---Harry---

As soon as I see her, I know it's her, and all the memories come back to me in a flash of images behind my eyes. It hurts like hell to remember it all. How much she hurt me. How much the whole thing changed me. How stupid and naive I was back then, to think the popular girl in high school would fall for the geek. And I fell for it, never having a girl's attention like she had given me.

Paisley Hayes was everything to me. I had been infatuated with her for two years before she even talked to me, but in that one month in eleventh grade, she made me fall for her. She didn't even have to try. She was sweet and fun. Outgoing. And brought out a side of me that no other person had ever seen before. Her smile was contagious. You couldn't help but smile with her. She gave me a chance and I gave her my all. My all, meaning my heart. She was the first girl to ever kiss me. It, of course, never went further from kissing, but the way she made me feel like she wanted me, had me wrapped around her little finger. She knew me exactly for who I was. I had let my walls down for her and I would've done anything for this girl.

I'm sitting a few picnic tables away from her, playing the memories in my head as I watch her read a book outside the dorms. She's so involved in whatever it is that she is reading, she hadn't even noticed the presence of any other students around her. Some who are moving into the dorms, some huddled in groups of friends and a couple making out under a tree. I take in the sight of her, watching her silently. It's odd to see her alone, even though classes didn't officially start until tomorrow. In high school, she was surrounded by friends, always with someone, a constant smile on her face. But here, she sits alone, in silence, and she almost looks sad. And I can't help but smile to myself thinking she could be miserable with her life, as she had made mine. I wonder if she is just starting college or if she had come here last year right after high school.

I haven't seen her since that day all of her friends humiliated me in front of everyone. I remember she had tried calling me dozens of times, but I never answered and she didn't leave any messages. And she just never came back to school after that. In grade twelve, I heard her family had moved. No one seemed to know where. It was like she just disappeared from Vancouver Island. And there she is, sitting a few picnic tables away from me in California two years later. What are the odds of this happening? The world all of a sudden seems so small.

Although it makes sense that she is here. She had told me she wanted to move to California or New York, where no one knew her name. To start all over again. I guess she was true to her word, which surprises me, really. I thought everything she ever said to me was a lie.
One of the reasons I liked her so much was because we shared a passion for photography. And I wonder if that's what she is here for. I hope not. This isn't really how I want to start college. Having to see the girl who broke my heart so terribly, just made me hate my life so much more. I can't imagine having to be in the same room as her every day.

I hate her. I hate her with every fiber of my being. What she did to me. I'm not the same person I was, and it's all because of her. Although I'm happy I'm not considered a geek anymore because of it. Far from it actually. I guess something good came out of it. But only one thing.

I came out here to go for a walk and take some pictures, and for some damn reason when I saw her, I had to sit down. Seeing her for the first time in over two years made my heart beat irregularly and even though I've been sitting here for at least twenty minutes, my palms are still sweaty and I want to throw something just because she's in my presence. I'm flicking the on and off switch on my camera over and over again in my frustration, not even caring if I break the damn thing, even though it's my baby.

I glance back over to see she is staring at me. When she sees me notice her, she smiles at me a sweet smile. Why the hell is she smiling at me? Although I honestly thought I'd never see her again, and if I did, I wouldn't have actually thought she'd be smiling at me. Things didn't really end well for us and I threatened her the last time I saw her.

Karma will bite you in the ass for this if I don't get to you first.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Karma clearly didn't bite her in the ass. She's sitting right there. She looks the same. Her long blonde hair still as straight as ever, same blue eyes. The only difference I notice is a tattoo on her hand, but I can't tell what it is. Music notes maybe? I wonder if she has any other tattoos. She's wearing a leather jacket and blue skinny jeans, covering her whole body completely. God, she's still absolutely perfect.

Her phone starts playing a Halsey song, which takes me out of my thoughts. At least she still has good taste in music. Another thing I loved about her.

"For fuck sakes," she groans when she looks to see it who is. I don't take my eyes off of her. She runs her hand through her hair as she puts the phone to her ear, strained expression on her face. "Stop calling me, Ryan!" she screams into the phone when she answers, clearly not caring everyone around her can hear. "I'm not going to tell you where I am. I haven't answered your calls in months for a reason! --- No, I'm done with you. I just answered this one time to tell you to give up!--- Get it through your head, I'm not your play thing anymore. Go find someone else you can ruin!" She had lowered her voice as she looked around before saying the last thing she said. I had looked away from her before she would even be able to tell I was eavesdropping, pretending to look at pictures I had taken on my camera. "Oh and Ryan? Karma will get you and I hope it gets you good."

