Keeping Up Appearances

by Elizabeth Stevens

  “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?” I hissed.

  He ducked his head as we walked on. “Not at all. Laying it on thick would be me crushing you to those lockers and kissing you ‘til your knees go weak.”

  I pretended butterflies didn’t just explode out of my heart at that comment. Or, that my heart wasn’t excitedly chasing them around. “Arrogant.”

  “But again, true.”

  I snorted and he gave me an almost adorable squeeze as he laughed. I put my arm around his waist.

  People actually stopped and stared in the hallways as Xander Bowen and Holly Aberdeen walked past, the very definition of canoodling. There was no time to wonder if I’d made the wrong choice, we were doing it now and I was going to stick with it.

  As we approached the French room, Jason’s step faltered as he finally caught sight of us. Xander stopped us as casually as you please just outside the room and caressed my face gently. He ducked his lips to my ear.

  “Don’t look so scared,” he chuckled, then kissed my cheek.

  I nodded as he pulled away and looked into my eyes. Those pale browns of his searched my face for a moment, that mischief and humour still marking his expression. Something else crossed his face for a split second as he licked his lip, then he gave one nod, took my hand, and pulled me into the classroom.

  I just caught sight of Jason’s face and it was pale. It was really pale. Other than that, he looked far too shocked to know what to think. I ducked my head as I fell into the seat next to Xander.

  “And, what do you think he’d do if I kissed you?” Xander’s voice was back in my ear.

  “I don’t know,” I answered. “But, you might not like my reaction.”

  He laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m quite partial to a girl who’ll kiss me back.”

  I whirled to face him. “You so certain of that are you?”

  His eyes shone and he gave me a lop-sided smile. “I see the way you look at me,” he said quietly so no one else could hear.

  “With exasperation and a desire to maim?” I retorted just as quietly, and the other side of his mouth rose as well.

  “How’s denial treating you?” he asked and I was certain people would be thinking we were dating based solely on how close our heads were.

  “Peachy,” I replied.

  “Okay. If we’re going to convince people, you’re going to have to know more about me–”

  “What?”

  “Well, we need to know things about each other–”

  “I know plenty about you,” I hissed, leaning even closer to him. “You’re the bro-jock captain of the soccer team. You hook up with every Bow and Bow wannabe with tits and they might get seconds if they give you a blow job. You treat everyone around you as disposable and you’ve never even heard of being polite. You think throwing money at a problem will solve it, and if not a sexy wink will do it. You just assume every person alive wants a piece of you. And, you think you’re so charming that it was a good idea to fake date a person who has hated you for years. I think that about sums you up, doesn’t it?”

  He looked at me carefully before he answered. “I was thinking some more positive attributes–”

  “That’s it? No defence?”

  He shrugged. “What do you want me to say? That’s what you know.”

  “So, it’s all true?” I couldn’t deny a part of me was hoping for a no; I was just starting to think there was something more to him than the rumour mill suggested after all…

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Well, do you have anything you’d like to say?”

  “Like what?” He pulled away slightly.

  “I don’t know! Anything.”

  He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before leaning closer to me. “Bro-jock captain of the soccer team I have no defence for. We both know that’s true. As for hooking up with every Bow or Bow wannabe… Holly, that’s the entire school – whether they’re willing to admit it or not. Despite my best efforts, I just don’t have the time for everyone. And, who doesn’t like blow jobs?”

  I suspected at least half the population across all genders. “Seriously?”

  He shrugged again. “Look, I was thinking more along the lines of things we did and didn’t like–”

  “Well, we’ve established you like blow jobs.”

  A slight smile lit his lips but his eyes were serious. “I was thinking more like the fact your favourite drink is Mountain Dew because you think it’s got just as much caffeine as Coke, tastes better and has a funky colour. Or, that you always smile at Madame Renoir’s stupid jokes when you think no one’s looking. Or, that you blush whenever someone compliments you. That you unabashedly love the Vengaboys even if they are fucking old-school. That you always hide the way you scrunch your face behind your hair when you’re on the rag and the cramps get bad. Things that people…dating know about each other.”

  The first bell rang, but I barely noticed.

  I just stared at him for a while. Talk about unabashed. King Douche had just cavalierly discussed my menstrual cycle without batting an eyelid. And that was just the tip of the frenzy on which my heart was leading my brain. How the hell did he know all that about me? I didn’t know whether to launch a stalker alert or let my heart flutter around in little circles.

  “What?” was apparently all I could manage.

  The corner of his lip quirked. “I told you I notice some things.”

  I nodded and my lips suddenly felt very dry. “I see.”

  “Other than the scathing judgement of my finer qualities, have you got anything else for me?”

  I blinked as I tried to think about what the hell I might have picked up on Xander over the years.

  “You’re left-handed, so your left foot is dominant. But the closer you get to goal, the better you do with your right. You like the red Powerade. For a complete arsehole, your friends are unwaveringly loyal so there must be more to you than meets the eye. And, I think I remember hearing something about you liking Linkin Park?”

  “Not bad.” He nodded as the second bell rang.

  “I’ll work on it.”

