Chapter Three - Dusky Harlot Part Two

{Lexy's P.O.V}

I woke up to a gentle knock on my door.

"Lexy, you're going to be late for school. Breakfast is downstairs."

"Okay, Mom," I answered softly.

"Are you okay, honey?" Mom asked with concern.

I was quiet for a few seconds. I was assessing my feelings. "Yes, mom. I'm fine." I said groggily.

"Are you sure? Last night was-"

"I said I'm fine. Don't worry." I interrupted her. I didn't want to dwell on it. I had another predicament. Everyone was going to see that I cried. My eyes were red and puffy.

"Okay, honey. Just know I'm here if you want to talk about it," she said with tenderness.

"It's not like you're going to tell me. So we might as well stop while we're ahead", I snapped in a mumble.

"You know I wish I could, honey, but that is your father's secret to tell. Not mine," she said in a kind but firm voice.

"So something is going on. I'll ask him then," I said in a surly tone. Not that I would dare to. Dad can be terrifying when he's provoked. I was silent as I listened to Mom's footsteps slowly disappear.

I didn't move for a time. I felt so exhausted, and my eyes felt so plump. I steadily sat up and tried to open them. They felt like an inferno in damnation. I glanced around and recalled I had fallen asleep on my floor. No wonder my back was aching. I'm not doing that again anytime soon. I looked in my mirror and saw that my eyes looked like overinflated cherries. How was I going to hide this from Amy? She knows me better than I know myself. If I didn't tell her, she wouldn't stop badgering me until I did. I sighed. I was not in the frame of mind for this today.

I tried to put on some concealer and foundation to cover up some of the redness but to no avail. So I snatched my sunglasses instead. I put on a pair of black jeans and a blouse I found hanging halfway off my dressing table and gave it a whiff to make sure it still smelled good. It was creased, but it smelled of perfume so I was happy. I grabbed the lucky hoody my dad gave me and put on my Schutz boots. I headed downstairs just in time to hear Amy blowing the horn outside.

I darted downstairs and past the kitchen, I plucked a piece of toast from a plate and yelled goodbye. I made sure I ran fast enough so they couldn't see my face adequately and noticed I had cried.

"Lexy, toast is not enough for the entire day!" Mom yelled.

"I got some money too! Don't worry! Bye!" I said hastily, trying to cover my face.

I got in the car with Amy and breathed a sigh of relief as I slammed the door behind me.

"Why the sunglasses?" Amy asked curiously.

"Just because." I rolled my eyes at her.

"I still know you rolled your eyes even though you are wearing jet-black sunglasses." she snickered softly as she started the car and reversed out of the driveway.

I stuck out my tongue at her. "I knew I couldn't lie to you, but can we just drop it for now?"

She sighed. "It's about your dad, isn't it?"

I was so surprised she knew I almost snapped my neck when I looked at her, eyes wide. "What are you, a mind reader?!"

She giggled. "No, Lexy. I'm your best friend, but I'll wait until you're ready to talk about it."

I folded my arms, laid back in my seat, and pouted. "Thanks."

We arrived at school and walked to the lockers together. We were gossiping about the harpies passing by and giggling. The school bell rang, and we said our goodbyes and left for classes separately.

A few hours later.

It was nearly the end of the school day. I couldn't wait until I graduated. Same educators, same harpies, womanizers, and same bullies. At the very least, my eyes somewhat recovered back to normalcy. The only climax of my day was when I saw Tryn or Amy. I passed by a circle of girls, and all I got were smutty glares with some mumbles and giggles while they side-eyed me. I'm accustomed to it by now, and it genuinely doesn't bother me anymore. It was dreadful when Tryn started to pursue me. Everyone in the school began buzzing about us, which was definitely a wretched undertaking. I undoubtedly missed being invisible, but that would mean I shouldn't have established a relationship with Tryn, and that is the one thing I don't regret about my life and school. He is fundamentally the only reason I'm still coming to this pigpen. They can keep up their tittle-tattle. I smirked as I strolled by, almost ridiculing them. In some cliques, I even show the finger to give them something to gossip about. I guess I get my fair share of fun with it too. It's not all disadvantageous. Ultimately, all I need is my boyfriend and my best friend.

I was sauntering down the school hallway when I saw Tryn tilting his back against a locker. A girl was facing him with her hand slanted beside his face against the locker. She was practically resting her body on top of his. The way she was tilting onto him looked too friendly for my liking. Her face was intrusively in his face. I felt my blood boil as I approached them and saw it was that dusky harlot from yesterday.

Who does she think she is? He is mine! I narrowed my eyes at her and started rushing toward them, unsure of what I was going to do next and not considering its consequences either. All I knew was I wanted her out of his face! I almost reached them and felt like I could mutilate her when I saw Tryn forcefully shove her ferociously. It looked practically inhuman. It felt satisfying, but she approached him again, and I still had the urge to splinter her teeth. That's when I had an impeccable idea. I crammed myself between them and started kissing him, shoving her with my butt mercilessly. She got spun around by the force and fell straight on her face. When I broke away from Tryn to look at her she was sitting on the floor, jaw dropped open. She looked like a gaping fish. I heard Amy laughing and smiled I deviously at my win over that dusky harlot.

