I Hate Love Stories Because I'm Never in One.

I was walking out of school, Kat and Dean shuffling quietly behind me. I didn't have to turn to know what they were getting up to, it just struck me as odd to how they were managing to make out whilst walking at the same time.

"Hey, Teri!"

I stopped to look around, finally picking out the person who'd shouted my name. He wasn't hard to miss, his hands were waving over his head manically. After seeing that I'd spotted him, Matthew started to work his way through the crowd of students to catch up with me.

"Mind if I walk with you?" he panted, clutching a stitch at his side.

He was out of breath and he'd only sprinted through a couple of people. I couldn't help but grin and I turned my head to look at Kat and Dean. Not surprisingly, they were still making out next to me. Ugh.

"Yeah, sure...I guess you can. That is, if you can bear to stick around with these two." I grumbled, indicating with my thumb to the two of them.

Matthew laughed and nodded, matching my stride to walk beside me. I was just about to make a sarcastic remark about them when someone at the school gates made me freeze with disbelief. I felt my legs practically lock, Kat and Dean stumbled into me.

"Hey, what's up Teri?" said Kat in a disapproving huff. No doubt she was pissed at me for stopping her and Dean kissing.

Whatever, I had more important things to concentrate on. There, at the gates to my school, was Kieran. He was leaning up against a wall, wearing his usual black jeans and boots with a leather jacket over the dark shirt he had on. He was attracting many stares from passing girls, a few of which had stopped to ogle at him.

"Um, Teri?" asked Kat again, waving a hand in front of my face. I turned to her, stricken. Quickly, I pulled her aside away from Dean and Matt, who were both eyeing me with confusion.

"What is it?" she hissed to me.

"See that guy over there?" I mumbled, nodding slightly to where Kieran was standing. I saw Kat's eyes widen and she turned back to me with a small smirk on her lips.

"Yeah, he's hot. But what about him?"

"That's the other guy I'm in love with. It's Kieran." I said under my breath, trying to hide behind Kat.

"Oh man. Teri! Look at him, he's like...so..." she whispered, words failing her as she looked him over again.

"Yeah, that's not the point. The thing is, this is going to be awkward. There's Matt-" I muttered, titling my head back in the direction of where Matt was stood with Dean. "And there's Kieran. Together. At the same place. And Matt knows that I'm in love with two people. He's not an idiot, he's going to know it's Kieran if he starts talking to me."

"Oh." Kat said, completely unhelpful.

I sighed and tugged Kat back over to Dean and Matt. They both stared at me with raised eyebrows but I shrugged and told them to move. I had no choice but to walk past him.

"What is it?" Matt asked, holding onto my arm to get my attention.

Kat answered for me. "Women problems. You don't want me to go into detail."

I closed my eyes. At least she was trying to help but using that as an excuse was near unforgivable. Talk about embarrassing. Now I had to go along with it.

"Yeah, painful." I told him, patting my stomach as we edged nearer to where Kieran stood.

Crap, crap, crap. He's totally going to see me. He has to, I mean...look how freakin' close we are to him and-

"Teri! Hey, over here!" he shouted at me, moving away from the wall so he could wave at me. My stomach plummeted to the ground.

'Don't panic, just say hi or something. Try and ignore Matt next to you. God, is he burning holes in my head or what?' I thought to myself, fixing on a smile.

"Hey...Kieran." I tried to say brightly. We walked over to him and I wriggled with anxiety.

"Whoa, you okay? You look sort of in pain." Kieran said, squinting at my face to get a better look. Okay, out with the fake smile. It's obviously not helping.

"What? Oh..um. Women's problems." I blurted out, clearly desperate for an excuse. Kieran held up his hands and the look on his face said it all.

"Okay, don't need to know any more." he laughed. "I wanted to talk about the other day...look, I'm really sorry for not turning up on Saturday. My brother...he was at a friends house but he didn't feel too good. I had to pick him up and take him to the doctors and-"

Matt finally spoke up. I felt as if I was going to puke all over him.

"And who are you?"

I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. Please, please, don't say anything stupid Kieran. I was all but kneeling down on the floor in front of him, begging for him to be quiet.

"Teri's friend. You are?" Kieran said, sounding astounded.

"Matt. Me and Teri went on a date." he said loudly. Okay, so I figured he'd cottoned on to who Kieran was and this was his male instincts coming through. He couldn't help but try and big himself up.

"Oh, the same date that turned out to be disastrous? You know, where the waiter dropped water over her?" Kieran asked sarcastically.

Oh Lord. I stole a terrified glance over to Matt, who looked as if he was about to explode with anger. His face had turned red and I could see the veins in his forehead starting to bulge out.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. What's it to you though." he growled, cracking his knuckles threateningly. His hands were balled up into fists and I could tell this was going to be bad if I didn't stop it.

"Guys! Calm down...please?" I begged, standing in between them as they shot daggers at each other.

"Why don't you step out of the way, Teri?" Matt suggested, giving me a slight nudge to move me.

"Oi! Don't touch her!" Kieran snarled, trying to move around me to get to Matt.

I couldn't handle it. I looked from Matt to Kieran, seeing the angry expressions on their faces and I just couldn't cope. I knew I'd caused this and it was all my fault. I shouldn't have been so stupid to fall for two people, I should have ignored my idiotic feelings!

I felt myself getting worked up, the tears already starting to pour down my face. My breathing was quick and jagged, I couldn't stop my eyes darting between the two of them. I didn't know what to do.

So I did the only thing I could do. I ran.