Chapter 4: Not Enough

Hayden's POV

Stephen didn't move from his position even as I stared at him in disbelief. He actually apologized. He fucking apologized and was even all melancholic about it. That served him fucking right. I was beyond pleased so I stood up from the bed and approached him. I made him straighten so that he was shielding me away from Mom and the dean.

“You're such a loser, look at you,” I whispered to him, but he didn't flinch; he didn't even look hurt.

“Apologize too, Hayden.” I heard the dean say and I stiffened, glancing away from Stephen to look at him. “You pushed him to the wall. You are the reason the fight erupted in the first place so you should apologize.”

My mood immediately soured, and I turned to Stephen, who was staring at the ground like something was interesting on it. The way he was acting robotically made me narrow my eyes at him, and I knew that he was up to something. But I couldn't place my hands on it.

“I'm sorry, Stephen. I shouldn't have pissed you off.” I muttered in the most insincere way, and Mom noticed, but she didn't say anything about it. She simply nodded in approval and I stepped away from him.

“Both of you, pack your things and move to the new dorm assigned to you. Dorm room 1267. Immediately.” He ordered, and I let out a sigh, feeling stressed out already. I just knew that living with him would be so uncomfortable but there was nothing to worry about.

I could always crash at my friend's place. Anything to make sure I don't go insane.

“My boys.” I heard mom say as she walked up to us and took our hands gently. I loved her so much that I couldn't try to start another argument with her. “Promise me you'll be good, hm? If I'm gonna come back here, it should be because you both are getting along just fine. And if you do, we'll go to your favorite places. I promise.” She muttered with a smile, but none of us looked as enthusiastic as she did.

“Not enough? Okay, Hayden, I'll get you that gaming system you've always wanted if you keep up with him. And Stephen, that MacBook you've always wanted? It'll be yours. One year together is all I ask. Please?” She pleaded and our eyes both widened when she made those offers.

“Deal,” I muttered instantly and Stephen nodded as well. She leaned closer and placed soft kisses on our foreheads before squeezing our hands gently.

“I love you both so much. Be good.” She whispered and then let go before walking out of the infirmary, leaving just me and Stephen in here.

A year. All I had to do was play pretend with Stephen, and I could get what I've always wanted for a long time. This was beyond perfect. I turned to Stephen to see him staring at me with a mischievous smile and disgust coiled down my skin as I stepped away from him.

“No matter what, you're not allowed to touch me or come near my space. I'll stab you in your sleep if you attempt it.” I said immediately and he shrugged with a nonchalant expression as he turned to leave.

“Seeing you apologize was so satisfying. You must have been so humiliated, right?” I asked with a sneer and he stopped for a second. “The whole school now knows you're a fag, and I don't regret it one bit. Your poor ego and reputation must have been so squashed now right?” I asked with laughter erupting from me but when he turned to me with a grin, my smile faded.

Why the hell did he look like he wasn't shaken? He was supposed to be mad, angry, or ashamed. He simply shot me a victorious smile and walked out of the infirmary, leaving me in confusion.

I reached for my pocket and took out my phone that now had a crack because Stephen surely loved to push me to the ground. Disgusting fag.

Seeing the time, I realized that I must have passed out for over two hours. But that wasn't what surprised me at all. The school group chat was buzzing with messages entering all at once, and I was sure it was like that because of exposing Stephen.

But when I saw a post made by Stephen himself, I froze in shock.

“Hi, everyone, to clarify the issue on what my stepbrother said, I'm not homosexual or a faggot. But I do like boys and girls. I'm bisexual. I never planned on hiding it anyway. If you think I'm weird, you're not human, you belong to the aliens. Love you.”

The whole group chat was buzzing because of that, and not in a bad way as I expected. But everyone was proud that he actually was so bold to come out like that. Some even said horrible things about him for calling Stephen a faggot. The girls were still so madly in love with him that the boys felt lucky that he would notice them.

The tables had turned so horribly and I was the bad person here. Everyone was praising Steven for being so bold to come out despite his homophobic brother's remarks.

I let out a groan and almost threw my phone across the room in anger. I remembered how he had placed his lips on mine earlier, and it made me even angrier than I was because nothing worked out as I had imagined. His reputation wasn't soiled, mine was. I was the homophobic stepbrother.

“Fuck!” I groaned and slammed my phone on the bed, feeling very pissed off. My phone buzzed on the bed but I ignored it. Then it buzzed again, so I had no choice but to pick it up, and when I saw it was from Stephen, my heart stopped for a minute.

He sent a picture. For no reason, my hand trembled as I clicked on it and when the picture filled my screen, my breath hitched in my throat. It was a picture of him with a random boy I've never seen before and their lips were so close that they were almost kissing. He was staring at the camera— at me— with that smirk that said he won and I lost.

Under the picture was a simple message. Four words that wanted to make me strangle the fucking life out of him.

“Would you steal him from me too?”

I groaned and dropped the phone to the bed again, pulling my hair in frustration. He was disgusting. Has everyone gone mad or blind? How could they encourage that?

Another message entered my phone, and I almost ignored it, but I knew it was from him again, so I picked it up.

“You got headphones? You'll need them at night because we don't know how to keep quiet. I swear to fuck, he's a loud moaner.”

That fucking asshole.