Author's Note: I almost forgot to update!

Day Two-Hundred Eleven: Fool Me Once by Jess Godwin

There was one thing for certain: nobody ever screwed Spencer Hastings over more than once. It took a real daredevil to even attempt to screw her over, even just once. Aside from that, she was like an elephant; she never forgot. It was almost like a challenge: screw Spencer over, successfully.

Enter Toby Cavanaugh. He wanted nothing more than to get under her skin, just for the good fun and pleasure of it.

It started off as a dare. Toby asked her out and—to Hanna and Aria's pleasure—she had accepted. It felt like a game to her. Anything that happened between her and Toby was meant to be fun, not serious. For a while, things were fun. She made mental post-its to keep their relationship as unserious as possible, but it seemed as though fate had something different in mind. She started falling for him, hard. And then, one day, their relationship seemed to run out of time; it just expired, finished…poof. It was gone. And like nothing, her heart was broken. It was so awful, she could swear off of men forever. The mere mention of his name wanted to make her do exactly that; he broke her that badly.

His intentions in ending the relationship were vague at best and completely abstract at worst; there was nothing else that could really be said about them. She supposed it might've been easier on her if he hadn't begun dating and pining after someone else the very next week. She hated the girl and it made her angry and sad at the same time to see them together.

He made it so fucking easy for her to hate him. This awful mixture of bile, loathing, and disgust built up in the back of her throat whenever she saw him. She swore she'd never really let her heart be with another person like she'd let it be with him; he was like a professional heartbreaker to her. She almost gave him props for his pro-heartbreaker status.

She went back to school that year thinking she'd finally be happy with being free of him and all his little games. She probably should've been happy. She got fives on her APs. Ivy League acceptance letters were clearly in her future. Everything was falling into place in her life. Even her relationship with her family was beginning to fix itself.

But all the bile and hatred built up from seeing her made her disgusted, not only with him, but with herself, too; only a vengeful, petty person would be so worked up over a high school fling that turned out to be meaningless. Though she finally slept the whole night, she sometimes didn't want to sleep. She just stayed up at night and thought about what it would be like if she were still with Toby. It was nights like those that turned out to be bitches; she woke up the next morning with a groggy feeling, tired eyes, and a worn-out soul.

Perhaps that wasn't that which bothered her most about those nights. The thing that perhaps was the worst was that she let her guard down on those fatigued days. She'd look over at him and he'd catch her. He'd look at her scornfully before turning back to his new girlfriend. She'd look down ashamed; it was too much for her pride to handle. She had never told him and had never really shown him her pride, but he just seemed to know her too well. He was able to control her feelings. He was able to bruise her ego.

But he couldn't do that without her consent. She let him hurt her. He was still screwing her over like he had her heart in the palm of his hand. Maybe he did.

He screwed her over; she didn't forget. She could practically write out a thorough list of all his offenses. It hurt the first time and hurt the last time he hurt her. Above all, she hated most that he was still hurting her because she let it happen.

She'd come to terms by this point with the fact that he would never change. Unfortunately, she was the one who would have to initiate these changes so he couldn't hurt her anymore. She began to build up her walls so she couldn't let him in. She couldn't feel his cold smirk or his scornful looks.

But her defenses made her scared. There were some days she slept the whole night through and not once worried about anybody but herself. She was scared of becoming a self-righteous, craven, hypocritical demon like he was.

She was scared of getting lonely. She was far too lonely.

Guest: No, who are you, really? You're just so nice. And is that college? Idk I'm in high school. I'm oblivious to the real world. Thank you!

MilaMizz:You just have to keep getting better, but not like a huge jump. Little by little. It'll get there. I wish I could offer a solution but you're in a really difficult situation. Thank you!

Sarah:I don't think you're a bitch 24/7 (I mean, not in a bad way, at least, imo). I take pride in some of my work. I feel like my writing style is still a bit elastic in terms where I don't really know what it is yet...hmm...but yeah, hope you liked it!

Ugh tomorrow is the PSAT which means I need to get up at 7 on a SATURDAY like what is this I hate this stupid school.

Tomorrow's one-shot (and hopefully, I'll actually remember to update) will be Red by Trifecta. Thank you! -Kayson