Capítulo 8: Chapter 7

XEROS WAITED FOR ME OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM.

He had an almost nervous expression on his face as he tapped his foot impatiently. His face had an unusual frown on it, his brows furrowing heavily. His dark eyes were unfocused as he stared straight ahead, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

I stopped, hesitating as I watched him. The feeling of guilt wrapped around me tightly, squeezing my heart. The memory of me snapping at him in the car flashed through my mind and I heaved a sigh. I was never mad at Xeros. I knew he was only trying to help me...So why did I act so ungrateful?

I went to take a step forward, but stopped mid-way when my gaze locked on a particular girl. Melis, the 'chipmunk voice' girl, approached Xeros with a flirty face. She twirled her dark hair around her finger, tilting her head sideways. I watched silently from afar Xeros shot her a disinterested look, leaning back as she took a step closer. I gritted my teeth in annoyance. There seemed to be about an inch of a distance between the two. My eyes widened as she placed a hand on his chest, trailing a finger down his shirt.

Xeros didn't seem to want to move away, despite his somewhat irritated facial expression. My heart clenched as she leaned even closer, placing her lips right beside his ear as she whispered something. Tactfully, she turned her head, locking eyes with me. I froze as she sent me a subtle wink, a manipulative smirk playing on her lips.

She leaned away, blowing him a kiss as she began to walk away. Swaying her hips side to side, she strutted down the hallway, a confident look on her face. I not-so-subtly glared at her from where I was standing. What had she whispered to him? Why did she have to be so close to him?

Waiting till she turned the corner, I approached Xeros with a hesitant smile. He lifted his head as I came to a stop in front of him.

"Hey..." I muttered, shooting him an awkward smile. I couldn't seem to forget how badly I had treated him yesterday.

"Isla," He said in surprise. Pushing himself off the wall, he leaned closer to me. "I didn't think you would be in today."

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, a sharpness in my tone. Xeros raised his brows, but didn't comment.

"No reason, I just thought you'd take the day off -"

"Why would I take the day off?" I scoffed. "Do you think I'm that weak?"

He shot me a dumbfounded look. "What?"

"Did you think I'd need the day off because of yesterday?" I snapped.

He raised his hands in defense. "Isla," He enunciated slowly, "I just said that because, well, yesterday was a lot to handle, emotionally."

I bit my tongue as I went to snap at him again. Why was I being horrid to him? Just seeing Melis go near him made my blood boil. I knew technically we were just friends, and that I had no say in who he could talk to...But I still wanted him to push her away, regardless.

"I was waiting for you," He explained, "I wasn't sure if you were coming in but I thought I'd wait and see anyway." He shot me a cute grin, showcasing his dimples. Immediately, I felt awful and began to apologize.

"I-I'm sorry Xeros, I don't know why I'm being such...Well a bitch these days. I guess I just have a lot going on at home and I know that's not an excuse for my behavior, -"

"Isla," he interrupted me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. He gave me a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about it. We all have our bad days."

"But -"

"Besides," He cut me off, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I know you're not normally like this so I presumed it was something else that was stressing you out."

"I..."

My voice trailed off. Why was he so understanding of everything? Why did he never get frustrated with me?

"Now come on, let's get into class," His eyes nervously slid down the hallway. "There's no point standing here."

I looked down at my watch with a frown, "Well, it's only ten to -"

"So?" He rushed out, looking at something over my shoulder. His eyes narrowed heavily on something, a look of almost irritation passing through them.

"What are you looking at?" I turned to look behind me, but in panic, he latched his arms around my shoulders dragging me close. I let out an oomph as I crashed into his chest clumsily. My hands and nose were squashed uncomfortably, while his hands rested around me.

"W-What are you d-doing?" I stuttered, redness crawling up my neck.

"Nothing!" He exclaimed innocently, tightening his hold as I went to break free. "I-I'm just giving my friend a hug."

"Well, you know, my nose is being squashed. So, if you could, you know, move back a little so I could breathe..." I trailed off sheepishly.

In a fast motion, he pulled back but looped his arm around my shoulders, tugging me to his side. My hair fell in my face, luckily blocking the extreme redness I was sure was visible on my cheeks. I shyly glanced at him.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Shrugging, he quickly dragged me inside the classroom. I tried to look over my shoulder at what had made him act this way but he slammed the door shut behind him. He rushed over to our seats, finally removing his arm from around me. I stumbled back a little as I stared at him. I noticed his own cheeks had a small pink tint to them. He lifted his hand to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Sorry about that," He falsely laughed. "I hope you didn't mind, um..."

I defiantly shook my head, "No! No, I definitely didn't mind - wait well...No, I mean, not that I liked it. W-What I'm trying to say is..." I trailed off with a heavy sigh. "I don't know what I'm trying to say."

He cracked a smile, the corners of his lips tugging upwards in a cute grin. "Strangely enough, I think I get what you're trying to say."

I shook my head in embarrassment. "You're probably the only person who would with all my mumble jumble."

The classroom door flew open as he opened his mouth to reply. We looked over at the few students that came in. They seemed to falter when they saw us, sharing secret smiles with one another. Xeros' face dropped in a second. He pulled out my seat, urging me to sit down.

"Hey, I'll be back in a minute, I just have to sort something -"

"Isla!"

