Chapter 5: You're the Fondant to my Fancy

"Hide me!" I speak, ducking behind Hannah.

Alex has his back to us but at any point he could turn and see me.

"Rowan what are you doing?" Liam asks with a quizzical look.

I nod in the direction of Alex as a response.

"Yeah, I know. What are you doing?" He says.

"You said that Alex is mad and that I need your protection, funnily enough I thought that meant hide from him."

"You look like such an idiot right now," Hannah comments bluntly.

"She's right," Liam agrees, which instantly makes Hannah go red. She quickly tries to cover it up by turning to look the other way. I am glad the pair of them are bonding over how much of an idiot I look.

"Rowan, just stop," Spencer looks at the current scene, "That. Just stop that."

I stand up straight again awkwardly, and give the guys a guilty look, "How was I supposed to know not to hide?" I mumble. The pair of them burst out laughing at my response.

"Alex," Liam calls. Here he comes. Brace yourself Rowan. Alex slowly turns to face us. His smirk drops for a second as his eyes land on me, but, he swiftly shoves his confident façade back on.

"Hello Miss Steele," he greets me, teasing me with our conversation yesterday about being on surname terms.

"Good morning Mr Rossa," I give him a sickly sweet smile.

"You look rough, did you get enough sleep last night?" He asks. Suddenly feeling self-conscious over my appearance, I try not to let him know that he has managed to have any effect on me.

"An artist has to be dedicated to her work."

"Am I your work?" Alex arches one eyebrow – once again twisting my words.

"Come on Alex give her a break, just because she played you at your own game," Spencer interrupts with a smirk, walking over to his best friend.

"Oh and please keep posting the results of your little revenge games online," Liam says slapping me on the back with a wicked grin, "It is so very entertaining."

"Extremely entertaining," Spencer agrees, nodding viciously.

I am glad that having embarrassing videos of myself posted on the internet entertains them so much.

"You two are complete idiots," Alex chuckles to Liam and Spencer, for a second, he looks less like a jerk and more of a normal person.

"We should get going," Liam says after a while to Hannah casually.

"Should we?" She asks, confused.

"Yes, you tutor me maths. Remember? We have a session now," Liam chuckles, his blue eyes bright.

"Oh yeah," Hannah goes red again and awkwardly adjusts the position of the strap of her bag.

"So, should we go?"

"Um yeah I guess."

I watch Hannah walk beside Liam as they make their way into the school grounds and then into the building itself.

"So Princess, would you like me to walk you to your lesson?" Alex teases once my best friend is out of sight.

"I would honestly rather put my head in roaring fire."

Possibly a little white lie but a sure way to get my point across that I am not a fan of Mr Rossa.

"I'm sure that can be organised," Alex replies.

I look at him with a mixture of shock and disgust displayed on my face.

"You take everything so literally Cinderella," Alex shakes his head with amusement.

The tale telling heat begins to rise in my cheeks. I try to breath slowly and think clearly before I embarrass myself. Before I manage to achieve such a goal I manage to splutter out, "You know what? I need to just go and wash my locker," I point vaguely in the direction of school.

Wait.

"Wash your locker?" Alex responds throwing his hands in his pockets, his eyebrows knitting together.

"I've not heard that one before," Spencer laughs, his curls bouncing with the vibrations caused by his chuckles.

"Well you know I like to be individual," I say trying to somehow cover up such a blunder.

"Well washing your locker is certainly individual," Alex chuckles.

"You know what?" Spencer begins, "I think I need to go wash my locker too." He salutes as he walks away into the school grounds and begins to mime washing as he gets further away.

And then there were two. Just me and Alex. I note that the so-called protection lasted all of an hour at most.

"Your locker," Alex says, "Needs washing remember?"

"Yeah, I should probably be getting on with that," I reply, pulling on the strap of my satchel awkwardly not knowing what I am even saying at this point.

"You do realise you actually have to go to your locker in order to wash it don't you?"

"Yup," I continue to fiddle with the leather, twisting it in my hand. “I actually don’t know why that came out, it must be from the lack of sleep.”

Alex chuckles at me, "You are so ridiculous, you know that right?"

"Is that a compliment or should I be offended by that?" I ask, now having to use my hand to shade the sun out of my eyes.

"Whatever razzles your berries," he shrugs carelessly.

"Whatever razzles your whats?"

"Berries. Do we need to get your hearing checked?" Alex smirks.

I let out a groan.

"For just a second then I forgot how much I disliked you," I retort, making my eyes into slits, and placing my hands on my hips.

"One day you will fall for me Cinderella,” He grins widely and shrugs, “It's inevitable."

"I promise you that the day I fall for you, will be the day you stop playing around and the day you actually find a girl you like enough to respect and not mess with,” I respond firmly, “So that seems very unlikely.”

And then Alex does something unexpected. He laughs. He just laughs. I stand dumbfounded watching as the mania takes over him.

