The Cole Casey Project by V.A. Monaghan (good books to read for women TXT) 📕

It's not my fault. None of it is. Everything that's ever happened between us has always been his fault. HE'S the one who first slyly gripped my hand under a desk in social studies in 8th grade. He's the one who constantly tried talking to me when I moved schools. On my first day back starting my sophomore year, HE was the one who flirtatiously played with my fingers under our physics table. He's the one who'd randomly pop up at my house or invite himself over. He's also the one who went behind my back and asked out a freshman.

His words and actions lead me to my plan of attack. Had he just stayed with me, or at least informed me himself that he was moving on, this could've been avoided. But this is Cole Casey were talking about. Nothing he does is simple or unnoticed.

Yet, I'm the one being called an attention seeking liar. By him of course. Well that's what I was called for a moment. Then, he got a little wake up call and tried to get me back. One thing lead to another and now here I am, explaining the story of how my heart was broken before I patched it back up and closed it up for good. To Officer Darickson.

Now, no one died or anything, but this is gonna be a little difficult to explain. I suppose I should start off when I first got the idea...the idea to break Coles heart.

~•~•~~•~•~~•~•~

The pain I felt as my friends words played repeatedly in my head was overwhelming. What had I done to deserve this? Nothing. But now my eyes were opened to the truth. Every sweet word he'd ever said to me was a lie. The tears welled up but I blinked them back.

"I don't care." I snorted at Linn. She looked at me skeptically.

"But...I thought you liked him?"

"You thought wrong." I snapped, turning to my other friends.

Linn got on my nerves a lot. I didn't consider her a true friend. Every time something that could hurt me came up, she'd eagerly await my tears or anger. I learned to not give her the satisfaction of watch me hurt. After the third possible boyfriend of mine stopped talking to me because they liked her, I finally stopped thinking of her as a good friend. Now, as bad as this sounds, I use her for information only.

Anyway, Cole Casey was my dream guy. He was captain of the football and basketball team and played baseball. He had a car and his family was well off. He was relatively cute but not overly smart. I was stupid enough to think he'd actually cared for me at all.

"Did Linn just say Cole asked out Gina?" My friend Maria gasped.

I nodded my head and kept my eyes glued to my laptop. Maria was the only one that knew everything that had happened.

Just then, my phone vibrated. I glanced down to find a snapchat from Juan, Maria's twin brother.

It was a video of him twerking in the boys locker room. A grin snuck onto my face and Maria started cracking up when she looked over my shoulder.

Maria and Juan were more like best friends than brother and sister. I think it's like a Mexican thing because their whole family goes to school together and they're all around the same age.

"So what are you gonna do about Cole?" Maria asked, her laughter subsiding.

I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes for a moment.

Upon opening them again, I locked eyes with Maria.

"I think it's time Cole got a little taste of how I feel."

~•~•~~•~•~~•~•~

Maria was sprawled on my bed when I walked into my room after my shift at Pizza Hut.

"So...what's the plan?" She asked

"We're gonna hit him where it hurts him most."

She looked at me in confusion.

"We're gonna hit him in his balls?"

That had me cracking up.

"N-no. I wish! We're gonna hit him in his ego. We're gonna have him on his knees begging for me to take him back." I replied, still laughing.

"And please inform me how we're supposed to do that?"

I looked at her with a smirk.

"Step by step planning baby doll."

*A/N* 

This is MOSTLY fiction. The back story though, is true. The fiction part is everything I wish I had the guts to do. Instead, I stew in my misery and pain from afar while he prances around with that little freshman. >-< no, I don't have anything against freshman...she didn't know any better. ANYWAY, I hope you like my imagination ^-^

ALSO..as played by Alex Pettyfer-Cole Casey is depicted at the top of the page!

"Detachment produces a peculiar state of mind. Maybe that's the worst sentence of all, to be deprived of feeling what a human being ought to be entitled to feel." 

- James Dickey

- Last Night -

"Maria, what is the saying about absence?" I asked her while pacing my room.

"It makes the heart grow fonder?"

"Exactly. Do you remember when I had that hand, foot, and mouth disease and I was out of school for three days?"

