The halls were loud on Monday.

And, like they usually were after a weekend with a big party, they were filled with the gossip of what happened when everyone was drunk.

There was lots to gossip about this Monday. Carter's party had a huge turn out, and like most teenagers do when there's no parental supervision, they partied hard.

And I had a front row seat to all of it, I think I was the least drunk there. At some point in the night, I made a mental note to never step foot in Carter's hot tub, if I ever went to that lake house again, because of the amount of fooling around that occurred in there.

Seren and the football player, who I discovered from the whispers was named Cole, were only one of the many couples that stuck their tongues down each other's throats in the rectangular box.

Cain had gotten progressively drunk, and progressively angry as the night went on. He went as far as shoving Cole when he walked by him and Seren. Thankfully, it didn't go any further than that.

When we woke up in the morning, me on one couch and Cain on the couch beside me, he seemed to instantly forget all his feelings from the night before. I wasn't sure what made that possible, whether it was the hangover or the embarrassment.

"So, this weekend was like a movie, right?" Jax announced to the table, a goofy smirk on his face as he looked around at his friends.

Cain only grimaced in response, shaking his head at the ground. Noah and Olivia were too busy whispering into each other's ears to notice anyone else. Trinity nodded in agreement, and Tyler and Benji both fist bumped him.

I wanted to say, if it was movie, it would have gone straight to DVD, but I kept my mouth shut instead.

And I wasn't the only one, Seren didn't say anything either. She was doing what she usually did at lunch time, listening to everyone else speak with that far away look in her eyes. Every other moment, she looked down at the time on her phone and then looked to her purse beside her.

I knew what she was doing, she was waiting until it was an appropriate time for her to leave the table and have a cigarette. It's the same thing she does every lunch.

"What did you think, Zane?" Jax asked me, causing me to rip my eyes away from Seren.

When I caught Jax's eye, he raised his eyebrows, a knowing look in his eyes like he had caught me red handed.

"It was your first time at the lake house after all," he continued, his lip curling into an even larger smirk.

"Yeah," I muttered, refraining from rolling my eyes. "It was cool. Carter is lucky to have a place like that."

"What, Mr. Mercedes, you're telling us your parents don't have a vacation house somewhere?" Trinity asked me, smiling playfully.

I shrugged, not wanting to tell her the truth. They did, but I didn't know why that was relevant. I was saved from answering, however, by a nudge in the ribs from Cain.

I looked towards him, wondering why he did that. Cain only titled his head to the other end of the table, where Seren was, and I instantly had my answer.

Cole and Carter were making their way over, and I momentarily noticed how similar they looked. They were both wearing their letterman jackets, and they both had perfectly styled blonde hair. They both had their eyes trained on Seren. Their expressions though, they looked wildly different.

Cole looked smug, confidence reeking from him as he stalked towards the table. Carter just looked annoyed.

Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing, turning their heads to watch the interaction. Seren was the only one who didn't seem to notice anything was happening, she was still staring at the time on her phone.

"Hey Seren," Cole purred out, taking the empty seat across from her. Carter sat next to him, the same annoyed look on his face, as he glanced between Cole and Seren.

"Um," Seren said as he glanced up from her phone, I watched her face fall just slightly as she realized who said her name. "Hey."

"So, uh," Cole started, apparently taken aback by her less than enthusiastic greeting. "I texted you yesterday."

"Yeah," she said blankly, "I got it."

"Oh," Cole said awkwardly. "Okay. Well, I wanted to invite you over tonight," he leaned in, as if that would prevent the rest of us from hearing his next words. "My parents are out of town all week... it will just be us."

As if what he said wasn't gross enough, he had the audacity to wink at her, too.

I looked back to Seren's face, and I don't know what I was expecting to see. Maybe a look of disgust at what he was inferring, or maybe she did like this kid and she would smile. Though, nothing changed in her features. It was like she was bored.

But, then I looked into her eyes. She wasn't bored, she was hurt.

"I'm sorry Cole," she said the words like she was repeating them from a script. "I'm not really looking for anything right now."

She pushed her chair away from the table, the screech of the legs against the floor was the only thing that interrupted the awkward tension that was now formed around the table.

I knew her next words before she said them, it's the same thing she says every day at the end of lunch. "I'm going for a smoke."

And with that, she was gone.

I looked back at the group, seeing all of their faces as I passed my eyes by them individually. They girls looked rolled their eyes. The boys looked amused, hiding their laughs.

I don't know why I stood from the table, too. I quickly muttered to Cain that I was going to the bathroom, but that wasn't the truth.

I walked quickly through the halls, pushing open the door and looking around to the corner of the parking lot where the smokers all gathered. I was expecting to see Seren, but I didn't.

I turned around, confused as to where she would be smoking, when I saw the end of her long hair fanning behind her as she turned a corner towards the back of the school. I hesitated, only for a second, before I followed her.

I stopped when I caught sight of her, my feet making a noise against the pavement. I had turned the corner, and there she was. She was crouched against the wall, just hovering over the cement. She had pulled a cigarette out, she was lighting it with a small pink lighter. When she succeeded, and the flame was lit, she pulled it to her mouth, and I prepared myself for what I was about to say when she saw me.

I didn't need to, it seemed.

Her eyes only floated over me, I didn't know if she didn't see me, or she did and she didn't care. Though, by the way her eyes were glazed over as she looked at the air, I wasn't sure in that moment, if she saw anything at all.

I wasn't sure, because her eyes... they looked dead.

I didn't stay, I turned on my heels and walked back into the school. I went to my next two classes. I listened to the teachers, I did my work. I got in my car and I drove home. I went to my room. I turned my laptop on, though my eyes only drifted over the screen.

But the whole time, I couldn't get the sight of her eyes out of my head.

Cain was wrong.

He was wrong, completely wrong. How didn't he see?

She didn't break Cole's heart. He broke hers, and so did every single guy who only wanted her for one thing.

Finally, I opened my music application. I didn't know what I was searching for as I pressed shuffle. Though, it seemed every other song that came on only reminded me of her.

I sighed as I listened, my hand moving on its own as it opened a new playlist, and adding all the songs that seemed to be written just for her.

When I was done, I hesitated on what to call it, before finally surrendering and naming it simply, Seren.