I woke up to the sun shining through my window, and birds chirping outside. It was an almost perfect morning until I rolled over and memories of last night and the pain kicked in.

I was sticky and smelt awful making me want to puke and my hangover wasn't helping very much. My head was pounding so hard it was messing up my vision. I couldn't tell which seemed less appealing; lying in bed smelling like a keg and body odour all day or trying to get out of bed and clean myself up. Finally I made the decision when my phone vibrated in my bag from across the room.

It took a good five minutes for me to get out of my bed and basically crawl to my phone where I had three missed texts.

To: Brooke
From: Alex
I'm sorry ):

To: Brooke
From: Jack
I'm sorry I left you last night. I probably should've come in to make sure you were okay. Do you want to hang out today?

To: Brooke
From: Alex
Please don't be mad, I'll make it up to you I swear.

I was suddenly furious at Alex again – not just for what happened last night, but for everything that had happened this week. He was just letting this happen as if he didn't even care what happened to me and I was getting sick of it.

I ignored all the messages and finally stood up and hobbled my way into the bathroom and turned on the shower. By now I had gotten used to showering in pain, but today it was almost unbearable. But in the 10 painfully long minutes I stood under the hot spray, I was hit with an idea. It probably wasn't the best idea but I was suddenly hungry for revenge.

I didn't know exactly who I was trying to take it out on, but if my plan worked, it wouldn't matter. I ignored the pain that had started to fade and got dressed in jeans and a random band shirt from my collection. I picked my phone up off the ground.

To: Jack
From: Brooke
It's okay. Yeah, let's hang out. What do you have in mind?

I deleted the other messages from Alex which took a lot of control not to answer. I may have been pissed off at him but I still had feelings for him. Jack texted back almost instantly telling me he'd pick me up in an hour.

I did my make up with extra care and straightened my hair to kill time. With half an hour left I decided food and Tylenol would be a good idea. I went downstairs, hoping that mom and Mark had left. I was relieved to see only mom sitting at the table in the kitchen.

"Wow, I didn't expect to see you up so early." Mom commented as I dug around for the bottle of pills.

"It's 11," I raised an eyebrow even though my back was to her.

"Considering how drunk you were when you came home, I would've expected you to be passed out until at least two."

"I wasn't that drunk," I said, turning to look at her after finally finding the bottle.

"According to Mark it didn't sound or smell like it."

I repressed an eye roll and got a glass of water to chase the pills with. "I only had like four drinks. And one thrown at me."

"Why?"

"It's a long story," I sighed as I heard a horn honk outside. "But I'm going to hang out with a friend, is that okay?"

Mom's face lit up, "Of course it is."

The fact that mom was happy I was making friends reminded me at how pathetic the last four years of my life have been, but the shit load of drama I was in reminded me why I liked it that way. I slipped on my converses and grabbed my bag off the kitchen table before stepping outside and getting into Jack's car.

"Hey," He smiled kissing my cheek.

"Hi," I smiled back, "Where are we going?"

"To an amusement park," He answered as he started driving.

"Holy shit, are you serious?" I said, getting excited.

"Yes, I thought you'd like it."

For the entire drive there I was bouncing up and down. I fucking loved amusement parks. The rides, the games, the food, everything. An hour outside the city later we pulled into the almost full parking lot. I didn't even bother getting the name of the place before I was grabbing Jack's hand a dragging him to the front gates.

As soon as he paid and we both had unlimited wrist bands for everything, I was pulling him to the closest ride. I winced slightly as the harness put pressure on my bruised side but my love for amusement park rides outweighed the pain.

I was glad I had come here with Jack because when it came to rides, he was as fearless as I was. It didn't matter if it went upside down, spun around, threw you around like a rag doll or a combination of all three, he was down.

After going through half the rides in less than 4 hours, we decided it was time for a break.

"Do you want something to eat?" He asked as we walked over to all the concession stands. I was so happy about the rides I hadn't even noticed I was starving.

"Yeah, actually," I answered.

"You go find a table and I'll get food." He said. I nodded and weaved through the sea of people and tables until I found an empty one in shade. It may have only been the end of March but it was really warm out and I could feel my arms starting to burn.

A few minutes later Jack found me and handed me a slice of cheese pizza and orange juice.

"You must be psychic or something," I commented, taking a huge bite of pizza.

"Or I just listen to you when you tell me these things," He smiled.

