Chapter 3

"We should definitely do something together." Alyssa says, turning around on her chair to face us once we all sit down in the classroom. "I haven't had a girlfriend in months, the girls in our school are not worth to be friends with and the boys are always boring." She whines.

I shrug, my mood a little dim due to last night. I tug at my long sleeve that covers the bruises on my arms and take out my pencils along with my books.

Emma responds immediately. "We can go shopping!" She chirps.

I widen my eyes and turn my head at her. "No way." I shake my head and a smirk forms on both of their faces.

"Yes way." Alyssa says as I grunt.

I genuinely hate shopping. It's never fun for me. My feet hurt, my head gets dizzy and trying on an outfit is the most exhausting thing ever. The times I'm forced to go shopping are like the only work outs I get to do. Also don't even get me started on the prices that don't ever fail to dissapoint...

"I don't need new clothes." I try to resist but their facial expression tells that they won't take no as an answer.

"Oh, you need a lot of clothes my friend..." Emma says playfully.

"Is it that bad?" Alyssa asks as Emma nods with her eyes wide. I just sit there watching them, my mouth open and a smile out of amusement threatening to show itself.

"Even my grandmother told her to buy new clothes." She brings up an old memory when she and her family came to our house for dinner a year ago. Her grandmother came to my room after dinner to tell Emma that it was time to go home. That was when she saw my open wardrobe and went: "Oh my poor child..."

"That's sad." Alyssa nods slowly.

"Guys, are you aware of my presence or..?" I speak up, a curious look on my face.

They don't even budge.

"So shopping it is." Emma makes sure and Alyssa nods as I give up, leaning back on my seat with a sigh.

***

It's been almost fifteen minutes since the class started and Josh won't stop staring at me.

He is sitting on the opposite side of the room and a little behind my desk which gives him the perfect opportunity to look at me, and it's really vexing.

I took a few glances at him during class to check if he was still staring but other than that I just acted like I didn't care and listened to the teacher. Though as the fifteenth minute rolls up, his gaze that's burning a hole in my head makes me release a groan in annoyance. Emma that's sitting beside me looks at me, asking me what's wrong using her face while I just shrug like there's nothing important.

Why is he staring at me? I can't help but think. Questions fly around in my head as I search for answers.

There are a few possibilities now. One, he is trying to annoy me. Two, annoying me is his goal. Three, he likes to annoy me. Four, he is annoying as f-

Okay I think we get it.

Though I just try to calm myself and concentrate on what the teacher is saying. My eyes start to shut slowly as I listen to her. Don't get me wrong, I love literature, but our teacher might as well be dead since she sounds like it.

The thought of Romeo suddenly pops up and I remember the feeling of his hand holding mine. The sparks that shot through my arm, the comfort his hold had puts a small smile on my face as my eyes are soon shut close.

"Ms. Wills," My head shoots up. "I don't think you should be sleeping in class." The teacher says and all I can do is apologize. She lets me off the hook this time but for sure she won't do it again.

Dammit, Romeo.

***

"Oh for the sake of sweet baby Jesus, can we please sit somewhere. My legs are not immune to this much shopping." I whine, dragging my feet across the floor with shopping bags in my hands and trying to survive.

"Come on, don't be so dramatic. We only went into like, twenty something shops..." Emma responds and she holds my arm to help me walk.

"Right, sorry I should have been exaggerating since twenty something shops and over fifty bags aren't that much of a deal." I shoot back, sarcasm dripping from my tongue.

Alyssa chuckles as Emma gives me a look and opens her mouth for another remark but stops midway when an another voice comes from behind us.

"Need some help carrying those?" We all turn around to see Jason offering us a hand and the other boys standing next to him.

"Why are you guys here?" Alyssa asks, stepping forward.

Jason looks at Romeo then turns back to us."This guy right here couldn't sit still knowing you guys—"

"More like you." Tyler cuts Jason off and points at me, making Romeo elbow him. "Ow!"

"Whatever, long story short we came here to accompany you." Jason sums it up then puts his arm around Alyssa's shoulder.

"Okay then, let's go. We still have a few more shops to look at." Emma speaks and I look up at Romeo to find him already staring at me. A slight blush creeps up on my cheeks as I avoid the eye contact and start walking.

He starts walking next to me and takes the bags from my hands, not caring about my objections. "So, are you feeling alright?" He asks, causing me to get confused.

"Why?" I ask, lifting my gaze up at him.

"Well, you were pretty much soaking last night. Are you okay n—"

"WHAT?! Ah damn, already? My bet was on a month!" Tyler's voice booms, making me jump a little. When my brain registers what he said my blush gets even deeper and I hit his shoulder.

"No, shut up! It's not like that." I burry my face in my hand and shake my head.

"Aww, you're so cute when you get embarrased." Romeo says in a rather high pitched voice.

"Shut up."

"Come on we're going in here." I hear Alyssa yell at us, signalling for us to go in.

I look at the huge sign in front of us, every shade of pink hits my eyes as I read: Victoria's Secret

Oh hell no.

"Oh hell no." Tyler voices my thoughts. "I'm not buying underwear for my sister, go do that shît yourself."

"You came here with your own will." I hear Alyssa say.

"Sister?" I can't help but question.

"Yeah, unfortunately, this dumb guy is my brother. Well, more like twin, but we are not identical." Alyssa explains, pointing at Tyler.

That's when the realization kicks in, and I start to notice the similarities the two have. They are practically the opposite gender versions of each other, with their dark brown hair and identical lips with similar noses. Only thing that makes them differ from one another are their eyes. Alyssa has brown eyes while Tyler has blue.

"Oh okay." I nod and smile.

"Tyler is uglier." I hear Emma's mocking voice and everyone laughs at her behaviour.

"You're just jealous that you can't have this body." Tyler says cockily, but I can see the blush forming on his cheeks. Emma just rolls her eyes and goes into the store.

Alyssa follows her, and practically Jason goes along since he has his arm on her shoulders.

Tyler looks at us, then looks at the store, unsure of what to do. Then he takes another glance at us before groaning and going into the store.

When it's just me and Romeo left outside, I elbow him slightly and playfully. "You scared?" I tease, smirking.

He turns his head to me and laughs. "Scared? No. Excited? Fûck yes." He smirks back, making me huff in response.

"You're such a pervert." I can only manage to say back.

"You guys are the ones who brought us into this shop!" He defends himself, the playful air still lingering.

"If you didn't stalk us all the way here you wouldn't have to get in." Is my only comeback at this point. I have my hands on my hips and a bîtch-you-know-I'm-right-don't-try-too-hard look on my face.

"Stalking? We didn't stalk you! I just thought it would be a good idea to..." He trails off.

My smirk just widens. "To what?"

He grunts but answers nonetheless. "To make sure you were okay..."

I am taken aback for a moment, not expecting an answer like this. Though I quickly recover and decide to tease him further. "Awww, you care!" I start pinching his cheeks.

Romeo laughs along with me and removes my hands from his cheeks. Since our playful time is over, we walk into the store, and I can't help but think I heard him mumble something under his breath while stepping into the store.

"Of course I do."