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₊❏❜ ⋮ ᶠᵒᵒˡ'ˢ ᵍᵒˡᵈ ⌒
𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗑
ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ
❝ 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗒 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗆𝗒 𝗀𝗂𝗋𝗅𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽? ❞
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𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 since chris had asked bianca to act as his girlfriend and the girl still cannot wrap her head around it. bianca feels like she's the protagonist of a rom-com film and she's not sure exactly how to feel about it. she has spent the entire night thinking about the events that unfolded that day; not sure how it even got to the point. she had made it clear to herself that this school year, the only thing she will be focused on is her academics and nothing less. bianca is never one to think about the future when it comes to her life; she just kind of lets life unfold on its own and act accordingly. though, ever since the deal she took with chris, she has spent countless hours wondering what will change a few months from now whilst pretending to be someone she's not.
"bianca jade st. clair," kendall walks in her room, arms crossed and a stern look on her face. bianca tears her eyes aware from the vanity mirror, pausing with her makeup and glances at kendall with a confused face. she raises her eyebrows, "yes, kendall amya bexley?" bianca resumes with doing her makeup whilst kendall sits at the foot of her bed, staring at bianca through the mirror. "what the hell is this rumor going around about you and chris dating?"
bianca shrugs, acting like it is no big deal. kendall goes on a tangent, arms flailing around, "bee, this is not just any guy we're talking about. you know how chris is with his reputation! you're going to get hurt and i will go through hell and back to make him pay if he does. when did he even ask you out? what the fuck, you don't even know him! you just met the guy!"
the girl sighs, putting the makeup sponge down and glaring at kendall through the mirror, "why do you hate him so much? what has he done to you that you're literally anti-chris?" kendall opens her mouth then shuts it, no words flowing out of her mouth and she shrinks in her seat.
"have you thought about getting to know the guy before judging him based on his reputation?" bianca continues, "he's not a bad person, kendall. just because he has a rep that isn't all sunshine and rainbows, it doesn't mean it defines who he is."
the brunette-haired girl isn't sure where this sudden defensiveness came from. i mean, it is true that she doesn't know chris that well but he is a person, he's just another teenager who is trying his best in this world. kendall sighs, "i know how he is, bee. i'm just saying, don't trust him too easily." bianca furrows her eyebrows, confused as to how she knows how he is but they've never even interacted.
"what do you mean?"
"that's not the point," kendall avoids the topic, "the point is keep your guard up, okay?"
bianca nods slowly, processing what her cousin told her but it's nothing but a cloud of words jumbled up together in her head. kendall then exits the room, leaving bianca drowning in her thoughts and a plethora of questions swimming around her mind; the first one being, what happened between kendall and chris?
she shakes her head, resuming with what she was doing to distract herself. after that was done, she gets up to walk in her closet. bianca stands in the center of the small room, pondering of the right outfit to wear that matches the gloomy autumn day. after minutes of playing mix and match with her clothes and still not being satisfied, she settles for a navy blue sweater, black flared jeans that she stole from kendall and never returned, and a black leather jacket that fits her loosely and is a little bit longer than one's typical leather jacket that is often short and tight-fit. she walks to her vanity to grab her black-frame glasses, putting it in and letting it sit on her nose bridge. often times, bianca wears her contact lenses but today she cannot be bothered to do anything.
the girl heads downstairs, bringing her backpack with her, dreading the day ahead. natasha greets her with a warm smile whilst she makes pancakes for the three of them to share-one thing about natasha is that she loves to cook on her days where she's not occupied with paperwork after paperwork. "morning, little bee. pancake?" natasha shows the half-burnt pancake on the pan. sure, the redhead loves to cook but being a gordon ramsey in the kitchen was never mentioned.
"sure," she grabs a plate, gesturing it towards natasha so she can place it on the plate. the girl then opens the fridge to get maple syrup, drowning her half-burnt pancake in syrup to minimize the bitter taste. she then takes a seat in the dining table across from kendall, avoiding any sort of eye contact with her after the words that were exchanged not too long ago. silently, she eats her breakfast and natasha notices just how quiet the two are; usually, they would be laughing like hyenas and talking loudly like they're fifty feet from each other.
