Like Chocolate Stars and the Sun

Before I knew it, a week had passed. That meant Tyler would be on his way home any time soon. I was more than slightly worried about my boyfriends return. One thing going through my mind was my worries about lying to Tyler’s face. I mean that is basically what I was going to end up doing after all. Another thing was, now that Stacey had split up with Jesse, was she still going to keep her part of the deal? I had not exactly kept my half of the deal, but purely because of the fact Stacey and Jesse were no longer together. I didn’t need to stay away from him as Stacey didn’t want all of his attention all the time.

Still in the back of my mind something was telling me that I shouldn’t be so naive about the whole situation. That annoying little voice inside my head was telling me that all this was going to turn round and bite me in the backside one day. I couldn’t trust Stacey as far as I could throw her, but I was hoping that she would do something nice for a change.

As I stepped out of Jesse’s fathers car on Wednesday morning and saw the school towering above me, I knew today wasn’t going to be a good day. My horoscope even said that I should avoid people who I could end up arguing with today. Jesse must have noticed I was acting a little uneasy because he came up behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder.

“Don't worry.” He grinned down at me and removed his hand from my shoulder as I turned round to face him.

“Who says I'm worried?” I asked and looked straight into his blue eyes. “I just ... don’t know what will happen if he finds out.”

“He's not going to find out.” Jesse reassured me. “This is our little secret. It’s going to stay that way, ok?” As far as I knew, only Stacey, Charlotte and I knew about the deal that was made. Jesse didn’t even know that Stacey knew. I just shrugged at his comment and began walking slowly into school.

There were many students milling around the entrance to the school, but one particular blonde girl seemed to stand out like a sore thumb. Stacey was parading into school wearing her highest heels to date, looking very smug with herself. She was being closely followed by two more blonde's in heels, who were giggling like idiots. Whoever was the butt of their joke was not a lucky person.

Once inside the big hallways of my school I kept my eyes open for Tyler. Despite everything that had gone on in the past week, I had missed the guy so much. I had missed his cute flirty personality, and him just being there really. When I reached my locker I decided I would just have to wait and see him in second period maths. As I turned the dial on my locker door I heard two pairs of high heels clicking their way towards me. It didn’t take me long to figure out who the two pairs of clicking heels belonged to, Cara Simons and Kimberly Jones. Stacey’s ‘crew’. Ok that made her sound gangster. Anyway the two walked up to me, both grinning like Cheshire cats. I just continued to look through my locker for my books.

“You excited about seeing your boyfriend again?” Kimberly asked in a high pitched voice not so different from Stacey’s.

“Yes, what’s it to you?” I replied blankly, more to my locker then to Kimberly.

“Well from what we heard you didn’t seem to miss him the day he left, if you know what I mean.” Cara smirked. I immediately froze. How the hell did they find out?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I sighed and pretended to be digging around in my bag for something.

“I'm pretty sure you do.” Cara told me, “Or would photographic evidence help jog your memory.” I turned to face the pair in shock, my mouth hanging open. Photographic evidence?

“What?” Was all I managed to get out. The two blonde's laughed at me and continued to talk.

“I knew that would get your attention.” Kimberly giggled. “Want to see?”

“Look I don’t know what you aim to achieve from this, but whatever it is isn’t going to happen.” I tried keeping my voice as calm as possible, but it sure as hell wasn’t happening.

“We have the advantage here, I don’t think your little boyfriend is going to be happy about you making out with his cousin.” Kimberly smirked. I looked around and was unbelievably grateful no one was really in earshot of our conversation, you have no idea.

“Who told you?” I asked quietly.

“Who do you think?” Cara laughed and looked over at Kimberly then back at me.

“Look just leave it, ok?” I pleaded. I closed my locker door and sighed. Now you have been the best time to walk away. I wish I had right there.

“You know what I don’t think we should.” Cara smirked, “I think Tyler has a right to know what his slutty little girlfriend get up to when his back is turned.” I scowled at her. Then I realised they were hinting that Stacey was going to tell Tyler. She even had photographic evidence, or tweedle dumb and tweedle dee said she had.

“I'd watch you back if I were you.” Kimberly smirked and the two turned on their heels simultaneously. I stood there gawping as the two blonde's walked away from me.

“Are you ok?” Jesse asked from behind me, I turned around and sighed. “I saw you talking to Cara and Kimberly just then.”

“They know,” I mumbled, “Stacey told them.”

“What? Stacey knew?” Guess who didn’t get the memo.

“Yes, she did. Apparently she also had picture proof.” I looked up at Jesse’s face. He looked confused, shocked and worried all at the same time. “Jesse were totally screwed.”

“Ok that’s not good.”

“You don’t say.” I sighed heavily. “According to blonde and blonder she's planning on telling Tyler, if she hasn’t already.”

“They could be bluffing.” Jesse shrugged, trying to convince himself as much as me, I'm guessing.

“Come on, do you really believe that?” Jesse shook his head and I closed my eyes. “Exactly.”

“Look Frankie, don’t worry about it.” Jesse placed both of his hands on my shoulders in an attempt to reassure me, “Whatever happens we are both in this together.” He smiled down at me, “I got you into this mess and I'm going to get you out, if it kills me.”

“Thanks,” I smiled weakly. “Look I better head off to class. Talk to you later.” I waved back at Jesse as I walked down the corridor on my way to History.

