The familiar white ceiling was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. This caused me to groan, rubbing at my eyes before looking around to see that I was alone.

This made my eye twitch just a little bit. Wasn’t someone supposed to be in here watching me like there always was in books and movies? Why was I all alone after I had passed out in the middle of a funeral?

When the door opened, I was going to shout at the person until I saw that it was Kate, who had tears streaking down her face. When she saw that I was awake, she smiled, making her way over to my bed while wiping at her tears.

“You worried me so much!” she cried, looking like she could have hit me if I wasn’t as fragile as I was at that moment. “When you just fell down I didn’t know what to think! I thought you died or something!”

“I’m fine,” I told her, even though I didn’t know that for sure just yet. “I’m not sure what happened, but… I feel better now.”

“Zach’s mom said she thinks that you fainted because you were so hot in that dress that you were wearing,” Kate now informed me, and I looked down at my lap because I knew that that was a huge possibility. “You were sweating a heck of a lot, you know. The doctor just came and told everyone that you suffered from a heat stroke, so Mrs. Deveraux was right. It was because you were in that black dress in the sun.”

“Oh,” was all I said, feeling ashamed for doing something so stupid.

“The doctors said that none of us could come into your room while you were unconscious, so I snuck in,” Kate giggled, and this didn’t surprise me. “But since you’re awake now, I’m not really breaking the rules. I can come in now.”

That better have been the reason why no one was in the hospital room with me. I would have been pissed if there was any other reason.

My gaze immediately snapped to the burns on my arms, and I let out a sigh when I saw that they were covered by the blanket so Kate wouldn’t see them. They were the reason why I was back in the hospital; I didn’t want anyone knowing that I had them. I could only hope that they weren’t going to be permanent.

When the door opened again, I nearly hid under the covers when I saw who it was. He was definitely the last person I expected to see in my hospital room!

“Look who finally decided to wake up and join the party,” Zach smirked, still dressed in what he had worn to the funeral, only his tie was now undone as it hung around his neck. “It was getting quiet without you around, Zynn.”

I made a face at the nickname. “It was quiet with you there? What a surprise, Blanche.”

There wasn’t any other nickname I could think for him at that moment, so I just went with the general one. I could have called him by half of his name, but I was sure “Ary” wouldn’t have bothered him very much. I could have always tried it later though…

“You two are weird,” Kate concluded before Zach could say anything back to me. “These nicknames that you two call each other and the way you act are just… weird. There’s no other word to describe the two of you better.”

Zach shrugged, and I couldn’t help but agree with her just a little bit. Zach and my relationship wasn’t exactly the… healthiest it could have been. We definitely could have been nicer to each other, but it seemed almost impossible for the two of us.

“Anyway,” I drawled, pretending that I didn’t even hear what Kate had said to the two of us. “Why are you even in here, Zach? No one is allowed in here when I’m unconscious.”

“But you’re not unconscious.”

“Zach!”

“I went looking for Kate,” he answered my question now, and I bit the inside of my lip. “I knew she’d be in here, but I didn’t think you’d be awake just yet.”

“More like you hoped she wouldn’t be awake yet,” Kate muttered, and my eyebrows furrowed at her in confusion. When she saw me looking at her, she rolled her eyes. “His mom said that he couldn’t leave until you woke up. Of course, he had a problem with him at first, but that was before one of the nurses started eyeing him and flirting with him.”

I couldn’t help but glare at Zach. How could he do something that disgusting while I was passed out in the hospital? I knew it was Zach and all, but… still! That was low, even for him!

“You’re disgusting,” I spat, voicing my thoughts as I tucked my bandaged arm under my blanket even more.

Zach shrugged, as if it was no big deal at all. “What? She was hot. Can you blame me?”

Yes, I could. I knew it wasn’t his fault for having an attractive face, but it was his fault for acting so charming around every single girl he came into contact with. I seemed to be the only person on the planet who seemed to know that Zachary Deveraux wasn’t as charming as he seemed to be.

“What do you expect from the guy that’s done something with nearly every girl in the school?” Kate asked me, a flat look on her face as she turned back toward Zach. “He’s going to run out of girls sooner or later.”

“I haven’t done anything with Leslie Cellar,” Zach informed us, as if that was going to make everything so much better. “And Marissa Evergreen, but that’s because she’s too busy pining after Sean even though he dumped her. Oh, and I heard she has an STD.”

Kate and I both made a face as she said, “Leslie Cellar doesn’t count because she’s a nerd. You have a free pass on Marissa with the STD though…”

Zach smiled suavely at her. “You know, you could always have another turn with me, Katy.”

