XV
Sophie's P.O.V.
I rub my eyes, yawining. Unbelievably, I managed to stay up all night to study. It's morning now and I feel sick to my stomach with worry about Axel and the exam. Throughout the night, I sent him a few texts asking him if he's okay but he never replied and all I was left to do was hope for the best. I pull on the first clothes that I see, too tired to put effort and drag myself to the car, yelling a quick goodbye to Sonia and letting Wolf out of the house so he can pee. We had a fence around the house so that he wasn't able to escape.
The ride to the school is nerve-wrecking and I keep repeating formulas in my head. When I arrive to the parking lot, however, I almost have a heart attack, seeing Axel standing there.
"What the hell is going on with you?!" I shout and slam the door behind me when I get out. "Where were you all night?!"
He looks like hell, there's no way he was at hotel, sleeping. Rolling his eyes, he leans closer to me and whispers. "Turn around. You're not going to class today."
I gape at him. "What? Are you crazy?! I'm going to fail this year if I don't go!"
"I don't give a fuck. Turn around." he sneers and I narrow my eyes.
"You're not controlling my life. I'm not failing my junior year because of you." with that, I sneak past him and take quick steps towards school.
Just as I'm past the entrance, I feel a hand grab mine. "Would you slow down? Fuck, I can't walk this fast."
"What are you doing?"
He rolls his eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm coming with you, obviously."
"I don't need a bodyguard." I argue.
He snorts. "Trust me, you do."
I glare at him. "I'm really nervous about the test right now, that's the only reason I'm letting you off the hook right now. I'm gonna need a pretty good explanation when I'm done, so you better start making up a good excuse."
Axel rolls his eyes again and trails behind me. "Yes, mom."
I sigh in exaparation but let it be. If we were under different circumstances, this exchange would be much different.
The math class starts way too soon for me to be happy about it, even if it's fourth period. Throughout the day, people keep sending Axel weird looks and teachers ask about him but I ask them nicely to let him be there and show them a note with Sonia's fake signature on it, saying that "for a personal reason he is to accompany me at all times".
It was Axel's idea, not mine.
I also noticed that there is a tension between Tom and Axel that wasn't there before. Sure, they hated each other, but I could feel this was somehow much more intense.
Something must have happened and I plan to ask Axel about it as soon as possible.
"Are you ready, miss Watson?" the teacher I've grown to hate because I hate the subject he teaches, asks me and I weakly nod.
I have to be ready for this.
He passes me the test and sits me at the furthest table from all the students.
Okay, I can do this.
***
"How did it go?" Axel asks me as we're getting our lunch and I shrug. "Okay, I guess. Better than I thought it would, so that's something. Let's just hope for the best."
He hums and sits down in the coffee shop. He did not want to eat in school at all costs, so he brought us at this retro-looking, cute little coffee shop and bought us each a sandwich and a muffin for me.
"So, did you come up with an excuse good enough?" I ask and he gives me a questioning look before realizing what I'm asking, and then he coughs and looks at his sandwich.
"I had to go back home to get the rest of my stuff." he lies and I raise my brow.
"Really? You couldn't do it today? You had to do it at night." He nods and I narrow my eyes. "Why are you still lying to me, Axel? I thought we were past this."
He looks back at his sandwich. "I'm not lying."
I roll my eyes at his childlishness and am about to comment when I notice a weird stain on his black shirt.
"Is- is that blood?"