Note from the author

Excuse the grammar, spelling, change in tenses, etc. You'll know what I mean if you read on. Actually excuse everything. 

 

I'm a newbie so bear with me. 

 

But please leave a comment after about what you think of the story and the writing.

 

Fa'afetai lava.

Chapter 1

"Hey bitch!"

I look up from my desk to see my best friend, Revina, walking in. She is smiling as she swung her school bag from her back and onto her desk. She is quite a firecracker. Most people underestimate her because of her size. She is petite. She is only 5ft tall.  I love walking with her because she makes me feel tall and I tell her that all the time.  She is beautiful and curvy for someone so small. 

"Hey hoe!" I grin at her. She takes a seat next to me.

"So how about I finished reading the Telesa book! OMG it was amazeballs! Daniel Tahi is sooo hot!" she said fanning her face with her hand.

I chuckle, "Oh really? I told you he was hot and you said "no he's not." Now keep your filthy mind away from my man." She pokes her tongue at me and we both laugh. 

The bell rings signalling the start of our first period just when our teacher Miss Savealii walks in. She took the roll call and then looks at me and Revina.

"You two go to the principal’s office. Mr. Taeao wants to see you."

We look at each other nervously and then back to the teacher. "Umm why? Are we in trouble or anything?" Revina asks.

"Just go to the office," she says to us. We get up and walk out of class. I am so scared that I keep chewing my lower lip which I do often when I'm nervous or scared.

"Why do you think Mr. Taeao wants to see us?" I ask Revi.

She shrugs, "I have no idea. I hope it's nothing serious though. Cos my mum will kill me."

"Oi! What if it's about that thing we applied for?" I look at her with wide eyes.

Last week, there was announcement about an exchange student program. Two applicants will be chosen to be exchange students to America at this other boarding school called The Elite High School. The chosen students get to complete their final semester there. We were both curious and thought, why not? It's a great opportunity to go study overseas. 

"Maybe it is", Revi says.

We got the principal’s office and I knock on the door. The secretary greeted us and said to go straight in.

We walk in slowly.

"You asked to see us Mr. Taeao?" I ask nervously.

"Oh yes. Lani and Revina. Take a seat." We did and look at him with confusion clearly showing on our faces.

"So girls, I am happy to inform you that out of all the applicants for the exchange students program we have chosen the two of you to be our representatives. You will be there for a total of three months," Mr. Taeao says with a smile.

O.M.G. My heart is beating so fast. My mouth is hanging open. I look at Revina and she looks at me mirroring my expression. We start to scream and jump up and down hugging each other.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Revina repeats over and over excitingly.

"Girls! Calm down!" We look back at Mr. Taeao and he is still smiling at us.

"Are you for real Mr?" I ask.

"Yes, Lani. You and Revina are the best options we have".

"So what do we have to do?" Revina asks.

"You just need to get your parents' approvals and bring in your passports. We'll take care of the rest. You are set to leave in two weeks. Now that is all. You can go back to class now."

"Thank you Mr. Taeao!" we both say rushing out the door. We stop outside the office grinning at each other and start to scream again jumping up and down.

"We're going to America!"

"We are totes going to rock this. Who knows? Maybe you'll get a palagi (Samoan word for white people) guy". We both laugh and walk back to class.

This is officially the happiest day of my life! I am going to be an exchange student in America and my best friend is coming with me too. We couldn't stop smiling the whole day.

 

 

 2 weeks later.

 

"I am so nervous", Revina whispers.

"Me too", I whisper back.

The car has just entered the gates and wow. Just wow. The buildings look ancient. It looks like the ones in the movie "Wild Child" with Emma Roberts. So boarding schools do look this. We come to a stop in front of a large building. There is a woman standing in front waiting. She is wearing a dark brown dress that looks like her grandmother's. Her hair is twisted in a tight French bun. Her face is bare of makeup. She looks to be around her thirties. She'd look really pretty if she'd smile often.

"She looks scary", Revina whispers and I shush her. 

We get out of the car and the woman walks forward greeting us with a smile. I was right. She is pretty when she smiles. 

"Hello. I am Mrs. Rogers. I am the principal and I am happy to welcome you to Elite College." She stretches out her hand and I shake her hand.

"Hi Mrs. Rogers. It's really nice to meet you. I am Lani Seve. I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend your school". I say with a smile.

She turns to Revina and shakes her hand too. "I'm Revina Lesa and thank you for having us", Revi says.

"We are happy to have you also dears. Now follow me I will take you to your room. You will sharing a room for the time you will be here. Don't worry about your bags. Mr. Diggs will bring them in". She says turning towards the entrance. I look back to see the driver carrying our bags. So that's his name.

We follow Mrs. Rogers inside. I had to stop and admire the view. It's so beautiful. There were stairs that reminds me of the Harry Potter movies. 

"You're on the third floor", Mrs. Rogers tells us. 

Uggh for real? I hate stairs. I look at Revina and she also does not look happy. We both hate stairs. I wonder if there are any elevators. "Fesili ai pe iai gi lifi?" (Ask if there are any elevators), I whisper to Revi. She gives me a "no way" look. "Fai ai oe" (You ask). Alrighty then.

"Mrs. Rogers, Revina was wondering if there's an elevator?" haha take that bitch.

"Sorry girls there are no elevators. Just good old stairs. Don't worry you'll get used to it", Mrs. Rogers says smiling.

We are breathing hard by the time we reach the top floor. What? Don't judge. I don't do exercises. We follow Mrs. Rogers to the end of the hallway. She walks to the room at the end and she takes out a key and opens it. 

We walk in first. Nice. The room is quite spacious. There were two beds, two closets, two dressers, two shelves, and two desks with lamps. There was a door on the right and I’m guessing it’s the bathroom.

"So this your room. Just make yourself at home. You have your own bathroom,” she gestures to that door. I was right it is a bathroom. Sweet we have our own bathroom. “On your desks, you will find a set of rules that you'll need to follow and also you class timetables with a campus map. Your room keys are also there. School will start tomorrow," Mrs. Rogers informs us.

"Cool", we say at the same tie.

"So girls, I will leave you to rest and get ready for tomorrow. Goodnight now", Mrs. Rogers walks out.

"Thank you!" we call out to her as she closes the door. 

We each walk to a bed and collapse on it.

"I can't believe we're actually here", I say looking at the ceiling. 

"I know", Revi says.

"I just can't believe it", I muse.

"I know", Revi replies.

I grab a pillow and scream into it. 

"Are you done? “Revi asks laughingly. "Yeah I'm done", I reply.

"Can you grab the rules? Read them out will ya", Revi asks me. 

I look at the desk then back at the ceiling. "It's too far" I groan. 

"Just get the damn rules you lazy bitch", Revi snaps. "Then why don't you get it yourself?" I snap back at her.

"Because you owe me for lying to Mrs. Rogers about the elevators you ass", she yells at me.

I crack up. "Ok, ok. Calm your ass down". I stand up and walk to the desk and grab sheet of paper off it and walk back to the bed.

"Okay. Umm...Rule number one, do not kill". "What?!" Revi screeches, jumping out of bed and jumps on me. "Hahaha I was kidding!" 

She stops her assault and let me start reading the rules again. 

"Keep your rooms cleans. There will be weekly inspections".

"Breakfast is at 6:30a.m. Lunch is at 1p.m. Dinner is at 6p.m."

"Curfew is at 10p.m. Students are not leave the campus at any time except for weekends."

"I guess that's why I haven't seen anyone around. They're probably off-campus", Revi says.

"Oh this is a good one. No fraternizing on school grounds", I read out laughing. "You heard that Rev? You better not fraternize with anyone," I joke. She hits my face with a pillow. "Oww!" I yell at her. "That's what you get", she smirks at me. 

"Okay...uhmm yada yada blah blah blah...no female should be in the male dorms after curfew and vice versa. Hmm wow apparently you can get expelled for that" I look at Revi. "Cool", she shrugs getting of my bed. 

"I'm gonna sleep now. I'm dead on my feet. I'll unpack later", she says getting in her bed.

"Yeah same here", I say putting away the rules.

It didn't take long before I hear her quiet snoring. I couldn't sleep so I walk to the window and look out. I see an expensive looking car stop in front and a guy got out. He has really black hair. It looks messy and sexy. Suddenly he looks up. Swoon! He is hot. Just imagine Chris Hemsworth with black hair. He looks to be at least 6’2 and he looks like he works out a lot. Nice. 

Oh shit I'm staring. I almost ducked under but I do not want to make it obvious. So I step away from the window slowly. I walk back to bed and I can't take his face out of my head. I lay there thinking about his face and wondering what he's like. I eventually fall asleep with his face in my head.

Chapter 2

 I hear someone calling my name. 

"Lani gofo i luga" (Lani get up), the voice was saying to me. 

"Soia! Fia moe!" (Stop it. I want to sleep), I snarl at whoever was trying to wake me.

"Wake up you bitch! We're late!" 

I jerked up with a gasp. "Late for what?" I groan.

"First day of school you egg.”

"Oh shit. Let me just grab a quick shower," I say rushing to get my bath stuff.

"No time it's almost 8. Just brush your teeth and fix your hair. I already got our uniform ready", Revi shoos me to the bathroom. 

"Ngaww did I ever tell you that I love you?” I croon at her. She rolls her eyes, "Yeah yeah hurry up. Chopchop". 

I got ready in record time. It didn't take long fixing my hair. I only combed it and let it down. It’s great that there’s no rule for girls to always wear their hairs in braids unlike at home. Thank goodness my hair is straight. Well it's wavy but yeah still straight. I’d probably look like a homeless person if it wasn’t or like my mum always says when I don’t fix my hair, a fa’akaulaiku (witch) especially when it reaches the back of my knees.

The school uniforms contains of a navy blue skirt, a white shirt, navy blue tie striped with light blue, and a navy blue blazer. I wore black opaque stockings to cover my malu. It’s a Samoan traditional tattoo that only the women can get. It covers our thighs. Our tattoos must be covered at all times except for special occasions because they are considered sacred. Which is why I’m wearing stockings. I got it last year with my brother who got his sogaimiti (traditional tattoo for Samoan men). Revi wore her black havaiana jandals and I wore my black chucks. I'd wear jandals if it weren't for my stockings. We decided to hold our blazers instead of wearing them cos it looks cooler.

"Damn Revi you look hot", I whistle. She is wearing her hair in a ponytail.

We both laugh, "Girl you look fine too", she says. I shake my head at her.

"Yeah right", I say in disbelief. "This skirt makes my ass look big", I pout. "And my stockings make me look weird. I bet I'm the only one who's wearing stockings with her uniform". 

"That's cos you're fresh like that and you do have a fat ass", she laughs.

"I do not!" I protest.

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Uggh shut up", I growl at her which makes her laugh even more. 

As it turned out, we have the same timetable today. Yay! We got to the building where we have our first class and apparently everyone is already in class. Damn we're so late.

"How about if we pretended to have broken English?" Revi asks. She has that annoying glint her eye every time she has a stupid idea.

"Leai" (no), I say flatly.

"Come on! It's just for our first class. Pleeeaaase", damn she is doing those puppy eyes. Uggh.

"Fine".

"Yayyy", she jumps up and down.

"Ok here's our first class. You knock", she pushes me forward.

"Why do I have to do everything?" I hiss at her.

I knock on the door and open it slowly. I bite my lip and walk in slowly. Shit. My eyes go wide when every head turn to us. Shit shit shit. My hands were getting cold. I can practically hear my heart beat when the teacher glares at us.

