"Just like I told you, boys will be boys, and they belonged in the trash," Jezebel stated to prove a point to her friend, who was still heartfully afflicted by the Aubrey situation.

Showing her the video evidence last night helped but also hurt her. The face that Olivia made when she saw it, all her good spirits were drained out and left her. She was so shocked that partying became the last thing on her mind, and all she wanted to do was to go home. She left home early and didn't look at anyone or say goodbye.

The truth came out to her, and Jezebel was happy about that but not watching her hitting a low point. Currently, Olivia had her head down on the table, lamenting the death of her now broken crush, although she couldn't seem to get over how things went.

It'd be a bit dramatic to have onlookers watch Olivia in this state as they're just getting to their table in the cafeteria. Their friend group was already gaining attention as it is, especially for Jezebel, but the attention wasn't always craved.

It had been the second time now that Jezebel faced this with her since her last short-term crush.

"You know this won't change the fact that he made you think you had a chance," Jezebel said, not giving the time to spare her.

"But it's just not fair," Olivia cried out.

"A little more sympathy here. Olivia is having her heart stomped and can't bounce back quick like you, Jezebel," Harmony spoke, then looked at Olivia as she stroked her back softly.

Jezebel sighed. It's not like she didn't see the big picture, but she would think that she should be glad that she didn't have to be around that guy. If it was her, she'd be glad someone told her about the mess before it would get anywhere far.

Breella gave her a glance, a look where it said that she should say something else to help her out better.

And she hated when she was right. Jezebel reached her hand out on the table to pat Olivia's hand on top a few times delicately. "There, there. You'll be fine." She offered her nice words, but she couldn't just be nice and wanted to give it a push. "But Olivia, you're better than this. I know you are. You can't let a boy get you down. Let's say that you find yourself a frog. You don't want to cry over one."

Olivia's head lifted up slowly, and a forlorn look emerged onto her expression. "But frogs are cute." 

"That's not the point." Jezebel closed her eyes briefly and sighed. She needed patience. "You can't believe that just because a guy looks seemingly nice means they are. He's either a good actor or likes the attention. You should remember I went out with lots of scums."

Olivia whimpered, "You're saying there aren't guys like Jack Dawson or Kang Hangyul?" Her eyes looked on with desperate sadness.

She paused as Breella and Harmony's eyes were glancing at her with warning. It didn't scare her to say how she truly thought on this matter. Jezebel knew sugarcoating her would make matter worse. She could motivate her and tell her straight up in one.

"There will be plenty of others to meet," Harmony said, reassuring.

"It's only for show." Jezebel toughened her look, and jutted her chin out convincingly. "Looking for it is just a waste of time. Forget that guy. If you really believe in destiny, they'll come to you, and all is great. But don't rely on that sappy stuff."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Olivia asked slowly.

"Of course," she said. "Come to your sense soon so you can see my side of things."

Harmony wanted to say more to counter Jezebel's words but instead check over how Olivia was. Jezebel forked a tomato into her mouth. She was happy enough that she didn't have to hear any more about he this or that. She had to be the firm one for her friends.

It was a raising suspicion when boys do things for girls unwillingly. She didn't believe that. There's always a motive behind everything.

I guess it's all thanks to that guy. But would I have needed his help in the first place? But then again, he did provide proof, so maybe it's good? 

Breella was the first to say something after their short silence passed a beat. "It's so odd. Seeing that guy at the party last night. Why did he come in the first place?"

"Because he cares about nobody but himself," Jezebel said, an eyebrow raised.

"Parties aren't his scene. What could he want to do with anything there?"

After Mackinley supplied his evidence, he didn't stick around as though there was nothing else for him. It was peculiar how someone could just come and leave like that. That guy was surely unexpected at most.

"He told me he just wants fun. Probably out of boredom because guys are weird," Jezebel told her. 

While walking through the hallway, a glimpse of a certain brunette appeared, along with a person that she had never seen before. The guy with Mackinley looked typically ordinary, but the way the two talked to each other, he looked laidback and easy. Even when Jezebel spot him around a few times in the past year, he was always by himself, and accompanied by no one.

From the way he talked to her last night, he was annoying but had excitement. The kind of excitement that installed in him for odd reasons she would never know about. But last night was odd. Wasn't social interaction for him last on his list? Didn't he prefer to isolate himself away from everyone else? So what kind of people would he talk to on some occasion?

Mackinley nodded at something to what the guy said and gave him a quick smile before they were further out from sight when they turned in another direction.

Jezebel held a conversation with a guy before she waved goodbye to him. Once he left, she walked by herself on the way to the school's parking lot. She twisted her backpack to the front of her as she touched her zipper and dug the inside for her keys.

"Hey, Jezebel."

A deep voice stopped her, her eyes catching the plum purple slip-on she had seen being worn many times, and they brought back that familiarity. There's no way... he...? Trailing her eyes up slowly Jezebel's body froze when she saw Eric, the one boy who broke her first.

Eric LeBlanc, who currently no longer a senior here in Ray Welch High School as he had moved to a different high school somewhere distant than their city. He spun her head for the last five months.

