Page 56 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Wednesday

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Sophie said, pulling me to the side of the front doors. “I have your contraband.” She started rummaging around in her backpack.

“Contraband?”

“Your Odegaards.”

“Oh.” I’d almost completely forgotten about my new shoes. All the other girls at Empire High wore high heels. Even Uncle Rob let Sophie wear them. He was so much cooler than my dad.

I’d bought them with the credit card I was only supposed to use for emergencies.

In my defense, I’d seen Liam buy tons of stupid stuff, and I never used the card.

Until now. I’d bought the heels two weeks ago when Sophie and I were back-to-school shopping.

I’d been waiting this whole time to get in trouble.

But…neither of my parents noticed. Sophie let me keep my new shoes at her house so that my parents never saw them. I could only imagine my dad’s reaction to these based on how he’d reacted to my skirt. Luckily, I’d never have to find out, because I wasn’t planning on ever taking them home.

“Here,” she said, pulling out my brand new Odegaards.

“Thanks, Soph.” I put my hand on her shoulder to balance as I pulled off my flats in exchange for the much more sophisticated heels. They were a matte white with the signature blue bottom. Classically elegant. And the blue complimented my blue blazer.

“You look so bangable,” Sophie said.

I laughed. But I felt bangable. The makeup, the contacts, the skirt, the shoes. I took a deep breath. I looked grown-up. I looked ready to crush this school year and win over Axel Stevens. Finally.

“You ready for this?” Sophie asked.

I struck a pose, jutting out my hip. “Absolutely,” I said, sounding much more confident than I felt. My heart was beating so quickly I was worried it was going to explode.

She laughed and looped her arm back through mine. “Axel is gonna drool when he sees you.”

I hope so. My stomach had started doing cartwheels last night and hadn’t stopped.

And as we made our way up the final steps to Empire High, I almost felt like I was going to be sick.

I only got one first impression for senior year.

And this was it. If Axel didn’t look at me as more than a friend when I walked through those doors, I would literally die.

But I had a feeling everything was about to go my way. I was ready.

An underclassman opened up the door for us as we approached.

“Thanks,” Sophie said to him with a wink.

He looked like he was going to piss his pants with excitement. Sophie had that kind of effect on guys. And today…I hoped I did too.

A gust of wind hit us when we walked into the school, blowing my hair just so.

It was like we were walking in slow motion as heads turned away from lockers to watch us in our grand entrance.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if people were snapping photos.

This was basically a red-carpet entrance.

Or a New York fashion week catwalk. I was unstoppable.

My eyes locked with Axel’s down the hall. The side of his mouth lifted in that perfect half-smile that he seemed to reserve just for me. It always made my insides melt. Especially when his eyes scanned down my body.

I went to lift my hand to wave at him, but then I was falling. Not falling in love with Axel. I’d already done that.

I was literally falling. On my face. I realized at the last minute that Axel’s eyes weren’t wandering down my body with newfound respect. He’d probably just been looking at Gigi’s foot as she tripped me.

My hands slammed onto the ground just in time to avoid totally busting my face. And I pulled Sophie down with me.

“Ow,” Sophie groaned. She didn’t sound embarrassed at all, just annoyed. But I knew my face was bright red.

Gigi started laughing.

I slowly looked up. Gigi was wearing a pair of heels too, and her skirt was significantly shorter than even my new one. I freaking hated her.

Her arms were folded across her chest and she was staring down at me with her demon eyes.

“What a way to start the new year. On your knees begging to be popular.” She laughed.

“For the record, walking in heels takes practice. Do yourself a favor and walk around in front of the mirror a bit. Then you won’t trip over your own feet and embarrass yourself in front of the whole student body. ”

Gigi snapped her fingers and her minions Georgia and Gemma appeared by her side. The Triple Gs. I hated Gigi the most. But all three of them were evil. Georgia and Gemma started laughing too.

Sophie stood up and brushed her hands off on her skirt. “Great logic, Gigi. There’s only one problem…you tripped her. So apparently it’s you that doesn’t know the proper etiquette of wearing shoes, Neanderthal.”

Gigi glared at her. “Excuse you?”

“Excuse you, you utter simpleton. We have better things to do than listen to you.” Sophie put her hand out for me.

I’d rather just stay down and somehow melt into the floor. But that didn’t seem like an option. So I grabbed Sophie’s hand and let her help me up to my feet.

“Look alive,” Sophie whispered as she pulled me away from the Triple Gs. “Axel’s coming this way. Time for phase two of Operation THTH.”

“But now I’m not ready,” I said and tried to walk in the opposite direction.

But Gigi was there, still glaring at us.

My feet froze in the middle of the hallway.