"You're late," the teacher clips out. He is wearing thick rimmed glasses and has a receding hairline.

I wince a little, "Sowry we wake late. Jed lack".

"Since you’re new students I’ll give you a pass this one time but don't be late again. Come in and introduce yourselves".

Oh crap. Really? Do we have to?

I turn to the class and they were all looking at us expectantly. Damn we are the only brown people in class. I smile to them and elbow Revi.

"Muamua oe," (You go first) I whisper through my teeth still smiling. She glares at me and then turns and smiles to everyone.

"Hi. I is Revina. We new exjenge studens from Samoa," she introduces herself. I want to laugh so badly.

"Hello. Me nem is Lani. Habby to mit you", I say smiling. 

Some people snickered and others are whispering at each other with their eyes on us. I already know they're making fun of us. A blonde girl with heavy makeup points her red finger nail down at our feet with a disgusted look. She must be the mean bitch.

"Oh.My.God. is she seriously wearing jandals? Is she for real?” she points out. Everyone laughed. We just smiled at her. I really want to say something back but I didn't want to ruin our charade.

"Okay quiet everyone", the teacher tells everyone.

"I am Mr. Adams and I am your English teacher." We nod and smiled at him.

"Now take the two empty seats at the back". Sweet. We walk to the back and take our seats. 

"Okay class I hope you'll all welcome Lani and Revina and don't hesitate to help them with this class," Mr. Adams says. 

Oh damn we even fooled our English teacher. Haha

I bend to get my notebook and pen out of my bag and suddenly the back of my neck starts to prickle like someone was watching me. I look up and my eyes clashes with the most beautiful green I have ever seen. I'd drown in those eyes anytime. Then it clicked that I am staring with my mouth open. I sit up quickly and straighten. I look back and he is still staring and the corner of his mouth lifted.

He was the guy I saw from my window last night. And he is grinning at me. Damn I'm staring again. I look away and I try to focus on the lesson. Class took so long. I tried to listen but my mind keeps wandering back to "hot guy". I look at Revi and she looks bored. 

Damn if only I had my phone. I forgot it in the room. I take out a paper and I write a note to Revi.

Ka faakaga broken English pea se'i o'o i le lunch. Yay? (Let's keep pretending to have broken English till lunch. Yay?)

I grin at her wiggling my eyebrows. She nods and grins back. Sweet. This is going to be fun.

When the bell rang we all stood up to leave but my hair got caught on the chair. Uggh the cons of having long hair. I untangle my hair and gather it on top of my head in a big messy bun. I used my pencil to hold it in place.

"You have pretty hair", a petite brunette says as we walked out. I smile at her, "Fanks". 

Our next class was World History. Thankfully the teacher didn't make us introduce ourselves.

I am disappointed to find that blondie is in our classes. Her name is Britney Moore. She kept throwing insults at us. She once said she thinks I have lice on my hair. Being that I'm from a third world country and probably get lots in my hair. I kept telling myself that karma is a bitch. Karma will kick blondie's ass. It calmed me. Mostly. 

She also commented that I was possibly wearing stolen chucks and that Revi probably couldn’t afford anything other from jandals. When we didn't react to any of her snipes, she laughed and said we probably didn't understand a word they were saying. I almost smiled at that. What pissed me off more was how she keeps cosying up to "hot guy". 

Yes I am jealous. I have never been jealous before. I've had boyfriends but I've never felt the need to smash a girl's face when they talked to them. I am feeling that now with a guy I haven't even talked to. I haven't told Revi about hot guy. I'll tell her at lunch. Maybe.

There were some nice students. Like Sarah and Rachel. They are really nice to us. But we still haven't let anyone know we speak really good English. 

I did notice a guy who kept staring at Revi. He has blonde hair that reaches his shoulders and shocking blue eyes. He’s over six feet tall by the looks of him. He has this expression on his face like he wants to grab Revi and carry her away to his cave and ravish her. Revi, being the clueless girl she is, is totally oblivious to the hotness beside her. I sigh. I'm going to do something about it. She'll thank me later.

 

 

 It's lunch time! Finally!!!

We follow Sara and Rachel to the cafeteria. They said we can sit with them at their table. We got our trays and stood in line to get lunch. Yum it was spaghetti for lunch. We got our lunch and walked to their table. There are four other people at the table. Three guys and a girl. The guys are all cute. They are totally drool-worthy material. The girl is pretty. She has red hair and freckles on her nose. We all sit down. Sarah and Rachel sat between the other two guys. I think they're their boyfriends. Lucky them. Revi and I sat facing them.

"Hey guys. These are Lani and Revina. They're new exchange students from Samoa. Introduce yourselves."

"Hi", says the guy next to Sarah. He has blonde thick hair tied at the back of his neck. "I'm Matt". 

"Hey", says the one next to Rachel. This one has black hair which is cut short all around except for the top of his head which is tied in a knot. I want to scream “stop the knot” like in that funny youtube video with these other guys going up to random guys with this hairstyle with a pair of scissors, cut them, and run off. "I'm Ansel".

"Hi girls", says the redhead. "I'm Andy and this is Miles". He also has black hair but his is cut short. "Hey", Miles says.

"Hi", we both smile at them. 

"Well isn't this cute", a snarky voice says behind us. I turn to see blondie standing there with her followers smirking at us.

"You took in the refugees. You should wear hair protectors in case you get lice from that one", she says pointing at me. "And please take care of your properties they just might disappear around them".

"Shut up Bri...” I shake my head at Sarah stopping her. 

I stand up and face blondie.

"The only thing that's going to disappear is your plastic face if you don't back the hell off", I say flatly. I love the shocked look on her face. She is gaping with her mouth open. 

Revi stands up next to me. "What? Didn't you understand a single word Lani said? I'll repeat it for you. You better leave us alone or I'll gladly perform another surgery on your face. It won't be pretty", Revi said sweetly. 

I laugh so hard I had to sit back down. 

I look up at blondie and her face is so red she is probably gonna explode any second. "Blondie you look like a strawberry. You have to breathe. You know how to? Just inhale, exhale and repeat." I say sweetly. She turns even redder. 

"You've just messed with the wrong person. Do you have any idea who I am?" she seethes. 

Revi and I look at each other and crack up. "Is that a joke?" I manage to get out between laughs. 

I look at her with pity, "Honey, you are the joke".

Everyone laughs. 

"Nah man she looks like joker with all that make up caking her face", Revi giggled. I look at Revi while pointing at blondie, "Why sssooo ssseriousss?" 

"Ok I'm hungry. Bye Felicia", I wave blondie and her followers off turning to the table. 

I sit down and start to eat my spaghetti. 

"You're gonna regret this. And my name is not Felicia", blondie snarls at us. Oh my gawsh she is dumb.

I turn around looking at her in confusion, "You're still here?"

Blondie stomps her foot, squeals and walks out with her girls following her. 

I turn back to my lunch shaking my head. I nudge Revi, "Dude it was like we were in Mean Girls". We both laugh oblivious to the silence around our table. My fork is halfway to my mouth when I look up at everyone staring at us. 

"Spaghetti?" I ask holding out my forkful of spaghetti. They crack up and I smile at them.

"You guys were awesome!" Red gushes.

"We just don't like bitches", I say, going back to my food.

"Um you're a bitch", Revi smirks at me.

I roll my eyes at her. "Okay I don't like those kind of bitches. Bully bitches. Bulltches. Hey I made a new word. Bulltches." I say feeling proud of myself.

Revi just shakes her head at me, "You're an idiot."

"And you're a hoe", I retort.

"You guys are weird", Rachel says. We snicker nudging each other. She does not know half of it.

"So why did you guys pretend not to have good English?" she questions.

"It was her idea", I point at Revi.

She gasps. "I only said first period. You're the one who wanted to pretend till lunch."

"But it was your idea, wasn't it?" I snicker at her.

"Yeah but I didn't wan...”

"Nope. It was all you," I interrupt.

"Bitch! Fine! I just wanted to know how you guys would react. You guys are awesome by the way", Revi explains. We were answering their questions when I felt the back of my neck get warm. I didn't want to turn around but my curiosity took over. I look behind me and my eyes meet his green eyes. I quickly look away. Stupid! Can I not be more obvious? Uggh

"If you should know, he's been staring at you ever since we walked in", Sarah says to me with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?" I pretend to not know what she is talking about. Everyone is looking at me now. Revi narrows her eyes at me.

"Axel Mason", Sarah says. Oooh even his name sounds hot.

"Axel who?" I ask just when the bell rang.

Saved by the bell! 

I quickly got up and through my rubbish in the trash and wait for the others to do the same.

Revi comes up to me and whispers, "We're so gonna talk after". She frowns at me.

I smirk at her, "What's to talk about? Let's go to class".

We stopped pretending to be stupid for the rest of the day. All our classes were great. Especially Art. I love drawing. It's a hobby of mine and it’s quite therapeutic. I especially love drawing traditional designs. I've been trying to design an arm band tattoo but I still haven't drawn a perfect design yet.

I didn't see Axel again after lunch. Actually I did. But being a scared idiot that I am, I avoided him at all cost. But I knew he was there whenever I get that warm feeling at the back of my neck. I just ignored it.

Chapter 3

 

Chapter 4

I freeze. The back of my neck prickles. I was afraid to take a breath. OMG OMG. I look wide-eyed at Revi and chew on my lower lip. She just smirks at me. I slowly turn around and all I see is hard chest. Damn. All that muscle hiding under that tight shirt. I slowly look up and my eyes meet the green eyes that have been in my thoughts a lot. I can totally get lost in those eyes. Happily.

“Umm that’s ok. My friend here is going to check it out,” I say not taking my eyes off his.

“No I wasn’t!” Revi calls out. Seriously I am going to kill that bitch.

The left corner of his lips lift up. Gawwsh. Shexy. “I’ll take you to the nurse,” he smiles at me. That smile! So beautiful.

“Yeah Lani go with him to the nurse,” Revi jumps in before I could say no. She is so begging for it. “And don’t you worry. I’ll help wash your hair after.”

“Ugh fine! Let’s go,” I turn and walk to the door. I know he’s following because I can feel his warmth from behind me. Damn it. What the hell?

I do not want to be alone with him. I don’t want to near him at all. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. Why? I’ll tell you why.

1. I’m a chickenshit.
2. Look at #1.

 

Ok I’m not really a chickenshit. I’m just scared. I have never felt like this before. I mean yeah I’ve dated in the past. But I only dated for the sake of dating. Does that even make sense? I have never had a crush on a guy before. Well except for Chris Hemsworth. He is one fine specimen. But he’s got nothing on Axel. Damn it. What? I’ve never felt this pull towards someone before. It’s like…I don’t even know what’s wrong with me. I just want to ignore this attraction or whatever with him. I’m scared it might be one sided. I do not want to be rejected. That will totally shatter my big heart into dust.

 

I exit through the doors and turn right. I heard him clearing his throat and I stop to look at him. I stopped breathing. Damn that’s been happening every time I see him. I raise my right eyebrow at him.

He grins and says, “The nurse is that way”. He points to the opposite direction of where I was heading. Inside groan. Embarrassing.

I lift my chin and walk towards him, “I knew that.”

“Of course you did,” he chuckles. I love how he chuckles. It makes me tingly. It’s like the sound of his voice makes my blood sing.

We walked side by side with me cradling my injured hand with my left hand. I turn my head to look at him.

“So we’ve never been introduced. I’m Lani. I’d offer you my hand to shake but it’s out of service at the moment”. I pause. “Oh wait, I have my left hand”, I laugh at my stupidity. I extend my hand and he takes it.

