Chapter Five: No Promises

＊ No Promises by Cheat Codes

Autumn POV

HE TURNED ME AROUND, and the next thing I knew was that I was being kissed. His mouth caught mine once the words left his mouth. I was so perplexed that all I could do was simply stare at the guy kissing me with so much eagerness. He stopped a few seconds later, probably realizing that I wasn’t responding.

I was completely frozen, but somehow my mouth was able to blurt what was on my mind. “We’re in School.” I licked my lips and glared at him.

Joe was standing there in his six-feet-four-self, hovering over me. “Yeah, so?” He panted, trying to catch his breath.

I jumped from the seat and picked up my discarded earphone from the floor. “We shouldn’t be together. You shouldn’t be here.” I shook my head and tried to glance at the door. I hope no one saw that. The school had finished two hours ago, but maybe some students still lingered around.

“Now will you stop with the lecture and just enjoy the moment?” His hands were on my hips, pulling me closer until our bodies met. “I’m the teacher, I should be the one giving you a lecture.”

I tried my hardest to get away from him.  “No!” I shoved his hard-muscled torso, but he was too strong. He was a pack of muscles, I was literally nothing compared to him in physical strength. “Joe! This isn’t you!”

After ignoring me, he leaned forward and started kissing my neck. I felt so hopeless. My body wanted him, but my mind knew better that this wasn’t right. This wasn’t the time and place. Tears brimmed in my eyes as anxiety kicked in. What if someone saw us? I knew we were in a hidden corner but there was a security camera somewhere.

“Joe, please.” I tried to shove him again, but it wasn’t working since he didn’t move an inch.

Is he made of metal or something? Geez.

I finally gave up and stopped struggling. Yet I didn’t respond or kissed him back either. I decided to wait until he got bored, or came to his senses, whichever happened first. My eyes stared dully at the ceiling, hoping this would end soon. I glanced at the window and that was when I saw him. Tyler. His dark eyes looked at me with a blank expression, but his brows arched in a way that showed accusation. Disgust flashed briefly on his face before he walked away.

Did that nerd just judge me? Who is he to judge, seriously? 

He was no better than me! He was smoking pot! At least I didn’t do drugs while he did. I knew it was a pity act to try to justify my action, but I couldn’t help myself.

My phone buzzed, and Joe straightened up. He looked down at me with pain on his face, which I didn’t quite understand. If anything, I should be the one angry with him. Because of him that nerd saw and knew about us. I took out my phone and glanced at the screen: it was Ashton. I walked a few steps away from Joe when I accepted the call.

“Hey, babe!” His cheerful voice that I knew so well for these last two years greeted me.

I smiled at the familiarity. “Hey, where are you? I’ve been waiting for hours!”

“Oh, you know, this and that happened,” he said vaguely. I heard him clearing his throat then he asked me, “Where are you? I’m at your school now.”

“I’m inside, but I’ll go out now. Meet me at the gate, okay?” I grabbed my bag from the floor and slung it over one shoulder.

“Okay.” I ended the call and shoved my phone back into the front pocket of my jeans. I turned back and watched Joe crossing his arms. His expression was unreadable, but from his hard stare, I knew something was off.

I decided to ask him anyway. Communication could save a relationship or ruin one. So I decided to bet on saving it. “What is it?”

Instead of answering my question, he threw another one. “Was that your boyfriend?”

We stared at each other for a moment before I decided to come clean and nodded. “Yep.”

“Okay.” He uncrossed his arms and grabbed his glasses and a stack of paper from a nearby table. He walked towards the door without a second glance. And I was left there, wondering what the hell was that all about?

I got no time to dwell on it or analyze it since Ashton was waiting for me. I opened my bag and stuck my earphone inside. When I got out of the classroom, I noticed the sign and realized it was the English classroom. No wonder he was there. I shrugged off the fact because it didn't matter which class I was at, Tyler fucking Vincent saw everything.

Well, too bad he had to find that out. I knew his secret, and now he knew mine. Seems like we were even. As I walked, I started to think about him again. Why did he smoke pot? I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that because of Math. I mean, come on! Math sucks! Except that he didn’t look like the type to smoke his problems away.

I got out of school in less than two minutes, only to be greeted by an unwelcome sight of the Lawson bitch, standing a little too close to Ash. They were talking about something that I couldn't hear from my distance. I wasn’t a jealous girlfriend and someone like Ellie wasn’t a threat to me. So I took my time, worked in the tempo, and got there just in time for Ellie to notice my presence.

Her face hardened, and I could see she turned her bitch mode back on. “Oh hi, cheater. Got a little extra time with Mr. Rodriguez?”

I froze. My mind scolded myself, “you’re so busted!” 

Ellie giggled and touched my arm lightly. “I mean for your English retest, silly.” She almost looked nice and that was weird.

“Yeah.” I flipped my hair over one shoulder. “How about you? Found the cure yet?”

