Looking at myself in the mirror downstairs, I didn’t know what Chloe and Terra had seen when I had worn this dress in the mall. To me, it didn’t look very special to me at all. It was just a normal, old dress on a normal, old person.

I stared down at my feet now and frowned. The girls had also talked me into wearing heels, which I hated so much. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I fell all throughout the night. It didn’t help that it was raining either.

When arms wrapped around my waist from behind, I nearly jumped as I looked up into the mirror. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw it was only Eli, and he laughed at me.

“You sure are jumpy,” he grinned, his grip in me tightening. He was so close that I could feel his heartbeat against my back.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to just grab me,” I defended, shifting awkwardly in my heels a little. “You caught me off guard.”

“Hmm,” he smirked, leaning closer to my turned head so our lips were almost touching. “You look beautiful in that dress.”

“Do I? Well, you don’t look too bad either,” I grinned, leaning forward and pressing my lips to his before he could answer.

We were only able to kiss for a few moments before my dad started down the stairs, which caused us both to pull away from each other immediately, even though it was too late because my dad had already seen us.

“Do you two need a ride to the party?” he asked, a knowing look in his eye as he looked over at me. It made my cheeks brush red, and I was surprised by the fact that Eli and I were practically dating. I mean, we lived in the same house. I definitely wouldn’t have been alright with my daughter dating a guy that lived under the same roof as her.

“Um, we’re actually getting picked up,” I told him nervously, still embarrassed about getting caught kissing. “But thanks for offering, Dad.”

My father nodded at us before starting up the stairs again, and I was glad that Claudia was sick and Cassidy was getting ready for the party with Courtney. It would have been so much worse if either of them had been the ones interrupting us.

When I heard a car honk outside, I was confused. I looked over at the clock to see that it was an hour before we were supposed to leave, so I didn’t get why anyone would be there to pick us up.

“I have to go to the party early,” Eli sighed, looking very unhappy with the fact that he had to leave. “Courtney wants me there with her early, and I thought I’d do something nice for her since it’s her birthday and all.”

“Oh,” I blinked, forcing out a smile and waving him away now. “Well, you better go then! You don’t want to keep her waiting.”

He smiled, leaning forward and pressing his lips to my temple before turning toward the front door. For some reason, this made my face turn redder than it ever had before and I didn’t even know why.

An hour later, there was a limo outside waiting for me with all my friends in the back. I quickly scrambled inside, nearly tripping in the stupid heals.

“Whoa, careful!” Chris laughed when I almost face planted. “We don’t want you dying before we get to the party!”

I laughed sarcastically before sitting in between Simon and Chloe, trying my best to adjust my shoes so they wouldn't be so annoying.

I really didn’t want to go to Courtney’s party, honestly. She hadn’t ever been nice to me, so why should I go to a party that celebrates her birth? My life would have been a hell of a lot easier if she hadn’t been born.

“I think someone’s upset that Eli’s already at the party with the birthday girl,” Chris teased in a baby voice, reaching over and pinching my cheek.

Jack smacked his hand away before I could. “Stop it.”

“Oh!” Chris cried, covering his mouth when he started laugh. “Jack’s jealous, even after he and Ivy have been broken up for months!”

Jack said nothing, and neither did I. This was not something I wanted to talk around my ex-boyfriend. Why did Chris have to make everything so awkward?

“Anyway,” Simon began, as Chloe pushed her boyfriend away from me so he wouldn’t grab my face again. “I have an idea for you, Ivy.”

I blinked at him, a little unsure if I wasn’t to hear this or not. “Okay.”

I looked around and everyone else in the back of the limo with me. Tyler was sitting there quietly like he always did, Chris was trying to undo the strings on the back of Chloe’s dress, who then smacked him, and Jack was drinking from a water bottle that he had gotten out of the mini fridge. I could only hope that I’d be fine with all of them hearing what Simon had to say.

“I think you should tell Eli that you’re in love with him tonight,” Simon finally announced, and suddenly Jack was choking on his water and spitting it all over Chris.

“Dude!” he called out, wiping off his suit jacket, even though the water wasn’t even that noticeable since it was black. “Gross, man! Watch where you’re spitting!”

Jack ignored him as he looked over at me, wiping the water from his chin. “You’re in love with Eli?”

I glared at Simon before I faked a smile at Jack. “Of course I’m not! Simon’s just playing around!”

