Bet my Life (EDITING!!) #BOOK1

17. She will be loved

There was once a girl who met a guy and fell in love. Recklessly, blindly in love. He wasn't good for her, anyone would have said that, but no one knew him the way she did. He was bad, and that's what drew her to him. But how bad is really bad?

.............

"I met Tyler in Junior high. He was the infamous bad boy of Ridgewood High, and like everyone else, I was infatuated." I explained.

The events of tonight sobered us up. Oli and Eli kicked Cole and Matt out of the house and demanded that they leave or risk getting arrested. All of us, except for Maya and Sara- who chose to leave to give us all some space, were currently seated in one of the bedrooms. No one spoke anything, but I knew that the question was burning in the back of their minds. All of them blamed themselves, their reactions giving it away easily. None of them could look me in the eye, and they were all treating me like they were scared that I would just break. Eli and Oli looked torn at the guilt of inviting Cole.

"The head cheerleader and the bad boy. We made quite a pair. That was the year that Izzie left, so when he asked me out, I immediately said yes, wanting to fill the loneliness. We had some fun times, he pushed me, he made me take risks, the whole, live-on-the-edge kinda thing. Slowly, I started changing. The good girl, who never talked back and followed all rules, began sneaking out after curfew, ditching school, flunking, and stuff. I began to attend crazy parties and started hanging out with all the wrong sorts of people, his friends," I sighed, finally facing it. There's no turning back.

"My parents and Jay were, naturally against him. They thought he was a bad influence. But like any mindless idiot, I started lying to them and sneaking around, because apparently, I was in love. That's where I met him. Damian White, Tyler's best friend. Damian had a girlfriend- Hazel, who was in love with Tyler, and everyone knew that, including Damian. They were a messed up couple. Because despite everything, at the end of the day, they both always went back to each other.

The day we met, Damian flirted with me the entire party, trying to get a rise out of Ty and Hazel. After a while, things started getting more intense. He tried to do more and more things to make his girlfriend jealous. I tried talking to Ty about this, wanting him to tell Damian to back off, but he just didn't say anything, feeling like he owes him something because Hazel was in love with him.

Over time, Damian started getting more and more possessive, following me everywhere, getting more touchy. It was like he had forgotten that I wasn't Hazel," I held back a shudder, thinking about how badly it was all messed up.

"Then came the night of the accident. My parents and I had a huge fight, and I ran away from home. I texted Tyler, asking him to come get me, but instead, Damian showed up. He took me to Tyler's place and told me that he would be there soon. Once I got comfortable, Damian...h-he...he tried to sleep with me. He kept talking about how much he had done for Hazel, but the only thing she cared about was Tyler. And that she dumped him because of me. So it was only fitting that I be with him now.

He tried to force himself on me. And he would have if Tyler hadn't shown up at the right time. Tyler had done a lot of shitty things, but he did save me that day. He got me out of there, not giving a shit about his best friend. He was bringing me home. He wanted me away from Damian, from his world, from him, and I didn't protest. We were on his bike, and he was driving at an awfully fast speed. I told him to slow down, but he was so so angry at Damian, at me, at himself, that he didn't listen. The car came out of nowhere. And then the next thing I know, Tyler was lying on the opposite end of the road, away from me, and then everything went black.

I woke up in the hospital 2 weeks later. That's when the police informed us that the driver of the car that hit us had died on impact. It turns out that the person in the car was Hazel. Things didn't just end there. Once Damian found out, he was so blinded with rage that he came to the hospital and tried to strangle me. If the nurses hadn't called security on time, I wouldn't have made it. He left me with a threat, though. That he will find me, and make sure that Tyler and I both get punished for this. Two eyes for one, he called it.

The sinister look in his eyes really messed me up. I hated going anywhere or meeting anyone, I was always afraid of him finding me. Tyler and I broke up because I just couldn't deal with this. So, my parents decided that I should be homeschooled. Took 2 years of therapy, and moving over to a new place to forget him, but all that was for nothing. Cole knows Damian. He told me that Damian knew where I was. He found me." I breathed out, my body racking with sobs. Everything I ran away from, had finally caught on to me.

I had never told the whole version to anyone. Not even my therapist. Everyone just knew bits and pieces of the incident and had put it together. As soon as I was done, everyone except Nate and Izzie pulled me into a hug. After a while, the gang, excluding those two, left the room.

No one said a word. They just kept looking at me. Izzie looked like she was about to burst into tears, while Nate just stood near the door, not saying a word.

"Don't. I know what you're thinking, and no, it's not your fault in any way. You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for." I pulled her into a hug and whispered against her ears. "I need you to be strong Izz. For me."

She pulled back and nodded. Her eyes widened as a sudden realization hit her.

"Why were you there, though?"

I glanced at Nate, who had a passive expression on his face.

"That's something I need to discuss with him." Izzie nodded knowingly and hugged me.

"Can I spend the night with you? I just really need you to be with me tonight," she asked, her voice suddenly small and vulnerable.

"Wouldn't want it any other way," I managed a smile.

"Take it easy, Nate." She gave him a side hug and shut the door.

4 minutes. It took him 4 minutes to get words out of his mouth.

"Are you okay?" He blurted out.

"Am I okay? Just peachy," I spat, the heartache fresh in my mind.

"Are you upset with me?" He asked, bewildered.

"Oh, why would I be? It's not like you were flirting with your ex-girlfriend or ignoring me, right? It's not like I wasn't the only one who noticed, and that Cole used that as bait to lure me," I was surprised at how bitter I sounded.

He looked shocked, and then a feeling of hurt flashed into his eyes.

"Coral is not my ex-girlfriend. And I wasn't flirting with her. Trust me," he replied with utmost sincerity.

When I didn't respond, he continued. "She was and has always been a good friend. We were just talking like friends do. When I noticed that you weren't anywhere to be seen, Izzie, Zach, and I started looking for you everywhere. Then I finally saw you. He was on top of you, and I wanted to kill him for hurting you. If it weren't for you Zoe, I wouldn't have stopped." He laid his face on my lap and cried silent tears.

"She's in love with you, though. That's why I left. Because I couldn't stand to see you both together. She's in love with you," I responded, ignoring everything else he said.

"But I love you," Nate replied, looking straight into my eyes.

"There's too much drama with you. First Alexis, then Coral. I can't do that. I already did it once, I am not planning on going through with it this time." I choked out, trying my best to not focus on his proclamation.

"W-what do you mean? Zoey, I love you. Don't do this. We can get through this. I promise," he whispered.

"I am saying that we rushed into things. What do we even know about each other, huh? This isn't normal. People don't start relationships after 1 date. I can't do this anymore. With you, there is just too much drama, and I don't want to deal with it, anymore." I kept my face stoic and avoided looking at him.

"Zoey, please don't. I really do love you," he begged, desperately wanting me to change my mind.

"But I don't." And that's how, in one night, I managed to break two hearts.