“Zach!” I shouted, not even meaning to do so. Kate jumped at the tone of my voice, but I tried to ignore it as I turned toward her and smiled meekly as I now said to her, “Could you give Zach and me a second to talk in private?”

“Uh… okay,” my best friend nodded slowly before turning around and leaving the room like I asked her to. I could tell she was confused, and I really hoped that she wasn’t going to ask me about this later.

“Yes, darling?” he asked me innocently, knowing that I was about to bitch at him for something. “Is there something you need from me that Kate can’t know about?”

“Stay away from her,” I told him without a second thought. “I know that you two made out before, but I don’t want you doing anything more with her, especially after the game that we started.”

Zach’s eyebrows rose. “You said I could do things with other girls.”

“Other girls don’t include my best friend.”

“Someone sounds jealous,” he smirked at me, wagging his eyebrows.

I nearly choked on my own saliva. “Me? Jealous of you and Kate? No, that’s definitely not possible. I just don’t want her getting wrapped up in your lies like every other girl. And I don’t want her getting an STD.”

“Marissa has the STD, not me.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “There’s a difference.”

Zach just stood there, staring at me while I continued to sit there and stare right back at him. Neither of us said a word to each other, and I didn’t know how long it lasted for until he said, “So… I can’t do anything with her?”

I dropped my head into my hands, suddenly feeling dizzy and I was sure it was because of Zach and not because I had passed out earlier. Was he seriously only capable of thinking with his dick?

“Nothing at all,” I repeated, looking back up at him and glaring. “She doesn’t deserve someone who’s just going to use her and then throw her away like she meant nothing at all.”

“And you do?”

“What?” I blurted before what he had said could even process in my brain.

“You’re playing this game with me, so I’m assuming that you think that you deserve someone who’s just going to use you and then throw you away like you mean nothing at all,” Zach drawled, waving his hand in the air as I prodded at the bandages on my arm from under the blanket. “You shouldn’t think of yourself like that.”

I never even said that I did. He was just assuming, but I wasn’t about to fight with him about it. We already fought so much already; there was no point in fighting over something that I wasn’t even sure about.

“Wait,” Zach now said, and I rolled my eyes because I knew I didn’t want to hear what he was about to say. “I’m not allowed to do anything with your best friend, but you’re allowed to do things with my best friend?”

I felt my cheeks turn bright red, not believing he had just brought Johnny up when I was sitting in a hospital bed. I didn’t even know what I was to Johnny, so there was no point in Zach talking about him…

“Johnny’s only my friend,” I sighed, and it was actually the truth. “And I’m not a whore, so you and I are completely different.”

“Are you calling me a whore?”

“Yes.”

Zach shook his head and smirked, saying nothing as he plopped down in the chair next to my bed. I scooted away from him just a little, making sure my bandaged arm was still being covered by the blanket covering the rest of my lower body.

“Speaking of the game…” he now brought up, and I felt my stomach drop just a little. “You know that we haven’t even really started yet. All we’ve really done is call each other different nicknames, which really isn’t anything at all…”

“You’ve kissed me,” I gulped, knowing where this was probably going.

Zach wagged his eyebrows at me. “I kissed you before the game even started.”

“We’re in a hospital, Zach,” I nearly snapped without a second thought. “If you think I’m going to do anything with you while we’re in a hospital, you’re--”

Before I could finish my sentence, Zach’s lips were on mine. I was going to push him away until I realized that I couldn’t move my right arm from under the blanket and my left arm was what was keeping my propped up on the bed. If I moved my left arm, I would have fallen flat on my back on the bed and Zach could have done even more.

We had only kissed once before, but I had pushed him away so quickly that time that I hadn’t ever realized that his lips were really soft. That was probably another reason why so many girls wanted to be with him… He was almost perfect in every way. He was just too selfish and self-centered for his own good.

When he finally pulled away from me, I was out of breath and he was completely fine. I was kind of expecting this from him though, since I was sure he had already kissed a ton of girls before me…

“And don’t call her Katy,” was the only thing I could think of to say. “It’s gross.”

Zach chuckled. “You’re the only one I can use nicknames with without it sounding weird.”

For some reason, I got a strange tingling feeling in my stomach after he said that, but I quickly ignored it when the door to my hospital room opened to show my very stressed out looking father.

“Hi,” I blinked, not knowing what else to say to him.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he sighed, immediately coming to my side and grabbing onto my uncovered hand. “I was afraid that I was going to have to leave before you woke up.”

I frowned at him. He was seriously still going to leave even though his daughter was in the hospital? Sure, nothing too serious had happened to me, but I was still in the hospital! What was more important, his job or his daughter?

