Chapter 3

“Girl, he didn’t!.” My best friend, Olivia, but everyone calls her Ollie, stopped in the middle of the hallway, causing more than three people to bump into her and other people and she carried on without apologizing. I’m not even sure she’s knows she stopped.

“You don’t have to be so loud about it, Ollie and let’s continue working. The last thing I want is to be late to a class I already missed a lesson on. I wouldn’t be able to catch up anymore” I said, hurrying her along. If I allow it, I know we’re going to be here for a long while while she extracts all the details from me. 

I had just told her about Adrian being my stepbrother and what he said to me last night. I know I’m not supposed to tell anyone but Ollie is not just anyone and it’s only a matter of time before she finds out anyway. I couldn’t stop her from visiting and she’s bound to find out then. I had to tell her before then. 

After Adrian left my room last night, it took me quite a while before I could get some sleep and that’s only because I reminded myself that I needed to come to school today and it wouldn’t do for me to come to school with barely an hour of sleep in. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate and that’d only make everything worse. 

I kept replying his words over and over in my head till I could repeat everything verbatim. I didn’t just think about what he said, but how his voice sounded when he said it. 

It was silky, annoyed yet still flirty and I know girls are killing themselves, metaphorically of course, to hear that voice being directed at them and despite the fact that he had basically degraded me, I couldn’t help but blush a little when I remember his voice. 

This morning had been a crazy one. I had woken up extra early despite sleeping late, par his instructions so I don’t miss going outside with him. We both greeted our parents who came out to watch us get in his car and drive off, just like he predicted. 

“Don’t get any ideas into your head. And sit still, I don’t want my car interior smelling like you just because you couldn’t stay in one position for all of two minutes” He barely looked at me while he said this but I did as he said, afraid to even breathe. 

He dropped me off as soon as we turned a corner, sure none of our parents would be able to see us now. I walked as fast as I could to school because I wanted to get in extra early to be able to tell Ollie about it without being distracted in class. 

And here we are. 

“Omg, that’s so wild. And that last line he said to you? He should totally star as a villain in a movie. He already has the looks anyway” I was grateful when she resumed walking again. 

“Yeah, he’s alright” I said, wanting to wrap up this entire conversation. It’s only a few minutes to the ring of the bell and I know Ollie wouldn’t shut up about this if she is given the chance. 

“You know he’s more than alright, Jay.” She’s the only one who calls me Jay and I kind of like it even though it makes me mad sometimes. “I’m so jealous” She said and sighed. 

“Of?.” I looked at her, quizzically. 

“Of the fact that you live with the baddest yet hottest guy in this school and you get to see him everyday. Oh, and you get to see his hot body too. That’s literally every girl’s dream. You currently have a storybook life, my dear lucky friend. I’m jealous, yet so happy for you”. 

I roll my eyes at her but smiled anyway. She wasn’t lying. 

“I’m happy for me too” My head whipped to look at her and she gave me a little sly smile. “This means my sleepovers and visits will become a little more frequent. I can’t pass up an opportunity to see that hot body even more up close and personal”. 

This made me laugh. I should have known. But now, the thoughts of Adrian’s hot body is refusing to leave my head. From the way his shirt hugged his body and the way his clothes fit, I knew he’d be ripped and seeing him shirtless will probably be one of the things that’d complete my life. I could die happy after seeing that. 

Those thoughts were now getting me excited and I had to shake it off my mind before stepping inside the classroom, not before Ollie gave me a knowing look though and we both giggled before turning serious. We both know that gossip ends at the door. We don’t joke around with our studies and that’s one of the things I love most about her. How she helps me be even more serious. 

The classes went by and we didn’t have any chances to talk about anything until lunch and even then, all she wanted to talk about was Adrian. I didn’t indulge her because one, we were in the school’s cafeteria and anyone could overhear and start rumors and two, he’s right there. 

He’s sitting at his usual table with his friends and he somehow looks even better than this morning. It was almost like the classes or studying didn’t do anything to him other than make him shine. That’s supposed to be illegal. The myth of school air doesn’t apply to him at all. 

“Do you want to talk to him?” Ollie said, jolting me out of my thoughts. 

I gave her my most expressive, “are you serious right now” look and she burst into giggles. “Girl, it’s not funny. Haven’t you been listening to a word I said? He literarily looked me dead in the eyes and told me he wouldn’t acknowledge I exist in school and you want me to go and embarrass myself? How are you my best friend again?”. 

I pretended to be mad even though we both know I’m joking about that. Soon, we were both laughing so hard that kids from other tables turned to look at us. Adrian’s table turned too and I’ve never seen us sober up that fast. Once they faced away, we burst into another round and we left the cafeteria as soon as possible before someone starts recording us and we end up as the girls who need to go to an asylum. 

“You’re coming for book club later?” Ollie asked me. She’s the captain of the only book club in the school since we had to be in one of the clubs and we were disinterested in the rest of them so she basically just went to the principal and a day later, we had a new club. 

At first it was just five of us, that was the minimal number of members we had to have and we found a few kids that didn’t want to be in the rest of the clubs too. Now we have quite a handful number of members. We didn’t use the term club president for her because “it didn’t sit well” with her. Not like anyone cares what we call her and she likes it like that. 

“Unfortunately, no” Her face fell and I understood. This is the first time I’ll be missing our meetings too. “I have to go wait for Adrian and it’s quite a long walk. I didn’t tell him I had club so he will be pissed. I’ll explain everything to him when I get home and I’ll make sure not to miss anymore”. 

“Oh. That’s okay then. As long as it’s for Adrian” She wiggled her brows at me, her face lifting into a smile. Such a manwhore, I thought, laughing. I love her so much. 

We split for our last class since we had varied ones and we said goodbye. On another day, she’d be waiting for me after this class to go for the meeting but it looks like it’s till some other day. 

I promised to text her everything that happens if anything juicy happens and we departed. 

The class felt so long compared to the other ones mostly because I kept staring at the clock every minute. As soon as the bell was rung, I was the first to leave the class which was quite unusual because I usually waited to ask the teacher one or two questions but if I don’t leave immediately, I’ll be late and I’m sure high and mighty Adrian wouldn’t like that. 

I walked as fast as I could, sweat dripping down my face from the hot sun. Adrian wasn’t there yet and I heaved a sigh of relief. 

“Get in” I hadn’t heard his car roll up beside me, so it startled me. “And don’t get your sweat on my upholstery or you’ll have to clean every inch of it”. 

Sigh