I stormed upstairs to take a shower. Riley's clothes were ruined from the chlorine in the pool and I felt really bad. Stupid Tracey. She better watch her back.

I looked in the bathroom mirror and almost screamed. My makeup was running down my face and I looked scary as hell. My hair was sticking up all over the place. And basically my entire school had seen me like this. I groaned.

I stripped out of the tight clothes and jumped into the burning hot shower. It felt so good. I stood there for a while just thinking. I tentatively raised my fingers to my still tingling lips. Ryker had kissed me. I dropped my hand, clenching it hard. He was playing with my emotions on purpose. He wanted me to fall for him like some sort of a sick joke. I mean he did save me, sure, but that must've been because he was the closest at the time.

Good thing I hadn't brought my cell phone to the party otherwise it would have drowned in the pool with me. It was vibrating like crazy on the sink. Xander was probably worried. I quickly hurried to get out of the shower.

I wrapped a towel around myself and grabbed my phone. I was about to reply to Xander's frantic texts when an incoming call appeared on the screen.

"X?"

"EVE! Are you okay? Ryker wouldn't let anyone near you, at all. I got the details from Rick about what happened. So basically Tracey pushed you in the pool and then Ryker sprinted from the deck to the pool and dove in after you. Then he pulled you out and gave you CPR until you could breathe again. I couldn't even get close to you. Well I did after Ryker had given you CPR, but he wouldn't let me take you home after. I just took Riley home, but he was like some huge guardian angel protecting you or something," Xander spoke fast.

"You did not just say guardian angel and Ryker in the same sentence," I said, not commenting on anything else he had just spit out.

"That's not the point," he said, "What I was trying to get across was the fact that Tracey pushed you in the pool and Ryker, the guy who you hate, saved you."

I sighed, "Yeah, when he dropped me off at my house, he kissed me, but-"

"WHAT?!"

"Jeez, X, my ear! As I was trying to say, Ryker kissed me, but I know he's just playing with me. He constantly tells me not to fall in love with him, so maybe he thinks I already have and he's just making fun of me by kissing me."

Xander was quiet for a moment before asking, "Well have you?"

"Have I what?" I asked, confused.

"Fallen for him?"

My jaw dropped open and I gawked at the cell phone.

"No! I would never fall for a guy like him in a million years!" I yelled into the phone.

"Woah, I was just making sure."

Then Xander went on about how he danced with Riley the whole night and how much fun he had with her. It made me smile. I told him I had to get dressed so I hung up. It was really quiet in the house since I was all alone. I pressed play on my playlist and Two-Strings filled the bathroom with their rock music. I immediately jabbed my thumb on the pause button to shut off Ryker's voice.

I didn't know what was up with him, but he seriously pissed me off. If he honestly thought he could get away with teasing me with that kiss, then he had another thing coming for him. Just like Tracey, he should sleep with one eye open.

~*~*~*~

"Xander, we are hanging out this weekend whether you want to or not. You can't just completely ditch me now that you're officially dating Riley," I said the next afternoon over the phone. I had already slept through most of the day by accident.

"Alright. Let's go to the movies," he suggested.

"Okay, sounds good," I hung up. We would go see a movie at seven and then go eat dinner at a restaurant near by. I was looking forward to spending time with Xander.

Ever since Riley inserted herself into our lives, I've been seeing less and less of him. I missed Xander.

I busied myself with getting ready for tonight. I straightened my frizzy hair and wrapped it up in a pony tail. I applied a tiny bit of makeup and threw on a gray sweater with a pair of ripped jeans. I was ready to go.

And it was still only five o'clock. I groaned. Xander would be here at half past six to pick me up.

I plopped down on the couch to watch TV, trying to pass the time. Mom had left a note on the fridge this morning saying that her nursing job required her to put in more hours. She also wrote that Christopher would be having dinner with us tomorrow. Great.

I was planning on being "sick" tomorrow so I could skip out, if you know what I mean.

