"You broke up with me, remember? I don't have a boyfriend anymore," I huffed.

His face fell if it wasn't already sullen enough. He looked so upset and was sulking to the point where I thought I would see a tear slip in a second. He took a few deep breaths before standing up. "You do have a boyfriend. I'm still right here, Alex. I am still your boyfriend and I swear to God, I will get you back."

"Is that a promise?" I asked sarcastically.

"It sure is," he whispered while stepping dangerously close to me. I took steps back but eventually, I hit the wall and his feet weren't stopping. He stopped right in front of me and looked down at me, his hands on the wall, either side of my head, trapping me there. He placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head up, making my eyes meet his. "I love you," he mumbled.

"I don't," I lied, looking away.

He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Liar." My eyes snapped up to his while I listened to what he had to say. "I'm sorry, I really am. But I made a mistake, everyone does. I can't keep apologizing."

"I did. I kept apologizing to you when I didn't even do anything wrong," I said.

"And I'm sorry I put you through that. But that's not the way I'm gonna go about this."

I looked at him quizzically. "What are you gonna do?"

"You should just get ready. There are a lot of surprises coming your way," he shrugged.

"I hate surprises," I whispered.

"You're gonna love these." He leaned down and kissed my cheek before seeing himself out, closing the door behind him.

I huffed, hitting my head against the wall a few times. "I hate that I love you, Carter," I whispered to myself.

The door opened and his head poked through. "I heard that," he smirked.

"Get out!" I groaned, closing the door in his face. God, I just want this all to be over already.

This is never gonna end, is it?

I woke up on Monday, feeling like shit, as expected, and headed straight to school, taking my tea to go. He wasn't there. I even 'drank my tea' outside on the bench. But nope. He didn't come today.

I huffed and plugged my earphones in and walked to school. Once I got there, I, as usual, headed straight to my locker. I got there, put it in my combination, and tugged, but it didn't open. So I tried again and tugged harder. It still didn't open. I took my earphones out and stared at it. I could put in a pencil and break the lock. Or I could try one more time. Let's do the latter just for the sake of the school.

I put in the combination and yanked as hard as I could. It flung open and I took a step back as thousands of flowers fell out. I gasped while staring as they stumbled out. Petals, stems, flowers, everything. It was like somebody bought ten bouquets and took out each flower and put it in here. I stared at the floor in shock.

Who the hell is gonna clean this?

I let out a breath while staring at them, my mouth agape. "What the fuck?" I mumbled under my breath, kneeling, and picking a few up.

I am going to kill him.

I picked them all up and began throwing them back into my locker at the top where I would normally leave my bag. People who were walking by began noticing and pointing it out, some people were confused, some were worried, some were laughing.

I'm glad people find my misery amusing.

I picked up the last of the bunch as the bell rang and sighed, closing my locker and leaning my head against the cool metal.

"Did you get the flowers?" I jumped at the voice and stepped back where I saw Carter looking at me with curiosity.

"Did I get the flowers?" I repeated his question.

"Did you?"

I bit my tongue while opening my locker before grabbing handfuls of the flowers and dumping them onto his head. I continued doing this until my locker was empty, not a single petal in there. "I don't know, did I?" I asked sarcastically before rolling my eyes and grabbing my books, walking off, and heading to class.

I took a seat beside Hannah, Abby sitting to her right. "I heard. Did he really stuff your locker with roses?" Hannah laughed.

"It's not funny. That was a pain in the ass, he's so annoying," I rolled my eyes.

The classroom door opened moments later and he walked in, petals still stuck in his hair.

"Mr. Reed. You're late. And quite disheveled," Mr. Blaze said.

The class laughed while he scratched the back of his head, blushing. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"I'll let it slide. Please take a seat."

He walked over and sat beside me. "Oh, my God," I mumbled under my breath, keeping my head down.

"I'd say you did get the flowers then," he whispered.

"Yeah, I did." I felt guilty for humiliating him like that. That was a little unnecessary. I almost apologized but then I remembered how bad he hurt me. "You have petals in your hair," I said while plucking one out. He sighed and rested his head on the table. I smiled to myself before picking the petals out of his hair, placing them on his desk.

I turned to Hannah and Abby who were giving me knowing looks. I rolled my eyes at them before turning to him. "I'm not that cruel to leave you walking around with petals in your hair like an idiot," I mumbled.

"Right, that's what it was," he smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him too before focusing on my work, deciding to ignore him for the remainder of the day.

I don't like surprises, and I don't wanna know which others he has planned.

Lunch finally rolled around. I headed to my locker to grab my lunch but when I tried opening it, once again, it would not budge. "No, no, no. Not again, God, please." I yanked it hard.

This is how you dislocate a shoulder or something.

I huffed and stepped back, expecting something to fall on me again but it didn't. I looked up and saw a giant teddy bear just sitting there.

Oh. The tie was stuck.

I sighed and pulled it out, holding it in my arms. There was a little card stuffed between the tie and the teddy bear. I plucked it out and opened it, reading over the words.

I'm sorry, babe. Please forgive me. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please. Under that crossed out was: Whoa, that's a lot of pleases.

I laughed while folding it back up and tucking it under the tie. I closed my locker after putting it back in there and grabbing my lunch. I turned to head to the field and saw him standing right there, holding another teddy bear, this one three times bigger. He held it in a way that it faced me with its arms out. "Please?" he stuck his bottom lip out.

He can work a little more if he really wants it.

"Roses and teddy bears? You can do a little better than that, don't you think?" I smirked.

I began walking past him but he exhaled and grabbed my wrist pulling me back and in front of him. "You're gonna make me work for it, aren't you?" he asked.

"It's the least you can do," I said seriously.

"I never said I had a problem with it. No complaints, my love," he smirked.

I felt something when he called me that. It made me wanna smile and it was really hard not to. Now I understood why he reacted like that when I called him the same thing. "Good. Oh and nice job with the 'babe.'" I nodded before walking past him.

I don't know how many more surprises I can handle.

Sure, some are better than others. At least teddy bears don't make a mess for you to clean. But all this just... it feels like a bribe. I know it isn't, it's just him proving that he wants me, genuinely. But surprises like this, buying me things. It doesn't feel good. Not as good as it should.

"Alexandria Lockhart!" I spun around as I reached the exit when I heard him yell my name. "No more presents!" he yelled, letting everyone else listen in. I sighed in somewhat relief.

No more presents.

"Six o'clock! It's a date!" he winked before jogging the other way, leaving me hanging. A

date? With my ex-boyfriend? Kind of still my boyfriend?

Sounds about right. When I got out to the field the girls were already there I sat down and opened my lunchbox.

"You're going on a date with Carter?!" Abby shrieked.

"He asked me like ten seconds ago, Abby. How do you know anyway?" I asked in confusion.

"Someone who heard it sent a text around."

Great. Fan-fucking-tastic. Just what I needed.

Everybody knowing.

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Chapter forty-three

I want someone giving me roses, teddy bears, and taking me on surprise dates.

wtf. where is my Carter at?