Chapter Two

Alex's P.O.V

Where am I running to? Anywhere, anywhere is better than where I just was, my running cane to a stop and I find myself in front of the soccer field. I spot Zoe and the others, it seems tryouts haven't started yet, I need to calm myself before going over to meet them, my ear still tingles, my body feels hot, it's throbbing all over and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to catch my breath, what did Asher do to me?

Cole's P.O.V

*Gasp*

Alex stopped walking, I hope nothing's wrong, maybe I should check.

"Cole, baby, you need to get to the tryout." Amanda pulls me back towards the field.

Damn, I wonder what happened to make her gasp like that, it was after Zoe mentioned... that bastard.

I kept walking along with Amanda until Zoe and Chris caught up with us.

"What happened with Alex?" I was worried.

"Oh, she left something in class, so she went to go get it." Chris replied.

"Are you sure? Cos she looked like something was bothering her." I asked, expecting a solid response.

"I'm pretty sure sure that wa-"

"No, something was definitely bothering her." Zoe cut in.

"It was probably that, what she left in class was pretty important." Amanda said, typing something on her phone.

"Right, stop playing connect the dots." Chris agrees with her.

"Ok." I said, still not satisfied with the reasons I was given.

Alex's P.O.V

I've finally calmed myself, I need to go over to them. I walk out of my hiding place and I spot Asher standing on the field, next to Cole and my brother, I guess if I go out now, I'll be safe since they are there.

"Alex, over hear." I hear Zoe yell, Cole, Asher, my brother also hear her so, I guess I have no choice.

As soon as I got to her, Cole, Chris and Logan started running over.

"Hey, did you get it?" Cole asked.

"Get what?" I asked, confused.

"The thing you left in class?" He raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Oh...uh that, it was in my bag all along." I stated in a flustered state.

He moved his face closer to mine, close enough to kiss me but there was something wrong. When Asher was this close to me, I felt all hot and bothered but Cole's doing the same thing but I don't feel anything at all.

"Ok, back up Cole." My brother, Logan, interrupted.

Cole backs up from me, Chris walks over to Zoe and they started sucking face, honestly get a fucking room. 

"Hey, I'm gonna go now, cos it seems like the tryouts are over?" In the blink of an eye, Asher was now standing right next to my brother.

I try my best to avoid looking at him, he didn't even seem to care which made my blood boil, huh? Wait, why did I want him to care? Right, I don't want him to so he just shouldn't. He walked to the bleachers, picked up his bag and went to the parking lot.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna be back." I say running towards the parking lot.

"Wait, Alex, where are yo..." Cole yelled but because I was running farther away, I couldn't hear him anymore.

I was ran close enough to the parking lot, to see him. When I do see him, all the things I wanted to say came flooding back into my head, I was pissed out of my mind, the sound of his car door opening snapped me back, it was now or never.

"ASHER!!" I yelled his name which startled him a little but it was well deserved.

He turned around, "Alex? What are you doing here?"

His voice reminded me of what he did to me and it instantly broke my resolve, leaving me a flustered mess.

"I...uh..." I attempted to speak but mu voice wouldn't come out.

"Alex, could you speed this up? I don't have the time." He said impatiently, which only fueled my depleted rage.

"You need to apologize to me." I ordered him.

"Apologize? For what?" He asked, how clueless was he.

"For..." I hesitated, "For what you did in the hallway." I replied, my anger reaching its boiling point.

"Look, Alex, I don't have time for this right now, I'm sorry and I won't ever talk to you again." He gets in his car and drives away, I was so shocked that I couldn't stop or say anything. I was dumbfounded.

Asher's P.O.V

Damn, she wasn't even trying to push me and I still tripped, whatever, I have to go to the tryouts thing. I make my way to the soccer field, they were just starting, there was a field full of guys who looked like they were in college, jeez, they're all so serious, it's just a game.

"Hey, you're that kid we scouted." A familiar voice called out to me, it was the guy that interrupted me and Alex at lunch. I think Lamar was his name. "Hey captain, this is the new kid." 

Another guy showed up, only a little bit taller and had a slightly larger build than me, it was obvious that he was stronger

"Hey, what did you do to Alex? You bastard." It was that annoying guy in 1st period, what a fucking drag, I think his name was, Cole?

"Nothing." I replied.

"Nothing." He grabbed me by my collar. "Then why did she look so bothered when your someone mentioned your name?" 

"Look man, I don't know but have you even asked her why she was so bothered?" I asked, suddenly, the guy that lamar called captain, was behind him.

"I'm Logan, Alex's older brother, what's your relationship with her?" He question me, he was even scarier than my dad.

