A/N: In celebration of the completion of my essay, new chapter is up! Just on a side note, there's a bit of swearing towards the end of the chapter. It is semi-censored but you can still make out what word it is. If you do feel uncomfortable, I'd be happy to write another version without the swearing. Although I think it adds to the credibility. Enjoy ~ x

You threw on an oversized jumper on top of your distressed jeans and slipped into a pair of red and grey TOMS shoes before walking out the door to meet Jackson. You walked over to his apartment feeling anxious. You didn’t know what to expect. Were you going to see Wes? What were you going to talk about? Would it be awkward? A thousand questions filled you mind and you had no answers. You just had to wait and see.

From a distance, you saw a shadow standing around. When the shadow turned around, the light from the street light, shone onto his face revealing his identity. It was Jackson.

You walked up to him and waved awkwardly with a shy “Hey.”

“Oh Hey..” he replied with a timid smile, “glad you could make it.”

You nodded as you walked along the concrete pathway, staring at your shadow projected onto the ground. You felt this awkward ambience floating between the two of you.

“What have you been up to lately?” he asks.

“Hm? Oh nothing, just assignments and things like that.”

“Oh I see…”

A long silence followed.

You reached the courts where the basketball games were on. You followed Jackson towards his group of friends. As you were walking over, you eyes scanned the area for Wes. You saw him in the corner of your eye, walking to courts with Heyi. They were laughing and joking around. A sudden nervousness bolted through your body. You quickly turned around to join Jackson and his friends, hoping that they didn’t see you. Jackson introduced you to his friends.

“So you’re Miya, hey?” said someone.

“Ah yes. Nice to meet you.”

“You’re the one who’s been showing Jackson around? We wanted to take him to places but he said he’s already been.” said another.

“Yeah, which doesn’t really make sense since he’s only been here for like what a couple of.. maybe a few weeks. But now I understand seeing that it’s someone so pretty.” he flirted as he swung his arm around your shoulder, eyeing you up and down.

You shied away, giving a nervous laugh.

Jackson’s expression didn’t look too good, seeing one of his friends’ arm hanging around your shoulders. He jokingly pushed his arm off your shoulder and took you by his side.

“We’ll sit down at the benches to watch the game. Good luck guys.”

He took you by the hand and lead you towards the benches.

You couldn’t help but smile at Jackson’s jealous gesture.

As you sat down you noticed that Jackson looked a little nervous. You tried to think of something to say to break the silence and help him ease his nervousness. You understood that things were a little different this time around because of what happened that night. The night he confessed you to. The night you rejected him. The night when your world spun around.

Being the most socially awkward person you are, you blurted out “stars look really cool.”

Really Miya? Cool? That’s the most descriptive word you could come up with?

You swore silencing in your head.

“Yeah, they look really pretty tonight” Jackson said spiritlessly.

You flicked his head lightly to call his spirit back.

“YAH! Why did you do that?” he shouted, rubbing his forehead.

“Because I can,” you teased and poked your tongue out at him.

“Come over here,” he signalled with his finger.

You slid away from him but he grasped your wrist and pulled you back towards his. He held up his hand, ready to flick you back for revenge. 

“Nooo ~ Don’t! It’s going to hurt ~” you whined in between the giggles.

“I’m going for revenge!” he said in a playful tone yet serious face.

You leaned back to avoid him blocking his hand with yours. As he leaned forward, almost on top of you, his hand that held your wrist, moved your back to stop you from falling. With the split second that you were distracted by his warm hand on your lower back…

*TAK*

He flicked your forehead with full strength.

You rubbed your forehead and winced at the pain.

“YAH! That hurt! I didn’t flick you that hard!” you said and pouted, continuing to rub your forehead to lessen the pain.

“You did too,” Jackson protested.

You gave him a glare before breaking out into hysterical laughter together. Jackson’s hand was still situated on your lower back. He pulled you in closer. He looked into your eyes as if he was searching for something. For love. You locked eyes with him. A warm fuzzy feeling filled your heart.

“I asked you to come here tonight was because..”

He closed his eyes slowing as he leaned in towards you. His lips gently touched your lips. Your eyes were wide open in shock but gradually closed as you transitioned to a deeper kiss.

Jackson’s hands cupped your face as you reluctantly pulled away from him slowly.

With your foreheads still touching, he whispered breathlessly “I love you, Miya.”

“I lov-“

“You wh**e!”

Someone seized you by the shoulders and hauled you away from Jackson in one big motion. You stumbled onto the floor because of the force.

You heard Jackson yell “Miya! Are you okay?”

You nodded with your head down and got up. Before you could even see who had pushed you to the ground, a slap whipped across your face. Jackson immediately ran to your defence. He placed his hand over yours that was on your face where you had gotten slapped.

“Look! I don’t know who you are or why you did that but you need to say sorry,” he demanded.

Although you were scared, you lifted your head to see that, that someone was Heyi.

“H..Hey..heyi?”

“You should be ashamed of yourself b**ch!”

Jackson stood in front of you as a shield in case Heyi physically abused you again. You tugged on the sleeve of his shirt to tell him he didn’t need to. You stood confidently facing Heyi.

“What did I do?” you said swallowing your trembling.

“Don’t think you don’t know?” she scowled, “you cheated on Wes with HIM didn’t you?”

“What? Are you out of your mind?!”

“After playing around with Wes’ feelings, you think you can dump him aside like that? Do you have any idea how much you hurt him? And yet, you bring your new BOYFRIEND here to show off in front of Wes?”

“Okay. Firstly, I DID NOT cheat on Wes. Secondly, it was a MUTUAL break up. Thirdly, Jackson is NOT my boyfriend.”

Yet… at least…

“Stop lying you f**king b**ch! Why couldn’t you give Wes another chance? He said he still loves you. Isn’t that enough for you cheap sl*t? Oh wait, forgot you found another boy to play around with.”

She looks at Jackson.

“Be careful of Miya. She’s just going to dump you like trash later on,” she warned with a smirk.

You were completely speechless at this moment. You wanted to punch her so badly. You wanted to say something to defend yourself. But when you opened your mouth, nothing but tears streamed down your face.

“That’s right, nothing to say huh? Wes treated you so nicely. How could you betray him like that?”

“Well, clearly Wes wasn’t f**king man enough to tell you the true story. He just had to make up some story to up to so so you’d pity him and become friends with him again,” you screamed in her face and pushed through the crowd that had gathered around.

You ran towards the exit with tears cascading down your cheeks. You tried to wipe your eyes dry with your forearm but the tears continued to fall. Your mind cluttered with thoughts and worries.

What did I do wrong? What have I done? What do I do now?

You looked around in search of something. A place to go. Someone to go to. The tears blurred your vision as you stumbled around the carpark near the courts. You didn’t know where you were going but your heart told you to leave this place.

Suddenly, through your blurred vision, you saw a bright light shine at you. You blocked part of the light with your hand and squinted your eyes. Before you could react, the light speeded towards you.

The next thing you knew, you were lying on the floor semi-conscious, unable to move. All you could remember was a powerful steel-like force colliding with your legs.

You tried to lift your head as you heard someone call out your name. Your eyes scanned the surroundings. You saw a car quickly back away before you let your head effortlessly dropped back to the ground.

“Miya! Miya! Are you okay?” Jackson yelled with his hands cupped on your face.

You caught a hazy vision of Jackson’s concerned face before drifting off…