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Chapter 3 (Celestine)

I finish tying my shoe laces when I hear Alex's car pull up to my house, I look at the clock on the wall in front of me only to see that the time is, 8.45 am. Well, turns out he's punctual. "Who's that honey?" My mom asks with a suspicious voice, I see her looking out the window so she already knows that's not Mindy's car. "Just a friend who agreed to pick me up to school for today." She looks at me and gives me a smirk, " a new friend? And a handsome one too?" I give her a look but she just smiles and walks away. I hurry to the car in case my mother decides to ask Alex if he's just a friend of mine or not. "Hi" he waits until I get into his car before he responds, "good morning. Ready to see a pissed off Mindy?" I take a deep breath and give him a small smirk."So ready." He smirks back before driving towards school. I'm not letting this car ride go silent again, I need to talk to Alex anyways, "Alright so listen, we need to have a rules... maybe a contract-" "a contract? We're pretending to fuck Tina not signing away shares of our companies" I sigh at him and give him a look before continuing, "first of all, let me tell you I am very familiar with the fake dating trope and I know for a fact a contract is the minimum necessity. And second of all...... don't call me Tina." He looks towards me with a confused look, "I thought that was your nickname?" I avoid eye contact as I talk to him, "it's the nickname Mindy gave me. I never liked it anyway I just went with it cause she believed it suited me." He doesn't say anything for a few minutes and I think he just doesn't want to continue the conversation but.... then he opens his mouth again. "Contract you said?" I give him a small smile before I continue, "Yes, so here are some rules I want to be followed:
1. Limited physical contact and pda,it's only for show to piss off Mindy
2. Cute stories, or posts on social media is required cause Mindy loves stalking you so seeing me on your socials would make her wanna kill one of us, or both of us
3. No kissing other than the cheek or hand or neck and only as a show of pda
4. We don't have to contact each other unless it's regarding the deal.
5. We can't have sex
6. We CANNOT fall in love with each other. "
He snickered and gave me a small smile, "fall in love?"
"Well I mean, I know we won't but.... it just felt right to add that in there. But anyways, you think I'm missing anything?" He thinks for a second before I see the corners of his mouth tilt up, "nah, I think you got it all rose." I frown at his choice of nick name, "Rose?" He points towards my pinky nail on my right hand, "you have a rose on your nail." I painted that rose as an attempt to see if I could ever be a nail artist or something, I probably could but that's not the point. "You noticed?" He nods nonchalantly as if he didn't just notice a small ass flower on my pinky. "Well, roses are my favorite flower. Basic I know but....... I like em." He doesn't say anything for the rest of the ride. When we reach the school, I gather my bag but I feel a hand on my thigh stopping me from getting out of the car, I look towards Alex to see what's wrong. "Look, I'm somewhat known in the school, you know that. So when you get out of this car, my car, people are going to talk. And I unfortunately can't control that, so you're gonna have to ignore it. What you are not gonna have to ignore is Mindy's face when I walk you out of this car and into your class. Get it?" I nod and he let's go of me. We get out of the car at the same time and I swear I heard someone gasp. I look around to see a lot of eyes on us, I feel awkward but Alex puts his hand on my lower back and leads me to class, unphased. People are trying to be subtle and pretend they're not looking but it's not really working.... I can feel the eyes on me but I ignore it and continue to walk in the building. The moment the door opens my eyes meet Mindy's, surprise and shock and anger are the emotions she goes through while I keep my face as blank as possible, as if this is the most normal thing ever. When I reach my class Alex comes close to my ear but I can still see Mindy "Remember to ignore what any dumbfucks say"
"You could have said that without whispering you know"
He smirks at me, "but then you wouldn't have seen that look on Mindy's face." He's right, she looks angry and embarrassed, specially because the whole school knew they were together so this is gonna start some rumors for sure. I head to class and mentally prepare myself for what's probably about to come.

The bell rings jolting me out of my day dream, I pack my stuff and head to the gymnasium. The moment I enter the girls locker room to change the hair on my skin rises.... something feels..... off. I feel like I'm being watched but there's no one here. I came early..... unable to shake the feeling I take my clothes and head to the washroom and change. It felt way to weird in there and call me paranoid but I'm not taking a risk. I enter the the school gym and almost immediately Mindy's head snaps to me, she looks frustrated...like something happened. Other than the whole school gossiping about me and Alex I mean, I don't know whats running through her head but I honestly don't care anymore. I line up with the other girls and start my laps, the whole time I feel eyes on me. But 2 pairs of eyes in particular, Mindy.... and Alex. He hasn't stopped staring at me since I came, and Mindy hasn't stopped staring at him staring at me and she also hasn't stopped glaring at me. I try not focus on either one of them as I finish my laps. I walk to my gym bag panting when I suddenly slam into a wall and fall with a loud thud. Wait what? Slam into a wall? Where did a wall come from-
I look up to see Aron staring at me, he has a smug look on his face for a second before he picks me up, "I'm sorry I didn't see you there." I nod at him about to tell him it's ok before I see long pink nails on his shoulder, "what's the matter sweetie? She trynna get your attention by assaulting you now?" I glare as Mindy laughs away, just as I was about to snap back I feel a big hand grip my waist and I feel myself being pulled closer to Alex's body, "whats the matter sweetie? She disturbing you as usual?" He leans a lot more closer than I expected, "want me to take care of it?" He gives me a smirk and his eyes never leave mine
"Excuse me? Disturbing her? What am I a fly?" He finally breaks eye contact but he makes sure to keep his hands on me. "Glad you realized, excuse us." He pulled me away as I hear Mindy scoff. "You okay?" Concern? Did I hear genuine concern in his voice? Really? Am I imaging it?
"I'm fine don't worry." He looks me over before nodding "good, I'll drop you home today"
"I can't, I have to spend time at the library today"
"Fine, then I'll spend time at the library with you. Then I'll drop you home." I frown wondering why in the world he's acting like this. "Why?"
He takes a breath as if contemplating his answer, "Mindy stays back on Thursdays for cheer practice so her seeing us alone at the library together is bound to piss her off." OH right, he's doing all this to get back at her... so am I. "OK then, meet me in the library at 4.45" He nods as he walks away and I head for my next class. I have to remember anything he says or does is because he wants to get back at Mindy. So do I. So I don't need to doubt why he does anything. I won't.