* * *

I never in a million years though I would actually look forwards to a maths lesson. When I walked into the classroom and saw that familiar dark hair I could have jumped for joy. The only reason I didn’t was the fear that Stacey had got to him first, before I had a chance to prepare him for what was inevitable. I smiled at him as I sat down, but receiving nothing but a blank stare in response.

“Hey you.” I grinned at the side of Tyler’s face, but my grin soon faltered as I still got no response. I tapped him on the shoulder till he finally spoke to me.

“Stop it.” Ok. Totally not what I was expecting. Still I wasn’t going to stop.

“So, nice time in Hawaii?” I asked, “I missed you.”

“Really?” Tyler finally turned towards me, but instead of seeing an ‘awe that’s so sweet’ kind of face I was greeted with a ‘I totally want to smack you but I can’t because your a girl’ kind of face. “Doesn’t really seem like it?”

Just as I was about to ask him what he meant, despite the fact I had a pretty good idea what he meant, our maths teacher walked in and started blabbing on about trigonometry. I should have payed attention but I couldn’t help but try and think of how I was going to dig my way out of this one.

When the lesson ended I called after Tyler who was speeding down the hallway. He stopped abruptly and turned round. I quickly walked over to him, putting on a face that implied I didn’t know anything about why he wasn’t happy with me.

“What?” He asked and crossed his arms across his chest.

“What did you mean back there?” I asked, the picture of innocence. Yeah right.

“What do you think I meant?” He asked, his bright green eyes avoiding my own. A crowd had begun to gather in the corridor. Obviously not much happens in this school, so a little tiff between two people must be big news.

“Well to be honestly I don’t have a clue.” I sighed, “ You have barely said two words to me since you got back.” The crowd was growing by the second. Sure guys, free entertainment over here!

“Do you really want to know why?” Tyler took a step towards me. “It’s because my girlfriend can’t keep her hands to herself for two seconds.”

That was my confirmation. There was no way that he didn’t know.

“Look Tyler...”

“Don't even try it.” Tyler shook his head at me. “There isn’t a thing on earth you could say to me right now that would make things any better.” I looked down at the floor and brushed my hair away from my face. The now humongous crowd filled the few moments of silence with their whispering and I'm sure some people were texting people. Most likely telling them to come watch the ‘lovers tiff’.

“Please just listen to me.” I begged but Tyler once again shook his head.

“Why should I?” My hopes of actually saving anything at this point were close to nothing.

“You don’t understand.” I looked up into his eyes, pleading him with my own, begging him to just forget the whole thing.

“Oh yeah, I do understand.” He growled, something I never thought I would see him do. “I understand my girlfriend is a slut.”

I took a step back from him, shocked he would even call me that. He did come across as the kind of person who would ever say something like that. Tears began collecting in my eyes, threatening to fall.

“I didn’t expect anything like this from you.” Tyler said as I saw someone push their way to the front of the crowd out of the corner of my eye. “But I guess I was mistaken.”

“What the hell is going on here?” Jesse cried, his blue eyes wide.

“Don't act like your Mr innocent.” Tyler rolled his eyes. Jesse looked over at me and must have seen my tear filled eyes because he looked about ready to knock Tyler out.

“What have you said to her?” He asked Tyler, immediately getting defensive over me.

“Oh look Francesca, here comes your knight in shining amour.” Tyler said sarcastically while glaring at the two of us.

“I'm looking out for a friend, didn’t know that was a crime nowadays.” Jesse raised an eyebrow.

“Oh that’s what you call it.” Tyler asked. “Did she need looking after the night I went to Hawaii, or did you just feel like making out with her?”

That was it. Our secret was out, and no doubt would be round the school in a matter of minutes. I didn’t know quite what to say. I don’t think anyone did, as the corridor was deathly silent.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Tyler spoke up after a few minutes. “Have a great life you too, seen as though you have made good work of destroying mine.”

“It is not Francesca’s fault.” Jesse began.

“I don’t care anymore.” Tyler sighed. “Francesca I really didn’t think you could be such a whore, throwing yourself at the first guy you see. You could make a job out of it.”

That's when the tears that had been collecting in my eyes started to flow freely down my cheeks. Not only had I just been dumped, I had been repeatedly insulted, argued with someone I considered a close friend – all to an audience of well over a hundred students who will be talking about it for sometime to come. It was all a little too much to handle, I wasn’t thinking straight. So when someone grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the watching eyes I just followed like a lost puppy.

When we stopped walking I wiped away the tears from my eyes, forgetting about my non-waterproof mascara, but that wasn’t my main concern at that current time. Once I could see clearly I was greeted with the faces of Jesse and Charlotte, both looking equally concerned.

“You ok Frankie?” Jesse asked as I wiped away even more tears that were still collecting in my eyes. I shook my head and sighed.

“Not really.” I sniffed. “I've been better.”

“My cousin is an ass.” Jesse said as he pulled me into a well needed hug. “You deserve so much better.” I just nodded against his chest.

“He has a point though.” I sighed. “I am a slut, I can’t keep my hands to myself.”

“Don't you even dare say that.” Charlotte piped up.

“Yeah, he has a right to be angry, but there is no need for name calling.” Jesse brushed away a few strands of hair from my face and gently ran his thumb across my tear stained cheeks.

“Come on, let’s get that mascara off your cheeks.” Charlotte grabbed my hand and gently pulled me away from Jesse, who just waved as we both walked off down the corridor.