Chapter 11

Fake Out

That whole week, Alex and Kerry were busy discussing their plans for the birthday bowling party. Fred wasn't too pleased when he heard that Kerry had talked Alex into doing it with the other guys Alex was friends with, but at least he was invited and would get to spend time with Alex.

The week wasn't as smooth as that though. Just like Amanda had said the Friday before, she did see Alex on Monday. Alex had gone to the bathroom to change for PE and ran into the busty blonde, which got the blonde harassing the redhead again to the girl's dismay. It continued throughout the week as well. Amanda was careful to only do it when she caught Alex on her own, which thankfully wasn't that often, but enough to the point where Alex was getting rather upset about the whole thing.

She had made it through three days of the harassment before it started to bug her, having repeated to herself what Raph had told her. That Amanda did it to bug her. That Alex was better company. But that didn't mean that when Amanda mentioned her looks again, that Alex didn't get self conscious about it. Raph never did tell her that Amanda had been lying about that part, so that made her believe that her friends really did just tell her that to make her feel better.

And that was what Alex was dreading as she waited for one of the guys to pick her up at school. Amanda had already singled her out on Monday afternoon, as well as Wednesday. Why would Friday be any different? She had just been thankful that Mike and Don hadn't heard what Amanda had been saying to her, or that she hadn't gotten to far into her mean remarks when they finally did arrive.

"God, what are you?" Amanda started out with. "A hooker? I always see you on the corner."

Alex's head shot up. She had been kneeling down on the ground, tying her shoe when Amanda had walked up to her. The girl slowly stood up, leaving her backpack on the ground next to her as she looked away from the blonde. "I'm not a hooker," she stated firmly, though it sounded better than she actually felt.

"You sure about that?" Amanda asked. "Cause that's the only way you can get any action."

Don't listen to her. Don't listen to her. Don't listen to her, Alex repeated to herself in her head. Closing her eyes as she leaned back against the fence. She's just a bully. That's all she is. A whore and a bully.

"Oh, hit a nerve," Amanda said. "I can tell. Guess that means I'm right."

Alex opened her eyes and glared. "No," she said. "You're wrong."

"I don't think so," Amanda said. "And I haven't seen that yummy man you had with you last week. You scared him away, didn't you? I knew he couldn't have been your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Alex told her, looking away. Damn, why did I just say that? Now I'm going to get it.

"Oh, I knew I was right!" Amanda cackled, "That's so pathetic!"

Pathetic? Alex looked down at her feet. It's not pathetic. He's my friend. How is that pathetic? That I can't get my really cute friend to like me? Or that I might want him to? Oh, God, that is pathetic.

"You have to pretend to have a boyfriend. Poor guy getting roped into that, being lumped with you." she snickered.

"We never pretended," Alex said. "You just assumed."

"You never denied it," she smirked.

"You never came right out and said it," Alex retorted. "Raph's a good guy. I wouldn't force him to do anything."

"More like couldn't persuade him," Amanda pressed. "I know you'd try to. I mean, look at the guy. He's a god! You couldn't handle a man like him."

"A guy that knows better than to deal with girls like you," Alex shot back. "You're not worth his time."

"Oh I think I can convince him otherwise," Amanda assured her. "Like I do with everyone else."

"That's dirty and shallow and completely unfair to Arthur!" Alex snapped.

"How? I'm with him publicly. He still gets what he wants," Amanda said. "What's the harm? We're both happy this way."

"He's happy because he thinks you're faithful," Alex said. "But you're just a filthy wh-" Alex backed up, dodging the slap Amanda shot at her. It was going to take a lot more than that to get the girl. She was a trained ninja, after all.

"What were you about to call me?" Amanda demanded. "A whore?" The girl scoffed, pulling her hand back out of Alex's grasp. "I'm not the one hanging off of every guy that hangs out with me, practically begging for them to love me. I can get that all on my own."

