Page 30 of Save Me
Chapter 11
Xander
Stop watching her, Xander, you are turning more and more into that perv who was hanging around at the back of your garden. When, yet again, you were staring at the same mystery blonde girl who is now picking at her lunch with the saddest look on her face. Actually, sad is an understatement; she looks dead on the inside. The mystery surrounding her only keeps me wanting to reach out to pull her back into me. Beth Taylor is under my skin, and I can’t fucking stand it!
“You are one miserable bastard at the moment, Fenton,” Rein states with a smirk on his face. “This is why you should never go after someone who you actually like.”
It takes a massive effort to pull my eyes away from her, but when I finally do, all I can manage is a grunt. Rein shakes his head, rolling his eyes in silent amusement over my completely pathetic and futile situation. To be fair, my friends have never, ever seen me act this way over a girl, neither have they heard of a girl knocking me back. Apart from Rachel Spencer, back in the second grade, and I did kind of pull her skirt down in the middle of the playground.
“Brother, dearest,” Casey snakes her arms around my neck, which only causes my whole body to stiffen in anticipation of her asking for something. Carefully removing her arms that are the same golden tan as mine, I push back against my chair. An action that shows I’ve officially given up trying to force down any of the crap that’s still sitting on my plate. A mixture of slop and fries, all congealing together in one unappetizing pile have my lips resembling those of a disgruntled Peanut’s character. I almost feel sick knowing that I had willingly ingested a few forkfuls. Though, in my defense, I had lost my head as soon as Beth walked into the hall.
Meanwhile, Casey has managed to force Mikey to slide up a chair so she can park herself directly next to me. She’s looking all smiles and big, sultry eyes, which only tells me that she’s after something.
“What?” I ask her without any kind of social niceties. “Make it quick, Casey, I’m in a shit mood and can’t be bothered for your roundabout way of asking for something.”
“Jeez, what the hell crawled up your ass?” She frowns at me, then glances around my friends who all smirk to themselves over my short temper.
“An English blonde,” Rein replies for me, “who won’t give him the time of day!”
“Kind of a new concept for Romeo here,” Matt joins in, “must be a novelty for you, huh, Xander?”
He begins to laugh to himself, so I slap him upside the head, just as he bites into his sandwich. It only makes him laugh all the harder.
“Oh, please,” she says as she rolls her eyes, “you’re not really into her, are you? Trust me, brother, she is way out of our league. She’s a mousey, little, good girl; too frigid to be of any interest to you. Besides, any one of my friends would happily relieve you if only you asked them to!”
She winks before grinning back at me, to which she’s met with an unimpressed sneer.
“Could you all just shut the fuck up?!” I eventually growl at them. “I am not, nor will I ever be, interested in Beth Taylor!” I bark, just as she happens to walk past our table with Kaiden following close behind. He glares at me with angry slits and a snarl upon his lips, showing just how much of a friendship he’s already managed to build with her after only a few weeks. In contrast to him, she continues walking past as though she hasn’t heard anything. Of course, she’s no doubt thinking what an asshole I am.
My idiot friends begin snickering with their heads ducked down low, just as I mutter, “Fuck!” under my breath. On the irritated scale, I’m now up to a solid ten and ready to storm out of here as soon as my sister gets to somewhere near a point.
“Did you want something, Casey? Or are you just over here to annoy the hell out of me?”
“I do,” she confirms while smiling far too wide for comfort. “I’m hosting a little bash next weekend-”
“Another one?!” I scoff. “You are such a spoiled brat!”
“And I need you to get me some stash off your little stoner boy. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to like me.”
“Shocker!” Rein mouths and we all grin, momentarily snapping me out of my Beth-induced funk. Not that Casey even notices our laughing at her. The idea of anyone making fun of her would never even enter her head for she thinks that much of herself.
“And why would I do this for you?” I eventually reply, throwing my serviette onto the table. I then bend down to get my bag, feeling more than over this whole lunchtime. I’m actually looking forward to math, and I hate math. I also hate Mr Trent who has breath that would stop a charging bull in its tracks.
“I may have some information on little Miss Britain,” she says, looking over her nails with a bored expression. The bitch knows she has my interest now. Even so, I slump back into my chair and remain staring at her with little to no expression on my face.
“I might go and see Bodhi later, if I have the time that is,” I reply with a shrug, acting the epitome of cool, calm and collected, even though on the inside I’m anything but. “What do you know?”
“Nuh-ah, Xander,” she smiles smugly while wagging her perfect, manicured finger from side to side, “first the stash, then the info!”
I begin to lose my self-control, so give her the death glare, the one I used to pin on her whenever I caught her in my room looking for spare cash. Epically poor money management is another one of Casey’s flawed qualities. Anger seeps through my pores as I slowly move to rest my elbows onto my knees, leaning in so close to her so she won’t be able to mistake the frustration she’s bringing out in me.
“If you’re lying, Casey-”
“I’m not!” she says quickly, finally reading my bad mood. “It’s good too,” she adds with a smile, “but Kyle made me swear not to tell you. Not until you get the goods.”
“Fine,” I snap, “but if you and that dip-shit are playing me, make no mistake, I will not be running around after you anymore.”
She nods too quickly, luckily taking the hint that I’m not to be trifled with because I’m likely to snap, even if she is my twin sister. Before I can fully contemplate the fact that Kyle, of all people, have something on Beth which I’m not privy to, I march out the hall doors with such a thunderous scowl, people literally jump out of my way just to avoid my wrath.