A Beautiful, Terrible Love by Lucky 97 (books for 9th graders txt) 📖

Lou blushing terribly, Sadie totally frozen with shock. Dex looked at me, how I was looking in shock at their reactions, laughing softly at me.
"That was how you were supposed to react." He smiled, eyes not crawling over me as they did on Sadie and Lou. He just kept his eyes on my face, which, strangely, comforted me. I guess, though, it was because I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans while Sadie was wearing a short dress that showed off her legs and shoulders. "You want to try again?" he asked, and I shook my head.
"Nah,"
Dex grinned. "So where's my room?"
I pointed to the sofa, where a single pillow and blanket lay. He looked at it and looked back confused.
"This is your bed." I clarified, and all the confusion left his face, leaving disgust.
"Are you being mean to me again?" Dex asked, his face contorted in displeasure.
"I'm being serious. Our other two rooms are taken,"
"Okay," he paced around the living room, "Just a bit of the lake, I can deal with. Only one house, I can deal with. No bowling alley or flatscreen TV, I can deal with. But no BED??!!"
"I'm sorry." I apologized.
"I demand a room." He looked around, as if a door with a king-size bed would magically appear in front of him. I rolled my eyes.
"If it means that much to you, I can sleep on the sofa. No big deal."
Dex froze, not saying a word. Then, after reflecting on what I said, he dumped his stuff down on the coffee table, the legs trembling with the effort of holding its load up.
"Wouldn't want to make you sleep on a sofa," he muttered, shuddering. "I guess I'll man up and sleep... here."
I smiled. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having Dex stay here after all. He had some good in him, at least. Also, he didn't seem super snobby, and his celebrity air around him kind of vanished when he agreed to sleeping on the sofa.

I walked to the kitchen, getting out the pots and pans, trying to get that feeling of amazement that Dex was actually sitting... in my living room. Sadie was out of her trance by then, chatting eagerly with the bodyguard, who was also obviously a bodybuilder.
Lou walked up to me, and whispered, "I approve."
"What?" I pretended that I didn't know what she was talking about.
"You can go out with him." she nodded, smiling.
I laughed, a little shakily, noting that Lou's eyes still seemed to be dizzy and unfocused. "I bet you wish you were younger, right?"
Lou grew red as a tomato, "Well, I think he's cute, yes, but-"
"Do I hear some people talking about me?" A voice interrupted Lou's embarrassed explanation. Dex was lounging by the kitchen wall, focused on Lou and I.
"Not everything is about you." I muttered as I hurriedly began to "get something" out of the pantry.
"No." Dex had suddenly whirled right next to me, his minty breath dwindling on the back of my neck, his word rushing to my ears, "but most everything is,"
I didn't say anything, just began to open the box of noodles I got. Dex smiled, leaning close to me as I started heating up a saucepan full of water. "You'll see when I take you to one of my concerts."
I knocked the pot of water over, spilling water over the floor. I angrily glared at Dex.
"Look what you made me do!" Water was running across the floor, rushing towards the many cracks in our house.
"Hurry!" Lou cried. Sadie, Lou, and I grabbed a hand towel and ran towards the places that needed it the most. I hurriedly wiped off the chairs, and then saw what I never expected to see.
My precious magazines laying in the water, soaking wet.
I ran to them like the wind, soaking my jeans when I kneeled down to get them. I hugged them to my chest, standing up quickly, grabbing a towel.
Dex raised an eyebrow at me as I tried to wipe them off frantically, not caring about anything else. The colors were beginning to blend together, a mess of red, green, pink, and blue that shook me to the bone. I ran to the stairs until out of sight, then, just out of curiosity, stopped to listen.
"What's so important about those magazines?" Dex asked Sadie.
I heard a little sigh, then.
"Those magazines are where Eve got her short stories published. It is her pride and joy, so expect her to be angry and bitter when she comes back."
"Are they good?"
"Umm..." Sadie thought, "well... they're sad. I don't think sad stories are all that great, really, but Eve's is good. I mean, it has to be good. It's published, right?"
I laughed silently, then trumped to my room, ready to conduct a mass revival.

