1.School’s out: 1 year earlier

It was the end of sophomore year. I had tons of friends and the most popular guy as my boyfriend.That year had been the best, but as soon as it was over everything changed. It was the last day of school and my friends and I were walking up town to get some lunch; none of us had a ride, because we always walked to school on half days.

"So, Skylar, are you going to Cody's party tonight?" Shannon asked me.

"Um, I don't know. My mom said she needed to talk to me about something." I answered.

"Oh come on, Cody's parties are the best you can't miss them!" Molly whined.

"Yeah, if you do miss them, you end up being treated like Prudence Robinson." Katie informed us.

"Is that the girl that smells like pee?" I asked.

"Yeah I hear that she wears the same clothes everyday!" Molly was the one who knew everything about everyone, but sometimes I wondered if her rumors were true.

"That's gross!" Shannon squealed.

"Look there she is." Katie whispered to us. We all followed her gaze across the street. We saw Prudence riding her bike on the other side.

"Hey Prudence, long time no pee, I mean see!" I heard Katie yell. I watched as Prudence looked over. She wasn't watching where she was going and she ran right into a tree. We all started laughing.

"Katie, I can't believe you just did that." I said through my laughs.

"Making fun of people is what I do best." Katie informed us. As true as that statement was it was also cruel. Everyone went along with her jokes like it was no big deal though, even I did, and I sometimes wondered why.

We all continued walking. We didn't get that far when we heard someone call my name. I looked behind us and saw Chase Rogers, my boyfriend and the captain of the football team, running towards us.

"Hey," I said when he was close enough. He leaned in and kissed me.

"We all know what that means. We'll meet you at the restaurant, okay Skyler?" Katie asked.

"Okay, see you there." I answered as I watched her, Molly, and Shannon walk away.

"So, what's up?" I asked turning my attention back to Chase.

"Are you going to Cody's party tonight?" he asked.

"I don't think so. My mom has to talk to me about something tonight," I answered.

"But everyone is going to be there and they are looking forward to seeing you," Chase said.

"I guess I could call her?" I said. The truth was I didn't really want to go to Cody's party.

"Okay, I'll wait," Chase said. I hesitated, then he looked at me and said, "Are you going to call?"

"Oh, right," I said, and pulled out my cell phone and dialed my mom's number. It rang twice before I heard my mother's voice on the other line.

"Hi, Mom," I said.

"Hey, Honey," my mother said on the other line.

"I was just wondering, Cody Marcus is having a party tonight, can I go?" I asked.

"Sure, go have fun," my mother said.

"I thought you needed to talk to me?" I asked.

"That can wait until after," my mother said.

"Oh, okay, thanks Mom," I said

"Thank you, Mrs. McCarthy!" Chase yelled into my phone.

"Tell Chase I said he is welcome.Be home by midnight, okay?" my mother said.

"Don't worry I don't plan on staying long. I love you mom," I said.

"Love you too," my mom said before I hung up the phone.

"So are you coming?" Chase asked again.

"Yeah," I said.

"Yes! You're the best! I will pick you up at eight," Chase said as he kissed me one last time before running off in the other direction.

After lunch the girls came back to my house to pick out some clothes for the party.

"So what time is Chase picking you up?" Katie asked as she was trying on one of my dresses.

"Eight," I answered.

"How long have you two been dating anyways?" Shannon asked.

"A few months," I answered

"You don't know the exact date?" Molly asked.

"Of course she does. She just doesn't want to sound clingy," Katie answered.

"Does he take you out on your anniversary?" Shannon asked.

"No he... he's not that kind of person. He does buy me stuff though. And he takes me to a lot of school parties, especially Cody's parties," I answered

"We all know why," Katie said with a smirk.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked, defensively.

"Chase likes to show you off, and he always does it at Cody's house because he knows Cody likes you," Katie explained.

"Katie, why would you tell her that?" Molly asked.

"You basically just told her that Chase is only using her to get Cody jealous," Shannon pointed out.

"Oh, whatever. He's just a guy and Skylar can get any guy she wants with her looks. Can I wear this?" Katie asked me. I looked at what she was wearing. It was a really short dress that had shrunk in the wash.

"That's not a real dress. It's supposed to be longer but it shrunk," I explained.

"So what? It looks good on me," Katie said.

"Fine, you can wear it," I said although that wasn't how I really felt. I thought she looked disgusting in that dress but if she wanted to look like trash, who was I to stop her?

"Okay, I'm leaving so whoever wants a ride better hurry up cause I'm not waiting," Katie said as she grabbed her things and walked out my bedroom door.

"Looks like we're leaving, see you at the party Skylar," Molly said. Molly and Shannon didn't have their license yet, so they usually rode with either Katie or me. Since Case was picking me up tonight, Katie was going to drive them.

"Don't listen to Katie, Chase is a great guy. Katie is just jealous," Shannon said. She always found a way to cheer me up when someone hurt me.