He stood there, and just how she remembered him, his short dark messy hair and his hazel eyes that danced like paradise sunset, rich in copper and soil. He had an exquisite face with a chiseled square jaw and skin like french vanilla. His thick dark arched soft eyebrow moved in a subtle shift at her carefully, and his lips parted slightly in breathing.

What was he doing here? And why is he here at school with me? Jezebel pushed her bottom lip in softly behind her teeth. He still had that mighty presence on her, a magnifying one that she was so microscopic under his gaze.

Eric busted out a smile at her. "I'm so glad to see you."

And how do I feel? She wasn't sure nor processing what was going on and really hoped that he was just an illusion, that perhaps her feelings for him were trying to incoherently pop out again with the feelings far pushed back from the bottom.

"How are you?" he asked.

Realizing that she was outside with some of the students stealing glances between them, she came to her senses and unfroze her still body. Some students caught Eric in their eyes as he was in the limelight with her when they were boyfriend and girlfriend. A couple of girls who glanced at him made heart eyes and derived pleasure in his perishing good looks.

Jezebel looked to them and then back to him. She put on her best I'm fine smile. "I'm doing well. I didn't expect to see you."

He awkwardly placed a hand behind his neck with his smile out to her. "I surprised you, didn't I?"

"You sure did." 

Questions had raised in her mind. Why didn't he want it to try, to make things work? Why couldn't they have see each other at least once or twice a month? It wouldn't have been that hard. She begged for him while he let them go. She so badly wanted to jump on him and into his arms, kissing his face all over, desperately clinging to him like there was no tomorrow.

Conflicted feelings spurred at the moment, but she suppressed them all she could, wishing it wasn't this way.

"How come you're here?" she asked.

He looked at her as a quick flash of sorrow came across his countenance and a sad frown. "School ended early for me. Plus, I missed you." 

Those words were what Jezebel craved to hear from out of his lips; she wanted to say 'I miss you too,' and she almost did. But then quickly, her emotions reacted like an emotional wave when she remembered all those times she cried for him, heard her heart shattering from the good moments to the last moments, and felt like a fool to care for one boy devotedly. It didn't seem fair that she threw fuses at him during her alone time when she didn't know how else to deal with these emotions she never experienced before. She hated an unexpected change.

She retracted her foolishness and glazed on an icy expression at him. "I don't want to hear it."

"Baby, please," Eric pleaded.

There's no way she'd let him break her again. "It's too late for that, don't you think?" Jezebel chided him as she watched how she would look at him months ago when she asked him to reconsider.

"Jezebel, I'm sorry." He took her hand in both of his, squeezing them tight but not too tightly. "I thought I'd be okay without you, but I'm not."

How do I know that you mean that? I can't suffer twice. I can't take him. "That's shame on you, right?" She pulled her hand off forcibly. "I've moved on." 

"Moved on? What are you saying?"

Jezebel couldn't take it; she needed to go now. She stepped forward past him with her head dipping down to the ground.

"Jezebel, Jezebel, wait," Eric called, moving his feet toward her. She quickly speeded up, but he caught up and stopped in front of her. "I came all this way to see you, and you tell me that your feelings changed? I thought you said before you wanted us to work."

He looked at her urgently. "I'm here, and now I'm sorry again. Can we make this work?"

If she was honest with herself, she was willing to do whatever to make things work with him. A part of her wanted to reopen their relationship again but another part of her believed that her vulnerability was what made her weak in the first place. If she hadn't begun to let down her guard, maybe this wouldn't happen in the first place. And she wouldn't blink an eye at him.

Jezebel had to be the girl that showed no mercy. But why did he have to make it hard on her? "Eric, I don't want to do this."

"How come?"

Did there always have to be a reason? Couldn't she say that she didn't want to, and it stopped there? She looked at him, his eyes begging. A hopeful wanting. It was her weak spot, and she could take him back this instance without thought if she looked at it longer. No way could she let herself fall back in, at least let him have a fight to see how much he meant what he said.

She needed to carefully think of a way to make her seem like she was okay without him. What way could she think of?

I need an escape plan. If he thinks I'm fine without him, maybe he'll back off. Think, use your smart brain. She became a mess because of a boy... could she get out of it the same way? I've moved on..., the words echoed what she said earlier.

Finally, she spoke up. "There's a boy." 

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Hello guys, we are at the ending of July and about to be opening up to August. Then autumn will hit us before we can blink. 

Oh yes, we enter boy problems now with Jezebel. We have an ex-boy on our plate. And Jezebel is trying to fight off that old feeling with masking her feelings. She goes to pull off something that sounds sort of typical when you need to get yourself out of a sticky situation, no? I think maybe I'll involve this boy in future scenarios a little bit here and there. 

Now Jezebel needs to get herself a boy because she mentioned a boy. We're going to see how that goes, aha. 

Btw Kang Hangyul is a fictional character from the Kdrama The Liar and His Lover. Do watch it if you haven't seen it. 

I have a problem with a boy too. I'm missing a Japanese boy who I'll never see again, and I don't remember what he looks like either :') Sad reality. If only it is easy to forget, but then we'll be kinda heartless and nothing will ever be worth anything. Oh well. 

Please vote and comment as it means the world to me.