Bex

Chapter 18:

  Three weeks. My life changed forever in the span of one day. But for the three weeks I'd been pretending to date Axel, my high school experience was flipped on its head. I was getting a little attention that first week when I stopped caring, but with my hand in Axel's, that's when my reputation as Bex, the bad girl on campus, really took off.

For such a big school the news of us dating spread like an unstoppable wildfire. Girls casted me glances of envy and anger. Boys- when Axel wasn't aware- sized me up with wanting. People treated me differently. They treated me like I was someone. I would get hey's and compliments from students I never even met in my life- and from the ones who never wasted a glance in my direction for the eleven whole years we've been going to school together.

It was getting easier to keep up the pretense of our relationship; Axel- even though I would jump out into traffic before I'd admit it to his face- wasn't that bad. Being over at his house and spending all of this new time together, had actually made me form a soft spot for him. But he's still Axel West, so he's bound to say or do something to royally piss me off- which happens, a lot.

In the beginning I wasn't sure if we could pull this off, but we practically had everyone eating from the palms of our hands. Just a kiss here, a touch there, a loving stare when one of us entered a room was all it took. I guess it makes since, he's a bad boy and now I'm a bad girl.

Right now it's my lunch period. I walked  into the lunch room and caught a few eyes as I walked by to my table. Now that Axel eats lunch with me a few people had weaseled their way next to us. And just because I had a well known reputation now, didn't mean I was going to up and ditch my best friend. Ben not being in my life is too bizarre to even try to comprehend.

So me and Ben dealt with all of the attention by simply ignoring everyone else- I didn't ignore Axel for obvious reasons, though. Today, however, I was alone. Ben had to skip lunch to make up a quiz. When I was a few feet away from our table, I saw one of the blonde, nauseatingly peppy, cheerleaders- there are many of them, but I don't care enough to learn their names- openly flirting with Axel.

I knew she was flirting because I've seen how girls get around Axel. I know all of the signs: the flirtatious flick of their hair over a shoulder to expose a neck, the biting of a lip to hold in a laugh or smile, the none whatsoever covert graze of a hand on his arm to feel his muscles.

I felt a weird pressure in my chest at the sight. It was as if a well fed ogre was sitting down on my chest and making it impossible to breathe. I narrowed my eyes at the girl before my body took control. I carved a smile on my face, and I took a seat on Axel's lap. He wrapped a surprised and pleased arm around my waist. I grabbed his chin and bent it upward toward my face; I placed a gentle and slow kiss on his lips. I finally pulled away when I heard his friends whistling and making cat calls. His eyes were glazed over from the surprised kiss.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, babe. I lost track of time." I laughed.

"It's ok-"

"Who's this?" I cut him off, turning to the cheerleader with an innocent smile.

Her facial expressions were no where near as cheery as mine. Her tongue was poking into her cheek while she scowled, and her eyes glinted like a sword in the sun. But she quickly smoothed her features into fake elation before any one else at the table could notice. Putting up fake walls, probably like the rest of her- fake.

  "Hi, I'm Candy."

  Seriously?

  She reminded me of sour patch kids. She had a sour attitude toward me kissing Axel, and then she acts all sweet. Too bad she's not gone yet.