A Cupid's Guide To Fake Dating

Chapter 5

I TOOK A LARGE scoup out of my ice-cream, unconsciously tapping my feet against the white marble floor of the cafeteria room. My mind roamed around in endless thoughts.

How had Austin known? Was he with my diary? Or had someone found it and then told him? This wasn't good. If the whole school found out I was cupid, they would never let it rest down. I had to get my diary back.

'-cupid down.'

'What?' I snapped back to reality to see Maria and Jay watching me cautiously. 'What did you say?' Had he said cupid?

'I said you're going to bring the whole school down with your feet tapping.' Jay rolled his green eyes. He liked doing that. 'You've been doing that for five minutes now.'

I stopped, placing my spoon on the table. 'Sorry,'

'By the way, why did you miss English class?' Maria asked.

'I woke up late. Plus I forgot my essay-'

'Elena coming late to school is like me tripping on my own foot.' Jay interjected earning a soft giggle from Maria and a glare from me.

'It's not like you did yours.' I accused.

'Oh, I did. I met up with Maria yesterday.'

Told you he was a sly bag.

I was about to say something else when my attention was captured. The Rebels. They walked into the cafeteria like they owned it. I noticed Lay and Andre wasn't with them.

'I heard Mr Keith would be taking them for this session.' Maria said.

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'They are on a suspension program,' Jay said, licking his passion fruit yogurt. 'Totally messed up dudes.'

So, that was what that class was for. It wasn't a surprise to hear that. They were always getting into trouble. Constantly skipping classes, swearing at a teacher, fighting, low grades. You name it and they were there.

I stared at them, watching as they scanned the cafeteria room as though they were searching for someone. Then Austin's eyes caught mine. It was starting to get weird how we always caught ourselves staring at each other. I didn't like it.

'Whoa, is it me? Or does it look like Austin is heading this way?' Maria asked blissfully.

'Are you being serious?'

She nodded, and I saw that infact, he was heading this way.

Groaning, I sunk into my chair, hoping he would just walk past us. However, it was a wishful thinking. A shadow stopped in front of our table, and then a pale hand slammed down on the blue table and my eyes followed it back up to the face of Austin Garcia. His other hand was in his pocket, and a smile was plastered on his lips. I could see why most girls fawned over him. Austin was indeed very eye-catching to look at. That, I would admit.

'You know, it's rude to stare.' He started.

'I wasn't staring.' I mumbled.

'It's rude to also reply back when someone is admonishing you.'

That struck a nerve. 'Rude my ass! Why don't you - ow!' I glared at Maria. She had pinched me.

'Forgive my friend,' She said, glaring at me, obviously shocked as to why he was here. 'She has anger issues.' Wow, Maria. Really?

A smirk appeared on his lips, his eyes still on me. ‘Are you busy?’

This was like the first ever conversation Austin and I were having. I couldn't say I was pleased about it. ‘Yes I am,’ I bit out, putting up an agitated look. ‘As you can see.’

‘What class you having next?’

I stared at Maria and Jay for a moment and then up at Austin again. ‘Music, why?’

‘You're skipping sixth period, come with me.’ Grabbing my hand, he pulled me out of my seat and began to drag me along. What the hell? In resistance, I held unto the edge of the table.

‘Stop resisting!’ He said.

‘Let me go!’

He didn't let go. Instead he continued to pull.

‘Hey, let her go!’ Jay was standing between the both of us. ‘She has no business with you.’

Austin barked a short laugh. ‘Oh yeah she does. After what happened yesterday, I think she owes us a small chat.’

‘She owes you nothing!’ Jay said, looking ready to pick a fight. Our little scene was already starting to garner the attention of everyone in the room. Not wanting that to happen, I placed a hand on Jay's shoulder.

‘It's fine,’ he faced me. ‘Now that I think about it, I ran into them yesterday.’ I could use this opportunity to ask if he was with my journal.

Maria sent me a look. ‘You ran into them?’

‘Long story,’ I said as I kept my gaze fixed on Austin. ‘I'll be fine guys.’ Not resisting anymore, I followed Austin out the cafeteria room. As I followed Austin and his other friend, Martins, I noticed they were taking the hallway void of any teacher. They took a stairway that led to the higher part of the building and I looked around curiously. As a junior, most of my classes were always on the second or first floor. I'd never gone up to the fourth floor before.

Our walk was silent as we took another stairway that led to the fifth floor. I assumed the next stairway would take us to the rooftop. Was that were they were heading to? The fifth floor was darker than the rest. The classrooms were deserted, the windows dusty and packed with thick cobwebs. Piles of boxes and disconnected chairs laid about. It smelled strangely like an unused basement.

The guys stopped in front of a rusty door and Austin pulled down the handle. Before we walked in though, he closed the door, leaned against it and faced me.

‘This is our secret hideout.’

Figured as much.

‘Which means no one gets to know about it, got it?’

He was threatening me now. Sighing, I folded my arms together. He wasn't going to intimidate me. ‘You think I have time to tell anyone about you. I'm quite the busy person.’

He snickered. ‘Of course you are,’

My brows furrowed. I didn't like his tone. It almost sounded like he knew something about me.

Then he pulled down the handle again and opened the door. The inside was a normal classroom. The walls matched the cafeteria floor, the decors the same as the outside hallway; bleak, old and a bit dusty.

‘You guys call this a hide out?’ I asked.

‘Pretty cool huh?’ The voice beside me made me jump. It was the first time I heard Martins speak. I heard a low bark and a scream erupted from my lips. A dog, almost the size of donkey, came out from one of the tables and ran into Martins' arms.

‘Hiya, Woofy. Did you miss me?’

The dog barked in response, licking his owner's face.