  “Peachy.” He grinned as Madame Renoir called for quiet.

  I smiled to myself as Xander sat back in his seat.

  e

  At Recess, Xander met me outside my Home Group with an unnecessarily large smile on his face.

  “Why do I feel like I’m not going to like where this is going?” I asked him.

  “Come and meet the Bows,” he said.

  I shook my head. “Nope. I told you I would never sit with the Bows.”

  “That was before you were my girlfriend. People are already talking. May as well make that leap, Holly. Come on, I’ll be there to catch you.” He spread his arms out and I told my heart we weren’t leaping into them.

  Why did his smile have to be so adorably infectious?

  I sighed. He was right. People were whispering and staring at us even now. If no one had just picked him up dropping the ‘G’ word, they’d soon come to the conclusion by themselves. May as well slam that next nail in my coffin.

  “Okay. Fine!”

  He grinned widely, wrapped his arm around me and led me out of the building.

  He headed over to the patch of oval where the Bows traditionally hung out during breaks. I didn’t need to see Rachel’s indignant glare, because I felt it like a January sunburn. As we got closer, I did see it though and her lips were pursed like she had to physically restrain herself from saying something to Xander about my presence. Her eyes demanded an explanation.

  “Xand, whatchya doin’?” she asked, putting on a good show of being conversational.

  Xander’s hand tightened against my shoulder almost protectively. “Right,” he started in a very ‘hear ye, hear ye’ sort of voice and the majority of the Bows turned to listen to their king. “So we could only hide this for so long before I was unable to control myself,
but Holly and I are dating.”

  To say there was a stunned silence might have been putting it mildly. Every Bow just stared at us in shock and I started to feel incredibly antsy and just a little bit like I needed to run away and bury my head under an avalanche. But, I could do this.

  What would Nancy do? I asked myself, trying not to look like I’d rather be anywhere but there. I might not have been talking to her, but she certainly knew how to play to an audience.

  Xander drew himself up – and me with him. “We’re dating. She is my girlfriend. I am her boyfriend. I get it’s a little out of the blue. Holly gets it’s a little out of the blue. But, you’re all going to have to suck it up and deal with it.”

  Miranda, a girl I knew well by sight but wasn’t sure I’d ever really spoken to smiled at me, but she was about the only one. Rachel’s scowl was one of epic proportions and I was surprised I wasn’t struck down dead – Rachel Harris was obviously not quite as all-powerful as one had been led to believe. A few of the Bow girls eyed me warily like they were trying to work out what I had and they didn’t (leverage and a lack of desire for Xander, for starters). And, the Bow guys seemed torn between making some kind of joke and following Rachel’s lead. All but one; Daniel Viera eyed me about as pleasantly as Rachel. Although, Daniel Viera often looked like he had a rod shoved so far up his arse he could chew on it.

  After what felt like an intense albeit silent showdown between the Bow King and Queen, Xander took my hand and went over to the picnic table that constituted the little sun of their galaxy. He sat down on the table, his feet on the seat, and drew me between his knees. He put his arms around me and laced his fingers over my stomach in a clear message to those watching.

  Slowly, talk and shenanigans resumed. Although, Rachel and Daniel kept throwing me dirty looks. I didn’t really pay attention to the talk and none of it was directed to me anyway; I was too busy trying to act natural and not be stiff as wood. After all, I was supposed to want Xander’s arms around me. Talk ebbed and flowed for a while, the rumble of Xander talking or laughing vibrating against my back almost pleasantly.

  “You smell amazing,” came the warm whisper in my ear as the conversation kept flowing on around us. And warm here didn’t just reflect the temperature of his breath on my cheek or what I felt as his nose dipped to my shoulder, but also the complete sincerity of the compliment.

  Now look, I may not have been attracted to the lummox, but a girl’s going to get goose bumps at something like that no matter who delivers it. And just between you and me, my heart may have skipped a little before it looked around in panic to see if anyone had witnessed its disgraceful display.

  “Does that line ever work for you?” I asked, turning to half-face him.

  His nose brushed mine and I felt far too close to those weirdly enigmatic cognac eyes and the smile I saw in them. “You’d have to tell me. I’ve never used it before.”

  My heart did another traitorous little skip and I hoped my cheeks hadn’t gone fire engine red as I slid my eyes from his. “Of course you haven’t,” I answered sceptically, but somehow I believed his words more than my scepticism of his.

  He chuckled and bumped his nose against mine to get me to look at him again. “You let me know if it’s working, will you?”

  I smiled and looked away from him, settling myself back against his body. “Sure. You can expect that with the emergency report that Hell’s frozen over.”

  He snorted and tightened his hold on me for a second. “I look forward to it. Oh, hey. I have school practice tomorrow afternoon…”

  “You do. It is known to happen on a Tuesday.”

  And no I didn’t know his timetable, I just happened to know that all Saturday morning sports had practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and that soccer was a Saturday morning sport.

  “Your powers of observation astound me,” he chuckled.

  “Oh, sorry. Was there a point to that statement?”

  “There was,” he said, the smile still in his voice. “I thought that perhaps coming to practice would be a good girlfriend thing to do?”

