[WATTYS 2016 WINNER!] [COSMOPOLITAN Featured!]
Trapped in her white trash hell, Layla Danner is failing at life.
Her friend Peyton? Everybody thinks he's perfect, a staggeringly rich, handsome, and well-mannered story book prince. But they don't kn...
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A/N: This is the final version of this chapter. If you've read the draft I accidentally published, I hope you'll read it again without all the errors! 😇
Sometimes, a girl's Knight in Shining Armor shows up wearing a black polo shirt embroidered with a tacky logo consisting of a bright green star and a golden horseshoe, woven together with the words, 'The Lucky Star Ranch', in a hokey rope font.
And instead of waxing poetic about her incomparable beauty and making breathless promises of love everlasting, he says something like:
"This is bullshit. Come on, let's get the fuck out of here."
Jake took my hand and pulled me off the bench. I stumbled at the unexpected movement, but righted myself just as he started walking. "Jake! What are you doing?"
Without answering, he wove a path through the throng of people ahead of us, pulling me behind him.
"Oh my God, she's such a little whore – Lottie, I told you she was fucking him too, I don't know why you wouldn't believe me."
One of these days, I was going to punch Kylie's teeth out. Turning my head, I ignored the baffled New Yorkers and glared at her. Her trademark sneer turner nastier than ever as she whispered furiously into Charlotte's ear. And Charlotte, she almost looked... sad?
Not my problem. I resisted the urge to flip the whole lot of them off, but happily turned my back on them.
Peace out, motherfuckers. I hope those chili cheese fries give y'all diarrhea.
The further we got from them, the easier it became for me to breathe. My muscles relaxed, my head cleared, and I was finally able to focus again. And...
OhmyGod ohmyGod, Jake's holding my hand!
A stupid grin spread across my face as I stared at our hands, his longer fingers wrapped tightly around mine. The tingling that started at my palms traveled all the way up my arm and infused my entire body with a magical warmth that launched me all the way up to Cloud Nine. The Angels sang their heavenly hymns and any minute now, I fully expected Pegasus to come fly-galloping by, winking suggestively at all the possibilities.
Without warning, Jake took a sharp left, busting me out of my psychosis. The world came back into focus, spearheaded by the bright red sign ahead of us.
Exit?
I locked my knees, grinding us to a stop. "Wait! Jake! Where are we going? I can't just leave!"
He took a step back and put his face right up to mine, so close that the tips of our noses nearly touched. "You can do whatever you want," he bit out. "Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."
"But-"
"You can," he reiterated. "What the fuck does he think he's doing?"
