A big thank you to sonnetales for the cover above! 💕

Thanks for all of your feedback, the title is officially The Heartbreak Club, and if you turn back to the 'preliminaries' chapter, you will see mini-descriptions to ALL THREE books! go and let me know what you think!

Willa was sure that the freedom she felt as she finally closed the door behind her in Ashton's car was due to more than just his snarky humor. It was something that had once unsettled her, and slowly, as they spent more and more afternoons at the ice-cream parlor, had turned into something she looked forward to.

As Ashton navigated through the traffic - his thumbs tapping to an upbeat song playing through his radio - Willa scrolled through her phone. Of all the nine-thousand-and-twenty-eight photos saved on it, much too many were of her and Declan. And it was time for them to go. It was really time to move on.

Maybe the photos were a representation of her brain and the way it insisted on clinging to him. Every one that she deleted, the goofy ones, the unexpected ones, and the ones that ripped at her chest, felt like deleting a part of herself. And maybe she was, maybe she was deleting the parts of herself that were too used to his presence. It was tough love.

The time between seeing the photos Miles had sent her and seeing him kiss Camille in person now seemed dreamlike. It was as if it were all a pretend breakup, and it could all be reversed at a moment's notice. That was just how natural she and Declan and were, it was just absurd that they'd be collapsing. 

But there was no rewind button. After all of the time they'd been together, something between them had disconnected - and it hadn't only happened because of the photos. Something had driven Declan to lose value for Willa's feelings, and though her heart twisted painfully to think of it, she couldn't forgive him for that.

Willa felt as if she should be afraid, but she couldn't quite work out what of. Maybe it was being alone, or cutting something from her life which had been so easy to rely on for so long. Maybe it was finally controlling her subconscious mind, the one that insisted on wandering back to him when she wasn't watching it closely.

"You look very deep in thought," Ashton mused, breaking her from the trance she'd been in as she stared out of the window.

Willa frowned, her blonde brows knitting together. "I was just thinking about things. You know, I don't even remember the last time I was single. Like, I literally don't even remember."

She recalled the way she'd felt at the party, dancing in a crowd of teenagers as the blood rushed to her cheeks. It had been a freedom she hadn't felt in a while, not without the nagging feeling of upsetting Declan present on her mind.

Beside her, Ashton chuckled. "Weren't you single for what, two days?"

"That hardly counts." Then she realized how much time had passed, and a smile pulled at her mouth. "It's our one week anniversary today."

"Happy anniversary," he said, the shadow of laughter leaving a twinkle in his eye.

"Where are we even going?" she asked. She hadn't been paying attention while she dumped the photos, and now noticed that they were on the edge of town.

"Hiking," he said simply.

"Hiking?" she repeated, looking from his amused gaze to the hefty heel at her feet. She was starting to feel deja vu for her inability to choose appropriate shoes.

"I couldn't think of anything else to occupy an afternoon with Ben off of work," he said simply. The streets of the suburbs were slowly turning into sparse patches of land.

"I guess it's at least nice weather for it," she said, a forced optimism to her tone. Maybe if it wasn't for the shoes she could easily enjoy herself, but with her height already classing her as the shortest in senior year, she wasn't one to go without the extra altitude.

It was only five minutes later that Ashton was pulling into a short and rocky driveway which led to a small parking lot.

"It's a family favorite. Our grandparents used to take me and Ben here every Sunday afternoon."

"Cute," she said, still skeptical as she breathed in the earthy scent of moistened dirt, fidgetting with the hem of her skirt.

"Are you going along with this because you're worried I'd dump you if you didn't?"

The question struck her for some reason. Maybe because the harsh refresher of the reality of their relationship felt out of character with the sun-filled air and chatty birds perched on pine trees igniting her with an almost fairytale feel.

"No," she answered simply. All of this - coming with him every afternoon and laughing at his jokes - was supposed to be about humoring their arrangement, but it didn't feel like it. The first thing that jumped to her mind wasn't giving him an opportunity to dump her, in fact it wasn't anything at all. It felt like they were two friends hanging out.

"Sure," he said with sarcasm and a broad smile as he locked up the car and paced towards a map printed onto a sign beneath a tall tree. Gravel crunched beneath his shoes, and Willa hesitantly followed.

One more full day. That was all that was left until one of them could end it. She wondered who it would be to pull the trigger, to dump the friendly facade that was growing too strong.

"You're doing this to spite us aren't you," she said, catching him off guard.

He frowned, his gaze still studying the map. "Spite you?"

"All of us in senior year. You've never really bothered with us until now, but now that you have the opportunity to win The Game and spite all of those who bent over backward to try and win it, you'll take it."

"I guess that's part of it," he said. "But isn't that your incentive too?"

"Partly," she said. "I mean, with all the drama and speculation the last year or so was hard for me and..."

Her words trailed off. To think of them as still a pair brought odd lumps to her throat.

