February 29, 2010
2:00 a.m.
Evalynne’s House

I sprinted down the dim, endless hallway. I couldn’t breathe. I was panting and running and panicking. The fear was getting to me. And I fell. I collapsed down onto the ground and began to cry. This was it, I was going to die. But as I heard the sound of his footsteps getting closer and closer to me, I knew I couldn’t give up just yet.
So I scrambled to my feet and continued to run—to sprint down the dark corridor. But soon, I came to an abrupt halt when I reached a flight of steep stairs. I glanced behind me. He was right there. He was coming up behind me. Only a few feet away.
I took on cautious step onto the stairs, knowing that if I tried to run down them I would fall. They were just too steep. I could here his breathing now. I knew he had reached me, but I didn’t turn back around. I just kept going, one step at a time.
But before I could even get to the third step, I felt two strong hands on my back. Two strong hands push me. And as I fell through the air, I looked up to the figure standing there at the top of the staircase. I looked up into Michael’s sadistically amused eyes as he watched me fall. And the last thing I heard before I died was the manic sound of Michael’s laughter.

I jolted awake, panting frantically. I looked around my room, realizing where I was, realizing that it was just a dream. I wasn’t dead. Michael hadn’t killed me.
When my breathing finally began to go back to normal, I became conscious of how hot I was. My entire body felt feverish. So I went over to my window and opened it up to let in some air. I closed my eyes as I let the cool breeze into my room.
But as I stood at my window, I heard something—someone. It sounded like a girl. She was laughing softly, contentedly. My eyes fluttered open and I peered out the window. That’s when I saw them. Two people rolling around on the grass in between my house and Will’s. Two people making out. And those two people were Michael and Valerie.
I recognized their faces instantly, but seeing them together like that shocked me. And before I could stop myself, I let out a surprised gasp. Both of them stopped what they were doing and looked up at me.
“You enjoying the show?” Michael inquired, smirking at me in amusement.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—it was an accident, I-I-I’m sorry.” I was choking on my words, too taken aback to think straight.
“You can come down and join us if you’d like to.” Michael told me, causing Valerie to scowl.
“But Mikey, you said we could be alone tonight.” Valerie reminded him, her voice whiny and incredibly annoying.
“Val, shut up.” His words were harsh, but his tone was sweet. He pushed her away from him so that he could stand up. Did this guy have any respect for women? “So Evalynne, what do you say?”
“Thanks for the offer, but there’s no way in hell I’m making out with you. Especially with her here! You know, that is Will’s ex-girlfriend. Does he even know that she’s here?”
At the mention of Will’s name, Michael clenched his teeth and balled his hands up into tight fists. Seeing his bitter reaction made me realize how stupid I was to have just said that. After all, this guy was a murder. He’d killed a girl because she was friends with his brother. He was going to kill Valerie because she went out with his brother. So trying to stand up for Will wasn’t exactly the brightest thing to do.
“Will broke her heart. She wants nothing to do with him anymore. Isn’t that right Val?” Michael remarked.
She nodded, her eyes looking distant as if she were remembering the time when her and Will were together. “Right,” she replied softly.
He grinned, flashing his shiny white teeth. “You see? She doesn’t need Will anymore. She has me. In fact, it was a stupid decision for her to go out with Will in the first place. But she’s learned her lesson now. Now she knows that befriending my brother was a huge mistake. Maybe you can learn from her mistake, Evalynne.”
My heart dropped all the way down to my stomach, as I felt fear bubbling up in the pit of my stomach. “Yeah, you’re right. Will is a horrible person. Don’t worry, I’ll never speak to him again.” That was what I should’ve said in order to please Michael. But I didn’t. My feelings for Will got in the way, and instead I said, “Will’s so sorry, Valerie. He knows that he took you for granted and he regrets it so much. He still loves you though! He never stopped loving you actually. I’m not lying either. He told me himself.”
Valerie’s face lit up with a mixture of happiness and sadness at the same time. Like finding this out was bittersweet for her. But for Michael it was just enough to make him furious. And without any warning, he picked up a stone from the ground, threw it at Will’s bedroom window, pulled Valerie into his arms and pressed his lips against hers.
Will opened his window and saw them making out. That’s when I realized that this was Michael’s plan. He had thrown the stone to get Will’s attention so that he could see him with Valerie.
“Val?” Will cried, his voice cracking. That’s how I knew that seeing this had really hit home for him. Will was usually carefree, emotionless. But not when it came to Valerie. Not when it came the girl he loved.
“Will!” she shouted, pulling away from Michael immediately.
“He hurt you.” Michael told her. “He doesn’t love you. He never loved you. He cheated on you. He never cared about you.” These words were obviously getting to Valerie, because she was beginning to tremble.
“Michael, how could you do this to me?” Will demanded, tears welling up in his eyes. “And Val...oh Val, I can’t believe this.”
“Don’t you try to make me feel guilty!” she shot back. “You’re the one who cheated on me! Michael’s right, you never loved me. But Michael does. He told me himself.”
Will’s dejected gaze met Michael’s pleased one. And I just stood there watching, completely speechless.
“I know you hate me, Michael, but this…this is the worst thing you’ve ever done to me. I never expected this—even from you.” Then without another word, Will shut his window, along with his curtains, ending the argument.
“I’m sorry about my brother.” Michael apologized to Valerie. “I’m sorry that he put you through so much pain. And I’m sure that little dispute didn’t help either. He can be so rude sometimes.”
I swallowed back the words that so desperately wanted to escape from my throat. But if I told Michael that he was the psychotic murderer, he would definitely kill me. So instead, I shut my window and my curtains, and headed back to bed.

