Chapter 23

I flop down, face first, on my bed only to wince when it causes my back to hurt.

It has been a long week.

And the week isn't even over yet.

When Charlotte was finished signing merchandise at the charity concert, along with taking a few pictures, we had to be snuck out of the building.

Apparently, the paparazzi found out that Charlotte and a few other celebrities were going to be there so they blocked the exit so that we weren't able to get through.

Of course, it didn't work since there was a back entrance that we, along with the other celebrities, escaped through.

On Sunday Charlotte and I made plans to go on our first date only for them to be canceled when an anonymous article made a claim that we were dating.

The title of the article is true; however, the actual article is completely false. They didn't even use any photographic evidence in the article.

Later that same day Charlotte told Bella about it and she, surprisingly, issued a press release for Monday morning.

How did she do it so soon?

I have no idea.

On Monday morning I woke up with a sort of sour mood since basically our whole Sunday was ruined because we were worried about the article all day.

On top of that it was the beginning of our homecoming spirit week.

Our school has our homecoming in the fall so that we have something to 'look forward to besides prom'.

Charlotte and I chose not to participate since we weren't really in the mood, plus we had practice after school.

We ended up accidentally dropping two girls from the pyramid at cheer practice but one of them ended up spraining their ankle.

On Tuesday Avery called and said that she couldn't come to school because she caught the flu.

That same day I never got to see Charlotte since she was quickly running between classes.

It was really weird.

She's usually never late to her classes.

I did however get to video chat with her while we were doing our homework.

On Wednesday, today, I had a pop quiz in every single one of my classes.

Charlotte also disappeared during lunch when she got called to the principal’s office over the intercom.

Of course, with her being Bellisa and everything people blatantly stared at her as she made her way to the principal’s office.

I later found out that the principal just wanted to know if she was able to perform a slow song at the homecoming dance.

Something about budget cuts and it being more meaningful.

Charlotte has to ask Bella about it since Bella has Charlotte's work schedule along with the fact that Charlotte is not eighteen.

I hear a laugh coming from behind me before it makes its way beside me.

"Are you okay?" She jokes as she sits on my bed I reluctantly flip myself over so that I'm lying on my back. I have to hold in a flinch when I land rather quickly on my ribs.

Charlotte's smile quickly falls when she notices my body stiffen and my breath hitch.

"Babe, I've told you multiple times to be careful" she says quietly with a worried tone of voice I silently nod my head as I continue to stare up at her.

Charlotte kicks off her shoes before leaning against my stack of pillows. When she notices me staring at her she smiles gently before opening her arms invitingly.

I don't have to think twice as I kick my shoes off and climb into her awaiting arms. I place my legs on either side of her thighs so that I'm practically straddling her as well as wrapping my arms around her midsection.

She wraps both of her arms around me which causes instant warmth to surround me.

I choose to just listen to her steady heartbeat as I lay my head on one of her breasts.

She brings one of her hands up to play with my hair as the other one remains tightly secured around my waist.

"Are you tired?" She questions softly as she notices my eyes struggling to stay open I'm one hundred percent sure that she knows that I'm tired.

She's most likely just teasing me to get a reaction.

I go to say 'no' only to end up releasing a small yawn instead.

"Aww" she coos which makes me blush as I snuggle my head further into her "Stop it" I quietly whine out I just want to peacefully sleep, not violently blush.

"What?! I'm just appreciating the gift that god made for me" she says with a slight possessiveness to her tone which causes a shiver to run up my spine "Yeah, you're one to talk" I whisper out slowly as I feel my eyelids become drastically heavier She chuckles lightly as she continues to gently play with my hair.

"Sleep, I'll be here when you wake up" she encourages gently I slowly decide to give in as my body quickly relaxes against her body and I allow my eyes to fully shut.

-

I suddenly jerk up off my bed in a half-asleep state.

What the fuck?

I groan as I bring my hand up to hold my pounding head.

Why am I up?!

I just want to sleep.

I glance over at my clock and notice that it is four in the morning.

Great.

I have to start getting ready for school in two hours.

As I become more aware of my surroundings, I notice that Charlotte is gone, but there is a blanket thrown over the lower half of my body.

I continue to quietly groan as I pull the blanket off of my body and walk towards my bedroom door. I open my door and peak out only to notice that the kitchen light is on.

Who could possibly be up at this hour?

Besides me of course.

I walk down the hallway as well as down the stairs before I'm meeting the eyes of my worried girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She asks guiltily Aww, my poor baby.

I silently shake my head as I walk up to her and gently wrap my arms around her waist. She smiles appreciatively as she wraps hers around my shoulders.

I clear my sore throat before speaking.

"What's on your mind?" I gently ask her She doesn't have to tell me if she doesn't want to.

