Chapter Three

{Zach}

What the hell was wrong with me? As far as Cammie knew—as far as anyone knew, for that matter—I merely tolerated the beautiful blonde. And now, all of a sudden, I care for her and want to protect her? Honestly, I don't blame her for storming off the way she had. After all I'd done, she probably thought I was full of shit. I mean, not once in our three years of friendship had I given her any reason to believe what I had said was true. Which was probably for the best. It fueled her hatred even more, and the more she hated me, the more she avoided me.

I couldn't resist spending the entire next day wallowing in self-loathing, hating myself for telling Cammie, the girl who couldn't hate me any more if she tried, that I cared for her. Not only that, but it almost sounded like I threatened those guys because I was jealous of them! Seriously, what the fucking hell was wrong with me?!

It was well into the afternoon, borderline early evening, when Macey paraded through the front door carrying a foil-covered bowl, cutting my pity-party short by about five hours.

"Hey, cous. Make sure your mom gets this, will ya?" she asked as she made her way through the living room.

"What is it?" I asked, not exactly interested but pretending to be anyway. I turned away from the TV that did little to keep my mind busy and watched as she walked into the kitchen.

"It's food. Does it really matter what it is?"

I noncommittedly shrugged. "Good point."

She slid down onto the couch next to me, tucking her legs up underneath her and propping her head in her hand as she rested her elbow along the back.

Oh, no. I knew that look. That was her go-to gossip position. And by the look in her eye, whatever it was she wanted to talk about was something important. Something that could probably get me into trouble if I wasn't careful.

I pretended not to notice, hoping she would leave if I didn't pay her any attention. But this was Macey, Queen of Gossip, so of course she didn't mind having to pry it out of me.

"So, what happened at the party last night?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, playing dumb. As if it wasn't all I'd been thinking about today.

"I mean, you idiots went after Cammie and Lucas, and then I never saw you again."

After I blew up on Cammie, I had strayed back inside the house where all the drinking took place, hoping to get as fucking wasted as possible so that I could forget the night's shitty events. But it didn't work. I still remembered the look of betrayal on Cammie's face when she accused me of purposefully trying to ruin her life. And I still remembered throwing back multiple shots at a time just to throw them back up less than ten minutes later. And I still remembered Liz hauling my sloppy ass out to her car and her driving me home. And worst of all, I still remembered drunkenly asking her if Cammie hated me, and me pouting when she answered yes.

I was officially the biggest idiot in the world.

"So?" Macey pried again. "What happened? Did Lucas hit you? Is that why you don't want to talk about it? You're too embarrassed to have been beaten up by a wanna-be?" She finished with a laugh.

I turned to her, giving her the most unimpressed look I could muster, which wasn't hard considering she was being utterly ridiculous. As if that punk could lay a hand on me without getting royally fucked in return.

"You're not funny, Mace," I told her.

"I beg to differ," she argued, still chuckling. "But seriously, tell me what happened. I want the full story."

"Why don't you just ask Cam?" I was getting annoyed. I didn't want to talk about the night before, and a part of that was because I was ashamed. I was a horrible person and an even worse friend to have prevented her from being happy all because I was too chicken-shit to come clean.

"She won't talk about it," Macey replied with a huff, as if Cammie was being unreasonable by keeping the juicy gossip from her friends. "That's why I'm here. Obviously something happened and I have a feeling it was all your fault."

"Funny. Cammie said the same thing."

Ugh, why did I just say that? And why did I have to sound so bitter about it?

Lately it seemed like I was doing and saying things that made it more and more apparent that I had feelings for Cammie other than disdain, and if I wasn't careful, everyone would know and it could ruin the dynamic of the group. People would choose sides, and I'm not entirely sure who all would choose me over Cammie after how I've treated her.

"What are you talking about?" Macey asked and I heard the genuine confusion in her voice.

With a sigh and a swift string of curses at myself, I muted the TV and turned to my nosey cousin. I really hated myself for even thinking about divulging into last night's escapade, but it was too late to turn back now. "She might've found out that I may have threatened a few guys to stay away from her and now she blames me for never having a boyfriend."