Simon rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. “Sure, whatever you say,” he grumbled.

I shot him another glare and it was now silent for the rest of the ride to the party, which I was sure thankful for. I couldn’t afford anymore awkward conversations or my face was going to explode from blushing so much.

When we finally got to the place that the party was being told, we were escorted to the room that it was going to take place. When the door opened, my eyes widened at how many people there were. There had to be hundreds of people!

“Looks like Courtney invited all of her family and most of the school again,” Chloe sighed as she walked by me with Chris, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal at all, but the room was absolutely packed! This had to have been a fire hazard.

I heard someone call Simon’s name, and I assumed it was one of his friends from school that I didn’t know. So now it was only Jack, Tyler, and me, and none of us seemed to know what we were supposed to be doing.

“Guys!” a new accented voice called, and I almost cringed at it. That voice was way too familiar, and it belonged to someone I didn’t think I’d ever be able to face ever again.

“Hey!” Jack grinned at her like he always did, and they wrapped each other in a hug like they always did when they were together. It made my stomach twist just a little bit, but I tried to smile and act like it didn’t bother me.

When she pulled away from Jack, she turned toward me. “Hi, Ivy!”

“Emma,” I blinked as my greeting, not knowing what I was supposed to say to her. It was still weird being around her, even though she hadn’t ever done anything wrong to me. “Um… hi. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

She smiled sweetly at me. “I haven’t seen you in a while either. How are things?”

I gulped. “Good.”

She just continued to smile sweetly, and I felt so awkward that it wasn’t even funny. I shouldn’t have been feeling weird around her, because she was such a nice girl and she hadn’t ever done anything bad to me, like Courtney had.

When she turned toward Tyler, both of them seemed to turn nervous. I knew the only reason Tyler was acting nervous around her was because he had a boyfriend now, and this girl had liked him for quite some time. It made me kind of wish that she’d just like Jack so everything would balance out.

They both greeted each other normally, making sure to keep their distance. Jack and I glanced at each other, but I knew we weren’t thinking the same thing. We couldn’t have, since he didn’t know Tyler’s secret.

“Hey…” Emma started in confusion when she saw how close Jack and I were standing next to each other. “Are you two dating again?”

My eyes widened in surprised, and I quickly waved my hands in front of my chest. “No, no! We’re not. We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, she’s dating Eli,” Jack almost pouted, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning away from me just a little bit.

This ticked me off a little. He had his chance with me, but he went and blew it. I didn’t really think he had any right to be upset with the fact that Eli and I were now together, even though we… technically weren’t even together. But still. Jack didn’t have a right to be mad.

“Hey!” a new voice now cried, and we turned to see May come up to the four of us happily. I was the first one she hugged, which surprised me. “Ivy! I haven’t seen you since the play was over! It’s so great to see you!”

I laughed nervously, not able to say anything because I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to say to her. It was true; I hadn’t seen her in such a long time. It wasn’t like she was a stranger, but it was just weird to see her after so much time had went by.

The four teens around me then began their own conversations with each other, and even though I wasn’t being excluded in the slightest, I just couldn’t concentrate on anything that they were saying. I looked around the gigantic room that this party was taking place in, surprised that it wasn’t part of a castle. This had to have cost a lot of money, and I didn’t even want to know how much.

All I could think about now was Eli, how he was somewhere in this room with me, surrounded by all of these people. I wanted to find him, and I wanted to dance with him, but I didn’t think that it would be possible with all these people. There were just way too many people, though it wasn’t completely crowded like it would seem to be.

“You want to go look for him, don’t you?” an accented voice suddenly said from right behind me, and I jumped before turning to see it was Jack that was the one that had spoken to me. I turned back to look at the other three to see that they were still conversing with each other. “Don’t let us stop you from talking to Eli. If Simon’s right, I think you have something to say to him.”

I bit down on my tongue, not saying anything to him as I looked back out into the crowd of people. Was I confident enough to tell Eli that I loved him? Was right then even the right time? The music playing up on the stage was pretty, but there were so many people and it was Courtney’s party. I didn’t even know if I had the guts to do so anyways.

“Just go,” Jack now sighed, pushing me away from him gently. “I’ll see you later.”

I smiled at him a little, but he only nodded at me before I turned away and started into the crowd. Maybe it was the time that I told Eli that I loved him. We had been together for a little while now, and neither of us had ever told the other about how we really felt. It was probably time that one of us did.

