HIS FAVORITE GINGER ✓

NINETEEN.

"SO THIS IS THE CHEMISTRY lab." Alejandro gestures with redundant glum to the classroom he is supposed to be as at the time if it isn't for good ol' Tate. The latter snaps purple, rather gay bubbles of gun in the most annoying way. Alejandro hates stereotypes but he can't help but to qualify Tatum who is a walking cliché. The hair on Alejandro's skin goes taut like an erection, reminding him of his allergy to clichés.

"Hm, cool." The taller boy states coolly while eyeing the ginger in the most uncomfortable way. Alejandro has to brush it off and act like there is zero tension between them, whereas the air is malleable.

They are walking towards the sports' section of the school now in silence. Well, almost in silence if not for his obnoxious bubblegum snapping, at the same time, the whistling to the song they always play during their monthly anniversaries. TATUNDRO lasted for ten freaking months till the ginger called things quit with Tatum due to his family's relocation to Seattle.

Is Tatum sending a message? Or is he trying to get at Alejandro for dumping him? He did not even look fazed when Alejandro dropped the bombshell And the latter wasn't surprised either. Alejandro had been hearing rumors of Tatum cheating with his so-called best friend.

Alejandro is cursed with friend problems.

Alejandro eventually confronted him a week before moving. Tatum pleaded that he had been wanting to tell him but didn't have the nerve to do so. Tatum said and Alejandro quotes, ". . .because you have the temper of a sunbathed propane tank". Alejandro had known the relationship had been a joke but a part of him still felt attracted to the cheater. This feeling was mutual, yet negligible.

Besides, their parents had always thrived to pair them both each opportunity they get, aspiring for their marriage and settling down in a trillionaire villa in Switzerland with adorable, adopted quadruplets. And the ultimate reason, drumroll please, was to form a relationship between the two industries. Parents of the year.

Alejandro fought with both blood and sweat that they weren't going to be some "bullshit medieval king children betrothal pairing bullshit". Tatum partially agreed with Alejandro and was partially happy that the sweet ginger's ass will be his and only his forever. In fact, he joked about it in Alejandro's presence. Even One Punch Man couldn't compete with the magnitude of the slap he received that day.

They schooled in a top-notch private boarding school full of high-class people, billionaire kids from different parts of the world all in one place. While a considerable amount of them were not utterly spoilt brats, a mob of narcissistic nitwits who were serious about absolutely nothing in their lives existed. Tatum Meyers was painfully one of them. Although he was surprisingly a persistent A-student with an IQ the degree of Einstein's, he still takes the spot as the most conniving, egocentric, manipulative, immature and supercilious human Alejandro has known my entire life.

And that was what made Alejandro fall for him.

He and Tatum had been hardcore rivals when it came to swimming. They even had some moments in a freaking pool. Looking down at the school's swimming pool casts sweet, explicit memories onto Alejandro's mind like a projector movie. He sighs in nostalgia.

Good ol' times. He really misses his old school. Now he's stuck in this shithole with some hopeless, stupid jock and a homophobe ex-friend pestering his peace of mind.

"This puddle is like so small." Tatum glares at the pool with distaste in his eyes while his hands are folded to his chest.