Two can play this game. I watched Ellie’s sweetness turn sour. She shifted her gaze to Ashton and forced herself to smile. “Bye, Ash!” She scurried away, and I was tempted to yell ‘run bitch run!’

“What’s that all about?” Ash laced his fingers through mine and gave me a gentle squeeze.

I raised one brow incredulously. “I should be the one asking that. What’s up with you and Ellie? I thought you hated the bitch for stalking you since fifth grade.”

Ashton shook his head disapprovingly. “Don’t call her that. She can be sweet.” I rolled my eyes. Ashton was always a peacekeeper, while most of the time I was the troublemaker. He pulled the car keys out of his pocket and led me towards his white sedan.

“Sweet? Did you have brain surgery or something?” I rolled my eyes and grabbed the handle.

* * *

Tyler POV

It felt like a déjà vu. I didn’t need to turn around to know that those big brown eyes were making a hole in my back. But this time we weren’t in Math class, and unlike a few days ago we were several feet apart from each other. I was in my peaceful corner of the huge cafeteria, and she sat in the middle of the area where jocks and popular girls always occupied the tables.

I quickly finished my lunch and put the tray back. Mrs. Sanchez, the cleaning lady, was a very kind person while lots of the kids here were assholes —who didn’t even bother putting back their trays after they finished eating.

She reminded me of my mom, and I was helping her because I hoped people would help my mom too. My mom wasn’t a cleaning lady, but she was a waitress, and despite what people think, it was a really tough job: taking orders, delivering food, cleaning tables, and having to occasionally deal with douchebags.

“Oh, dear, you know you don’t have to do that.” Mrs. Sanchez took the tray from my hands and placed it on the rack.

I replied with a smile. “I don’t have to, but I want to, Mrs. Sanchez. Have a great day!” I walked towards the exit and headed to the library to have some peace and quiet.

Ten minutes passed, and no matter how much I’d tried to focus on the task at hand, my mind replayed the scene from yesterday. Autumn and the English teacher together. I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped my pen on top of the math homework that I’ve been trying to work on since I got there. There was no way I could think about calculus with her bugging my mind.

The image of that old guy groping her waist, kissing her gorgeous long neck, pressing his body against hers, kept finding its way inside my mind....fuck! I wished I could blame Mr. Stanton for asking me to help him mark those papers and make me stay longer in school.

Why did I rush there when I heard her voice? Why didn’t I just stay back and mind my own business? What the hell was I thinking, playing a knight in shining armor and saving the damsel in distress?

Stupid! 

She was clearly not in distress if anything she’d probably been enjoying herself, except that she hadn’t looked that way. Her expression when she’d stared at the ceiling was more like she had been bored rather than passionate about the act. When she’d looked at me, those big eyes had been asking for help.

I groaned and shut my mouth in an instant, realizing it wasn’t the right time and place to think about her. I let out a long sigh and opened my eyes. Time to use this free period to do some homework. I scanned the papers and books in front of me. Seemed like I still had to study physics for the exam the next day and do the English assignments after.

Being a foreigner in the U.S., I had to help mom with the bills and the rent payment. I worked every day after school from two to six as a barista and then went home to do the laundry, clean the house, and take a shower before leaving for my night job. I got home around three in the morning, two if I was lucky, and my body was totally worn out that I couldn't do anything but fall into a deep slumber. I wake up the next day to repeat the same routine, which was why I had to jumble up all my schoolwork and study at school because that was the only time I wasn’t working.

Five minutes were wasted on trying and failing to finish question one. I was about to get up and grab a reference book when someone came from behind and put their hands on my shoulders, pushing me down. “Sit down. We need to talk, Tyler.”

I looked up just to be mesmerized by her gorgeous dark brown eyes. I gulped nervously and cleared my throat to cover that up. “What’s up?” I tried to sound cool as if she had no impact whatsoever on my nerves.

Autumn Summers blew a lock of dark brown hair out of her face and dragged the seat from a nearby table and put it next to mine. She sat and crossed her legs. “Okay, let me get this straight.” She leaned forward and placed her arms on the table. “I saw you smoking pot. You saw me kissing Joe.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but her eyes were sharp enough to give the don’t-mess-with-me vibe. “Let’s just call it even.”

She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal and leaned back in her chair. I waited for her to say more, but she gave me a bored look and started to yawn. It kinda irritated me that it was so easy for her to brush it all off. I took my glasses off and put them on top of my paper assignments. Screw them.

Once I was done with her, I was damn sure I could finish them in no time. Once I could get her out of my head, I’d be fine. I watched her staring at me dumbfounded, probably wondering what I was doing. Keeping my face only inches away from her, I let out a sardonic laugh and smiled. “It’s far from over, Sweetheart.”

Her eyes widened, and her lips parted as she looked at me with a complete shock. For the first time in a long while, I felt happy and excited about something as I leaned further toward her.