Chapter 15: Chapter 15

XV

The next day I don't speak to Axel, nor do I try. I catch him looking at me a few times, mostly during lunch and Biology where I still have to sit with him. There is a one weird time during the day when I'm walking down the hallway towards my next class, alone because I had to go pee and he appears on the other side, walking in the opposite direction towards me. He halters when he's close and opens his mouth like he's going to say something, but then he quickly closes it and walks away.

I do see Theo though, and when I meet him in the morning I happily hug him. We have really bonded yesterday by the stream and I can see us becoming great friends. The rest of the week goes by casually. On Wednesday I notice that Axel has gotten a piercing on the corner of his lip. To be honest, it looks really good on him but it's not like I would ever admit it.

He is still hanging out with the hot blonde girl. On Thursday I even catch them making out by his locker and he sees me, but he doesn't say or do anything. It appears we aren't on the speaking terms now, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Today is Friday. The school is thankfully over and me and Liam are currently at Amber's aunt and uncle house.

We ask her where her parents are but she shrugs it off, not wanting to elaborate.

She puts on a film, Harry Potter to be exact, and we all lay crowded on her little bed watching the movie on her laptop.

"Oh, my god, this is my favourite part." Liam says excitedly for the twentieth time and me and Amber groan.

"Shut up." we say at the same time and Amber playfully slaps him on the back of his head.

He chuckles and we continue watching.

"Hey, do you guys want to go shopping tommorow?" Amber suddenly asks and I bite my lip.

"I can't. I'm going out with someone." I whisper, hopping they would shrug it off but instead they look at eachother with wide eyes.

"What!?" they say together and I groan.

"Oh my god our baby Sophia has a date!" Liam sings in excitement and jumps on me while Amber starts tickling me.

"Who is it? Who is it?" she asks repeatedly and enthusiastically and then stops. "It isn't that guy, right?"

I start shaking my head furiously and Liam gives me and Amber a weird look.

"You haven't told her it's Axel yet?" he asks me and I shake my head.

"No, I didn't think it was important." I reply as Amber slowly raises her brows and her eyes grow wide.

"Axel?" she asks quietly and me and Liam nod.

"Yeah, Axel Jarvis." I explain and she lets out a huge breath looking up at the ceiling. Then, she covers her face with her hands and lays her head on her knees.

"Of course, I'm such an idiot."

I begin to feel slight panic in my chest at her reaction and I can see that Liam is giving her a weird look too. However, there is only one thought we both have on our mind right now. Is she one of the girls he had before?

She lifts her head up and looks at me, her eyes sad and biting her lip.

"You- you don't have history with him or something, right?" I ask, almost afraid of the answer and she quickly starts nodding her head, making my heart fall to the bottom of my stomach.

She starts laughing at my expression. "Sweetie, Axel and I have got a lot of history but not in the way you think. He's my brother."

My eyes almost fall out of my sockets at her confession.

"What?!" Liam says, a shocked expression on his face as well. "That dick is your brother!? He ruined my social life! He's the reason I'm still a virgin and a loser in the 3rd year of high school!" he rambles on and Amber keeps on biting her lip, softly nodding while I stare off to the distance.

This completely and utterly sucks.

It doesn't effect the fact that he's a dick. It doesn't effect his acting and attitude towards me.

It doesn't change how I felt about him.

It does mean however, that I'm now connected with him somehow-his sister is my best friend. And that means a lot. Hell, he might come barging through this door any time now because I'm in the house of his aunt and uncle.

My heart drops to the bootom of my heart when a realization overcomes me with that thought.

Amber's parents are dead.

Except if he has lied about that as well.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I ask softly, finally stopping Liam from rambling and bringing their attention to me. "Why didn't you tell us your parents are dead?"

Her eyes turn even sadder and it looks like she's going to cry, making me regret my direct question a lot. She only shrugs, though. "I didn't want to bring the mood down. I didn't want you guys to feel bad about me."

I reach over and hug her at that. "We would only want to help you, Amber."

She shakes her head at that. "No, because all I want is to be looked at as a normal teenager and forget about it. I have two people looking over me, I have a house, I have everything I need." she argues and I don't agree with her, but I also don't want to push it.

"But why don't you live with Axel then?" I ask her and she sighs.

"He has enough on his mind and I didn't want him to have to care for me too. He could live here with me and his family but he doesn't really get along with aunt and uncle so he decided to live by himself. Also, he used to bring a lot of girls home during that short period after the accident that I stayed with him, and it really affected my sleep because of the noise." she lightly chuckles but stops when she sees my face.

"I'm so sorry-" she starts to apologize and I shrug it off.

"It's okay." I say and sigh. "So he really is like that."

She slowly nods.

"How many girls?" I ask and she starts looking at anywhere but me.

"I don't really know-"

"Tens?" I ask and she makes a grimace.

"Hundreds." she replies and I let out a huge breath.

"Wow."

She nods softly. "Sophia, I know you've probably heard this before but he's not what you think he is. He- he is bad, I mean really bad. Not that bad boy type you read in stories and see on movies, no, he's really bad." she tells me.

"Amber, I..."

"No, let me finish. You cannot fall for him. He doesn't do love, trust me, I know. He has huge anger issues, especially when he drinks. He plays with girls for fun and abuses them; ruins their lives. Just because. God, if I had known he was the one you were talking about..." she says and I squint my eyes.

"Amber! Stop!" I cut her off, not able to take anymore. "I know! He's a dick, he's bad for me, I deserve better, etcetera. I've heard it all before and I know it okay? I'm not going to fall for him because I'm not even speaking to him anymore! He has lied to me and pretended and I've had enough of his games." I say and then smile. "That's why I'm going out tomorrow."

Amber and Liam look up at me.

"I met this really cool guy and I- I thunk I want to give him a chance."

They smile at me. "Well, who's the lucky guy?" Liam asks and I grin.

"Theo Keats."