A/N: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS. I WAS SORT OF STUCK ON HOW TO CONTINUE WITH THIS. BE WARNED THAT I REWROTE THIS CHAPTER FIVE TIMES AND I'M STILL NOT SURE HOW GOOD IT IS.

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT.

ENJOY.

~*~

New York

Another Seven Months Later

Her world had come crumbling down yet again and for the second time in her life, Kat boarded the bus to leave for another place.

But this time there was no Mac to come with her or to annoy her endlessly. She said good bye to no one because there was simply no one to say good bye to.

Three day's earlier, she buried Mackenna Sinclair. The other girl had only been nineteen, just a few weeks short of her twentieth birthday.

Just when everything was beginning to become perfect, just when Kat was able to believe that she just might be happy again, Mike Porter had to come into their lives.

He was charming and handsome and rich beyond their wildest dreams. He wanted to save them, he said. He wanted to give them the best that life had to offer and Mackenna believed him.

Mike lured them into a life of luxury and pleasure.

Before either girl could say million, he had Mackenna quit Kelley's and move into his Upper East Side apartment. He bought her designer clothes and fur coats and wowed her with vintage wine.

He promised her forever while Kat watched in the sidelines, her life the same as it was.

Slowly, she lost her friend to him.

Then forever was cut all too short when Kat went to visit Mackenna and found her floating in the bath tub, a needle stuck in her arm.

Kat had pulled her out of the water, sobbing hysterically as she begged her friend to wake up.

But Mackenna was long gone. Her body was deathly cold and her skin was tinged blue.

Kat yelled at Joe to call the police.

He looked startled when he saw them on the bathroom floor, Kat sobbing over Mackenna's limp body.

Then they began to argue. He wouldn't let her call the police. She yelled at him and cursed and called him names. He slapped her across the face and Kat fought back.

Suddenly he threw her across the room and when she crawled to get the phone, Mike hit her hard, splitting her lip.

Kat scratched and kicked and hit him but he was too strong. He pinned her down with the weight of his body, saying that he was going to kill her before she got the chance to call the police.

His fist collided with her face repeatedly until his blows knocked her unconscious.

Three days later, she woke up in a hospital, her face bruised to the point of hideousness. The nurse told her she had been in a coma.

There was no sign of Mike and Mackenna's death was declared a drug overdose. And Kat just simply became another insignificant victim in the countless numbers of abused people.

When she packed everything she needed, Kat headed for California. She and Mac had planned to go there once they had enough money so it seemed only right to go where her friend dreamed of being truly happy.

************************************************************************

California greeted Kat with its warm sunshine, beautiful beaches and finest men. It seemed a different world as she stepped out the bus. Everyone looked happy, too happy to know so much cruelty that she did.

She found an apartment by the beach. The rent took almost half of the money she had but it was the cheapest place she could find. Her room faced the ocean and she was thankful for the small balcony.

Most days, she sat on the white plastic chair by the balcony, her legs propped up on the metal railing. She would stare at the ocean, her eyes empty as she took drags from the cigarette between her fingers.

She watched the strangers that she nicknamed the 'happy people' pass her by each day. Kat found a job in a local restaurant nearby. The wage was decent enough, not as much as what she made at Kelley's but enough to get her by and pay the rent.

Sometimes, Kat wondered if this was her life; smoking cigarettes day in and out and people who meant nothing to her.

But somehow, she couldn't make herself care.

************************************************************************

Los Angeles, California

Nicholas Foxworth Crane strolled out to the pool area of his hotel, glancing at the beautiful guests with much disinterest.

He glanced at the ocean and sighed. His life had gotten dull these days, especially after his rather messy break up with the ever beautiful Whitney Russell five months ago.

"What are you doing?" Fox curiously asked his longtime friend, Josh Haseley, who was currently preoccupied behind a binocular.

"I'm bird watching." Josh declared distractedly. Josh Haseley was a surgical specialist, following the footsteps of his ever successful father at the age of twenty seven. He was one of Fox's silver spooned friends from Europe.

Fox creased his forehead into a frown. "Are you serious?" He asked, glancing at the sky above them. He saw nothing but seagulls.

Josh shot him an annoyed look. "You're so clueless. Sometimes, I wonder why I'm friends with you." He declared.

