Chapter Twenty-Eight

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My head hurt. My back felt like my spine was snapped in two, and my throat was as dry as a freaking dessert.

When your parents told you to be good kids, did you ever wonder why? Well, I've figured it out. It's because being a bad kid sucks when it comes to punishment.

I wouldn't consider myself a bad kid, though. It was one night out past curfew, lying and being deceitful. Only one night, yet, I got caught.

As you might've figured, I didn't get away with my lie on Monday night like I had hoped. In fact, it was going quite well until the next day of school, when my Physics teacher deliberately called me out to do one of the homework questions.

Of course, I worked the equation with ease, and she made me do another, then another, then another, until all the homework questions were done. Despite that, she demanded to see my notebook, and when I showed her the blank sheet, she called me out.

She had no proof other than the blank book that I didn't do the stupid problems, so I quickly made up a lie that I left the paper in my locker. Since I already knew the answers, I could quickly jot them down if she actually sent me for the homework, but she didn't. Instead, she pulled out her phone and flashed me a video from my Instagram story of my adventurous night.

She doesn't follow me, but apparently, her son does. And her son is a damn tattle-tale.

But of course, being out late didn't necessarily mean I didn't do the homework, right? That wasn't her concern. What she was mad about was that I broke a school rule—a pretty stupid one, but still a rule.

Rule number 18 of the school handbook clearly states that uniforms are always to be worn neatly, never dishevelled at any time – which was reasonable and made a lot of sense— and shouldn't be worn five hours after school hours. This part, however, I didn't quite get.

There's also a weird unwritten rule that states that students shouldn't post any picture or video that 'damages' the school reputation in any way. I mean, I wasn't doing anything wrong in those videos, or else I wouldn't have posted them. However, being an 'unruly' child seemed to match their definition of 'damaging school image'.

My point is, I got caught by my nosy teacher, who brought it to my parent's attention.

Yippee.

I got a whole week of detention where I had to sit in the physics lab every evening for an hour, doing absolutely nothing but watch her and hear students complain about their grades or lab results. The worst part, I had to sit on stools for that whole hour, which didn't quite do well with my back.
At home, it wasn't the best either, but it was better than my school punishment. Surprisingly, I was grounded for only three days, but it was awful because I had lights out at nine. What am I? Six years old?

Anyway, thank goodness that ended yesterday, but my parents tortured me even more by having 'the talk' with me. First, my mother spent hours trying to figure out how to tell me to be careful while having sex, and then my dad took on the baton of explaining what it is like to be an adventurous young person, pointing out what I should and shouldn't do. Or rather, what he recommends or doesn't recommend.
I was shocked that they didn't seem mad, though. I felt like they understood that I had been sheltered all my teenage years, and maybe living a little wasn't bad. They only wanted me to be careful, and as much as I hated that talk, I appreciated it. In fact, I loved even more that they didn't degrade or blame Fabian. They seemed pretty chill about it. What can I say? I had to be grateful. But then again, maybe they didn't feel obliged to judge me when they weren't the most honest persons either. At least they're not hypocrites.

So, at home, it wasn't all that bad. But school? Sometimes I hated how strict they were with their rules. My back pain was a keen example of that. Luckily, it was Friday, and that meant it was my last detention.

I learnt my lesson, of course. But do I regret Monday night? Not one bit. In fact, every time I thought about it, my heart would get all back-flippy on me, and my skin would tingle with goosebumps all over. I would never forget that night, and I would do it again and again until there was nowhere else we could go.

Just not in my uniform.

"Okay, Paris. You are free to go. And remember, whenever you think of breaking—"

I didn't give her a chance to finish because I was out the door and ready to go home. It was Friday night, after all. There was no way I'd stay there a second longer than I needed to.

I immediately grabbed my phone as I left the lab and headed for the school exit. My inbox had five messages. One from Shanae, one from Cynthia saying she took my car, another two from the group chat with Ariana and Shanae, and finally, a simple but cute message from my one and only boyfriend saying he was already outside waiting.

I didn't drive today. Shanae had Nick pick me up this morning because we practice carpooling sometimes.
Who am I kidding? I only asked to travel with them because I wanted Fabian to pick me up in the evening.

I haven't seen him all week for obvious reasons, and most of the time we didn't get to talk much, since I spent an extra hour at school every day, then I had tons of homework to do after dinner, and of course, my baby bedtime at nine.

Seeing him was what I really needed, and despite countless invitations from the girls for a night out, I'd rather spend it with him. I saw them every day, after all.

As I speed-walked through the door, my phone made a ping sound, indicating a new message. I slowed my strides to check it, and I was stunned into a still state when I saw who it was from.

Colton: Wanna hang out tonight?

I didn't know what to tell him. On one end, I wanted to, but on another, I really wanted to be with Fabian. I hadn't spoken to Colton in a while, and I had to say, I really do miss him. We didn't really catch up after that whole Anna Karenina incident either, and the message was making me all types of nostalgic.

Another message came in only seconds after the first one, and I saw it instantly since I was already in his chat.

Colton: If you have other plans, that's okay. Tomorrow could work too.

