Switching trains midtown, Skylar geared herself up for the jolting transition. By the time she was disembarking her connecting train and walking to the nearby bus stop, she’d resigned herself to the long day ahead.

The group Skylar hung with crowded at the bottom of the wide concrete steps outside the main doors of the high school, Declan Carter’s obnoxious laughter bellowing across the neatly-trimmed lawns. The six-two, first-string wide receiver for the Hollow Hills Ravens had lain claim to Skylar in their sophomore year, and Skylar had been too exhausted with the overbearing football player to set the record straight. Besides, if Declan honestly thought Skylar was his, that meant less worrying about others asking her out. So, in essence, Declan had been doing Skylar a favor. It wasn’t that Declan wasn’t handsome or a catch. He was both those things with extras. But loud, cocky, and arrogant had never appealed to Skylar, and Declan possessed those qualities in spades.

His gaze latched onto Skylar’s through the throngs of students moseying into the building. His head tipped back, and he grinned, his perfect, straight, white teeth gleaming. “Yo. Sky! Get your beautiful ass over here.”

Skylar swallowed the need to roll her eyes and walked over to him, passing around an Oscar-worthy smile for the rest of her friends. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi yourself, babe.” Without permission, Declan swamped Skylar’s shoulders with one broad arm, suffocating her mouth with his.

Skylar’s stomach coiled.

“Get a fucking room,” Co-cheer captain and Skylar’s best friend, Kira Winters, complained.

“Whaddya say, babe?” Declan mumbled against Skylar’s mouth, a wicked grin on his face. He wasn’t always aware of his own strength, and the dead weight of his arm almost crushed Skylar. She sort of wished it would, to put her out of her misery.

Declan hadn’t made it beyond first base with Skylar, but Skylar wasn’t stupid enough to think Declan had revealed that to any of his teammates. They were couple goals to the rest of the school, and there was no shortage of keening girls who’d kill to be in Skylar’s place, underneath the star wide receiver’s arm. Declan was a local celebrity in their small town, and colleges up and down the country were just waiting for him to enter his senior year so they could pounce for his commitment.

Her mind ran away to another location, a trick she’d taught herself when reality became more than she could bear. It took her back to Kylan’s apartment and the warm comfort of his double bed. Only in this version of the breaking dawn, she reached out an unsteady hand and, with only a second’s hesitation, touched the sharp curve of his shoulder. Skylar expected him to flinch, or recoil from the tips of her fingers. Even in her marionette dreams, Kylan refused to satiate Skylar’s craving. But at least he wasn’t repulsed by her on this occasion. She left her hand there, her heart beating so hard against her ribs she thought it might burst out of her chest.

“Babe…”

The deep timbre of Declan’s voice vaulted Skylar back to the present.

“Huh?” She stepped out of his embrace. If they didn’t hurry up, they would all be late for homeroom. Skylar hated being late. Hated anything that drew more attention to her than she already received. Once upon a time, she couldn’t get enough attention.

Declan inclined his head. “What’s with you today? Are you roasted?”

Skylar frowned up at him. “No, I’m not high. It’s not even eight-thirty in the morning.” She didn’t bother mentioning she didn’t do drugs. For someone who acted like the ground she walked on was paved in gold, there wasn’t much Declan actually knew about her. Skylar wondered briefly if he’d show more interest in her if he were less obsessed with himself. Then she remembered that she didn’t care.

“You were picturing us, right?” In the hallway, while everyone else ducked into classrooms before the tardy bell, Declan pinned Skylar up against a bank of blue lockers, both arms braced either side of her head. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this hard-on I’ve got for you isn’t going to go away on its own.”

“You want me to fix that for you here? In front of half the school?” She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d said yes. The hallways were mostly empty now, only the two of them lingering.

Declan dipped close and lowered his voice. “I’ve got practice tonight. I could sneak you into the locker room once the guys have cleared out.”

Skylar couldn’t tell whether Declan was making a joke or he meant it. His impatience with her was becoming a problem, though, and she knew she’d only be able to hold him off for so long before he took matters into his own hands. If Skylar could go back in time and not act so frigid, she would have given Declan all the blowjobs her mouth could handle. But she’d been the ice princess she still was today, and Declan was showing sings he’d grown tired of the freeze-out.

