It had been a month since our break-up. The last game of the football season had ended recently and everyone was now getting ready for the winter sports to start.

To everyone else, our break-up looked like just our friendship had ended. People were saying what a shame it was that best friends like us could be torn apart. The lie that we told everyone was that Riley had wanted Michelle for himself, and that me having sex with her had pissed him off pretty badly. So it protected his reputation at least. We had demanded to Coach Armstrong that Riley and I no longer be stretching partners, and he fortunately obliged. We didn't speak to each other; we didn't look at each other in the locker rooms. The only sort of contact we had with each other was through football, and even then, our interaction with each other was minimal. At lunch, Riley always sat with Derek, Bruce, and other people from the football team. Back when we were together, we switched between sitting with them (even though I didn't like them) and "my/our" crew. He was still close friends with my crew, but they didn't talk about the both us to our faces. And we truly hated each other, or at least on some level. I still had dreams about him every so often, and I hated them. I hoped he had dreams about me, too, so that he would know what it feels like to still dream of the one who broke your heart. And as far as I knew from Peter and Mia, Riley was secretly with that little slut, Adrien. That was all the information I wanted on Riley. It gave me some sense of satisfaction, knowing that he was with someone who might very well cheat on him.

I was with Michelle now, and I couldn't be happier. She had forgiven me for being awful to her. We were considered one of Degrassi's hottest couples. And we were in love, more so than I ever was with Riley, or at least I'd like to think that. Michelle wasn't perfect though. She was a little overprotective of me, and she could be just a little bit jealous, but I was grateful that she watched over me, because I am a cheater, and I didn't want to cheat again. Michelle and I continued to have sex, and it was amazing. I was always the dominant one, which was a refreshing break from usually being the bottom. And I made new friends because of Michelle. To name a couple, Sid and Chante. She had convinced me to dye my hair blonde and to get green contact lenses. She thought I looked much better now. Personally, I didn't agree, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

My feelings for men had more or less diminished. No, that was a lie. Those feelings were still there. But, I was very good at ignoring them, because every time I was hot for a guy, all I had to do was think of what Riley did to me.

In the present day, it was Friday. I had gone out with my crew, without Michelle. We went to an amusement park. We had an awesome time. We rode roller coasters and ate funnel cakes until we were sick. We played games and owned at them. It was a great time, so much that it helped distract me from Riley... Wait, no, that wasn't right, I was over him.

Anyways, it had finally gotten to be ten o' clock, and we left the amusement park. We were all walking to our cars.

"Man you owned at those accuracy games!" Danny said to me.

"I know; I am pretty awesome aren't I?" I replied.

"You kinda irked me to be honest," Leia said. "You were showing off.

"Well enough about me," I said. "All three of you girls impressed everyone with those strength tests."

"Aww thanks," they all said.

"And Peter with those memory tests; that was awesome!"

We had all finally reached our cars. "See ya man!" They said to me.

"See ya!" I replied.

I got into my car and left. Most of the way home I thought about what an awesome time I had. But then I became worried about Michelle. I hadn't told her that I was going to be out, and I was afraid that she would worry about me.

When I pulled into my driveway, I saw that Michelle was there, because her car was there and there were lights turned on inside the house. I walked inside, wondering what she was doing there. When I got inside, she was sitting in the armchair with her legs and arms crossed. She stood up and said in a dangerous voice, "Where have you been?"

I flinched and said, "I was out with my friends."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think to tell you," that wasn't true, I was actually afraid that she wouldn't let me go.

"Yeah, right. You didn't think to tell me, more like you didn't want me to know."

"Well, I had a lot of fun. I won a bunch of prizes for you. They're out in the car if you want me to go get them." That was true; I had brought home prizes for her.

"I bet you did have a lot of fun. Lots of fun with that model hanging around, huh?"

"What? No! I'm not into Mia like that, and she's not into me like that either! Besides, what're you doing here in my house?" I wasn't angry with her. How could I be angry with her?

"Follow me," she replied.

She went into the kitchen, and I followed her. There was an array of food setting on the table and two candlesticks. The candles in them had all melted down to nothing." I ordered out from a restaurant for you. I even got you your favorite, ribs."

"Aww, that's so nice of you."

She walked over to the table and out her hands on it, leaning over it. "Yeah, I went to a lot of effort for you. So why the HELL weren't you hear?!"

I walked over to her, trying to wrap her up in my arms. "Baby, please don't be upse-"

I never even saw it coming. As I walked towards her, she had placed her hands on the candlestick, as if gripping it for support. Then, as I was just about to put my arms around her, in one swift movement and with surprising strength, she whirled around and slammed it into the right side of my stomach, the sharp, rounded edge of the stand biting into me. I wasn't able to stop it with my mind, or even tense my abs up to withstand it. I wheezed and grabbed my stomach, doubling up and backing away. She bore down on me with the candlestick in hand. I was furious with her. I swiftly reached out, twisted the candlestick out of her hand, and threw it to the ground. I then shoved her away, and then went back to clutching my stomach.

"What the fuck was that for?!" I tried to roar at her, but it came out as more of a loud wheeze.

She tossed her hair contemptuously and replied, "It was because of you! I thought you knew better than to go out for hours without telling me, but apparently I have to teach you a lesson."

"Teach me a lesson?! That's it! We are through! You've treated me like shit before! I should've dumped you when you had Sid remove the engine from my car!"

She scoffed and said, "That was your fault, too! You kept seeing that Sophie girl when I told you not to! At least then you stopped seeing her."

"I told you! We were just friends!"

"Well I had to protect you from her. She was making moves on you. You could've given into temptation."

"Liar! You were jealous! Just like you're jealous of Mia now, too!" She said nothing to that. "Get out of my house!"

"I'll leave when I want to. And we're not through until I say we're through."

"Oh yes, we are through. Now, get the HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!" The lights in the overhead ceiling fan exploded as I yelled at her. There was bright moonlight filtering through from the windows.

She laughed and said, "Alright fine. But you'll come back to me eventually. Oh, and fix the electricity." She walked out of the kitchen. I followed her. I watched her get her purse and watched her walk out the front door. I stood on the porch and watched her drive off.

I went back inside. I sat down in the armchair in the living room. I put my face in my hands and sighed. How did my life come to this? ... I missed Ri- "No! No, I did not! He broke my heart just as surely as Michelle did!" Couldn't I ever just have a relationship that doesn't end badly?

***

That night I dreamt of Riley. We had just won a football game together. The school had cheered the rest of the team and the rest of the team. We had taken extra time in the locker room so that we could be alone together. We had kissed, very passionately. We still had our uniforms on. I was against the wall, and he had just pulled his lips away from mine. "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," my dream-self said back, and it meant it.

I woke up. Now that the dream was over, I was pissed. "Damn it! When will these fucking dreams leave me alone?!" I managed to fall back asleep. I did not dream again for the rest of the night.

.