Our hands made contact a feel a jolt going through my whole body. Wtf? I pulled my hand back quickly. What the hell was that?

“That was electricity shooting through your body. I’m Axel by the way,” he grinned at me. My eyes widened. Oh my life! I said that out loud. Shit. Wait. He felt it too. Yayyy. I am mentally jumping up and down.

“I…umm…uh..oh crap,” I face-palm myself. I can’t even form proper words. He chuckles.

“So tell me about yourself”, he says to me. “And why you pretended to have bad English in class today. Imagine my surprise when you spoke fluently at lunch. I love your accent. It sounds American and not at the same time.”

I smile. Ooh he loves my accent. Hehe.

“Uhm thanks. I think. Well as you know, I’m an exchange student from Samoa. And it was my friend Revi’s idea to pretend to have bad English. We wanted to know how you white kids would react. Uhm whether you’d be like blondie or not. It was an experiment of a sort. Fortunately not everyone is like blondie.”

He chuckles, “It’s good you found friends already. Hopefully I’ll be one of them too”, he smiles.

My heart dropped. Oh that hurts. Did he just friendzone me? See? This is why I do not want to explore whatever it is I am feeling. Gawsh damn it really hurts.

Axel suddenly steps in front of me. “Actually, I want to be more than that”.

OMG my heart is back in place and is beating so fast. He wants to be what? I can’t even look at his face afraid I’d see lies in his eyes. He brings up his hand and lifts my chin so my eyes can see his. Damn his eyes! Why did they have to be so beautiful?

“I mean it Lani. I can’t get you out of my head since I saw you standing at your window. And then when you came in to class today. I couldn’t take my eyes off you,” he said in a low voice.

I swallow hard. OH MY GAWSH!!! I suddenly see flashes of Axel and me together. R21! Mayday! Mayday! Turn the plane around!

“I…I…do..don’t kn…know what to…to say,” I stuttered. Shit he is the first guy to make stutter like an idiot. I suddenly saw Revi wagging her finger in my face saying, “What iz da meaning?!”

He moves closer to me still holding my chin up. His lips just a breath away. My heart is beating away so fast. It’s a wonder it hasn’t come out of my chest. “What if we go out for a dinner Friday night then watch a movie?”

“Uhh,” I still don’t know what to say.

“We can watch 5o Shades of Grey,” he grins. And that snaps me out of my dumb state. I move my head backwards shaking his hand off my chin. I narrow my eyes on him.

“Sorry? You want to watch porn on our first date?” I am getting pissed. Who would take a girl on their first date to see Christian Grey? It’s like he’s saying, “hey let’s go see 50 Shades and get really horny from it so then we’ll have to go have sex to take care of it”. Seriously. WTF? And the asshole in question has the gall to laugh.

“You look hot when you’re pissed. I was kidding,” he chuckles again. “I just wanted to see your reaction. If it were any other girl she’d jump at the opportunity.” And that made me pissed even more. I glare at him.

“Well I am not any other girl. And you know what? Thanks but no.” I step away from him and walk to the room that said ‘nurse’ in front. He stops me by grabbing my arm. Damn my arm prickled from the touch of his hand. I wonder what it would feel like to kiss him. Uggh. No!

"Let me go Axel," I say quietly.

"Please. God I'm messing this up real bad. Lani. Give me a chance. You can pick the movie," he is looking at me with those eyes of his. Pleading hot green eyes. Seriously, who can say no to that? I take a deep breath and let it out.

I bit my lip. “Ok Friday. I want to watch Fast and Furious,” I grin at him. I want to see Paul Walker. My Paul. Why did he have to die? Why? Why??

Axel grins back. “Fast and Furious it is. Now let’s get you to the nurse.” He walks to the door, opens it and waits for me to go in first. Hmm such a gentleman. I smile my thanks to him. I walk in and a woman around her thirties is sitting behind a desk. She looks up with a smile.

“Hello. How may I help you?”

“Hi. I’m Lani and I think I broke my hand.” I wince when I lift my hand to show her. She gets up and walks around her desk to me. “Sit on the bed and let have a look at it.” I comply and went to sit on the bed.

“Now tell me what happened,” she says. I grimace. “Uhh I may have punched someone in the nose”. I look anywhere but at the nurse. She looks at Axel with her brows raised. “Oh it wasn’t him.” I quickly say. She takes my hand and put a little pressure on my knuckles. I hiss in pain and pull my hand away as reflex. “I’m sorry. I’m just going to examine it to see if it really broken. Bear with me for a while sweety.” She takes my hand again and I wince when she turns my hand and massages it. Gawsh I want to cry but I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Axel. Speaking of the devil, he joins me on the bed and takes my hand in his. I swoon inside. He’s so thoughtful and making me fall for him even more. I gasped. What the hell?  I have not fallen. I have not fallen. Maybe repeating it in my head will make it truer.

The nurse let go of my hand. “Ok so fortunately it’s not broken. Just a little swollen. Give it a few days and it will go back to normal. Just ice it and no more punching people in the nose.” She wags her finger at me with a mock scowl. I laugh. “Ok I promise to ice it and not to punch anyone again.” I look away and mutter, “Unless they piss me off too much then I’m sorry.” The nurse laughs and Axel chuckles. “Now, now, you know the school has a no fighting policy. So no more fights for you sweety.” I smile innocently at her and nod. But for real though. I will do it again. For a good reason. Like why I punched blondie. That bulltch had it coming.

We all stand up and I thank the nurse. We were at the door when I realise we are still holding hands. I tensed and look down at our joint hands. I slowly remove my hand and smile awkwardly up at Axel. “Thanks”. “Anytime.” He smiles back. Swoon!

“I’ll walk you to your room.” He offers.

“Oh that’s ok. I remember the way. I won’t get lost,” I stammer.

“Hey, I want to.”

Chapter 5

My breathing stopped. Once again. This guy will be the death of me I say. Did he have to say all the right things? I don’t know what to say so I opt to stay quiet. But not my stomach. It just had to growl. Damn you tummy! Damn you blondie! She is the reason why I didn’t finish my dinner. I hear Axel chuckle and I laughed lightly to hide my embarrassment.

“Let’s go back to the dining hall. Dinner hasn’t finished yet,” Axel suggests. My hunger took over my embarrassment. “Yes please! I need food.” We laugh. We come to the dining hall and I spotted Revi is still there and I walk to sit next to her. They are having dessert already. It was cheesecake. Yum. But I still want my food.

“Where’s my food?” I ask. “What the hell guys? Why did you throw my food away? I wasn’t done! I’m hungry.” I pout at Revi. I am about to start whining to Revi when a plate of food is placed in front of me. I look at Axel with wide eyes and I blush. If you should know I don’t blush. I never blush. Until now. He smiles and sit next to me. He even brought me cheesecake.

“Thank you,” I say shyly. Then my stomach growls again. Revi is the first to laugh of course. “Girl that was so loud,” she sputters. I laugh with her. “What? I blame blondie. She disrupted my meal.” I start eating. Or should I say I am trying to eat but my hand hurt too much and can’t handle using the knife. So yeah I just poke a whole meatloaf with the fork using my left hand and brings it to my mouth. I take a huge bite out of it. Yumm.

“So, what did the nurse say?” Rev asks.

I swallow my food before answering. “It’s not broken. Thank heavens. It’s just swollen a bit. Should be healed in a few days.” I take another bite. I turn to Axel and offer him some meatloaf. “Want some? You probably didn’t finish your dinner too.” “Yeah sure,” he says his eyes never leaving mine. I push my plate closer to him thinking he’d take the remaining meatloaf. But nope. Instead, he holds my left hand and takes a bite out of my meatloaf.

“Hey! That’s mine,” I mock scowl at him. He laugh. “I know. God you should’ve seen your face. So damn cute.” He has the gall to grin at me and making me blush. I glare at him, “You’re an idiot.” He laughs.

I turn and everyone is staring at me. Revi is giving me her “you know what I’m thinking” look. I narrow my eyes at her, “Shut up.” She laughs and then looks at Axel”. “Axel, because Lani is so bad with introductions, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Revina. Lani’s bestest friend in the world. The friend who’d kill for her.” Though she said that with a sweet innocent smile, anyone can tell it’s a threat. Did I say how much I love this girl? Yeah I’d kill for her too. “Nice to meet you Revina. I hope I’ll never be your murder victim.” He smile at her. It was not the same smile he’s always giving me. Revi laughs. “I like him already,” she says to me. I give her a warning look. She look at my hair.

“You still have mashed potato in your hair.”

“I’m too hungry to care right now.” I say as I eat my cheesecake. I don’t offer it to Axel. Yeah, I never share my cheesecake.

“Guys what classes do you have tomorrow?” I ask everyone.

“Me and Sarah have Calculus first period, history and then French before lunch,” Rachel says.

“I have chemistry, English Lit and then gym,” Andy says.

“Gym, Economics then Calculus,” Matt says.

“Same”, says Ansel and he fist pumps with Matt.

“I have Music, theatre and then gym,” Miles says.

“Same for us except for theatre. We have English for second period.” I look at Axel.

“What about you?”

“I have bio first period and then same with you for second and third.” He smiles. That brought a huge smile to my face. “Cool.”

“Well guys, I’d love to stay and chat some more but I have to go wash my hair before the potato rots in my hair. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I excuse myself and Axel starts to get up too. “I’ll come with you”. I look at him with my brow raised.

“You want to wash my hair?”

That made him blush. He actually blushed. I laugh out loud. “I was kidding. You don’t have to come. I’ll see you tomorrow. And thanks for taking me to the nurse.” I reach up and kiss him on the cheek. My lips tingled from the contact. Woah. If just kissing his cheek feels like this then maybe kissing his lips must be electrifying. I blush at my thoughts and walked off.

“Looking forward to it. Oh what’s your number?” he asks.

“Uhm I don’t know,” I answer truthfully.

“You don’t remember or you just don’t want to give it to me?” he jokes. But I can see a hint of hurt in his eyes.

“No! It’s not that. I mean, ugh I would give you my number if I remembered it. Or if I had my phone with me but I left it in my room. Honest. I don’t even remember my number because it’s new and I haven’t memorized it yet,” I babble. I probably sound like an idiot because he was laughing. “Hey I get it. I’ll get it off you tomorrow.” He smiles.

I smile back. “Ok then. Uh see ya. Uhm thanks again. For the nurse. And the food. Um I’ll shut up now. Bye.” I wave and hurry off to Revi who is already at the door smirking at me. I notice that other students were whispering to each other and looking at my direction. Oh screw them.

“Don’t say a word,” I hiss when I reach her.

“Wasn’t gonna.” She laughs. “Now let’s go wash your hair. You look like a vale (idiot).”

I hit her on the arm and tried to dodge her when she hit me back.

 

                   *****

 

I am standing with my head bent under the shower head letting the warm water flow through my hair. Hot water I think with a smile. Perks of living in America. We don’t have hot water systems. It’s just a cold shower for us. But not as cold as an actual cold shower here which is like ice water.

Revi is combing the potato bits out of my hair. “So. You and Axel ay?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. He said he wants to be more than friends.”

“Whaaat?” she stops combing.

“Yeah when we went to the nurse. We’re going out on Friday night. The asshole said we should go watch 50 Shades together and I was like whaaat? Seriously man. Who would take a girl on their first date to watch porn?”

Revi laughs out loud. “He already wants to get in your pants. Anyway continue.”

“And then I said no and walked away.”

“You did not! Tell me you didn’t,” Revi exclaims incredulously. I sigh.

