The Bad Boy ✔

Chapter Twenty Three-The Friendly Ghost

Chapter Twenty-Three

I was not dating Jace Collins.

So why did I care so much that he was with Bianca? I had thought that I convinced myself to get over him. That we were just a deal until the Valentines Dance was completed. But that was a stupid thing to have thought. I had watched enough movies to know that emotions between two people were more complicated than they seemed.

Of course, I really did think that I was better than movies.

It felt as if it was my fault that I had allowed myself to care for Jace. He had warned me enough times to back off, but what happened was the complete opposite. Maybe it was reverse psychology or perhaps my curiosity had been inherited from Juno, but for some reason, Jace Collins was too much of an enigma to forget.

I wasn't proud of my actions. They made me appear like the weak, shallow girl that didn't know any better. It made me feel like was as desperate as Beth had become. But was she really desperate? Throughout high school, I had always believed that Beth was the mean girl. That she was the one who was fake and vindictive. But I was wrong.

The only fake girl here was me.

Everyone knew that Beth was the Queen B. They knew that she was mean and that she mocked people that weren't as confident or popular as she was. It was wrong of her. She was a bully, no matter how pretty she was on the outside. But the most ironic part of it all was that Beth was who she said she was.

She didn't go around, pretending that she and Brett were dating, because the truth was, they were dating. No matter how much I thought that they were never meant to be, I was only starting to realise that although they didn't seem a match made in heaven, they were in fact being honest with everyone.

The startling discovery made me question everything that I believed in.

Was I doing anything right? Was I letting people down? The contest was supposed to showcase the essence of Valentine's Day. It was supposed to show what real love could do. Yet, I was the one who was lying to everyone and most importantly, I was lying to myself. I didn't know when I was going to accept it, but now, I could see everything clearer.

I was never going to win the competition. Especially not when Jace and I were only fake-dating. It meant that the entire thing was a scam and it meant that I was finally going to take a step back and realise when to call it quits. I didn't need to prove myself to Beth. I didn't need to pretend that things between Jace and I were fine. Because it wasn't fine. Nothing in my life that involved Jace seemed to be fine.

So I was going to do the only thing that I could. I was going to come clean and break the deal with Jace. He didn't need to pretend to be in love with me when he obviously wasn't and I didn't have the right to force him into it. That was my plan. To confront Jace before he left with Bianca and tell him that while it had been fun, the deal was off.

It didn't happen though.

I blame my pride. That and the fact that the cowardice in me wouldn't let me walk towards Jace, especially not with Bianca present. It was stupid but I was being the weak girl that Beth always picked on. I didn't want to talk to Jace at that moment. And I didn't want to see Bianca either. It reminded me all too much that she knew a part of Jace that I would never get to see.

Standing there for a few minutes, I couldn't help but feel something inside of me break. It was like I had hit rock bottom, which was rather silly. I wasn't dying and I wasn't living in poverty. I didn't deserve to complain, not with such a trivial matter. But I suppose it was the feeling of heartbreak. It was the very feeling which I had mocked other girls of feeling.