So I made my way through the crowd of people in search of Eli, but I just couldn’t find him anywhere. There were so many people, and the room was so large that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to find him.

“Oh, I didn’t expect to find you here!” a new voice suddenly said, and this time I really did cringe. This voice was familiar, and I was used to it yelling at me from across a theater. I should have expected to see her here, since it was Courtney’s mother an all.

I turned toward Candace and tried to look like I didn’t completely hate her, but it was hard to do. It was the same kind of look that her daughter got from me all the time.

“Hello, Olivia,” Candace greeted me sourly, a glass of wine in her hand.

“Hello, Candace,” I greeted back, not even about to correct her about my name.

“I didn’t know that Courtney invited you,” she said now, taking a sip of her wine. “I wasn’t aware that you two were friends now.”

I only shrugged. “I guess.”

Candace looked like she was about to say something to me, but was cut off when a man called her over. I assumed that this man was her husband, since they both called each other darling while conversing, so I quickly spun around and walked away before Candace made me the topic of their conversation.

I walked through the many people in the crowd, surprised when I saw how elegant this all was. It was definitely a lot different from sweet sixteen parties that I had seen on TV and in movies. I guess things really were different when you were rich.

When I bumped into someone, I nearly fell right over in these heels. The person grabbed onto me before I could topple over, and I turned toward them in gratitude.

“Thanks,” I smiled, my smile growing a little bit when I looked up to see Simon. “Oh, hey. How do you like the party so far?”

He shrugged. “It’s been fine, I guess. I’ve seen you stalking around the room looking for Eli though.”

I felt my cheeks turn red. “Shut up.”

“Are you going to tell him?” he asked, looking a little uncomfortable now. I said nothing at first, because I knew that Simon still had feelings for me, and it made me feel bad. It was the same way I felt toward Jack, because I knew he had feelings toward me as well.

“Yeah,” I answered with a nod, trying to act confident. “I am.”

Simon nodded as well. “That’s good to hear.”

We both just stood there now, neither of us saying a word to each other. I was about to turn away and continue on my search for Eli until something struck my mind.

“Oh,” I remembered, looking over at the table covered in food to see that May was still there, laughing and talking with Emma. I then turned back toward Simon with a huge grin. “Remember how I said you should date May?”

Simon rolled his eyes at me and groaned. “It’s not gonna happen, Ivy. She’s a famous actress and I work at Starbucks.”

I made a face at him. “You still haven’t quit that job yet?”

“That’s beside the point,” he waved away, not wanting to talk about the job that had brought us together with the Lost Boys in the first place. “You know what I mean. She’s probably been with so many rich actors while I’ve been unrequitedly in love with you for fifteen years. I’m not rich like she is. The only reason I’m in Neverland is because my grandma paid the tuition for me. I now don’t get birthday or Christmas presents from her for the rest of high school because of it.”

For some reason, I laughed. I laughed so hard that I doubled over in pain. I just found what he had said so funny that I couldn’t even control myself anymore. Simon looked like he thought I was absolutely insane, which he rightfully should have.

“Just go talk to her,” I laughed, wiping at the tears in my eyes before pushing him in her direction. “If it turns out that she doesn’t like you, I’ll let you do whatever the hell you want with me.”

Simon wagged his eyebrows. “Oh, really?”

“I… I didn’t mean it like that!”

He only laughed before starting off in the direction where May was. I smiled at his back before turning toward the crowd and starting to search for Eli again.

I was starting to get a little frustrated as the time went by. Eli was nowhere to be found, and I had no idea how I was supposed to find him because I left my phone in the limo. And since it was rainy and cold outside, I wasn’t about to go and get it.

“I give up!” I groaned, collapsing into an empty chair and glaring out into the crowd of people. I could have sworn that I’d been all around the room, but Eli wasn’t anywhere. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he wasn’t even there.

When someone plopped down into the chair next to me, I looked over to see that it was Tyler, who looked just as stressed out as I was.

“How are things with you?” I asked grumpily, knowing I wasn’t going to get a good answer.

“Emma keeps trying to talk to me,” he sighed, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. “She’s a really great girl, and she’s a really good friend of mine. That’s why I can’t be around her, because I feel bad that I can’t return her feelings. I also feel bad for hurting Jack.”

