"Jordan? What're you doing here?" He took a step into my room.

"Nice place you've got. That your mom downstairs?" I nodded my head, jumping off my bed and running to my window seat, putting as much distance between Jordan and I as I could. "Relax Daytona. Logan sent me here. I'm not the bad guy. I'm just watching over you until he gets here."

I let out a sigh of relief, "Sorry for over reacting, I'm still really freaked out." I laughed a little and took a seat on my bed.

Jordan leaned against the door frame and looked around my room. Something caught his eye and he walked in and picked a picture up off my desk.

It was one of me and Logan when we went to laser tag. He had kissed my forehead and in return I stuck my tongue out and licked his chin. I'm pretty sure Jake took the picture, it was either him or Marissa, but Jake ended up sending it to me and I printed it out.

A faint smile found it's way onto my lips when I thought about the memory.

"Just friends huh?" He put the picture back down and turned to me.

I crashed backwards onto my bed and groaned, "We are just friends."

"Oh I see." He fell down next to me on his stomach. "You totally are head over heels for him. But he doesn't feel the same way. Does he?"

"See that's what I can't understand. He always kisses my forehead and calls me Princess." I propped myself up onto my elbow, "But what if I'm just reading to far into this?" I let out an aggravated sigh.

"I've known Logan for several years and let me just say, I've never seen him care for someone as much as he does for you."

I opened one of my eyes and glanced at him. "Really?"

"Really." The sound of Logan's Charger rolling up to my house shot me out of my bed, leaving Jordan in the dust.

I ran down, taking the stairs two at a time and almost tripping at the last one. When I reached the door I composed myself and opened it before Logan could even knock. I honestly have no idea what caused me to act this way and I got super embarrassed when Jordan was laughing at me from the top of the stairs.

"Hey what's wrong? Why are you breathing so heavily?" Logan wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug.

When he let go I fixed my hair self-consciously. "I almost tripped and fell down the stairs." I let out a light airy laugh and rubbed the back of my neck.

"You goon." Logan wrapped his arms around me, "What's up Mrs. Lyn? How're you doing?" He waved to my mom in the living room.

"I'm good Logan. What about you?"

He glanced towards me and smirked a little, "Fantastic now."

I rolled my eyes and pulled him towards the direction of the stairs, knowing that my mom could, and would, talk to him for hours if she was given the chance.

"Well you're certainly in a rush to get me alone aren't you?" I smacked his arm and flicked my head towards my mom.

"Oh by the way Logan," Well there goes my attempt at trying to get him away from my mom before she could chat his ear off, "Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Actually no I don't Mrs. Lyn." He gave her an innocent smile that was filled with mockery - for me.

My mom let out a gasp and slapped the sofa she was sitting on, "Well then come on over. We'd be delighted to have you. Wouldn't we Day?"

"Yeah, we'd be delighted." I gave him a fake cheery smile and he laughed, causing a real one to appear.

"Thanks Mrs. Lyn,"

Cutting Logan off my mom said, "Nonsense, call me Melissa."

"Thank you Mrs. Melissa." When she finally turned back to her book I grabbed Logan's hand and yanked him upstairs.

Shoving him into my room I slammed the door behind me, letting my back hit it. "I thought she'd never shut up."

"So Logan's coming over for dinner huh? This is a step in your relationship." I jumped at the sound of Jordans voice, forgetting that he was still here.

"You know it. Leaving a good impression on her parents is number one on my list of getting a girl to like me." My heart pounded in my chest a little and Jordan made quick eye contact with me, brief enough that Logan didn't pick it up.

It was only around 11 am, but I yawned and crashed on to my bed.

