Oliver's POV

Mondays were always awful. That was the case universally, but especially in high school when you had the classes you hated most, all back-to-back.

And they were made even worse when Axel just wouldn't leave you alone.

"Hey, listen Oliver! Oliver!" He called out from down the hall. I pretended not to hear him, swift walking away to my class.

"Oliver! Hey, wait up! OLIVER!" 

Eventually, the crowds of the hallways thinned and he caught up to me.

I internally rolled my eyes and stopped, giving in. If people saw me ignoring him when he was this obnoxious, they'd ask question. And I didn't have any answers. 

Axel wasn't expecting me to stop because he crashed into me, and I stumbled into some of the other students in the hallway.

"Sorry!" I gave the group an apologetic smile. "Axel pushed me, haha!" I laughed it off even though I was clearly blaming him. They waved it off with a chuckle.

I recognized Ella in the group. Ella was a nice girl in my English class. She was sweet, but too friendly with the cast of reality-TV-stars-in-the-making at our school for me to bother with her.

Ella looked between Axel and me for a quick second. When her eyes connected with Axel's, she was quiet for a second, before nodding slightly and turning back to me.

Was Ella friends with Axel? I suppressed a groan. Shit, that was inconvenient.

Ella smiled sweetly at me. "Hey Oliver!" she chirped, leaning in.

And my chance to leave left. I restrained a sigh.

"Oh, hey Ella!" I acted like I had just noticed her. "I haven't seen you around lately, how are you doing?" I matched her sweet smile.

Her face relaxed a bit. "I'm doing great, thanks! How about you? You weren't in English all of last week!"

I could feel Axel staring from behind me, but I didn't have a reason to include him in the conversation, so I pretended to be so absorbed by my conversation with Ella that I didn't notice him. 

"Yeah, I caught the flu. I couldn't stop vomiting." She grimaced in pity, eyes flickering back to Axel for a second. 

Was he making a face? Did he think I was diseased and would now finally leave me alone? I could only pray that was the case. 

"But I'm all right now! I hope I didn't miss much?" I continued.

"Hey Ella, who's your friend?" One of the girls in the group asked, moving closer to nudge Ella in the side. 

Ella and the girl stared at each other for a moment. Their eyes connected, and it was like a silent understanding passed between them, before the girl peered over at me. 

They must have been really good friends to communicate with just a look, I thought as an outsider.

I continued to smile blankly, waiting, and Ella quickly caught on and introduced me.

"Guys, this is Oliver. Oliver, this is Roman, Minerva, Mia, Mila, Zoe, Kai, and Luca." She pointed to each of the people she'd named respectively. 

I made the tiniest effort to remember their names. People were always friendlier when you remembered and addressed them by name.

I politely stared at Minerva, Mia and Mila.

"Sisters?" I asked.

The one identified as Mila smiled. "Yeah! Identical triplets."

It was like a spot the difference game in reality. It took me just a moment to figure them out.

Mia was clearly the quiet type, probably had low self-esteem, judging from her oversized clothing and passive behaviour, huddling close to Zoe with her head down.

Minerva was clearly the opposite. It took a certain type of personality to wear lipstick that bold and bright to a high school math class, and I was actually surprised I hadn't noted her around before. Maybe she wasn't as bold as her designer outfit and done-up nails suggested, I mused.

Mila I recognized from the track team. She'd broken some record or the other, if I remembered correctly. Her hair was in a ponytail, and her soccer shorts looked like something I'd find in my closet.

I smiled at them and waved hello. Mia just gave me a shy nod, and Mila and Minerva greeted me back.

Beside then stood a textbook cutout of a dreamy fairy-tale prince—the one named Roman. Blond hair, caramel eyes, he looked graceful and a bit distant in an elegant way.

Or so I thought, until somebody walking near him accidentally pushed him and he fell to the floor. 

He tumbled over like a sack of potatoes.

Roman looked confused, still on the floor, and I offered a hand while the others snickered.

"Roman, please pay more attention," Kai offered a hand up as well, sounding exasperated and a bit worried. Roman gave us a sheepish grin.

Well, what prince wasn't a bit of an airhead? I snickered to myself. Kai, on the other hand, looked princely in another way—like a prince of KPOP. I almost felt embarrassed standing next to him in my jeans and t-shirt. We were wearing the same clothing, but he looked so much better. I'd have to take notes.