A look of shock and disbelief crossed her face. "Wow." For a moment, I thought I had stunned her into silence.

That is, until she busted out laughing. And I'm talking loud, out-of-control bellows that had her gripping her stomach as she struggled to regain her composure. "You actually hate her, don't you?" she asked through her fit of giggles.

Fed up with the conversation at that point, I turned back to the TV and unmuted it, hoping to drown out her obnoxious laughter which only seemed to be getting louder with every passing second.

When it was clear that she wasn't going to shut up anytime soon, I barked at her, "What the hell is so funny?"

She shook her head, wiping away a few tears that welled in her eyes. "Remember when I had you promise to stay away from my friends?"

Remember it? It single-handedly ruined my life! It pissed me off just thinking about it! A small tick in my jaw told me that I probably shouldn't open my mouth, so I simply nodded and prayed that she couldn't see how irritated her damn promise made me.

"Well, it wasn't my friends as a whole that I was worried about. The only reason I had you promise me that was because of Cammie. I thought that out of all my friends, she'd be the one you'd go for."

That fucking bitch. Although nothing changed since her promise would've kept me away from Cammie anyway, it still changed everything. If Cammie had known that Macey just wanted to keep me away from her and not all four of her friends, maybe she would've been more susceptible to breaking her promise. Maybe then she wouldn't have felt like the traitor of the group because she was the only one to not honor Macey's wishes.

My life could've been completely different if Macey had just changed that one tiny detail. That fucking bitch.

The traitor I called my cousin started to laugh all over again, the sound roaring throughout the empty house. "Clearly I was wrong," she told me, failing to sense the fury that I'm sure was pouring from my heated glare.

"Yeah. Hilarious."

I ignored her after that as I waited for her laughter to die down, telling myself on numerous occasions that even if she was family, I couldn't hit a girl.

Finally, she quieted down with a content sigh. Casually standing up, like she hadn't been this close to having her head knocked off, she announced, "Well, I gotta get going. I just came by to drop off the casserole and find out what went down last night."

"See ya," I mumbled, happy that she was finally leaving.

She stopped by the front door, turning back to look at me. She must've heard the irritation in my voice, because she eyed me skeptically, like I was a stranger who she'd never seen before. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yep."

She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes, and I knew she didn't believe me. "Did something else happen last night that you want to tell me about?"

How about the fact that I almost confessed to having feelings for Cammie in front of her and all the guys? Hell, she'd have a field day with that bit of information.

Instead, I smiled and said, "You mean, other than me getting your boyfriend drunk and drawing a dick on his face once he passed out?"

She took the bait, just like I knew she would. Scoffing and rolling her eyes, she reached for the door and yanked it open. "You're pathetic," she snarled before slamming it shut.

"Love you, too, cous!" I shouted after her, getting it in before the door fully closed behind her, and I was left alone again to think about how badly I fucked things up with Cammie.

::*::*::*::

{Cammie}

Because I couldn't sleep, I stayed up the whole night reading the book for my report in AP English that was due in six days. It was so unlike me to have waited this long to start the assignment, which was probably why I was feeling stressed about getting it done. Unfortunately for me, my mind wouldn't focus on the damn book. In fact, it wouldn't focus on anything other than my angry fight with Zach.

After spending all morning trying to type the stupid paper, I was beyond frustrated because of how miserably I was failing. Every few sentences, my mind would drift off, making it almost impossible to stay focused long enough to get anything done. I was contemplating giving up when my phone rang.

Answering the call and putting it on speaker phone so I could continue working (because, let's face it, I'd work through the next six days straight if that's what it'd take to get it done), I said, "Hey, Liz. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just calling to make sure you got home okay last night," her voice said through the speaker.

I rolled my eyes. Of course that's why she was calling. Typical Liz.

"Yes, mom. I got home just fine," I told her sarcastically. "You know you don't have to check up on all of us after every party, right? We're big kids."

"I know, I know," she sighed. "But Zach was pretty messed up last night so I figured I'd check in with everyone else, too."

At the mention of his name, my typing stalled. Why did she have to bring him up? It's bad enough I spent my entire night replaying every bullshit thing he said to me. I really didn't need the reminder right now.

