Twenty days of friendship. That's all that high school senior, Quinn Reid's ex boyfriend wants and then he promises to leave her alone forever. After some initial hesitation, she agrees to be his friend in exchange for her solitude when the twenty...
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Every single fucking piece of me hurts. From the top of my head to the soles of my feet.
It's the kind of pain that's unseen. The kind that's brought on by a broken heart. A heart that has been broken all over again.
I haven't done anything but lie in bed and cry for the past day and a half. My eyes are swollen, and my lips are chapped. My nose feels like it's about to quit because of all the bruising and my heart...oh, my heart. Well, my heart is shattered.
I'm still shaking from the aftermath of the mess that I've created. Not all by myself, but the fact that I'd walked into the trap that ended everything, and had given up so easily, means that the blame sort of lay solely on me. Nessa isn't the devil here. It's me. I'm the architect of my own destruction, and what stings the most is that I'd also managed to destroy everyone else around me.
Just thinking about the hell that I'd put my loved ones through makes me want to throw up. Especially Jessie.
I'd unthinkingly broken his heart and chipped away at his happiness bit by bit with each rejection of his truth.
An entire year had been wasted because of my unwillingness to see beyond my own pain.
A sob wracks my body as a pain so intense that I want to double over, pins me to the bed and I taste bile.
You deserve this.
My vision blurs and I squeeze my eyes shut while tears stream down my face.
"I deserve this." I say it quietly, but the words are anything but quiet in my head.
You deserve this, you heartless bitch!
The words dance behind my closed eyelids and I whimper. "I deserve this," I whisper. "I deserve this."
"Quinn."
My eyes snap open and I'm met by brown eyes that belong to Sam. It's glistening with unshed tears and her face is frozen in a mask of pain. For me.
"Stop this." She gathers me in her arms as though I'm weightless and hugs me. "Why are you making yourself suffer?"
"I deserve it."
Another wave of pain washes over me and I groan.
Sam holds me tighter and when her hand brushes my forehead, she reels back in alarm. "You're burning up!"
"I know," I croak out as the pain envelopes me, causing me to curl up.
Her phone is out and before I can protest, she's yelling into it for my mom.
"No," I whimper. "Please, not her."
Sam stares at me and the tears in her eyes finally fall. "You're so stupid." That gets a smile out of me, but she's not in the mood. "You have a fever. I know that you know it, too." Her anger fades into sorrow as we hear the heavy footsteps of my mom running up the stairs. "So stupid," she says again, and her tears hit my face.
