Chapter 1

Three months. 

All it took was three months for Zander Wyatt III to date my best friend, break up with her and then completely change the course of our lives with one very overused but very effective sentence; 

'it's not you, it's me'. 

The best part is I didn't even know they were dating until just a few moments ago. When I got the call telling me Elizabeth had just woken up. 

I pull my worn out bag pack over my shoulder, a weeks worth of reading material from Behavioural and Managerial Economics already weighing me down with their combined weight. I have to take a deep breath before stepping across the threshold to the main lobby of the Daltech State Hospital. 

The place hasn't changed at all, doctors and nurses with disheveled hair and erratic expressions running about, some shouting out instructions, others following suit. Everyone looks tired, even the security officer manning the door to the exit is nodding off to sleep.

The white paint on the lobby walls have faded to a dull grey and the decorative plants placed beside the rows of seats have started to wilt. The fact that I notice the difference only causes me further discomfort. 

I swallow down the nerves that have crawled up my throat like a colony of ants. I've been here too many times to count. Too many times for someone who just turned twenty years old. 

My muscles act on memory alone, legs carrying me swiftly to the front desk where a nurse frantically answers one of the phones that haven't stopped ringing. She holds up a finger, gesturing for me to wait as she attends to the other person on the line. 

Her brown eyes narrow and she frowns deeply, lines marring her forehead making her look years older in just a matter of seconds. 

It takes a while and I try not to focus on the pin pricks of pain that flit across my skin, bruises that have long faded but their memory never has. Being here makes me remember the pain, the blood, the lies. 

All of it. 

"Can I help you?" The pretty red headed nurse finally turns her attention to me and I flinch for some reason. 

She studies me worriedly and I quickly clear my throat, trying my best to suppress all the unwanted memories that are trying to claw their way to the surface. 

"I'm looking for room 303. For umm, an Elizabeth Larsen," I stutter, painfully aware of how weak my voice sounds. I really need to get a hold of myself. 

"Are you alright?" She asks, eyeing me from head to toe. She looks at the cold sheen of sweat that has formed on my forehead and I immediately wipe it away with the back of my sleeve. 

I quickly smile, lips pulling apart into an unnatural grin. "I just hate hospitals so much." 

Truer words have never been spoken.

She chuckles and then tucks a folder under her arm. "You and me both." She scrolls through the computer screen facing her and pauses. "Third floor. Third room from the lifts." 

"Thank you so much." I say and then I rush off to the set of lifts directly across from the information desk. People have already started to crowd around the one approaching but I move like a gazelle, twisting and turning till I am somehow in front. 

The lift is so silent I can hear my breaths quicken. They seem to be in a race with my heart. A cacophony of voices fill the air the moment I get out on to the third floor. 

There's a group of nurses conversing with each other loudly by their station and hospital staff push carts of medicine and dressing materials around, trolley's screeching on their hinges. The strong smell of disinfectant stings my nostrils and I lean against the wall, memories of this place threatening to paralyse me. 

It's like the dam I've so carefully built in my brain has started to crack. Being here is causing the water to trickle out. 

I slap myself mentally. I really need to get it together. Today isn't about me. It's about Elizabeth. 

Just then I spot the tiny steel plaque reading 303 pasted onto a door that has been left halfway open. I practically run to her room and slip into it. 

Her parents are seated by her bed and all three of them turn towards me when I walk in. 

"Hi," I say awkwardly and then notice the baskets of fruit perched on her bed side table. I'd been in such a rush to get here, I've come here empty handed. "Sorry I didn't get anything. I could run down and get you some food-" 

"Dany, stop. I have plenty here." Elizabeth's face is so pale, she looks like a ghost under all the glaring sunlight. Her blonde hair sticks to the back of her head and the more I look at her, the more I realise how much weight she has lost. 

I lose all train of thought and rush up to her, hugging her tightly, even though my strength might just break her into two. I can't believe I nearly lost her. 

"I'm so happy you're okay." I mumble. Tears threaten to cloud my vision so I quickly take a step back and greet her parents.

"Danielle," Mrs. Warner stands and pulls me into a tight hug. I'm the one who found her daughter unconscious on the bedroom floor and called the ambulance. The way she is hugging me tells me just how grateful she is for that.

Mr Warner nods at me and offers me some fruit, which I politely decline. I turn to face my best friend again. I have so many unanswered questions but I have to endure the polite conversation that ensues because her parents are here. They both think Elizabeth overdosed on sleeping pills due to stress from her coursework. 

They obviously don't know the real reason. 

They finally leave in the evening, heading home to get some of her things and I close the room door, giving us the privacy we need. 

"Zander Wyatt? The third?" I put my hands on my hips and ask her incredulously. 

She groans and looks up at the white plaster ceiling above us. "Ughh, so Stacy told you." 

The comment stings. Stacy and Daphne are our closest friends in Daltech but Elizabeth and I have been best friends since high school. I know about her first crush, first kiss, I even know the date she got her period for the first time. 

The fact that she dated a guy for three months without me knowing but Stacy and Daphne knew feels like a punch to the gut. 

"I can't believe you never told me," I say quietly. I know she's in a fragile state but the words can't help tumbling out of my mouth. 

"Because I knew you'd react this way." She argues. "You hate men in general. I knew you'd tell me I was making a mistake by dating the hottest, most popular guy in college." 

I want to 'gag' at the term hottest. I mean hotness is a very subjective thing and Zander Wyatt has never been 'the hottest' to me. But I'm too distracted by her other words. 

"I do not hate men," I shrug innocently. 

