Cheat (Chapter Twenty Three)

Feels like Forever

It was weird at first. Trey and I. All of it. And in some part of my brain, it felt like déjà vu all over again.

"Trey…I'm not sure about this," I whispered, nervous as we stood in front of his car in the parking lot of our school.

He smiled that amazing smile I'd grown to love and holding my hand in his own, pulled me towards him. "It'll be okay."

I tried smiling despite the eruption of butterflies in my stomach, my hands on his chest and looking up in his oh-so amazing eyes. "I don't know…"

"You're with me. I won't let anyone touch a hair on you," he said as he placed a small kiss on the tip of my nose.

I closed my eyes as tingles rose up in my body at his touch. Was this really true? Or was it only a dream? Surely, it felt too good to be real. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do it."

"Drew, I'm not sure about this," I whispered as he wrapped his arms around me. We stood in front of the school, preparing ourselves to go in and make the first appearance as a couple.

"Babe, nothing can go wrong. I'm here aren't I?" he asked, his eyes blue and gorgeous. I got lost in them. Surely, this was a dream. How could I have managed to go out with the single most hottest guy in our school was beyond me.

I shook my head, nervous. "Yeah, but…those girls and your world and all the drama and popularity. I don't belong in that."

He shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Now that you're Drew Miller's girlfriend, you'll be part of all of it. My world is your world now. And seriously, it's not as bad as you think it is."

"Really?" I asked, uncertain about everything that was going on. All I knew was that I was the luckiest girl in the planet to be someone like Drew Miller's girlfriend. He was an amazing guy and the fact that he liked me…well, that was impossible to believe. This was the guy I'd fall in love with, I knew. I just knew it.

He nodded smiling and placed a small kiss upon my lips. "Really. And don't worry; I won't let anyone hurt you."

Too bad he didn't promise he wouldn't be the one hurting me either.

"This is so weird," I said as Trey and I stepped inside the school holding hands. The world seemed to pass by me in fast motion. "I feel like I've done all this before."

Trey immediately knew what I was talking about. "Don't worry, it won't be like last time," he said as he gave my hand a small squeeze.

I nodded and taking a deep breath, we entered the school. Immediately we felt everyone's eyes on us. This time, these glances weren't the usual looks we had grown used to. This time, they were curious, their eyes traveling from our proximity to our entwined hands. This time, it was as if they knew what was happening. As we walked towards my locker, eyes followed us, girls and boys getting in groups and gossiping about what they were seeing. This, I was sure was what came with dating the school's very own demigod. This, I knew I had to get used to.

Reaching my locker, I opened it, my breath still hitched in the back of my throat.

"You're doing great," he whispered in my ear, a smile on his face and I felt myself relax at his words.

I grabbed my books and we headed towards Trey locker which was the real challenge. There, I knew we'd have to make it official. We walked over to his locker, hand in hand once more, and reaching there, we saw that Skylar and Natalie were also there talking (just talking, thank God). They gave us a curious look as even they didn't know of our recent relationship, but ignoring them completely, Trey opened his locker.

I noticed we were now surrounded by many people, wondering what the hell was happening. They didn't know what to expect, I could tell. They weren't sure what was happening. Had their school's king finally gotten a new girlfriend?

As I felt more and more eyes on us, I couldn't help but feel more nervous. Trey, sensing my uneasiness and everyone else's curious looks, decided to finally answer it all.

To my surprise, he pulled me by my hand towards him like he had in the parking lot just minutes ago and wrapped his arms around me. He pushed away the few stray hair strands from my face, tucking them neatly behind my ear, and before I knew it, he placed a kiss on my lips, making the crowd gasp in wonder and making my knees buckle.

I had only kissed Trey three times, this being the third (not including our one-night stand, because I could hardly even remember that and it just didn't count), but yet, I hadn't gotten used to his amazing lips on my own. They made me feel the same elated feeling I got every single time. Was it even possible to feel the emotions he made me feel?

Before I knew it, the kiss was over and I felt myself frown. I know I said I wasn't into PDA, but when the kiss and the kisser is that good—even my morals can be fought against.

Trey smirked seeing my look and leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Don't worry, there's a lot more where that came from." He winked and I blushed, unable to help myself.

The crowd was murmuring in loud whispers around me but I didn't let it bother me. I was too happy from the kiss to be bothered by anything else. Let's just say I was still in my happy place.

