"Welcome to the 2021 Glitter Committee!"Clarissa Richardson announced.

I swear I heard crickets.

That was how dead it was.

I think we were only twelve in the gymnasium.

It was a pretty big gymnasium. We had it renovated last last year after Lil Nas's appearance.

It was nearly as large as our hockey stadium.

Okay, Burkley High was a sort of pretty important school in Beverly.

We had really good grades, really great hockey players and fuck it.

Lil Nas X came to our school!

It wasn't exactly a private school because most would have a uniform mandate but we had privelleges such as the Glitter Ball.

It was always a special event.

Everybody would come out in their themed outfits.

They were always supposed to be fancy and we would have the best forms of entertainment because our school was so rich.

So it made sense to have a huge gymnasium where we'd hold the event.

Like an expensive prom or knockoff of Coachella.

Either way this year I planned to come in style.

It was my last year and I really wanted to impress some people.

Me and my desperate ass.

Simon and I had planned this night for years.

That even if we were in relationships we would have the first dance.

And it would be beautiful.

It's just that this year it didn't seem very clear just how it would turn out.

"This year we have two newcomers. Axel and Chloe! Hi!"She exclaimed too enthusiastically with her pom poms.

A round of awkward applause sounded and Axel and I looked at each other confused.

But we quickly looked away embarrassed.

"So this year we need a fresh theme and decoration.Chloe and Axel,that's your field."

I groaned.

"But that's the hardest part!"I said a little too loudly.

Her smile glitched but she fixed it.

"Yeah...we can't have the Glitter Ball without the theme."

Uuuuuughh.

"Fine, but give us time." Axel said for me.

He looked at me weird before looking away.

"Okayzees."

Uuuughhhh.Did she fall on her head when she was born?Who says okayzees?

Honestly.

The next half hour we were all being given our jobs and crappy words of encouragement.We all picked up some kinds of cleaning utensils.Soon the whole room smelled like bleach and sanitizer.

Well, by all of us; I meant everybody but me and Axel.

Clarissa Richardson loudmouth pranced to us annoyingly,"Well what are you doing sillies?"She asked faking the smile.

"Well we were planning to stick around to clean but meh."I answered casually. "Well you should pick up some mops and help around here like everybody else."She said her tone dropping.

"You're not the boss of me."I answered dismissing her threatening tone.

"Technically I am. So if you don't do it I'll get rid of you both."She threatened.I freaked out a bit looking at Axel who looked turned on. She walked away briskly to Melody the nerd that was struggling to keep the chairs stacked on top of each other.

"Sweetie!! Let me help you!"She sang her pitch rising.

She leaned forward, her skirt rising up a bit and my gosh, there were two moons in broad daylight.

Did she not wear any underwear?

I noticed Axel's dumb state and furiously whacked him on the back of his head.

"Hey!" He complained.

"What was that for?!"He demanded burning holes into my soul.

"Stop eye-raping her like she's some kind of sexy rubix cube."I reprimanded.

I felt an odd pang in my chest as soon as I said it.

"Somebody jealous?"

My face heat up immediately but I crossed my arms ignoring it

"Fuck you."

"You can try princess."

Ugh!!

So infuriating!

I stomped away and into the bathrooms to do my job unlike this asshole!

I grabbed a mop and a bucket and spilled sanitizer and bleach onto the floor.

"What are you doing?" He asked startling me.

"My job!" I yelled.

The echo annoyed me.

I threw a mop at him and surprisingly it didn't hit him.

"Watch it!"

~thirty minutes later~

We had been mopping the floors in silence and the room was full of the pungent smell of detergent and bleach.

I could not take being near this asshole.

He'd been driving me insane all day and I had no idea why he was being so mean.

I literally for the first time did nothing to provoke him.

But all he had been doing was trying to drive me nuts.

He'd taken off his jacket revealing his loose short sleeved shirt and his extremely toned muscles.

I hadn't realized that I was staring until he pointed it out.

"Enjoying the view princess?"

Trying to defend my honor I retorted, "No and since when did you start calling me princess?"

"Since I decided to stop calling you toilet water."

Confused I asked, "Why?"

"Because if we're going to be friends, I have to stop calling you bad names."

I looked down sheepishly heat rising to my cheeks.

"Oh."I replied in tiny.

"Happy birthday by the way."He continued making me feel guilty for hating his guts.

"Thanks."

"How are your parents?"I managed to say after a while of silence.

"They're."sigh.

"They're getting a divorce and my dad's moving out tomorrow."

My heart sank to my stomach.

Great stupid, you had to ask about his parents.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay. You meant well."

Well...