"Whatever you say Princess," he manages, "I just think you should know that you have distracted me so much that I didn’t manage to get us to good Ol’ English Lit on time.”

"I have what?" I pull out my phone, check the time, and follow the previous actions with a string of cusses coming out of my mouth.

"Chill," Alex sighs, raking his hair with his fingers, “Make an excuse and besides it is English Lit, not the end of the world.”

"Okay we should really be going," I say hurriedly, anxious having never before had a single dark blot on my report.

"We?" Alex's slight smile turns into a full mischievous grin, "Are you asking me to walk you to lesson Miss Steele?"

"You are unbelievable!"

"Unbelievably hot?"

"Unbelievably impossible” I exclaim.

"Well Miss Steele, even after that terrible insult I shall take you up on your offer and walk you to lesson," Alex sings.

"How thoughtful of you," I reply dryly.

"I know," he chirps.

*

"What do I say?" I ask Alex as we stand outside our English Lit classroom.

"Just make something up like your cat died or something," he replies as if it is the smallest matter in the world. If I compare this issue to others understandably it is minute but lying on cue is not a talent of mine.

"I don't have a cat," I say, pointing out the obvious.

"Mr Withershaw doesn't know that, though does he?" Alex responds with his face in his palm.

"Oh. Yeah. Well I am going to go class now," I point to the door behind me.

"That's a good idea," Alex comments, watching me procrastinate further entering the room.

I count down from three.

"And what time do you call this?" Mr Withershaw questions upon seeing my face. Today it is a blue top that is threatening to explode any second.

"Five to nine?" I reply after a quick glance at the clock.

"Enough of the attitude Rowan, why are you late?"

I ready myself up, I repeat the lie in my head over and over again.

"My pet monkey died."

"Monkey?"

Silence elapses as everyone realises what I said.

"Her pet cat was called monkey," Alex quickly says from behind me. "She said my pet," he pauses, "Monkey, as in the name of her pet is Monkey."

Mr Withershaws forests that are supposedly eyebrows shoot upwards.

"And Mr Rossa, how come you are late? Did your pet crocodile die?"

"My cat called crocodile is very well actually," Alex replies smartly, "I am late as I went with Rowan to put monkey down, it's a very sensitive topic you see sir. She just needed to have someone there for her. I was simply being a nice person. A model citizen one might go as far to say"

I nod silently in agreement. I have no idea what Alex is saying but as long as it gets us out of trouble I don't care.

"Just sit down, the pair of you, and get on with the work set out on the board," Mr Withershaw spits, I wait to see if steam erupts from his ears, certain it might. The tone of his voice is as sharp as a dagger, each word slicing of my model student report. I bend my head down and shuffle towards my seat. Alex on the other hand strolls leisurely in and slumps into his chair. I only take a few seconds to find my book in the maze called my bag, open it to a fresh new page and speedily scribble down the date. To my surprise I see Alex bringing out his book to my right. He opens it. My surprise is cut short however when he leaves the book open on the message I gave him last night. I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"I'm still trying to figure out who this Cinderella is," Alex says with a lopsided grin. His dark eyes glinting dangerously.

"That's the whole point of Cinderella remember, the Prince had no idea who she was and had to search all the land for her," I tease with a wink.

"I guess I'll have to search all the land then," Alex shrugs slightly. Suddenly, he grabs my hands and turns them over.

"Alex!" I hiss.

"I guess I found Cinderella," He chuckles at the black smudges on the underside of my fingers. “Again”

I had tried my best to scrub off the black on my fingers this morning, but in the end, I realised the attempt was futile.

"Whatever," I mumble, snatching my hands back.

"Are you saying I'm your prince then?" Alex radiates smugness.

"I have not said anything!"

Silence greets us and I turn away from Alex so I can try and get even a miniscule amount of work done.

"Miss Steele?" Alex nudges me in the shoulder.

"What?"

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, Alex nods towards it, telling me to look. I shake my head profusely which just results in my sides being poked repeatedly.

“Okay, okay,” I mouth sliding my phone out of my pocket and placing it on my lap.

You’re the fondant to my fancy – A

Do you have a map? – A

I take a quick look a Mr Withershaw whose nose was deeply rooted into his monitor. Lifting my phone, I type a quick reply.

No, why would I have one? – R

Because I'm lost in your eyes. – A

"I'm not even looking at you," I hiss swinging round to glare at him.

"You are now," he sings under his breath.

I roll my eyes and deposit my phone back into the safety of my pocket, determined to alas get on with the task lain out in front of me.

"Miss Steele," The whisper continues

"Yes?" I sigh.

"Are angels real?"

"How should I know?" I respond digging back into my satchel to try and find my copy of Jane Eyre.

"Because I think I'm looking at one."

"These are literally the worst pickup lines I have ever heard!" I chuckle unable to keep a straight face anymore.

"But from the hottest guy you have ever laid your eyes on."

"I'll get back to you on that one," I say teasingly, "Now do some Bronte or I shall never give you an answer."