My bed is cold without him in it. I had gotten so used to sleeping with him that sleeping alone just feels so lonely and wrong.

Someone knocks on my door while i'm finishing my makeup. "Come in," I shout, and they open the door.

"Want a ride to school?" Santiago asks.

"No thanks. I feel like going myself today."

"Great. So we're leaving in five."

I put down my mascara. "Do any of you ever give people a choice?"

He just does a cute smile and closes the door.

"Water is water," Carlos shakes his head.

"It's not! Tap water is different from bottled water."

He keeps shaking his head. "Nope. How can water taste different?"

"I don't know but it does."

"Where are the bandages?" Alex asks after walking into the kitchen. I turn away from him and put my bottle of water into my bag.

"Dunno," Carlos replies.

"You're fuckin' helpful, aren't you?"

"Why you in a mood?"

"I'm not." Alex finally finds bandages in a cupboard and starts to wrap one around his hand. I watch him, wondering what happened, but I won't be the one to ask. Our eyes meet for a moment before I grab my bag and walk out the room.

"I can't deal," Val moans, his head lying on Yasmin's shoulder in the back of Santiago's car.

"That's whatcha get for getting so high last night." Yasmin tells him.

"Tiago, got any pain killers?"

"Shut up," he says, his jaw tensing.

"I'm serious I need one."

"How was last night, Amelia?" Santiago asks, changing the subject and Val just moans.

"Fine."

"That's exactly what Alex said."

I scoff and Santiago raises an eyebrow. "We got into a fight – its not important."

"What happened?"

"He took his anger out on me."

"Mmm, he does that."

For the first three classes i'm just thinking of Alex; about how angry I am at him. I can't believe what he said last night. As if it's my fault that Bradley took that picture, when I didn't even know he had. Ugh, what a dick.

I'm walking down the corridor so deep in thought about how angry I am that I barely notice the girl taking the lid off of her coffee, a evil smirk on her face and jerking the contents of the cup towards me, but Alex jumps in front of me before it hits me.

"Ohmigod i'm so so sorry, Alex!" The girls face is terrified and she starts to wipe his soaked t-shirt, but he pushes her hand away. Everyone in the corridor stops and stares at the scene.

"Why were you trying to do that to her?" He questions, his voice harsh and the girl cowers.

"I- it was an accident."

"It didn't look like one. Leave her the hell alone."

The girl nods and scurries away and Alex turns to me. I touch his t-shirt, the brown stain on it hot on my hand. It must have burned him.

"Did you bring another shirt for P.E or something?"

He nods. "Did any of it get you?"

"No."

"Aren't you gonna thank me? I kinda took a bullet for you."

"A bullet that was only aimed at me because of you," I cock a brow, folding my arms and he snorts, looking away. "Are you not gonna apologise for last night?"

"Are you?"

"I don't need to."

"Then neither do I."

"I knew it! I knew there was pettiness going on in this corridor. I smelt it from a mile away," Val says, walking to us with Max.

"Ooh, what happened?" Max asks, looking at Alex's shirt.

"I did something nice for Amelia. But I kind of regret it now."

"Wow, thanks. So you wish you'd just let her soak me with her shitty coffee which she only tried to do because i'm dating you?"

"Eek," Val grimaces. "I don't think you should have said that, Alex."

The bell rings just as Alex opens his mouth to say something. "I gotta go," I say and walk away.

When that period is over, I head to my locker to put my books away that I don't need. I pass Alex on the way there as he's leaning against the wall with Jace, and we look at each other as I pass. The moment I open my locker, about forty sheets of paper fall out, scattering on the floor around me. I manage to catch one before it falls, and see it's the picture of Bradley and I. My heart stops.

Other people pick them up, the students bursting into laughter, and my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. I get down on my knees, grabbing as many as I can and crinkling them up into balls while everyone continues to laugh. Who'd do this? Wasn't the text enough? Maybe it was just a couple of girls who hate me for simply the crime of dating Alex.

"What a slut," I hear a couple of people say. "No wonder Alex likes her."

Feet stop in front of me, and my eyes follow up his tall body until I reach Alex's vexed face, looking down at the pictures on the floor. He turns around, looking at each person there laughing, and every time his glare gets focussed on a person, they are silenced, all amusement from their face vanishing.

"Which pathetic little brat did this?" He snarls. "One of you better tell me right now or so help me God-"

"Alex," Santiago warns, coming towards the scene. "How about you calm down a little before making threats?" He gets down beside me, picking up the paper.

"Calm down? How can I calm down when this place is full of lowlife bullies!" He walks over to the lockers, using the hand that doesn't have a bandage to punch a locker with so much force that all of the lockers shake and people flinch.