“Of course I did. You’d walk away too if it were you.” I hear her mutter whatever. “But he stopped me and said he was sorry and said I can pick a movie. So I said yeah cool. I want to see Fast and Furious.”

I feel her pull at my hair. “Ow!” I screech.

“You lucky bitch! You’re gonna see Fast and Furious? I want to see it too,” she whines.

“You can be a third wheel,” I suggest.

“Oh hell no!” she scoffs making me laugh.

“Oh and we have the pharmacy,” I say in my best Tofiga from the Laughing Samoans voice. We both laugh and water almost went in my mouth. I tell her about how it felt when we first touched and she just ooh-ed and aww-ed. When we are done, we leave the bathroom and change into our onesie pjs. We have bear onsies with different colors. Hers is pink and mine is brown. We do our homework and then go to bed. Before I sleep I log on to my facebook page and mail my mum. I tell her about our flights, the school, how we’re getting on. I debate whether to tell her about my little incident and I decide against it. So I end my mail by sending her and the family my love. I then fall into a wonderful dream with a certain pair of green eyes.

 

Chapter 6

Today is our first music class. I am so excited. Well mostly I am excited to see Axel again but let’s not dwell on that for now.

Other from Art, music is another one of my talents. Not that I\m bragging or anything. I am not. And what’s so cool about it is that Revi and I both share this talent. We love to play whatever instrument we can get our hands on. But what we love the most are playing the piano or a guitar. We also love to sing and dance. Not hip hop dancing but traditional island dancing. We also hate the same things. Which is exercising for one.

Mr. Collins, our music teacher is cool. He asks our class who can play an instrument and of course everyone said yes. So he let us get up one by one to pick any instrument and play something for two minutes. I am so excited to get my turn. We see Miles in class and we go over to sit with him. When it is our turn, Miles goes up first. He picks and electric guitar. He is really good. He plays his own rendition of Bryan Adams’ Summer of the 69. We cheer him on. Revi chooses the piano. She plays one of the music from the music book at the piano. Everyone really enjoyed it.

It’s my turn and I can’t play anything with my injured hand. I ask Mr Collins if I can sing instead and he says to go for it. I ask Revi to play the guitar. I didn’t have to tell her which song to play. She pelts out Rod Stewart’s ‘I don’t want to talk about it’. I start singing solo and when it got to the chorus I nudge Revi’s leg and she got the message. She joins in turning it into a duet. We do the same routine for the next verses. By the time we are done, everyone is clapping.

“That was beautiful girls,” Mr Collins praises.

“Thank you,” we beam at him.

More students went up for their turns and they were all good. This music class is going to rock.

When the bell rings we say bye to Miles and hurry off to our English class. We walk in and sit where we sat yesterday. I see blondie is already there with her minions and she is giving me the evils. I’d be angry if it wasn’t for the fact that there was a bandage on her nose. I turn to my right and smile at Axel. He grins back and mouth ‘later’ when Mr Adams walks in.

“As you all know, I told you to read Act III, Scene I of Hamlet for today’s class.” He walks to the board and writes “To be or not to be: that is the question”. He turns back to the class. “I want a volunteer to read out the soliloquy with this quote. Anyone?”

I look around and everyone is either looking away or pretending to do something. So I raise my hand. Mr Adams’ eyebrows lifts so high with doubt. He tilts his head, “Are you sure?” He still thinks my English is not good.

“Yes,” I answer. “Okay go ahead.” He gestures with his hand.

I take a deep breath and start reading. And to make it more fun, I read with a British accent plus a little theatre voice.

 

To be, or not to be? That is the question—

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—

No more—and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep.

To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

 

 

I finish reading and look up at Mr Adams. The look on his face is priceless! I hear a Revi snicker.

“Do my ears play me false or did you just read with perfect English Miss Seve?” Mr Adams asks with a shocked face.

I shrug innocently. “I don’t know what you mean Mr.” He shakes his head and go back to the class. “Does anyone know the meaning behind this quote?” he points to the board.

When no one answers again, Revi raises her hand. “Yes Miss Lesa?”

“Well, like the soliloquy clearly explains, it was Hamlet’s indecision about what to do. He was considering whether to end his misery or shall I say depression by committing suicide. So yeah the quote can be used when you’re trying to decide between two options. For example, if there was a party and you were invited and then you ask yourself, to be or not to be? That is the question. It’s like saying, should I go or not? Or in Hamlet’s case, he was thinking, should I kill myself or not? But when he realised dying wouldn’t be a good option so he didn’t. So yeah. That’s what I think it means.” She finishes with a shrug. I smile and hold my fist out to her and we fist bump. You said it sista!

“You sure pulled one on us yesterday, didn’t you ladies?” Mr Adams chuckles. “That is a very good definition…” I zone out when I start drawing in my notebook. It starts off as a doodle and ends up as a man holding a knife to his heart. It was a little disturbing. I snap out of my funk when something hit my leg. I glare at Revi.

“What?” I demand.

“Pay attention,” she hisses. Uggh whatever. I scoot low on my chair and rest my shoulders on the back of my chair with arms folded in front.

“Now I want you to find a partner and then choose any theme from Hamlet to discuss. I want a written report of 500 words on my desk by tomorrow. Now get to it.” Everyone rushes to find their partners while I just sit there. I turn to Revi thinking we should partner up but that guy Rhett is already chatting her up and I see him move their desks together. I gasp. She just ditched me, the bitch!

“Axel I’ll be your partner of course,” I turn sharply at the sound of blondie’s voice. She notices and she smirks at me. I want to swipe that smirk off her face. I look away waiting to hear Axel’s response.

“Sorry Brit, I already have one,” Axel says. I rub at my chest. Who the hell is his partner?

“Who did you partner up with?” blondies asks. My thoughts exactly.

“Lani.”

I sit up quickly and turn my head to him. “What?” I ask with wide eyes. Blondie has a similar expression on her face. Though the bandage on her face makes her look ridiculous. Axel looks at me with a grin. “We’re partners remember?” I just nod totally speechless. OMG he said I’m his partner! I am mentally jumping with joy. I want to scream it in blondie’s face.

“You can’t be serious? I’m your girlfriend! We’re supposed to be partners!” blondie growls at Axel. Girlfriend…what now? She’s his girlfriend? Are you freaking kidding me? The bastard! I’m already killing him in my head.

“No you’re not. We broke up last year,” Axel says. He dated her? How could he have had dated such a bitch? I’m starting to doubt his judgement.

“But we always get back together!” and she stomps her foot. Ooh this is getting more interesting.

“Not this time Brit. Or ever,” he ignores her and turnes to me. “So what theme should we talk about?” He asks as if nothing just happened. Blondie storms off in a huff. Got it? In a huff.

“Um I think you better partner up with blon…”

“No,” he says before I finish. “I want no one else but you.” I am resurrecting him in my mind. Wait, is he referring to us being partners in class or personally? I don’t want to get my hopes up.

“Um okay. So I was thinking mortality. You?”

“I was thinking I should get your number now,” he gives me a goofy grin. He’s so adorable. I move my face closer to his. I touch his tie and pull him closer. I look in his eyes and whisper huskily, “How about, I give you my number after class and we get back to our work now?” I snicker and move back away from him but he holds me closer. “Two can play at this game babe.” He winks. Suddenly it’s getting really hot in the classroom. “I’m better,” I wink back at him. He chuckles and shakes his head. We talk about our theme until the bell rang.

“Hey we both have gym next so let’s go together,” Axel says.

“Oh I was going to go with…” I look to find Revi but it seems she is rather occupied with Rhett. Interesting. “Yeah sure.”

We walk to the gym together and I see girls looking at us and whispering to each other. Suddenly a song pops in my head. They see me rollin. They hatin”. Not that I’m cocky or anything. It was just a random thought. I fish out my phone from my bag and hands it to him.

“Put your number in.” He takes it and he put he number in. Then he takes a selfie. “What are you doing?” I ask in a high pitched voice. “I’m creating my contact photo. So you’ll see my handsome face whenever I call you.” He grins like an idiot. “Oh my gawsh you’re such an idiot.” We laugh and he hands my phone back. I see him reach for his pocket and takes out his phone. My phone rings and I see his face on the screen. I laugh at him. Idiot.

Chapter 7

I am in to the girls’ locker room changing into my gym uniform. It’s a blue and white shirt with navy blue shorts. If I wear the shorts, it’s going to show my malu and I do not want to do that. So I brought my black tights to wear just in case. I change in a toilet cubicle. I don’t like changing in front of other people. Even if they’re girls. Except for Revi of course. I got out of the cubicle and go to put my stuff in my locker. Revi is there getting changed herself. I braid my hair while I wait for her to finish.

“So you and Rhett huh? Why does this question sound so familiar?”  

“Oh shut up,” she says wistfully. “Uhm he’s cool. And cute. Really cute. He’s in our gym class too. Do I look alright?” She asks. “Dude you look hot as always. Rhett is going to drool.” We giggle and walk out into the gym. Everyone is already gathered around our teacher. Or ‘Coach’ as she wants us to call her.

“We’re going to play volley today. It will be mixed team for each game so get into 4 teams of 7.” She looks around at everyone making eye contact and stops at me. “What are you wearing?” She asks me. I peer down at myself.

“Gym clothes?” I ask unsure of her question.

“That is not proper gym clothes young lady. You’re supposed to wear your shorts. Where are they?”

“Uhm they’re in my locker. But well since I can’t play with my hand swollen I thought I’d just wear tights,” I try explaining.

“Doesn’t matter. You must still wear your proper uniform,” she snaps back.

“But coach I have a reason why…”

“What reason?” she narrows her eyes at me.

“I bet she wants to hide her ugly thighs,” blondie and the majority of our class laugh. She is so asking to get punched in the face again. I glare at her and smirked back. She sure has no sense of self preservation. “What? Don’t want Axel to see your ugly legs?”

“Fine!” I say to our coach. “I’ll go change.” I walk back to the locker room and put on my shorts. It’s just gym. I don’t see how bad wearing tights can be. That coach is an idiot. I look myself in the mirror. My whole malu is visible. Damn it.

I walk out again and see my class still gathered around the coach while she’s barking out the rules. I hear someone wolf whistle.

“Holy shit!” a guy exclaims.

“Wow check that ink out,” another guy says.

Everyone looks at my direction and I clench down the urge to look behind me. I see astonished faces. Some judgemental looking ones. Some in awe. Coach looks around to see what’s everyone looking at and locks her gaze on me. Well on my legs. She narrows her eyes clearly she is about to say something.

“I’m wearing my shorts. Happy now?” I say with my arms wide open. She nods and turns back around. I walk to Revi and stand next to her.

“Damn girl your legs are far from ugly,” a guy says. I think his name is Jason. Suddenly I feel somebody slide next to me and by the warmth behind my neck I know it is Axel. He put his hand around my waist and pulls me close to him. He is staring daggers at Jason. Jason put his hands up in surrender and backs off. Woah. Okay.

Axel bends down, his lips almost touching my ear. I shiver when I felt his breath on my ear. “Your tattoo is hot. I’m dying to have a closer look.” Another shiver goes through my body. “Who says you’ll ever get a closer look?” I smirk at him. “We’ll see won’t we babe?” There goes another shiver. I chew on my lip to stop flirting with.