"I was just about to bulldoze her into the ground." She said, practically on the floor laughing.

I couldn't help but snicker. I turned to see where she was and saw her walking away like a penguin. I frowned and looked at Amy confused, asking her with a glance to fill me in on why we had a new aquatic animal.

"She broke her heel when you pushed her. It serves her right. Slut" Amy said.

I gaped at Amy's words. "Since when do you use such language?!" Amy is ordinarily such a goody-two-shoes.

"Since there's no better word to describe a girl like that," She said as she giggled louder.

"Are you two done yet?" I heard Tryn say.

I froze. I had never done something like that before. I didn't think of the consequences. I just knew I had to do something. I didn't think of how he would feel or react to me getting possessive and scaring off girls for him. I've never really been the jealous type, but recently, my emotions were all over the place. I always thought if a girl came along and snatched him away, I wouldn't be blindsided since he is so impeccably flawless and deserved way better than a ghoul like me. Come to think of it.. why did I react this way? I slowly lifted my gaze to him and made eye contact, not knowing what to expect. I saw a slight smirk on his face. As a result, I was flooded with relief.

"Jealousy looks good on you," he said, flashing me his whimsical smile.

He looked me dead in the eyes and I could feel my face turn red. He leaned in closer and the look in his eyes made me weak in the knees. I could practically feel my legs failing me, while butterflies erupted in my stomach. I got lost in his eyes so effortlessly. He had central heterochromia, which made his eyes look like the planet Earth. It started forest green in the core, and the hue of the emerald lake blue encircled it like the ocean. He has flawless velvet gold skin, shimmering baby soft coffee brown bedhead hair, and towered all the boys in our school. Despite not doing any sports, his body was sculpted like a Herculean Greek God.

Moreover, he had a sleek and sharp jawline. Girls were always confessing their adoration and love toward him. However, he always let them down with sincere words to try and do minimal heartache. He never wanted to leave anyone's heart in anguish and always felt guilty afterward. He was like a bird in a glass cage. Beautiful but easy to break.

I saw him cry countable times. But, truth be told, when I told him about Xander, that dreadful story brought us together. He found me on the school rooftop whimpering and sobbing sorrowfully. I told him about Xander, and he started to cry even though he didn't know us. He tried his best to console me, which led to a kiss. Then a date. Then our relationship. I feel guilty that something so devastating led to something so beautiful.

At first, I thought he only started dating me because he pitied me. I tried to break up with him over and over. I was insecure about our relationship and felt undeserving of someone so flawlessly perfect in every way possible. The gossip and bullies at school didn't help with those insecurities of mine. That was when he showed me that he was even more beautiful inside than outside. He never abandoned me and remained beside me when I had lost my motivation to live. He reassured me that he fell in love with me and wasn't with me because he pitied me. Rickety, gamine, and roly-poly (according to Marcus), me and I loved him for that. We've been together for over a year, and he's never been unfaithful. He's never lied about anything and we've never even had a real quarrel. When we did, I was the only one screaming, and he always apologized and replied in a serene, reassuring voice. I wouldn't call that arguing more like me just being an imbecile.

Lexy? .. Babe? Earth to Lexy?"

I snapped out of my daze to see Amy and Tryn looking at me with a frown. "Oh, sorry. I zoned out there for a bit." I looked at him and gave him a small smile.

"Are you okay? You had me worried there. Did that girl upset you?" He looked distressed. "I promise, Lexy, you're the only one."

I quickly interrupted him. I didn't want him to worry about me when I was perfectly fine.

"No, no. I don't care about her. I was lost in thought, that's all." He smiled, full of subtle charm. I found myself being smitten all over again.

"Are you ready for date night tonight?" his facial expression suddenly protruded a gleam of light.

I froze. I was such an incompetent girlfriend. I forgot about date night. Who would forget about date night with Tryn Callum? I'm a halfwit.

"You forgot again, didn't you?"

"N-no, I just.."

"Lexy, it's okay."

I looked at him up at him, eyes sparkling with intangible charm, genuinely trying to give him the best puppy eyes I could muster.

He started laughing heartily. "Don't worry. I noticed you've been absent-minded the past few days. So I rented us a movie and got us some snacks. Just bring yourself." I leaped into his arms and gave him an enormous hug. I am definitely the luckiest girl ever.

Now to get the information I need from him and be prepared if anything like this ever happens again with that dusky harlot.

"Tryn...Uhm. There's something I need to ask you," I said, too scared to look him in the face.

"Okay. That's my queue to leave. You guys have fun. I'll catch you later, Lexy", Amy said and gave me a fun-sized hug before walking off.

"Later, Amy. Be good," I said, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

"I should be saying that to you, miss eyebrows. You're the one with a boyfriend". She shouted as she was a distance away already.