"Thank you," I said and then Shannon followed the other two out the door.

Chase picked me up just in time and we went straight to the party. As we were greeting everyone Chase's hand never left my waist. The last person we greeted was Cody.

"Hey Cody, nice party, way better than last year, man," Chase said.

"Seems like they get better every year," I added to make Chase sound less rude.

"Thanks, I'm glad you guys could make it. You look good Skylar," Cody said.

I was beginning to realize what my friends were talking about. Cody was a good guy. He was cute too, but he was no Chase. Cody was lean and not as built as Chase was. He had blonde hair and blue eyes that were so adorable. Chase, on the other hand, had brown hair and brown eyes that gave him maturity that Cody just didn't have. Any girl would be lucky enough to have him, but I wondered sometimes if looks were enough.

"Would you like a drink? I've got everything," Cody asked.

"I'll get it Babe. What do you want?" Chase asked.

"Pepsi I guess," I answered

"Alright, be right back." Chase said, but before he left he kissed me on the forehead. I could tell that Cody didn't like it because he let out a big sigh and looked away for a split second.

"So what are you doing this summer?" Cody asked as soon as Chase was gone.

"Nothing much, just hanging out," I answered.

"Yeah same here. I hear Chase is going to Florida for a week in August," Cody said.

"Yeah, he invited me to go, but my parents would never go for it," I said.

"Well listen, if you ever wanted to..." Chase stepped in before Cody could finish.

"Here is you're Pepsi. Listen I'm going to play pool with the guys, but Molly, Shannon, and Katie are here," he said.

"Okay," I said and that was when Shannon jumped into my arms.

"Skylar!" she screamed.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked

"Nothing we just got here, Where's Chase?" Katie asked.

"He went to go play pool." I answered.

It seemed that Katie always needed to know where Chase was. I never really thought anything of it though. As the party went on things got a little bit crazy, everyone was drunk of course. I needed to go up stairs just to get away from it all, so I snuck away. No one seemed to notice, not even Chase. Cody's house was on the beach and up stairs they had a balcony that overlooked the whole ocean. I was there when Cody found me.

"Hey," I heard him say. I looked behind me to see who it was.

"Hey, I just came out here to see the stars. I have a balcony in my room, but it doesn't have this great of view. I hope you don't mind," I said.

"Why would I mind? Everyone needs a break from being popular," Cody said.

"That's very true," I said as Cody was looking into my eyes. He seemed to read me much better then Chase ever did.

"Do you know what's funny?" he asked.

"What?" I asked back

"Your eyes, they change colors depending on what shirt you're wearing. They are either blue, hazel, or green. That's one of the reasons why you're so beautiful. It's that and you're long brown hair, your dimples when you smile, and your personality," Cody explained.

"Thanks Cody, I appreciate the compliment, but I don't think Chase would want you calling me beautiful," I said.

"Well he doesn't acknowledge it enough. He shouldn't be ignoring you right now. You deserve better," he said. That's when he leaned in to kiss me. I didn't stop him either. We kissed for about a second, until I realized what I was doing.

"I'm sorry Cody, but I can't do this," I said, pushing him away. I ran down stairs. Chase saw me from across the room and ran over to me.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing, but it's getting late so are you ready to go?" I asked, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. At that moment Cody came down stairs and Chase got the connection.

"What the hell did you do?!" Chase yelled at Cody. Everyone went quiet as they watched us.

"I didn't do anything," Cody said back defiantly. That was when Chase punched Cody in the nose and they both started fighting.

"Chase stop!" I yelled but that didn't seem to make a difference. Soon everyone was chanting "Fight!" over and over again. They knocked into the wall and pictures fell off, shattering as they hit the ground.

"You guys, knock it off!" I yelled again. Still, nothing happened.

In an effort to break up the fight, I jumped at Chase and tried to push him off of Cody. As I did that, Chase turned around and knocked me to the ground. I looked up in shock.

"Skylar, I, I..." stuttered Chase.

"That's it Chase we're over!" I yelled. This time everything stopped.

"What? I find you alone with another guy and you break up with me?" Chase asked.

"I told you nothing happened! You should have believed me! This just proves that you don't trust me!" I yelled.

"It's not you I don't trust, Skylar, it's him!" Chase yelled back.

"Well he's your best friend so you should trust him," I said.

"Oh please, like he hasn't had his eyes on you this whole year and even before then!" Chase yelled. I didn't say anything because I knew he was right.

"I want to go home now!" I demanded.

"Fine, then leave!" Chase shouted back.

"You're my ride, remember?" Chase paused for a second and clenched his fists.

"Fine let's go," Chase said as he pushed me out the door.

It took me up until this moment that I realized that everything I had done was wrong. I was so close to finally being free. I realized this when I was walking out the door. On the way home we drove in silence and I thought about the things I could do with that freedom. I wasn't going to let that opportunity slip away. I was going to officially end it with Chase, which was something I should have done a long time ago. I never would have guessed what would happen after that.