"I feel bad for the guy roped into that," Raph said finally making himself known as he walked casually around the corner. He had gotten there just around the time the two girls started talking. He had been ready to intervene again, but stayed back when he heard Alex start to defend herself, much like he had suggested she do.

Alex sighed, a little thankful to see Raph, but also embarrassed that he had obviously heard part of their conversation. "Hey," she greeted shyly, a blush on her face. "You get roped into picking me up again?" she asked, a little depressed knowing that that was most likely the case.

"Nah, I chose to do it," Raph said huffing a bit. "Don't act all surprised. I told you I like your company, alright?"

"I thought you just said that to make me feel better," she whispered to him so that Amanda didn't hear.

"Hey! Listen here. When I say something like that I mean it!" Raph hissed at her. "Do you think I'm some sort of lier!?"

Alex bit her lip, shaking her head slightly. "No, a tease, but not a liar," she answered honestly.

"Teasing about things as serious as that? No," he growled, before turning to the bitch. "Shove off, okay? Don't you have some alley to meet your next hook up in?"

"I'd be happy to meet you there," Amanda flirted.

"Sorry, I don't feel like getting an STD, especially when I have a clean girlfriend right here," Raph said an arm going around Alex.

Alex's stomach dropped, though much differently than when there was danger around. Her face grew hot, being pulled so close to Raph, his arm secured around her so tightly that if she tried to move away she wouldn't have been able to. "What?" Alex gasped to the redheaded boy, face getting even warmer when she realized how close her face was to him to to the embrace..

"What?" Amanda screamed.

"You. Have. STDs," Raph said slowly. "And apparently they've gone to your head already."

"First of all, I don't have STDs," Amanda said. "And secondly, you're dating that?"

"First," he mocked her, "pretty sure you do. And secondly, yes, I'm dating her."

"Since when? Why didn't she admit it then?" Amanda asked, fixing for the lie.

"She's not the type to announce relationships like that," Raph stated. "She didn't even want to tell me when her birthday was."

"So what?" Amanda said. "She never tells anybody that anyways. Not even when we were friends." She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning her weight to one side. "So I don't believe you."

"So wouldn't you think she would want something like a boyfriend being known?" Raph asked. "You really are annoying," Raph grumbled a bit to the girl.

"Prove it," Amanda pressed, daring them to show her in some way that they were actually dating.

Raph didn't even blink as he sighed a bit and leaned down to Alex's level, without hesitating as he gave her a soft kiss to the lips, arm still over her shoulder. Alex's eyes went wide, her stomach flipping and growing even warmer. Her eyes fluttered closed, enjoying her first kiss, leaning into it, kissing him back. Even if it wasn't actually with a real boyfriend, Alex was going to enjoy the kiss. She's never get her first kiss back, after all and Raph was a good kisser...

Raph soon pulled away and looked at Amanda. "Gonna leave anytime soon, Bitch? You're ruining the moment with your face."

He moved in for another kiss, just trying to prove the point further that they were occupied and into something, something Amanda had no business being in. However, this time Raph moved his hands down to Alex's waist, pulling her in closer. Alex, playing along (as well as secretly really wanting to have another kiss), wrapped her arms around his neck, on of her hands making it's way into his messy hair. Hey, if they were going to go that far to make the blonde believe them, she was going to enjoy it. Plus, Raph's hair always did look so soft...

Amanda growled and turned on her heel, stomping away.

Raph looked up and laughed slightly. "God did you see her face! It was all purple and splotchy!"

No, I was a little busy kissing you, Alex thought, slightly in a daze. She shook her head slightly, trying to regain some of her composure. "Uh, yeah," she lied. "T-Thanks."

"No problem. Sorry if I did something you're uncomfortable with. I always act on instinct, you know?" he said with no care in the world as he pulled away.

Some damn good instinct, she thought. Alex wanted to sigh at the loss of contact, but unwound herself from him anyways. She crossed her arms and pushed some of her hair behind her ear, a deep blush on her face from the kiss, but as well as the fact that she had really enjoyed the kiss and knew that Raph has just done it to help her, not because he wanted to.

