Chapter 14

"Great job, you two," Ms. Westley said, praising Ember and Brett as they took their seats. "We only have time for Aurora and Xander for Scene 5," she said, her voice noticeably less enthusiastic as she called our names.

"You ready?" He whispered to me, standing up out of his desk.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I sighed as I followed after him to the front of the classroom, our peers eyes on us. "You better not forget your lines or I'm actually going to kill you."

"You know, I have literally six lines," he chuckled quietly so nobody could hear. "I don't think I'll forget."

"You forget the way you prepare your coffees. I think you're gonna forget."

He fake-frowned and put his hand over his heart. "Have a little faith in me, would you?"

"Okay, go," Ms. Westley signaled as she sat back in her chair and I took a deep breath in.

"Your hand," he took a pause to take my hand in his, just as it said in the script, "is a holy place that my hand is unworthy to visit. If you're offended by the touch of my hand, my two lips are standing here, ready to make things better with a kiss."

"You don't give your hand enough credit," I said, reciting the lines from memory. "By holding my hand you show polite devotion. Holding one palm against another is like a kiss."

"Don't saints and pilgrims have lips too?"

"They have lips that they're supposed to pray with."

"Well then, let lips do what hands do." He took a quick pause to remember his line. "I'm praying for you to kiss me. Grant my prayer so my faith doesn't turn to despair."

"Saints don't move, even when they grant prayers," I slowly said, jogging my memory for the next line.

"Then don't move while I act out my prayer."

We awkwardly lingered there as we looked back at Ms. Westley who was smiling her sinister smile.

"Go on, now," she said, waving her hand.

"But-" I started just to be cut off by her.

"Docking five points." She looked down and penned something on her clipboard. "Continue."

I rolled my eyes before turning back to Xander. "I have a boyfriend," I whispered just as he leaned in.

"I know you do." He chuckled quietly, his breath fanning my lips as he crept closer and closer with every passing second.

I instinctually shut my eyes seconds as fire burnt in every one of my cells as he finally pressed his lips to mine. His calloused hands still kept hold of my hand, causing shocks to prick my palms as he kept his firm grasp. Every spark, every shock, lasting quite literally a split second, he pulled away.

What. The.  Actual. Hell.

"Now my sin has been taken from my lips by yours," Xander stiffly recited from memory, breaking the brittle silence hovering in the air.

"Oh, um," I stuttered, trekking my memory for my line. "Um, now my sin has been taken from my lips by yours."

"Sin from my lips? You encourage crime with your sweetness. Give me my sin back," he calmly finished.

We turned back to Ms Westley just as the class gave a faint applause, just like they did for other partners. It was just a courtesy.

"Nice job," Ms. Westley said with an eyebrow raise. "You forgot some of your lines momentarily, Aurora, and you were a little choppy, Xander."

I rolled my eyes internally. I could never please her. But nonetheless, slight smile graced my lips as Xander and I sat down.

"Xander, what the f-"

"Shh," he whispered back. "You can yell at me later."

♛ ♛ ♛

"Hey, bitch!" Olivia chirped as I flung open the door.

She was in some ripped boyfriend jeans and a black crop top and wedges.

"Where are you going?"

"On a date with some senior." She said, swiping mascara on her lashes. "Anyways, I heard about your little fiasco with your little crush."

"What? How the hell do you know? And crush? What are we, in third grade?" I smiled, setting my backpack down on my bed.

"Kinda." She shrugged. "And everybody knows, actually. I can't believe you tried to keep it a secret from us all at lunch."

I looked up at her with an expectant gaze for her to elaborate.

"I mean, the golden girl and the player making moves?" She widened her eyes and flailed her arms like a crazy person. Well, she was a crazy person. "It's a complete cliche, but come on! Our school is so boring that the most exciting thing that happened last week was Nasty Jenna being caught with Cooper in the janitor's closet."

"Nasty Jenna?"

"Yeah, I hate her," she rolled her eyes. "I don't know why, but I just do."

I laughed at her ridiculous reasoning.

"Do you feel guilty about it?"

I looked up at the ceiling to gather my thoughts. "Honestly, yes," I spoke truly. "I feel bad because I actually enjoyed the kiss! Gosh, he's a really good kisser. Even if it was only for two seconds."

