Prologue

I walked slowly across the grains of sand, as my footprints cascaded behind me, each step brought me further and further away from everything, I was completely alone, just me and my thoughts.

"It wasn't suppose to be like this. I wasn't suppose to lose him." I whispered to the crisp breeze, as it ruffled through my hair, not caring that my pain was being expressed openly.

To anyone else this moment would be absolutely perfect, the sun setting in its glorious hues of rosy pink, dandelion yellow and pale yellow, but last I checked I wasn't anyone. It wasn't fair how my world was crashing down, yet the world went on, just as if nothing happened.

Life isn't fair. Or rather, my life isn't fair.

I shivered as the breeze gently blew past me, but compared to how I was feeling, the breeze was nothing, it was less than all the pain I've gone through in a matter of hours.

I can't lose him. He is my world, my everything, yet he used those words that every girl fears 'We need to talk'

"Gabriella, this, us, isn't working. You are a young girl of fifteen, I'm nearly eighteen. We've been best friends for so many years and have dated for about two years, but you and I both know this isn't going to work."

I stared into his gorgeous blue eyes, they were blank, no expression, no regrets.

"Matthew, why?" I questioned, the hurt seeping out of my voice.

He pulled me up from were I was sitting and I got another look at him. Him, Matthew Bolton. At five foot ten, he was nearly half a foot taller than me, his golden chestnut hair, perfect smile, everything about him was simply amazing, he was every girl at East High's dream guy.

He wouldn't call me by my nickname 'Brie' anymore, now it was 'Gabriella' nothing more, nothing less. "Gabriella, I don't want you to get hurt by my leaving off to college. You're my best friend Gabriella, I'm doing what's best for you. As your best friend, I can't let you go through the pain." he comforted.

"And what is this? A walk in the park Matthew? If you think I'd be hurting then, think about now." I flared back.

"I don't want you to be hurt Gabriella. Just leave the feelings be. You'll forget about me in due time." he explained as he caressed my cheek, but I backed away.

"That's what you think? I won't just forget YOU! You are and will always be my first love. You were always that one guy that proved that not all guys were the same, not all of them are jerks with large egos." I shot back yet again.

"That's why I have to do this. Remember, I will never stop loving you Gabriella, never." And he was gone. He turned away from me and walked out, he never turned back.

With each step, I felt as though I had engraved a piece of myself in each footprint left on the isolated beach. I turned around and up until the distance where everything disappeared, I saw my footprints. But the footprints weren't alone, my feet a size seven were accommodated by much larger feet, but no person was near any of the larger footprints. Then I turned back around to face forward, ready to keep walking to numb all the pain away when I saw him.

"Never stop loving me?" I scoffed at the male figure.

"Remember that Gabriella. I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't want you to go through all the pain." he reasoned.

"Now you're just repeating yourself? Is that all you've got Bolton?" Anger continued to rise with each world.

"I'm not here to fight Gabriella. I'm here to talk." Matthew said calmly.

"Fine let's talk." I turned away from him.

"At least look at me." he pleaded.

"Talking is but an action made with the mouth, it does not require vision to understand the true meaning."

"That's all I'm willing to offer you Bolton. Deal with it." I added.

"I'll take it." he smiled the million dollar smile. "Which would you rather hear first, my apologies, the promise, or the whole story?"

"The story, apology, then the promise."

"But you have to promise not to leave me until the story is done."

I nodded, but as I shivered once again, he took my hand and pulled me down to the ground and held me, just as if to secure I wouldn't leave. I melted into his embrace, forgetting the fact that I was even made at him.

I stopped shivering.

"Nearly twelve years ago, I met my mom's college roommate, Maria Montez. Along with that roommate was a young girl, three years old, clutching her mother's hand, her name was Gabriella Anne Montez. Although I was suppose to play little games with Troy, my younger brother a year younger, I couldn't help but be captivated on how the little girl would watch in awe at everything around her. I wanted to be her friend, I wanted her to be mine. So, I walked up and introduced myself to her, but I must have seemed intimidating since she backed away from me, behind her mother's legs. When the initial fright had worn off, we began to play games and soon Troy began to play with us too. As the years progressed, the three of us became a pack, known as the Three Musketeers amongst many people. We survived the fake friends, the bullies, being in different grades, anything that was thrown at us. Then, about three years ago, I had feelings for my female best friend, feelings even I couldn't control no matter how hard I tried, tried to ignore them, to forget them, just because I wasn't sure if she felt the same way."