"How can you be tired Day?" I cracked an eye open, just enough to glare at Logan and silently tell him I'm trying to sleep. He put his hands up in surrender, "I'm just saying. You slept all night."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let me sleep." I snuggled into the pillow and closed my eyes. For the first time since five in the morning, when I did, I didn't see any flashes of Cooper, or my parents yelling at me. I found myself drifting off.

~~~~~

"Alright man I've got to go. My sister's home and she wants me back before dinner." Jordans voice woke me up and I glanced at the alarm clock on my nightstand.

Red numbers reading 5:18 blinked back at me and I shot up.

"5:18?? Why didn't you guys wake me up?!" Since I just woke up, my voice was still heavily laced with sleep and I couldn't open my eyes more than half way.

Jordan was half way out the door when he turned around and smirked at me sudden realization that I had just slept half the day.

Logan was leaning against the wall with him sweatshirt pushed up to his elbows, and his arms crossed, "Evening Sleeping Beauty."

I picked up my pillow and threw it at him, but he caught it and threw it right back at me.

However, I was not fast enough to catch it and it hit me square in the face.

Both the boys erupted into unnecessary laugher and I just rubbed my face mumbling, "Jerks," under my breath.

"Well I'll be heading out. Give me a call if you need anything else." Jordan exited my room, closing the door behind him.

I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and jumped off heading towards my dresser.

Pulling out a gray sweatshirt and black Nike spandex, I headed towards the bathroom and turned on the shower. I cranked the dial all the way to hot and gave a satisfied smile when the steam rose to the ceiling.

"I'm taking I shower! I'll be right out!" I yelled over the water to Logan.

"I figured as much!" He yelled back to me and I shut the door and locked it.

I started to undress so I could take a shower, when I noticed for the first time how messy my nails were. Six out of the ten were chipped and jagged, and eight out of ten, had chipped nail polish on them.

I located the bottle of nail polish remover and set it on the counter so I could remember to grab it later.

Placing one foot in after another I let my body get used to the hot water, and let it melt my worries away.

I washed my hair and lathered up in soap before stepping out of the shower, consequently slipping on the tile and crashing to the floor, ass naked.

"Day? You okay in there?" Logan asked from the other side of the door and I let out a little hiss of pain and laughter.

"Yea I'm good. I just slipped." I grabbed the counter and hoisted myself up, making sure to not miss the rug this time, and hopped into my pajamas. I brushed my teeth and put moisturizer on my face before I unlocked the door and walked out with cotton balls and nail polish remover.

"Oh my gosh. Are we doing manicures?" Logan asked in a shrilly voice and I threw a cotton ball at him as I took a seat on the floor.

"No, I just have to take the nail polish off my finger nails." I tilted the bottle back so the cotton ball could get some remover on it, but not enough to spill it.

Logan stretched out his arm and grabbed the cotton ball from mine. "Let me do it." He took my hand and started to wipe at my nails.

Blushing I turned away so he couldn't see, but he stopped doing my nails and gently turned my face to meet his.

His long and dark eyelashes framed his forest green eyes, which for the first time I realized were not actually forest green, but green covered most of it and faded into a blue closer to the pupil.

His midnight hair was tangled and I reached up and ran my hands through it, which of course caused me to blush uncontrollably.

Keeping my face in his hand, he stroked my cheek with his thumb and closed my eyes for a minute, enjoying the way the warmth from his hand mixed with my cold skin.

"You know Day, if you're going to keep being this cute, I'm going to have to kiss you. Sorry I don't make the rules." In an attempt to look away he reached his other hand up and held my face.

My eyes watched as his eyes traveled from my eyes, to my nose, then finally they lingered on my lips.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned in so we were barely even a piece of paper width away. Our breaths mixed in front of our lips and I stared at his lips.

Then he closed the distance, his lips barely even grazing mine, then latching on as if this kiss was the only thing that could save him.

I could taste the longing in the kiss to the point where it caught me off guard for a minute, but I quickly recovered and kissed him back with a longing of my own.

I moved my hands back up to his hair and knotted my fingers in it as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