I had completely forgotten I had told him what my favorite meal was at one point during one of our tutorials. It surprised me that he remembered something so simple about me. I studied his face as I ate, taking it all in, every pore, hair and freckle. The way the sun that shone down only on him through the umbrella I was hogging, that made his hair shine. It was so black and blonde, and thick and I wanted to run my fingers through it over and over. And the way his dark brown eyes lit up whenever I said something to him made me automatically smile in return. He had everything I looked for in a guy, but I still couldn't find that spark.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, suddenly looking self-conscience.

"You," I smiled.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, just admiring you," I said. He smiled, blushing slightly and looking down before looking back up at me. He titled his head slightly and I knew what was coming, and I stopped him. "No more freebies."

He looked discouraged before stuttering, "S-s-sorry, I just thought—"

"Let me finish." I interrupted. "I don't do friends with benefits, so if you want the perks, you have to take all of me."

He grinned, "Well, in that case, Brooke would you be my girlfriend?"

"I was hoping you'd catch on." I smiled, "And yes, I will be." I pulled him in and kissed him, smiling to myself. I thought kicking off my plan would be a lot harder, but this was turning out to be really simple.

"Ready for more rides?" He asked pulling back.

"Of course!" I answered, jumping up and following him into a line for the roller coaster I had been dying to go on.

-x-

I had lost track of time but by the time we were headed back into the city I was happier than I had been in a long time. Everything about today had just been perfect; including the giant frog Jack had won me playing one of the games. I was so relaxed and peaceful it was almost shocking.

Jack pulled up in front of my house just as the sun was setting in front of us.

"Thank you," I said to him. "I really needed today."

"No problem," He nodded kissing me softly before I got out of the car and went inside.

"Who was that that you were with?" Mark demanded.

"Just a friend," I answered.

"What kind of friend?"

"The normal kind?" I shrugged.

"That looked like a guy's car," He stated.

"So what if it was. Am I not allowed to have a boyfriend or guy friends in general?"

I didn't wait for him to answer before starting to walk away. He grabbed a handful of hair and dragged my backwards. Why did he always go for the hair?

"No woman in my house will be whoring herself out to a guy and there will definitely never be boys in my house, got it?" Mark said before raining a series of hits anywhere he could reach while his other hand was still tangled in my hair holding me down. I stayed silent as always until he was done using me as his personal punching bag and went up to my room.

I think the worst part about the situation was that whenever he did this to me, he was always stone cold sober. Maybe if he was drunk I could pass it off as him not knowing what he was doing or something, but that fact that he consciously knew what he was doing made it worse.

I examined myself in the mirror once I was safe behind my locked door. He had managed to get a good one to my face and I could see a black eye forming already. I sighed deeply. Another perfectly good day ruined. At least he hasn't drawn blood yet. I flopped into my bed, regretting in immediately as pain shot through various parts of my body. I didn't bother to change out of my clothes before curling into a ball and falling asleep.

-x-

I figured that since after such an eventful previous day, Sunday would be spent in my room doing nothing to avoid any type of drama. Plus I also needed to prepare myself for school and everyone's reactions when Jack and I announced we were officially together. That was bound to cause a stir.

I had managed to get through the day without a single disturbance since I turned my phone off. I was going downstairs to get a drink when the doorbell rang,

"I'll get it." I said, walking to the front door and opening it. I jumped when I saw Alex standing there innocently.

"You're alive." He stated, smiling slightly.

Not for long. "What are you doing here?" I asked quietly.

"You wouldn't return my texts." He answered.

"So you decided to show up on my doorstep without warning?"

"You would've known if you had checked your phone." He said stubbornly.

"Brooke, who's at the door?" Mark called from the living room.

"N-no one important," I answered, and then turned back to Alex. "You really shouldn't be here."

"Why not?" He asked. "What happened to your eye?" I heard footsteps coming closer and my heart rate picked up.

"Seriously Alex, you can't be here." I said as Mark appeared behind me.

"Who's this?" Mark asked. "I thought you said no one was here. This doesn't look like no one to me."

"This is Alex," I answered, "He was just leaving." I gave him a pleading look as Mark pushed me out of the way.

"Good." He stated before slamming the door in Alex's face and turning to me with a terrifying look in his eye.

"I thought I said last night no boys?" He asked taking a step closer to me.

Here we go again.