Chapter 3 – The Deal

Lila’s POV

I stepped back quickly, but it was too late, Vivian waved the phone in the air. “I was live, and the whole school has seen you kissing your stepsister.”

I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. No…this wasn't happening. Asher caught Vivian’s arm and dragged her to him. “What did you do that for? Are you crazy?”

Vivian laughed and then buried her nose in Asher's neck. My heart twisted at that. Why was she so close to him? Why didn’t he push her away? His tongue had just been in my mouth.

“I told you no one would take you away from me.” She pulled away from him and turned to me. “Not even her.”

“Yiu know you;re insane right? We’re not in a relationship. Why the hell do you keep scaring away every girl I get close to?” Asher asked.

“Uh…this is lovely and all, but Vivian when you meant the whole school, did you mean like your classmates alone?” I asked, scared that if this became a scandal, I might lose my scholarship. I had only gotten the scholarship because of my stepfather.

Vivan eyed me as Asher let her go. “Everyone. Just your first day and you’re already kissing boys.”

I tried to walk away, but she stepped in front of me. “You know, you should thank me, at least now you’re popular.”

“Move, Vivian,” I said quietly. 

“Or what?” she dared me. Asher tried to hold her but she side stepped him. “Or what? New Girl?" Vivian repeated and placed her hand on my shoulder.

I had had enough. I was many things and none of them was a pushover. I shoved her hand off my shoulder, and she fell backwards, landing on her arm. I had not even pushed her that hard.

“Are you crazy?” she screamed. “You hit me!” 

“I didn’t—” I started, but she was already crying loud enough for the teachers to come running.

*****

The principal called me into his office before I even attended my first class of the day. His face was tight and I knew that it meant trouble.

“Lila,” he said, “we received a serious complaint about your behavior toward another student.”

“She provoked me,” I said quickly. “You can ask anyone—”

“I understand,” he said, cutting me off, “but Vivian’s family has been a generous donor to Harrington for many years.”

 “Sir, please—” I knew where this was going.

He sighed. “Your scholarship review committee will be informed. I suggest you stay out of any more incidents.”

I left his office shaking. I was barely twenty four hours into my new life and things were already looking bad. 

I had to take a cab back home because Asher was nowhere to be found, and when I got home, Daniel and my mom were waiting for me.

“So,” Daniel said, holding up his phone, “this is what you call fitting in?” There was a text message from the principal detailing the events of that day.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I said. “I didn't even do anything. It was Vivian that psycho bit—”

“Language, Lila.” My mom stepped forward. “Daniel, she’s just a teenager and you know how they are. Isn't there a way to get this resolved without revoking her scholarship?”

“Do you understand the damage this causes to my family’s name?” Daniel asked her. “I do business with Vivian’s father and the man adores his little girl, and now because of your daughter’s foolishness, I might lose my number one investor.”

I looked at my mom, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m…I’m sorry.” I mumbled. This was not fair to me. I had not done anything wrong. So it was easy to condemn me because I was poor?

 “If another scandal comes up, Lila, I’ll have no choice but to pull you out of Harrington. I vouched for your scholarship and my reputation is worth a lot to me.” 

I ran back upstairs to my room before anyone could see me cry.

I was just about to shut the door when Asher stopped me. He forced himself into my room. “Don't tell me you're about to cry.”

“Get out, Asher.” I shot back, opening the door again for him to leave. He didn't move.

“I'm sorry about all this. I'm sorry about Vivian. I didn't really think she'd go for it or else I would have done more to stop her.”

“Just leave.” I wasn't in the mood to trade words with him. Everything was all his fault, if he hadn't kissed me…

“That's a little dramatic, don't you think?” He asked me to do everything but what I asked.

“My scholarship is on the line and my mom's mad at me. I don't think I'm dramatic enough.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t mean for it to get this bad.”

“Yeah, well, it did.” I was surprised that he felt bad.

“I can help you fix it. I think.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“What do you mean? How?”

“Firstly Dad might change his mind. Also, if you go back to school, you're dead meat. You're everywhere by now, and Vivian is very mean. If we pretend to date for a while, it'll—”

I burst out laughing. This dude was joking. “What?” I asked in between snorts. 

He shrugged casually. “If we pretend it's real it'll kill the rumour faster and everyone will eventually get bored. I can convince my dad that being with you is helping me check my attitude and he'll overlook all of this “

“That’s ridiculous,” I said.

“Maybe,” he said, “but it’ll work. I know how my father thinks. There's nothing more important than his company…and me.” He said ‘me’ like he was guilty.

I was suddenly curious. What was going on between him and his father?

He looked straight at me then, and for once his usual cocky smile wasn’t there. “It’d help you too. The school can’t punish you for being in a relationship if it’s… official.”

“And what do you get out of it?”

He hesitated. “My dad’s been on my back. Says I need to ‘prove’ I’m responsible or he’ll shut down the garage and I’ve got a race coming up with fifty grand on the line. I need his tools and a warehouse of his that he rarely uses. I've asked but he says he doesn't trust me because I'm irresponsible.”

“So we both have problems,” I said.

“Yeah, and we can both fix them if we fake this.”

“I don’t trust you,” I said finally.

“Good.” He smiled. “You shouldn't, but I don't lie when I make deals.”

“There will be some ground rules.” I said, crossing my arms.

“Obviously.” 

I started counting off my fingers. “There will be no touching unless we have to and no kissing and no—” 

“Slow down…there's a lot of nos.” he made a face. He took a step closing the distance between us. His hair fell over his face and I itched to push it out of his eyes. “Are you sure you can adhere to those nos, princess?” he asked.

I felt suddenly shy and I fixed my eyes on a small spot above his head. I hated that he made me feel nervous just by standing too close. 

“I'm sure “ my answer was shaky, and he fixed me a look.

“Deal.” He offered his hand. I hesitated before taking it. I'd been expecting him to kiss me, not give me a handshake. What was wrong with me?

He let go of my palm and it tingled sweetly. “Asher,” I called.

He made to leave but stopped when I called him. “If this backfires…”

The idiot winked at me. “Then we’re both screwed.”