Reputation to keep

Secrets and lies

Angel's POV

French dragged on with the Madame Valentine speaking fluently. I could understand most of what she said; I just wasn’t bothered to answer her questions. Stacey turned towards me every now and then to throw a glare in my direction before turning back to the teacher and looking completely lost. It occurred to me just how little Stace payed attention. English was my worst subject and I was now getting B’s. I wouldn’t tell anyone that though, I generally lie if someone asks me what my grade is. Being a nerd isn’t something to flaunt.

Max isn’t really nerdy though. Even when he mentions his grades, he still manages to sound cool. It’s weird because if he tried, he could easily gain entry to the popular group... I wonder why he doesn’t.

Madame finally turned and looked at me

‘Etes-vous faire attention, Angel?’

'Oui Mademoiselle, désolé'

The bell had rung and I was standing outside in the car park, waiting for Max. We had decided to meet up after school and I wanted to clear the details with him.

‘Hey’ I whipped my head round as I heard a voice beside me that was definitely NOT Max’s. I looked at Marcus, raising an eyebrow

‘Uh, hi. What did you want, sorry?’

‘Well I was just wondering whether you would grant me the pleasure of taking you to dinner on Saturday.’ He grinned cockily, obviously expecting me to agree, and enthusiastically at that.

‘No.’

‘What, that’s it? End of story? Harsh.’ He was still grinning, although clearly taken aback

‘Well you’ve obviously been out with a great deal of girls before. You should be able to take rejection’

‘Well you’re right and I think there should always be reasons, I mean you hardly know me! What’s there to complain about?’

‘Well the fact that I hardly know you is a problem in itself! You might end up raping or something!’ I joked ‘Then there’s the other factors like, I don’t like you that way. Plus, Stacey would kill me if I even considered dating you.’

Marcus laughed humorlessly ‘I’ve been around you two for a day and already, I can tell that if she didn’t know you were the reason she is popular, she would ditch you without a second thought. You shouldn’t bother showing her any consideration’

‘Oh fuck off! What do you know?! Like you said, you’ve only been around us a day and it wasn’t a great day in our friendship. We’re way close.’ I snarled

‘Whatever. Believe what you want. I gotta go anyway’

He walked off, punching a nearby wall as he went. The resounding CRACK made me flinch and as he walked away, obviously uninjured, I felt uneasy. There was something seriously off about him.

I jumped as hands slammed down on my shoulders. I turned around to face Max, grinning.

‘H-’ I stopped when I saw his serious face. What was wrong?

‘Angel you shouldn’t hang around him’

‘I wasn’t he-’

‘Seriously, I mean it. I’m not joking when I say he’s bad news’

‘Max he was-’

‘He’s the kinda guy who would be in gangs and stuff. I don’t want you hanging out with guys who are dangerous like that’

Why was he being so overprotective? What the hell was this attitude?!

‘Max you can’t decide who I hang out with’ the look on Max’s face turned furious and I immediately knew I shouldn’t have said that