"why are you two the quietest i've ever heard?"
bianca clears her throat, though she does not speak. kendall coughs, not speaking either. "hello? am i talking to the air or something?" natasha continues, trying to get one of them to talk. "first to tell me what happened can get whatever they want at sephora today."
"bianca's going out with chris!"
"dude!"
"sorry," kendall mutters, "sephora is my second home. i had to tell!"
"woah, woah, woah, when did you two start going out?"
bianca glances at her curious aunt, sighing as she sinks deeper in seat. "we've just been getting to know each other. i mean, we see each other almost every day and plus, i tutor him outside of school too so we were bound to just, y'know, get close," she lies. the girl hates lying to the ones she's close to-she feels as though she's going to get some sort of karma out of this lie and there's nothing she can do about it but just see it through.
"bee, are you sure about this?" natasha asks genuinely. the last thing she wants is to have a heartbroken niece. bianca nods, her lips pursed and eyes avoiding eye contact, "i'm sure." her response was short and sweet, not wanting to get into the topic even more especially with kendall because god knows how that turned out earlier. she gets up to place her plate in the sink, walking back to the dining table to grab her backpack set beside her chair. "you're walking to school?" kendall asks, a fork in her hand with a stack of pancakes stabbed into it. bianca nods shortly, not saying much.
"but i always drive you?"
"it's fine, kenny," she dismisses, "i gotta go. i'll see you at school. bye kenny, bye nat."
once she has exited the house, she gets startled by the loud honk coming from the car park outside. squinting her eyes because of the glaring sun, she sees the faint silhouette of chris through the car windows. she walks slowly towards him, knocking on his window to get his attention since he was on his phone, mindlessly scrolling through whatever social media app he was on. chris looks up from his device, pressing the button by his side to let the glass window slide down. "chris, what are you doing here?"
chris shrugs, "picking you up, i guess."
"um," bianca clears her throat, "thanks? but it's fine, i can walk. i don't mind anyway."
"don't be difficult, i'm already here so just get in."
bianca reluctantly opens the passenger door, situating herself in the front seat whilst trying her best to not look at chris. leaning back, she places her hands on her lap, softly drumming her fingers on her clothed thighs whilst waiting for the boy to drive off but he doesn't. she diverts her eyes from the road ahead to his face; eyes blankly staring at the street, lips formed into a subtle frown, eyes knitted inwards making him look angry. bianca clears her throat, "are we going now or?"
chris turns his head to glance at her then behind her, "seatbelt."
"oh, right," she mutters. bianca remembers the first time he drove her to school and how he buckled her seatbelt for her because she doesn't usually wear one. chris finally drives off, letting the tune of just another interlude by bryson tiller softly play in the background, making bianca hold back from yelling the lyrics out loud. the girl has loved bryson tiller's music for years and it took her by surprise that he listens to this kind of music. to her, chris seems like the type to only listen to trap music.
"so," chris starts off, "you ready to be my girlfriend?"
"what do we even do? like, do we hold hands everywhere we go like we're some school hallway couple?" see, bianca has never even been in a relationship before, so all of this is new to her and she's not quite sure how to act.
"yeah but not everywhere. we're just trying to put out there that we're 'together' but not over-do it."
for the rest of the car ride, the two kept quiet whilst the music lapse around them. truth be told, bianca is quite anxious on how today will play out - knowing chris is well-known in school, she will get the attention he gets because she is now 'romantically linked' to him. she does not even want to do this at all but because of the kindness of her heart, she couldn't get herself to decline chris' only suggestion.
bianca spent minutes, getting lost in her clouded mind, not even realizing that they have arrived at somerville high. with a gulp, she unbuckles her seatbelt and steps out of the car with chris leaning on the side of it from his side, patiently waiting for her. he's not much of a talker, she thinks.
"you ready?" he asks, now beside her as they walk towards the main entrance. he seems calm, like this isn't bothering him at all. then again, it was his idea for this to happen in the first place.
"do i really have a choice?" bianca responds with a shaky breath.