“Sky, baby.” Declan fingered a strand of hair that had come loose from Skylar’s white scrunchie. “I could dive dick-first into any pussy I want. But I want yours. What are you waiting for? I’ll make it good for you. I promise.”

Skylar turned to the same excuse she’d been using for years. “I’m just not ready, Declan. Can’t you respect that?”

A sheet of ice glazed Declan’s blue eyes, his nostrils flaring. Skylar stood tall. If she shrunk under him now, he’d rule over her for the rest of their junior and senior year.

God. A whole more year of this.

“You jump around in that fucking skirt, spreading your legs for anyone with eyes, and you won’t let me anywhere near it. Is that what you are, huh? A cock tease? Have you just been teasing me, Skylar? Because I hope for your sake you haven’t.”

Skylar scoffed. The weight of her gym bag in her hands felt like a case of bricks. “I have to go.”

Declan lowered the cage he’d pinned Skylar in, holding out one arm like the prince charming he'd convinced everyone he was.

When lunch rolled around, the cafeteria swooned over the dozen red roses Declan had managed to get his hands on and present Skylar with. “Oh my god, where did you get these? she asked, taking them in silent mortification. She glanced around the dining hall, a hundred sets of eyes looking back at her, envy and awe coloring a disproportionate percentage of them.

Declan's blue eyes focused on Sky's, but he'd given her every reason to question the sincerity displayed in them. “Doesn’t matter where I got them. I fucked up, Sky, and I’m sorry. I’m a real douchebag.”

Douchebag was putting it mildly. Skylar had to find a way to break up with Declan and fast. His empty threats and grand gestures were making her head spin, and she wanted off the twisted ride before it derailed and beheaded her. She had enough to worry about without the added dead weight from him.

Kira gave Sky a lingering look. One that said what did he do now? Skylar pretended like she didn’t see it and put her nose to the roses, sniffing the scarlet petals, even though the smell of flowers made her sick.

Declan’s teammate, Wesley Brooks, cough-murmured, “Pussy-whipped.”

Declan glared at him.

“Now, now, boys.” Zara Swanson, professional jersey chaser and cheerleader, lifted her tray and smacked it against the table. “No pussies while we’re eating please. I mean, unless it’s my pussy you’re eating.” She raised a suggestive eyebrow that caught the attention of both Declan and Wesley.

“Could you not be a huge slut for like five minutes? Is that possible for you?” Megan Dobrev picked up a blueberry from her fruit cup and bounced it off the side of Zara’s strawberry-blonde head. Skylar watched it play out in a dream-like state. Present physically, but emotionally unavailable.

Suddenly, she didn’t want to be here. The exhaustion was crippling. Even pretending had become a chore. Weren’t you supposed to like the people you called ‘friends’? Or at the bare minimum, be able to stand to sit through lunch with them?

Leaving her untouched tray of food and her roses, Skylar picked up the bookbag she’d stored in her locker overnight and left the table. Three times Declan called her name with no response. Skylar went straight to the nurse’s office and knocked on the door.

“I think I’ve got a migraine,” she said when the nurse pulled open the door and told her to come in.

“You certainly don’t look well,” Nurse Everly observed. She fetched a cold compress to drape over Skylar’s head. “Lie down on the bed there and leave this on for a while. I’ll draw the shades. That should help.”

It wouldn’t help. Nothing at the nurse’s disposal would. But the shade did take a little bit of the harsh edge off. While Skylar lay on the bed, the nurse tended to her paperwork at her desk. The blades of the ceiling fan whirred overhead, a muted humming in the otherwise quiet room.

Skylar could bite the bullet and call Kylan now. Tell him to come and get her out of this shithole and take her anywhere else. As long as he was there, it didn’t matter where they went.

She swiped angrily at the tear that escaped from the outside corner of her eye and raced across her cheekbone. She counted the overhead tiles instead, slipping out of her own head and focusing on the popcorn ceiling.

One… two… three… four…

Another tear spilled out, as though Skylar’s body was desperate to purge itself of the darkness that stained her insides.

Five… six… seven… eight…

With the back of her hand, she wiped it away.