Soon he pulled back for a breath, then with a smirk his lips crashed onto mine again.

"Hey Daytona? Woah." A little girls voice rang through the room and I pulled apart from Logan.

Ashton stood in the doorway of my room, with her mouth hanging open and a hairbrush in her hand.

Mason stood behind her with a dopey grin displayed on his face. "I knew it! Jake totally owes me fifteen bucks! Woohoo!" He threw his hands up in the air and ran to his room across the hall. His door slammed and a few seconds later you could hear him yelling, "You totally owe me fifteen dollars man! I told you Logan had a thing for Daytona."

I turned back to Logan and mouthed a 'sorry'.

"Sorry Ashton, what did you want." I stood up leaving Logan sitting on the floor.

She pushed the brush out further from her body, "Well I was going to ask if you could braid my hair, but now I want to know who he is."

I stood rooted in my spot for a minute.

The whole time I've known her, I've maybe heard only five words from her in total. And now, I hear a full sentence. I was bewildered.

I nodded my head and followed her to her room and brushed her hair when she took a seat on her bed.

"So who is he?" I started french braiding her hair.

"His name is Logan."

"Logan. What's he like?" My fingers stopped moving for a second, but they resumed their routine of braiding her hair.

"What's he like you ask? Well he's very sweet and caring. He knows exactly what to say and when to say it. He always cheers me up when I'm down and sometimes I like to compare his hair to the sky at night." I wrapped her hair tie around the end of her braid, which fell to her mid-back.

She turned around and faced me. Her eyes were filled with curiosity and awe, "You must really like him."

I nodded my head and kissed her forehead. "Yes I do. Now there's some dinner downstairs if I'm not mistaken." She gave me a cheeky smile and ran downstairs.

I walked back to my room and found Logan looking at the picture Jordan had looked at earlier.

"Uh Jake sent that picture to me and I thought it was a good memory to keep." I sat at the edge of my bed and crossed my legs under me.

He set the picture back down and sat next to me, "This is totally going to be geeky, so don't laugh okay?"

"I promise not to laugh."

"Okay, but I love photography. It's like a peek into a great memory." I nodded my head, understanding where he was coming from.

"Hey can I ask you a question?" I turned my body so I was facing him and I rested my arms on my legs. "Who is Micah's boss?"

"It doesn't matter." He kissed my forehead and whispered, "I promise he won't hurt you. I won't ever let you leave my side, okay? You're mine and I won't let anything hurt you again."

"Thanks Logan." It had been so long since someone had told me they weren't going to leave, and part of me wanted to soak in the fact that he cared for me (and that I finally just kissed Logan), but a bigger, and more dominate part of me, knew that the last time someone told me they weren't going to leave, that's exactly what they did.

They left me behind to pick up the broken pieces all by myself.

Thinking about that I scooted away from Logan and shut my eyes. "Thanks for today and yesterday Logan, But you have a brother who probably wants to see you." I got up and walked to my door, holding it open for him.

"Day, you know he doesn't care about me. I'm fine here. Plus I don't want to leave you alone." He remained sitting on my bed.

"I'm fine. Mason's right down the hall, but I think you should really leave." I could literally kick myself for pushing him away, and tears gathered in my eyes.

I heard the matress squeak and footsteps walking towards me. "Daytona. What's going on? Is this because I kissed you?"

Without skipping a beat I shook my head, "No it's not that, it's just," I didn't finish my sentence because that's exactly what it was.

It was because I knew if I didn't stop myself now then I'd end up falling harder for him, and if he left, I wouldn't be able to pick myself back up again.

"Then what is it Daytona? Because I don't regret kissing you one bit. In fact I'd do it again right now, but if that's what is bothering you then I won't." I was trying to calm my erratic heart beat and to even out my shaky breaths.

His voice got dangerously low, "If the kiss didn't bother you Daytona, then kiss me right now."

When I didn't look up from the ground I heard Logan scoff, "Okay. But I don't regret it one bit okay?"

He walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs.

"Logan you're leaving so early? Stay for dinner at least." I could hear my mom trying to coax Logan into staying.

"Thank you, but I'll have to decline Mrs. Melissa." His voice rose just a bit, "My brother is waiting for me at home."

A few moments later the door opened and closed. I ran across the hall, holding my hand over my mouth to keep me from sobbing.