"no, not really," chris says bluntly, walking ahead of her to get to his class but abruptly pauses, turning around to extend his arm out towards her. bianca's eyebrows knit together, staring at his open hand and then back at his face. "oh, sorry," she then digs in the small pocket of her backpack, taking out a five dollar bill and placing it on his palm, "here. thanks for the ride."
chris lets out a sigh, giving it back to her. "i don't want your money." without uttering another word, he gently grabs her wrist and places her hand in his, interlocking their fingers and gently drag her towards her first class of the day. bianca was taken by surprise, not expecting the act to begin right away-she thought they would have to start playing their part by lunch when everyone's in the cafeteria. nevertheless, bianca doesn't put up a fight and let's chris keep a hold of her hand.
"what class do you have right now?" she asks, trying to create some small talk as they make their way down the quiet corridor. "gym but i'm not going. what about you?"
"history," she mumbles, clearly not excited about it.
"you wanna skip?"
"where are we gonna go?"
without saying a word, chris leads them both to the other side of the building, completely silent and not bothering to answer any of bianca's endless questions. he then leads them to the second floor of the school, turning left then right then left again until they're met with another door at the end of some hallway. he opens it for the two of them, getting greeted with another flight of stairs. he holds the door open with his free hand, ushering her to get inside before following behind her. the light inside the staircase is dim, sometimes flickering making bianca scared because she's quite afraid of the dark.
the girl then pushes on the long leveler to open the door once they've reached the top of the stairs. they're at the rooftop of the school; a border about twenty inches high surrounds half of the edges of the roof, having a flat surface for them to sit on. there's not much here on the rooftop but a view of other buildings ahead and some orange leaves that continuously fall from trees during the autumn season. the wind blows past them, making bianca shiver even under her knitted sweater and leather jacket.
none of them have realized that their hands are still in each other's hold, giving one another some warmth under the breezy weather. it did not come to chris' attention until he looked down at their hands clasped together, making him let go abruptly and placing his own hands inside the pockets of his north face puffer jacket. bianca diverts her eyes from the view to her hand that is now on its own and not intertwined with another. she clears her throat, crossing her arms as a way to hug herself for warmth. "do you come here often?"
chris shrugs, sitting down on the flat surface of the border that surrounds the rooftop, looking ahead and avoiding eye contact with her. "i guess," his response was kept short. bianca hums, sitting beside him after placing her backpack down on the ground, "it's pretty up here. is this your special spot or something? like a hideout place?"
"i guess," he repeats.
"y'know, you're hard to talk to," bianca frowns.
"i don't have much to say."
"can we at least try and be friends for the sake of this fake dating thing you got us into?"
chris sighs, "what would you like to know, your highness?"
"okay, tone it down with the attitude first of all," she grumbled, "and second. . ." bianca pauses for a moment, her mind suddenly going back to the moment she had with kendall about chris. the girl clears her throat, "did something happen between you and kendall?"
chris quite literally freezes like he was a deer caught in headlights. he swallows harshly, not saying anything for a moment. "nothing," he lies, his jaw clenching and his stare at the building ahead turns into a glare. bianca is not so convinced that it was 'nothing' based on the reaction he just gave, causing her to question them both even more. she begins creating fake scenarios in her head, from them being together at some point to them kissing due to some spin-the-bottle game.
"don't do that," he mutters, pushing his hair back with his hand.
"do what?" bianca asks cluelessly.
"overthinking about what you think happened between me and your cousin. nothing happened, so whatever it is that she told you, it's bullshit."
"she- she didn't tell me anything. . . i was just wondering if i could find out through you. clearly, you're just as secretive about it as she is."
"because nothing happened," he snaps, growing agitated by the second.
"okay, okay. sorry, just forget i brought it up," she mumbles. the silence now becoming painfully awkward, making it harder for either of them to sit beside each other. chris takes his phone out of pocket, typing away with his thumbs, still silent and not bothering to utter a word. the girl shivers, catching chris' attention. though he is freezing as well, he unzips his puffer jacket, takes it off and offers it to bianca. she stares at the clothing material, eyes slowly making its way to chris' face to meet his own. "take it." the girl reluctantly reaches her hand forward, grabbing onto it but not putting it on.
"but you'll be cold."
chris shakes his head, "just take the jacket, bianca. you keep shivering, so just wear it."
"whose idea was it to stand out here in the middle of fall?" she asks, putting the jacket on, arms sliding into each sleeve and immediately zipping it up.
