, hard.

He didn't look at all embarrassed, by having been caught in the rather... compromising position. If anything, he seemed entirely at ease. That's when I realised it.

"You a real piece of shit, you know that?" I said, rubbing my mouth harshly as if it would wipe away the memory of his lips on mine. I felt disgusted— both at him for setting me up, and myself for walking straight into, not a moment of hesitation or fight.

The man, who had been settled in the darkness to be obscured from sight, had scarpered. Now, all that remained of him was my eyes still needing to adjust to the brightness of the flash. Once they had, I turned and stormed away, reeling. Absolutely fucking furious.

Archer makes no attempt to come after me. Instead, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, stuck one in his mouth and lit it. He breathed in deeply and relieved his lungful of smoke in his next exhale, so that it seemed to completely consume him.

When I did step back into the room, I must have looked a complete and utter mess. The make up Autumn had so carefully decorated my face with, was smudged due to me having rubbed my eyes to attempt to deter the awaiting tears.

It was stupid. I shouldn't be so upset. This was the entire agreement, after all: pretend to be his girlfriend. And those in a relationship did tend to kiss, it was inevitable. But the point of him not even giving me warning of his intentions when he sprung on me, not having the decency to do so. It pissed me off.

"You won't believe what—." Autumn's words seemed to evaporate as she assessed my condition. "Darling, are you alright?"

"Fine," I breathed, shakily. "Too much champagne."

She looked like I'd just told her I'd been to mars, utter disbelief. "Why don't we get you home? A good night's rest will surely help, no?"

I nodded, but halted us when we got to the door. "I don't want to face them again," I said, motioning to the still standing photographers, armed and on guard.

She paused and nodded. Her phone, hidden in her bra, was whipped out, she'd dialled a number and had the phone by her ear all in a matter of seconds. Not long after, she was talking quickly but clearly, and replaced her phone in it's hiding place.

"Bill'll be here for us in a second."

"No, no. You stay here. I'm not going to let you have me ruin your night."

She pushed some hair behind my ear and aided in wiping my face of out of place make up. "Don't be silly, I'm not letting you go alone. Besides, these people." She motioned behind her to where the people were partially hidden by the wall. "Are such bores." She rolled her eyes and I couldn't help to smile, if only a little.

However, the better mood didn't hold for long as I spotted Archer re enter the room and go to stand beside Noah. They spoke between each other, Noah holding his phone to him.

I tore my eyes away from them, a disparaging feeling of dread worming its way throughout my entire body.

"He's here," Autumn said, looping her arm with mine and guiding me towards the door to where the distinct figure of Bill was blocking the harsh lights from outside. The comfort of both of them being there acted as a blanket over the fear, not completely eradicating it but aiding to settle it slightly.

Bill extended his arm, shielding the pair of us from the onslaught of shouts of "Who are you?" "Are you Archer's new girlfriend?" "How do you feel about—" from either side.

I practically threw myself into the car, rolling over to the other seat so that Autumn could settle herself, far more elegantly than I had. She made no move to talk to me, something I was thankful for, preferring to place a hand on my own as I stared at the blurring streetlights of the night world through my window. Silently, I let the tears fall.

***

The food on my plate wasn't helping much with the nausea bubbling in my stomach. I kept swirling it around my plate with my fork, pushing it to either side in an attempt to make it look like I'd eaten more.

I almost jumped three foot in the air when Miles landed next to me, rocking the entire table with his force. He was shaking something in his hand; the shiny thing reflecting the lights above so that I couldn't quite see what it said.

"What?" I asked, easing some egg into my mouth. It was cold, but I knew I had to eat eventually.

He stopped wiggling it about all over the place and held it still enough so that I could see it. I realised, now, that it was a magazine. I went to say "nice?" but that was before I'd seen the writing on the front page. No, not the writing. The huge, overpowering picture on the front cover.

I choked. "Oh my fucking god," I winced as I tried to use the water to force the food down and stop me from coughing.

The front page, displaying the kiss Archer and I had shared, was glaring at me from Miles's hands.

I tore it from him, hands shaking as I read the block capitals. 'BILLIONAIRE BOY SPOTTED WITHH MYSTERY GIRL... more on page 2'

"I totally forgive you for ditching me last night because holy shit this would have been unmissable—" Miles was saying, keeping on talking but I wasn't taking any of it in.

Both Melanie and Piper seated themselves across from us.

"What's going on?" they asked.

Miles thrust the magazine towards them, and I watched as their faces contorted into a mixture of shock and admiration. Well, Melanie looked a little admiring, whereas Piper looked downright astonished.

When I looked around, I realised the people around us that I'd blocked out weren't regarding me with distaste as usual, or even just ignoring me. No, they were all throwing glances in my direction, whispering to those nearby, others blatantly staring.

The doors opened, then, drawing everyone's attention.

Autumn, Noah and, of course, Archer showed themselves.

I rose from my seat and made my way towards the trio, before any sense could flood my brain or I could lose my nerve. I stood before them, not feeling quite so intimidated with the fire coursing through my veins. Taking him by the arm, I led, more like dragged, Archer back out through the doors.

Surprisingly, he let me. I let go of him once we were far enough away to not be heard or seen.

"What do you call this?" I pushed the magazine I'd taken from Miles into his chest. He picked it up and looked at it, face void of any emotion.

"A magazine?" He supplied.

I glared. "Yes, I caught that. I mean, this." I pointed at the cover. "That was not apart of the agreement. You said no media."

"I never promised that," he said, standing straighter, eyes alight. I thought back to— I could have sworn he had, but by this point, the whole starting of the agreement was beginning to feel like an age ago.

"Even so, you can't just plant one on me. That's a dickish thing to do," I said.

"If I recall correctly, you reciprocated. You made no protests, nor a move to stop," he said, a shadow of a grin on his face.

"Fine," I said. "I'm done. No more of this."

He finally looked alert, then.

"What— no, no you can't. Your face is all over every magazine in the country, you can't just 'end it'."

"I can," I said, slowly. "And I bloody will."

I went to walk away, but he stepped in the way. "What do you want? More money?"

"Don't you get it? This," again, I pointed at the picture. "Wasn't about money. This is a lack of respect. You need me just as much as I need you, so I deserve at least some decency."

"Fine," he said, hands tousling his hair. "No more of this." He nodded his head toward the magazine now back in my hand. "Without letting you know."

"Or at all," I muttered.

"How do you ex— fine, fine, alright. Only when absolutely necessary." He took his hand out from his pocket and stuck it toward me. "Deal?"

I met his hand. "Deal."

"One more thing, though," he said, hand still locked onto mine. "They're all going to be aware of our relationship now. We can't just pretend we don't exist at school anymore."

I sighed. "Whatever. We'll just say hi when we see each other. Sorted."

"Mm," he hummed. "We'll see."

just a quick one: don't have enough storage on my phone to redownload the app I use to make the chapter banners so sorry lol just bear with

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