Fox shrugged. "Because I'm rich." He grinned, taking a sip of his mid afternoon drink.

The other man rolled his eyes. "So am I, buddy." He shot back as he returned his attention to his 'birds.' "She hasn't moved for hours."

"Who?" Fox asked, slightly confused.

"The girl by the balcony." Josh clarified as he shoved the binoculars at Fox. "It's the second building from here. Sixth floor, second balcony closest to us. See for yourself."

Fox peered through the binoculars and saw Josh's 'bird'. It was a girl dressed in a white tank top and matching white pajama pants. Her legs were perched on the railing and blew smoke in between drags of her cigarette. Her long unkempt hair was carelessly pulled back into a ponytail. She looked, awfully depressed. "You've been spying on a girl?" He asked, glancing back at his friend.

"Yeah." Josh grinned as he retrieved his binoculars.

Fox shot him a quizzical look. "Why?" He drawled.

"I have no idea. I was spying on babes on the beach when I turned, she was just there." Josh replied.

Fox raised his eyebrow. "So now, you're obsessed with 'depressed girl'?"

"She's not depressed." Josh shot back.

Fox scoffed indignantly. "I know depressed and she's the poster girl for depressed." He replied stubbornly.

Josh peered through his binoculars again. "I wonder who she is." He whispered to himself.

Fox smirked. "Nobody. She's just some girl who broke up with the love of her life and has now decided that she could no longer live on so she's going to waste the rest of her life with her cigarettes." He declared indignantly.

"How would you know?" Josh demanded stubbornly. "My bet is she could be someone important."

"Like who? A movie star?" Fox scoffed.

"You never know." The other man declared.

"God, have pumped so much anesthesia into your brain that you finally lost the ability to think clearly?" Fox said jokingly. "Stop spying on strange girls and enjoy your vacation." He pried his friend away from the binocular.

"She's beautiful, you have to admit."

Fox rolled his eyes. "In a I-haven't-eaten-in-two-months kind of way." He declared.

"You're just jealous I found her first." Josh stated as he glanced at the general direction of the girl's building.

"Right. The girl doesn't even know you exist, Josh. I have nothing to be jealous about." Fox retorted as he took another sip of his drink.

"And if she did, she would easily choose me over you." His friend shot him a devious grin.

"First, she would think you're creepy for spying on her." Fox declared knowingly. "And second, she would choose ME because I'm ten times better than you."

"Are you sure she'd want you for you or just the Crane name and money?"

"And if she didn't know who I was?"

Josh sneered. "One grand says she chooses me."

Fox raised his eyebrow. A challenge was always hard to resist and with the dullness that his life had acquired, he decided he might as well.

There was nothing to lose, after all. "Make the two." He replied as he shook his friend's hand.

"Let the games begin."

~*~

A/N: I HAD TO KILL THE CHARACTER OF MACKENNA OFF. IN MY OPINION, SHE WAS JUST GETTING IN THE WAY AND I NO SPECIFIC STORYLINE OR ROLE FOR HER. SHE WAS JUST THERE TO HELP KAT THROUGH.

MAYBE I SHOULDN'T HAVE WRITTEN HER INTO THE STORY BUT OH WELL. I CAN'T START OVER NOW.

I KNOW THE TIMELINE SEEMS REAL FAST BUT IF I ELABORATE TOO MUCH, I MIGHT DRAG THE STORYLINE. THIS IS A FOXAY SO I HAD TO TAKE MEASURES FOR FOX AND KAY TO MEET.

AND NO, THIS WILL NOT TURN INTO ANOTHER CLICHÉ STORY WHERE TWO GUYS BET ON A GIRL AND THE GOOD GUY FALLS FOR THE GIRL BUT SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THE BET. SHE HATES THEM FOR TRICKING HER BUT IN THE END THEY STILL LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

THE BET IS JUST THE STEPPING STONE. THE REAL WORK WILL BEGIN SOON ENOUGH.

I HOPE SOMEONE OUT THERE LIKED THIS CHAPTER.

ANYWAY, JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. I APPRECIATE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM SO IF YOUR REVIEW ISN'T EXACTLY PRAISE, I WOULD STILL LIKE TO READ/SEE YOUR OPINIONS.

IT HELPS BIG TIME.

THANKS FOR READING.