"Let's take the short trail," Ashton suggested, sensing the need for a topic change. He pointed down a pathway which disappeared into greenery. 

"It's also sort of to get back at him too," she admitted, wondering for a moment whether that was enough to prove that she was using him. "But not my main reason."

"I guess we have to start thinking about Wednesday," he mused. He was walking in front of her, his shirt sleeves pulled to his elbows and his collar now loose. The sun was breaking through the leaves, casting dots of brown over his dark hair.

"What do we have to think about?" she asked once his words fully sunk in.

"Whether we want to be civil, I guess," he said. "If drama is what you want to go for we could stage a huge public breakup. I'll even cry."

Her lips pressed together silently as she meandered carefully through the dirt, careful not to put a foot wrong over a stray branch. 

After tomorrow they'd part ways, and it wasn't supposed to feel so wrong.

She wasn't kidding when she didn't remember her life single. There had always been a boy there, a breath of fresh air compared to Aubrey or any of her other girl friends. She'd always had someone to hold open doors for her and meet her by her locker after her last period.

She'd have to face reality. And as dependent as she felt on a boyfriend, maybe it was a good thing. 

A dark thought pulled heavily at her chest. Would Declan forget her once there was no other boy to make him jealous? Would all of her peers no longer care about her once The Game was over? She hated that she had a secret indulgence for the attention, despite how much she wanted to loath it.

Did Ashton really think so little of her, to think that she just craved the drama? Maybe she did. Maybe that was the whole reason she'd asked him to be her boyfriend to begin with.

"Let's not make it public," she said after a moment. Of course, he wouldn't be feeling any of this. He was undoubtedly looking forward to ridding himself of both her and the scrutiny.

What was the point of getting to know each other? What was the point of spending afternoons chatting over ice-cream and milkshakes and pretending they were making an effort?

"Do you want to win?" he asked, stopping to turn to her. She immediately picked up the sour expression which had settled onto her face, but for some reason, she was feeling her demeanor cracking all over.

"Of course I want to win," she said, her tone much harsher than intended. 

"What's wrong?" he said, studying her. She immediately looked away, letting the breeze blow tendrils of gold over her eyes.

She was selfish. And pathetically dependent. She wasn't ready to let go of something that was never hers, and she had never felt so silly. 

"I just don't want to think about it all," she muttered, folding her arms in front of her chest and walking forward.

This time, he didn't walk ahead, he walked by her side. But he didn't try to push her, he could somehow tell that she was hesitant to talk. 

"I'm sorry."

Now she stopped. "Why are you sorry?"

"Sorry for bringing it up. I know you're probably over everyone talking about your relationships. This week has probably been a refreshing break."

In some senses it was true. Though people were still constantly muttering and circulating news about her and Ashton, none of it had been outwardly meant for them to hear. They knew this week was a week of truce, and no action could happen until it was over. Before that, with her and Declan the last left in the game, there may as well have been a headline about them every other day.

A small smile passed over her lips. "You're so considerate."

Ashton snorted and they continued walking. Why was she so detached all of a sudden? Her thoughts were trapping her, twisting and turning and always landing back on him. On Declan. In that moment, she hated herself. She hated herself for losing him, but most of all she hated herself for feeling like it was her fault to begin with. She hated that she was so weak.

"There's something bothering me, Willa," he said after a few moments of pacing down the path. Again, they came to a stop. 

Her lungs filled with the woodsy scent of afternoon air, and she couldn't help but feel a hint of nervousness. "What?"

In his near-black eyes was a silent storm. "It's the whole feeling that this is temporary. That all of the days spent killing time together and humoring the others was meaningless."

Her heart thumped heavily. He felt it too.

"I know," she said quickly. "It bothers me too."

His eyes fixed on her a little longer, his hands absent-mindedly running along his forearms. "I've had girlfriends before. I mean, obviously, to be in the game. But they were so... empty."

Willa frowned, her arms dropping from where they'd been hugging her torso. Her chest was swelling, in a way which felt like the dangerous beginnings of a hope she shouldn't be allowed to feel.

"They didn't feel right. This, just us - just spending time together and not giving a damn - it feels right."

Her chest crumbled, because everything he was saying felt right too. "I know."

God, why did they both have to pass the tests they'd used against each other? It would have been so easy if he'd kissed Camille at the party and it could have been finished with then. Or if... or if Willa herself kissed him in front of Declan.

In that moment, the thought filled her senses, the proximity which had heated between them at the time once again boiling beneath her skin.

"Are you really going to break up with me?" he murmured, a serious note passing his tone. They stood face to face on the path, not another human around as far as they could see. Above them, leaves filtered sunlight and birds sang in an ethereal harmony. 

She wanted to say yes, but something between where her mind was supposed to trigger the action and where it was meant to travel to her lips stopped her. Instead, she was reminded of how easy it was to laugh again with him, of how there was no pressure or rules or obligations. They were making light of a silly game.

She was stupid. She was wrong. She was pathetic.

But she still kissed him.