Present

BANG!

The deafening sound of a door slamming echoed as I entered Pinewood High. Everyone mid-paused in whatever they were doing and stared at me. I took a glimpse of them and flipped my hair.

My expensive T-Strap heels clicked as I ascend the stairs to the hallway with my head held high and chest out. Everyone gave longing glances and I smirked when they parted ways for me to walk by.

The Queen has arrived, bit*hes.

Every girl envied me and every guy wanted me. After all, I'm the Queen Bee, captain of cheerleaders, sexiest, and the most popular girl in our high school.

Taking out my new iPhone, I adjusted my Prada bag on my shoulder and checked myself on the camera. My long wavy brown hair floated elegantly as I strode the hallway and Emily joined me.

"Good morning, Lexi." She greeted, following me.

"Good morning, Em," I replied. "What's the status?" I locked my phone and put it back in my bag.

She extended a paper in front of me. I took it from her and studied it. "We have three classes together and for optional, it's Home Economics."

"That's good." My lips stretched into a grin and I squealed. "You know how much I love cooking!"

She nodded. "And you have, um..." She trailed off, looking away.

"I have what?" I lifted my brow.

"... Calculus with Ivy." My jaw clenched.

"Nastiest subject with the vicious person. What could be worse than that?" I scoffed and crossed my arms. "Tell me something good."

"You gain 100 plus followers from freshmen already." She rushed.

"Now, that's good news." I beamed.

She nodded, pushing her big black-rim glasses. "We have English first-"

"Em." Stopping, I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "When are you going to get rid of these hideous glasses?" I asked in a bored tone.

She blinked at me as her ears turned red. "I need them." She whispered.

"There's this thing called lenses." I gave her a stern look.

"Ye-yes, but I'm afraid of them, they might break in my eye, or did something worse or-" I cut her rambling by tightening my grip on her shoulders.

I pressed my lips tightly and shook my head in disapproval. "It's senior year, Em. Don't tell me you want to go to college without dating once in high school."

"I-I..." She darted her eyes to the floor and her shoulders slumped. "I want to date."

"Then change yourself." I leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Or else no guy will ever look at you." I backed away, giving her a pitying look.

"O-okay." She uncomfortably shifted in her place.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Em." I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear that fell on her face from her messy ponytail. "I'm your only friend. If I won't tell you what's right or wrong for you, then who will?"

"I know." She bobbed her head and grinned. "Thanks, Lexi."

Returning her smile, I interlocked our arms and cheered. "Let's rock our year!"

* * * * *

I sat in my history class, drumming my fingers on the table, and watched the clock tick deliberately.

Only a few minutes before lunch.

Our teacher kept babbling about some kind of war. I zoned him out, looking around my class. No one was listening to him. Some were busy gossiping and passing notes while others were playing with their phones.

I sighed, leaning back in my seat, and waited for the bell. As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed my stuff and sprinted out of the class.

Finally, lunchtime!

I went to my locker first to put my books in it. My locker was in the golden location, as called by my fellow students because it was near the Cafeteria. Only the popular kids had their lockers here. Emily came from the other side, panting.

Poor her.

Her locker was over the other side. I waited for her to calm her breath and we went together toward the Cafeteria.

As always, everyone glanced at me when I entered. It was like their daily routine. I spotted the cheerleaders and football team, sitting at our usual table. Pinewood High was a typical high school like others, they divided our Cafeteria into parts according to the categories.

Stereotype, I know.

The nerds got the area on the south, weirdos on the east side, the so-called musicians got the west, and others scattered in the middle. The popular got the area, which was above all, and no one else was allowed there.

I went towards them and took a glimpse at my former friends sitting at their table. Jax, Ivy, Vanessa, and her boyfriend - Darren - were talking and laughing while Noah was busy looking at his phone. They were also quite popular, not like me though.

It had been three years since our fight that day, and we never talked after that. Noah was the only one who tried, but I kept away from him. It also helped when I left the town with my parents for two years.

There were rumors about our group breaking and me vanishing out of the blue. They thought I was kidnapped or my friends killed me because I'm a bit*h, and they buried me somewhere deep in the forest.

It shocked everyone when I came back in junior year as a different person, and BAM I became the Queen Bee in a snap of my fingers. It was so easy, as I was already popular, beautiful, and was friends with the football team captain, aka Kevin. Then I became the captain of the cheerleaders since I'm also athletic.

"Hey, bit*hes!" I greeted them as I reached our table.

"And the Queen is here!" Natasha, one of the cheerleaders, bowed.

"You're really slow, you know." Kevin teased. I rolled my eyes, sitting on his lap.

"Me? And slow? I think you're mistaken, lover boy." I retorted and gave him a lopsided grin.

"Oh, the lover boy is fully aware of it." He wiggled his brows, making me giggle.

"When are you both going to make it official?!" Jim whined, looking at us.

"We are just-"

"Friends. We know!" They all groaned simultaneously, rolling their eyes.

"If you all have some problem with us, lemme know," Kevin said flatly, narrowing his eyes on them.

"Let them be." Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I waggled my brows. "How was Europe?"

"You won't believe it!" He grinned. "It was like another world and the chicks? Don't get me started on them..."

I rolled my eyes at my friend and listened to his adventure when an oh-so-familiar voice spoke from behind.

"Lexi." My eyes widened when I recognized the voice. I slowly twisted my head and saw Jax standing there with an enormous smile, gazing at me with his bright blue eyes.

"Are you talking to me?" I doubted, pointing at myself.

"Of course. You're the only Lexi here." He chuckled.

"O-kay..." Still shocked by his sudden appearance. We didn't talk in the past for three years and now he was standing in front of me.

"I want to talk to you about something." He said, jamming his hands in his front pockets.

I cocked my head in confusion. "About what?"

"Alone." He glimpsed around at the shocked faces.

"You can say anything you want here, buddy," Kevin grunted, narrowing his eyes at him.

"It's personal." He gave me his charming smile.

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Personal?" He nodded his head. "Alright." I got up from Kevin's lap, straightening my red skirt.

Kevin grabbed my wrist, stopping me. "You're seriously going with him?" He looked at me, concerned.

"I'll be ok, Kevin. It's just Jax." I smirked and gestured for him to go first. He beamed, walking ahead with me following behind him.

I glanced at my former friends, who were looking at us in confusion, and wondered what was going on. I could have said no to him, but honestly, I was curious about what 'personal' thing he wanted to talk about.

Jax opened the door of an empty classroom, I arched my brow but still got inside and leaned my hip on a podium. He closed the door and stood in front of me.

"How's everything going?" He smiled, running his fingers through his light brown hair.

"Get to the point, Jax." I scoffed, crossing my arms around my chest.

He sighed. "Ok... I need a favor from you." He got straight to the point.

Of course, he needed a favor, and that was why he even came to. Otherwise, we haven't looked at each other let alone talked in years.

"That's surprising." Putting a hand in front of my mouth, I fake gasped. "I thought you wanted to talk to your old friend and try to catch up." I pouted.

He took a deep breath. "I know it sounds selfish, but it's important and only you can help me with it."

Important?

"I'm listening." I was getting really curious that why he needed me for something.

"I want you to f... date me." He said without stuttering.

"I'm sorry, what?" I leaned my ear, listening closely, to make sure I heard him right.

"I want you to fake date me." He repeated and this time I heard it crystal clear.

Fake.

* * * * *

A/N

This is Lexi's outfit!
I am going to put outfits at the end of the Chapter. There are going to be a lot of pictures in this book. 😂
I think it will be fun! And it'll be easy to describe the outfits since Lexi like to wear amazing clothes

Ciao ❤️