"So what if Zach was drunk? What else is new?" I scoffed, immediately irritated.

"Not just drunk. He was completely wasted," Liz corrected. "I practically had to carry him out to my car. That kid is not light."

"And I repeat, he was drunk. What else is new?"

"Actually, he's been rather good lately. I'm kind of shocked he was the sloppy drunk this time," she answered, sounding genuinely shocked as if this was the first time she sat down and really thought about it.

Hearing that piqued my interest. I always assumed that Zach was one of those future frat boys who permanently had a beer in his hand and a buzz in his head. At least that's what it looked like at all the parties we attended to this summer. "Really?" I asked, voicing my curiosity. "I thought he always drank?"

"He drinks, but he doesn't get drunk. At least not like that," she explained.

"Oh."

There was a slight pause from her end before she continued. "Did something happen last night that I don't know about?" she asked suspiciously.

"No," I lied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because he asked me if you hated him."

What the heck? Why would Zach care about that? He never cared about my feelings towards him before. In fact, it was as if the angrier I was at him, the happier he was.

"And what did you say?"

"Yes."

I let out a small sigh, whether out of relief or disappointment, I wasn't sure. Probably a mix of both. "Good."

"And then he cried."

I nearly choked on my own spit at that. "What? He cried?" I must've misheard her. There was no way that that was true.

"Basically," Liz replied, and I could practically hear the shrug she gave when she spoke. "So I figured something happened between you two that upset him. Although, I'm not sure why he'd care. It's not like he's a big fan of you either."

Good point. Not only did he care enough to ask Liz if I hated him, but he cared enough to cry when she told him I did. What the heck was going on with that guy?

"Yeah. Weird," I mumbled, more interested in my own thoughts than the conversation. "Hey, Liz? I really need to finish this book report, so I'll just talk to you later, okay?" That was a lie considering there was no way I would be able to focus on it now, but I needed to end this call immediately before I risked asking any more questions about what Zach might've said in his drunken state last night.

"You're not done yet?" she asked incredulously with a small gasp.

I rolled my eyes as I held back a chuckle. I bet Liz was done the day after we received the email about the assignment over a month back. "Goodbye, Liz," I exclaimed before hanging up the phone.

Staring at my laptop's screen, the book report barely half finished, I replayed Liz's words and last night's events over and over again. It almost seemed as if the two went hand-in-hand. Could he have been telling the truth about just trying to protect me from guys who wanted to take advantage of me? Was it possible that Zach truly did care about me? It would explain why he'd get upset after our fight and try to drink away his problems, and also why he was so sad after Liz answered his question.

Maybe Zach doesn't hate me as much as he claims to? Maybe it's all an act to save face? He thinks I hate him, so he pretends to hate me back to avoid humiliation. I'm not saying that he's been pretending this entire time—in fact, I'm almost a hundred percent positive that he hated me for a while after I rejected him. But three years later, it seems like all that might've changed.

Three years later, it seems like our hatred is just a cover up for the unresolved feelings we never acted on, and if that's as true for him as it is for me, then…things are about to get really messy.

Hey there! Finally got this typed up and posted (: It took me a few days to get it how I liked it considering I've rewritten it about three times (and I'm talking LEGIT rewrites...originally this chapter was going to have that pivotal moment where Cammie and Zach figure out a solution to their problems, and then it was going to revolve around being at practice and they would have another fight, and then this is the final product... yeah, I had some trouble with this one, if you couldn't tell). So I hope you all enjoyed this even though I know you're all waiting for that kiss :P.

I made a mistake in the very first chapter that no one commented on thankfully! Liz left Cammie to go call Bex because she wasn't at the party yet, but then in Zach's POV, Bex was already there and had been for hours considering she introduced to him to no-name-girl. Oh, funny stuff lol.

I've decided to try out this poll thing they have on this site! I figured this would be a fun way to get you all involved with this story and have it feel like it's yours just as much as it is mine (: So go check it out! The poll will be opened for four days, so August 17th at 11:59 pm is the deadline...feels like a homework assignment, doesn't it? Lol. Welcome back to school everybody!

Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited. Your support means the world to me!