Not Your Cinderella

Chapter 5 : You're The Fondant To My Fancy

"Hide me!" I speak, ducking behind Hannah.
Alex has his back to us but at any point he could turn and see me.
"Rowan what are you doing?" Liam asks with a quizzical look.
I nod in the direction of Alex as a response.
"Yeah I know. What are you doing?" He says.
"You said that Alex is mad and that I need your protection, funnily enough I thought that meant hide from him."
"You look like such an idiot right now," Hannah comments bluntly.
"She's right," Liam agrees, to which instantly makes Hannah go red. She quickly tries to cover it up by turning to look the other way. I am glad the pair of them are bonding over how much of an idiot I look.

"Rowan, just stop," Spencer looks at the current scene, "That. Just stop that."
I stand up straight again awkwardly, and give the guys a guilty look, "How was I supposed to know not to hide?" I mumble. The pair of them burst out laughing at my response.
"Alex," Liam calls. Here he comes. Brace yourself Rowan. Alex slowly turns to face us. His smirk drops for a second as his eyes land on me, but, he swiftly shoves his confident façade back on.
"Hello Miss Steele," he greets me, teasing me with our conversation yesterday about us never becoming anything closer than on surname terms.
"Good morning Mr Rossa," I give him a sickly sweet smile.
"You look rough, did you get enough sleep last night?" He asks. Suddenly feeling self-conscious over my appearance, I try not to let him know that he's managed to have any effect on me.
"An artist has to be dedicated to her work."
"Am I your work?" Alex arches one eyebrow - once again twisting my words.

"Come on Alex give her a break, just because she played you at your own game," Spencer interrupts with a smirk, walking over to his best friend.
"Oh and please keep posting the results of your little revenge games online," Liam says slapping me on the back with a wicked grin, "It is so very entertaining."
"Extremely entertaining," Spencer agrees, nodding viciously.
I am glad that having embarrassing videos of myself posted on the internet entertains them so much.
"You two are complete idiots," Alex chuckles to Liam and Spencer, for a second, he looks less like a jerk and more of a normal person.

"We should get going," Liam says after a while to Hannah casually.
"Should we?" She asks, confused.
"Yes, you tutor me maths. Remember? We have a session now," Liam chuckles, his blue eyes bright.
"Oh yeah," Hannah goes red again and awkwardly adjusts the position of the strap of her bag.
"So should we go?"
"Um yeah I guess."
I watch Hannah walk beside Liam as they make their way into the school grounds and then into the building itself.

"So Princess, would you like me to walk you to your lesson?" Alex teases once my best friend is out of sight.
"I would honestly rather put my head in roaring fire."
Possibly a little white lie but a sure way to get my point across that I am not a fan of Mr Rossa.
"I'm sure that can be organised," Alex replies.
I look at him with a mixture of shock and disgust displayed on my face.
"You take everything so literally Cinderella," Alex shakes his head with amusement.
The tale telling heat begins to rise in my cheeks. I try to breath slowly and think clearly before I embarrass myself. Before I manage to achieve such a goal I manage to splutter out, "You know what? I need to just go and wash my locker," I point vaguely in the direction of school.

Wait.

"Wash your locker?" Alex responds throwing his hands in his pockets, his eyebrows knitting together.
"I've not heard that one before," Spencer laughs, his curls bouncing with the vibrations caused by his chuckles.
"Well you know I like to be individual," I say trying to somehow cover up such a blunder.
"Well washing your locker is certainly individual," Alex chuckles.
"You know what?" Spencer begins, "I think I need to go wash my locker too." He salutes as he walks away into the school grounds and begins to mine washing as he gets further away.

And then there were two. Just me and Alex. I note that the so-called protection lasted all of an hour at most.

"Your locker," Alex says, "Needs washing remember?"
"Yeah, I should probably be getting on with that," I reply, pulling on the strap of my satchel awkwardly not knowing what I am even saying at this point.
"You do realise you actually have to go to your locker in order to wash it don't you?"
"Yup," I continue to fiddle with the leather, twisting it in my hand. "I actually don't know why that came out, it must be from the lack of sleep."
Alex chuckles at me, "You are so ridiculous, you know that right?"
"Is that a compliment or should I be offended by that?" I ask, now having to use my hand to shade the sun out of my eyes.
"Whatever razzles your berries," he shrugs carelessly.
"Whatever razzles your whats?"
"Berries. Do we need to get your hearing checked?" Alex smirks.
"For just a second then I forgot how much I disliked you," I retort, making my eyes into slits, and placing my hands on my hips.
"One day you will fall for me Cinderella," He grins widely and shrugs, "It's inevitable."
"I promise you that the day I fall for you, will be the day you stop playing around and the day you actually find a girl you like enough to respect and not mess with," I respond firmly.