"Xander, wait up!" one of the Melon Trio laughed, sounding completely not breathless, as if this was just a light jog and not a life-or-death chase. I, on the other hand, felt like air was clawing its way down my lungs with every laboured, panicked breath.

"Xander, that's not the way to the art rooms!"

"Or maybe you want to try it in the pool store room?" another girl piped up as we ran across the school grounds.

'Fuck! Are these girls part of the athletics team? I'm about to have a heart attack here! Girls in real life don't act like this, do they?! Fucking author and their fucking novel!' I cried to myself, quickly turning the corner, eyes darting around for somewhere to hide. My eyes widened as I spotted the male change rooms by the side of the grass oval, which was empty since soccer practice had ended just before detention did. There seemed to be no one in sight, and I didn't think twice before darting into the change rooms, hoping that the girls were not brazen enough to look there.

"Oh, shit, if they're crazy enough to proposition me for sex in a classroom, why would they have any apprehension about going into the dude's changing room?!" I hissed to myself, dropping onto all fours and crawling across the tiles, ducking behind a set of lockers and trying to still my breaths. 

"What? Where'd Xander go?" I heard from outside, slapping a hand over my mouth as I stared at the closed door, praying to the gods of this universe to let them be as dumb as the author wrote them and to not think to look in the male change rooms.

Please, please, please...

"He couldn't have disappeared! He... He has to be in one of these rooms, right?"

"Oh! He could totally be in the male changing room! Haven't you heard? He and Crystal did it in the showers there after PE last  year you know?"

"Oh! I see. That's what he's aiming for, right? He's probably waiting for us in there..."

I am definitely not waiting for you in here, what the fuck! Begone, nameless side characters!

Just because there was a shower scene in the original 'Say No to Bad Boys' , that didn't mean that I want to recreate that here, in the male change rooms at school. Who knew what was clinging to the tiles in the shower or on the ground. Athlete's foot was not a cute look, and having warts and fungal growths slathered over one's genitals was even worse - not that I knew from experience.

Just because protagonists and their main leads are apparently immune to any and all STDs in the novel world, and that no one seems to get pregnant even when condoms are also painfully non-existent, I was not going to risk the livelihood of my newly acquired pristine phallus!

In the original novel, the shower scene had been as abrupt as every other sex scene written in it. There was no context, no lead up - just Xander crowding Aubrey against the tiles and rutting into her with reckless abandon. It was just thrust-thrust-thrust-cum-done, and yet Aubrey had been left to think about it for days, the author of the book waxing lyrical about how good it had felt for an entire chapter. 

As if getting rammed against mould-covered tiles without any foreplay was a good time for any one. I may be a certified virgin, but I had read enough trash novels and online forums to know that foreplay is key. And, from what I read in one such trash novel titled 'Say No to Bad Boys', foreplay was something the original Xander Hart knew shit-all about.

And, there was no way Aubrey's lady cave would have been free from sex mushrooms after her romp in a sea of athlete's foot. There was no way I was getting thrush on my magic staff, and there was no way said wand of magic was getting sheathed in any Melon Trio cave of bliss any time soon. While Xander would definitely jump at the opportunity currently being presented to me, I was a virgin, for fuck's sake. 

It wasn't that I had been 'saving' my first time, nor had I been waiting for that 'perfect, special, meant-to-be moment'. I just... didn't want my first time to be in a male shower at school with three girls I didn't like, that I didn't even know the names of.

Was it too much to ask for my first time to be with someone I liked, in a place I felt comfortable in and at a time I wanted?

Was this going to play out like every one of those online novels that I always laughed at? Because frankly, I wasn't laughing now.

The excited, menacing giggling became louder as the girls approached the door, and my eyes widened as the doorknob began to turn. 

"Fuck," I whispered, scuttling across the floor again as I tried to find an exit, but the windows were locked and the only door out of the changing rooms was currently being guarded by three hellhounds with the scent of my magical stick of destiny in their sights. The only place to go was behind the doors that lead to the showers, the place where Xander had supposedly parked his meat bus in a parking lot named Crystal. 

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Out of options, I grabbed my schoolbag and threw myself into the showers, eyes squeezing shut as I locked the door behind me. I leaned my forehead heavily on it, barely breathing and my heart hammering.

Great, so now I was locked into a room without an exit, with three rabid girls on the prowl for me outside.

There was the steady plip-plop of water dropping from a turned off shower head, the sound echoing off the tiles to a tune far steadier than my rapidly beating heart. I could hear the door open outside, three sets of footsteps tapping around the change rooms. Oh no, no, no.

"What are you doing here?"

I bit back a scream as a voice spoke behind me, loud in the tense silence that had now been broken. 

"Holy shit!" I whisper-yelled in shock at the sudden voice, whirling around and almost screaming again when I realised that the person was much closer to me than I had originally expected, and that the person was... 

Almost naked, save for a towel wrapped around his trim waist.

"OhmyGodIamsosorry," I blurted out, slapping my hand over my mouth as I realised how loud my voice was, likely alerting the Melon Trio outside. The boy inhaled sharply, holding the  towel around his nether regions tighter, and it was then that I realised I was staring.

