Page 29 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
I shook my head, pressing my lips together to stop myself from crying.
“I have no idea,” I choked out. Gosh, I hated that I gave Lewis this much power over my emotions.
As Jaxon and Sabrina got closer to the boys, Lewis sneered at them.
“The hell are you looking at, Stone Face?” Jaxon yelled.
Stone Face. I wasn’t sure where the nickname originated or what it was supposed to mean, but Lewis’s bullies had been using it since we were kids and Jaxon had adopted use of it when we got to high school. I used to hate that nickname, but after everything that happened between us, I thought it was fitting. He deserved it.
I backed away a little as Lewis responded to Jaxon and looked at a store across the street, trying to tune out what they were saying. I didn’t want to have to listen to Lewis right now. I appreciated Jaxon jumping in to defend me but part of me wished that we just kept walking without giving him the light ofday. Though, knowing Lewis, he would have just followed after us.
“Are you okay?” Eli murmured to me. I nodded but didn’t say anything. I didn’t trust my voice not to shake again.
“Violet!” Lewis yelled. Against my better judgement, I looked at him. My hair forward, blocking his view of my face, which I thought was for the best. “God, look at you. You?—”
“No, you don’t get to talk to her!” Jaxon shouted, cutting him off. He put himself between me and Lewis, while I wrapped my arms around my stomach, feeling oddly violated by Lewis’s words. “You don’t get to say a single thing to her. You don’t even get to look in her direction!”
“What, she needs her boyfriend to defend her?” Lewis said snidely.
“Don’t be jealous just because she didn’t want you.”
Lewis looked at me over Jaxon’s shoulder. My stomach turned at the look in his eyes.
“You know, Jaxon bet me years ago that he was going to get with you first,” Lewis said, his voice almost devoid of any emotion. His eyebrows pulled together a little as he studied me. “He doesn’t view you as his girlfriend. Just a trophy to be won.”
I felt gutted by his words. Even though I knew it was true, I couldn’t believe Lewis would just throw it in my face like that out of… jealousy. Where was the boy I’d been best friends with for so many years?
“Get out of here before I beat your ass, Stone.”
Lewis sneered again. “I’d like to see you try.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jaxon’s hand to start to curl into a fist. Nope, that was where I was drawing the line today. I jumped forward and grabbed Jaxon’s arm.
“Don’t do it, Jaxon,” I whispered. “He’s not worth it.”
Sure, it was strong words coming from someone who got into fights almost monthly, but I didn’t want Jaxon to get in a fightover me. Jaxon’s hand flexed, then grabbed mine. I thought I might have convinced him to back off but all he did was pull me hard behind him.
With every passing second, I was becoming more worried that this was going to devolve into a physical fight. Though, I had to admit, it was better that it happened here, where we were essentially unsupervised, than at school. The teachers would question the bruises, sure, but there were plenty of lies we could tell to get out of that. It was always funny to witness Jaxon tell his absurd stories to get out of trouble. I was sure that if he and Lewis did fight, he would come up with some ludicrous story of how they conveniently got all these bruises. The teachers definitely wouldn’t believe him, but it would be difficult to give out detentions without proof — not to mention how little time there as left in the school year.
The sound of a phone ringing cut through the air. At first I thought it was Jaxon’s phone, which would have been surprising since all of his closest friends were with us, but then I saw Rob pull his phone out of his pocket and turn away as he talked to the person on the other side.
“Jaxon,” I begged again. His head turned a fraction towards me, but his eyes remained on Lewis.
Rob turned back towards us and hit Lewis lightly on the arm. He tilted the phone away from his mouth and quietly said, “Come on, let’s go.”
Lewis didn’t move, which actually surprised me a lot. Lewis had never had much of a backbone at all, especially when it came to the likes of people more powerful than him. Rob was practically the top of the food chain at our school and if Lewis was spending time with him, I would have expected him to fall to Rob’s will.
“Lewis,” Rob said sharply. “Let’s go.”
Lewis took a big breath and took a couple steps back. “Yeah. Okay.”
There was the Lewis I knew. He glared at us one more time, taking a second to look at me specifically, before he followed Rob down the street. Jaxon kept standing where he was, his body between me and Lewis, until the two boys turned at the end of the street.
“Are you okay?” Jaxon asked. He spun around the face me and put his hands on my upper arms, looking me up and down. I took a deep, rattling breath. I didn’t want Jaxon to know how much seeing Lewis like that actually shook me up.
“I’m fine,” I said. I tried to smile convincingly but it was clear that he didn’t believe me. I couldn’t stand looking into his intense gaze, so I looked at the ground beside me and wrapped my hands around my stomach, hugging myself. “Really.”
“Are you sure?” Jaxon moved his head, trying to catch my gaze, but I pointedly looked away.