I'm not going to force her to tell me.

Especially not this early in the morning.

She lets out a deep breath before reaching down and gripping my thighs. She effortlessly lifts me up which causes me to shift my hold from her waist to around her neck.

She firmly places me on the countertop as she drops her head into the crook of my neck, almost as a calming mechanism.

Her hands are gently resting on my thighs, respectively away from certain regions.

"I'm just freaking out about the volleyball game today" she says I nod my head understandingly even though she can't see me.

"Why is that?" I question her again Again, I'm not forcing her to answer.

She could totally just walk away from me right now and I'd understand.

"If we lose then that'll ruin this week for everyone since ideally our goal is to have all sports teams win their games" she explains She's not wrong.

Last year our football team lost by two points and it made everyone visibly sadder.

"How about you think of the positives. The whole volleyball team, as well as you, has been practicing and preparing for this for two weeks." I try to persuade her "Plus, the saying that 'practice makes perfect' is very much correct" I add on which causes her to smile as she removes her face from my neck "I guess you're right" she admits "Of course, I am, plus I'll be there cheering you on" I say with a shrug She smiles at me as she leans in and places a kiss onto my lips. I pull her in closer by tightening my arms around her neck.

She suddenly pulls away with an elevated heart rate and shaky breath.

"Sorry, I got turned on" she apologizes as the tips of her ears turn pink "Babe, it's fine," I reply honestly If I'm being completely transparent, I was treading on the seashore of arousal.

"Do you want to go get some coffee?" I ask her since there is no point at going back to sleep "Sure, why not" She says with a shrug before she helps me down from the countertop Yay.

I love coffee.

It is my secret weakness.

-

We're currently wearing the baseball and gigantic sunglasses combo as we walk into the coffee shop.

Charlotte said something about 'not always seeing paparazzi but them always seeing you'.

If you want to know how that conversation went, I basically told her that she makes them seem like horribly trained spies, to which she agreed.

"Hello, welcome to Lola's, how may I take your order?" A lady behind the counter asks as we walk up to her Charlotte and I remove our sunglasses since the shop is completely vacant of any customers, plus it's hard to see to menu with these things on.

As soon as Charlotte and I place our sunglasses down on the counter the lady's breath immediately hitches.

Okay, I know my girlfriend is hot but jeez.

She's mine.

I silently make that known as I latch onto her arm. Charlotte looks down at me with a smile before placing a peck on my forehead.

"Oh, my goodness, my daughter loves you, can I get an autograph?" The lady quickly rambles out

Charlotte nods at the lady as she grabs a napkin and a sharpie. She quickly scribbles down the name 'Bellisa' before handing the lady the, now signed, napkin along with the sharpie.

I almost forgot that to everybody else she goes by the name 'Bellisa'.

She thanks 'Bellisa' for the autograph before taking our orders and quickly serving them to us. We ended up getting our drinks for free since she was incredibly ecstatic to meet 'Bellisa'.

We made sure to put our sunglasses back on before exiting the shop. It was noticeably more crowded as we walked out of the coffee shop, possibly because it was now five in the morning and some adults were going to work.

God.

I hope today we'll have a decently normal day at school.

-

"Guess who's back?" I hear from behind me which causes my eyes to widen as I shut my locker and face Avery "Aren't you still sick? It's only been two or three days!" I panic I love Avery, don't get me wrong, but I will not get sick because of her.

"Turns out it was just food poisoning that I got from eating some bad sushi" she says with a shrug I don't know whether to believe her or not.

"Aspen, if it'll make you feel better, I'll stay six feet away from you" She offers "Okay" I nod just as Charlotte comes up to us I notice that she wants to kiss me but she's holding it back.

Avery clears her throat to break up Charlotte and I's staring contest.

"Are you guys ready for the pep rally?" Avery asks which immediately makes me groan I swear, our school is the only school that doesn't do pep rallies on Friday.

Plus, our pep rallies are during second period.

The bell rings indicating that we need to be in class by the next ten minutes or else we're late.

"Why are you groaning? We only have half a period since we have to leave to get ready for the pep rally" Avery says with obvious confusion on her face "I know that, but when we were lifting that girl up yesterday and coach told us to do an extension my hip started to hurt" I say My hips pop all the time, it's normal for me.

But when it popped yesterday it felt like I stuck a knife into my skin right there.

Luckily it stopped hurting a couple of seconds later but it was still incredibly painful.

"Did you get it checked out?" Avery asks "No, that was the only time that it happened, it's probably nothing serious" I say with a head shake as we arrive to our first period class just on time "If it happens again, tell me, okay?" Charlotte whispers from behind me I look back to see if she's talking to me only to notice her looking down at me with a worried facial expression.

I nod my head at her as I give her a reassuring smile.