Playing it Cool, Calm & Collected

The bell resonates through the halls. Immediately, Ethan jumps to his feet at the shrill tone and abandons his homeroom in a hurry. The girls in his class pout at his abrupt disappearance. Normally the boy offers to walk them to their first period, but today it seems like he does not intend on doing that. He weaves through the other students, who keep on getting in his way, rushing towards Mr Gherardi's class as fast as he can.

In less than three minutes, Ethan arrives at the designated classroom, slightly panting. Before he enters, he attempts to level his staggered breathing. His heart rate drops and he inhales deeply.

Calmly, and ever so smoothly, he saunters in. Charlie is already settled in her desk at the front of the room, the seat beside her is still empty. His eyes automatically light up and gloss over in glee. At what he deems an appropriate pace, he approaches her and successfully claims the spot. His neighbor doesn't seem to notice his presence and this causes him to chuckle silently.

She's too engrossed with that holy calculus textbook of hers. Ethan finds the blazing passion she harbors for the subject to be hilariously adorable. Who would have thought that the tough and oh-so brusque Charlie Whitmen would be a total math geek? She never ceases to amaze him and it's only been a month since they have been graced with each other's presence.

"Hey." He pokes her but she swats his hand away, her focus still on the problems printed on the pages before her. More people begin to file in and Ethan pulls away. He doesn't want to draw attention to either one of them. Mariana halts at his desk and a deep frown is carved into her face. "Yes?" he questions, realizing she isn't going to go anywhere.

"Why are you sitting up here?" She proceeds to jut out her bottom lip and sway her shoulders side to side. This is her attempt to look cute.

"I need to start paying attention in class," Ethan answers casually. It would have been awfully sad if he had messed up, considering he had practiced reciting that lie a thousand times in front of the mirror last night. "You're too much of a distraction for me, doll-face."

Mariana is severely flattered by his comment and runs tiny circles against his chest with her index finger. She sends him a wink and shamelessly licks her lips. Neither one of those things has an effect on him whatsoever. Luckily for Ethan she doesn't pursue him any longer.

When she goes to her seat, Ethan turns to steal a glimpse of Charlie and is stunned to find her gaze fixated on him first. She has a quirked a brow and a smug smile. She's clearly amused. She must have heard his compliment to Mariana. He rolls his eyes, yet there's a faint smile on his own mouth.

Class begins and their teacher returns the dittos they worked on, along with their quizzes, to them. As expected, Charlie aced both of them. Ethan peeks over and coughs out a muffled, "Nerd." She glares at him and demands the boy reveal his marks by glancing down at his hands. He silently denies with a firm shake of his head. Then, he folds the papers in half and stuffs them into his backpack, not giving her a chance to snatch them from him.

Throughout the entire lesson, Ethan's eyes unknowingly wander over to Charlie. Her attention never drifts away from Mr Gherardi though. Yeah, nerdy Charlie is undeniably cute. So much for not being distracted. The forty-five minutes pass by like a breeze and everyone packs their belongings. Charlie heads towards the door and Ethan falls into step next to her.

"Who uses doll-face nowadays? So tacky," she mutters condescendingly.

"As tacky as it may be, girls still love it," he says. "You really weren't kidding when you said you had a knack for math the other night. I didn't believe you until I saw your quiz. How the hell did you get 105? I thought the highest was 100?"

"What can I say? Math and I understand each other. We're soulmates."

Ethan snorts and nudges her side. "Are you sure your perfect little boyfriend is okay with that? He might get jealous knowing he can never compare with the love you have for numbers."

"Well, he'll have to learn to live with it," Charlie announces indifferently. "Or else this relationship isn't going to work."

"Speaking of lover boy." Ethan jerks his head forward, where they can see Hayden journeying towards them at the end of the hall.

"Charlie!" he bellows out as soon as he catches sight of her. He's practically sprinting now. Without warning, he swallows her into his embrace once the distance between them no longer poses as an issue. The action causes Charlie to stiffen while the students (mainly the girls) around shriek at their lovely display of affection. Ethan suppresses the scoff that wants to come out and turns away.

Her arms remain limp and she inwardly groans. She hates herself for agreeing to have physical contact in public. "I missed you," he announces before breaking the embrace. "How did you sleep last night?" Hayden curls a strand of hair behind her ear and she fights the urge to shove his hand away.

Charlie doesn't want to reply to him but forces herself to. "Peachy. What about you?"

"I couldn't sleep at all!" he cries exasperatedly. "You didn't answer my text, which made me restless. I didn't know what you wanted to eat for lunch, so I stuck to the basic and brought you pasta."

"Cool," she says. "I have to get to class though."

"I'll walk you," Hayden offers.

"No, it's okay." Charlie glances over to Ethan, who is typing furiously on his phone. "I was talking to Moron-dozo."

"Really?" Hayden shifts over to the third party. "You don't mind if I steal my girlfriend away, do you?" His emphasis on the possessive word my goes undetected by Charlie. Ethan, on the other hand, catches it and the grip on his phone tightens. He's not an idiot. He knows very well that Hayden is making a declaration on what belongs to him and Ethan doesn't appreciate it. Charlie's not a trophy or some material object; she's a person.

She doesn't belong to anyone, but herself.

He decides not to blow the situation out of proportion; "Go ahead," he permits, struggling to sound as normal as possible. "Later." He doesn't bother to look at them and walks off. Charlie watches Ethan get devoured by the sea of students until she feels fingers intertwining with her own. She peers down and exhales at their meshed limbs.

In this scenario, most girls would be flooding with joy.

Their stomachs would be knotted up and their palms clammy from the nerves.

A gazillion thoughts would be running amuck in their brains too.

