Happiness. That's what I felt as I woke up in the guest bedroom of Ryder's home.

Today will be a good day, I can feel it.

After Ryder and I talked at the parlor, he let me stay at his house. I insisted that I could go home (even though I never wanted to go back there again) but he said it was no trouble and let me into his home.

Last night he told me to tell him at least what I was so troubled by and all I said was family problems. He then said I could stay for as long as I want, and I became extatic with overwhelming happiness.

"Good morning Ms. Becker," I yawned while I hopped onto one of the the chairs at their kitchen bar.

"Hello Autumn." she smiled at me for a quick second but then moved her attention back to what she was doing — making pancakes.

"Do you mind waking up Ryder? I would do it myself but I'm trying to make breakfast." she asked me and I nodded but realized she could not see me since she wasn't paying attention to to my presence at all.

"Of course." Hopping off the chair, I walked up the stairs and knocked on Ryder's bedroom door.

After knocking for a minute on his door, he still didn't open it. I rocked back and forth on my heels, contemplating what to do.

Maybe if I just open it myself...

I probably shouldn't do that since it's invading his privacy but what the heck, let's do it.

Opening the creaky door, I slowly walked in. When I turned my head to the left (where Ryder's bed is located), I gasped at the sight of a asleep boy that was ruffled in covers.

I struggled to breath as my eyes wandered up and down his body. His sheets covered the bottom half of his body, leaving his upper body exposed. Ryder wasn't wearing a shirt and I almost thought I was drooling at the sight of his beautiful abs.

Too awestruck, I didn't even notice the smirk on his lips. "You really like staring at me, dont you?" he said as his eyes opened and landed on me.

Don't blush!

My cheeks turned a bright pink.

Ughhhhh

"Uh...umm..." scratching the back of my neck, I struggled to come up with words that would make sense in a sentence together as he lazily strutted towards me, cutting the distance short between us.

I gulped nervously as he leaned one arm against the wall, basically trapping me if I moved.

"Something wrong princess?" Ryder whispered into my ear.

Shivers, butterflies, tingles, literally every feeling of nervousment sprouted in my body and I bit my lip and closed my eyes shut. "N-No. Nothings w-wrong."

Even through closed eyes, I could tell he was staring at me; I could always tell if he was staring at me. His eyes studied my facial expressions and knew exactly what and how I was feeling.

"Do I make you nervous?" he asked in an innocent voice, as if he wasn't aware of what his words were doing to me right now.

As my heart beats quicken, all I want to do is melt on the floor. But I don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how easily he could affect me. So I opened my eyes and avoided his body, looked him straight in the eyes and smirked, "you can't make me nervous."

His right eyebrow lifted in amusement, "is that so?"

I nodded. "Yes."

The smirk that was marked on his face told me that he knew he could make me nervous without even trying and it's true, he can make me nervous without trying. Just seeing his face from across the room as I walk in the door of Mr. Rosenberg's classroom is enough to make me falter in my steps.

I hate that he makes me so nervous so easliy, but oh wow it felt good. Good? I don't know how being nervous could ever make me feel good but when I was nervous from Ryder, somehow it did.

"Your mom's making breakfast, come down when you're ready," I said as I hurried out the door before he could reply.

I went to the guest bedroom and changed into an outfit for school. I didn't have my clothes, so Ryder lent me a shirt of his. I had pants from last night that I would just rewear. The shirt that Ryder gave me was short sleeve but for once I didn't care. Today I want to show off my scars because after what Ryder told me yesterday at the parlor, I feel like they make me beautiful. They make me a...survivor.

I smiled into the mirror as the reflection of me in Ryder's light blue shirt looked back at me. "I am beautiful no matter what anyone says." I looked down at my arms, "every inch of me is beautiful. It's time I start expressing it."

***

"Where's Derek?" one of my minions asked me as we walked down the hallway to our next class.

I turned to look at her. She was carrying all my school books and hers, struggling tremendously. This girl that thinks she's my "friend" is actually someone I barely know. In fact, I don't even remember her name...yikes.

Chewing on my bubble gum loudly, I spat in her face. "I don't know. Why does it matter?"

"Because he's your boyfriend, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "We aren't dating, idiot. We just have a thing. I help him sabotage his ex best friend, Ryder, in exchange for pretending to be Autumn's friend. He's pretending to be Autumn's friend so he can know all her secrets so then I can destroy her."

You may be thinking 'aren't you afraid of Derek'? The answer is no. The day me and Autumn bickered in the hallway and Derek came to the rescue, I pretended to be scared of him. It's all part of the act; the act where Autumn trust Derek enough to tell him her dirty little secrets so I can expose her to the school for who she really is. Because no one is as real as Autumn appears to be and I want to prove it.

The girls short brown hair bounced as she walked faster down the hall with me. "Why would you want to destroy Autumn?"

"Because umm...I honestly just don't like her. At all. She's too real. It's getting on my nerves."

It's true, she is too real. Like she's not fake like all the other hoes at Willington High. And I despise too real people.

She looked confused but didn't question my reasoning. "Oh ok..."

"Ya but anyways–'' I forgot what I was going to say as my eyes landed on the two people I was just talking about — Ryder and Autumn.

Ryder's eyes shimmered in delight as he watched Autumn laugh at something he just said. They walked really close to eachother in the hall and it seemed like they didn't even notice the world around them. It was really Ryder walking close to Autumn but whatever. Personally Ryder's not my type but god Autumn's so ugly, so what does he see in her?

As I glared at the two of them, I noticed Autumn's attire and my eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Is that Ryder's shirt? I always see him wearing that blue shirt with the Vanns logo on it and now she's wearing it!! What the hell is going on?

That's it. I'm putting an end to this.

As they went to Autumn's locker, I confidently walked up to them. I spoke in my fake-polite voice and batted my eyelashes at her, "hey Autumn can I talk to you for a second?"

She closed her locker and looked at me but didn't respond as confusion lit up her facial expression. "It will only take a few seconds I promise." I reassured her and she seemed convinced.

Autumn looked up at Ryder, "I'll talk to you later I guess."

I evilly grinned when she turned to face Ryder.

"I'll drive us home after school, ok?" Ryder said as he stood up from his leaning position on the lockers.

Home? Why didn't he just say 'your house'? Do they live together? Am I overthinking this?

She smiled at him and I wanted to throw up. "It's ok, really. I'll walk."

I glared at her. Maybe you should run till you pass out.

Ryder raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head back and forth. "Nu-Uh I'm taking you home no matter wha–''

Even though I wanted to grab hard, I lightly grabbed Autumn's arm and lead her to the nearest ladies room.

As we got into the restroom, Autumn glared at me with her arms over her chest. "So...what did you want to talk about?"