I threw open Masons door and slammed it shut behind me, crashing back against it. My breaths were coming out short and quick. My palms were sweating and tears stung the back of my eyes.

I clenched and unclenched my fist trying to keep my tears at bay. "I hate myself Mason. I hate myself so much."

He stood up off his bed and ran to me, "What happened Daytona? You were fine just a second ago?"

"Exactly. I'm so fucking neurotic. One moment I was kissing Logan, the next I was kicking him out of my room." Gently Mason placed his hands on my shoulder and guided me towards his desk.

"Okay. You're not neurotic first off, secondly, want to tell me what happened?" He sat me in his chair and he took a seat on his desk.

"So I kissed Logan right? Then he told me that he would never leave me, and for some reason I snapped. I pushed him away from me." I looked up to Mason as a single tear slipped out of my eye. "I was so scared that he would leave me Mason. So I pushed him away first. I mean it's better I hurt myself then others hurt me right?" More tears started to slip down my cheeks and my voice cracked at the end.

"Oh Daytona." Mason pulled my into a hug and patted my hair. I cried into his shoulder. "You're getting into your old habits again aren't you? You've beat this once, you can do it again." I nodded my head and grabbed a tissue off his desk and blew my nose.

I headed back into my room and sat in the corner felling numb.

I was a horrible person. In my past and even now, I'm terrible.

Starting in seventh grade, I used to bully everyone. Even Makayla and Caroline.

I was the queen of the school and if anyone dared to disrespect me, I'd ruin them. For a seventh grader, I thought of myself way to highly. The only person I let tell me what to do was Cooper and Mason.

At the time, I even used to run with Riverbend middle schools "elite" group.

It was a good size group, maybe six or seven of us, but I was the only person in their group from Clearwater, actually, I was the only girl in their group at all.

I guess I was notorious and feared because one day after school, my group beat up some poor guy, who ended up switching schools he was so scared of us, no one even looked me in the eye the next day at school.

And all this did was boost my ego. I started taking advantage of the fact everyone was terrified me. One day I went to far and some girl went home crying.

Later that night on the news, the same girl had tried to kill herself by slitting her wrist.

Her mom was lucky enough to stop her in time and get her to the hospital, but I guess that was an eye opener for me.

I realized how wrong I was in everything and I started to fight. I couldn't take the guilt so sometimes I would purposely throw fights. I'd let people land hits on me so my physical pain could compensate for the pain I felt because of the guilt.

A couple years later in sophomore year, Mason had moved away and my boyfriend had just broken up with me.

I escaped to the Undergrounder where I asked for a fight from their number one fighter.

Even though people may not think it, I knew what I was doing, I knew I couldn't take him on, but I entered the ring anyways and let him beat me to a pulp. But it wasn't enough. I was still super guilty about what I had done several years prior and I drowned myself in alcohol so I didn't have to remember, or think.

I had gotten so drunk that I couldn't take care of myself at all. Most of the night was still a blur, but apparently Lisa had called my brother and he came to pick me up, but I had his car, so he came on his motorcycle.

Usually I would've been fine, riding on the back, but that night, I couldn't keep still. When the light turned green, we went aND a black van came out of nowhere. Cooper tried to swerve so the van didn't hit me, but instead he ended up crashing the bike. I managed to survive, but Cooper didn't.

I had told the Logan and Mason a different story, but I couldn't have them knowing that it was all because of me.

After that, I had become distant. The three most important people in my life had just left me and I couldn't function properly.

So I became Daytona the 'GG'. I let people walk all over me, and make fun of me. It was safer that way. No one liked me already, so why not give them someone else to hate too? Someone who they could pick on and not be scared of? I thought I would stay that way forever.

That is until Logan came along.

He's bringing out the old me. I'm scared of hurting people and I'm scared of getting hurt by him. I can't stand the thought of Logan leaving me. It would be like having all the oxygen removed from my body.

So to keep myself safe, I pushed him away first. Maybe if I distance myself then when he leaves, it won't hurt as much.

A knock on the door brought me out of my spiraling, downwards thoughts.