“Well, now you know how I feel,” I sighed, slumping over in my seat. This caused me to get looks from a few old ladies a few feet away from us, and I assumed that they were relatives of Courtney, which meant they were probably just as stuck up as her. “I feel like I’ve been hurting Jack because he knows how I feel about Eli.”

Tyler ran his hand through his hair again. “That boy needs to make up his mind already.”

I couldn’t see any of my friends in the crowd of people, and I couldn’t help but wonder where Jack and everyone else were. Especially Eli. I had been looking for him the entire time, but I just couldn’t find him through all the people.

Tyler now noticed the horrible mood that I was in. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s just… I’m running into so many people, but not the one person I really want to see,” I sighed, leaning back in my chair now.

Tyler sighed as well. “You’re going to tell him you love him, aren’t you?”

I nodded, not able to say it out loud. I wasn’t going to settle for us just making out anymore. I wanted him to know how I felt, even if he didn’t feel the same way. I just wanted to finally date him.

“Wait, isn’t that Eli over there?” Tyler asked me suddenly, and my head snapped up to see him through the copious amount of people in the room. I jumped up from my seat in surprise, and I heard Tyler laugh behind me. “Well, don’t just stand there! Go and tell him!”

He gave me a little push, and I was suddenly being engulfed by people. But this didn’t matter to me, because I was going to go tell Eli that I loved him even if I got trampled by hundreds of people.

When the music suddenly stopped, I did as well. Eli and I locked eyes, and he smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back. But before either of us could take a step toward each other, something else caught our attentions.

“I have an announcement to make,” Courtney announced into the microphone as she stood on stage with the band, and I stopped pushing through the crowd to listen to what she had to say. “It’s really important that everyone listens to what I’m going to say.”

I could see Eli from where I was, and he could see me as well. There were so many people in between us, and now that Courtney was talking up on the stage, everyone had stopped moving around, so I thought it would only be polite if I stopped moving as well. I didn’t want to be rude and push through all these people.

“Well,” Courtney sighed into the microphone as everyone listened to what she had to say. “I’m pregnant.”

I blinked, not expecting this to come from her mouth. Courtney was pregnant? Well, it wasn’t that surprising, but still, I couldn’t help but wonder who the father was…

“What?” I heard someone shout, and suddenly both of her parents were on stage next to her. It had been her father who had shouted. “Who’s the father?”

“My boyfriend, obviously,” she answered, her grip on the microphone loosening a little. “Eli Hunter is the father.”

I felt my heart immediately shatter. I looked over at Eli with wide eyes, only to see he was staring right back at me with wide eyes as well.

“How long have you known?” her father now demanded. “How long have you known that you’re pregnant?”

“A few months,” she shrugged, and I hated that she was acting so nonchalant about this whole situation. “Eli and I have both known for a few months. I just thought that now would be the best time to announce it.”

Without even thinking, I bolted toward the door so I could get the hell out of there as quickly as I possibly could. I couldn’t be in there any longer. I wouldn’t be able to stand it.

Running by both Simon and Jack, who were leaning against a wall next to each other, I pushed the door open and stepped into the darkness of outside. It was no longer raining, but everything was wet. I thought that I would slip as my heels clicked against the dark alley I had stepped into, but I was lucky enough not to fall. I then noticed that I had left out the back door, which was why I was out in an alleyway and not the parking lot.

I was crying. I didn’t want to, but I was crying so hard that my chest hurt. I couldn’t help myself; I just couldn’t stop crying.

Before I could run out of the alley and into the parking lot, a hand grabbed onto my arm. Knowing who it was immediately, I ripped my arm out of their grasp as I shouted, “Leave me alone, Eli!”

But it wasn’t him. When I turned to face him, I was surprised to see that it was Jack, Simon standing beside him. Both of them looked like they had no idea what to say, but I didn’t blame them. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say either.

“Ivy…” Jack started, a frown plastered on his face. “You really do love him, don’t you?”

I looked over at Simon with blurry vision. “You just had to tell him, didn’t you?”

Simon said nothing, and I just continued to cry my eyes out. Courtney was pregnant with Eli’s baby. They were going to have a baby together. They were both so young, both only sixteen, but they were going to have a baby. Courtney was pregnant… and it was Eli’s baby.

“I… I can’t believe him!” I sobbed, my face suddenly smashing into Jack’s shoulder. I didn’t know if he had pulled me toward him or if I had been the one to move closer to him. “I knew that he and Courtney had done things before, but this… I can’t believe this! I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do! I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do anymore!”

