Zoë

It wasn't long until the entire school had heard about her and Carden's breakup. It was like a nuclear bomb of attention had been dropped right in the middle of the school and droplets of it had been stained onto the skin of Carden, Chloe, and herself.

Every girl, single or taken, pleaded for Carden's attention. Some chased down the hall after him while others clung to his muscular arm and attempted to comfort him. Some guys even stared at him with jealousy.

Chloe was getting attention because of the way she had begun to hangout with her and Amber. Cal refused to be around her because she didn't believe Chloe had changed but she definitely had. She wasn't that snarky popular girl anymore. She had turned into a girl who had the wool taken from her eyes, saw the raw emotions of the people she had hurt. She had even began to attempt to fix her many mistakes.

And Zoë, well, she was the pretty nerd who had been cheated on by the quarterback. She was now on the market and she had started to get attention of a ton of boys. Almost everyday someone tried to flirt with her or give them her number. And everyday she denied them because everything was still so raw.

She hadn't spoken to Carden in a week or two. She refused to look at him or even glance in his general direction. She had stopped looking for him at lunch and had somehow blocked him out of her sight in Greek Mythology.

Zarden was dead.

Exploded.

Gone.

Not existing.

Broken.

Thrown over the edge of Mount Olympus just like Hephaestus.

"Hey, Zoë."

Zoë looked up from her book to see Dean standing awkwardly above her in the library, book shelves full of romance books standing behind him. "Hey."

She scooted over so he could sit beside her.

They sat in very awkward silence as Dean pulled out his phone and Zoë's eyes returned back to her book. The girl was running from the boy and he was chasing after her. How cliche. Carden never chased after her as she started her run with Chloe...

"You know, I heard Andrew talking about how Alexander on the basketball team wanted to ask you out," Dean said suddenly. His face was nuclear when her eyes met his.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He went silent for a moment. "Are you looking for a boyfriend right now?"

"No." The answer was almost immediate. She had had her heart broken with Carden. She wasn't looking for another heart break while she was in the middle of mending hers at the moment. "I'm not looking to be hurt again. I just need some time to...adjust, I guess. When Carden and I were together, it felt like we were supposed to be. He...he made me forget about the crap in my life. How dumb is that?"

Dean shook his head with a smile. "Not dumb at all. I just want you to know that you've always get a friend in me."

"Thanks, Dean."

"No problem."

Awkward silence again but it didn't last long because some girl let out a hysterical squeal and exclaimed, "OH MY GOSH ITS CARDEN ASH!"

Zoë rolled her eyes. "What does he want this time?"

They both stood up to see Carden strolling through the library like he owned it and he settled down onto one of the many comfy couches with a sports book in his hands.

"Am I see what I think I'm seeing?" Dean joked. "A jock in a library? What did you do to him, Flynn?"

"I don't know."

Carden opened his book and began to read, oblivious to the crowd of people who were staring at him like he was a foreign alien. Had his face always been that red and were his hands always shaking? Something seemed so off with him it made her want to go over to him and wrap her arms around him. But she couldn't.

Zarden had been thrown over the edge of the Grand Canyon and had landed with a satisfying splat on the bottom, remember?

When Zoë and Dean attempted to walk past him unnoticed, Carden looked up from his page. "Hey, Z. Sup Dean."

They both froze like deer in headlights. What were they supposed to do with all these people watching? Run out of there at full speed of just stand there frozen like idiots?

She spun on her heel and stared at his forehead. She couldn't quite meet his sparkly eyes yet. "Hi."

Dean waved shyly.

"How have you been?" The words were directed to her.

"Fine."

He slammed shut his book and let out a breath. "Can we talk, please?"

"No."

"Zoë-"

"Don't." She whispered the words and prayed that she wouldn't start crying. She had had enough of the endless tears. "Please don't. I can't deal with this right now."

"Okay. But we're going to have to soon though."

"I don't want too."

"Why?"

She looked around for any possible way to show him she really didn't want him. She couldn't deal with getting her heart broke by the same guy twice.

And when she pulled herself out of her panicked trance, she found herself with her hands behind Dean's neck and her lips on his. Not to mention the way one of his hands was cupping her chin and the other was twirling a strand of her hair.

Everyone was frozen. Shocked.

But no one was as shocked as Zoë.

Kissing Dean was nothing like kissing Carden. When she kissed Carden, it felt magical. Like she was with her true love. But with Dean, it felt...dull. There was no spark. It was just plain and boring. It didn't have any meaning.

When they pulled away, both blushing furiously but for different reasons, she saw the look on Carden's face. He jaw was dropped and his eyes misted over. "Oh."

"Oh," Zoë agreed.

When she looked up, Carden had sprinted out one of the side doors to the library and he was long gone.

Dean sighed as he stared at Zoë. "Woah. That was...woah."

"I agree. One hundred percent."