"Got her off your back though," he added.

"Y-Yeah," Alex said. "But now you're stuck pretending to be my boyfriend. I'm sorry. You can "break up" with me whenever. I'm sure that little show is enough to get her off my back for a while anyways."

"No big deal." Raph shrugged. "I mean, it's not like you see this girl too often, right? And I'm homeschooled so I don't have to pretend during school. So just if we're ever in a place she'd be we act all couply. Doesn't bug me," he explained with a lazy, nonchalant shrug.

"I meant what I said when I said I wasn't going to force you into anything," Alex said. "Really, Raph, you don't have to do this. You've already helped me so much." And that kiss…!

"Hey! I said I'm fine with it!" Raph growled. "Why do you have to argue with everything I say, woman?"

"And being with a Butch like me won't hurt your rep?" Alex asked, looking away with her arms still secured around herself.

"Real guys with rep don't care about the rep," he scoffed. "That's for posers. 'Sides, you're not that bad looking. You got the whole model thing going for ya or whatever."

Alex's face reddened. Her stomach feeling as if it were on fire. What the hell was he doing to her? He was pretending to be her boyfriend. He wasn't actually her boyfriend! Why was she getting all flustered like that? None of it was real!

Alex looked down at the ground. He had said he never joked about things like that, so he meant it? But then why didn't that make her feel any better? Raph had just admitted he thought she was pretty, but that didn't mean he actually liked her. And she didn't like him.

He was nice and all, but he was hot headed and rude and sweet when he wanted to be. He was arrogant and mouthy and oh, that mouth of his felt so good against her. But none of that meant anything! He was just helping a friend out! He didn't actually want to kiss her. He didn't have any romantic feelings for her. She knew that.

So why did it hurt her chest so much to know that?

The girl sighed. He did put himself out there for her though. He went out of his way to go and get her, and then to stick up for her. And she now knew the reasoning behind that wasn't just because he'd get in trouble with his brothers if he didn't. Raph actually approved of Alex. He was bring a good friend, going so far as to kiss a girl he had no romantic feelings with to protect her. The deserved some sort of thanks, right?

But what could she possibly give him? The guy most likely wouldn't let her buy him good for his troubles. Or take cash or a gift. What could she give? Last time she had kissed him on the cheek for his aid, but what he had done this time was so much bigger. What was worth that?

"Raph?" Alex asked, looking down at the male redhead's shoes.

"What is it now?" Raph asked, looking down at the girl, face slightly red. Alex didn't know why though, either from anger at her for acting that way or something unknown, but she tried not to let it bother her.

Alex bit her lip before looking up at Raph, a small smile on her lips, trying to push down the feelings she had just been having. She took a small step forward, seeing as they were still rather close together and stood up on her toes. He looked at her with wide eyes, much like he had when she had kissed him on the cheek as a thank you before, however, he was extremely shocked when her soft lips met his own, a small hand resting gently on his cheek.

The girl pulled back a couple seconds later, though again, she didn't really want to pull away from Raph. When as he stood here still and shocked, unable to kiss her back, it was still so much better than she would have imagined it being. She was incredibly inexperienced when it came to kissing, and for all she knew, Raph could very well have been the best in the world or just as inexperienced as her, but she had really enjoyed it, nonetheless.

"W-What the heck was that?" Raph asked her, red brows furrowing.

"Thank you," Alex told him, forcing herself to stare into his green eyes. "I, uh, really appreciate this." She fidgeted slightly, moving some red hair behind her ear nervously. "Y-You didn't have to do it. You could've just left it alone, but you didn't and that means a lot to me, Raph. So thank you."

"Oh, well," Raph grumbled. "I guess it's no big deal." He shrugged a bit. "Now lets go, numbnuts has a lot of work cut out for him."

Alex nodded and picked up her backpack off the ground, slinging it over her shoulders. However, due to how much was in it, she almost tipped herself over from how quickly she put it on. "I know, you guys have a test on Monday, don't you?" Alex asked, adjusting her backpack over her shoulders.