"Oh, my God!" Natalie squealed from behind us and we broke away from each other, grins on both our faces as we turned towards her and Skylar. "When did this happen? I can't believe you didn't tell us!"

Skylar looked fazed, his face full of surprise. "Wow," was all he said as he slowly broke out of it and thumped Trey on the back in congrats.

"Sorry," I said. "We just thought we'd announce it at school."

Trey wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him, placing a kiss on my head. "Call me the luckiest guy in the world."

I rolled my eyes. "As if."

"Well, you sure surprised us," said Skylar, still taken aback.

"Yeah!" said Natalie, turning towards me, her eyes still wide from shock. "I can't believe you didn't even tell me!"

I smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry?"

She pouted. "Yeah well." And then out of nowhere, her mood completely changed and a bright grin took over it. She suddenly tackled me in a hug. "CONGRATS! I'm so happy for you guys!"

I smiled despite the sudden lack of air. "Thanks, Nat," I said, squeezed tight in her hug.

I turned to look at Skylar after Natalie finally let me go and saw something weird flash by his eyes. An emotion I had never seen before but I couldn't put a finger on it. I shook my head. Maybe it was just my imagination because the next second, his expression turned into a genuine smile. "Yeah, good job, you two," he said.

Before anyone could say anything, the bell rang and the crowd surrounding us began to part in different ways, people heading towards their classes. I turned to go to my first class but Trey stopped me.

"I'll walk you," he said.

"You don't have to," I said. "You'll get late."

"I won't," he assured me. "And I want to."

I smiled and we both headed towards my first class.

"So, that went well," he said.

I let out a sigh. "Yes, thank God that's over with. But I'm sure that was not the worst of all of this."

He looked at me, confused. "What do you mean?"

"There's a villain to every story," I put in very cliché terms.

Suddenly realization made its way across his face. "Oh. You mean—"

"-Ashley, yeah," I said.

He frowned. "She won't be able to do anything to you, Haley. Not as long as I'm with you. And trust me; I don't plan on leaving anytime soon."

"You better not," I warned jokingly. "I'm not afraid of her or anything. It's just… I hate trouble. Which I know Ashley is."

He sighed. "Seriously, Hales. Don't worry about her. I can't believe I even dated her at one point of my life."

I looked up at him, finding the perfect time to ask the question that had been going through my mind for days now. "Then why did you date her?" I asked. I didn't understand. Why would a guy who would date someone like Ashley Wilson date someone like me?

"I don't know," he said honestly, a small frown on his face. "I guess I didn't know what I wanted in a girl before. Not before I met you anyway. I never thought I'd actually ever end up liking a girl as much as I like you. I wasn't a very good person, Haley. And I'm not proud of that person. I used to just date girls for…you know," he looked ashamed as he said this, "but I'm trying to change all that. For you. In a way, she was always there. She was who the school expected me to be with. You know, the blonde queen who had everyone under their noses while I was at the top, too. It was just what everyone wanted and what seemed to be right at that time. But now I see how truly wrong it all was. Now all I know is you. I don't care what everyone else wants or expects of me. All I want and need is you," he said.

I met his eyes, stopping in front of my classroom, completely surprised by his speech. Believe it or not, he just made me like him so much more—if possible. "You amaze me," I said honestly. "I really, really like you Trey Harrington."

He smiled down at me, his eyes sparkling. "I really, really like you too, Haley Williams."

I giggled. "Well then, this makes everything a lot easier."

He chuckled. "I guess it does."

--

I heard she's just getting revenge on Ashley Wilson

I heard she's pregnant with his baby

I heard he's going out with her to make her ex boyfriend jealous

She doesn't deserve him. He's Trey and she's…no one

So, I guess our school has a new queen now

I was overwhelmed by the many rumors I heard. Some of them were absolutely absurd. Wait, correction, ALL of them were absurd. Sure, I was used to people talking about me before but this—this sudden recognition from the entire school was overwhelming. I had never wanted this to happen again. I had never wanted to get in the spotlight again. But here I was, doing everything I had promised to never do again. All for my boyfriend.

As I sat in class, I felt many glances thrown my way every couple of seconds, and heard numerous whispers around me. I tried to hide my face in my books, feeling heat creep my cheeks.