Zoe mumbled something in Mia's ear, and Mia leaned up to whisper something back, making Zoe's face soften. It took me a moment to realize I was watching a private moment between a couple, and when I did, I politely averted my gaze.

Luca nodded at me when our eyes met, and I nodded back. I vaguely remembered seeing him around—what class did we have together? He had tan-lines that implied some sort of sport, but I wasn't sure which. Maybe we had gym together?

"Oliver, have you done the reading for tomorrow yet?" Ella asked, done whispering with Minerva.

"I haven't even started yet, are you kidding me?" I groaned. Mila chuckled.

"I know what you mean. I haven't even bought the book yet," she admitted.

"Why don't you borrow Minerva's?" Luca asked.

"Are you kidding me? I'd never let her get my stuff all dirty! Do you know what she did with my calculator the other day? She was bouncing it like a soccer ball," Minerva ranted.

As I engaged in empty small talk with the group, Axel continued to stand behind me. 

I ignored him, but it was a bit unsettling. 

Axel didn't do quiet. He knew nothing of patience or subtlety.

Why was he content to follow me around like that? His gaze made my neck prick.

Not long after, the warning bell rang. After making an empty promise to totally hang out with the unmemorable group of extras sometime, I headed on to my class, and finally, Axel stopped shadowing me.

I sighed in relief. He wasn't a shadow. He was a black hole—determined to destroy whatever got close enough.

And I had no intention of letting him suck me into his little games.

"Oliver!" Mila waved me over, having entered the same class I had just a few moments before me. There was no seating plan, so I didn't have an excuse not to sit by her.

There were worse people to sit by, I supposed. Like Axel. I gave her a grin, sliding into the seat beside hers. 

"Long time no see," I joked.

"I know right," she snickered. "Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure we have some other classes together. Aren't you in history with me?"

I scratched my cheek in dramatic sheepishness. "Actually I'm not sure if I have classes with you or your sisters. You look familiar, but I only just realized there were three of you," I admitted with a laugh.

She chuckled. "Yeah, most people just think that we're one person with like, really bad mood swings or something. But we're really so different."

"Yeah, I could tell!" I nodded. "Mia's the shortest with freckles, Minerva's the one from the cover of Vogue, and you're on track, right?"

"I'm surprised you noticed!" She beamed. "I have some freckles too, but yeah, Mia's the shortest and Minnie's the one that doesn't look like a slob. Wait, aren't you on track too?"

We fell into an easy discussion as class started. She was a decent partner, and I was pleased that she didn't ask me for homework answers.

Before we left class, she invited me to sit at her table at lunch. I didn't want to end up at Emily's table and deal with gossiping all lunch again, so I agreed.

It turns out, I had French with Minerva, and her sarcasm rivaled mine. Not that I was outwardly that sarcastic, but I appreciated it.

I also had math with Roman, who sat there with a blank look on his face, pen poised above his papers, until I leaned over and explained what we were doing. 

He was almost in tears and wouldn't stop thanking me, and I tried to refuse but was very pleased when he gave me lunch coupons. Who said being nice didn't pay off? I just got a free lunch!

Roman wasn't a bad guy, anyways. He was kind of slow, but a really sweet guy. I also noticed that he mentioned Kai every couple of sentences. 

'Kai helps me with my homework'. 'Kai said this.' 'Kai said that'. I wouldn't be surprised if he told me they were dating, but I didn't really care enough to ask.

At lunch, I joined them at their table. Luca thought it would be funny to stick fries in his nose and ended up choking on milk, typical teenage boy behaviour.

Mia, I found, liked anime, and not the generic ones, but good anime, and I was genuinely excited to have someone to talk to about the intricacies of food porn. 

She clearly felt similarly, because I was taken aback by how animated she became. Zoe watched Mia fondly, occasionally stealing her fries.

A loud noise cut Mia's ramble off and we all turned to see a designer-clad yet scantily-dressed cheerleader—Chloe, or some generic name like that—climb over the table and kiss Axel full on the lips.

I internally cringed as Axel's table wolf-whistled, cheering on the display. Disgusting. Kissing was never sexy, but it wasn't supposed to be that off-putting. 

Within moments, I was able to catch a glimpse of her bright, cherry red lipstick all over Axel's lips, cheeks, and chin—how did it even get on his forehead?!

From the other side of the cafeteria, there was a loud clatter. I watched another designer-clad girl storm over to where Axel was being publicly eaten, wishing I had some popcorn. 

"HOW DARE YOU?" The second girl yelled, getting more upset as Axel continued to be kissed. 

