Chapter 27: Spotlight (Alex's POV) We were currently standing outside the cafeteria, Carter, Connor, Hannah, and me arguing. Hannah and Connor wanted to sit in the cafeteria. Carter and I didn't. "Guys, this is a horrible idea," I sighed. "No, it's not. It's the cafeteria and its lunch. No one's going to care and no one's going to say anything. Come on," Connor said while pulling Carter inside as Hannah did the same to me. My fears were coming true as we stepped in and almost everyone turned to look. "This is because of your popularity," I whispered to Carter. "There's a reason I was agreeing with you and asking to eat in the field," he mumbled. "The spotlight is on you, babe. Relish it," Hannah giggled. "If you want it, take it," I huffed. We quickly went and sat down at the table in the corner. "I hate this and you for making me do it," I mumbled to Hannah before focusing my gaze at the tray of food that rested in front of me. Hannah and Connor fell into conversation. It flowed naturally between them. With Connor, she wasn't sucking his face off every time I looked over, instead, she had a wide grin displayed while they chatted each other's ears off. I heard Carter sigh before he looped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I turned to him and he simply stared down at me. "Just ignore the stares. Please," he whispered. "I'm trying," I replied meekly. He opened his mouth to say something but bit down on his words. He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on my lips, making me smile. I blushed while looking down until the two free chairs on our table were pulled back with a screech. We all looked and saw Abby sitting down with Hudson beside her. "Hi," she grinned. "Can we help you?" Hannah questioned. "What? We can't sit with our friends?" Hudson questioned. "Friends?" Connor and Carter scoffed simultaneously. "Ouch," Hudson smirked. "What do you want?" I asked, aiming my question at him because I had no business with Abby. "What do we want, babe?" Abby smirked, turning to Hudson. Babe? I bit back a laugh and looked down to keep it from escaping. "Is there a problem?" she asked me. She has no idea who she's trapping herself with. "No, no problem at all. I wish you two the best," I answered. She narrowed her eyes at me before turning to Hudson and proceeding to play a game of tongue hockey. I rolled my eyes and continued eating while talking to Carter. We all just acted like they weren't there. She pulled away before cleaning her smeared lipstick. "Seems like you don't like seeing your ex with someone else," she said to me, smiling like a plastic barbie. She looks the part. She was so pretty. If only she wasn't such a bitch. "Seems like your words apply to him, not me," I retorted. She gritted her teeth before leaning back in her chair. "You know, it's okay to be jealous, Alexandria. All you have to do is say the words," Hudson leaned forward. "And all you have to do is set yourself on fire and get lost. Go," Carter rolled his eyes. Hudson rolled his eyes and leaned back. Hannah and I exchanged a certain look. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they're trying to do. They're trying to get me to crack and take Hudson back, that way Abby has a clear path to Carter. But I'm not going to crack because being with Hudson is beyond the last thing I want. I'd rather spend eternity in the lowest circle of hell. The bell rang soon after that and we all packed up and headed to class. Spanish. Surprisingly, since Mrs. Rodriguez has gotten engaged, she's turned a full one-eighty. She sets almost no homework, gives us plenty of free periods, is extremely patient, forgives every mistake a student makes and has even stopped yelling at students. All in all, love has fixed that woman. Before getting engaged, she was like a grumpy witch. Now, she's like a princess dancing over the rainbow. Weird, the things love can do. "What the hell was that?" Carter asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "A pathetic attempt with an even more pathetic strategy," I sighed as we walked into class and took our seats. Like he does every time, he shifted his desk and chair, placing them beside mine. Mrs. Rodriguez doesn't seem to mind. I had been meaning to ask Carter something for this Friday night. He would usually ask me something like this, but for once I wanted to beat him to it. "I have something to ask you," I said while turning in my chair to face him. He raised his eyebrows at me expectantly. "You know the party this Friday that is at Abby's house. For all the real estate neighborhood," I began and he nodded in response. "Are you going?" he questioned. "My dad says I should. Aren't you?" If he's not going then this is very humiliating. "Not unless it's with you," he said. I grinned, "Which is what I was getting to. Do you want to go with me?" "Of course, I do. Is that even a question?" he chuckled. "I wanted to ask you first for once. You always ask me," I shrugged. "I'm glad you did," he smirked before leaning in and kissing me. Mrs. Rodriguez walked in and we broke apart, getting to the work she assigned, doing it together. Working with someone made it so much easier. Specifically him. Not because he knew what he was doing, but because he didn't, that made me all the more confident in my work. "What does that mean?" he asked, pointing to a word with his pencil. "Apples. You don't know what 'apples' is in Spanish?" I laughed. "What's that?" "Oranges," I answered, "Carter, go back to like third-grade Spanish. What is wrong with you?" I chuckled while finishing up my work. "I haven't paid attention to this class since like middle school. Freshman year at the latest," he mumbled. "Why? What happened freshman year?" "Puberty hit you. As if you weren't already pretty enough," he whispered under his breath while scribbling down the answers. "Puberty hit me?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He dodged the question and changed the topic. "I'm taking you dress shopping today." "Why? I have plenty of dresses," I frowned. "I know that, but I want to buy you one for Friday. We're going straight after school." "Don't you have practice?" I asked in confusion. "Connor's in charge today," he shrugged. "I can't let you miss practice," I shook my head. "But-" "No. I'll wait for you and we can go after practice. Okay?" He sighed in defeat, "You're no fun," he pouted. ◆:*:◇:*:◆:*:◇:*:◆ He walked out with his hair wet and water drops dripping from the ends before he ruffled his hair with a towel. "Ready?" he asked, holding his hand out for me to grab. "Yup." He drove us to the boutique where everyone got dresses from, at least our neighborhood's fancy women did. "Isn't this place expensive?" I asked as we walked in. "A little," he shrugged, "Nothing too much." "Like what?" "Around five hundred dollars." "What?!" I exclaimed. "Maximum. There's stuff under that. I'll pay five hundred if you want me to though," he said nonchalantly. "I'm not going to blatantly rob you of money. Thanks for the offer," I replied. "Hello, how can I help you?" An elderly lady appeared out of a room. "We're looking for a dress for the stunning lady," Carter said. I smacked his arm while the lady laughed. "Anything in particular or will you two just be looking around?" she asked. "We'll just look around, which way are the dressing rooms?" She pointed to the left and I nodded before she disappeared and we started dress hunting. I was barely choosing, it was mostly Carter. I had about five dressed to try on by the end. Something told me I already knew which one he would like best, but I just took them all with me while he followed. He sat down on a bench right outside the dressing rooms while I went inside and hung them up before starting to try them on. There was a red one, a royal blue one, an emerald green one, a dark purple one, and a silver one. Like full glitter, sparkle, shimmer silver. I sighed before throwing my shirt over my head and hanging it up. I heard shuffling and looked up to see Carter peering in from the next dressing room. "Hi," he grinned cheekily. "What are you doing?" I asked while grabbing my shirt and holding it up in front of me. He pouted before answering, "Watching." "That doesn't make you sound like a pervert," I said sarcastically, hesitantly letting my arms drop to my sides. He smirked while I threw my shirt at his face, his eyes focused on my chest. "I'm your boyfriend, I'm allowed to be your pervert," he smirked. "Excuse me, sir!" Idiot. . . . . . Chapter twenty-seven