“Mason!” calls Coach. We both look up. “Get in your team. Miss Seve I would appreciate it if you don’t distract other students. This is no time for socialising!” I gawk at her. Excuse me? How the hell am I distracting other students? Axel chuckles and pulls me in closer. I feel his body vibrating as he chuckles. I feel him place a kiss on my hair. Sigh. I blush. “She’s right you know,” he says to me. “How the hell is she right?” I snap. “You are distracting me with your legs and beauty,” he grins. I laugh at him. “That is so corny. Now go play before Coach screams at me again,” I say as I push him away. “Laters babe,” he chuckles and walks towards his team. I sigh and walk to sit on the bench. The game has started and Axel’s team is up. I can’t take my eyes off him. The way he moves, how his shirt tightens against his muscles when he jumps to hit the ball, the way his biceps flex when he moves, I can go on for hours.

“Do you really think he’s interested in you?” a familiar snarky voice that has become quite a pain in my ass takes me out of my daydreaming state. I don’t pay her any attention thinking she’d go away soon. I was wrong. She just wouldn’t leave. “You’re only a new toy to him. The only thing he wants with you is to get in your pants. You are nothing but playthings like the all the other idiots who fall for him. You think you’ll hook up and you’ll live happily ever after? No. You know why? Because we’ve been engaged ever since we were little.” Engaged? Is she for real? “That’s right. You’re nothing but a little side fun I let him have because I know he’ll always, always be mine in the end. So don’t think you’re anything special.” She flips her hair and walks away with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

For once in my life I am totally lost for words. Every word she said was like a knife through my chest. Should I believe her? Is Axel just playing with me? My mind is swirling with and questions. How many girls has he played on? Leading them on? I need Revi. I need to get all of this discovery off my chest. But she’s busy at the moment since she’s in Axel’s team and they’re playing. I wait and watch the game with a passive look. I caught Axel’s eye and he smiled and waved at me. When I didn’t return it he looked confused for a second which is exactly how I feel at the moment.

The game ends and Revi runs over to me with an excited look. I think it’s because they won. I stopped paying attention to the game ages ago. When she sees the look on my face, she knows something is wrong and her smile suddenly turns into a scowl like she’s ready to commit murder.

“Tell what happened?” she demanded as she sat next to me. I look around to make sure no one is nearby to overhear is.

“Blondie dropped a bomb on me,” I whisper through my clenched teeth.

“What did the bitch say?”

“She said she and Axel are engaged. Since they were kids. I meant I know they’ve dated before and by the way Axel responded to her in class today told me they’re over. But this? Engaged? I think he’s just playing with me,” I say, my eyes tearing up. I took a deep breath to control my emotions.

“That asshole!” Revi hisses. “I’m going to talk to him,” she stands up ready to hunt down Axel but I grab her arm to stop her.

“Don’t. Leave it alone. We aren’t even together anyway. I think I just dodged a bullet don’t you think?”

“But…” she starts to argue.

“No. I don’t want to go through this. I’m going to excuse myself and go to the room. If I stay here any longer I’m going to explode.” I turn to locate the Coach when I see Axel heading my way. “Oh shit! He’s coming this way. I have to go.”

“Ok fine. Go but see you at lunch?”

“No I’m gonna skip lunch.” Thank goodness Coach was close by. I asked to be excused saying I needed to go to the nurse to check my hand. She let me go. I ran to the locker room to get my stuff and hurried off to the room.

 

 

 

Chapter 8

 

UUGGGHH!!

I feel so frustrated! For the last twenty minutes I have been trying to get him out of my mind. Him and his betrayal. Well, it does count as a betrayal because he led me on thinking he’s not an asshole.

Ah ha! I can draw to get my mind off him! Feeling determined I get up and walk to my desk to retrieve my sketchpad. I look at my sketchpad and I come up with nothing. How dare he mess with my art! Once his face pops in my head so does some ideas. Okay. Only think about because of your art and nothing else. At least try Lani! I set to drawing and in time I finished. I look at what I’ve drawn and I sucked in a breath. This is what I’ve been looking for. The perfect design for my arm band. I don’t care about the asshole inspiration but this is it. I studied the design, all the twirls, the lines, the marks, it’s perfect.

I hear a knock on the door and thinking it was Revi I run to the door and swing it open. “Hey!” I said cheerily until I saw who it was and my smile died.

“That wasn’t exactly the greeting I expected,” Axel joked.

“What do you want?” I ask with a blank face. He looks taken aback by the sudden change in my demeanour towards him. He tilts his head a little with a slight frown.

“Why do I feel like I did something wrong?” he asks in total confusion. “Before you answer, can I please come in?” Is it a good idea to let him in? I’ve never had a boy in my room before. Well that was because I never took a guy home nor did I let my family know I was dating. They’d have killed me. For real. I can just imagine my mum cutting all my hair off. With a knife. I shudder at the image.

I step aside and gesture for him to come in. I close the door and face him. He has changed back into his uniform minus his blazer. He simply looks delectable. “Which is your bed?” he asks and point mine out. He walks toward my bed and sits on the edge with his elbows on his knees and his eyes locking on me. I bite my lip. I stare back with my arms folded on my chest.

“So what happened? One minute we were good and the next I turned to see you running away.” His shrugged holding his hands up.

“I had a very informative conversation with your fiancée,” I say quietly. His expression shattered me. Guilt was written all over his face. For a minute there I thought blondie was pulling my leg to hurt me. I guess she was telling the truth after all. “So it’s true then. You and Britney are engaged.” I turn and open the door. “I think you should leave,” I say refusing to look at him.

“Lani…”

“No! Get out!” I yell still refusing to look at him.

“Lani please…look at me. I can explain. Please let me explain,” he touches my shoulder but I shrug his hand off and turn my head outside. “There’s no need for any explanation. We weren’t together or anything. But when you decide to lead a girl on again make sure to let her know you’re already betrothed,” I say stonily.

“Lani please you’ve got to listen to me.” I turn my head sharply to finally look at him so he can see the pain showing in my eyes. “And I want you to get the hell out of my room. I never want to talk to you again!” I am shocked to see that pain reflecting in his eyes and I get angry. How dare he be hurt?!

“Don’t you dare pretend to be the one hurt! Don’t you dare you aikae!” (shit eater) I yell pointing my finger in his face. One minute I am yelling in his face and the next I know, I am being pulled towards him and his lips crash into mine.

Holy Shit! I know I imagined so many times how his lips would feel on mine, well this is far beyond what I ever imagined. I hear a big explosion of fireworks. Is that real or did I imagine it? I am too lost in the moment to think about it. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer. Our lips start to move in sync. He parts my lips with his tongue. I shudder grabbing his hair. I love his hair. His hands tighten around me. His hands moving down to my ass squeezing it. Our tongues meet and lock onto each other. I moan in his mouth.

Oh my gawsh. Reality finally sinks in. This is wrong. He has a fiancée. What we’re doing is wrong. When I finally get my wits together, I push against him breaking our kiss. I try to move away but his arms hold me in place. I look at his chest not wanting to look in eyes.

“This is wrong,” I whisper. “We’re not supposed to be doing this. You have a freaking fiancée! And it’s not fair for me. You’re giving me too many mixed signals and I can’t risk it. I’ve started falling for you and I’m calling a stop to this before you break my heart.” Actually, my heart is already broken. But he won’t know that.

“Lani please don’t. Look at me,” he tilts my chin up. His eyes are intense and I can see sincerity in them.

“I am already falling for you too. I’ve never felt this way so fast for anyone before. Ever. I feel like we’re meant to be together. Like you’re the other half of me.”

“It doesn’t matter Axel. You’re engaged to someone else.”

“Babe the situation between me and Britney? It wasn’t my choice. Our fathers are business partners and when we were little, they thought it would be a great idea for the business if their kids marry. I thought so too because growing up the only thing that was instilled in me was always to put the business first. I thought the marriage would be good for the business. I never thought I’d meet someone and really fall for them.” He bends his head closer his forehead touching mine. “Until you Lani,” he whispers.

“We can’t be together if you’re still engaged. I don’t want to be the ‘other woman’.”

“You won’t be,” he assures me. “Our engagement was never official. After speaking with you last night, I called my dad and told him I’m calling it off. It’s over.”

“Really? You did that for me?” I ask unsure. “I bet your dad wasn’t happy?”

“Yes. The moment I saw you at the window I knew you were special. My dad has no choice in this. It’s my life. And I choose you,” he smiles. I can’t help myself. I smile and place my lips over his. Again, fireworks exploded. I have been kissed before and shall I say none of them can live up to this. Now I know what has been missing. There was no spark. But with Axel, our kisses are overloading with sparks.

I break off our remembering classes haven’t finished for the day. “Unfortunately, I have to go change and go to class,” I pout. He grins and bite the corner of his lower lip.

“You don’t have to, we can play hookie for the rest of the day.” Gawsh I am so tempted to. But no I came here to study not skip classes and it’s only the second day.

“As much as I want to, I can’t. I don’t want to miss any classes in case they terminate my contract and send me back home. So wait here while I go change.” I peck his lips once more and I hurry to the bathroom with my uniform.

 

We walk to my classroom holding hands. My hand fits so right in his like it’s meant to be there. I have history while he has Physics and instead of walking to his classroom which is in another building, he insisted that he wanted to walk me to my classroom. We stop at the door and I let of his hand to open the door and start to walk in. I am halfway through the door when he grabs my wrist halting me in my step. I raise my eyebrows at him.

“No goodbye kiss?” he pouts. Gawsh he looks so cute I laugh and shake my head at him. He then smirks and pulls me to him, his lips capturing mine. It only lasted a second. Seemed like forever though. I laugh and jump away from him.

“Egg!” I shake my head as I turn back to the room. Oops. Everyone was staring at me. Most of them with mouths hanging open. I quickly bow my head and walk to my desk with eyes down. Well this is embarrassing. I am never a PDA kind of girl. As a matter of fact, any kind of PDA is highly discouraged and frowned upon in Samoa. Even holding hands in public gets all those mouths working. Especially old people. They call teenagers who show any kind of affection to the opposite sex as cheeky little brats. I hear someone clearing her throat. I look up to see a grinning Revi. I cross my eyes at her making her laugh. I wait until after class to tell everything that happened. Blondie has been sneering and insulting me all through our classes. Why does she have to be in all my classes today? I pretended she wasn’t even there and that made her more aggressive with her insults. Hilarious.  

I didn’t see Axel until after the last period. He was waiting outside the classroom when I got out. He was standing there leaning against the wall looking all sexy. I walk up to him and huskily say, “Boy, why you so sexy?” His eyes darken and I giggle. “You’re a tease Lani,” he accuses. I wink at him and giggle even more. He walked me to the room because Revi was talking, more like flirting, with Rhett and I’m happy for her.

We talk for ages getting to know each other. Apparently, he’s the heir to a multimillion trading business. His wealth kind of intimidates me. I mean, he’s rich and I’m not. We’re like total opposites. I’m that girl from the wrong side of the tracks if I were American. I notice that he never talks about his parents and I don’t pry anything out of him. I suppose he’ll tell me when he’s ready. Or something like that. I leave for the bathroom and back to find him going through my sketchpad when I return from the bathroom. I shriek and dive on him to get my sketchpad back. We struggle as I scream murder. I do not want him to see my drawings damn it. I laugh straddling him and he laughs keeping it out of reach.

“Give it back you ass!” I scream. He laughs even more and turns flipping me over. He pins me beneath and I stop struggling and pretend to scowl at him. It was not a fair fight because I only had one good hand. “Get off me!” I grit out. He smoulders at me. Damn that smoulder sure does things to my body. I try to fight a smile by biting my lip. His eyes darken and focus on my lips. I get a tingly feeling down there. You know. Down there. He moves higher and I feel his hard on brush against my hips. I swallow and lick my lip. Heaven help me!