"Like I said, what are you doing h-" the boy started again as the footsteps from outside grew louder.

"Shh!" I said quickly, rushing forward and slapping my free hand over the person's face, the other boy startling and taking a step back until he gently collided with the wall.

"Mmmph wh-!"

"Shh! Please be quiet, I'm trying to hide from them!"

Snapping my eyes to look at the person face-on for the first time, I almost went against my own words and let out a scream as I realised who I was currently silencing with my hand. Even with my hand splayed over his face, his identity was obvious. 

Damp dark hair, fresh from a shower and smelling like vanilla, was already beginning to slightly curl at the ends as tendrils flopped over expressive light brown eyes, which were trained on me with confusion and annoyance. A mole peeked out above my hand, resting below his eye, and full brows were pinched above a tall nose bridge.

Elias Fourie.

The second lead.

I cursed internally and hastily removed my hand from over his mouth just as Elias grabbed it to move it away himself. Elias's mouth immediately moved to say something, and I desperately shook my head, eyes pleading. The second lead just looked at me with a crinkle in his brow.

"Please, just be quiet for a second, until they go away," I whispered, voice strained. Elias's frown grew deeper as he stared up at me like he couldn't quite understand what he was seeing. 

"Please," I stressed again, flinching as the door handle clanked as someone tried to yank on it.

"It's locked?" a girl asked, voice slightly muffled by the door, but loud in my ears. I shivered in terror, tearing my gaze away from Elias's to stare at the door, the handle shaking again. 

"Xander? We know you're in there," one of the girls mewled, words stretched out. 

"Open up, baby," another voice added, and I couldn't help but scrunch up my face, biting my lip. 

Suddenly, Elias's hand on my wrist dropped, the athletic boy stepping around me towards the door.

"N-" I started, panicking and reaching towards the boy, but he had already opened the door. Dropping to the floor again and tucking myself away from sight, partially blocked by Elias's body, I watched through slits in my fingers as Elias crossed his arms over his lithe chest.

The girls all let out screeches of surprise (or arousal, if I was going to be completely honest) at the sight of Elias half naked, until the soccer captain spoke in a flat, controlled voice tinged with a hint of annoyance.

"These are the male change rooms, you're not supposed to be here. I won't tell the teachers if you get out of here now, but if you hang around here again I'll have to inform them and you won't be let off lightly," Elias said quietly, the girls squeaking and nodding hastily, the apologies spilling from their lips disappearing along with the sound of their retreating footsteps. 

When the girls were far from sight, Elias turned around, raising a brow at my crouched position on the damp floor of the showers. Now that the imminent threat of being pestered for a bite of my spicy man sausage was no longer looming over my head, I realised that I was very much sitting in a puddle of water, which was soaking through the fabric gathering at my knees.

Grimacing, I looked down at the sticky fabric, sighing at how stupid I probably looked in that moment. 

Yep, Xander Hart, certified slayer of females, resident badboy male lead, currently huddled in the corner in the men's showers hiding from attractive girls and scared out of his wits.

What an absolute hunk.

About to peel myself and what little remained of my dignity from the floor, I was surprised when I saw a hand with smooth almond-toned skin hover in front of my face. Blinking, I looked up to see Elias offering me a hand.

"Oh, thanks," I said, cracking a small smile as I gripped Elias's hand in mine. See? What a nice guy, helping the strange guy that interrupted his shower up from the ground. If our positions were swapped, there was no way in Hell Xander would do the same. But Elias... 

A decent human being! Someone normal! Someone unproblematic! Someone who deserved the protagonist, unlike this piece of shit douchebag I was currently inhabiting!

Elias's grip was firm, and when he tugged me up to my feet I sighed as the feeling of dampness at my knees spread down my shins.

"You..." Elias started, soft voice drifting off in an unfinished question.

"Long story," I said, letting out a noise between a snort and a chuckle. "But... you really helped me out. So, thanks. I mean it. That... That could have been bad."

I could've ended up being hounded by the Melon Trio and forced to witness their nude modelling. They could've gotten their hands on my new dick and...

Phew, definitely dodged a bullet there.

"You..." Elias said again before growing silent once more, and I almost laughed a little at how awkward he sounded. Elias seemed to notice as well, catching the slight twitch of my lips as I tried to restrain my grin. Elias scratched the back of his neck in what seemed like a nervous habit, the tips of his ears slightly rosy.

"Hm?" I asked, tilting my head to the side, Elias just shaking his head.

"No, it's... Never mind. You shouldn't be here either, you're not on any sports teams," Elias said, and I chuckled at that.

"Right, sorry. I'll get out of your hair now. Thank again for... well, you know," I said, giving Elias a smile and patting his bare shoulder good-naturedly. Quickly ducking out of the change rooms to allow the poor guy to finish his shower without getting sprung by a wild panicked man-boy, I kept an eye out for any loitering members of the Melon Trio, and only felt safe once I was in the confines of Xander's Dodge Challenger and driving home. 

A/N: Aaand the second lead enters the chat - and half-naked, because of course ;) Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reading! x