Playing the players

Chapter 2

Lunchtime arrived soon and since I didn’t have breakfast I am already starving. We make our way towards the cafeteria while Amy won’t shut up about the party on Friday.

“I don’t know what to wear, I will need to go to buy a s*xy dress.” She says excitedly.

“Can’t you talk about something else? You are making me crazy with this topic already.” I tell her and she rolls her eyes at me.

“Okay-okay… What do you think Nick wanted to talk to you about?” She asks and I shrug my shoulders.

“I guess he wants to get back together,” I told her. All of them want the same thing after I break up with them. Nick is my third victim this year.

The first one was Brad, a jock from the football team who had a small book with all the girls he had been with. Photos, names, details…. Disgusting.

The second was Tony. He wasn’t from this school. We met in a club where I used to see him brushing off girls with the words ‘I already had you, I lost interest, sorry’ and he laughed in their faces. Well… I broke up with him by saying the exact same words, but without having s*x with him, of course.

Both of them blew up my phone for weeks after breaking up with them and Nick is no difference. I am thinking about changing my number because it’s really annoying.

The word spread amongst the guys about me in school at this point , but as I see a few guys still winking at me, even from the football team, I guess they aren’t smart enough to avoid me. Brad’s friends started to call me the ‘Black Widow’ after they heard about me breaking up with Nick, just like with Brad. I don’t know what’s wrong with boys, they know exactly what I did to Brad and Nick, they even heard about Tony as well, but they are still trying to flirt with me from time to time. Maybe they think they can ‘tame the wild mustang’ and that’s why they are trying, but that’s not going to happen. At least not anytime soon.

“I think you are right.” She says and trails off for a moment before she continues. “How long do you want to do this by the way? Don’t you want a normal, real relationship already?” She asks and I glare at her.

“Are you serious? You are the only one who knows my story and I can’t believe you are asking me that.” I told her in disbelief. Of course, I want a normal relationship with a guy who loves me the way I love him and who will never break my heart or will never make me sad, but this is the reality we are living in, not a fairytale.

“You are right, Kyra. I am sorry. I just want you to be happy.” She says sadly.

“I am sorry too. I know you mean well, I just… it’s tiring sometimes and I feel lonely too, but I am not a sadist to fall for a d*uchebag again.” I told her quietly as we waited in the line to buy some food.

“I know sweetie, I am always here for you, I hope you know that.” She says with a kind smile and I smile back at her. We are friends already ten years and she was there with me when my first serious boyfriend, Denis, broke up with me in our senior year in high school while saying I was just a bet. We were dating for three months and I fell in love with him like crazy. When I gave into having s*x with him after three months, he told me I was just a bet that he won by sleeping with me. I was totally heartbroken. Amy was there with me, trying to pick up the pieces that were left from my heart and I am very grateful to her.

Then I read in a magazine that the best way to get over a rough break up is if you start dating again and let someone else take your mind off of the bad times. Well… that didn’t work out for me either, because Collin, my second boyfriend, cheated on me with the whole cheerleader squad behind my back. Everybody knew about it, even my so-called friends except Amy, but no one told me anything. They let him make a fool of me for months before I actually caught him in action with one of them in the boy’s locker room in college.

After that, I wasn’t myself anymore, I became this cold and heartless person who built a thick wall around her heart, too afraid to get hurt again. I don’t think I would survive one more of those, so I decided to forbid myself to love. The only people I love except Amy are my parents and my brother, but they live in Los Angeles. I can’t wait to finish school and move back there. I have seriously had enough of New York and the selfish and egoistic people living here.

We finally get our turn and after getting our food we take a seat by the window where we usually sit. The view is nice from here. You can see the whole yard and it’s kind of calming.

“Can we sit here?” I turned my head towards the voice to see Logan and the new guy with their food in hand, waiting for our answer. I looked behind them, expecting to see Nick, but I let out a sigh of relief as I didn’t see him.

“Don’t worry, Nick has already finished for the day.” Logan says, as he reads my mind and Amy chuckles next to me.

“Of course, just take a seat.” I tell them politely and Logan smiles at us, while the new guy just glares at me about what I am starting to get fed up with.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” I told him with a fake smile, since I was almost boiling from inside.

“Because I haven’t told you yet.” He answers with a hard expression on his face like I killed his cat. ‘What is his problem?’

I see Logan nudge him from the side and warns him with a look, but the guy just rolls his eyes and starts eating while keeps glancing in my way.

“That’s Jace. It’s his first day here and actually… he is Nick’s cousin.” Logan answers and now his behaviour makes sense. That’s why he was glaring at me the whole day.

“Oh… now I understand.” I tell him while I slap my forehead dramatically and Jace narrows his eyes at me. At least I don’t need to call him ‘the new guy’ anymore.

“And what do you exactly understand?” Jace asks sarcastically while he folds his arms in the front of his chest, diverting my attention to his muscles for a moment.

“I am not in the mood to explain it to you now, I am way too hungry for that.” I tell him with a shrug and start to eat my food while Amy lets out a giggle next to me. Logan just looks at Amy with a smile. Then a thought hits me and I can’t help but ask.

“By the way… don’t get me wrong and I don’t want to be rude, but why are you guys sitting with us if you..” I pointed to Jace “…are not a fan of me and you are the best friend of Nick?” I asked them and pointed to Logan, whose cheeks turned slightly red.

“I can see how much you understand everything.” Jace says sarcastically, and I raise my eyebrows at him. This whole situation is suspicious. I want to say something not so nice to him when Amy nudges me to my side. I look at her and she has a pleading expression on her face while she points at Logan with her chin when they are not looking, asking me to ‘be good’ in silence.

“So.. Logan. How many people will be at the party?” Amy asks to change the subject and the mood and Logan smiles at her kindly.

“Around fifty-sixty, not too many.” He answers and I see his cheeks turn slightly pink. ‘Awww.. so cute.’ I get the impression that he likes Amy as well.

I looked at Jace after studying Logan’s facial expression to find him already looking at me with a smug smirk on his face like he would say ‘So you understand it now?’ and I rolled my eyes at him.

I do understand that they are sitting here because Logan actually likes Amy and I am happy for her because she can’t shut up about Logan either. He is a good guy, so I totally approve of their relationship if they decide to give it a try in the future.

Amy and Logan are talking about the party with smiles on their faces and I just eat quietly while glancing at Jace from time to time.

“So… Why did you break the heart of my cousin?” He asks out of nowhere, breaking the silence between us.

“I just gave him a taste of his own medicine.” I tell him with a shrug and he frowns.

“You know, I was curious to see who managed to win his heart, but I don’t see anything special here.” He says smugly and I raise my eyebrow at his words.

“Luckily, I don’t give a f*ck what your opinion is.” I told him and continued eating.

“Oh… I see.” He says sarcastically like he just realised something and I fold my arms in the front of my chest while I am waiting for him to say it. “You got your heart broken in the past, right? That’s why you are a heartless b**ch now.” He says and I freeze because he just hit the nail on the head. I mean… I am not a b**ch, but the rest is actually correct.

“Jace, stop it.” Logan warns him again, but I had enough of this smug, c*cky a*s. Who the f*ck does he think he is to judge me when he doesn’t even know me.

“You don’t know sh*t about me, so don’t you dare to call me a b**ch or judge me, you a*sh*le.” I told him furiously while I stood up and stormed out of the cafeteria, while I can still hear Logan’s words.

“What the hell Jace?” But I didn’t stick around to hear his answer, he was a f*cking d*ckhead and I didn’t want to breathe the same air as him, not at all.