Girls I didn't even know were glaring at me. Boys I didn't even know were staring at me. Then there were the few who were being nice to me. A little too nice—so I'm guessing they want something.

I straightened my legs under my desk, my black capris crumpled. I pushed back my loose hair from my face, and sighed, blowing on a single strand. How was I going to ever cope with this?

I can say I was more than glad when the bell finally rang, indicating it was lunch.

But lunch was another problem on its own.

Gathered my things, I headed out the classroom only to find Trey standing there, waiting for me. I smiled, not used to having him wait by my classes. He really could be the most amazing boyfriend in the world.

"Hey, beautiful," he said as he saw me, a smile on his face.

"Hey, handsome," I said and he wrapped an arm around me as I continued down the hall. His arm around me felt amazing and made me realize that I was willing to go through all the school's crap just to have his arm there.

"How were your classes?"

I frowned. "Okay, I don't know if I'll ever get used to this though," I told him. "It's…odd."

He laughed. "Any other girl would've loved all the attention."

"I'm not any other girl," I said, a small frown on my face.

"Yeah, I think I figured that one out by now," he said. "Which is exactly why I like you so much."

We reached my locker and I put my things inside. Taking my sweet ass time getting ready my things for my next class, I let out the breath I had been holding in. I turned to Trey and smiling a motivating smile at me, he led me towards the cafeteria.

As we walked in, it was odd. People everywhere were staring at us. Sure, I had received the same stares all day, but feeling all of them at once was just a little overwhelming. I looked at Trey from the corner of my eye and saw that he looked proud. Proud to have me. That thought brought a smile upon my face.

We walked in, hand in hand, and went over to his table where all his friends were already seated. I caught Skylar's eye, and he gave me a small, timid smile, but it was enough. I smiled back at him, suddenly feeling courage in myself to survive all this.

The boys at the table scooted over, making room for Trey and I. I realized I was the only girl there as Alexis hadn't come to school today. It was a little uncomfortable, but with Trey beside me, I could feel myself relaxing.

Matt started hooting. "I see you finally got your girl, Trey. Good job man," he said as he pounded Trey's fist.

Trey chuckled, his eyes sparkling with happiness. "I know, she was a tough one," he said, looking at me.

I attempted at hiding my smile but failed badly. "Hey! I was not," I said.

The guys at the table laughed, finding something funny.

I screwed up my face, looking at them funny. "What?"

"You do know you've had Trey after you forever now, right?" asked Caleb.

I blushed. "Not true."

Trey leaned in and whispered in my ear, his breath giving me goose bumps, "You know it's true."

I blushed more, if that was even possible.

I heard Skylar chuckling at me. I turned to face him, my eyes narrowed.

"What?" he asked defensively, as he continued to laugh. "It's just funny how easily you blush."

As I felt blood rushing to my cheeks, Trey said, "Hey hey, stop making my girl blush. I think that's enough for today."

"Thank you," I said as I turned my face away and dug in my food.

As I ate, the boys started discussing sports. What else? They discussed all the teams, who was playing who, who was winning, blah blah blah. I tuned out after a few minutes, obviously unable to keep up with their intimate talk. Time from time, I'd catch Skylar's eye and it'd make me happy knowing that our friendship was back on track again. And even though I was happy sitting with Trey, seeing him so happy, I couldn't help but be bored. Did Alexis have to choose this particular day to be away of all days?

"You bored?" asked Trey from beside me, as he saw me rolling my eyes from boredom. "Sorry, I'll entertain you, babe."

It was weird hearing him call me that. Not a bad weird. Just…a different weird. I hadn't been called that by anyone in so long.

I smiled. "No, I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"You wanna come over afterschool?" he asked.

"Sure, okay," I said, giving him a smile.

"'Kay, we'll go together. Meet me at the parking lot? I have to go talk to Coach for a few minutes but I'll be there soon."

I nodded and heard the bell ring on cue. People began to clear their tables, and walk off in different directions. As I got up, Trey gave me a quick, tender kiss on the cheek, making me smile, and walked off. I let out a sigh of happiness, and dumping my tray of food, began to walk off in the direction of my locker.

"Hey."

I stopped and turned around to find Skylar. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, and a gray shirt, with a black leather jacket. And trust me, this boy could make the jacket work. His long hair was swept across his forehead, falling into his dark eyes.

