a flash of Courtney's red hair erupt into the space at the edge of the group. Brandon's white suit was there too, but nobody did anything.

     "And I thought you were my friend!" I hissed, unable to speak properly.

     "Screw you," Katie said simply. Biting back a sob, I backpedaled until I reached the door and ran out, not quite sure where I was going.

     Stumbling down the stairs, I could hardly see where I was going because my eyes were so hazy with tears. Not that I had anywhere to go. Behind me, the party had erupted with screams and curses as the A-listers realized who'd come storming in before the almost girl-fight that was me and Katie.

     "Madison!" a voice called from behind me. Ignoring it, I continued down the driveway, fighting the urge to vomit. I could barely breathe. My brain was being an asshole and replaying my first kiss with Tyler, followed by his glazed over face as Katie sat on his lap.

     I rammed my fists into my eyes with a scream. I just wanted to lie down and explode into a thousand pieces. I'd gotten my dearest wish and then had my heart smashed to pieces all in the space of ten minutes. Unable to cope, my knees gave out and I fell forward onto the roof of someone's car, sobbing.

     "Maddie," came a soft voice in my ear as someone rested a hand on my back, "Shh Madison, it's gonna be okay,"

     "No it's not!" I screamed, throwing the hands away and whipping around to face Ethan. Unable to feel an iota more of anything, I collapsed onto his shoulder. His hands found my back and he tried to quiet me.

     "Come on, let's go home," he said a few minutes later, drawing back to look down at me. I nodded weakly, vainly attempting to brush tears from my ruined face.

     I climbed absently into his car. He helped me in and closed the door, my fairy wings long gone in my almost-tussle with Katie. I could do nothing more than stare straight ahead in a daze. When Ethan finally got around to the driver's side and started the car, I spoke.

     "Ethan?" I began, my voice cracked and weak.

     "Maddie?" he replied. When I turned to look at him, there was pity in his slate-gray eyes.

     "Thank you," I said simply, but meaning so much more. Thank you for all those times he'd saved me from my own 'friends'. He sighed.

     "No problem Maddie, none whatsoever," he said, shifting into gear.

     The car ride was silent, Ethan as lost in his thoughts as I was. How could Tyler do that to me? And with Katie of all people! She didn't even like Tyler that way! He was just a tool for Amber's petty revenge about some Crescent midfielder nobody! And to think, none of my friends had even bothered to follow after I'd run away. Nobody came to stand next to me when I'd squared off against Katie, only Brad who'd pinned my arms behind my back so I wouldn't maul the party host.

     Worst of all was the fact that Tyler hadn't even left the couch when I'd turned and run from the house.

     What the hell had happened to the people I thought I knew and trusted?!

     Something ugly reared it's head inside me. I knew why. Because they were the popular kids. Because they weren't really friends, they were just other teenagers who, because of good looks, money, or both, had somehow risen to the same social strata as I had. My heartbreak was so insignificant to them that they were probably more disappointed that they'd missed out on a girl fight.

     And despite it all, another part of my mind recoiled viciously, spewing a litany of excuses for Tyler's actions as I desperately tried to cling to the knowledge that he wasn't like the rest of them. He was drunk, I thought, I saw the shot glasses. Katie was out for revenge, he probably had no choice in the matter...

     But then why the hell hadn't he gotten up to come get me?

     "Why did you follow me?" I asked suddenly, as we turned into my driveway.

    "Because I saw the whole thing," Ethan said, "And frankly, getting you the hell out of there before you clawed that MacIntyre tramp's eyes out was a lot higher on my priority list than trashing a McMansion,"

     "I hope they burn it down," I muttered, feeling my eyes prickling again.

    "I'll make sure they do," Ethan said darkly.

     "I'm sorry I stood you up," I said finally, reaching for the door handle, "In hindsight your party was probably the better call,"

     "Sleep on it, Maddie. You'll feel better in the morning," he said. I glanced over to him as my face crumpled into sobs again. Ethan sighed and leaned over, pulling me into a hug.

    I bunched his shirt up between my fists as I cried angry tears.

     "You're worth so much more than the bullshit they're putting you through," he murmured into my hair, his arms warm around my icy skin. I shuddered a sob.

     "You were right. When you told me about Ridgeley, you were right. They're all the same," I managed between sobs. I could feel him inhale at the mention of his old school, but he said nothing. When I was finally able to pull myself together, I backed away from him, realizing with horror that I'd left a puddle of tears on the collar of his shirt.

     "I'm-" I started, staring at the mascara-riddled stain with horror. Ethan followed my gaze and rolled his eyes.

     "It's just a t-shirt, Buttercup, don't worry about it," he said, reaching down to unbuckle my seat belt, "Go inside, take off that ridiculous costume, and go to bed,"

     "Thank you," I whispered as he leaned over me to open the car door. His face hesitated mere inches from mine, those grey eyes looking at me with something unreadable in them.

     "Call me tomorrow," he said, leaning back into his own seat. I swung my legs out, stumbling a little from the heels and the residual alcohol. He didn't drive away until I'd unlocked the door, turning to watch him go.

     Tomorrow. As if I even wanted to face tomorrow.

                                                                                   *******

     "Like, we're seriously really sorry, we had no idea that Amber would put Katie up to it..."

     "...and come back, okay? We're all sorry about it, we just want to help you work it out with..."

     "... Maddie, reply! Come out with us tonight!..."

     "... you don't have to forgive them. I mean, they just made out, it's really not a big deal. But just forget about ..."

     "... and don't hate him, he was drunk and had no idea what he was ...."

     Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. De-effing-lete!