"We have no relation with each other, I just teased her a little, that's all." I say shrugging off Cole's hands but before I could walk away from them, I felt a sharp pain in my jaw, like someone threw a brick at my face, it was only then I realized that this Logan dude had hit me square in the face. It hurt like hell.

"Hey man, what the hell was that?" I was seriously irritated.

"What the hell was that?" He yelled. "What the hell was that? What do you mean by teased her?" 

"Dude, you messed up." Lamar approached me from behind and held me in place. "You shouldn't have gone for his sister, we all know better than to do that."

"Don't go anywhere near he-"

"Alex, over here." He stopped just before hitting me again, turned around to see Alex running over to Zoe. Lamar let go of me while Logan, Cole and Chris ran over to them. I think I'm just going to go home. I walk towards Logan to tell him that I'd be going, knowing how pissed he was, it was the right thing to do.

"Hey, I'm gonna go now, cos it seems like the tryouts are over?" I said then, my eyes met hers for a moment but she looked away, why was she scared to look at me? Whatever, I don't want to worry Lily with bruises, so I'm just gonna leave. I grab my bag and leave for the parking lot. I've been standing at my car door for a while now, seems I'm being watched, I'll just hop in and leave.

"Asher." That sounds like-

"Alex? What are you doing here?" It was her, she looks angry.

"I...uh...I" She stuttered, I thought she was mad.

"Hey, speak up, I can't wait long." Damn I really don't have time for this.

"You need to apologize." She yelled.

"Apologize? For what?" What the hell is she talking about?

"For..." She hesitated, "For what you did in the hallway." 

My phone vibrates in my back pocket, Lily's waiting, I gotta end whatever this is right now, "Look, Alex, I don't have time for this right now, I'm sorry and I won't ever talk to you again." That was bit harsh but necessary, I don't want any trouble, cos I know how unpredictable an overprotective brother can be but I should still apologize because that was a little too harsh.

*Tuesday*

Alex's P.O.V

I don't want to see his face, it's hard to believe that all that happened in a day, I mean you have to be extremely unlucky for that to happen, I wish mum would let me stay home. Before I walked into class, I felt chills but why?, it wasn't until I entered my art class that I found out the reason, Chris was sitting next to Zoe, Asher's place, Cole was sitting behind him, next to me and some of the guys from the soccer team were sitting in front of Zoe and behind me, it was like a when a mother hen was protecting her chick, and I knew who put them up to this. Soon after I walked in, Asher did, it was too soon for a confrontation.

"Hey, I'm so-"

"Alex, come on, we've been waiting for you." Zoe yells from across the classroom, I didn't know what to do, listen to him and ignore he or Ignore him and go to her. The choice was pretty obvious, after yesterday, I decided that I would just ignore his existence, if he doesn't want to talk to me, then I don't want to talk to him either.

"Hmph.." I walked to my seat.

Oh god what I would've given to see the the look on his face, maybe he had a dejected expression, I looked over to where he sat and he still had that same blank expression on his face. That seriously pisses me off. Why does he always have zero expression on his face, it wouldn't kill him to look a little bit hurt, now would it?

Ms. Brown walks in. "Let's begin."

30 minutes into the class, Cole turns to me."Hey, what did Asher say to you?" Cole whispers so the teacher wouldn't hear him. 

"Nothing, Zoe called me before he started talking." I whispered back, then turned to face the teacher.

He muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" I asked, not hearing what he said. 

Cole's P.O.V

Damn, I know I'm only doing this because Logan asked but this is kinda...much, asking all the guys who have a class with her to not let Asher get close to her, I mean, he was just teasing her, I wonder what he would do if I told him I liked her like that, he'd probably overreact.

"Alex, come on, we've been waiting for you." Zoe yells, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I look up to see Asher standing in front of her while she was looking towards us, I felt my blood boil, before I knew it, she was walking towards us. It seems she had ignored him but I should check just in case.

Alex takes her seat and just as I was about to ask her something, the teacher walked in which signifies the beginning of class, I had to wait.

"Hey, what were you and Asher talking about?" I whisper to her.

"Nothing, Zoe called me away before he had the chance to say anything." She replied then looks forward.

"I hope he hasn't forgotten." I say in a soft voice so she wouldn't hear me.

"What was that?" She asked. Did she hear me? Probably not if she asked what I said.

"Nothing, nothing at all." I replied.

"Okay." She says, looking forward again.

*Time skip to lunch*

Alex's P.O.V 

It's time for lunch, he better not come over to sit here, I scan the cafeteria for Asher and I don't see him anywhere, somehow, I feel relieved.

"Do I really hate him that much?" I thought out loud.

"Hate who?" A voice coming from behind me asked.

I turn around to see Logan holding his lunch in one hand and a girl in the other and they take a sit next to me.