It felt like instinct, but I had an odd urge to look across the schoolyard, and indeed, Colton was standing on the other side staring at me. On one end, I was confused. Colton doesn't usually stay back this late after school. But then it hit me. Maybe he waited.

I mean, it was quite apparent to anyone who pays attention to me that I had been going to detention every day after school, so maybe he knew. I suddenly felt guilty, seeing that he put himself through all this trouble, only for me to say no.

But then he did something I never thought I'd see him do. He smiled, waved and pointed across to the parking lot where a familiar car was parked only a few feet away from him. I noticed that it was Chad's car, and though the windows were tinted, I could see the clear outline of someone waiting inside.

My lips twitched at this as I tucked a bundle of hair behind my ear. Was I blushing? I couldn't be blushing.

Lucky for me, when I looked up again, Colton was gone, and I caught a glimpse of the back of his car just leaving school. I took a deep breath to compose myself as I strode across the parking lot. I had to keep my bottom lip under my teeth to prevent myself from smiling too much. But, why?

It didn't matter, though. I only had eyes for one person, and that person made me actually smile for real when he exited the car as I got closer.

I couldn't wait anymore. I ran up to him and launched myself in his arms. He immediately lifted me up, twirling me around as I giggled in delight.

I missed him so much.

He rested me on my feet and instantly connected my lips with his. I've missed the taste of his lips. I dreamt about it every night and woke up with a headache each morning because I was Fabian-deprived.

I loved the way he held me close and never left an inch between us as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. I couldn't breathe, but air wasn't a priority at that moment. It was the utter bliss of being with him that did the trick. And though it probably wasn't the ideal thing to be kissing in the parking lot of my rigorous school, I couldn't care less. My head was spinning too much, and I was too far in the clouds to give a shit.

I was disappointed when he pulled away, and though I didn't make a scene, he could see it on my face.

"What is it? Can't get enough of me?" he teased, causing me to roll my eyes.

"You haven't seen me for four days, and the first thing you say is something teasing."

"Okay, let me rephrase that," he mumbled as he brought his lips down to my ear. His breath tickled my lope, and my entire form trembled at the glorious feeling it provided. "I missed you so damn much."

Now that was better, and I found myself breaking out in a grin as I hugged him close to me. I felt like I didn't want to let go ever again.

"I hate being Fabian-deprived." After I spoke, I realized that I said it out loud, and Fabian pulled back a little with his eyebrows pulled together as he regarded me in amusement.

"Fabian-deprived?"

I blushed as I looked away. "You know how some people say they are food-deprived or sex-deprived when they eagerly want it or starving for it, well…." I trailed off, guessing he would pick up from there.

"I'm so sorry." His voice took me off guard, and I glanced up to see his teasing expression gone, now replaced with guilt and regret. "I got you in trouble, and you've had a terrible week because of it."

"Hey, hey." I held his cheek, just like he loved doing with me to direct his eyes to mine. "It's okay. I don't regret what we did on Monday one bit, okay? Don't ever think that I do."

I reached up on my tiptoe to peck his lips, and his beautiful eyes seemed less troubled when I saw them again.

"Alright. But from now on, anything reckless is only done on weekends, okay?" His suggestive smirk gave me ideas, and I was suddenly eager to know what we would do today.


"You mean like tonight?"

He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth for a while but ultimately shook his head. "Nah. I have a different idea for tonight. There's someone I would really like you to meet."

I racked my mind for whoever this person was. I already met his family, so I didn't know who else he'd like to introduce me to. However, he seemed so excited that I instantly felt it too.

"Of course." I smiled up at him as I caressed his hand. "Just let me go change."

He laughed with a nod, understanding more than anyone the importance of this.

"But first," I added in a surprisingly seductive voice, "let's soothe this burn in my heart for all those days without you."

His eyebrows shot up in what seemed like amazement as I gripped his jacket. I didn't know where this boldness came from either, but I liked it, and he seemed to be liking it too.

I reached for the door handle and yanked it open before pushing him inside on the driver's seat. His eyes stayed wide as he observed me as I rounded the car to the other side. I climbed in slowly, then reached over the control area to straddle his lap. He kept analyzing me carefully as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The parking lot was almost empty, but it was still a risky thing to do.

But hell, I didn't care. I felt like a strong woman in control, and so I continued to relish that feeling.

"Paris, this is so f**king sexy," Fabian said, his voice low and soothing as he gripped my waist tighter. I smirked down at him, trying my best to keep up this 'sexy' act.

But seeing that I could ruin it any minute by saying something stupid, I simply dipped my head to his and gently tugged on his bottom lip, receiving a throaty groan from him as he squeezed me tighter.

"Kiss me," I demanded sternly.

And that he certainly did.
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Hey guys!

I just wanna take the time out to thank all my new and active readers for giving my book a chance <3 it means the world to me, especially since this book is almost over. Yep (sobs). There are about five more chapters to go and that's it!

I love this book so much, and I could go on and on about how it started, how I abandoned it for months because I didn't like it, and so I changed the plot, title everything. Now, It's almost done. So surreal.

Anyway, if you are a reader of any of my other books, you are probably used to me getting all emotional and nostalgic in my A/N.

Enjoy the rest of the story lovelies!



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