However, Charlie is unable to do the same simply because, in case you forgot, she and Hayden aren't real. What they're doing is not real. She doesn't like him and he doesn't like her. So why would she be happy having to pretend like she's madly in love with him when she isn't?

This fake dating thing is definitely a lot harder than she expected it to be. It's too late now though; she can't back out of it. She'll just have to consider this as charity work for the desperate and needy. "Isn't it already enough we walk to fourth, fifth and sixth period together?"

"I needed to talk to you about something," Hayden whispers.

"And it couldn't wait because?" The last time he needed to talk to her about something, she was dragged into becoming his fucking beard. Charlie can already tell that she's not going to be pleased with whatever flies out of his mouth next.

"We should go to homecoming together."

The girl instantly halts in the middle of the hall. "No. I don't do homecoming," she declines right off the bat. During the time she's been stuck in this god forsaken place, Charlie has never attended any of the school events or socials, especially the various dances and formals they have every year. Sports are somewhat of an exception, but even then it would be rare for her to go to the games since Highland is ranked in division three, which means they're pretty shitty when it comes to athletics.

"We have to Charlie," Hayden declares firmly.

She stares at him with a stoic expression. "Says who?"

"Says my nomination for Homecoming Prince." He pulls out the envelope with the golden crown stamped to it and she resumes towards her class.

"Then you go by yourself."

"You don't think it'll be suspicious if I show up without my girlfriend?"

"I don't know what to tell you. I. Don't. Do. Homecoming," she enunciates to make sure he understands her loud and clear. "And that's not going to change, not even for you." She is spared from having to continue the conversation and, without a goodbye, Charlie marches into her class. Hayden exhales quietly and gazes at the invitation.

He knows this might seem pushy and unreasonable of him, but he really needs Charlie to come through on this one. It would be a great stunt to pull if they want everyone to believe the two of them are legitimate. Lately, Hayden's been on edge. Despite having already confirmed his fabricated relationship with Charlie, there are still rumors going around that he and Cecilia are a thing.

He doesn't comprehend why people are so persistent. He just wants to make all the skepticism go away, disappear without a trace. Why do you think he asked Charlie if he could initiate skinship? It's crucial for them to start showing that they're into each other, even if that isn't the case. It took some convincing, but eventually they saw eye-to-eye.

Hopefully he can find a way to persuade her later about this as well. Homecoming would be a huge step for them. It can make or break people's opinion on the pair.

* * *

Charlie comes down from her room, stretching her arms and legs. She's been cooped in there since she got back home. Don't you just love high school? She is surprised to find Chase sitting on the couch, mashing the hell out of the buttons on the remote control. He's in the middle of a Halo game and, by the looks of it, he's not doing that great. "You're home early. I thought you had class until nine today?"

"It got cancelled," he answers.

"Don't forget to take the trash out. It's your turn," she reminds. She receives a grunt as a response and carries on into the kitchen. Tonight for dinner Charles has decided to make macaroni and cheese from the box. He's in a bit of a rush today. There's a ton of paperwork he needs to review.

Cameron and Alexander are helping out and in less than forty-five minutes everything's ready to be consumed. The conversations at the table are bland. Nothing thrilling has occurred. Ian and Chase are appointed to clean up afterwards.

"Charlie, bring Layna's pan back to her, will you? It keeps slipping my mind." His daughter does not make a fuss and gladly does as she is ordered. Perhaps, it's because she's excited to see a certain grayish-blue eyed boy.

She rings the bell, but no one answers. She presses it a second time. After a few minutes, she hears footsteps. The door swings open and she is greeted with a breathless and red-faced Ethan. He freezes and swallows. What is Charlie doing at his house at this hour? Shouldn't be out with her boyfriend? Can't she leave him alone? What's she trying to do? Drive him up a wall? "What do you want?" he heaves.

Charlie pushes by him and enters the house. "Where's Layna?"

He shuts the door and turns to her. "She's having a girl's night out with her new friends. Why?"

"They still do that at their age? How cute. I came to return her pie pan," Charlie says.

"Okay." He takes the pan from her. "You can leave now."

"Why do you want to get rid of me so badly?" She purses her lips and meditates on the matter. "Thinking about it, you did take a while to answer the door. What were you doing? Jerking off?" The pan nearly drops to the ground like the boy's jaw.

"Oh my god! I was not doing that! I was rearranging stuff in the basement!" he exclaims, flustered.

"Hey, I'm not going to judge," Charlie assures with a grin. "All right, maybe just a little bit."

"You're not going to believe me no matter what I say, are you? Come on then." Ethan takes her hand and leads her into the kitchen. The oak door to the basement is agape and they both descend the steps. Boxes are scattered everywhere and Maxwell bolts towards her. He jumps up, trying to lick her face and she laughs. "I told you I was just moving things. You're such a pervert sometimes, do you know that?"

"Only when it comes to you," she teases. Again with that cursed wink of hers! How did this happen? Ethan has always been the one harmlessly flirting with her and now it seems like the tables have turned. What's he going to do if she keeps this up? "Do you want some help?"

No. "Yeah," he breathes before he registers what he's just said. Wonderful. What has he gotten himself into?

---

Author's Thoughts: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to DetectiveBoys and Just_Call_Me_J.

Thank you all for the votes and support. I know some of you don't like Hayden and I don't blame you. But try to put yourself in his shoes. That boy is desperate! I will be revealing more about his character later, along with Ethan's. Remember, everyone has flaws. Being selfish = Human.

How many of you thought like Charlie? If you did, you're a pervert ;) ahahaha just kidding. Can you see how playful Charlie is with him now? Do you also notice how different she is with the two guys? Do you want Charlie to go to homecoming?

Comment and vote if you'd like. The comments from the last chapter made me grin like the chesire cat :D