"Yeah...are we gonna make him sick or something?" She questioned, getting a little too excited.

"No! Remember how he started texting me nonstop about where I was? I'm in all of his classes so maybe I need to leave for a little bit. It'd be super noticeable." I explained

"Where would you go? And how long would you be away?"

"I figure, since he actually made a move with the freshman, it'll be harder for him to react to me being gone. So I was thinking like a week. I won't text him, I won't post of Facebook, I won't tweet, and I won't post on vine."

"Alright, but again. Where will you go? Especially with parent permission for a week?"

"Maybe I could go visit Bethany in Arizona."

"Would your mom be okay with that?" Maria questioned.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Probably. She hasn't visited for a couple years and I haven't visited her at all. I'll pull the whole 'childhood best friend moved away but I need her now' thing. I have enough money and I haven't been sick since the fall. Plus my grades are up. There's no reason I can't."

~•~•~~•~•~~•~•~

"You can't."

"What do you mean I can't?! I need her! I looked up the prices and she asked her mom. I have enough, plus some, and Sarah's all for it. Come on mom! Please!" I begged.

"Why do you need her so bad?" She asked, raising an eyebrow speculatively

"Um...emotional support? I've been swamped with school work and they're finally slowing down a bit. I'll get all my school work and do it on the plane ride! Please mom." I begged.

I saw her resolve begin to waver and I knew I had to pull out the big gun. My lip stuck out a slight bit more than usual and I slowly widened my eyes a little bit. I tilted my head down slightly and looked up at her through my eye lashes.

I watched as her decision crumbled and her heart swell at my cuteness. At least SOMEONE thought I was cute.

Her eyes looked to the sky as if she was asking God to save her from my wrath of adorableness before she heaved a great sigh.

"I guess you can go. But I want you to get your school work tomorrow and I want most of it done before you go."

I fist pumped in excitement.

"I promise I will! Thank you so much mom!" I squealed hugging her.

I sprinted upstairs and sent Beth a text to tell her I'd be in Arizona on Saturday.

Monte is played by Sarah Butler! I've never seen any of her movies but she's pretty and she pretty much matches how I'd see Monte...

I heaved my luggage off of the conveyer belt and made my way to the escalators. As I rode down them, I craned my neck, looking for Beth's familiar face. Finally seeing her hands, raised above her head and waving like the maniac she is, I sighed in relief. I struggled to get to her through the crowd but finally, we were reunited. Her squeals pierced my eardrums but I didn't care. Beth had been my best friend since birth. Her mom and my mom worked at a church daycare together as teenagers. We'd grown up playing volleyball and dancing together. In 7th grade, her stepdad got transferred to Phoenix, Arizona. Against all odds, we were still insanely close, if not closer than before she left. I think it helped that I was the only one who truly stayed in touch with her and there was no way for drama to be started.

Beth is an interesting character. She was the super popular one. I as the smart one. I guessed I would always be the sidekick. But now I had confidence, something I had been lacking the last time I saw her during the summer between freshman and sophomore year. Now I was a lot thinner, my hair had grown down to the middle of my back, and, thanks to my part time job, I had nice clothes to show off my volleyball toned body.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so excited Monte!" She giggled. She pulled me through the crowd and outside into the dry heat of Phoenix.

I looked around and I couldn't help but let the butterflies overflow my belly. This plan would kill two birds with one stone. I'd make Cole go crazy with my absence AND I'd be spending a week partying in the Arizona heat with my closest friend.

"So I figured tonight we could just go to Olive Garden here and then we'll head down to Gilbert. We don't have to party tonight. I know you're probably tired."

For clarification, Beth's stepdad-well now ex-stepdad- works in Phoenix. They lived in a city about 20 minutes south of there called Gilbert-Mesa. He had started drinking a lot so Sarah, Beth's mom, left him with Beth and her younger brother Connor. Sarah didn't want Beth and Connor to have to start all over again so they stayed in Arizona, much to my dismay.

We made our way to her red slug bug and immediately cranked the AC.

"You are gonna love it here." she gushed in excitement.

"I probably won't want to go back." I laughed.

She suddenly sobered up.

"So. Cole finally showed his