"Quick question: you do know how to drive stick, right?" Alex asked as he gripped his seat so hard his knuckles were white. "I mean, I totally trust you, but I'd just rather know for sure you know what you're doing here."
"Jake gave me a crash course yesterday."
"A crash course?" He felt his stomach curl in on itself when his sister grinded into a different gear. He could practically hear the truck crying out for mercy. "Oh my god, we're going to die."
"No we're not. Have some faith, will you?"
"I would if my sister actually knew how to drive stick!"
The brake was pressed just a tad too hard as she parked, and Alex went flying, hitting his head on the dashboard with a shriek. Bella let out a cackle as her brother rubbed his nose and checked for any bleeding.
"You seriously could have killed me."
"Oh don't be such a drama queen. You have the hardest head of anyone I've ever met."
He was about to snap back at her when he saw someone and started scrambling out of the truck. "Good luck with your first day!"
"Wait, Alex! Where are you going? You promised to show me around! Alex!"
With a wave thrown behind him, he was off to catch up with a certain pretty lady. He managed to fall in step beside her and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Katie, we need to talk," he whispered in her ear. "You've been avoiding me and this whole mess."
"Can't we just forget anything ever happened?" she hissed while looking at everyone looking at them. She knew getting involved with Alex Swan was a bad idea. Now people were actually talking to her. "If the whole thing we're going for is secrecy, then this thing between us isn't going to work."
"We need to stick together, Katie," he said as his blood chilled within him. She wasn't going to leave him alone was she? "We're both dealing with this, and splitting up is just going to make it all more difficult."
"I don't see you helping with my clothes budget."
"I have my own budget to deal with! These are my last pair of shoes!"
She stopped to look him in the eye. "We're both failing terribly with this, and being together seems to make things worse not better. I say we just go our separate ways. I mean it worked before."
He caught her hand before she could walk away from him. "This isn't like before. Everything is different, Katie, and we can't do this alone. While we may think we've been doing things together up until now, we haven't actually stayed with each other yet. We need to look out for each other."
"I don't know how I'm going to explain to my parents why I'm suddenly hanging around one of the most attractive boys at school. They're going to think we're sleeping together!"
"I mean, we already did at the party."
"Ugh, the party. That's what got us into this trouble!"
"Look, I'll pick you up tonight and we can go for a drive and talk things through. Sound good?"
"I guess we don't have much of a choice anymore. Things are already so screwed up for us."
"We'll get through this. Together."
He squeezed her hand before leaving her to join his friends. She stuck her hands in her pockets and hurried into the school, trying to avoid anyone who could possibly be staring at her. What had she been thinking when she gave in to Alex Swan? Everyone knew him! Not only was his father the chief of police, but he happened to be a swimmer, and the swim team was one of the only successful teams at this school. She had always liked swimmers…
"Why were you talking to Katie Huerta?" Brad asked when Alex came up to them. "You tapping that?"
"Not that it's any of your business who I talk to or why I talk to them, we have to do some project together."
"You guys look cute together," Stacey told him as she zipped up her swim team jacket. "The height difference is adorable."
"Remind me again why she doesn't hang out with us?" James asked the diver. "I mean you're here, so why isn't she?"
"Maybe she doesn't want to hang around you assholes. As it is, Alex is the only decent person here, and he's still a dick."
"Wow, thank you so much. I really appreciate that glowing compliment."
"Oh shut up, you know it's true. Your ego is just as inflated as the rest of these idiots."
"Well, I mean, you win as much as we do, and you're bound to get—OW! What is with everyone hitting me?"
Stacey glared at him as she cradled her now throbbing hand. "I swear your head just keeps getting harder. I think that hurt me more than it hurt you!"
"Maybe your hand just isn't as strong as you think it is."
She gave him another dirty look before nudging him and the rest of the guys towards the building. "Okay, doofus, lead your little pack to Calculus. I'll see you guys at lunch."
"How come he's alpha doofus?" Brad whined.
"I think the real question is how come you're offended by that and not the doofus part?"
"Oh… hey!"