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Since Valentine's Day, All Time Low had been doing really well for themselves. I never missed one of their shows and I tried supporting them in many different ways from making T-shirts, putting up fliers for concerts, and passing out EPs in front of music stores, at venues, and even at WalMart and different school events. Chris, Marc, and Josh even helped me. Chris would pass EPs out with me while Marc would tell kids at the shows he played to check ATL out, and even though some corporate guy named Matt Flyzik replaced Josh, he would still come out and help me at times.

It was now April and prom was just next month. Alex wasn't cute when he went about asking me to things. Usually he simply went out and said it. When he wanted to take me out he would say, "Tell your mom we're going out," or "I'm out side, we're leaving." This time, he was different about asking me to prom. He had a shirt made that said "Prom?" and sent a few flowers to me in my first period class. Of course, I later found out from Rian that Alex had asked Jack for an idea and he was the one who came up with it all. Nevertheless, I liked how he wanted it to be special. I told him yes during lunch and he pulled out two tickets from his pocket that he had already bought. He was always confident.

Only days later he took me out dress shopping, wanting to pick something for me. I had to try at least 63 different ones that he liked, all of which looked like hooker dresses. He said he liked looking at my legs and proceeded to tease me by peaking behind the changing curtain when the store worker wasn't looking. Finally he decided on a normal, nice, short blue dress. I was glad he picked it because it was my favorite too. I already had shoes and accessories at home to go with it so we went out for ice cream and walked along Thames Street by the river, holding hands.

After that day though, things felt tense with Alex. He would ignore me, go out partying without me, stopped taking me to band practices, and just over all forgot about me. He would respond to my texts once with the same message: Not now. When I called him we would talk until I asked him about doing something together. He'd tell me he was far too busy and it wasn't the right time. I ended up spending time with Josh, Marc, Jenna, and Chris.

Hanging out with Jenna and Chris probably wasn't a good thing on my part. Jenna broke it off with him, telling him she just wanted to be his friend. Later I found out that she didn't like how he paid more attention to me when I was around than her. Trivial, but I understood where she was coming from. At least she didn't hate me and was still letting him take her to prom.

Josh and Marc were such a weird pair of friends. I figured out easily they both liked me a lot, but neither of them were going to admit it to me. Whenever I told them I felt bummed out they would take me out to places to have fun and did almost everything for me. They brightened my sad days for me since Alex was indisposed and I appreciated all that they did.

May rolled in and it was two weeks before prom when I got a message from Alex and I was happy. The sad thing was it was obviously by mistake.

Baby, u kno i wanna take u to prom but i didnt break it w/ her. Mayb i can leave her w/ Jck. Call u in a min.

Immediately I felt shattered and I just wanted to know who it was. It had to be at least twenty minutes that I sat on my bed, clutching onto my phone. I tried my hardest not to cry as I left my house and drove to Alex's house, the message pulled up on my screen. I knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer. His dad Peter answered and gave me a hug, saying he hadn't seen me around in a long time. I gave him a laugh and he told me Alex was up in his room with a friend.

"Thanks Mr. Pete," I said, giving him a faux smile. I went upstairs and walked to the end of the hall where his room was. The edge of his New Found Glory poster was sticking out from the side of his closed door. I didn't bother knocking as I remembered why I was here and opened the door to see Alex on some girl who was fairly unclothed. They quickly stopped and looked to me, standing there dumbfounded and staring. "We're done Alex," I whispered loud enough for him to hear.

He didn't seem to know what to do or say as he stared at me with guiltless eyes. He didn't even feel bad about it. I looked to the girl to see it was Lisa Ruocco. That was all I needed. Quickly I turned and walked away, crying to myself.

Mr. Gaskarth looked up at me as I walked by the living room to leave. "You aren't staying for dinner, Aimee?" he asked. I gave him a sad and teary smile, shaking my head "no." I heard him get up and go up the stairs as I shut the front door behind me as I left and went home.