My head snaps back in her direction. Did she really just used that threat on someone right in front of me? She had to know it was me. She probably just said that because she remembers what I said and decided it was a good enough threat to use against someone. I wonder what she meant when she said this person can find someone else to ruin? Had he ruined her? I watch as she puts her hands through her hair and rests her elbows on the table, looking at the phone now placed in front of her on the table with her eyebrows furrowed. She looks absolutely flustered and annoyed. And beautiful.

When she catches my eye again, she quickly stands up from the picnic table and gathers her things before putting the headphones that were hanging around her neck over her ears, and starts walking towards one of the residences. Is she seriously walking into the building I had just moved into this morning? I scowl to myself, realizing she is going to be close to me no matter what she's studying.

Karma will bite you in the ass for this if I don't get to you first.

It had been the last thing I ever said to her. And although she is still strikingly beautiful, seeing her again brought all the pain back. How at the time, my heart was so full of happiness. How she was able to make my heart skip beats just by the way she looked at me. How I had felt so nervous yet so comfortable around her all at the same time. She always tasted like the watermelon lip gloss she wore and her hair smelled like strawberries. She was so intoxicating, and I loved her.

She was different than her friends. Hid the fact that school was important to her so her geek side wouldn't ever show in front of them. She had loved the Einstein poster in my bedroom that was filled with books. And she looked heavenly draped across my bed, doing homework with me. The smile she wore always lit up her eyes and her laugh was the most amazing sound. I could never get enough of her.

I remember the first time she ever took me to her favorite place beside the ocean. It was the night I felt like she had really let me in for the first time. Where she told me her secrets of wanting to get out of the small town of Victoria, BC to where no one knew her name and forget all about the games the kids played. We had spent that one month together every single day, sometimes doing random things I never thought I'd do, or doing just the most normal things any other couple would do. And I was so completely content with her being by my side. Always being so flirty and how she held my hand with confidence, even at school, not caring what people were saying about the gorgeous popular girl being with the plain old geek I was. I couldn't remember a time in my life that I was so damn happy. How everything just fit into place. And how easy it was to fall in love with everything about her.

And then she went and broke my heart. Allowed her bitch of a best friend to do her dirty work for her. Embarrassing me in front of a crowd. A dare. I still can't believe it, even after two years. How I had fallen for it all. All her lies. How the happiest time in my life was based on lies. How good of an actor she was, I couldn't believe it. All her smiles. Kisses. Everything. All lies. And yet, she was always still a huge part of me.

The darkness fell around me so much faster than I ever imagined it to. There was no more light. Just darkness. She shattered everything good in me in one fell swoop. Damaging my heart in ways I knew could never be repaired. No other girl in my lifetime would ever be treated the way I treated her. No. I would never give my heart to anyone else. I wouldn't be stupid enough to allow anyone to hurt me the way she did. And to this day, I haven't loved anyone else.

And I hope to God she had felt the pain I did, from someone else. That she understood hurt. That someone broke her heart and she saw the darkness around her. She needed to feel the pain she made me feel.

I can feel my heart thumping in my chest and my breathing become unsteady again. My palms are sweaty against my camera that I'm still holding in my hands and my knees are shaking. I look back to the door she had went into not too long ago and I realize I know nothing about her now. And clearly she has no idea who I am. Her comment about karma was a coincidence. We are simply strangers.

She's a beautiful stranger. The same beautiful stranger she always was to me. She was warm and kind and had a contagious smile and a laugh that used to invade all my senses. I could live and breathe easily just looking into those stunning blue eyes of hers.

No. I hate this girl. What am I thinking? Dammit. She's in my presence for a half an hour and she's already gotten to me the way she did in high school. I finally allow myself to get up from the picnic table to set out to take pictures like I had intended to do in the first place, shaking my head to rid my overbearing thoughts about this beautiful stranger, only to realize that through all the hatred I have felt for her, I still miss her.

A/N: So happy to be writing this! I have a ton of ideas for this book! Please add this to your library! I will be updating quite frequently! And don't forget to press the star and tell me your thoughts!!

xo