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Maddy's POV

I walked into my room with my phone on my bank application, prepared to send the pay to Ashton as his friends when I realized something. I stopped in the middle of my room and craned my head to the aside in thought.

"Hold on," I said. "I am being stupid right now. I can't send my cousin such an amount of money from my account. The last time my father did such after one of his guys ended a business opponent, the police suspected the bank transaction and its timeline."

I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and started to tap the back of my phone against my palm. I strolled toward the window in my room and stared outside, still thinking of what to do.

I raised my phone to my face and unlocked it. I scrolled through my bank app and saw Ruth Kingston's account number on the list of my old transactions. An idea crossed my mind and I smirked.

"That's right. Ruth is the perfect person for this. That way, if the police takes this as a suspect, they'd believe she was the one. Besides, Jackie had told her about the phone and my cousin assaulted Jackie because of the phone. Most importantly, Ruth Hamilton has always had an issue with every girl Lucas sleeps with."

I bit my lip at my genius idea before leaving the room. I rushed to my parent's room and opened the door. I walked in and looked around the room in search of my mother. As I did, I spotted her phone on the vanity and rushed over to it. I picked up the phone and unlocked it with the basic password she always used.

Hurriedly, I went to her bank app and sent up the transaction before putting in Ruth's account details. Once I was certain the information was correct, I sent the money to her and deleted the SMS notification the bank sent.

"Phew," I said and touched my beating chest with the back of my hand. "That was close."

I dropped the phone back on the vanity and started making my way across the room when my phone rang. I smirked when I saw it was Ruth calling.

"That was unexpected," I said and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Uh, Maddy. There's a problem."

I smiled. "What is?"

"Your mom just sent me $80,000. Can you give me her number so I can tell her about it or you tell her there's been a mistake somewhere."

"Oh, that. You see, my mom wanted to send money to my cousin. So, I think the mistake was from her because my cousin needs the money urgently for a medical treatment. She's not at home right now, so could you help her send the money to my cousin? Preferably by tomorrow?" I asked and crossed my fingers.

The other end of the call was silent for some seconds and it made me nervous. I didn't want my plan to be ruined because of her.

"Fine. Send the account number to me. I'll send the money tomorrow since I've exceeded my limit for today," she said and I beamed.

"Perfect!" I replied in a cheery voice then ended the call. I quickly texted her the bank details, lying to her that she has to send $20,000 to the four account numbers as the other three were his doctors.

After sending the text, I twirled around in joy as I celebrated the relief I was going to get if the police were to look into the matter. Even if they were to track the original transaction, they'd suspect my mother too.

"Now, I have to enjoy my weekend. All these plotting takes a toll on someone," I said and left the room.

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The next week in school, I was walking to the girl's locker room when I heard someone running behind me. I looked over my shoulder and rolled my eyes at the sight of Natalia who stopped beside me, falling into my walking pace.

"Have you heard?"

"Heard what again?" I asked, not truly interested in what she had to say. She gossiped alot.

"Your friend was seen walking into school with Axel Hamilton," she said and I paused.

"What friend?"

"Jackie Garner. I saw her coming out of his car this morning. It seems as if this girl knows how to get the Hamilton brothers. I mean, look at the way she's jumping from one bed to another. I guess she's left Lucas and gone for his brother. I wish I had her skill."

I was livid to the core at the news. Although I had no interest in Axel, the only thing that left me bothered was the fact that she was still close to Lucas through his brother. I didn't know what to do anymore but on the other end of it all, Axel and Lucas weren't that close. Maybe Jackie could go for him, leaving Lucas for me. I smiled at the idea and faced Natalia.

"I have a question, Maddy. Why did you bring that girl on the cheer team?" She asked as we started to walk once again.

We entered the locker room and I cleared my throat, getting the attention of the girls.

"Alright, listen. As you already know, there will be a new addition to the team. I want everyone of you to be nice and not try to scare her away. I know it's going to be hard but just try for me, until school is over for this year at least. Can you do that?" I asked the girls.

Some looked annoyed, some whispered amongst themselves and others stayed quiet.

"Since when did you start being nice to a lower class person, Maddy?" One of them asked.

"It's none of your business. Just do what I said. If you fail to, I'll make sure you're kicked off the team," I said in a strong tone, making sure they understood how serious I was about this. They nodded their heads and I smiled at them.