"Yup," Raph said.

"I think Mikey will do fine," she thought. "He's been getting a lot better."

"No thanks to you," Raph teased, bumping her slightly with his shoulder as they walked side by side.

"Hey," she protested, bumping him back. "What about you? Do you think you'll do okay?"

Raph shrugged. "I get by," he said. "Chemistry's not really my thing, but I can do it."

Alex stretched out her back, placing her hands on the straps of her backpack to try and lift some of the weight off of her back a little. "Chemistry isn't my favorite," Alex admitted. "I like English and history."

"I like English too," he said.

"You like to read?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, something wrong with that?" he asked defensively.

Alex shook her head. "No, not at all. I just didn't know you liked to read. Do you think he'll study at all this weekend?" Alex asked.

Raph scoffed. "I doubt it," he admitted honestly. "We've go a competition this weekend."

"Really?" Alex asked. Well, maybe I'll just happen to see you guys there. "I've got a lot going on too," she admitted. "At least I don't have to work on Sunday. I've got so much freakin' homework to get through."

"How much homework?" he asked.

"Math, science, history, english, health," she started listing, dreading just thinking about the subjects.

"How many classes do you take?" he asked, eyeing the girl and her large backpack.

"Well, there are nine periods in a school day. One of which is lunch. So eight classes." she informed him.

Raph slid his hand into the little handle on top of her backpack and lifted it off her back slightly, testing the weight, before he used his other one to remove one of the straps off her shoulder. He pulled the backpack off of her completely, slinging it over one of his shoulders.

"Dude, my bag!" she protesting, trying to take it back from him.

"It's too heavy for you to carry on your back," he told her. "You'll get back problems."

"And you won't?" she retorted.

"Nope," he said.

"Is that so?" Alex moved to try and take her bag back, but Raph moved it to the other shoulder, the one further away from her.

"Yes it is."

"You're a pain in the ass," she told him.

"But I'm your pain in the ass fake boyfriend."

Alex raised an eyebrow. That was something she hadn't expected him to say. Did he really think it wasn't that big of a deal for them to pretend to be in a relationship? Sure, Alex had agreed to it, but that didn't mean there weren't a couple things she was uncomfortable with. She'd be lying to people, which she didn't like to do. If it came down to it, she may have to kiss him again, and though she really enjoyed kissing him, that didn't mean that she really liked the fact that she was kissing someone she wasn't really in a relationship with.

"What kind of comeback is that?"

"A good one."

"No," Alex scoffed.

"Yes," Raph pushed.

"No way."

"Yes way."

Alex rolled her eyes at their childish conversation. "Suck it," Alex told him.

"No, that's your job," Raph told her, face red with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Fake job," she pressed. Then she really thought about it. "How do you even do a fake blow job?"

"How the hell would I know?" Raph asked, eyes wide at the sudden question from the girl beside him.

"You'd be the one getting them," Alex said with a shrug, her hair falling off her shoulder in doing so. Her face was almost as red as her hair at their topic, but she wasn't unbelievably uncomfortable with it. It was easy to talk to Raph, despite all of the banter, teasing, slight anger problems and weird conversation topics. "Or not getting them?"

"And you'd be the one giving it," Raph retorted.

Alex shrugged, seeing his point. "Noted," she said. "But I don't think it's possible to do a fake one, do you?"

"Why are we even talking about this?" he asked, shifting Alex's backpack a little.

"I don't know. You're easy to talk to and it's what came up," Alex admitted. "I'm just making conversation."

"You are so weird, Firecracker," Raph told her with a laugh.

"I'm glad you find me amusing, Raphie," Alex shot back.

"I don't know how to read you," he told her. "The second I think I've got you figured out, you turn around and throw somethin' new at me."

"Maybe you're not supposed to figure me out," Alex told him as they headed up the stairs of the Hamato residence. "Maybe you're just supposed to enjoy."