Chapter 01

MONICA

I was tagged the cheap slut who lost her V-card within one month of being deceived by the school's hottest boy.

I'd brought shame onto myself because I was foolish enough to think love ever existed for girls like me.

"That was easy, bro! We gave you two months but you were able to get into her secret chamber within a month," one of Damian's friends laughed, shaking hands and bumping his shoulder with Damian.

Damian pulled back, a proud smirk sitting pretty on his handsome face. "Told you I would hit within a month," he chuckled, his words breaking me into a greater despair than I already was.

He turned to the other jock, Dominic, one of his close buddies I knew when I hung out with him. He was leaning against the wall. "Care to drop my twenty grands now?" Damian demanded.

"Yeah... you won the bet so... you'll get your alert—" Dominic twirled his latest iPhone between his fingers then tapped on the screen for a few seconds. "Now," he completed, an amused look settling on his face as he stared at Damian and a beep was heard across the hall causing the boys to cheer even louder.

I gasped, my knees giving out but I was quick to support my balance with the rail of the staircase.

I was nothing more than a bet to Damian...twenty thousand dollars was all it took to have access to my virginity.

The other students passing by me where I stood frozen gave me looks of disgust. "I wonder how Damian could fuck that."

"Her moans sounded like she was singing an opera," a brunette girl who was standing with a blonde girl, I assume was her friend let out a mocking laughter that rippled across the hallway.

My eyes watered, how could I have been so dumb? So fucking dumb!

The whole school echoed with my moaning sound that was leaked and pictures of the white bedsheets stained with my blood.

I summoned courage, at least just this once, and walked up to Damian to confront him, I shouldn't have but I just wanted to look him in the face to confirm how he was a devil in disguise. His group of friends became mute surprisingly as they saw me approach.

"Ho-how could you?" My lips quivered as I stared at Damian. His eyes flickered at me but he didn't say anything.

I sniffed, batting my eyes to stop the tears threatening to fall. "I had high hopes..."

"Monica—" he tried to move close to me but I stepped back away from his reach.

"... hopes that you were different, I guess I was stupid to think that you were," my voice cracked while I fisted my hands tightly by my side.

"Of course, you were," A shrilling voice said behind me and I turned my head to see who it was.

Zoey.

The almighty queen bee of the school and together with her were her three minions.

"You're very stupid to think Damian would ever look at trash like you or want to spend time with you," she continued and her girls laughed in support.

"I mean have you looked at yourself in the mirror?" Oliva scoffed, her glossy lips curling downwards like she'd tasted something sour.

Their laughter felt like knives, stabbing right into every tiny hole in my skin. I wanted to shrink, to fold myself into nothing, but my feet sadly stayed rooted. Zoey's eyes swept over me like I was a stain on her designer shoes.

"She probably doesn't even own a mirror," another one of her shadows giggled. It was Ava Martin and I watched her twirl a strand of hair around her finger like she had nothing better to do than bully me.

My throat tightened, heat climbing up my neck. "I didn't do anything to you," I whispered.

Zoey smirked, stepping even closer to me. So close her perfume began choking me as much as her words. "Existing is enough. Don't get it twisted, honey. Damian regrets it just as much as you do, I heard he got his entire body exfoliated three times after bedding you. If not for the bed he wouldn't even look your way because you reek of poverty and trash." She dragged the word out like gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

I glanced at Damian maybe he would have an ounce of regret for what he had done to me but his gaze lacked emotion like he couldn't care less about the situation he had put me in.

I couldn't believe it, this was the same Damian I had gone out on a date with. The one who stared at me so lovingly I'd melt. The one whose touch set my entire skin ablaze.

Unable to withstand the shit show any longer, I turned to leave but then Ava held me back.

Zoey tilted her head back and laughed then she walked to him, pressing her lips against his right there in front of everyone. The boys cheered, some whistled, and I just stood there swallowing my shame like glass shards.

I couldn't breathe anymore. I forcefully yanked my hand away from Ava's and I turned, shoving past a couple of kids who muttered things I didn't want to hear but heard anyway. Slut. Whore. Cheap.

I didn't stop running until my knees buckled against the cold metal seats of the stadium bleachers.

I collapsed onto one, clutching the railing with trembling fingers, sucking in shaky breaths. Before I knew it, the sobs I had been carefully holding back ripped out of me, ugly and loud. My face was buried in my palms as hot tears slid through my fingers, dripping down until the fabric of my jeans was damp.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," I kept mumbling between sobs. "How could I be so stupid..."

The more I said it, the heavier it pressed on me, like the word itself was piling stones on my chest. I thought about my dad, mopping floors while I was in an elite private school. I thought about how proud he was when he heard I got the scholarship and how I promised him I'd make him proud. And here I was, the janitor's daughter turned into the biggest joke in Havenstone High.

I hated it. I hated myself. I wanted to disappear, to erase the last month, to rip Damian out of every memory I'd let him stain.

"I figured you'd be here." A familiar voice suddenly rang out.

I lifted my head to find Julian, my bestfriend. His familiar crooked grin was there. In his hands, two cans of soda, condensation dripping down the sides. Our soda. The one thing we always shared when the world sucked.

I tried to wipe my face fast, but my cheeks were still streaked and swollen. "Go away, Jules," I croaked.

"Yeah... not gonna happen," he said softly, climbing up the bleachers until he dropped beside me. He cracked one can open before offering it to me.

"Thanks," I muttered, keeping my eyes down as I took it.

"Anytime," he answered, sipping from his own can. He didn't push me, didn't ask a million questions like other people would. He just sat there with his shoulder brushing mine, eyes fixed on the empty field like there was a game happening only he could see.

"I'm so stupid," I whispered finally, the words spilling out again before I could stop them.

Julian turned his head slightly. "No. You're not stupid. You liked him, that's all. You gave him a chance because you thought he was worth it. That doesn't make you dumb. That makes him trash."

I blinked at him, more tears spilling anyway. He always knew the right thing to say. "Although," he added with a teasing side-eye, "I did warn you about him."

A broken laugh slipped out of me. "Yeah, you did," I admitted, wiping my nose with the back of my sleeve.

Julian's smile widened just a little. He seemed satisfied, before he looked back at the field. He tapped his soda can against mine gently. "It's okay to cry. Don't lock it all inside. Let it out."

I didn't argue, instead, I rested my head on his shoulder. He didn't move, just let me cry into his shirt until it was damp with tears but he didn't complain.

"Thank you for staying by me," I whispered

Julian shifted suddenly, standing and facing me. "You done crying?" he asked, folding his arms like he was deciding for both of us.

I frowned, confused. "Yeah... Why?" He smirked, the kind of smirk that always meant trouble. "Because it's time for revenge."

"Revenge?"

"Yeah," Julian nodded, eyes lighting up. "You're not gonna sit here and let Damian and Zoey drag you like this. You're gonna make him regret every second he didn't see your worth."

"How? I'm nobody, Jules. I'm literally the janitor's daughter. He already won and there's nothing I could ever do to get back at either of them." I whispered feeling so much pity for myself.

"Oh, there is a way to make him pay," Julian said convinced.

"How?"

"By making him realize he lost a valuable asset he should have cherished and it's time to have a makeover."