When Jack had confessed that he loved Emma more than he loved me, it hadn’t hurt this bad. Mostly because I knew Emma didn’t reciprocate his feelings, and they had nothing bounding them together. Not like now. Not like Courtney and Eli. They had a baby that would bind them together forever.

“I’ll kill that fucking bastard,” Jack muttered, his grip around me tightening.

“Not if I get to him first,” Simon growled.

When the back door opened again, we turned to see the last person I wanted to see. I took a step away from Jack, wiping at my eyes so my eyesight would no longer be blurry. Eli took a step toward me, but this only made me take another step backwards.

“Ivy,” he tried, but Simon and Jack weren’t about to let him finish. They didn’t hit him like I thought they would, but stood as a shield in front of me.

“Nuh-uh,” Jack glared, his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re not getting anywhere near her.”

“Move,” Eli growled now, but neither of the boys in front of me did as they were told. “Get out of my way. Now. I need to talk to Ivy.”

“Then talk,” Simon scowled. “You can see her. Talk through us.”

Eli glared at the two boys in front of him, and we could all tell that he didn’t want to have this conversation in front of anyone else. This didn’t matter to me though, since he had already embarrassed me enough. It was his turn now.

“Ivy,” he started with a sigh, and I could tell that it was hard for him to talk about something like this in front of the two boys shielding me. We all knew Eli wasn’t a very open person. “You have to hear me out, okay?”

I said nothing, but mostly because I just couldn’t find my voice.

“I didn’t know… I didn’t think that Courtney was actually pregnant,” he started, looking so ashamed of himself. “I honestly didn’t think that she was going to actually have a baby.”

I still said nothing, even though I just wanted to cry and scream at him. He did deserve to be heard out a little, so I wouldn’t cut him off just yet.

“When I was with you, I was… I was… I was… really happy,” he stalled, and I knew it was because he didn’t want to say things like this in front of anyone else. “I was the happiest I’ve ever been since… I don’t know, when my sister died. You made me so happy.”

“Stop lying to me,” I growled, now finally able to speak. “I’m sick and tired of your lies!”

“Ivy…”

“You went and did things with me even though you knew Courtney was pregnant!” I shouted, breaking through Jack and Simon so I was now right in front of him without any kind of barrier. “I thought you changed! I really did! But no, you’re the exact same as you’ve always been! You’re a selfish, spoiled brat who doesn’t care about anyone but himself! That’s what you’ve always been, and that’s what you always will be!”

His face looked so hurt through my blurry vision, but I didn’t feel bad for him. He reached out for me as he started, “Ivy—”

“No!” I shouted, stepping away from him and slapping him right across the face without even thinking. “I never want to see you ever again! Just stay out of my life!”

He cupped his cheek, his eyes wide as he stared down at me. I gave him one last glare before spinning around and darting down the wet alley and into the parking lot, wanting to be as far away from him as possible.

I didn’t get very far before I heard footsteps chasing after me. I tried to run even faster, but it was no use. Crying so much made me out of breath, so I wasn’t surprised when I felt someone grab onto my arm.

“Stop it, Eli! No!” I shouted, yanking my arm out of his grasp.

“Ivy, it’s me!” the person cried, and I stopped trying to struggle when I heard the familiar English accent. “Please, stop fighting.”

I let out a sob, burying my face into his chest without even thinking. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I wrapped mine around his waist, and he just let me sob into his chest.

“Please, take me away,” I begged, wanting to be nowhere near this place any longer. “Please, Jack, get me out of here!”

He pulled away from me, his hands still on my shoulders as he looked down at me in concern. He saw the tears streaming down my face, and the desperate look in my eye, and I could see how bad he felt for me.

He quickly picked me up bridal style even though I didn’t need to be carried, but I didn’t protest as I shoved my face into his shoulders and continued crying. He put me down once we were in the limo, and he told the driver to take us to his house.

“The rest of our friends that came with us can call for a taxi or something,” he grumbled, proving to me that he really only cared about me at that moment. I didn’t know how to react to this, so I only continued to cry into his shoulder until we got to his house.

He didn’t carry me into his house, and I was glad that he didn’t. We both went up the stairs without saying a word, and I wondered where his parents were. He had told me they traveled a lot, so I didn’t know if they were there or not. I knew Emma was still at the party, and it seemed like their maids and butlers were still around to serve us.

