Agreements With Mr Rich Boy | ✓

25 | A Rearrangement

Bill extended his arm, shielding the pair of us from the onslaught of shouts of "Who are you?" "Are you Archer's new girlfriend?" "How do you feel about—" from either side.

I practically threw myself into the car, rolling over to the other seat so that Autumn could settle herself, far more elegantly than I had. She made no move to talk to me, something I was thankful for, preferring to place a hand on my own as I stared at the blurring streetlights of the night world through my window. Silently, I let the tears fall.

***

The food on my plate wasn't helping much with the nausea bubbling in my stomach. I kept swirling it around my plate with my fork, pushing it to either side in an attempt to make it look like I'd eaten more.

I almost jumped three foot in the air when Miles landed next to me, rocking the entire table with his force. He was shaking something in his hand; the shiny thing reflecting the lights above so that I couldn't quite see what it said.

"What?" I asked, easing some egg into my mouth. It was cold, but I knew I had to eat eventually.

He stopped wiggling it about all over the place and held it still enough so that I could see it. I realised, now, that it was a magazine. I went to say "nice?" but that was before I'd seen the writing on the front page. No, not the writing. The huge, overpowering picture on the front cover.

I choked. "Oh my fucking god," I winced as I tried to use the water to force the food down and stop me from coughing.

The front page, displaying the kiss Archer and I had shared, was glaring at me from Miles's hands.

I tore it from him, hands shaking as I read the block capitals. 'BILLIONAIRE BOY SPOTTED WITHH MYSTERY GIRL... more on page 2'

"I totally forgive you for ditching me last night because holy shit this would have been unmissable—" Miles was saying, keeping on talking but I wasn't taking any of it in.

Both Melanie and Piper seated themselves across from us.

"What's going on?" they asked.

Miles thrust the magazine towards them, and I watched as their faces contorted into a mixture of shock and admiration. Well, Melanie looked a little admiring, whereas Piper looked downright astonished.

When I looked around, I realised the people around us that I'd blocked out weren't regarding me with distaste as usual, or even just ignoring me. No, they were all throwing glances in my direction, whispering to those nearby, others blatantly staring.

The doors opened, then, drawing everyone's attention.

Autumn, Noah and, of course, Archer showed themselves.

I rose from my seat and made my way towards the trio, before any sense could flood my brain or I could lose my nerve. I stood before them, not feeling quite so intimidated with the fire coursing through my veins. Taking him by the arm, I led, more like dragged, Archer back out through the doors.

Surprisingly, he let me. I let go of him once we were far enough away to not be heard or seen.

"What do you call this?" I pushed the magazine I'd taken from Miles into his chest. He picked it up and looked at it, face void of any emotion.

"A magazine?" He supplied.

I glared. "Yes, I caught that. I mean, this." I pointed at the cover. "That was not apart of the agreement. You said no media."

"I never promised that," he said, standing straighter, eyes alight. I thought back to— I could have sworn he had, but by this point, the whole starting of the agreement was beginning to feel like an age ago.

"Even so, you can't just plant one on me. That's a dickish thing to do," I said.

"If I recall correctly, you reciprocated. You made no protests, nor a move to stop," he said, a shadow of a grin on his face.

"Fine," I said. "I'm done. No more of this."

He finally looked alert, then.

"What— no, no you can't. Your face is all over every magazine in the country, you can't just 'end it'."

"I can," I said, slowly. "And I bloody will."

I went to walk away, but he stepped in the way. "What do you want? More money?"

"Don't you get it? This," again, I pointed at the picture. "Wasn't about money. This is a lack of respect. You need me just as much as I need you, so I deserve at least some decency."

"Fine," he said, hands tousling his hair. "No more of this." He nodded his head toward the magazine now back in my hand. "Without letting you know."

"Or at all," I muttered.

"How do you ex— fine, fine, alright. Only when absolutely necessary." He took his hand out from his pocket and stuck it toward me. "Deal?"

I met his hand. "Deal."

"One more thing, though," he said, hand still locked onto mine. "They're all going to be aware of our relationship now. We can't just pretend we don't exist at school anymore."

I sighed. "Whatever. We'll just say hi when we see each other. Sorted."

"Mm," he hummed. "We'll see."

a/n:
just a quick one: don't have enough storage on my phone to redownload the app I use to make the chapter banners so sorry lol just bear with
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