Allison's POV
It was one of those slightly colder summer nights where you have to wear a jacket or just take one with you if you go out just to make sure you don't feel cold. I had a jacket on while walking the streets of my city but not the one my ex boyfriend gave me and never asked back for it. No, I was done with Matt and everything that reminded me of him. I put the jacket in a box and put it inside my closet just incase if he ever wanted it back. I wasn't expecting him to ask me if he could have it back or talk to me ever again, we hadn't spoken since we broke up. Not even seen each other. I'm not complaining though, I didn't want to see him or Nicole. After what they'd done to me I avoided going to any parties or anywhere near their houses, which was hard because we all live closely to each other so I mostly stayed inside. The only person I had left was Johnson. I didn't know who told him but of course he found out about the betrayel and understood why none of his friends weren't communicating anymore. He was disappointed at both Matt and Nicole but he had no right to stop being their friend, they did nothing to him and I wasn't blaming him. Johnson found it hard enough to deal with the situation, he often cut himself off when he accidentally mentioned Matt or Nicole and then quickly changed the subject. He thought I didn't notice but hearing the names of the people who once were my best friends sure catch my ears.
In one of the early summer days when Johnson wasn't available to hangout with I decided to walk outside by myself and bumped into a person I never expected seeing at that time and place. It was a tall attractive boy with dark brown hair and eyes who I met twice before, at a party and the police station. The one and only Sam. He smiled as soon as he recognized me, I didn't expect him to, and I awkwardly greeted him. He asked me what I was doing on the streets at 11 p.m. and I said I just needed some fresh air. We started to catch up a bit and of course he asked about Matt and I, so I told him there is no Matt and I anymore and started to explain what happened. At first he couldn't believe it and found it disgusting to even imagine. Agree. And I don't how it happened but since that night we started to hang out more and you can say we pretty much became friends very quickly. It was as if we knew each other for much longer than for one summer. The first few times we hung out I was nervous because he still was that attractive, popular and intimidating guy to me and I didn't want to screw up whatever we were starting to have. After getting to him better I found out that he isn't as tough as he looks like, he actually has a really soft side not many people get to know he'd told me. He moved to Dos Palos after the summer of 2014 and became not only friends with Jc and Lia but also became Mira's neighbor. And because I was spending time at Sam's house I also saw Mira more often, she would walk me home while we'd talk about whatever. You can say Mira is also one of the only friends I had at that moment, she was kind, listened to me and made me feel less miserable about everything what happened. She gave me advice to handle it as if she had the same experience, Sam on the other hand said a some other things about the betrayel. He said that he was impressed that I gave Matt so much time alone without going mental, that I had every reason to be mad at them and he said: "If you were mine you would be worth all the effort." I'm not sure what he meant by that but it made me feel good. Sam made me feel good about a lot of things including myself. Like when he walks me home after spending time with him, he did that the night of the last summer party who was organized by Johnson of course but I told him I wasn't coming for obvious reasons.
"I still think you should come." Sam argued with me as he walked next to me. "You can't avoid them forever, you know that."
I sighed. "I can for at least two more days, after that I have to face them everyday at school again." The thought of that was kind of scary. I hadn't seen their faces in weeks, no months! It'd be so weird to look at them and pretending like nothing ever happened between all of us.
"But it's the last party of the summer and you haven't even been to any summer party!" Sam kept going on. "Johnson would want you to come, he's your best friend after all."
I turned to him. "The guilty tactic doesn't work on me Sam. And after all, my best friend Johnson understands the reasons I'm not going completely."
"You mean the persons." This time he turned to me. "There's a chance that two people who you don't want to face are coming too, so what? You probably won't even see them."
I chuckled. "Why do you want me to go to this party so bad?" We stood still infront of my house as we arrived.
"Because—" He took a moment to come up with a reason. "I just think you should, it could be fun!"
"Or do you just need someone to drive you home when you're drunk?" I said jokingly and raised my eyebrow.
"No, I have Lia for that." He said serious. "I just want you to have fun, our senior year of high school is starting next monday and we should try to enjoy every miserable second of it." He paused. "Your summer wasn't the best, we both know that, just enjoy one night of it." He said while gently holding my wrists
"I had plenty of fun nights this summer, most of them were with you, and you know I'm not the biggest fan of going to parties." I paused. "Matt was the only reason I went to them in the first place."
"There's a version of you without him." He said softly while what he said hit me. Sam was quiet for a moment as if he finally accepted my choice. "You really don't want to go?" I shaked my head. "At least I tried," he forced himself to smile. "as much as I want to spend more time with you tonight—"
"You can't come inside, my mother and maybe even Walter will kill you, you know that." I interrupted him before he got any funny thoughts.
"I know, so go inside quick before you get in trouble darling." He took steps backwards but didn't stop looking at me until I arrived at the front door.
I almost put the keys in the front door when I realized it was only 11 p.m. and the last thing I wanted to do was sit in my room alone. I thought about the things Sam said. "It's the last party of the summer", "Johnson would want you to come" and "There's a version of you without him." He was right, I didn't need Matt or any guy to be someone's version of something. I was my own version of myself and I was done of people only recognizing me as "Matt's Girlfriend". I wasn't, not anymore and I was ready to show everyone my own version of me. I turned around just when Sam was about to walk away.
"Sam, wait!" I said as I walked his way. "You were right. Let's enjoy every miserable second."