"Um, why are you sitting with me?" I asked, surprised.

"I'm here because I wanted to see my little sister." He says and puts his arm around me.

I was so shocked, I couldn't even say anything, he wanted to sit with me, what a load of cra-

 "Bull" A friend of his also takes his seat across from me, I think his name is Connor.

"Right, he's just here because he doesn't want that Thatcher guy sitting with you." Another friend came and sat next to the guy across from me.

"Thatcher?" I asked, confused.

"Nah, I think his name was Archer." The guy in front of me commented.

"His name is Asher. What kind of parents name their kid, Archer?" My brother says, squeezing his fruit cup until it popped and ran down his hand all slimy and shit, eugh, but why was he so angry?

The girl next to him grabbed a paper towel from his tray and proceeded to wiping off the slime, Logan slaps her hand off him, he was seriously pissed off. What did Asher do to him?

"Dude, why are you so pissed?" The guy next to Connor asked.

"Seth, do you wanna get punched too?" Connor asks, quiet enough for Logan to not hear but I did.

"What do you mean by, punched too?" When I asked this, Logan instantly snaps out of his rage and signals to connor not to say anything and I saw it.

"Well, Logan punches people a lot so it just turned to a normal thing we say when he gets mad." He says obviously lying.

"What did he mean by punched too?" I asked, this time looking at my brother.

He looked at the ground then at me. "I-"

"He did it for you." The girl next to him blurted out.

"Did what for me?" I asked.

"Shut up, Anna." Cole says in a low voice.

"He had to hit him." She continues, completely ignoring him.

He grabs her shoulders and shakes her. "I said, shut up." He yelled.

She struggled to get out of his grip but she prevailed. 

"Hit who?" I stood up and slammed the table.

"Ash-" My brother covers her mouth but I already knew who's name she was going to call.

"Let her go." I ordered as I sat back down.

"Don't tell me wh-"

"I said LET HER GO!!" I yelled, unconsciously slamming the table again

*Ding Dong*

The bell rings signalling the end of lunch, I stood up and started making my way outside when I run into Asher also leaving the cafeteria and that was when I noticed the bruise, it was as clear as day, Why didn't I see it this morning? I paused, trying to remember what happened this morning. I was too occupied with my thought and I completely ignored him the moment Zoe called me over, of course I didn't see it. Gosh, how could I be so insensitive? In my defense, I had no idea, should I apologize? 

"Ah." Damn, the words won't come out, what do I do? I think he heard me because he turned around, this was my chance. Just as I was going to apologize, he walked away, he ignored me, I'm hear trying to be a decent person and apologize and he's ignoring me.

"HEY!!" I called out and grabbed him.

"What?" He asked, not meeting my eyes.

"Look at me." I demanded.

"Alex, what do you want?" He asked, shrugged off my hand and started walking away.

"I want to apologize about my brother." I said remorsefully.

He stopped, turned around and asked- "Why?" -then walked away again, this time however, I let him go because that one question had me baffled, what did he mean by why? Did he mean, why am I apologizing for him? Or why am I apologizing at all? He has that bruise because of me so its only common courtesy that I apologize, why do I even want to apologize? Because it'll clear my conscience or because I actually feel sorry, why?

I walked into my last class of the day, completely lost in thought, ignoring the people who called my name, I sat in my chair.

"ex... alex... Alex" Zoe yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I yelled back.

"Attitude much." She scoffed.

"You yelled first." I argued.

"Whatever, I don't care if you ignore me but don't ignore him." She pointed at Cole.

"What do you mean? He didn't call me." I stated.

"Right, how long did I call you before you answered me?" She hissed.

"I don't know, like two? Three times?" I replied.

"No, I called you, like 7 times and he, even more and you completely ignored both of us." She snapped.

I wanted to apologize but the teacher just walked in so I'll do it after class. The number of people I need to apologize to keep increasing.

*bell rings*

Cole darted out the door with his pals, I forgot they had practice today, guess Zoe's gonna take me home today. We walked to her car together and she drove me home. On our way, her phone kept blowing up, so she looked through her notifications then let out a huge gasp.

"What happened?!" I exclaimed.

"Chris is having a party this Friday, after school." She whined.

"So?" I asked, not knowing what the problem was with that.

"He didn't tell me nor invite me." She complained.

"Today's Tuesday, he can tell you tomorrow or on Thursday, you know that right?" I asked, getting irritated.

 She ignored me and kept going through her messages, the dramatic gasps and whines continued, I was surprised that she didn't cry.

