Throughout that class, I watched as the entire time she would look up nervously and every single time, he'd be staring at her. I was confused. Very confused. I had no idea that he was her ex-boyfriend, I also had no idea why he was stupid enough to come back here after what had happened the last time.

Something clearly happened between them, otherwise, they wouldn't have broken up.

I wasn't going to ask her. It wasn't my business and I wasn't going to be nosy. If she wanted to tell me, she could. The bell rang and she began packing her things rapidly. Clearly, she wanted to leave first so she could avoid him.

"Alex." I grabbed her wrist, causing her to halt. "It's okay, I'll walk with you. Just don't panic," I said, keeping my voice low. She nodded slowly before packing up her things while I did the same and then we left. "You okay?" I asked. I didn't even have the next class with her, but here I am.

"I'm fine," she lied, "I just don't understand why he's back, you know? And what was that? Why would he pick me as a partner? I just don't get it," she huffed while linking her arm with mine, probably out of habit since most of the times that we've hung out, we've been walking with linked arms.

"I can find out," I shrugged.

"Please don't, I don't want any trouble. I'll handle it if he says anything, I think," she mumbled the last bit to herself but I heard it loud and clear.

"Just let me know if I can help. That's what friends do," I smirked.

"Of course," she chuckled. "Wait." She abruptly stopped walking. "You don't have this class with me," she pointed out.

"No, I have a free period," I lied.

Her eyebrows furrowed while she thought about it. "Don't you have gym class? I'm pretty sure you have lacrosse right now," she said.

"Nope," I lied again and continued walking with her.

"Yes, you do. You have lacrosse when I have creative writing."

"Why do you know that?" I smirked.

She stayed quiet before answering, "I don't know. But you have lacrosse. Shouldn't you be at the boys' locker room right now?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I'll walk you and then I'll sprint, okay?" I laughed as her classroom approached.

"Okay, well. Now sprint." She folded her arms across her chest and stood in front of the door.

"Really?" I deadpanned.

"Really," she shrugged. I shook my head with a smile before starting to jog towards the staircase. "Sprint!" she called out.

I laughed before sprinting to and down the stairs, rushing to the locker room. If it wasn't lacrosse I would have taken a stroll. I got in there and quickly took off my shirt and jeans, exchanging them with the jersey and shorts before grabbing the equipment and going to the field where the rest of the guys were sitting around.

"The captain is late today, guys. Looks like someone has something more important to take care of," Connor teased.

I rolled my eyes and threw his gloves at his face before everyone got up and started warming up.

◆:*:◇:*:◆:*:◇:*:◆

I panted as we all collapsed on the ground.

"Holy shit, Carter. You have to take it down a notch. This is too much for this heat, and especially just for gym class. This isn't even practice," Jamie whined.

"Well then, make it practice. Coach isn't here, and until he is, I'm in charge. While I'm in charge, we practice in gym class too, got it?" I huffed while standing up as the bell rang.

All gym students had free periods after their class as per the team's request. Everyone wants more time to change and shower so the request was granted.

I threw my shirt off while chugging water before pouring it on my head to cool myself down a little. I sat down on the grass, resting my elbows on my knees while catching my breath. Some other students also had a free period in this slot, so some students were roaming around the campus.

"Carter," Connor said. I turned to him in anticipation. "Three o'clock, my friend. Someone might need your help," he huffed, squinting at the sunlight while looking to my right.

I looked over, also squinting, and saw Alex walking around. From the looks of it, she had her earphones in and had no idea that Hudson was behind her, trying to approach her.

"She said she'll handle it," I shrugged.

"Who are you kidding? Go," he waved me off.

I stood up and jogged over, calling her name to get her attention before he could. "Alex!" I yelled. She stopped and pulled her earphones out before looking around in confusion. "Over here!"

She saw me and grinned before beginning to walk over. "Hey," she smiled.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked.

"Oh, I have a free period. I thought I would go to the cafe and get some tea, you wanna come?" she offered.

"Yeah, we can-"

"Alexandria."

She didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. As for me, I could see his stupid face. She turned around begrudgingly and waited for him to say something.

"Come with me, I want to talk to you," he demanded.

"I don't, sorry," she shrugged before turning back to me, "You were saying?"

I bit back a laugh and continued. "I was saying, yeah, we can leave in five minutes. Just let me shower," I said.

"I said, I want to talk to you," he said through gritted teeth while grabbing her wrist and spinning her around to face him.

"What is wrong with you?" she snapped, pulling her wrist away.

"What are you doing, Hudson? Just leave her alone," I said while taking a step forward so I stood beside her.

"Oh, of course. Carter Reed. Look, this is between her and me. Just stay out of this," he rolled his eyes.

"I can't," I shrugged.

"Why is that?" he spat.

"She's important to me. And she told you she doesn't want to talk. So leave her alone." It was really hard to keep my cool and not punch him straight in the face.

"Alexandria, I said I-" he took a step closer to her and she instinctively took one back.

I stepped in between and stood there firmly. "I said leave her alone. Get the fuck out of here."

"What are you gonna do, Reed? The season is coming up, you can't afford to get in trouble. No season for you, no games either. You'll be benched," he taunted.

"It's worth it if I get to do what I did last time. And oh wait, I didn't even get benched. What are you here for, huh?" I asked.

"I don't want any trouble," he put his hands up, mocking surrender, "I just want revenge. If you will," he sneered before sauntering off.

"Fuck face," I rolled my eyes while turning to face her, "Just ignore him. He's not going to do anything. Especially since he just got here."

"Which doesn't make any sense. Why would he join so late? It's August. He's up to something," she said suspiciously.

"Do you have anywhere you can wait while I clean up?" I asked.

"I walked so, not really," she shrugged.

"Okay, how about you just go to the cafe and I can meet you there. Okay?"

She nodded in response before leaving and I rushed back to shower. I changed back into my clothes and was walking out when I cursed under my breath upon the sigh of Abby standing outside the boys' locker room.

"Connor."

"Yeah?"

"Help me climb out of the bathroom window, I'll pay you ten bucks."

"Piss off," he chuckled.

I flipped him off before walking out and trying to walk past her but she began following me.

"Carter, what was that?" she whined.

"What was what?" I asked while picking up my pace.

"In English. Why didn't you pick me as your partner?" she almost growled. It was scary.

"Because I didn't want to. It was one night, Abby. And you came to me. Forget about it. I don't date anyway," I explained. I just wouldn't date her. But I wasn't a dick so I wasn't going to say that to her face.

"I don't care. You can make an exception. You know you want to," she blocked my way.

I sighed, "I really don't. I told you when you came to me that it was only going to be one time. So please do us both a favor and fuck off." I tried walking past her but she was not going to budge.

"I'm not letting you leave until you tell me why you won't date me," she folded her arms across her chest.

This is going to take a while.

"Because I don't want to," I replied.

"That's not a valid reason," she snarled.

That's not a valid reason? Is she being serious right now?

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Chapter twelve

I hate writing characters like Abby because it is not realistic whatsoever. I mean I think. I've never seen a person like that. But whatever, it's the world of fiction, roll with it. No slut-shaming.

You're toxic I'm slipping under, taste of your poison paradise, I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic?

Are those the words? I don't even know