"Hey," I said as he fell into step beside me.

"So," he said his hands in his pocket. "You and Trey, eh?"

I nodded, and couldn't help the grin spreading across my face. "Yeah."

"When did it happen?" he asked. "He didn't tell me."

"Just at Nathalie's New Year party."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, which almost felt like hours. I didn't know why, but I wanted to know what Skylar thought of it all. I didn't know why it'd matter what he had to say, but for some reason, it did, and I found myself waiting apprehensively for his reply.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Skylar gave me a small smile. "Well, congrats," he said. "I'm sure you guys will be great."

I felt myself let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. "Thanks, Skylar. It means a lot."

"Well," he said as he ran a hand through his hair, and I couldn't help but watch his actions, "I should probably go. Nathalie's waiting for me."

I tore my eyes away from him. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you later?"

He smiled once more, and I found myself once again, thinking about how gorgeous it was. "Sure thing." And then he walked off, leaving me wondering why I was still thinking about Skylar's smile.

---

Unlocking the door, Trey pulled me inside his house by my hand. He led me to the kitchen—my favourite place in the whole house if you ask me. Two guesses why.

"How does it feel to be in this kitchen for the first time as my girlfriend?" Trey asked, a grin on his face.

I laughed. "Kodak moment much?"

He chuckled and opened the fridge. "So, what would my girlfriend like to eat? You do know I cook right?"

I gasped. "YOU cook?"

He smiled a proud smile. "Of course."

I shook my head. "Why didn't I meet you sooner? All the wasted years!"

Laughing, he closed the fridge door, and walked back to where I was standing. "You want to make cupcakes?"

I just looked at him like he was crazy, my eyes wide. When he didn't end up laughing in my face telling me he was kidding, I really looked at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," he said and then laughed; wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close. "Never baked cupcakes with a guy before?"

I just shook my head, dumfounded. "You are…"

"Perfect? Amazing? The boy of your dreams?" he asked, a cocky grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes and smacked his chest. "Totally ruined the moment. But anyways, back to your question, of COURSE I'd like to bake cupcakes! There's no time to waste!" I got out of his grip and started to open cabinets. "Where's everything?!"

Laughing a loud laugh, he came over. "Woah there, girl. Slow down. You'll get your cupcakes."

He took out all the things we'd need, and I watched in fascination. Could you blame me? I mean, how often did you meet a guy who liked to bake cupcakes with his girlfriend? Or bake at all, actually.

We started to put everything in and mix the ingredients. After 20 minutes, and many different splats of who-knows-what on the ground, we'd finally put the cupcakes in the oven to bake.

"I cannot wait!" I said, clapping my hands together in excitement. "These are going to be great!"

Trey smiled, watching me. He didn't say anything, instead, he just stared…that same smile on his handsome face.

I looked at him suspiciously. "What?"

"You have flour on your face," he pointed out.

"Oh," I said as my hand went up to wipe it away. Then thinking something else, I laughed. "Wanna lick it off?" I joked.

Instead of laughing like I had expected him to, his eyes went dark, and the smile was gone from his face as his eyes met mine. I stared back at him, my smile also disappearing. As his eyes wandered over my face, lingering on my mouth, I felt my breath hitch deep in my throat.

Slowly, his hands held the sides of my waist, and lifted me up, and setting me on the counter behind me, finally leveling my head with his own. Putting his hand on the side of my cheek, he pushed back the few stray hair and tucked them behind my ear. Then he rested his hand on my neck, and pulled me in close. Before I knew it, his lips were on mine, and I lost myself in them. My eyes fell close, and my arms made their way around his neck. Soon, his hands were everywhere, his lips were the only thing I could think about, and all other thoughts were no longer important.

As I was pulling his face closer—if that was even possible—Trey broke away and looking at me, he said, "Let's go up stairs."

Without really thinking of anything but him, I nodded and he picked me off the counter and let me down, leading me up stairs to his room. I only had a second to recognize my surroundings from that dinner party I had had at his house a long time ago, before Trey pulled me down on his bed.

I didn't know what was happening—all I knew was that he was an amazing kisser, and he was making me feel great. All I wanted at that moment was him.