Around ten o’clock, the sound of my cell phone ringing woke me up. “Hello,” I answered, my voice groggy.
“Evalynne, hey,” I was shocked to hear Cole’s voice on the other end. But I wasn’t sure whether or not I was happy about it.
“Oh, Cole,” I said, feeling completely awake now.
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” he asked, sounding apologetic.
“Well yeah,” I admitted. “But it’s fine, don’t worry about it. So what’s up?”
“Nothing really, I just needed to hear the sound of your voice again.” I felt my heart flutter in my chest when he said that. If this meant that he wanted to get back together, then I wasn’t so sure I’d agree to that. After all, we seemed to spend most of our time fighting. And even though I loved him, I was only happy being with him about a quarter of the time. “I’m uh, back together with Katrina.” He sounded a bit nervous when he told me this, as if he thought I would be angry with him for it.
“That’s great.” I told him, but deep inside of me I felt a pang of jealousy. And before I could stop myself, I said, “Will and I are actually together now.”
He was silent on the other end.
I knew it was wrong of me to lie to him like this, but I couldn’t control myself. I just hoped he wasn’t too upset about it. Although if he didn’t respond soon, I’d really have began to worry.
“I knew it.” he stated. “I knew he liked you! I should’ve seen this coming. I should’ve known that as soon as I left, you two would end up together.”
I swallowed hard, fighting back tears, because I so desperately wanted Will and I to be together. But he didn’t even know I had feelings for him. I knew he didn’t have feelings for me though.
“Yeah,” I mumbled in response.
“Well I’m sure he’ll make you happier than I ever did.” He didn’t say it like he was angry, he said it like he was actually happy for me. That’s how I knew he still loved me.
“Cole, you did make me happy.” I said. “It was our past that kept us from being together. Everything that happened last summer…it stopped us from being together now. And I’m sorry for that. But please don’t blame yourself, because it’s not your fault. In fact, I’m the one to blame here. If I wasn’t so indecisive, I could’ve just picked either you or Ash. I could’ve stopped all that drama from happening. I could’ve stopped myself from hurting you like I did.”
“You’re right, our past does kind of suck. But you know what? I’d do it all again. I’d go through it all again. Because even though we had our unhappy moments, we also had some great moments too. And I will cherish those forever.”
I took a deep breath to stop myself from releasing the tears I was holding back. This was too much for me to take in all at once. All of my feelings for Cole were coming back to me. Flooding my heart until it was overflowing with emotions.
“So will I.” I told him sincerely.
“Baby, who are you on the phone with?” I could hear Katrina say to him in the background. By the sound of her voice, I could tell that she’d just woken up.
“Just a friend.” he told her. And he wasn’t lying either, because that’s all I was to him now. Just a friend. We were just friends. “Hey, I’ve got to go now. So I guess I’ll talk to you later.”
“Ok,” I said. And we both hung up. I sat there, staring at my phone. I could just picture him climbing back into bed with Katrina. Kissing her. Touching her. Embracing her in his arms.
And that was when the tears finally escaped.

Author's Note: Ok, Cole, Will, Michael, or Shaun? Who is your favorite guy in this story so far?