Melis' high-pitched, squeaky voice came from the door. Xeros and I both shared an exasperated look as she strutted inside confidently. In her hand, she was clutching a stack of loose papers with something printed on it.

"Melis," I greeted, a fake smile on my face. "What are you doing here? You're not in this class."

She threw her head back, a tinkling laugh escaping her. Her cold eyes narrowed on me, a smirk on her painted lips. "Well, I just wanted to drop in and say how sorry I feel for you."

My face scrunched in confusion when the other students giggled behind her. Xeros took a step forward.

"Melis." He growled in a threatening tone.

"For what?" I asked her, ignoring Xeros' panicked look.

Melis fake gasped, her painted nails covering her mouth in shock. She widened her doe-like eyes at me innocently. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" I snapped in irritation. "If you have something to say, just say it! Stop beating around the bush."

Melis side-stepped Xeros, shooting him a triumphant look. She tossed the loose sheets she was holding on the table. Xeros went to grab them away from me but I slapped his hand away.

"Isla, don't read those..."

I ignored him, picking one up. I flipped the page around, my eyes immediately drawn to the bold title.

'ISLA LEIGHTON'S SECRET REAL LIFE'

My heart sunk in my chest as I looked at the photographs that were taken of me, my home and my family. There were a few of my Father and I arguing in the middle of the street. There were a few of when my Father was drunk down at the local bar, and of my Mother partying out at nightclubs.

My eyes trailed over the small paragraph on the bottom of the page.

The truth about seventeen-year-old Isla Leighton might shock you. While we all thought she was the quiet girl in the back of our classes, there's much more to her than first glance. Living on the dangerous Abbyfield Street, it seems her Father has severe issues with alcohol while her Mother acts like a teenager, going out to clubs on the nightly...

I pulled my eyes away, unable to keep reading. A lump formed in my throat. Why would anyone have gone to all this trouble to do this? When had they taken all these pictures? My skin crawled as I pictured them secretly hiding outside my house.

"Someone seemed to have put these all over the school," Melis said in a sad tone. "I just came in to say how sorry -"

"You think I want your sorry?" I muttered, lifting my head to look at her. Despite the tears that burned my eyes, I didn't lower my gaze. "After all, you're the one who probably put them up -"

Melis gasped, resting a hand on her chest in shock. "Isla! I would never do something like that to you!" She sniffled, wiping a non-existent tear from her eye. "I'm hurt you would think that lowly of me."

Xeros snatched the papers off my desk and dumped them into the trash furiously. His face was a mixture of red and purple, the veins in his neck popping out.

"That's enough!" He slammed the palm of his hand down on the table. We all jumped at the sudden volume of his voice. He shot Melis a deadly glare that had her shrinking away in fear.

"You're going to go out there and take down every single fucking poster you put up," He commanded, pointing towards the door. "And then you're going to apologize to Isla -"

Melis scoffed, her features scrunching up in disgust. "Why on earth would I apologize to that freak?"

Xeros breathed harshly through his nose. "You don't want to?" He asked innocently, but we could all hear the underlying anger.

"N-No," Melis stuttered, trying to appear calm. "I don't have to. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Okay," He said. Pulling out a brown envelope from his bag, he threw it at her. "You don't want to do as I said? Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I shared this with the entire school."

We watched as Melis picked up the envelope with shaky hands, slipping out the piece of paper inside. Her eyes widened in panic and shock as she quickly shoved it back inside.

"W-Where did you get this?" She asked shakily.

Xeros smirked cockily at her. "Does it matter? I have it."

She turned her gaze to me for a moment, a look of sheer hatred in her eyes. Curiosity peaked inside of me as I wondered what was in there for her to be this scared.

"Fine." She growled, surprising everyone. "I'll take them down."

Xeros nodded, a victorious smile on his face. "That's what I thought."

She crumpled the envelope in her hands, as she stormed out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her loudly. We all remained in silence, wondering what had just happened. The other students warily glanced at one another in confusion.

I turned to Xeros with a speechless expression. "How - What? Why?"

He chuckled, his eyebrow piercing glinting under the light. "That was fun."

I blinked at him in confusion. "I'm struggling to comprehend what just happened."

Xeros shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly. "There's not much to understand. It was about time someone put her in her place."

"What the hell did you show her?" I quizzed, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

He smirked, pulling an imaginary zipper across his lips. "I can't tell you."

"Seriously?" I groaned, my shoulders deflating. I heaved a disappointed sigh. "Fine, I guess you can keep this to yourself."

The playful look dropped on his face for a moment. "So, you okay?"

"It seems like every day there's some shit that someone's trying to pull on me," I rolled my eyes. "I can never get a break from these people."

"They're just jealous." Xeros informed me, a serious look on his face.

"Jealous?" I scoffed. "Of what?"

"If you could see yourself from my point of view, you'd understand completely." He muttered.

I shook my head. "Stop being dramatic -"

"Dramatic?" He echoed. He shook his head. "No. You don't see how everyone looks at you, how I look at you. You know the only reason people like them do things like this," He quietly whispered, "Is because your present and future appears to be so much better than theirs."

"So, you're saying Melis is jealous of me?" I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

He closed his eyes, leaning his head back. "Don't be so quick to judge someone, Isla. You know that yourself; not everything is as perfect as people like to pretend it is."

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