His lips found mine once more, and I was once again lost. He hastily pulled away the hoodie I had on to reveal the tank top underneath, and kissed along my neck. My hands were stuck somewhere in his hair. All rational thoughts seem to leave me. I suddenly couldn't think.

Suddenly, as we were in the middle of whatever we were doing, we heard some sort of an alarm go off downstairs. At first, we ignored it, but when it kept ringing and the shrilling noise began making my head hurt, I tore away from him.

"What is that?" I asked.

Trey seemed to be lost in kissing my face to notice that I had stopped, so I pulled away.

"What?" he asked, finally looking at me.

"Listen," I said, glancing at the door. "What is that?"

Trey stopped and listened, and then suddenly, recognition made its way across his face. "Oh shit!" he exclaimed, getting up from the bed. "The cupcakes!"

Eyes wide, I got up after him and we ran out the room, all the way to the kitchen downstairs. While we had been busy making out, we had completely forgotten about the cupcakes. God knows how long we had been away. As we got there, we saw that the kitchen was full of smoke and the alarm we heard was the smoke alarm going off.

As I quickly turned the oven off, and opened its door to let all the smoke out, Trey shut the smoke alarm up and opened the doors and windows of the house.

"Shit," I said, as the smoke began to clear up a bit.

"Okay, next time we do that," Trey said, "we're not leaving anything in the oven."

"Deal," I said letting out the breath I had been holding.

We stood there for a couple of minutes, letting the smoke around us clear up, without saying much. During this time, whatever had happened between us just now made its way through my head finally.

"I think I should go now," I said breaking the silence.

He looked at me, confusion on his face. "Why? You haven't been over long."

"I just remembered I have to do this thing…," I lied, and I couldn't tell if he could see right through me, but he nodded and I put my jacket back on. I didn't know why I wanted to leave, but suddenly I felt like I couldn't be there anymore. I quickly gave him a kiss on his cheek and headed for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded at me, and I walked out the door, walking across the street to my own.

As I stepped inside the house, I noticed that it was once again empty. But I didn't mind. Not at the moment anyway. Taking off my shoes, I walked up to my room and threw myself on my bed, suddenly wanting to just fall asleep.

Closing my eyes, what had happened between Trey and I just now played itself in my head.

God, since when I had become so…physical?

Sure, me and Drew kissed and did all the usual stuff a boyfriend and girlfriend did. But…so soon? With Trey? It was just…odd. What was he doing to me? Why couldn't I stop myself whenever I was around him?

This wasn't good, I knew. I needed to be able to have control. I needed to be able to stop. This wasn't me.

I mean, sure… the fact that we had hooked up once already complicated things a little bit. But that didn't mean anything. We had just gotten together. We weren't supposed to move so fast. This just wasn't me.

Thinking about this, who knows when, but I fell asleep, and I would've slept till the morning came if it wasn't for my phone buzzing in my pocket a few hours later.

Groaning, I poked an eye opened and checked my phone to see that I had a text.

R u okay? can't stop thinking bout you– Trey

Despite the fact that he'd just woken me up, I smiled knowing that he was thinking of me.

Yeah, i'm fine. fell asleep. i'll see you tom 3 – Haley

Sry if i woke u up. but yeah, see u tom. 3 – Trey.

Smiling to myself once more, I closed my eyes and let thoughts of Trey take over my head. He was amazing, and even though I was doubting things, I knew I really had no reason to. Trey would be the last guy to ever hurt me.

I let sleep take over me once more, thoughts of Trey lulling me to sleep.

--

A/N: Oh god… I really really don't like this chapter. But I have the biggest writer's block ever. I am no longer busy, as summer has started and I'm done with all my exams—thank god. I'm sorry it has taken me forever to update though. Exams, and my job, and my friends and boyfriend have kept me so busy; I haven't had time for anything else. And even though I have tons of inspiration to write something, anything, and I try and sit there in front of this story reading it over and over, I can't write anything. I don't know why, I just can't get back into this story…or any other story actually—even if I have a lot of inspiration. It's the weirdest thing. But here is the product of me forcing my self to write ANYTHING. Craptastic? I think so. Bear with me please. Hopefully I'll give you guys something much better soon. Until then, I'm very sorry.

PS: have I mentioned how bad I am at writing couple scenes? Especially people making out. I don't know why… but you can SEE how bad I am, so I'm sorry about that. I try…?