“Yeah, it would have been bad if you left without saying goodbye,” I chuckled slightly, and my dad didn’t seem to notice that it was forced. Zach sure did, but I ignored his gaze while I hugged my father. I didn’t know the last time I would see him. “I guess I’ll see you later, right?”

My dad smiled sadly at me. “I’ll see you later, kiddo.”

I told myself that I wouldn’t cry, and I stayed true to that. I hadn’t ever cried when my dad left for work before, but that was before my mother had died and I was staying in a place that wasn’t my home.

Zach and this game weren’t going to make me feel any better either, especially since we had to keep it a secret from everyone. I knew that people were going to judge us if they knew that we were technically in an open relationship…

I wanted to go home to my mother, but unfortunately neither of them existed any longer. I didn’t know how long it was going to take for my house to be rebuilt, but there was no way my mother could ever come back.

No matter how much I wished she would.

~*~

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, plopping down on the piano bench next to my singing teacher. “I just… I don’t know. My voice just isn’t cooperating with me today.”

“I understand if you don’t want to work on anything today, Maxynn,” Andie informed me solemnly, and I said nothing. “It’s the first time you’ve come here after what happened to your mother, and you just got out of the hospital a few days ago. I’m sure all of this is difficult for you.”

Looking at the sheet music that was lying on the piano in front of me, I made a face. I just didn’t feel like singing, and I was glad that Andie understood that. Brianna said that I didn’t have to go to singing lessons that day, but I didn’t want to have to skip them again. I had to get my life back on track, and I was doing it, but I was doing it slowly.

“I’m sorry, Andie,” I apologized, not getting up from the piano bench that she was sitting on as well. “I just can’t focus right now. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to do anything today.”

“It’s really fine, Maxynn,” Andie smiled sadly, and I forced a smile back to her. “I understand. You can take as much time as you need.”

I let out a breath, jumping up from bench and brushing off my shorts. I looked down at the sheet music and cleared my throat, determined to do something during my lesson. My dad was paying for this, and I wasn’t about to let him waste his money. He might as well have been paying for a therapist…

Andie seemed to notice my determination, because she smiled and began playing the piano. I was weak at first, just like I knew I would be, but as the song went on, my voice got better and better, little by little. And for some reason, it made me feel better. It was like this was telling me that everything was going to be okay.

When we were finished, Andie smiled at me. “You’re still doing great, Maxynn. Keep it up, okay?”

I smiled right back at her, surprising myself when I realized it wasn’t forced. I was actually smiling naturally. “I will.”

Andie then peeked her head out the door to the waiting room, looking to see if her next student was here. When she looked back at me, she looked confused. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she said, “I think you have someone waiting out there for you.”

My eyebrows furrowing in confusion, I stepped outside of the lesson room to see who was waiting. My eyes went wide and I felt like fainting when I saw Zach sitting there, smugly waiting for me as if it was no big deal at all.

“I didn’t know you sang,” Zach smirked, and even though it didn’t sound like an insult, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was. “When my mom gave me the address and told me to pick you up, I didn’t know that it would be in a place like this.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” I couldn’t help but ask, a flat look plastered on my face. “I may not look like it, but I’ve been singing ever since I was a little kid.”

Zach looked almost… impressed. This definitely surprised me. “Huh. I never would have thought that you’d be a singer. What kinds of songs do you sing? Screamo, or punk, or emo? All of the above?”

“Actually,” I snapped, my eyebrows furrowing at him in anger. “I don’t sing anything like that.. I actually sing Broadway and Disney songs. Is that really that surprising?”

Zach merely snickered. “Yeah, it kind of is.”

I didn’t see how girls found this guy charming. Yes, he was attractive, and he could be nice when he wanted to be, but there was really nothing that great about him. He had always been a jerk to me and nothing more than that.

“You didn’t have to pick me up,” I now told him as I left out the door, Zach right behind me. “I could have just walked back to your house. It isn’t that far away from here. I used to walk to and from here when I lived at my old house, and that’s even farther than yours.”

“I guess my mom just wants to make sure that you’re safe,” Zach shrugged, and the way he was acting made it sound like he didn’t care if I was safe or not at all. “I don’t think she really has anything to worry about though. You can take care of yourself.”

I bit the inside of my lip as we got into his car, saying nothing about his comment. I knew it was probably the smartest thing to just not respond to him when I didn’t even know what to say. It just made everything easier when you just shut up and let him think that he was right.

Even though he usually wasn’t.

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This chapter is super late. And I know that a lot of the chapters have been late lately, but this one is like... super late.

But my last day of school was today! Which means it's finally summer! :D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)