A goofy smile plastered her face and I rolled my eyes at her excitement.

"Does Tommy know about the kiss?" I asked.

"Don't know, you should ask him," she sinisterly smiled at me through the mirror. "Maybe he'll get pissed and you guys will break up. Then you can have hot babies with Xander!"

I scoffed. "Just because I might have some sort of feelings for Xander doesn't mean I'm gonna give up on Tommy. That's flat-out mean, Liv."

"You, Aurora, need to let yourself be happy for once." She paused her makeup to turn around and face me. "Stop letting others dictate what you want. If you want Xander, get him."

"But Tommy is good. Tommy is safe. Our relationship won't end in sadness."

"Tommy is also boring," she raised her eyebrow. "Your relationship won't end in sadness because there was no happiness!"

I sighed.

"Anyways, I gotta get going now, but just think about what you want, okay?"

I nodded, giving her a once over. "You're hot! Go get them senior boys!"

She laughed, grabbed her clutch, and opened the door to be met with a nerve-filled Tommy.

"Oh, uh, I assume you're here for Aurora?" She asks, looking over at me.

"Yeah."

"Kay, bye!" Olivia said, and immediately beelined for the door and she shut it behind her.

"Hi," I offered up. "Why are you here? Oh gosh, did I forget about a date night!"

"No, we didn't have anything planned."

I raised my brow at him, prompting him to explain why he was here.

"Were you going to tell me?" His voice stayed firm. He was no doubt talking about Xander and I's kiss form earlier.

"It wasn't a big deal, Tommy."

"My girlfriend kissing the biggest fückboy of the century isn't a big deal? And in front of an entire class?" His voice grew somewhat louder as he struggled to maintain his cool.

I'd never seen this side of him before: the angry side.

"N-no," I stuttered, cursing myself in my head for sounding so weak. "It's not a big deal."

"It is though."

I averted my gaze to the floor as he kept his eyes on me, the tense air already building up after only a few minutes.

"I'm sorry."

I snapped my head up, surprised by his sudden mood change.

"I shouldn't have kept you from him."

"Can you say that again?" I asked with wide eyes, not believing I was hearing that correctly.

He sighed and sat on my bed next to me.

"It was obvious, really. You and Xander's attraction for each other." He looked at me in the eyes. "It's okay," He said noticing my tear-rimmed eyes. I didn't know why I felt the need to cry, it just seemed like I needed to since I saw where it was going.

"You're amazing, Tom-Tom."

He strained a smile, running his hand down my cheek. "I'm actually not. I mean, I wasn't there when you got punched. I was never there mostly. There was really no chance for me against Xander to be honest. I don't even know why I thought I could win you over."

"You weren't there, that's true," I said. He seemed taken aback by that. "But you were there sometimes, and that's hard especially when you know someone else already won me over."

"You really love him?"

I scoffed. "Hell no, in fact I hate him, a lot."

"Well there's a very fine line between love and hate." We sat in silence. I assume mostly because he was trying to preserve us together for as long as possible. "I should probably leave now."

I nodded, standing up with him and opening the door for him.

"It's been fun, Aurora." He smiled genuinely. "For as short as it was, it was nice."

"Agreed." I returned his smile. "I'll see you later?" I said quietly, but it came out as more of a question.

"You bet," he nodded and swiftly turned to leave.

And with that, I shut the door behind his retreating form, wishing him a goodbye behind his back.

♛ ♛ ♛

okay! i finally updated yay ahaha! please don't hate me i'm really sorry i swear lol but i'll try do better, i promise. anyways, i'm literally so glad the Tommy and Aurora era ended! don't forget to vote or comment!

and obviously i didn't write the lines for romeo and juliette bc i'm not shakespeare lmao so here's the site i got it from! http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/page_66.html

i'm also gonna try being more personal with y'all now so feel free to ask me questions if you want!

q: fave social media?

a: mine used to be snapchat buuut i literally hate the new update sm so i guess IG or pinterest. also, my pinterest (ourforevers) has inspiration boards for xander and aurora (they're super aesthetic lol) so go check em out! my pinterest is linked in my bio (lil self promo ahaha)

I LITERALLY LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND STAY TUNED

-sophia (my friends call me soaps lol dunno why k bye)