“No. I like you underneath me,” he grins and then lower his head to my face. I am frozen stiff. I hold on to him so hard my nails are digging in his flesh. His presses his lips against mine softly and I feel my body turning to jelly. My grip on him loosens and my hands rub his back. I feel his muscles ripple as my hands pass over them. His right hand comes up to cup my face as he deepens the kiss. We are so lost in our kiss that we don’t hear the door open.

“Why hello there.”

Chapter 9

 

Revi interrupting our make out session was both a negative and positive. Negative? I miss Axel’s lips on mine. I never wanted it to stop. Positive? I couldn’t have stopped myself if she hadn’t walked in. Why is that positive? Because I want my first time to be special and not rushed. Oh did I tell you? I’m a virgin. At first it was a save-myself-for-marriage thing. That’s because we Samoan girls are always taught to stay chaste until we get married. Even my dad told me to stay untouched before I came to America. It was not something I wanted to hear from my dad. But what they do not know does not kill them, right? Because now, if-it-feels-right-then-hell-yeah-I’ll-lose-it kind of thing. I do not want to be an inexperienced bride when I get married. Or what if I wait till marriage and never get a chance to get married? Then it would be such a waste of my virginity. Just saying. It didn’t feel right with any of my exes. I was never tempted. With Axel? Hell yeah I’m tempted. I can imagine losing my virginity to him. No don’t even go there! It felt right with Axel today. The time however was not. So getting caught by my best friend was a totally good thing.

When Axel left, I told Revi about everything that happened starting from a recap of what happened starting from the gym and blondie. Revi wants to kill her but I told her no. The time is not right anyway. I told her about lunch and about what happened before she walked in on us. Excluding the making out part. I asked her about Rhett and she excitingly told me Rhett asked her out for a date on Friday. I suggested a double date since me and Axel are also going out and plus we can watch Fast and Furious together. We agreed to talk to the guys at dinner. They agreed of course. After some persuading. We gave them an ultimatum. No double date no date. That got them to agree. I can’t wait for Friday.

Chapter 10

 

It’s Friday!

The rest of the week was a blur. I loved all my classes. Except for gym of course. I will never love gym. I got to know our new friends better. I love them already. I was actually wrong about Andy and Miles. They’re not together. They are best friends. But I do not miss that longing look in Miles eyes when he looks at Andy. Stares really. And the same with Andy. I have no idea why they haven’t hooked up yet. I think maybe it’s because they do not want to ruin their friendship. That’s what happens in a lot of books I’ve read. It’s because they fear losing their friendship if their relationship wouldn’t work out if they ever dated. It’s quite ridiculous if you think about it. I’d rather take a risk than asking ‘what if’ in the future. Look who’s talking? Whatever. It’s all up to Andy and Miles.

I have to say, the only dark shadow in my week was blondie. She kept bringing up her so-called engagement with Axel. I chose to trust Axel. So I just brushed off her insults and taunts.

Revi and I are getting ready for our dates. I chose to wear my navy blue skinny jeans and off-shouldered floral top with an elastic waist. Revi however is still deciding what to wear.

“Just wear your pink high waist shorts and those black boots.”

“Hmm let me try them on.” She puts them on with a tight black halter neck top. I whistle at her.

“Damn girl you look fine. Rhett is going to drooool,” I tease. “Shut up!” she laughs and flips me off.

“Seriously,” I laugh and walk to the mirror. I put mascara on my lashes and a clear lip gloss on my lips. I don’t like wearing too much makeup. Revi does the same.

There was a knock on our door. We look at each other and squeal silently jumping up and down. They’re here! I practically run to the door and throw it open. A breath rushes through my lips at the sight before me. Axel never fails to make me stop breathing. He’s wearing a navy blue long sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows and black jeans. He’s has his sexy lopsided grin on his face as he looks me up and down.

“Like what you see?” I cock my left eyebrow with a grin. This guy seems to bring out the flirt in me. “You have no idea,” his gaze is hot I’m surprised I haven’t melted already. I force my eyes away from him to Rhett.

“Hey,” I smile at Rhett. He’s wearing denim jeans with a black shirt. He looks hot too though nothing compared to the dark haired Adonis beside him.

“Hey,” Rhett smiles back. Damn. This boy is armed with a killer smile too. Revi will not know what hit her.

“Hey guys,” Revi saunters up to us. “You got our purses?” I ask her and she nods and hands me mine. “Sweet. Let’s skedaddle,” I walk ahead of them but a hand on my arm stops me. I turn my head up to Axel. “Yeah?” “You forgot my hello kiss,” he smirks and pulls me in his arms. “Then what are you waiting for?” He bends and our lips meet. I hold on him tighter and he deepens the kiss.

“Ahem.” I push away from Axel to see Revi and Rhette giving us the “really guys?” look. Revi wags her finger at us and mock scolds us. “Save your make out session for later. We have a movie to catch.” I laugh and shrug at her.

“Does that mean I’m not getting a hello kiss?” Rhette asks Revi but she was suddenly speechless. Rhette, not waiting for an answer pulls her to him and kisses her. I now know she felt a moment ago when it was Axel kissing me.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough. Let’s go,” I roll my eyes at them. Axels grabs my hand and we walk downstairs to the car. We decided to go in one car. Since it’s Axel’s we sat in the front while Revi and Rhette sat at the back.

There was an awkward silence in the car. What can we talk about? “Can I turn on the radio?” I ask Axel. “Yeah go ahead.” I turn it on and go through the stations. Frank Sinatra blasts through the stations singing about an Ipanema girl and I stop there. “Really?” Axel and Rhette both ask. “What? It’s a classic,” I shoot back. I sing a long until Rhette begs from the back to change the station.

“Fine then. I can’t believe you won’t listen to Frank Sinatra. His music is one of the best ever.” I scowl at them. “Yeah for old people,” Axel scoffs. I gasp at him. How dare he! “Oh yeah? Then you’re going on a date with one of those “old people”,” I do air quotes. He shakes his head, “Then you are one hot old woman.” I feel my face getting red. I try to growl but only laughter came out.

“Do you have an aux wire? I’ll plug my phone in.”

“It’s in the glove box.” I got it out and plugged my phone to the radio. I pick a song and “I’m in love with the coco” blasts through the speakers. Revi squeals with excitement from the back and we sing along to the song. I can see Rhette shaking his head from the mirror.

 "So what's our game plan for tonight?" Revi asks the guys.

"We're going to have dinner and then see a movie," Rhett answers.

I turn in my chair to face him, "Cool. What movie we'll be watching?"

Rhett pulls out his phone, "Let me check what movies are on tonight." We decide to see Furious 7 because you know, cars. And of course Paul Walker. He was on my top 10 celebrity crushes. I was saddened by the news of his death. I heard the movie is a tribute to him so I have been looking forward to seeing it. 

Our night is starting off well. Hopefully it will get better.

 

Chapter 11

"Can I get you anything else?" the skanky waitress purrs at Axel. 

 

The waitress is really starting to piss me off. She obviously knows Axel is with me with how his arm is around my shoulders but she does not give a damn. So lets assume she is a hoe. I don't want to start a cat fight and ruin our night so I'm reigning in my inner bitch. It's really hard.

 

"No thanks," Axel replies without looking at her. But she was still standing there waiting for something. She finally huffs away when she realises she won't be getting any attention at all and good riddance.

 

"So, you tapped that?" I turn to Axel with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

 

"Do you really want to know?" he asks with caution.

 

"Honestly, no." I say shaking my head. As much as I want to know, I don't really want to know about his past sex life. There are some things that a girl does not need to know.

 

"But I do," Revi jumps in. I try to give her the "back the hell off look" but she returns with a "what? I wanna know look" and a shrug.

 

"Yes I hooked up with her once," Axel says looking straight at me like was waiting for something big to happen. Is he waiting for me to explode in a jealous fit? Go crazy on his ass? Beat the hell out of that waitress? Hell no. I do not want to be like those crazy jealous girlfriends who eventually turn into crazy exes. 

 

"Okay," I shrug and take a bite out of my pizza.

 

I look up and notice they are all staring at me expectantly. "What?" I swallow before asking. 

 

I decide to change the subject before they ask anything. "So tell us about you guys. How long have you been friends?"

 

"Since we were babies," Rhett answers. "Our parents are really good friends so we practically grew up together. How about you two?"

 

"Lani and I met in primary school. Year 7. Lani was a new girl and I befriended her and we've been best friends ever since."

 

"Tell me something fun you guys did," I nudge Axel.

 

"I don't know there are too many," Axel smiles, obviously remembering a memory.

 

"Come on, anything," I insist.

 

"Okay, when we were 10, we had this crazy idea to run away and have an adventure. We've just watched Sinbad and thought to become sailors. It was summer, so we were with our families at our beach house. So we made a plan to take a boat and row out into the ocean. Britney found out and threatened to tell on us if we didn't let her come. So we took her..."

 

I was getting jealous by the mere mention of blondie. Ugh. Stupid emotions.

 

"And it was our best idea," Rhett jumps in. "She ended up overtunring the boat when she freaked out. And were so far away from the shore and the waves were getting stronger. She almost drowned if Axel hadn't saved her. I eventually set the boat right and we got back on but we lost our oars and were stuck there for hours with the current taking us further away. Our parents eventually discovered we were missing and it took a while before they found out we were out there. We learned a very good lesson that day," Rhett mused.

 

"What lesson? You're not cut out for sailor life?" Revi jokes.

 

"Nope," Rhett shakes his head with a grin. "It's never to take Brit with us anywhere," he laughs.

 

"Aye Aye," Axel raised his cup to Rhett, laughing with him. "Your turn," he nods at me.

 

"Revi you tell a story, I can't think of one."

 

"Hmm, there was that time we decided to be rebels and dyed our hairs blond," Revi cracks up laughing. I laugh with her slapping my hand on the tabler. "Oh yeah,one of the most embarassing moments of my life!" 

 

"What? What happened?" Axel asks curiously.

 

"Well, so at our school, we're not allowed to dye our hairs, paint our nails, wear too short tunics and we always have to braid our hairs. But one day this bitch decided to dye her hair knowing she'll get in trouble for it. I couldn't let my best friend get punished alone so I dyed my hair too. So the next day was assembly day. The teachers and the prefects inspect us and stuff. And there we were, the only two blondes standing out like a sore thumb. Mrs. Tailua, the meanest teacher ever called us to come to the front."

 

"Dude my heart was beating like crazy," Revi says, "we walked to the front and Mrs. Tailua was like, "who gave you permission to dye your hairs? who do you think you are? Turn your cheek! and she slapped the shit out of me. Dude my face burned like hell," she laughs at the memory.

 

I laugh with her, "She slapped me next and I felt like my head was going to break from my head. I wanted to cry so badly but I didn't want to embarass myself even more infront of the whole school. She gave us hard labour for the whole day. At the end of the day, my nails were chipped and dirty and my fingers were all scratched up from pulling vaofefe with our bare hands. You know, those grass with thorns," I tell the guys.

 

"Oh man we were in the sun all day we got the darkest tans ever. Which I must say did not go well with our blonde hairs," Revi laughs and I couldn't help but laugh with her. "Tell me about it," I snort and laugh.

 

I suddenly notice that we were the only ones laughing. We look at the guys and they were looking at us like we were crazy. Actually they look furious.

 

"What?" I ask.

 

"That was messed up. Who gave that teacher the right to hit you? That's child abuse and should've been reported to the authorities," Axel says through gritted teeth and Rhett nods his agreement.

 

Revi and I look at each other with wide eyes and crack up laughing which seemed to irritate the guys even more.