     That's how I spent my Saturday. I lay in bed until about 2:30, at which point my mother threatened to take my phone away again unless I got up, so I bundled on the gear and went for a run. It wasn't that great a run seeing as I bypassed the beach and any place that might have be haunted by my so-called friends. I ended up jogging through the forest trails, being jumped and slobbered on by a pack of golden doodles and Labrador retrievers and nearly spraining my ankle over a tree root. It was like the entire world was colluding against me that weekend.

     After my shower was when the tirade began in earnest, almost as if they knew I was up and about. The messages flooded my phone from all manner of people. Courtney sent me one every few minutes, Deanna every ten. Even Brad sent me one...Brad who, last I checked, barely knew what the hell this was all about besides me trying to rake Katie's eyes out. But it's not like I cared about that.

     What I cared about was the one number that called me on repeat from the moment I got out of the shower, his face smiling up at me from my phone. Fresh tears started when I had to press ignore each time, only to slide over to his contact info and block him as a caller so I wouldn't have to look into those hazel eyes one more time.

     Those hazel eyes that Ethan had so nonchalantly reminded me I would be seeing for a full hour on Monday morning during our chemistry lab. Moaning, I collapsed onto my sofa, switching on some mundane reality show about rich athletes' wives as my phone continued to bleep and buzz away on the coffee table, strings of texts piling up.

     As my unseeing eyes watched the screen, I brooded. I was so desperate to avoid facing Tyler that I was seriously debating applying for immediate acceptance to Henley Oaks, the private boarding school two states over that my parents had briefly considered for my freshman year when it didn't seem like I'd make it into the popular crowd at Clairview. At this point in the game, however, my parents would've probably pushed for Kingsley Prep if I insisted on switching schools, if only to prove to the world that they could afford the best of the best. Frankly, I probably wouldn't have fought them even if it meant living and learning with the likes of Will Dawson's rich brat friends. That's how far I was willing to go to get out of retuning to Clairview High on Monday.

     That is, until Ethan phoned.

     "So have you been out at all today?" he asked.

     "Meh, jogging," I replied. Nothing seemed to matter anymore except the big black pit that had swallowed my life whole.

     "And have they tried to win you back?" he prodded.

     "Well, I haven't gotten a full 100 text messages yet, but I'm well on my way," I replied, absently staring up at the ceiling. I felt so empty inside. I'd never realized how frequently my thoughts had turned to Tyler in the past, how he was the bright spot I would turn towards when I was looking to cheer myself up. It was like every time I wasn't focused on forcing back yesterday's events, my mind would reach for those treasured memories of him to cheer me up, only for them to rapidly devolve into the image of Katie's lipstick on his face. And every single time it happened, it hit me like a tractor trailer all over again.

     "Have you talked to anyone though?" he asked.

     "Of course not," I snapped, "Obviously,"

     "M'kay. Well, call me if you need anything, all right? I have practice, but I'll call you later,"

     "I don't know if I can go back to school," I said before he could hang up.

     "What? No. Maddie, you can't do that. You're letting them win if you do that," he said.

      "But there's no point! I mean, where am I going to sit at lunch? At their table? Who am I going talk to during English? Deanna? What if I see him in the hallway, then what do I do? And what about chemistry class?" I moaned.

     "You do realize that you're considering dropping out of school because you think you have nowhere to sit at lunch, right?" Ethan scoffed, "It's a big school, you'll figure something out,"

     "You might find it funny, but that's all I know about school! I don't go to pay attention in class! I don't give two hoots what the letters and numbers on my report card mean! I just know how to tell who has a fake Chanel purse and who did something stupid and gossip-worthy on the weekend! How can I go back when all I know how to do is be an A-lister bitch like the rest of them?" I surprised myself with the vehemence of my response.

     "First of all, that's a bunch of BS about your grades. Last I checked chemistry's not a slacker class and you're pretty much acing it. You know what you're doing, Maddie, you just have to focus on that, not the junk they taught you at the mall," Ethan retorted, his tone rising to match mine.

     "Whatever," I muttered dismissively, dread about Monday's chemistry lab railroading me once again. That full hour with Tyler...

     " 'Whatever' me all you like Buttercup, I know you're listening. I'll call you after practice," he said, then hung up. I dropped the phone next to me on the couch and zoned out.

     Okay, so Ethan was right, I did have to go back to school on Monday. I of all people was exceedingly familiar with the social consequences of avoiding school the weekend after an especially scandalous event. Heck, I used to be one of the gossip-propagating hell-raisers. Now that I was on the other side, I wondered how the student population put up with my so-called friends and their asshole actions. If this was what it felt like for the usual suspects like Danielle Burke and Dakota Schneider, I wondered how they mustered the strength to face it every week.

     "Madison, honey?"

     My mother's voice was the last thing I wanted to hear as tears stung my eyes yet again. I dashed them away, sitting up to look over at where she was poking her head through the door.

     "What do you want?" I asked, more than a little shocked by the compassion on her face. She sighed, coming in and closing the door behind her.

     "Your brother talked to me," she said, sitting down next to me. My car keys jingled as she set them down on the coffee table. I stared down at them apprehensively.

      "He told me that you ended things with that beach bum," mom continued, searching my tear-stained face. I was still staring at the car keys, mute.

     "I'm very proud of you for doing the right thing," she said, reaching out to rest a hand on my leg, "And I've decided that you don't need to be grounded anymore. I've unfrozen your credit cards and you can have your car back,"

     "Thanks," was all I muttered, not even bothering to look at her. I couldn't decide if I wanted to punch Brett for telling her, or hug him for winning me back my freedom. Either way, it was a silver lining on a decidedly crappy weekend.

Talk about a bad weekend! Should she try to work it out with Tyler or move on and get over him?

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