All Chapters of Project Heartbreak: Chapter 51 - Chapter 55

“What do I do?” The question came out small and pathetic. “What am I supposed to do now?”Ben looked at the ground, scuffing his shoe against the asphalt. “I don’t know, man. Maybe... maybe go to the principal?”“And say what?” Maya snapped, her frustration boiling over. “‘Hey, everyone’s calling me a pervert, make it stop’? That’ll just make it look like we’re panicking. We need a plan.”A plan. Right. Because I was so good at those. My grand plan to get close to Asher had ended with me being publicly branded a predatory thief. My track record was not great.Then my phone buzzed in my pocket.We all froze. I pulled it out slowly, my heart hammering against my ribs. The screen glowed.JAX.My thumb hovered over the screen. I hit ‘decline’ and shoved the phone back into my pocket.“Who was it?” Ben asked, though he’d clearly seen the screen.“Nobody,” I muttered.Maya’s eyes narrowed. “Was it him? Was it Jax?”I didn’t answer. The phone started buzzing again, relentless. JAX.“Pick it

The next time I surfaced, the world had shifted. The crushing weight was gone, replaced by a deep, body-aching weakness, like I’d been run over by a truck and then put back together. But I could move my limbs without feeling like they were made of concrete.I shuffled to the bathroom, my reflection in the mirror giving me a fright. Pale, dark circles under my eyes, hair a disaster. I looked like I’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight champion.The smell of toast led me to the kitchen. Orhan was at the table, a pair of craft scissors in one hand and the local newspaper spread out before him. He wasn’t reading the articles. He was cutting out a picture of Asher Hayes from a sports section photo of the soccer team. He had a small, growing pile of them.I didn’t have the energy. I just didn’t. I walked past him, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and chugged half of it, the cool liquid a miracle on my ragged throat.As I leaned against the counter, the ghost of a memory surfaced. The

I woke up late today. My room was a disaster zone of half-filled boxes and piles of clothes I couldn’t decide if I needed. It was overwhelming. I just stared at the chaos, feeling utterly, profoundly lazy.My phone was dead. I plugged it in, dragged myself through a shower, and pulled on clean clothes.The house was quiet. Mom had left a plate of pancakes under a glass dome on the counter. Orhan was nowhere to be seen. Probably in the backyard, conducting unspeakable experiments on the local ant population. I ate standing up, then collapsed on the living room couch, flipping on some mindless movie.I fell into that weird, daytime TV trance, where you’re not really watching, just letting the noise and colors wash over you. I glanced at the clock on the DVD player.4:07 PM.My brain stalled. 4 PM? How? The entire day had evaporated. A panicky jolt went through me. My phone. I’d completely forgotten about it, charging in my room.I headed to my room, my heart starting a weird, irregular