‘So you guys really have a dog.’ I whispered.

‘Martins has a dog, not us.’ Clarified the lazy voice of my brother. I wanted to yell at him if he knew how badly Austin had mishandled me downstairs but decided against it. Knowing what their intentions were was first and foremost. As if reading my mind, Lay gave me one of his rare soft smiles. ‘Not to worry about it Elena, they won't hurt you. I'm here.’

Yay to big bros! I should have been assured but these guys were bad news. What if they were keeping my brother hostage and forcing him to say all those words?

Before I could say anything else, Woofy ran up to me, panting eagerly. I forced a smile.

‘I think he likes you,’ Martins said, watching us.

I bent down and rubbed my hand against its fluffy ears. ‘Hi there,’ It barked again, its own way of greeting me. I laughed. ‘He is so lively,’ I commented.

As I continued to play with the dog, I didn't know the guys were watching me almost curiously as though playing with their furry friend was a special show. Finally noticing their stares, I looked up at them. ‘What?’

‘It's weird to see Woofy play with anyone apart from us,’ Ethan said, staring at us. ‘The mutt even hates my guts.’

‘Aww, he's just being friendly.’ I cooed, rubbing my face against his. 'Isn't that right?' I played with his fluffy ears, roughing it with my hands.

Woofy's playing didn't cease.

‘Alright, that's enough!’ Austin's voice boomed, spoiling the almost fun mood. ‘We aren't here to entertain a guest.’ I stood up as Martins called for Woofy. And then silence broke out in the room. I suddenly felt like a prey who had mistakenly wandered into the lair of dangerous predators, as their alpha Austin circled me, inspecting me. ‘Bet you wondering why you are here?’

‘Yeah,’ I said.

‘As you might recall, you came into our park yesterday and crashed into Ethan.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Do you deny thus far?’ Austin was still slowly circling me.

‘It was an accident.’ I admitted. I didn't get it. Were they mad at me for stumbling into their private skate park and bumping into one of them? Or were they just messing with me?

‘Yeah, but your little accident cost us the park.’

‘It did?’ I asked in astonishment. ‘I thought your friend Andre owned the park.’

‘Yeah,’ said owner groaned, raking a hand through his neat midnight curls. ‘I owned it.’

‘Andre's father was going to gift him that skate park if he behaved. But you wandered into it yesterday and coincidentally, his father had someone watching. The old man thought you went there daily.’ Austin continued.

I couldn't believe it. So now they were pinning this on me? I was the one who got crashed into. ‘So, it’s my fault you guys-’

‘I'm not done yet.’ Austin cut me off firmly and I shot Lay a look. Was he just going to watch this guy talk to me like this? He returned my gaze, telling me to just bare with it.

Austin came to a stop in front of me, his body mere inches away from mine. It was obvious he didn’t like me either and I was happy knowing that feeling was mutual. ‘Because of your little accident, we have been banned from the park and so can’t compete in the coming competition.’

‘How is that-’I started to stay but the sharp look Austin threw at me made me quiet down. Why the hell was he so angry?

‘What he’s trying to say,’ My brother began, walking towards Austin was and somehow easing the tension. ‘We were all planning on entering a competition so we could get the prize money.’

‘But now you can’t.’ I reasoned. Just great. That’s why they wanted me here; to pay for their misfortune. I stared at Lay. ‘Why do you need the money though?’

‘He doesn’t,’ Ethan shrugged, more calm and chipper about the whole situation that everyone else was in the room and he was the one I had bumped into. ‘He’s just in for the fun. So is Andre. But Martins, Austin and I all do.’

‘And since my father is someone so hard to please, getting the park back doesn’t seem possible.’ Andre sighed.

‘Okay, I get it,’ I raised my hand in surrender. ‘I’m sorry. It’s my fault all these happened. Are we cool now?’

‘Not quite,’ Austin smirked. ‘We already had a talk with your brother and he agreed on it.’

‘Agreed on what?’

‘You will be entering the competition for us.’

‘What? No!’

‘Actually,’ Lay spoke up. ‘It is partially your fault we were banned. It’s only right you compensate us. Ethan can’t enter and neither can we.’

Sometimes I wondered how Lay and I turned out to be siblings. It could be he wasn’t even my real brother to begin with. Maybe mom found him somewhere, in an abandoned dumpster or something, and just picked him up. Because what kind of brother sold out his younger sister?

‘I can’t believe this.’ I sighed. ‘I’m not doing it.’

‘Can I threaten her more?’ Austin asked looking like he really was going to take up to that statement. I retained a strong will appearance and noticed Lay was about to intervene but then he shook his head and stepped back. Guess Austin's attitude was a common thing for them. ‘Listen, I’m not usually the type to be rude to girls but I swear I will make your life a living hell if we don't get that prize money.’

In my attempt to mask my intimidated nature, I scoffed silently and tried to match his threat. ‘Oh yeah, with what?’

I really shouldn’t have asked. He leaned forward, his obsidian eyes glaring down at me and suddenly it felt like we were the only ones in the room. Yes, he was bigger, taller and much stronger than I was and I didn’t doubt for a second he could do the things he said he would.

‘You know Pierce,’ he whispered into my ear. It would have been a sweet scene if anyone saw us, but when you listened, it was obvious he wasn’t trying to be sweet. If anything, the dislike for me was more vivid. I hated him for reasons known to me; I wonder why he hated me. ‘A little birdie told me of your so-called secret identity. Wouldn’t it be fun to let the whole school know who their cupid is?’

He straightened up and smiled. I was suddenly shaking from fear or anger, I wasn’t sure. And from the confused looks on the others, I doubted they heard what he said.

‘You have my journal.’ It was a statement not a question. I got my answer anyway.

‘Bingo.’