 

"Okay," Revi waves her hands in a calming motion, "it wasn't a big deal. Okay, I realised that it looks like child abuse to you. Hell it was child abuse. But its the norms for us. Although hitting students is actually a crime, the teachers still do it as a way to discipline kids. If you go to Samoa and visit the schools, you'll find that the students never disrespect the teachers or even talk back to them. Once a teacher is in the classroom no one dares to cause any trouble."

 

"But its still wrong," Rhett argues.

 

"I know its wrong, but in our country its a traditional way to discpline the children. Not that I'll ever do the same with my future children. Maybe a little spank will do but I've decided never to hit a child of mine in anger," I explain.

 

"Okay change of subject. But you should know that we Pacific Islanders have weird sense of humors. We laugh at anything," Revi says clearly not wanting to carry on about child abuse. I have gotten hidings/beatings over the years. Mostly from my dad and most of them concerning my school report. It's actually a motivation to do well in school. But when my friends and I talk about the hidings we get, we joke and laugh about it rather than getting mad and claiming child abuse.

 

I move closer to Axel and I feel his body losing tension.

 

"Yeah there was this comedian that made a joke about. Here I'll look it up," I got out my phone and looked up the youtube video "Super fresh"and show it to the guys. 

 

We laugh at the guys' facials. They have this "what the hell" looks on their faces.

 

Rhett looks up shaking his head, "He's crazy," he chuckles, "You're both crazy," he looks from Revi to me. We all laugh and Axel pulls me closer to him, his body shaking with laughter. He checks his phone and tell us we have to get going to catch our movie.

 

The movie was awesome. I got teary in the end when Paul Walker drove off. We didn't get frisky in the movies though. Though there were many oppertunities to do so but I was too entranced with the movie to do anything else. Next time maybe. Wink wink.

 

We're walking back to the car with our ice creams. Revi suggested to get dessert after the movie and it was a very good suggestion. We talked about the movie all the way back to the compound. The boys walked us back to our room.

 

"So, thanks for the pizza, and the movie, and dessert of course," I smile at Axel. "We should do this again."

 

He pulls me towards him wrapping my arms around his neck. He leans down until we're nose to nose. It was getting really hard to breathe. My heart was going overdrive. His eyes were mesmerizing I was totally lost in them.

 

"Yeah, maybe with just the two of us," his eyes sparkls with want. I gasp. "Maybe," I say breathlessly. He closes the gap between our mouths. His lips feel so good against mine. I open my mouth and his tongue invades tangling with mine. His hands move lower to hips pulling me tighter to him. My hands are in his hair holding him closer. I am lost. 

 

After what feels like forever, we finally pull away from each other. I could see the hunger and desire written all over his face. I'm sure mine reflects the his. We are both breathing hard reluctant to separate. 

 

"What are you doing tomorrow?" he asks. "I'm not sure," my mind is still blank from the kiss. 

 

"I have to drive to my parent's for the weekend. But I'll call you," he says. "Okay," I whisper.

 

He leans down and kisses me softly, "Sweet dreams, baby."

 

"You too," I wink. "Hell yeah," he growls. He turns and walk with Rhett who was already waiting.

 

I enter the room to find Revi lying on her bed with a wistful smile on her face. I do the same falling backwards on the bed. We look at each other, smile, look back at the ceiling, and we both sigh happily.

Chapter 12

It has been two weeks since our date night. Axel and I hang out get after I'm done with all my assessments. We've been getting to know each other better. We talk on the phone every night even on the weekends when he's with his family. I wake up to his goodmorning texts every day. I sometimes go over to his room for a movie night when we're free. Most of times with Revi and Rhett. Those two have been getting really close too.

 

Our classes have been okay so far. If I'm not with Axel, I'm with Revi or with Sarah, Rachel, and Andy. We've all become really good friends. Britney on the other hand still hates my guts. I've stopped reacting to her at all which I think irritates her even more. But that is not my problem.

 

Its funny how I miss Axel when I haven't known him that long. I've dated before but I have never felt this way so quickly about someone. And it scares me. I don't want to fall in love with Axel. I don't see a future for us. I'm only here for one semester and then I'll be returning home. Maybe I shouldn't have pursued a relationship with him. It will save me from the inevitable heartbreak that will follow. The irony is that I feel my heart break whenever I try to think about breaking up with him. I guess either way I will be hurt. 

 

It's Saturday night and I'm by my lonesome and a guitar. Mr. Collins gave me permission to borrow a guitar when I asked him. My hand has healed completely and I can play well enough. Revi is out with Rhett and Axel is at his family's so its just me. I am playing "Hallelujah" when my phone beeped. I pick it up and saw a text from Axel.

 

Axel: Hey babe, what are you up to?

Lani: Just playing with a guitar. How's your family?

Axel: They're good thanks. I wanna hear you play.

Lani: I wish you were here to listen. I miss you.

Axel: Careful what you wish for ;)

Lani: lol why?

Axel: Knock Knock

 

I am about to reply when I hear a knock from my door. Hmm Revi is back early. And why the heck is she knocking instead of just coming right in? I get out of bed and walk to the door. I open it expecting Revi.

 

"Dude, why..." I stop open mouthed when I see who it is. Axel. Then I squealed and jump in his arms. He catches me with a laugh and kisses me. 

 

"Wish granted," he grins and kisses my smiling mouth.

 

"I can't believe you're here! Why are you back early?"

 

"I missed you." My heart missed a beat. Damn this boy and his silver tongue. I pull him inside and close the door. We walk to my bed. I grab the guitar and move to sit in the middle with the guitar on my lap. Axel just lies sideways on the bed facing me. Gawd he's goregous.

 

"Play me something," he asks.

 

"What do you want to hear?"

 

"Anything."

 

I decided to play 'hotel california' with the whole intro. Halfway through the intro I decide to sing as well. I was surprised when Axel backed me up at the chorus. Damn. His voice. Oh my ovaries. Is there anything he can't do? 

 

When we came to the end, Axel got up quickly, takes the guitar off my lap and places it by the desk. He comes back and pushes me back gently into the bed, unfolded my legs and got in between them. He props himself with his left arm while his right cups my face.

 

"You playing a guitar and singing is so hot," he whispers erotically, his lips a breath away from mine.

 

"Ditto. I didn't know you can sing," I smile up at him.

 

"A guy has to have some mystery," he grins and crashed his lips to mine. 

 

I groan and he makes a growling sound and kisses me harder. My hands move across his back with my nails digging into his back. His hands moved beneath me and suddenly I'm straddling him. I come up for air panting. His hands grab my hair and pull my mouth back to his. I could feel his hardness beneath me. I start to move my hips and grind into him making him groan. It feels so good. His hands caress down my back searching for skin. My skin tingled when his hands made contact. I moan into his mouth. His hands travel up my back and then moved to the front to cup my breasts. I gasp. 

 

"That feels so good," I whimper. 

 

"Oh shit!" someone yells from the door. I look up quickly seeing Revi. Oh shit. I feel myself going red with embarassment and quickly got off Axel kneeing him in the groin in the process.

 

"Fucking hell," Axel groans and turns sideways grabbing his groin.

 

"Oh shit sorry!" I stand by the bed looking at him with horrow and of course embarassment. "I didn't mean to knee you in the nuts. Are you okay?" Laughter starts to bubble up my throat but I know this is not a good time for laughter.

 

"I'm okay," Axel grits out. "Want to kiss them better?" He winks.

 

"Asshole!" I call him and hit him with a pillow.

 

"Oh this is too funny," Revi laughs. I can't help but laugh with her.

 

"Hey stop laughing at my poor boys," Axel yells trying to sound serious which made us laugh even harder.

 

I jump back on the bed and spoon him and place my cheek against his. "Babe I'm really sorry," I apologise with a smile. He turns his head and kisses me. "You're forgiven."

 

"Uh guys, please you're not alone in the room. Save your hanky panky for when you're alone," Revi jokes.

 

"We were until you barged in," Axels mutters making me laugh. 

 

"Okay you gotta go. Its already way past curfew," I tell him.

 

"I'll call you later," he kisses me one last time before getting off the bed. 

 

"Bye," I wave as he walks out. I turn to see Revi grinning at me. 

 

"Hoe," she calls me.

 

"Oh shut up," I flip her off and we both laugh.

 

"I can't believe you kneed him in the balls."

 

"It was an accident," I roll my eyes. "So how was Rhett?" I ask changing the subject.

 

"He was awesome," she sighs happily. "I think I'm in love with him."

 

This is what I was afraid of. I don't want my best friend to be heartbroken when we have to leave.

 

"I think I'm in love with Axel," I tell her. We both just sit there silently."I think I want to break up with Axel."

 

I hear her gasp. "Wait, what? You want to break up with Axel?" She asks with confusion.

 

I am about to answer when the opens showing Axel. 

 

"Hey," I smile at him but he doesn't smile back. In fact his face looks cold. 

 

"I dropped my phone," he says clippingly. I look to the other side of the bed and see his phone. I grab it and hand it over to him. "Here you go," I say cheerily. He takes it and says thanks and then turn and walk to the door. "Bye," I call out. "Yeah bye," he says without turning around. He walks out and closes the door behind him.

 

"Okay that was weird," I turn to Revi with confusion clearly written all over my face. 

 

"Yeah," Revi nods. "Anyway, you want to go have lunch in town tomorrow?" She asks.

 

"Yeah sure," I answer her but mind was still on what just happened with Axel. I felt something in my gut saying something was wrong but I don't know what it was. I decide to text him to check.

 

Lani: babe, are you okay?

Axel: yeah

 

He replies and that was it. Maybe I'm just being pessimist. Ugh. I take out my sketchbook and draw my stress away.

 

"So are you serious about breaking up with him?" Revi asks. "No," I reply. I really mean it too. I'll just let fate take its course.

 

 

Chapter 13

"Lani, get up! We slept through breakfast," Revi shakes me awake.

 

"Okay, okay," I slap her hands away from me.

 

"So how are going to get to town?" I ask Revi as I put on my shoes.

 

"We're going to catch the bus," she grins as she grabs her bag. 

 

"Do you even know which bus to take?"

 

"Duh, I looked it up. And we need to hurry before we miss our bus," she walks to the door. I grab my purse and follow her out. 

 

"Let's hope we don't get on the wrong one."

 

"Don't worry dude. We'll be all good." 

 

It took us 20 minutes to walk to the bus stop. If only we could borrow a car. We wait another 5 minutes for the bus to arrive. We climb on and pay our fares. There are no other passengers on the bus except us. So we took the seats near the back. 

 

"You know, I kinda feel guilty for going to town on a Sunday. Maybe we should look for a church along the way to attend?" I tell Revi. "Yeah good idea. But after we have lunch," she points on her finger to make a point. "Of course," I chuckle. 

 

I take out my phone to check the time and realise that I didn't receive a goodmorning text from Axel. I wonder if I should text him instead. Yeah I should invite him for lunch.

 

Lani: Morning sunshine! x

Lani: Want to do lunch today?

Axel: Sorry I'm doing something with Rhett 

Lani: Okay that's fine. Have fun! x

 

The bus ride was 20 minutes. I almost fell asleep on the way. We get off at our stop and I follow Revi to 'Becca's Diner'. Apparently she's been here before with Rhett.

 

I follow Revi inside and my nose was suddenly ambushed by the wonderful smell of food. I sigh. Heaven! We found a table and sat down. The waitress came over and placed the menus in front of us.

 

"Here are your menus. I'll be back in a few to get your orders,"she smiles. It was a genuine smile.

 

I smile back at her, "Thanks."

