Fall Away

My name is Tate. He doesn't call me that, though. He would never refer to me by a friendly nickname. No, he'll barely even speak to me. But he still won't leave me alone. We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I've been humiliated, shut out and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumours got worse as time wore on, and I made myself sick trying to stay out of his way. I even went to France for a year, just to avoid him.

Have you ever been so angry that hitting things felt good? Or numb to all emotions? The past few years have been like that for me. Travelling between fury and indifference with no stops in between. Some people hate me for it, while others are scared of me. But none of them can hurt me, because I don't care about anything or anyone. Except Tatum. I love her so much that I hate her. I hate that I can't let her go. We used to be friends, but I found out that I couldn't trust her - or anyone else. So I hurt her. I pushed her away. But I still need her.

She's back. For the three years she's been away at boarding school, there was no word from her. Back when we lived in the same house, she used to cut me down during the day and then leave her door open for me at night. I was stupid then, but now I'm ready to beat her at her own game.

K. C. Carter has always followed the rules - until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she's stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.