The curves along the side of my mouth began to turn upward as they formed a very very reluctant smile. My eyes were still filled with hurt, even if my mouth told otherwise.

"Continue. I deserve this explanation, do I not?" I said.

"So after about a year of the feeling refusing to go away, I decided to take a chance as ask my female best friend out. To my surprise, she said yes. That day, I was just about the happiest guy in the world." I scoffed. "But as the years progressed, I realized that soon I had to leave to go to different places and although it was difficult to say, I had to end it Gabriella. I couldn't bare to see you hurt with me being gone so far, and I would be hurt as well."

"Apology."

"Alright, I'm sorry Gabriella for ever doubting our relationship, I know it is quite strong and East High dubbed us the 'Golden Couple' but I have to end it. I'm sorry for ever putting you through this, but even though our relationship has ended, we will never stop being best friends. I don't want you to leave my life, given the choice, I would turn back the clock to give you everything you deserve. You deserve more than a person who could walk out of your life because of an age difference. I'm sorry."

"Promise."

"Gabriella Anne Montez?" he asked.

"Yes, Matthew Paul Bolton?" I asked, but there wasn't as much anger as there had previously been. His story was like the remedy into calming my voice.

"I promise you that forever and always, I will never stop loving you. I will never stop being your best friend. And most of all, I will never stop you from being happy, may it be with someone else. Even if it breaks my heart."

He pulled me in for a long hug, the kind couples only give to each other, but it still felt right. The pain was able to melt away, the breeze, unforgotten except for the fact my hair continued to ruffle with each blow. My cascading footprints, disappeared into nothing as time passed oh so slowly. The world stopped, and I wanted it to speed up.

I broke the hug.

"Is everything okay?" he asked so sincerely, but I just didn't want to be around him anymore. Something possessed me to leave him be.

"It's fine Matthew." I replied, much colder than I wanted my voice to sound.

I could see the hurt inflicted on his face and at that moment, I could care less. I don't know what's wrong with me anymore. How could I go from calm to suddenly hating my ex-boyfriend/best friend?

I backed away from him and you could see his crystal blue eyes were turning a grayer shade, Matthew Bolton was very much confused.

"Brie-" he started.

"Gabriella." I corrected.

"Gabriella, what's wrong, this isn't you. You're usually kind, compassionate and strong about every situation."

"Plans change and so do people." I said half-heartedly, as I spoke I realized that it seemed venom was dripping out of my voice.

"Gabriella, I didn't mean to do this. I promise. Please just take into consideration everything I did." he pleaded.

"Oh, I've done that already." I cackled. "But I want you out of my life Bolton, you've just proved to me that not all guys are the same."

"If I proved that, then why would you want me to leave?"

"I want you to leave because you proved to me that not all guys will hurt you right away, they'll always end up hurting you in the end, they don't care about your happiness, only their own."

I took off running, my footsteps yet again cascading as his began to create a pattern with mine. I sprinted faster than I ever could before, the Bolton's were always quite athletic. After a bit of time, his footsteps stop.

He let me go. I ran faster. Faster and further along the beach than ever before, I didn't want to deal with it anymore.

I know I'm not that strong, but I can't let this get the better of me. I can't let him defeat me. I refuse to let any guy into my life anymore, I don't want to get close to one. In the end, all they do is hurt you.

I turned around to see where he was. He was nothing but a spot, standing still in the horizon, obviously deep in thought. Today April 19, 2006, I have come to a very important conclusion.

That conclusion is that all guys are jerks and will always find a way to hurt you. I, Gabriella Anne Montez, am officially a man hater.

Right now
I know you can tell
I'm down,and I'm not doin' well
But one day these tears
They will all run dry
I won't have to cry
Sweet goodbye

Author's Note: It's a little different from my writing style and compared to my other stories, I'm taking this one slow, so expect many chapters to come. I'll set a review limit before I update, so I won't continually update at the wrong moments. Suggestions, comments? 15 reviews