I was nervous about going into his room. I had been in this room so many times. I had had sex in this room with Jack for the very first time. It felt like that had happened just the day before, even though it had been so long since then. It had been so long since Jack and I had been together…

He sat me down on his bed, and I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about being there. The last time I had been in his room, we had had sex. I didn’t think that Jack would be heartless enough to try anything after what had just happened, but I couldn’t know for sure.

“I won’t try anything,” he assured me as he sat down on the bed next to me, as if reading my mind. “I know you’re going through enough already right now.”

I sniffed, leaning my head against his shoulder for support. I was so tired, and yet I didn’t want to sleep. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to sleep again.

“This is… the second time something like this happened,” I gulped, not even caring if Jack was the right person to be talking to about this. “First with you, and now with him. Why can’t I find anyone I can really trust? Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong place.”

Jack said nothing, because I knew he agreed with me. He knew he messed up, and he knew Eli messed up. There wasn’t a single thing someone could say that would make me believe that those two boys hadn’t done something stupid.

“I keep getting tricked… and fooled…” I sniffed now, my head still on his shoulder. “I’d rather be alone for the rest of my life than get hurt again!”

“Ivy…” he breathed into my hair, his arms wrapping around me. “I’m so sorry. For what I did, for what Eli did, for everything. I’m just so sorry.”

I wasn’t able to respond, because his phone started ringing before I could. He reluctantly let go of me and snatched his phone off of his nightstand, scowling when he looked at the caller ID.

“What do you want?” Jack demanded once he answered, and I immediately knew who he was talking to. I wrapped my arms around my legs, placing my chin on my knees as I waited. I could hear Eli’s voice on the other line, but it was too muffled for me to understand what he was saying.

I had been in this situation before, except the boys had switched places. I remember when Eli had covered for me when it came to Jack, but now it was the other way around.

“Yes, I’m with Ivy,” he answered now, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. “No, you can’t talk to her.”

This was so similar to last time that it made me want to cry even more. I just wanted to hide under the covers and sob my eyes out for the rest of my life.

“If you call her phone, she won’t answer,” Jack said into his phone now, and we both glanced over at my phone, which was on his nightstand. He was right; I wasn’t going to answer if Eli called me. “Where are we? We’re at my house, of course. In my room.”

Eli was so loud I could hear him when he shouted, “Don’t you dare fucking touch her!”

“You have no control over that, do you?” Jack scowled, his grip on his phone tightening. “I’ll do what I want. I’ll do what Ivy wants.”

He then hung up, practically throwing his phone in frustration in the bed. I just sat there, not able to say anything at first, and I waited for him to do something.

“You… you said you wouldn’t do anything,” I finally said after a few moments of silence.

Jack sighed, running his hands through his hair. “I wouldn’t do anything unless you wanted me to, Ivy. And even if you said you wanted to do something now, I wouldn’t do anything because I wouldn’t believe you.”

“Jack…” I whimpered, wiping at my eyes now as I turned to face him on the bed. “Do you… still love me?”

He looked away from me, not saying a single word as I waited. I didn’t even know if I wanted an answer to this question, so I didn’t know why I even asked it. No matter what he answered with, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not.

“Yes,” he answered after a while, but my heart didn’t implode like I thought it would.

I swallowed. “You… do?”

“I do,” he nodded, still not looking at me now. “I never stopped loving you, even after we broke up. I’m afraid that I’ll never fall out of love with you no matter what happens. I want you to be happy, so I won’t get in your way if you want to be with Eli, even though I don’t want you with him anymore after what he did.”

I only stared down at my feet. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I just had my heartbroken once again, and now I was talking to the guy who had broken my heart first about things that were just making me worse.

“Can we…” I started timidly, crawling toward him and wrapping my arms around his waist like I had so many times before when we had been dating. “Can we go to sleep?”

Jack let out a sigh, wrapping his arms around me again. “Of course, Ivy… I’ll do whatever you want me to. Whatever you want, I’ll always do it for you.”

And we both laid down in his bed, me snuggling into him as I continued to try not to cry. Jack was making me feel better by just being with me, and that was all that I wanted. I just wanted to feel better.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't believe it. This story was put up today a year ago. And it's still going on. I can't believe this story is actually taking me more than a year to write.

I'll be so sad when it's over. There's only five chapters left. This story was with me all throughout my freshman year... It'll be weird not to have it during my sophomore year. :/

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN for Off to Neverland's one year anniversary! <3