We finally got to my house and she followed me in, I don't want to ask why because I don't want to think about anything. She walks into the pantry, takes a bag of chips then sat in the living room and turned on the tv, I walked upstairs to my room and just layed there, staring at the ceiling thinking up ways to apologize to him but to be honest, I don't see why I have to, I just feel like I do.

"Alex, I'm back." I hear my mother's voice downstairs, I dozed off. How long was I asleep for? Is Zoe still her?

I get out of bed and change into something more comfortable, afterwards, I checked the time, 9:55, I go downstairs to greet my mum, my brother was also there in his normal house clothes, I didn't hear him open the door when he came back, even if I was sleeping, I'd still hear the door close.

"Hey mum." I say groggily.

"Did I wake you up?" She asked. "I didn't know you were sleeping, I'm sorry honey." She didn't even wait for my response but I guess it was okay like that.

"Are you going to Chris's party?" He asked, looking at me cautiously.

I glared at him, then walked back to my room. 

*Knock knock*

"Go away." I yelled already knowing who it was.

"I get that you're pissed but don't ignore me." He scolded, I couldn't see his face but it was obvious that he was angry as well, just one more push then.

"If you get it, leave me alone, I need to sleep." I replied and turned my back to the door.

I heard his footsteps as they became more and more faint followed by the sound of him slamming the door. He didn't even apologize and he wants me to just keep talking to him like nothing happened, brothers.

*Friday*

After that, the rest of the week went by so fast, I apologized to Cole for ignoring him, I tried to apologize to Asher but I was either interrupted, couldn't find the right time or he just avoided me, I would like to give up but it's not like Logan's gonna apologize if I tell him to.

*bell rings*

It's the end of the day, people are either going home to sleep or to get ready for the party, if I wasn't friends with Zoe or Cole, I wouldn't even be going, it's not like i want to per se but I've got nothing to do either way and even if I did, it was out of my hands.

"So, what are you wearing?" Zoe asked me as she was ransacking my closet, hoping to dress me.

"I don't know, why don't you pick something." I replied.

She lit up, instantly and was more serious with searching my closet but she didn't find anything, she looked at me expecting me to say I had something but I didn't.

"Come one, let's go." She pulled me out of my room and into my mum's.

"No no no no no." I repeated enough times for her to hear but she kept pulling me till we got to her closet.

"Wow! Your mum has some really sexy clothes." She brought a short, sleeveless black dress with a small slit out of the closet and handed it to me. "Change." She ordered but I couldn't, that was my mum's. "NOW!" She yelled which made me jump.

I collected the dress from her and put it on, it was weird to think that my mum and I are the same size, we were the same height but I never took weight into account, aside from that, this dress fit me like a glove. She didn't end there and grabbed one of my mum's heels before I even had the chance to protest, I didn't want to get yelled at again so I just did what she wanted, after we had figured out what to wear, all that was left was the makeup, she had already done hers and I knew what was next. She put a towel over the dress so as not to get any makeup on it and began. The moment she was done, I went into the bathroom and looked at myself, I stared at the mirror until my face started blurring, I was really pretty, she walked in after me.

"Didn't I do a good job?" She bragged.

"You did, its really pretty." I replied sincerely and she was stunned, her face shown a bright red. She was blushing?

"Whatever, let's go now." She said covering her face.

We walked to the kitchen where we meet my brother, he was also dressed up.

"Well, you guys look nice." He said. "How about I give you a ride?"

"No, Zoe's ta-"

"Okay." Zoe answered, knowing full and well that I was still angry with him.

Logan looked at me all sorry like, it really irritated me but I guess I can let it go for tonight.

"Whatever." I sighed in approval, now he looked excited.

He went outside and started the car, Zoe and I were still inside.

"Come on, just forgive him already." She pleaded.

"No." I yelled.

"What did he even do?" She questioned.

"Nothing, let's just go." I walked past her and soon, I'm out the door and I see Cole standing next to the passenger side door, he held the door for me and zoe then got into the car after us.

"Cole, isn't Alex pretty?" Zoe taps him on the shoulder.

He looked back and stared at me for what felt like an eternity, his eyes moved all over my body, from my face to my neck, tracing down to my chest then stopped at my legs.

He gulped then faced the road, "You look amazing." 

My head was blank and my face, ears and chest felt hot, I had probably turned into a tomato, the way he looked at me made me feel special, like he was looking only at me and only me, but that wasn't right, he has a girlfriend. 

"Thank you." I smiled.

After that, we spent the rest of the car ride in silence.

"We're here." Logan dropped us off, I thought he was going to the party too.

"I thought you were coming with us." Zoe stated, confused, I was too.

"What's a senior doing at a junior's party?" He asked laughed then drove off.

We weren't all that close to the house but we could still hear the music. We were standing in front of the door and I already couldn't stand the music.