The final bell.

For most kids, it's a symbol of freedom. It signals the end of a long day of school and the beginning of a few hours of liberty and peace. At the final bell, kids go to their lockers and head home for the day, or they wait for the bus or their parents to come pick them up. In short, most people are happy when they hear that bell.

Nicolette Virginia Morrison was not most people.

No, today, when she heard that final bell, the hurt and anger she'd been carrying around in her gut for a week bubbled to the surface. It was the final day of school before Spring Break, and she was furious. That bell rang and she left her classroom, ignoring the calls of her friends as she headed to her locker. It snapped open with ease and she glanced at a picture stuck to the door. A picture of her and him.

Just looking at his face made her want to punch something.

Or someone.

"Okay, it'll be done by the time we come back from break."

And as if someone was listening, he was behind her. Acting as if he hadn't betrayed her trust. Acting as if he was completely innocent. As if he didn't. Fucking. Care.

Nikki turned and saw him walking through the hallway with a guy she didn't know well. His name was Joseph something—it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was smirking.

The goddamn bastard.

Nikki had never understood the meaning of heartbreak. She'd never been in love. She'd never trusted her heart to somebody, only to have them stomp it to pieces and act like she hadn't given them shit.

That was before him.

She'd told him things she'd never told anyone before. She'd shown him the part of her she kept hidden from the world out of fear. He was her first kiss, her first make-out session, her first love, her first boyfriend. She'd given him those kisses, those make-out sessions, her heart.

And her virginity.

After all that, he'd only been doing because a girl paid him to hurt her.

She was angry, and hurt, and he needed to pay.

Quickly, she shut her locker and began weaving her way through the crowd, stuffing the picture in her pocket as she went. Her eyes were trained on the back of his head, her mind on one thing and one thing only.

Making him pay.

She could hear her stepbrother's voice, calling her to come back so they could go home, but she ignored him. He was getting closer and closer.

Both of them were outside the school, now, and he'd reached the bottom of the stairs. He took out his phone and checked his messages, not realizing that she was behind him. Quietly, she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see who it was…

And Nikki's fist went flying into Max's face.

Let's go back a bit, shall we? Back before this confrontation, before Nikki's heartbreak and Max's betrayal. Because neither of those is the beginning of the story. No, our story begins in a small town called Sleepy Peak. A nice town, to be sure. Located near scenic Lake Lilac, with half the town owned by crooked con man, Cameron Campbell. In this small town, there were two high schools, located in opposite school zones.

And our story truly begins at Sleepy Peak High.

At Sleepy Peak High, there was a food chain, like every other school, and at this school, Sasha Harris ruled over all with an iron fist. Everybody knew not to cross her or her small inner circle—a circle that included just three people.

Erin Roberts, Tabii Nichols, and Max Greene.

Now, two of those are understandable. Every queen bee worth her salt has at least two mindless female minions backing her up—Regina George in Mean Girls and Heather Chandler in Heathers being two famous examples. Max, however, was a mystery to most of the student body. He was the son of Mr. Greene, one of the teachers, and also known for having an underground homework ring. You wanted an assignment done or a person messed with? See Max.

Okay, so maybe him hanging out with Sasha made more sense than people thought, but still. People whispered that he and Sasha were dating, or that they were fuck buddies. Neither of those two rumors were true, but that didn't stop people from saying them.

Since Max's dad was a teacher, that meant that his little side business had to stay off the radar, which it did. For the first two years of high school, Max was considered one of the top students in the school.

Then, right before junior year started, David dropped a bomb on Max.

They were moving across town.

Granted, it was only because David had gotten a job at Campbell High and wanted to live closer to his new job. And his girlfriend was moving in with them, so their tiny apartment-for-two wasn't going to cut it anymore.

Sasha, of course, wasn't happy that she was losing her homework guy. She wanted nothing more than to finish coasting through high school with Max's fantastic work on her record, but that wasn't going to be possible anymore.

Now he was going to school with her worst enemy.

Nicolette Virginia Morrison.

There was nobody the queen bee hated more than that outdoorsy little tomboy. Nikki was the bane of Sasha's existence, and Sasha was determined to bring her down.

And she intended to use Max to do it.

You see, Max's system on favors was that he would do anything as long as you paid him the right price. His limits were assault, sex, and murder, but anything else was fair game. Sasha knew this, and she intended to use his policies to get to Nikki and crush her in the purest sense of the word. After all, little tomboys didn't have the same emotions true girls had, right? It wasn't like Nikki would actually fall for Max!

Right?