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After introducing Jackie to the girls and giving her the standard uniforms. I noticed my cousin and his friends gesturing at me to check my phone. I raised an eyebrow at them in confusion as they looked restless. I sighed and went over to my purse on one of the bleachers then took out the device.

I unlocked it and saw a text from Ashton, which stated that Lucas threatened to get them arrested and that he had contacted their parents about the matter. It made me panic as I did not expect Lucas to go to such length.

"What am I going to do now?" I whispered and felt a tap on my shoulder. I quickly turned around and gasped when I saw Lucas.

"Can I ask why you're suddenly friends with Jackie Garner?" Lucas asked and crossed his arms.

The question did not surprise me but I had to respond smartly without giving out my act.

"Can I not make friends now?" I shot back and he clenched his jaw.

"It's suspicious how you are suddenly friends with the girl that I started hanging out with. Most importantly, why did you put her on the team?" He asked. "What exactly are you trying to do? It's unlike you to suddenly start caring about the type of people you don't even like."

"People change," I retorted.

"Not your type of person. I don't know what it is you have in mind but I don't want you trying anything stupid with me or with Jackie." Lucas came into my breathing space and leaned forward. "Even if you shave a zebra, its stripes will still exist. I'm keeping my eye on you."

After that, he left and I felt the urge to hit something. This was what I didn't want. I didn't want anyone suspecting me. I began to think maybe it was best I act like the real me to Jackie instead of a kind person when my plans weren't working as fast as I wanted it to work.

After practice, Ashton approached me with panic on his face. I became conscious and concerned as I knew it had to do with the party incident last weekend.

"Maddy, I don't think I can hold this in for too long. Lucas just cornered us and said if we do not turn ourselves in before his deadline, he's going to forcefully arrest us and make sure every news outlet has our name."

"No, I won't let that happen," I said.

"Well, you better do something about this because I'm losing my mind. I value my reputation and I won't let it be tarnished because of your unhealthy jealousy."

I glared at him and started to think of what to tell him to calm his mind. After a minute, I thought of something.

"Would you like it if I paid your flight tickets to another country? Far away from the borders of the US. You'll continue school there if you like and I'll keep sending money the days I can. Would you prefer that?" I asked and Ashton looked aside in thought.

I bit the inside of my cheeks, waiting for him to respond.

"I guess that's better. I'll tell the others about it," he replied and I smiled in relief.

"Good," I said and walked away. "I have to be careful from now on. Lucas will keep his eyes on me, I'm sure. So, anything I do has to be undercover. Which means that paying for their flight tickets has to be done by Ruth this time in the same way I did few days ago."

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Redside had won against our opponent and the school spirit was high. Everyone was excited for our win and the cheer team had performed extremely well. Even Jackie had impressed me at some point. She had performed like a professional and it made me wish she wasn't after my man, that way I could have been a good friend to her.

"Girl, did you see what just happened?" Natalie asked as she approached me.

I barely looked in her direction as I was busy packing my duffle bag with my items. I needed to leave because I was tired.

"What is it, gossip monger?" I asked and faced her. Natalia pointes over her shoulder and through the crowd of people, I saw Jackie and Lucas standing so close to each other.

Anger developed inside of me at how close they were. I furrowed my eyebrows when Jackie pushed him away then ran off. I wanted to look away when Lucas went after her, making me more curious than angry. Without wasting anymore time, I went after them. I lost them for some seconds but continued to walk through the hallway.

As I was about to enter the bend in the hallway, my heart constricted at the sight of Lucas and Jackie kissing so passionately. Lucas had her pinned to the wall and their bodies were pressed against one another. My eyes blurred with tears as I saw how deep he kissed her.

Lucas barely kissed me when we slept together. He had only touched me and kissed my neck but never my lips even though I had tried to. But here he was, kissing that gold digger with so much passion that I felt like screaming.

I could no longer take it anymore and turned away from the scene. I marched back to the basketball court and leaned against the wall by the door. I wanted to cry so bad but I didn't want to draw attention to myself. My heart was beating so fast as the image of them kissing filled my head.

I hate Jackie so much. I hate her for coming between us. I hate her so much that I felt it was better she needed to drown and never exist. I hate her so much that it burned me.