  “Did you now?”

  I felt him nod. “I did. I was going to suggest my game on Saturday. But, I didn’t really think we were at that stage of our relationship where I ask you to get up at the arse-crack of dawn to watch me run around.”

  I smiled. “How thoughtful.”

  The bell for the end of Recess sounded and he let go of me to stand up. I looked him over, wondering how much of his act was for show and how much was just him being the flirty guy he was.

  “So?” he asked, taking my hand gently.

  I looked down at our interlaced fingers. “So, I’ll think about it.”

  He grinned. “Of course you will.”

  The Bows started heading towards their various classes and I spotted Nancy and Jason across the quad, hand in hand much like Xander and I now were. Jason was talking animatedly to Matt and Nigel while Nancy was laughing with Jess and Amy. None of them had seen me, but I had the exact same timetable as Jason and most of the same classes as Nancy – we’d set it up like that on purpose – so it was just a matter of time.

  Suddenly, I was rethinking the wisdom of my plan as I froze to the spot; Jason was one thing, Nancy was another.

  “You good?” Xander asked.

  I looked up at him, hoping I didn’t look as panicked as I felt.

  He gave me a cocky smirk, but his eyes were a hell of a lot warmer than I would have expected them to be. “It’s all good. You’re stuck with me the rest of the day. I won’t leave your side.”

  “If you have to pee?”

  “I have a bladder of steel.”

  “Okay.” I paused, trying to forget that piece of information. “And, if I have to pee?”

  He shrugged. “Then I’ll get to see how much nicer the girls loos are after all.”

  I snorted and looked down as he started leading me to English, with an added hand swing for good measure.

  “Dude, have you – hey, Holl – done anything about that poetry crap?” Greg asked, appearing on my other side and talking to Xander over my head.

  “Do I look like I did anything about that poetry crap?” Xander asked.

  Greg shrugged, then looked at me like he’d forgotten I was there for a moment and just remembered, despite greeting me seconds before. “Hey, you’ve got a girlfriend now.” He pointed at me and everything. “She’s a girl. She likes poetry. Maybe she can help?”

  I looked at him, flabbergasted. “Actually, she doesn’t like poetry.”

  Greg threw his head back and sighed. “Ugh. I cannot afford another fail or Coach will bench me.”

  “Well, I’m dropping scary close to my own benching, man. ‘Fraid I can’t help,” Xander answered.

  I looked between them, still boggled that they were worried about study and wondering how far that extended – I knew the soccer coach was strict about grades, I’d had him for PE for three years and he was constantly on his players to keep up their averages or he’d bench them. And, Xander had been pretty attentive through Psych the other day…

  “She said she didn’t like poetry. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t grasp the concept…” I said slowly, knowing I’d regret it as soon as it was out of my mouth.

  “Are you in the mood to help a couple of no hoper wankers, then?” Greg asked, giving me what I assumed he thought was an amiable, convincing smile.

  I looked to Xander who had a question of his own in his eyes. Finally, I sighed. “Sure. Why not? First French. Then English. It’s not like I had any other plans for my life.”

  Greg threw a companionable arm around me and chuckled enthusiastically. “Sweet! You officially sitting with us now?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “Keep your hands off my girlfriend, man,” Xander huffed a laugh.

  And, that’s when we came face to face with Nancy and Jason outside the classroom.

 
Nancy looked between Xander and me like I’d grown three heads or something. Jason meanwhile went somewhat paler than earlier and looked sucker-punched. He looked like I’d completely betrayed him and I had to say the feeling was rather mutual.

  I supposed that was the last nail. There’d be no need for rumours now; Xander had just clarified for all necessary parties in this charade that I was in fact his girlfriend.

  I felt Xander’s arm go around me and he kissed my hair. “JT.” I felt him nod against my hair.

  Jason blinked, his dark blue eyes wide. “Bowen,” he replied, sounding like he was on autopilot.

  Nancy glared at all of us while she yanked Jason after her and into the room.

  “Well, they just get more and more pleasant by the day, don’t they,” Greg said. “Good thing you’re one of us now.” He nudged me companionably as he headed for his desk.

  Xander and I followed, his hand dropping to catch mine again.

  I sat between Xander and Greg, actually feeling somewhat protected by the two big Bows. I knew exactly how Nancy would play this, so I just smiled at whatever Greg said and pretended I belonged there.

  Chapter Nine

  For a guy who had never had a girlfriend in his life, Xander did a damned good job at acting the part.

  He was almost always holding my hand or had his arm around me. He kissed my cheek, looked at me like I was the centre of his universe, and brushed my hair off my face in a manner far too gentle for my liking. We sat together in every class, spent Recess and Lunch together, avoided Jason, Nancy, Rachel and Daniel together, and chatted most of the night on Messenger about absolute bollocks.

  On Wednesday, home group marked our first separation at school since he’d made his announcement. We stopped outside the 12OB room and he smiled at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll see you at Recess.”

  “If you’re going to get all clingy on me, then I might have to break up with you,” I warned him.

  He huffed a laugh and his eyes roved the hallway. “You wouldn’t do that. You like me too much.”