"What's her name?" I quietly asked Minerva beside me. 

"She's Riya, a gymnast," Minerva filled me in. "Hooked up with Axel at the last party, I heard, and she said he promised to take her out."

I hummed, already knowing how this farcical circus show would end. 

Chloe ignored Riya for a long moment, continuing to kiss Axel in front of her. Riya stormed closer, angered, and was about to pull Axel away when Chloe slowly pushed off him.

"What?" Chloe demanded, looking Riya up and down in disgust. "Can't I kiss my boyfriend?"

"Your bo—" Riya turned to Axel, angered. "Axel!" 

Axel rolled his eyes. Riya, further incensed, glared at both him and Chloe. "You said you were going out with me!" Riya stomped her foot in aggression.

"Why would my boyfriend go out with someone like you?" Chloe sniffed.

"Who said I was going out with either of you?" Axel cut in, annoyed. He pushed at Chloe, not intending to hurt, but to get her off him. She stumbled dramatically regardless, crying out as if she'd been pained, eyes filling with crocodile tears.

"Axel you promised you'd—" Riya was cut off by Chloe's whine of pain. 

"Ouch, Axel, my arm!" Chloe pouted, her messy lipstick making her look like the joker. 

Axel sighed long-sufferingly, rolling his eyes. He turned to Riya. "I said maybe we could hang out sometime, not that we were going out," he said coldly. It was clear he meant 'hang out' as in 'meet up to fuck'. 

Riya sputtered, claiming that he promised otherwise. I wouldn't doubt it. But Chloe interrupted, still pretending she had hurt her hand.

Riya was joined by two of her friends, who also insisted that Axel had promised to go out with her, and seeing the gang up, Chloe's friends came over to coddle her and yell at Axel as well, but also at Riya and Co. for bothering her alleged boyfriend, creating an impromptu yelling match.  

Yikes. All in all, it was the exact kind of petty drama you'd expect from hormonal teenagers and guys who liked to play around. 

I turned away from that train wreck before I lost my appetite, and waited for Mia to resume her analysis of Levi's character.

She didn't. I looked up from my noodles, questioning with my eyes, but Mia was silent, staring at me with a look of pity.

In fact, the whole table was.

I cocked my head slightly, confused. Why where they staring at me? 

Roman's eyes flickered to Axel, and then back to me, and then I sort of understood.

Axel had been following me in the morning, and they had witnessed it. 

Did they expect me to care that he was kissing around or having relationship drama? I couldn't care less. 

I didn't know Chloe or Riya and I didn't care about Axel. What did that have to do with me?

Axel stood up, his chair screeching so loudly against the floor that it made me wince. 

He wiped his face off on his arm, and pushed Chloe away when she tried to pull him back in.

"Don't touch me!" he demanded, pushing her hands away again. He ignored Chloe's gasp of shock, and didn't react when she and her friends began protesting. 

He ignored Riya tugging on his shirt for his attention as well, instead looking around the room, as if he was searching for something.

As Chloe brought out the crocodile tears once again, Axel's eyes met with mine.

He stared, and I quickly averted my eyes. 

The drama was lukewarm yet entertaining enough when it was across the room, but I had no intention of joining that circus. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Axel pushing away the girls latching onto him, trying to walk over in my direction. 

Luckily for me, the warning bell rang. I already had my biology textbooks, so after waving at Mia and the rest, I beelined right out of there.

"Oliver!" I heard Axel yell behind me. 

Unfortunately for me, the hallway was too empty to pretend I hadn't heard him, so I reluctantly turned to look at him, but didn't stop walking.

But the sight of Axel scowling, rubbing his bright red nose, with lipstick smeared all over his face, shirt crumpled and lipstick stains on his collar— it was quite a sight to behold. 

My lips twitched, and Axel scowled harder.

"What happened to your nose?" I asked, unable to resist. Did Riya's friends throw something at him? Damn, I wish I'd seen that.

"You hit me with the door," he said through gritted teeth, trying hard to stay calm.

I gave him a wide-eyed, innocent look. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I never meant to... dirty your face." 

I let my eyes roam over the lipstick marks on his face with moderate distaste. 

Axel hastily rubbed at them, glowering at the ground. At least he was self-conscious about it.

"If that's all..." I trailed, before turning around and walking away. 

I could hear him calling after me once again. Knowing it would piss him off, I didn't turn back, and entered my biology class just as students started filling the halls. 

He could kiss my ass with those dirty lips of his.