2nd ♬

We called it as the incident.

After the incident had occurred, everything concerning Jace and I had changed. When I said everything, I meant every single letter in it. Included on the list were those whimsical thoughts of our parents, the way they saw us as the young lovers that our town had to look out for, and even that inscrutable thought of hearing those wedding bells on that perfect day in June. Every single thing had been changed by the incident.

"Reese, can you stop breaking the plates?" my mom exclaimed all the way from the dining table.

Looking down to the shredded pieces on the floor, I sighed. That was the second plate I'd broken since I heard the news that Jace Hamilton was coming back to town. Everyone was excited about it. Thus, in a place as small as ours, I wouldn't even get the chance to miss it. It was impossible not to know.

"Are you going to bring me those plates or what?" Mom asked.

"Coming!" A seashell curtain separated the kitchen and the dining room, so I could easily see that annoyed look on her face.

After I got back from my job interview and saw those posters, it was either I was breaking dishes or spacing out of nowhere. Only two options, and both were not good. I shuddered in horror, whenever my eyes laid on those summer-themed announcements about the band's comeback. Midget Dreams was the closest thing to celebrities out here.

And no, they weren't chased around whenever spotted. The paparazzi, if our place ever had any, weren't rummaging their houses, looking over their files or going crazy on catching whom the guys were recently dating. The craziness only went wild whenever they held their instruments, up on stage and ready to start the beat.

I grabbed the dustpan, tugging the plastic broom along. I gathered all the pieces of the disaster-stricken plate and put it inside the black trash can underneath the sink. It made a clacking sound when it hit the other plate that I'd also broken a few minutes ago.

Outside our kitchen window, the sun was already setting. Its deep, vibrant colors penetrated every end it could touch. I caught a glimpse of that place again from outside our kitchen window, and it tugged a particular string in my heart. I only shrugged, hoping the feeling would go away.

It didn't.

Today was officially ending, and tomorrow was supposedly the day that Jace Hamilton was bound to be back in town. I even heard about the exact day of his arrival. I hoped and prayed that we would never run into each other for the rest of the summer, if that was even possible since we were neighbors, and I would be working at the beach starting tomorrow.

Stupid, stupid laptop, I hissed in my mind, irritated at Brittany's laptop that I had accidentally wrecked last week. Look at me breaking things all over the places. This was a premonition. If it wasn't for that laptop, I wouldn't have to work this summer and would just enjoy it to the fullest, like planned.

My mom appeared in the kitchen, peeved. "Here, let me do it for you."

"I can do it..." I tried saying, but she already grabbed the plates from my hands.

"What's going on, Reese?" Mom demanded.

"Nothing," I replied, shoving my worries aside. That was another lie, but this time, it was for a good cause. My mom was a taleteller. Okay, that was mildly putting it. She was the town's official gazette. Aside from that, she was best of friends with Jace's mother, Susan. And there was nothing I could do about that. Everything I'd say would be instantly known to the Hamiltons, broadcasted by my very own mother.

Ever since the Hamiltons moved next door, there was nothing that had stopped my mother and Susan from discovering that they were sisters that heaven forgot to make. And from that day on, they had conquered the town together.

So I better not tell her a word, unless I wanted the whole Turtle Bay Island to know that I was rattled by Jace Hamilton's comeback. The thing about mortal enemies was, you'd do everything to make sure he knew that you had the upper hand. Denial. Fake conviction. Inexplicable bravery. Yeah, things like that.

"Do you know that Jace is coming back tomorrow?" Mom cheerfully echoed, instantly lightening up. "Susan told me about it this morning."

"Right," I muttered under my breath, grabbing a glass of water from the counter. Following my mom to the dining room, I took a sip, just enough to quench my thirst. And then another, since I was getting more agitated by the minute.

"She also mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing you again," Mom added, putting the plates on the table. "He's such a sweet boy."

I choked on the water that I was drinking, and the clear liquid started dripping down my nose. Hurriedly wiping the water with my badly shaking hand, I coughed the rest of it out of my nose.

Revenge.

It could only be for that. Jace was looking forward to seeing me, because he wanted to get even. After the incident, I pulled something to make him pay. I wasn't the type who would just sit in one corner and weep, even if my actions were formulated out of carelessness. But what I did led to the second incident, and the start of hellhole—mostly for me.

