“That was so forever ago. Now I’m totally after Jay,” she declares. “He is so, so hot. And I heard he’s supposed to be going to the lake party this weekend. We should go.”
Every single part of me locks up at the mention of Jay. I want to scream at her, tell her what a piece of shit he is, but the words become thick in my throat.
“Maybe.” Stella stuffs her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “You think West will be there?”
And now my stomach is winding into knots. Wait—West? As in, my West?
Well, he’s not really mine. We’re just pretending, and Stella doesn’t know about my and West’s fake relationship yet, so why am I getting all worked up? I shouldn’t care at all. But I do. In fact, I’ve been worried about West all morning. Not that I’ve heard from him. Maybe that’s a good sign. Maybe that means everything went smoothly this morning. But, how can finding out you’re adopted go smoothly, especially with how his mother told him?
Yeah, there’s no way things went smoothly.
Then, where is he?
Maybe I should just text him.
I’m debating if I should when Jane and Stella finally, finally reach the door. They turn right, heading down the hallway away from me and taking their conversation that has veered toward how delicious West’s lips look with them.
I breathe in relief and head to the left toward my locker, making it a whole three steps before Masie steps out of the crowd and in front of me.
So, it was her I saw. Crap.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I say before she can even get a word out.
She looks at me like a wounded deer. “Lex, please. We need to talk. I don’t want this one little thing to ruin our friendship.”
Little thing? She may think that’s what it is, but she hurt me in ways I’ll never be able to tell her aloud.
I lower my voice as people turn to look at us. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.” I move to step around her, but she skitters in front of me again, nearly tripping in her heels.
If I wanted to, I could just take off and outrun her. Masie can’t run for shit. Plus, she’s wearing a dress and heels while I have on shorts, clunky boots, and a black tank top, all of which are easy to run in. Well, they would be except I think my laces are untied. Then again, I spent all weekend running from her, and I’m getting tired of it.
“Move out of my way,” I warn, crossing my arms and staring her down.
“No,” she replies, her tone a little shaky. “Not until you talk to me.”
I shake my head, my jaw ticking. “I don’t owe you anything. You’re the one that backstabbed me, not the other way around.”
“I didn’t backstab you,” she says, her eyes watering up. “I just fell for Blaine. I didn’t mean to. It just happened. And I tried to fight my feelings for him for a long time, because I knew you loved him, but it’s like we were meant for each other, Lex.” A tear rolls down her cheek, but she quickly wipes it away with her hand. “I think I’m in love with him, Lex.”
Maybe if she’d told me this beforehand, things might’ve been different. Or maybe if she hadn’t just declared to everyone in the hallway that I had feelings for Blaine, I would have felt sorry for her.
As the whispering and staring starts to spread like a freakin’ zombie plague, my heart rate picks up, thudding deafeningly inside my chest.
Everyone knows. This is what you were afraid of.
Say something, Alexis. Do anything.
I suddenly become that girl on the bathroom floor again, the freak who people made fun of. I start to shrink inside myself.
I should run. Run home and grab a can of spray paint so I can distract myself from anything else other than this moment. And maybe I would’ve done just that if West hadn’t shown up at that precise moment.
“Hey,” he greets me, sliding his arm around my lower back as he moves up beside me.
I’m about to say “hey” back, am about to melt into him even if it makes me seem weak, when he does something completely unexpected.
He presses his lips to mine.
The kiss doesn’t last long, but it’s enough to send my already racing heart skyrocketing. When he pulls back, the corners of his lips quirk with amusement, though his eyes look a bit wild, like he just surprised the hell out of himself almost as much as he did me.
“What the hell is happening right now?” Masie breathes out, wide-eyed, gaze flicking between West and me.
“Hey, Masie?” West says to her curtly.
“Yeah?” she asks, confusion flooding her eyes.
West rests his hand on the small of my back as he looks at her. “Get the fuck out of my way so I can walk my girlfriend to class.”
She blinks. “Girlfriend?” Her gaze lands on me, and she has the audacity to look hurt. “You’re dating West, and you didn’t tell me?”
Guilt wells in my throat, and it pisses me off. I shouldn’t care. At all. But I do a little bit, which is annoying. I pretend it’s not that way at all.
I arch my brow at her. “It hurts, doesn’t it? Knowing that your best friend kept this huge secret from you.”
Her expression falls, and her lips part.
West steers me around her before she can get a word out. Then we walk down the crowded hallway, not really saying anything, mostly because everyone is watching us.
I expect him to walk me to my next class, but he passes by the classroom. That’s when I realize West probably has no clue what my next class is.
“Um, we passed my class,” I tell him, starting to slow down.
“I know,” he tells me. “I need to talk to you for a minute. You might be a little late.” He glances at me, amusement glittering in his eyes. “You okay with being a little bit tardy, Alexis the Rebellious?”
“No.” I snort a laugh. “And FYI, that’s a dumbass nickname.”
“Noted. I’ll think of something better.” He grins at me. “Like a good boyfriend would.”
I roll my eyes again, but I’m on the verge of smiling.
Of course, that smile morphs into confusion as he leads me outside of the school.
“Where are we going?” I wonder as he removes his hand from my lower back.
I assume he does it since we’re outdoors where no one is around so we don’t have to keep up this whole girlfriend/boyfriend appearance, but then he threads his fingers through mine, holding my hand as we walk toward the parking lot.
“I need to talk to you somewhere private. Figured my car is the best place to do it,” he explains. “Plus, there’s some papers in there I want you to look at.”
“Okay.” I’m so confused, not just about these papers he wants me to see but because he’s holding my hand.
West and I are holding hands, and no one is around to see it. I should pull back, right? Part of me wants to, but the other part of me wants to continue holding his hand so my fingers won’t long to wrap around the bottle of a spray can.
“There’s some stuff I need to tell you, too,” I inform him. “Once you’re done telling me your stuff.”
He glances at me with his brows furrowed. “Everything okay?”
I waver. “That’s debatable. And honestly, I don’t think we should discuss it while we’re out in the open.”