how does it feel to be cheated on twice? usually, after the first time, you wouldn’t think it would happen again. but in your case? it happened twice. two different people. two different ways.

emerson taylor was the first ever boy to hold your hand and to kiss you. he knew more about you than you did yourself. the only problem? he couldn’t commit. you were sure if he was scared or he had too much pride, but you knew that he had slept with multiple girls. the two of you weren’t dating, but you couldn’t let him continue to be in your life, act like your boyfriend, then continue to sleep around.

the best thing that came out of that relationship was your friend group. the group consisted of emerson, eliana, brooks, emmy, charlie, hannah, and nathan. all of you went to the same school at dalton academy. they all came from rich families, except for you and hannah— who were on scholarships.

recently, however, you had gotten into a relationship with brooks. he was kind, caring, and type of boyfriend you needed. only problem? he couldn’t get over his ex-girlfriend, eliana. the two of them dated from 5th grade until your junior year when eliana cheated on him. you knew she was mentally unstable, after her sister’s passing, and that she could be insanely rude.

especially to you after you announced your relationship with brooks. but she hated charlie more— even though no one really knew why. it was something that happened years before you were involved, considering most of them were neighbors, except for you, hannah, and nathan.

so, it was a very dysfunctional group, but somehow— all of you stayed close.

but, you could feel like everything was bound to break apart. and maybe that was tonight. all of you are gathered at brook’s and emmy’s house celebrating their birthday, considering they’re twins.

you were sitting next to brooks as he talked to nathan, his arm wrapped around hannah, while you talked to hannah, and watched emmy and charlie doing karaoke with each other. they needed to date.

you could feel emerson’s brown eyes staring at you as he watched his best friend pull you closer, but you ignored it. instead, you realized that eliana was nowhere to be seen.

excusing yourself, you walked to the bathroom— opening the door, just to see eliana laying on the ground, crying. she looked like she was barley holding on, so you called brooks over, everyone following soon after.

brooks cursed under his breath. clearly this had happened before, as he grabbed eliana into his arms. you knew it was selfish, but you hated the fact that he still loved her. no matter how much he denied it.

she fought him, pushing up off the ground— walking over to charlie, screaming at him for a moment and then you.

“you shouldn’t even be here! no one wants you—” she gets cut off by someone who wasn’t brooks.

emerson. who somehow coerced her to sit down and calm down. brooks, immediately walking to her side, while you sat on the side— watching everyone’s interactions.

eliana wasn’t wrong. you hadn’t been in this group for long. they had all been friends for years; and you didn’t know half of the drama that went down in that group.

and now, you had a really strong feeling to go home. especially as brooks continued calming eliana down. he didn’t even check on you when she went full bitch-mode on you.

“are you alright?” you don’t even turn around we he asks. emerson just couldn’t let you go. no matter what. and you hated yourself for wanting to run straight back to him.