The supposedly happiest years of my life (high school, like they all said) had been nothing but a complete disaster. Before the end of my sophomore year, pranks were pulled on me for weeks. Why? Because I had caused the second incident to happen. Why? Because his friends had become my enemies, they were popular, and they gladly made my life miserable. Why? Because I was insignificant and my pain was nothing compared to the campus heartthrob's.

Life and its situations had never been fair.

If going through high school was an established drama, the end of my sophomore year was a horror film instead—dim lights; neon paints all over my hair and clothes; dark alleys, where empty juice cartons magically spurted at my direction; echoing murmurs; hurtful words were nothing, really, compared to everything else; the fact that my hair was always cut short and uneven when I went to the salon to fix it after some bubblegum decided to stick on it once in a while; and my friends and I always hanging around the laundry shop to salvage my clothes.

Horror indeed.

And it was all because Jace was popular and I was nothing. In such an unfair battleground called high school, I unfortunately became the prey. He was everyone's hero.

But months later, after a very depressing summer vacation, someone literally saved me when I'd entered junior high. With Jace and the rest of the band moving away to college, a good-looking guy, with the name John Luis Pierre, entered our school premises.

And no, sadly, he didn't drool over me. I was saved because the fangirls went crazy over him. Then those girls started spending less time throwing tragedies my way. The pranks became less. There were days when they even forgot that I existed. If lucky, there were times when passing through the school hallways became bearable.

Soon enough, senior year came and went. There were no major dramas; no heartbreaks, or any relationships to start with; and just complete nothingness, which in my case, was good. As Sam, the caretaker of the beach, always said, 'Everyone in town is nice, given the chance.'

However, despite all those changes, there was still this one person who was still holding this inscrutable hatred toward me. And it was nothing new, not a new planet that had been recently discovered, or some magical drug that could cure all kind of illnesses. It wasn't a distant thought, as I was, after all, reminded of it each day, when I passed the hall or had a class with her.

And thinking that I was finally signing off from high school with a truce, something had happened again during the end of my senior year. It was the last day of school, and I had to break Brittany's laptop at that same day.

Ta-da!

This was why I would be working this summer. And it wasn't like it was my entire fault. Brittany bumped into me while I was holding my tray of food. And then, as if in slow motion, my glass of orange juice slowly spilled in the air and made its way to some place that it shouldn't be in. All the words of pleading filled my head, in my attempt to ask the vibrant citrus fluid to avoid Brittany Spark's new laptop.

But slowly, it splashed directly on the white keyboard, staining it in a perfect hue of chromatic orange. In turn, every eye widened, as the perfect ending to my unforgettable high school years had happened.

"Are you all right?" Mom asked me, kind of worried with my hard coughing.

"I'm fine," I assured her, still catching my breath and pounding my chest.

"Maybe Jace wants make it up to you," she said, gathering the silverware.

For the record, that would never happen. Unless some cosmic event had occurred and it hit his head, I was certain that apologizing to me was the last thing on Jace's mind. If we ever thought alike, it was about that one thing—revenge.

"Maybe," I forced myself to say, avoiding her gaze altogether and instinctively looking outside for any sign of Jace Hamilton's sudden early arrival.

And as if reading my mind, Mom further clued me up, "I think he'll be here tomorrow morning, since he's leaving Creeksburg tonight."

"Mom, I don't really care. You know that," I told her, throwing my hands to the air and hoping that she would stop telling me all the details concerning Jace.

"You don't?" Mom raised an eyebrow at me.

"Obviously," I muttered under my breath. Then I cleared my throat, saying, "Did you forget everything that happened between us before? Logically speaking, I shouldn't be interested with him, at all."

A quick reminder: I wasn't that overly hopeful fifteen-year old, who wanted nothing but to date Jace Hamilton. Not anymore. It seemed like the only thing embedded in my mom's mind was that single memory that I was once head over heels for Jace. She totally forgot what had happened after the incidents, let alone the great deal of drama entangled along.

"Really? I thought..." Mom said slowly, as if thinking.

"No, Mom, you're wrong. I'll just call Dad and Cad," I said, cutting her off. "Come on, Mom. Let's just forget about Jace and have a peaceful and happy dinner, okay?"

"All right, go and get the two," she finally said, giving up about the Jace matter.

Finally.

That day he moved to Creeksburg was officially the happiest day of my life. No more humiliation. No more embarrassing moments. And of course, no more Jace Hamilton.

But all that had to end right now.

Too bad.