I found myself in bed crying. My heart was literally aching. I had never hurt like this before. What could I have done wrong? So many things zoomed around in my mind, swarming me. Was I clingy? Did I not support him enough? Was I really as hideous as I thougt I was? Should I have had sex with him? "I'm so stupid!" I screamed and yelled, rolling over in my bed, pulling my pillows, smothering my face. Anger suddenly took over my sadness and whenever I was angry, I ended up violent: a vice of mine.

I didn't go to school the rest of the week. My mom had a friend of hers at the hospital write me an excuse note saying that I had been severely sick. My mom made me go back on Monday though. I showed up at school 7:30 a.m. as always and did my normal routine. Everyone stared at me though. a few people asked me if I was alright, if things were okay. I would tell them I was fine, give them a smile, and walk on.

My dad told me he knew when I was down: I slouched and looked down when I walked. I tried to stand tall and look up, but all I managed was looking up and I wished I hadn't. Alex stood in the hall with a group of his friends, Jack and Rian included, and Lisa was with him too. They were holding hands and every so often he'd touch lips with her and hug her tight. He never did that with me. When we were in public he'd only kiss my forehead and throw his arm over my shoulders like I was more of a friend than a girlfriend. In front of his friends, signs of any affection couldn't be found except for hugs. My eyes fell to the floor and I felt myself slouch a little more. Lisa had more than me; I was nothing compared to her.

I had to walk past them to get to my classroom, two doors down from them. A hand on my shoulder made me stop. A pair of ice cream high top Nike Dunks brought a small smile to my face. I followed the shoes up to the black skinny guy jeans and white long sleeved V-neck to see Chris's concerned face. "Aims, I'll walk you to class," he said. Without my say, he took my folders and book from me and held my hand, walking me to my AP Literature class. Him being there made me able to stand straight up and to look up.

I saw Lisa say something to the group. A couple of kids looked and said something to Alex, but he didn't spare me a glance. A smirk was plastered on his face.

"What's up, Aimee," I heard Jack call cheerily to me as we passed.

"Shut the fuck up, asshole," Chris called back to him, holding my hand tighter. I lost my composure and slouched, my eyes instantly falling back to the floor.

As Chris walked me into the classroom I heard someone getting shoved at a locker and Rian say, "Dude, that was a dick move." Laughter followed that statement.

Chris wouldn't leave my side till he had only two minutes to get to his classroom at the other end of the school. My phone vibrated several times during class from incoming texts, mostly from Marc, Josh, Jenna, and Chris, but I had one from my mom. I had to wait till after class to check it. As the class dismissal bell rang, the school intercom went on.

"Aimee McIntyre, please report to the front office. Aimee McIntyre, front office."

I forgot all about my mom's text and went straight to the front office. Through the glass windows, I could see my mom inside. I hurried in and she went straight to me.

"Mom, I got your text, but I didn't read it. What's wrong?" I asked.

She shook her head and petted my hair. "Get your things, I'm checking you out for today. I'll tell you at home." I simply nodded and hurried to my locker down the hall. I put everything away and took my shoulder bag, got to my car, and drove home.

My mom was already there and I could hear her talking to someone in the kitchen, crying. When I walked in I saw my dad for the first time in months and ran to him. "Daddy!" I cried and jumped into his open arms.

He held me up and took me to the living room. He gave me a huge smile and kissed my cheek. "Hey sweet-face, I missed you," he said, giving me a tight squeeze before putting me down. My dad was a buff guy. "You lost some weight kid." He laughed, ruffling my hair. His laugh faded and he gave me a sympathetic smile. "I heard my girl had her first heart break; you doing okay?"

I shook my head. "I'm getting over it. Chrizzy's helping me move on," I said, taking his hand. It suddenly hit me hard that my dad was home and his service time wasn't over. "What are you doing home dad?"

"Well sweet-face... I know you're not going to like it, but I'm being sent to Iraq," he said, pulling me into a hug. "I've got three weeks with you and your mom, Aimee, and then I'm out again."

I broke down for a second time this month. It was that moment that I quit trying to be happy again.