When Alex looks down at his hand, the pain is obvious on his face. Santiago lets out a big sigh. "Bring that trash can over here."

Alex gives him a look before doing it, and Santiago and I put the paper into it. The people around us walk away and all the pictures are gone. 'Tiago looks at a girl standing far up in the corridor and says bye to us, going in her direction and they both disappear around the corner.

"Did you hurt your other hand from punching something too?"

Alex looks down at his two screwed up hands. "Yeah."

"One day they are gonna fall off."

He doesn't react or say anything back to me – he just looks at me with a straight face.

"Got something to say? Are you gonna blame me for these pictures coming out of my locker too since it's all my fault for having sex with my boyfriend at the time?"

"I shouldn't have said that, okay? I'm sorry."

"You still think it though."

"I think the guys an asshole and you must have been mad stupid at the time to not see that but whatever, you see it now."

I narrow my eyes and push his chest but he doesn't move. "At the time he wasn't an asshole to me. Well, sometimes he was but I let him because I don't know why!" I take a breath. "I already regret it so much it makes me sick thinking about it and I don't need you to make it worse."

His face softens. "Okay, I get it. It just annoys me to think of you with another dude, never mind see it."

I shove his chest again. "You didn't have to make me feel like shit because of your issues."

He takes my hand that I used to push him and pulls me closer. "I don't have issues. You just come with problems that fuck me up."

"You're fucked up all on your own." I pull my hand away and push him again.

"Stop it," he laughs, taking both of my hands. "You annoyance."

"Stop being mean." I try to pull my hands away but he holds them tight so I just push forward on him.

"Okay, I'll just keep my thoughts on how annoying you are to myself next time."

I roll my eyes and try harder to pull my hands from his. "Let go, Alex."

Suddenly he's pulling me against him, and my lips meet his. I kiss back despite being annoyed at him and the people hanging around in the corridor go quiet, making me pull away. They're looking at us, a group of three girls looking at me like they could run over and kill me.

"I'm just teasing you," Alex says, putting a hand on my cheek. "I love you too."

My eyes widen. Oh my crapping shit. We hadn't even talked about what I said when I was drunk, and I had hoped he'd just forgotten. I wrap my arms around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder.

"You mean it?"

"Yes," he assures. "You're my life."

"Look, it's blowjob girl," a girl says when I exit the school. Her friends laugh and Val comes out behind them.

"Look, it's basic white chick with the fake designer clothes," he mocks her smile.

She glares at him. "Gross, get away from me,

cokehead."

"With pleasure," he smiles cheerfully and walks right through her and her friends. Once his back his turned to them and they can't see his face, his smile drops.

"Thanks for that," I say as we walk through the parking lot.

"It's cool. I hate mean people like that," he smiles again but the moment his head is turned back to the front, it drops instantly. I wonder if all of his smiles are fake, and how i've not noticed this before.

"That's all they are; just mean. Ignore what they say, Val."

"I know," he nods.

"How was school, honey?" Isabella asks when Alex and I walk in the front door. She reaches up and kisses his cheek and I smile at the adorable sight.

"Fine," is all he responds with and throws himself down on the couch.

"How are you, Amelia?"

"I'm good, thanks. Did you have a good day?"

"Ugh, it was amazing. I actually had time to do nothing!" She smiles and I laugh, then she goes to the kitchen to make dinner, and I walk to the couches and straddle Alex's lap.

"You're eager," he raises an eyebrow, putting down the tv remote. His eyes skim over my thighs and he runs his fingers through his hair.

"Just making up for lost time." I put my hand on the back of his neck, drawing circles on his skin and kiss him. He shivers, pulling away from the kiss, and takes my hand away from his neck. "What? Are you too sensitive there?" I smirk, placing my lips on his neck and sucking and kissing. He moans and grips my thighs, his fingertips pressing into my skin.

"Amelia," he whispers in a husky voice when my hand runs over his bulge.

"Oh shickle pickles," Val says from across the room. I take my lips from Alex's neck and look at him and Santiago standing at the front door. "Pornhub is shook."

Santiago snorts and heads for the stairs, but Val walks over and sits on the couch. As soon as I get up from Alex's lap, he grabs a pillow and puts it over his crotch.

"Is that pillow special to you, bro?" Val asks sarcastically. "You just want to keep it close at all times as moral support?"

"Shut up."

"I'm gonna go see if your Mom needs help," I announce.

"Oooh. Starting something you ain't gonna finish, Meels? That's harsh."

"True," Alex says.

I flip them off behind my back while walking away, trying not to get pissed off by Alex saying something in spanish probably about me.

+++

sorry i didn't update yesterday i've not had as much time to write bc school :(

teaser: valentino gets very angry at a few of his brothers, and amelia gives alex a hard time.

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