I wanted to go back in time to five minutes ago when I was on top of the world.

And what happened to the very flattering wind in my hair?

The air was now stale and I was starting to sweat.

Screw high school. I needed to get out of here.

Sophie caught my arm. “Nope. You talked about this all summer. Hell, you’ve been talking about it for 17 years. We’re doing this now…” her voice trailed off. “Hi, guys!” she said in a super upbeat voice, dropping my arm.

“We’re seniors!” Jacob yelled, not giving a care in the world that teachers would probably scold him. He hugged me, lifting me up just enough so that my feet no longer touched the ground, and twirled me in a circle.

I laughed as he set me back down on my feet.

Axel put his arm around my shoulders. “Gigi already giving you a hard time?”

I looked up at him. And for a second, I forgot what he’d just asked me.

His skin was golden from the sun and his blonde hair looked lighter too.

He’d spent the entire summer at the beach.

He and Jacob both got jobs at Rehoboth. I’d begged my parents to let me go with them, but my mom was too worried about my fair skin being in the sun unsupervised.

Sophie had stayed in New York with me out of solidarity.

But also because her crush had stayed in the city and she had stalker tendencies.

“Scar?” Axel said.

My eyes locked with his. He belonged at the beach. His skin tanned perfectly and his blue eyes were the color of the ocean.

The side of his mouth ticked up. “You okay, Scar?”

“Hm?” Oh my God, had he been talking to me this whole time?

“I asked if Gigi was already giving you a hard time?”

“Psh,” Sophie said. “Who cares about Gigi when we should be talking about how hot Scarlett looks. Haven’t you noticed, Axel? She’s on fire.”

Axel’s eyebrows lowered.

Jacob whistled as he leaned against his locker. “You ditched the glasses and your skirt isn’t to your knees. Everyone’s noticed,” he said. “And Soph is right, you look sexy as hell.”

I could feel my face turning red. I looked up at Axel, but instead of seeing a flirtatious smile like Jacob’s, all I saw was a frown.

I swallowed hard. “What?”

“I liked your glasses.” He stared at me for a second and then dropped his arm from my shoulders.

I suddenly felt cold without his arm around me. My plan was going down in flames. Shouldn’t I have been feeling hot?

Axel stared at me for another second. “Gotta get to class,” he said. And with that, he turned and walked away.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. What? He liked my glasses? He’d had seven years to tell me that. Seven years where I’d thought that he thought I looked like a loser. Seven years of hell.

Sophie’s face fell as he walked away.

“Why so glum?” Jacob said. “We’re seniors!” he shouted again. “Catch you guys later. And Scar…you really do look hot.”

“Axel liked my glasses?” I said as I watched Jacob catch back up with Axel down the hall. “When the hell did he start liking my glasses?”

“You could always start wearing them again,” Sophie said.

“What? No. Do you have any idea how hard I had to fight my dad in order to get contacts? I’m freaking wearing them.

He was supposed to notice how much I changed for the better.

Not that he liked me how I was before. I just have to do something else…

” I started to roll my skirt so it would be as short as Gigi’s.

“You’re spiraling.”

“I’m not spiraling.”

“I don’t know, Scar. Your ass is practically hanging out.”

“Ugh.” I groaned and looked down. “It is not. It’s the same length as yours.”

“Is it?” Sophie looked over her shoulder to see where her skirt barely covered her butt. “Huh, I guess so.” She shrugged. “Well on a positive note…Jacob was all over you.”

“He hugged you too. And gross, we’re basically cousins.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” She started laughing. “You’re basically cousins with Axel too. You call his dad Uncle Tyler. Where the hell do you draw the incest line?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I sighed as I watched Axel walk into his first class.

I was no longer nervous. I just felt like I was going to be sick.

I shook my head and turned back to Soph, forcing my bottom lip not to tremble.

“Axel doesn’t like me.” It was a realization I’d come to countless times.

But after all the planning this summer, it felt more real than ever. Axel Stevens doesn’t like me. Period.

“He does. He just…he’s a boy, so he’s dumb.”

The bell for first period rang.

“Come on, we’re going to be late for class.

” She pulled me toward our calc class. Sophie ditched classes a lot.

But never calc. Because she was in love with Mr. Halifax.

He was her crush. The guy she was currently stalking.

He was 27, exactly 10 years older than her.

And it was never going to happen. Kind of like me and Axel.

“So much for Operation Too Hot to Handle,” I mumbled.

“Nonsense. We just need a phase three. And I have the perfect idea. But it might involve a little incest.”

“Ew, what?”

“God, look at Mr. Halifax’s ass in those khakis. Trust me, you’re going to love it.”

Mr. Halifax’s ass or her incest phase? God, both sounded terrible.