I felt more like a piece of shit than I'd ever had before.

"I'm getting my inheritance sooner anyways."

By the way, his parents are filthy rich.

"I'm keeping the dog."He continued.

Oh the one he'd make poop on my doorstep every morning.

"How's Royal?"I asked smiling at the thought.

And for the first time, he smiled.

My heart beamed and I nearly died.

"He misses you. He comes to your old house whenever he can. He's gotten fatter."

Oh, yeah.

We moved some years ago to get away from Axel.

"That's so sweet."

He was actually genuinely happy and nice which was rare.

I felt finally at peace.

Nothing could ever ruin this moment.

"About Simon..."He trailed off.

It seems I thought too soon.

For the love of cookies and mashed potatoes, "What about Simon?"I asked my eyes squinted into slits.

"The BTS thing...Isn't he gay?" My mood got spoiled so quickly and an indescribable pain hit my chest.

"HE'S NOT GAY!"I stated trying to shrug off the matter before I started to lose it.

"But BTS is a boy band full of gay members. And Simon's a boy head over heels in love with them."

I dropped my mop irritated and sick to the pits of my stomach.My chest became heavy and it got harder to breathe. This had happened so many times.

""I will end you and your fucking bloodline you son of a bitch! BTS is not gay you piece of shit!"

"They're Korean! And Korean pop celebrates beauty!!So stop thinking that they're gay!You fucking racist!!"I screeched barely recognizing my own voice.

He raised his hands in surrender avoiding my eyes.

"Okay. Just saying-"but I cut him off.

"No it's not okay! You're talking trash about my Xanny and his favorite people!!He's not gay!!Even if he was it shouldn't concern you!" I screamed my eyes watering.

"Sorry."He said.

"No! You're not!!I'm so sick of you! You've been bullying me all day and I haven't even done anything wrong! It's bad enough that you talk shit about us but pretending to be sorry? That's really fucked up!"

"Chloe I said I'm sorry-"

But I was on a roll, my anger never subsiding.

"Go back to hell where you came from!"I shouted with every ounce of venom in my stomach.

"You go back to your toilet!"He snapped back at me dropping his mop.

I gasped in horror and said, "I told you that in confidence."

In truth I did tell him that in confidence before he tried to flush me down the toilet.

It was not nice that he did that and I'd never actually forgiven him for what he did that day.

He was an asshole and I was never going to let that go.

I crossed my arms ready to leave but he did the most unexpected thing, he grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him.

"Chloe wait."He said.

I looked up into his stormy grey eyes and saw a light.

Maybe he was going to murder me.

But joke's on him. If he kills me my ghost will haunt him for the rest of his miserable life and I will finally be at peace after that.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."My jaw dropped slightly and I had to blink many times to make sure that the person in front of me wass Axel Grey, otherwise this was impossible to believe.

But no it was him.

The biggest asshole in the school.

But I had to make sure of it.

"What did you say?"I asked in disbelief.

He rolled his eyes picked up the mop and continued with his business.

I should've just gone on my way home right? And forgot all about this but no...I just had to be a little extra and try to break shit.

I clenched my fists tightly and marched up to his turned back, pulling him by the shoulder forcefully unsatisfied with our little quarrel.

Before I could think, my bare left fist launched itself right below his cheekbone, violently snapping his head to the right.

"What a joke, you Axel Grey apologizing. Tch." I retorted still feeling this nasty viper of anger and spit more venom into his face.

"You've never had to work a day in your life to prove something. Why say you're sorry now?"

And with that I marched angrily out of the bathroom avoiding anything breakable in sight including Clarissa's face.

So I went home feeling empty and like a complete dundahead.

Now I'll never know if he actually apologized to me since he was never going to admit it.

I felt hurt too because it reminded me all the time that my birth mom didn't want me so she thought it best to flush me down the toilet.

My adopted parents never told me the story that way though but I figured that was the reason.

I know that I was really harsh, but that's just because he offended my best friend.

My soulmate.

I will attack but most importantly I will protect.

Axel's P.O.V

I rubbed by cheek and cursed out loud in pain.

"How the hell did she land that on me?" I mumbled. 

The fuck did she mean, ' I've never worked for anything in my life?'

I'd worked hard for everything I had ever had. I was the one who worked hard to join the hockey team even when my parents said not to. I worked hard to prove myself in swimming when my doctors told me I'd die.

I never cried when grandpa died, nor did I ever blame my parents for their shitty marriage and my messed up attitude.

But somehow, that punch to my face made me feel something new. "Wow. She really can not see just how much I ..."

Then I'd have to work even harder for her to see my point. I'll work so hard that it'll be obvious.