I just giggled with a glimmering smile. Feeling thankful for her and the friendship we share.

"So, what is it you want to discuss?" Tryn asked me, leaning toward me.

I started massaging my temples. Can we go somewhere more private? I don't want to do this in the school hallway."

"ARE YOU GOING TO BREAK UP WITH ME?!" Tryn practically screamed.

"No! No! I need to talk about what happened yesterday.", I said.

He sighed, but I could see him trembling. "Okay, let's go out back."

We went to the back of the school, and, of course, the dusky harlot entered on our way out the school door. The last person I wanted to see right now.

"Hey there, Tryn," she said, touching his arm as she passed him.

"Please don't touch me ever again," Tryn hissed at her.

She just cackled and walked by.

What is her deal? He obviously didn't like her touching him. Stalker much?

We were standing under the tree when he came up to me and held both my hands. His body droopy and shoulders bowed." Babe? What's bothering you?"

"Tryn, firstly I want to say I didn't mean to scare you. I would never break up with you. It's just yesterday that dusky harlot made a scene with Amy and me", I told him and lifted my eyebrows.

"What?! What did she say? What did she do? Did she hurt you? An angry frown creased across his forehead. Then, he started lifting my arms vigorously, looking for bruises.

"No, she just bumped into me. I apologized, and then her friend whispered something in her ear. What I'm assuming is that I'm your girlfriend. She then told me how you dated before you moved here and that you had sex. She said you only broke up with her because you moved, and she followed you here." I said softly with tight lips and a sour expression. I never imagined myself being jealous of his ex-girlfriend, whom he obviously dislikes right now.

"Yesterday, when you texted me. Was it after you ran into her?" Tryn asked and gritted his teeth.

"Yes"

"I knew I should have ditched the principal. He only had me there because she told him she knew me and wanted me to show her around personally. I didn't, of course, but I didn't even know it was her when I was texting you. He just said a friend of mine transferred here. I would've never even been there if I knew it was her." Tryn said, running his hands through his hair.

"Who is she?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"The reason I transferred was because of her. I needed to get away from her. I was drunk one night. I'm pretty sure she put something in my drink. She took me upstairs, saying she had a place where I could rest and feel better. That was not the case. She started seducing me to the point where I felt like I wanted to do it. She took my virginity. I was saving it for my mate. I hate her for that. I wish I had never been to that wretched party. It was a stupid mistake." Tryn's voice started trembling, and he stopped speaking.

"Babe. I don't hold it against you. I can see she's that type. I don't understand why she followed you here?" I said, rubbing his arm.

"That's because she became completely obsessed with me after that night. She followed me around everywhere. Telling everyone we were dating, which wasn't the case. She even came to my house, met my parents, and introduced herself as my girlfriend. It started to freak me out. So I left. Without saying a word to anyone, no one would know where I was. I don't understand how she found me." He was seething with anger.

I leaned in and cupped his cheeks, making intense eye contact. "Babe, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You can count on me to take care of her for you. Don't you worry a little hair on your head," I said enthusiastically, letting go of his face. He seemed calmer now. I wasn't scared anymore. I was never afraid of her. I was scared she would try and steal Tryn, and he would fall for it. Now that I knew the truth, I felt the confidence of Apollo, one of the Greek gods himself, and my pulse raced with.. excitement?

"NO! .. no babe. Don't go near that girl. Please don't speak to her. Don't give her a reason to do anything to you. She is utterly dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I'm saying. She hurt a girl at our old school. Just because she was my science partner. The girl ended up in the ICU. It was terrible. She's extremely dangerous. So please, do not give her a reason to hurt you." Tryn pleaded.

"Babe. I'm dating you. That's reason enough for her to try and hurt me, but I'm honestly not scared of her. She can try. I want you to know. I won't go and look for her and make her hate me, but I cannot stand by when she tries, okay? I have to try and defend myself." I said, trying to reassure him.

"That is all I'm asking, babe. Just look after yourself. Don't get violent on my behalf." he sighed in relief that I understood what he expected of me.

"What was that thing you mentioned earlier? A mate? What does that mean?" I asked, unable to help myself from blushing a little bit.

"uhh hmm... It's like a soulmate. Yeah. That's what it is. It's how my family and I speak of the one you will belong to for the rest of your life. The one you are meant to be with for the rest of your life," he said, blushing and stammering.

"Oh. That's a nice way of saying soulmate, I guess. So the dusky harlot took that away from you, and your soulmate. That's heartbreaking. I'm happy I get to have time with you before you meet her, though," I said with a sincere smile.

"Dusky harlot?" He had a heartfelt belly laugh. Then, when he caught his breath, he asked, frowning and arms folded, "Meet who, babe?"

"Your mate"

He tittered. "You are my mate, babe. At least, that's what I think. Time will tell, though. I hope we get to stay together for the rest of our lives when that time comes."

I blushed nervously. "How do you know that? You sound so sure?"

"You'll see, babe. Let's leave it at that. Just know I will always love you. Soon enough, we will find out whether we're mates." He said with the brightest smile.