 

"What are you ordering?" I ask Revi. "I think I'm going to get the fettuccini. You?"

 

"I'm leaning towards the double bacon burger," I say.

 

The waitress returned and asks for our order.

 

"I'll have the double bacon burger with fries and a chocolate milkshake please. Revi, fettuccini for you still?"

 

"Yeah and orange juice please." The waitress takes our order and takes off.

 

We talk about the school talent show that's going to be held in two weeks and make plans to sign up for it as a duet. It's a great idea. Our food came soon after and it was amazing. I had foodgasm in my mouth. The burger was delicious. 

 

I was taking a bite out of my burger when Revi says she invited Rhett to join us. I shrug and thought maybe he'll bring Axel along with him.  Our booth is kind of hidden from the front but I can see everyone that comes through the door. I look up when Rhett came in. I smile and wave him over to our table. 

 

"Hey Rhett," I greet him.

 

"Hey Lani," Rhett sits down and scooted closer to Revi. He pulls her in for a kiss, "Hey babe". Revi blushes. Aww they're so darn cute.

 

"So did you come with Axel?" I ask Rhett.

 

"No," he shakes his head with a slight frown, "haven't seen him today."

 

"Oh," I frown at his reply. 

 

Axel lied to me. He actually lied to me. Why? 

 

I shake off my thoughts as I feel a small pain in my chest. Rhett ordered only a drink claiming he had a big breakfast. We finish our food and we chatted about school and Revi brought up our duet for the talent show.

 

"That's a great idea. You guys are awesome together," Rhett tells us.

 

"Yeah.." I didn't finish what I was about to say because every thought flew out of my head and I feel my chest compressing. A couple just came in. The girl was clinging onto the guy's arm. They stop to look for a table I think. Suddenly, the girl tip toed and pulled the guy's face down for a kiss. I felt my heart shatter right there and then. 

 

"Lani are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," Rhett asks with concern. 

 

No Rhett. I just saw my freaken boyfriend make out with his ex! I want to shout.

 

"Did you drive?" I ask him.

 

"Yeah," he asks still with concern. 

 

"Sorry guys but I don't feel so good. Do you mind dropping me off back at the compound and you guys can go have some alone time?" I ask. I can practically hear my heart falling to pieces. I want to cry but I feel numb. 

 

"Yeah let's go. I'll pay for your lunch," he says as he pulls out two twenty dollar notes. "Dude, you don't have to," I argue. "No, my treat for today," He insists. "Thanks," I smile. Or at least I think it was a smile. Feels more like a grimace. I look up and didn't see Axel and Britney. I guess they found a table. 

 

Rhett walk out first and Revi and I followed behind him. 

 

"Hey Rhett! What're you doing here?" I heard Axel's voice and I force my face to stay blank.

 

Rhett turned to Axel's table and froze. His eyes widen and look at me with realization of why I suddenly need to leave. I see his face tense with anger as he answers, "I'm here with my girls." He turns and continue walking out and we followed suit. When we pass Axel's table I forced myself not to look at them. And I didn't. But I wouldn't say the same with Revi. I knew she saw when I hear her hiss, "You son of bitch!" I did not want to stay for a confrontation so I practically run outside hoping Revi will follow. 

 

Someone suddenly grabs my arm and turns me around. 

 

"Babe its not what you think," Axel tries explaining.

 

"I don't care. Let go, I have to go," I say flatly. I feel proud about not showing any emotion in my voice because inside I'm dying.

 

"Look I can explain."

 

"No there's nothing to explain."

 

"Why are you angry when you were going to dump me anyway?"he asks furiously.

 

"At least I don't resort to cheating before the break is official. I thought you were different. Well now I know better," I say tonelessly. 

 

"Lani, please..." he didn't finish because Revi pulls me away from him and leads to the car. 

 

"Lani, let me explain," Axel pleads as we get in Rhett's car. He stands by my window trying to get my attention. 

 

I roll down the window and turn to look at him. "I don't want to hear it. Like you said, I was going to dump you anyway. So yeah we're over," for a second there I thought I saw hurt flash in his eyes. I roll the window up again and tell Rhett to drive. As we drive away I knew Axel was still standing there because I can still feel him. 

 

We arrive at the compoundand I get out of the car quickly. Revi wis starting to get out so I stop her.

 

"Look I want to be alone for a bit. You can go hang with Rhett."

 

"But you need me."

 

"No, I'll be fine. I promise."

 

"Okay then I'll see you later."

 

I wave goodbye at them and walk inside the building. As soon as get to my bedroom my tears start to fall down freely. I walk to the bed and lay on my side sobbing my heart out. I don't know how long I've been crying and I didn't hear the door open and close. I felt someone getting on my bed behind me and my body stiffened. Then soft hand wrapped around me and pulled me in.

 

"Shhhh," Revi tries soothing me but I cry even harder.

 

"You didn't think I'd leave you alone at a time like this right?" she says softly. I can't answer her because my sobs became stronger and louder. I was practically wailing. 

 

"Its okay bestie. Its going to be okay." I want to believe her. 

 

I kept on crying until darkness started to blacken my vision and the world went dark.

 

Chapter 14

 Voices woke me up.

 

"He was outside when I came back to check on Lani. He was just sitting there with his against the door looking miserable. Why? I have no freaken idea. He hurt her. I heard her crying from outside the door. Lani never cries. Never!" Revi yelled at someone. What was Axel doing there anyway? 

 

 

"Rev, calm down. Maybe he had a good reason for having lunch with Brit. Maybe we're all overreacting," Rhett said softly.

 

"Don't you dare try to defend him!" Oh no. Revi's temper is about hit the fan. 

 

"Hey guys, quiet down will ya?" I croaked. My voice sounded hoarse from all that crying. I opened my eyes and looked at them. Rhett was lying in Revi's bed while she paced beside her bed. She never could sit down when she's angry. She rushed over to my bed and hugged me as I sat up.

 

"Please tell this idiot that we're not overreacting," she said pointing to Rhett. 

 

"We're not. I saw them kissing," my voice cracked. 

 

Revi gasped loudly, "That son of a bitch. Asshole!"

 

"I can't believe he did that," Rhett said, anger filling his voice. 

 

"Anyway can we not talk about it? I don't wanna think about all that anymore. I just want a clean slate and forget about that time of my life," I looked at Revi and Rhett. They both nodded. "What time is it anyway?" 

 

"Its past 8," Rhett said looking at his watch. Wow, I slept for ages. Heartbreak sure is exhausting. But I said was true. I want to forget. If someone offered to hypnotise the memories away I would totally be on board with it. Everything was just too painful. I knew this would happen and yet I let myself fall anyway. Lesson learned. Never again. How can three weeks do so much damage? I need to build stronger walls around my heart. Or what is left of it anyway. Deciding not think about this anymore I asked Revi about the upcoming talent show. 

 

"Auditions start tomorrow. We need to perform two numbers for it."

 

"Should we brainstorm tonight?" 

 

"Yeah lets."

 

Rhett got off the bed and walked over to us going to stand next to Revi.

 

"I'll leave you girls to your brainstorming. I'll call you later, babe," he leaned down and kissed Revi. My stomach churned. Memories of Axel and myself started to appear. No! Get out of my head! I mentally slapped myself. Rhett straightened and walked to the door. When the door closed, Revi turned to me.

 

"Are you really okay?"

 

"No. I'm not. But I'm trying to wipe everything away. But seriously, know any hypnotizers anywhere?" I tried joking but Revi just looked at me with those knowing eyes of her. I sighed. "Lets just brainstorm for some songs. Honestly, I can't think of any good ones. Only depressing songs are popping up in my head. Jar of hearts, First cut is the deepest, Apologize, see where I'm going with this?" I looked at her pleadingly.

 

"You know what? Lets do Jar of hearts. And then maybe a cheerful song as the second one. Disney song maybe? Oh Oh lets do Colors of the wind," Revi jumped up and down with a grin. 

 

"Can we even do a duet for Colors of the wind?" I asked her.

 

"We'll figure it out. Can you pass me the guitar?" she said holding her hand out. We practiced until midnight. We added our own stuff to colors of the wind to make it more duetable. Is that even a word? Our practice cleared my mind and I didn't of Axel at all. 

 

"Okay," Revi said putting aside the guitar, "lets get some sleep." She stood and walked to her bed and turned to me, "You know I love you, right? I'll always be here for you."

 

I smiled widely at her, "I love you too bitch and thanks." I got under the covers and turned off the light. 

 

Hopefully tomorrow will be great.

 

 

 

Chapter 15

Today sucked so far. I've been getting pity glances from everyone today. I did not like it one bit. I just put on my "I don't give a shit face" and walked with my head held high. Auditions for the talent show is next period. So Revi and I are practicing a little with our first number. 

 

"I told you he always comes back to me," I heard a sneering voice from behind me. I saw Revi's face start to change and knew she was going to blow. I shook my head at her to not do anything. I turned to Blondie with a smile. 

 

"Well congratulations!" I said cheerily. Blondie looked at me with her jaw on the floor. I will not give her the satisfaction of knowing how true her words really were and how it hurt. She was probably expecting a different reaction.

 

"Have fun. May you live happily ever after," I said with sincere. She just looked flabbergasted like she didn't know how to process my reaction. "But as you can see, we're a little busy practicing for our audition," I turned back to Revi ignoring Blondie altogether.

 

"You really think you can win the talent show?" She asked sarcastically from behind me. "Ha! Good luck because I always win. Four years straight," she bragged. I rolled my eyes at Revi and she did the same. 

 

"Yeah yeah," I waved her off over my shoulder. I heard her footsteps walking away. 

 

"I cannot believe that hoe," Revi shook her head. I just smiled and shook my head at her to forget about it. "Let's just get back to practice."

 

I've been avoiding Axel all day. Never looking his way. But sometimes I feel his hot gaze on the back of my neck. I wish there was some way to take away my awareness of him.

 

------

 

We're waiting in the auditorium for our turn. Six performers have already audtioned and only half made it through. Mr. Collins announced the next act. It was Blondie. Surprise, Surprise, she's a ballerina. I hate to admit it but she is actually really good. She seems like a whole different person when she's dancing. I wonder if her bitchiness is all an act and this is how she really is. But that is a mystery I do not want to uncover. Both her numbers were amazing. Its a wonder she won everytime compared to the people who already auditioned. When she finished with a bow I gave her a standing ovation. She looked surprise and quickly hid it.

 

We were up next. I introduced our first number and Mr. Collins looked surprised. He asked if we were sure and we both said yes. I started off the first verse without music and Revi only started playing near the end. We both started singing the second verse, harmonizing, the changes we made to the song was clear. I think we rocked it. But I'm biased. We finished and waited for Mr. Collins to comment. 

 

He just sat there looking at us blankly. Queue the nervousness. I held my breath. 

 

"I loved what you did with the song," I exhaled, "You made it work. Good job girls. What's your next number?"

 

"Jar of hearts by Christina Perri," I told him. I suddenly felt aware of Axel. He was here in the auditorium somewhere but I couldn't see him.

 

Revi handed me the guitar and I started off the intro. I sang the first verse with all of my emotions evident in my voice and the words of the song. We harmonized the chorus and Revi sang the second verse. We harmonized the rest. My eyes searched out Axel's and I found him near the back. I sang the chorus with my eyes on him the whole time. I saw some emotions flash over his face but he was quick to hide them. We finished the song and I finally looked away. 

 

Mr. Collins congratulated us and said we made it through. As we walked off the stage I looked to where Axel sat but he was gone. Damn. I need to stop thinking about him. 

 

-----

 

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 23.06.2015

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