My cellphone vibrated on the low coffee table. I leaned over to see who was texting me. An unknown number flashed across the screen and I clicked on the message.

Looking forward to seeing you at The Hangout tonight, Hannah baby. -Ryker

My eyes bugged out of my head. I wanted to vomit all over the screen. This was not an accident that he sent this text to my phone. No, he did it on purpose, knowing full well what he was doing. I clenched my fist around the phone. I was ready to chuck it across the room.

A second later, another text from the same number popped up. I opened this one as well.

Wrong number.

Wrong number my ass.

~*~*~*~

"Tell me why we're here again," Xander demanded while we were sitting in his car in the parking lot of The Hangout.

"Because," I said for the thousandth time, "Ryker's band is performing tonight and he sent me that stupid text. I know it wasn't an accident. He must have thought it would make me jealous to know that he was waiting for Hannah here."

"Does it?"

"X," I warned. 

He held his hands up in mock surrender, "Okay, okay. I know you're not jealous, jeez."

"Alright, let's go then," I said, putting my hand on the door handle.

"Wait, just don't do anything stupid, okay?" Xander asked.

"No promises," I said and hopped out of the car. Xander was fast on my heels as we entered the club.

Just like the first time we had come here, music pounded off the walls and sweaty bodies were tangled together on the dance floor.

Xander and I walked over to the fake bar and ordered two sodas. I leaned against a bar stool while Xander took a seat in the one next to it.

"So-" he began.

A body crashed into mine and I was knocked off balance. I toppled into the stool as I fell to the ground. I sprawled, ungracefully, across the dirty floor. A spark of anger shot through me at whoever who had just pushed me down and didn't even offer to help me up.

Xander quickly knelt before me and gave me his hand. I grabbed it as he dragged me back up. I spun around to see who had been the one to knock me over.

It wasn't one person who made me fall. It was two. And they were heavily making out against the wall closest to the bar. Without thinking, I grabbed my soda and stalked over to them. I ignored Xander's protests to get me to stop. I didn't even feel his efforts to stop me. I just barged right through all of his attempts.

In my haze of fury, I dumped my drink all over the both of them. The blond girl screeched as the ice cubs went down the front of her low hanging shirt.

Too late I realized who they were.

"Evangeline!" Hannah screamed, her hair caked in soda.

Ryker slowly turned around to face me with his hands still on Hannah's hips. He raked one hand through his now sticky hair. He flicked the liquid at me and narrowed his eyes.

"That wasn't very nice, Angel," he murmured.

"I'm going to kill her!" Hannah kept screaming.

"Shh," Ryker soothed, turning back toward her to nuzzle her neck. I couldn't take this. I hated the both of them. Ryker goes around kissing girls left and right, including me. Our kiss hadn't meant anything. I knew he had only wanted to tease me.

Hannah grinned wickedly at me and practically melted at Ryker's feet. Yep, I was so going to vomit.

Xander had finally reached me and was dragging me away. I let him.

"Let's go home," he said and I didn't fight him.

Xander drove me home and offered to stay over to make sure I was alright. I told him that I was fine and just wanted to be alone. A hurt look passed over his face when I told him that, but he shut the door and left.

I collapsed on the couch in the living room. I was still angry. Ryker got on my last nerve. I should have told Hannah how he had kissed me yesterday. Not out of jealousy, but out of spite for Hannah.

I sat on the couch in the dark room, staring at the picture of my father on the mantel of the fire place.

I took after him in looks. He had the same shade of brown hair as me, except his eyes were a light blue where mine were a dull gray. My heart ached every time I thought about him so I usually chose not to.

My mind began to wander back to Ryker. I wanted revenge. Then I had a brilliant idea.

I pulled my phone out of my tight pocket and found the unknown number that had texted me before. I added the contact to my phone as "Asshole" and put the poop emoji next to it.

Then I texted the number, pretending that I had meant to text Rick.

"Hey Rick. My bedroom window is unlocked. You can climb up the tree. My mom isn't home."