"Dex is WHAT?!" I screamed for the second time that day.
This time it was my mother breaking the dreadful news instead of that Polly girl. "Dex will be going to school with you, starting tomorrow."
"Will he be disguised?" I asked worriedly.
"No." Dex answered for Lou, shooting her a smile in apology. "Everyone knows that you won the contest, so everyone will also know that I will be with you a lot... it would never work, anyways. I'd have to watch you have all the fun." he grinned.
I suddenly remembered that my fellow students watched TV also, and they probably saw me sing. Suddenly, I felt dizzy. I sang... in front of... the whole... school...
"Don't faint on me." I heard Dex's voice, feeling strong, manly hands lift me up from the ground where I had fallen. "What did you expect? For them NOT to watch?"
"I guess," I mumbled softly, still shocked.
"Now, I wish you had that sort of reaction when I kissed you." He whispered in my ear.
I whacked his face with my fist, and stood upright. Dex held his face in pain, moaning a little.
"I'll be fine." I assured Mom, grinning.
"Eve!" she accused, obviously implying that I shouldn't be so violent.
I faced Dex, and shrugged, "Sorry."
"No you're not!" he laughed and gasped at the same time, making a little choking noise that made me seriously wonder if I really hurt him. I stepped closer, touching the little red spot above the right side of his lip. Dex stared at me, and I, at him, us moving even closer...
"You're right," I grinned and stepped away. "See you tomorrow, Dex!" I practically skipped to my room, exhilaration shooting through me for some reason. All depression had left me, I realized. I wasn't excruciatingly sad or unbelievably angry. I had Dex, so, strangely, I felt okay, better than okay. I felt like a whole new person.

Chapter 8

I walked out along the beach, the sand tickling my toes, the wind brushing through my long, flaxen hair. The ocean, an oasis of blue, seemed to calm me, my nervous spirit quelling as the sea spray danced around my nose. I looked down, to discover that I was wearing a long, clingy dress, pure white in color, with a necklace made of the finest seashells.
A man walked up to me, wearing shorts and a loose white t-shirt. He had beautiful green eyes the color of a blade of grass, and a perfectly clear complexion without a single freckle in sight. He had a carefully combed mop of hair, ruby red, that suited the bright green of his eyes. He had the slightest hint of a smile gracing his flawless face, his eyes focused on me, never wavering.
He walked to me, grabbing my hand, pulling me close. We stood together, my dress waving in the breeze, his shirt rippling in the wind. We never said a word, just started walking next to the ocean, the little crystals rising up in small puffs around our feet. I grasped his hand, the warmness a pleasure, his hand engulfing mine.
We suddenly stopped, the man coming to a halt. He turned to me, his eyes urgent, his lips pressed together in longing. He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me close, my eyes alight with excitement. We inched closer and closer, until we were inches apart. He reached to close the distance...

I jerked up from my bed, my alarm clock beeping, furiously pressing the snooze button. Just a few more minutes... I was having the most wonderful dream. I angrily banged the alarm clock, wanting to turn back the time, to experience that pure bliss once more.
Finally, after a bit of tossing and turning, waiting for the dream to return, I wearily got up, slipping downstairs, sleepily walking towards the refrigerator for a drink.
It was then that I knocked into a huge, hairy arm.
"Wah?" I shakily asked, still not focused, hanging onto the arm like it was my last hope for survival. Everything was a little dizzy, and I felt the world rock beneath my feet.
"Eve?" A deep voice alerted me, and I stood straight up, suddenly remembering who this arm belonged to.
Dex.
The most popular guy in America.
"Oh, I'm sorr.," I backed away, turning beet red from embarrassment. Dex raised his perfectly sculpted eyebrows in confusion.
"It's 4' O clock," he informed me gently. "You need to be sleeping."
He obviously thought I was sleepwalking. "Dex, I get to decide when I wake up and fall asleep."
"You're not sleepwalking?" he asked, eyes widened.
"No," I walked past him, grabbing a bottle of Gatorade. I gulped it down, barely stopping for breath, as Dex watched, amazed.
I placed the now-empty bottle of Gatorade in the trash, and headed towards the door, being careful to not step on any loose floorboards. Dex looked at me, puzzlement etched across his face.
"You know, you're different from any girl I've ever met."
"I definitely know that." I assured him, stepping outside to greet the dark beauty of the world around me.
The sky, a deep black, twinkled with stars, their light illuminating on my form. The moon, a silver crescent, dwelt among them, the brightest of them all. The grass, now a dark, forbidding green, covered the area, the wind violently blowing. My hair flew back, the force of the wind nearly overwhelming me. A nearby rabbit rushed into its hole, waiting for the storm that would soon come.
Like THAT was going to stop me.
I strode down to the quiet, calm lake water, the blackness a mystery to me, intriguingly inviting me to swim where the sun was not present, only blackness. It was like virtually swimming through darkness. Just the way I liked it. I shed my shirt and shorts, my swimsuit on underneath. My toes, nearly frozen in the icy air, wiggled in a feeble effort to get warm. The dirt, smeared on my feet, was comforting. It was now or never.
I dived into the eternal blackness, wincing as the water burned my skin with its coldness -ironic, right?-, enjoying the alertness that it graciously gave. At moments like this, when I was completely under the blackness, my vision clouded by the water, I felt at peace. Even when I was depressed, and Dex was the bane of my existence, I could always feel free when swimming below the surface. I felt a tiny fish rush by, tickling my leg as it swam. I giggled inside, my heart escalating in joy. I broke the water, gasping for breath, wishing I could stay below the surface forever. The freezing air swirled around me, chilling me to the bone. The moon smiled at me from above, directly over my head. The silent beauty of the whole area delighted