Inconvenient Temptation | WLW

Chapter 1

Alexandra Priestley was fragile. 

Extremely so.

Not that she'd let anyone know that. She practically oozed confidence and composure, leaving a trail of it wherever she went, but it was fake. Every last drop of it was artificial, built up to make an impenetrable wall so no one could pray on her weaknesses.

She was untouchable.

"Hey, Alex, wait up!" 

Untouchable to everyone but Ryan. 

Spinning around, Alex let out her first real smile of the day at the sight of her best friend, reaching up to high five him as he slid to a stop at her side, pulling down her t-shirt to avoid showing skin as she did so.

"First day back at school and here you are, the hottest chick in the building." He grinned, looking her up and down as he gave her an over exaggerated wink.

Alex simply laughed, waving off the compliment as the turned a corner and began to walk down a corridor packed with students. She was trying not to think about how it was her first day back at school in just over a year. It wasn't hard to notice all of the stares she received as the two of them walked to their lockers, friends turning to each other, talking in hushed tones. All of them wondering why Alexander Priestly, the Queen Bee of the school had randomly disappeared without a word, not to be seen until now.

One girl in particular stood out from the crowd, staring at Alex in shock as she clutched her books to her chest, watching the two of them pass, mouth opening slightly.

She was clearly the new princess of the school, if the crowds of different girls and boys, specifically jocks, surrounding her said anything. She was the Queen Bee and they were all her little worker bees, buzzing around to earn her approval.

"Maybe she's scared you're here with the intention of retrieving your crown." Ryan said nonchalantly, noticing the way Alex was watching the girl from the corner of her eyes.

Scoffing, Alex lightly slapped him on the arm, turning to open her locker. "There will no crown retrieving," she replied, shoving her books on the bottom shelf as she stared at the big group with thinly veiled disgust. "I'm not interested in that 'life' anymore. I can barely deal with you fluttering around me, let alone people I barely know,"

"Huh, well, that suits me just fine. I never really liked that version of you anyway." Ryan said happily, slinging an arm around Alex's shoulder as the two of them walked to their first lesson, "And I don't flutter. Fluttering is not something I do,"

Ignoring the way her stomach flipped when Ryan mentioned the girls name, Alex just laughed, her voice teasing as she played along, "Oh, of course, your fluttering days were behind you - I was wondering why you weren't over there, staring down that blonde cheerleaders shirt."

Ryan gasped, genuinely offended, "I would never-" He cut himself off when he saw the way Alex's shoulders shook with silent laughter, a slow grin taking over his mouth when he realised she was joking, "You're a git, you know that?"

Humming a conformation, Alex simply jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, making him yelp out in pain. Laughing once again as he began to loudly complain about her bony elbows, they entered the English classroom, both of them stopping at the sight of the teacher that sat at the desk.

Ryan, knowing how much she had grown to hate meeting new people, had reassured Alex that there had been no new teachers to join the school in her absense. So, who the fuck was this?

"Ah, my first students of the day! Good morning, my names Mr Mickley," The man said cheerfully, quickly writing his name on the whiteboard before turning back to look at them with an expectant expression.