I sent the winky face emoji with the message. Then I passed out on the couch, forgetting to say I had the wrong number.

~*~*~*~

Loud banging jolted me awake. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dark. I couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. My heart started to beat fast. Someone was trying to break in.

In situations like these, I was always stupid. Scratch that, I was stupid in every situation. I always did the wrong thing, like right now.

I grabbed the fire pitch out of the fireplace and wielded it as a weapon. I followed the noise up to my bedroom. My door was shut and the noise was coming from just inside my room.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what was on the other side. Then, I threw the door open. The banging stopped. No one was in my room.

I hesitantly walked around my dark room, waving the fire pitch around just in case. When I ruled that no one was here and that it must have just been a branch scraping against the house, I breathed a sigh of relief. I dropped the fire pitch and fell on my bed.

The banging began again and I bolted upright. The noise was coming from my window.

I walked over to the window and yanked the curtains open. Electric blue eyes glared at me through the glass.

Ryker was straddling the tree branch outside my window with a very pissed off air around him. I lifted the window open.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled.

"Where is he?" He demanded.

"Where is who?" I asked stupidly.

"Rick," he practically growled.

I smacked my head with my hand, just now remembering how I had purposely texted Ryker like he had done to me. Except, I had forgotten to tell him I had the wrong number.

"Oh, wrong number," I said, slamming the window shut.

Ryker banged so hard against the glass that I thought it was going to shatter. I quickly pulled it back open so he couldn't do any damage.

"Is he here?"

"Rick? Yeah, he's downstairs," I lied, wanting to see how he would react.

Ryker's arm swept towards me and shoved me out of the way. I fell flat on my ass as he climbed through my window.

He barged through my room and down the stairs as if he owned this place. I chased after him.

Ryker lapped around my house, searching for Rick. I remained at the bottom of the stairs, silently laughing at his expense.

He stopped looking around for Rick and looked at me instead.

"Is he even here?"

I shook my head. I was going to burst out laughing in a second.

He strode right up to me, pushing me against the wall.

"Do you think this is funny?" He spat.

I lost it. I laughed right in his face and I couldn't stop.

"Wait," I said between gasps of air, "Don't tell me you're jealous?"

He scoffed, "Jealous of what?"

"Of me and Rick. You thought he was here so you came over," I glanced at the clock underneath the television. It was only ten o'clock which meant that he should have still been at the club with Hannah. His band would have already performed a few songs, but he shouldn't have been here.

"I would never be jealous of anyone who dated you, Angel," he said. I couldn't focus on anything else besides his lip piercing moving up and down when he spoke. He noticed me looking at his lips and leaned in closer. My heart started to beat rapidly in my chest.

"Want to know why?" He asked.

I didn't trust myself to speak, so I didn't.

He continued, "Because no one will ever date you. From now on, we are dating. I don't care what you say."

That did it.

"What the hell are you even saying? We aren't together and we never will be. Get over yourself. I don't even like you," I countered.

"Don't get me wrong. I don't like you either. But, you prolonged this war by playing by my rules. You tried the same trick on me that I had done on you tonight with the fake numbers," he somehow got even closer, "I know this will torture you more than anything else. If you refuse to be my 'girlfriend' then I will tell the whole school that you were played by Finn and that you're still in love with him."

I clenched my teeth. I would be the laughing stock of the entire school. Ryker was the biggest jerk alive.

I bit out, "I'm not going to be your girlfriend. You already have one, remember? Your tongue was just down her throat."

"I broke up with her. She started to get boring," he shrugged.

Oh my gosh. He broke up with girls when he got bored. He was such a jerk.

"Ryker Avery, I'll see you in hell for this."

"Sure. Just don't fall in love with me while we're dating. It will make it that much more fun to 'break up' with you in front of everyone."

That was when I became Ryker's 'girlfriend'.

~*~*~*~

Hi! Sorry for such a long chapter. Do you guys like Ryker or absolutely hate him? Also, let me know if you're enjoying this story so I know if I should continue to update! :)