"Dany, we've known each other since we were thirteen and you've never liked a single human being. Neither guys nor girls. You've never kissed anyone, never dated anyone. The only person you ever expressed interest in was that Maze Runner guy." Elizabeth pauses, pursing her pale lips. "I used to think that you could be asexual." 

I laugh at her ridiculous words and sit down next to her. "I like that manhwa guy, you know the one who blackmails that girl. And that dojo guy, you know the anime dude." 

Elizabeth's eyes narrow. "They're all fictional." 

"So what?" I frown at her. 

"So, you're always so judgy about the guys I date. If I told you I was dating the biggest playboy on campus, you would have flipped your lid." 

"If you knew he was a playboy, why did you date him?" I raise my hands, palms facing upwards in question. 

"It's the same with sunlight. Too much of it can harm you but sometimes when the sunrise is so beautiful you just want to stand in it forever." She justifies, unable to meet my eyes anymore. 

"That comparison doesn't even make sense." I take a pillow from the chair next to me and hit her lightly with it. 

"Ow," Elizabeth leans away, dramatic as always. "What the hell, Dany?" 

"And was he worth almost killing yourself over?" It's hard to keep the anger our of my voice now. 

Her face falls and I suddenly feel guilty for being so harsh. 

"I didn't..." She breaks off, voice cracking. "I didn't do it because of him. I couldn't sleep. Couldn't stop thinking about him. I just wanted to sleep for a few hours. I wasn't thinking straight, I didn't count what I'd ingested. I wasn't trying to... I swear."

Tears roll down my cheeks and I hit her again, much softer this time. "You're an idiot. I could have taken you to the doctor or something." 

"Danielle, my pain is not your responsibility." 

Her words are too familiar to ignore. Something opens up in my gut, a wound that had been ignored and left to rot inside of me. 

These are words I've heard as a child and the cause of that ever growing hatred in my heart. Sometimes I think every muscle, every tissue, every cell in that organ is filled with it, pumping hatred into every part of my body on a daily basis. 

Elizabeth frowns at my expression and then sighs loudly. "I made a mistake, okay. I know. I fell in love with the charming asshole who pursued me and then dumped me after three months. He's famous for his three month rule and I thought I would be the one to break it. I thought he would fall in love with me." 

"Three month rule?" Stacy never mentioned such a thing. 

My best friend looks extremely embarrassed when she explains that Zander changes girlfriends every three months. He tells them to keep the relationship private and never introduces his girlfriend in public because his big shot father is apparently against him dating in college. 

Which come to think of it, is actually kind of smart because the scorned lover can't really prove they were ever dating. It will all be word of mouth. 

This guy is a walking evil genius and he's not even out of college yet. 

Elizabeth knew about this when he wanted to date her but because Zander was so charming and handsome and etc, she gave in and fell for him. 

I haven't even met the guy and I hate him already. 

"Big shot father?" I scoff and lean against the armchair. "What is he the president's son?" 

Elizabeth's eyebrows raise. "Close. He's Senator Wyatt's son." 

My mouth falls open in shock, like a gaping fish lacking oxygen. "You mean the one we've been seeing on tv all the time? The one running for the state seat?"

She nods at me grimly. "That's why I believed him when he said he needed to keep us a secret." 

"Wow." I'm at a loss for words. I had no idea we had someone so high profile on campus. And my best friend dated him. Secretly. And now here we are.

"Look I loved him and he broke my heart but that's it. I'll get over him, Dany. You know I will. I just need some time." Elizabeth's eyes are so earnest but I have a hard time believing her when she's been keeping so many secrets. 

"Fine, I'm just happy you're okay. That's all that matters to me." 

"Please can we not talk about him anymore? Can we just chill together and watch my favourite movie. Just like old times? I have it saved on my laptop. We just need hot chocolate." 

My shoulders slump in defeat. That does sound like a nice idea. 

I head downstairs and get our drinks and when I'm back, Elizabeth has the movie set to play. 

I crawl into bed with her and we sip our hot chocolates side by side. The warmth from her shoulder comforts me like a blanket on a cold rainy day. 

It's ironic how her favourite childhood movie is a French relatively unknown rom com about a girl who breaks her bosses heart after he fires her. 

"The Ten Steps to a Man's Heart." 

Elizabeth must be exhausted because she falls asleep halfway through the movie and I lose interest as well, having watched the thing multiple times with her already. 

Out of curiosity I search for Zander Wyatt on social media. His instagram is public and there are loads of pictures of him, all smiling and suited up. He's always either at some fundraiser or posing on the football field with his teammates. 

The asshole has fifty thousand followers and there isn't a single picture of him alone with a girl, despite his body count. 

There's even an online forum with a thread dedicated solely to girls who have had their heart broken by him or are in love with him. They're treating his three month crap like it's a challenge, all trying to date him for longer than that but no one has succeeded so far.

It's all so bizarre.

I turn to Elizabeth who is snoring softly and the anger in me multiplies. She'll have to go into observation now and she's taking the semester off because of what happened. 

It's not fair.

How dare he post happy pictures when he's caused so much pain to my best friend? And if he's been dating girls every three months, that's four broken hearts a year. This guy needs to be stopped, for the goodness of humanity. 

Just then the lead actress in our favourite French movie breaks her bosses heart and leaves him crying on the floor, like a baby without a pacifier.

And a thought crosses my mind. 

I look at Zander's deceptively charming face, staring back at me from the picture on my phone. He can't break an already broken heart and even if this didn't work it wouldn't affect me one bit. But I could try. There's no harm in a little revenge, is there?

I smile to myself, my mind already going into revenge fuelled auto pilot mode.

Zander Wyatt, I'm going to break your fucking heart. 






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