"you can leave if you want," chris blurts out nonchalantly, "i really don't care."
bianca rolls her eyes, pushing herself off the platform she was sitting on, dusting herself off and turning around to look at him with a frown upon her lips. "fine." with that, she grabs her bag and turns around to exit the rooftop, leaving chris alone once more in his own thoughts.
if chris were to be honest, he does not know how he and bianca ended up in the situation. well, he does because he was the first to even create such a lie that has escalated to the point where he now has to pretend that he's dating her and is 'in love' with her. though, of all girls, he didn't exactly know why he thought of bianca first. he doesn't know her well enough to talk greatly about her behind her back.
he's praying this ends well in the long run.
the bell has rung and every single student disperse from their classrooms; some heading towards the cafeteria, some going outside to read their preferred novel under a tree, some leaving to go to the nearest fast-food drive-thru, some sitting down on the floor with their backs leaned against the lockers, getting lost in their own world. as for bianca, she was most looking forward to lunch period, knowing she gets a break from learning for a little bit but instead of being greeted by her friends, she was stolen away from them and is now standing beside the man himself, christoper sturniolo, outside the cafeteria before they make their entrance.
from the moment he dragged her away from her friends, eyes were already on them like hawks. whispers seemed louder when they were walking together in the hallway, making bianca feel small and want to run away from this sudden attention. she's not used to all of this and it's something she will not adapt to for a while.
"let's go," chris whispers to bianca, smoothly interlocking their fingers before he pushes the cafeteria door open, making many heads turn and whispers to escalate. bianca feels like she's in a movie from the way they entered and the way people are reacting. from a distance, she can spot her friends with their mouths agape and eyes wide. the girl turns her head to glance at chris, whose eyes are searching for someone else in the crowd to see if that person is also looking at him. bianca follows his eyes, leading them to amyra's silhouette, who happens to be paying them no mind whilst the raven-haired girl laughs with her friends, talking amongst themselves as if chris and bianca do not exist.
bianca feels chris tense up from the way his grip on her hand tightens and his jaw clenches, clearly upset that this has no effect on amyra whatsoever. nevertheless, he doesn't say a word and continues walking with bianca by his side towards the lunch table where his brothers and best friend are.
"are you okay?" bianca whispers quiet enough so other people won't hear.
"m'fine, bianca."
chris was quick to drop her hand once they've sat down on the table, stuffing both of his hands in his dark grey hoodie pockets. bianca shifts awkwardly in her seat, giving chris' brothers and friend a tight-lipped smile. "hi, i'm bianca."
"hi, i'm nick," introduces the boy with a nose piercing and feathered-like hair. he seems sweet, like someone you can lean on when times are rough or someone who will engulf you in the warmest embrace when you're down.
"i'm matt," said the other, giving bianca a friendly grin. this one is a bit more shy than the other two brothers, which is someone bianca could relate to. she's convinced that if she gets to them all well enough, she feels she will be understood by matt the most because he is just like her; reserved and a bit timid at times.
"hey, i'm river," the best friend speaks up, his eyes never leaving bianca. it is quite obvious he is interested in her, making chris roll his eyes but bianca is completely oblivious to his crush on her. the girl lets out a quiet 'hi' to them all, picking at the skin on her fingers that are resting on her lap as a nervous habit. chris' eyes divert to them and then at her face, seeing the anxiousness behind her eyes and her constant blinking.
reluctantly, he places his hand on top of hers, making her stop picking at her skin. chris doesn't look her way or say a word, he just keeps his hand atop hers as if it's normal whilst he breaks into a conversation with his brothers and best friend. the girl wasn't expecting this from him. he's good at this acting thing, she tells herself, wish he was this good at being in a good mood.
his hand brings so much warmth, she feels it whilst his palm rests on top of the back of her hand. the smooth skin makes his touch soft and gentle, like it's a feather placed on top of her hands. absentmindedly, chris comfortingly rubs his thumb on top of her hand, calming her down and getting her to ease up because of how tense she currently is; chris felt it.
"relax," he whispers to her subtly whilst his brothers and river discuss a new topic, his hand never leaving from where it is at.
"i am," she lies through her gritted teeth.
"you're not. they're just my brothers and best friend, they're your friends now too. . . so, relax."
"i'm trying," she says honestly this time, her fingers twitching under his touch, contemplating whether to lace their fingers together and leave it as it is.
"just squeeze my hand if you wanna leave, okay?"
"okay."