Fantasy Two Halves of a Whole

[PlotBrownie]

Automatically when his name was called Tyler turned and saw his friends and paled. "Shit. Cia, we have a problem." Ty said in a low voice so only she'd hear him. The two boys glanced at his arms and he realized the flowers were there and oh god this is not what it looks like.

"We should probably go say hi. They won't say anything if they see 'you' so they won't ask anything and we'll have more time to figure out what we'll say." He told her, already taking a step towards the boys.

Not that he had anything against people thinking he and Acacia were on a date, but Liam and Nathan won't like that he didn't tell them about her not to mention they're not Acacia's biggest fan.

 

[mon]

Acacia nodded and went up to the two, doing her best to act as Tyler would. "Hey guys. What are you two doing here?" she asked with a casual smile as though going out with "Acacia Romans" was normal.

"We should be asking you that," Liam frowned, closing his arm around Acacia and dragging her in close to hiss something in her ear. "What do you think you're doing? Please don't tell me you're on a date with the Mad Dog."

Nathan on the other hand, was smiling awkward at Acacia. "H..hey... Nice weather we're having, huh?" he said, trying to keep "her" distracted.

Acacia rose a brow and glanced over at the real Tyler. While she had effortlessly lied to his parents about them dating, that was because they had no clue of her reputation at school.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler stared at his friend awkwardly attempting small talk with him while Liam whispered something in Acacia's ear that he couldn't hear.

He blinked at Nathan and before he could think better of it he spoke out, "I watch your matches. Your passing sucks because your wrist is weak." He blurted out. Oh how long had he wanted to confront Nathan about that but didn't want to hurt his feelings.

The poor boy blinked at him in confusion.

"What? A girl can't know a thing or two about volleyball?" He asked, giving him a look that clearly promised no good if he challenged him.

"Thanks? I guess?" Nathan said with an uncertain tone, not knowing how to feel about the girl attacking his abilities.

"You're welcome." Tyler said with a polite smile then turned his attention to Acacia. "Ty, should we go order?" He suggested.

 

[mon]

"I'm not on a date with Acacia," she whispered back to Liam, mostly because she is Acacia. Technically it wasn't a lie right? She grinned as she pulled back. "You should practice dribbling more, Nate. I heard it helps," Acacia suggested casually before nodding in agreement.

"Hey wait! You should eat with us," Liam interrupted, looking a bit frantic for some odd reason, "We wouldn't want a certain someone to misunderstand right?" he said, frowning at the flowers and chocolates at hand.

Acacia rose a brow, curious. Half, if not all, of the people in school already misunderstood their relationship. "And who might that be?"

Liam blinked, in surprise. "Is your brain so fried that you forgot you have a date with Charlotte Madison tomorrow?" he asked, incredulous. This time, he didn't even bother whispering. "No offense, I mean." he quickly added, looking over at 'Acacia'.

Acacia's reaction to the name was almost immediate. She whirled on Tyler with a glare, that same 'Mad dog' glare which had most people flinching. "What the fuck?" she mouthed. If it weren't for his friends being behind her, she would've yelled for an explanation.

Forcing a smile on her face, she turned back to the two boys, "Ahah, right. My... date with Charlotte." She had to physically try not to make a disgusted face just saying the blonde's name. "Cia here is just helping me get ready for it. There's nothing going on between me and her," she lied stiffly. Her body language and demeanor instantly becoming cold and distant.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Acacia was furious. If her mouthed words weren't enough her glare sure was. Tyler gulped, having never been that afraid of himself before. He didn't even know he could pull off such a murderous look.

A part of him, a very big part, really didn't want to be alone with Acacia right now, but he owed her an explanation. Or at least he thought he did. Sure, they weren't really on a date, but he should've at least mentioned this to her.

"Sorry boys. I need him for a moment." He repeated the same words he did first time this happened as he reached out and took his own hand, tugging at it to get Acacia to follow him outside. 'Not what it looks like.' He mouthed back without the boys noticing.

 

[mon]

"Is it just me or did Tyler look really scary just now?" Nathan asked, having saw a small glimpse of the glare Acacia had shot at her body.

Liam shrugged, "Probably just you."

The two went back to eating their burgers and fries, doing their best to ignore what just happened.

"Hey... my passing isn't that bad is it?"

Liam looked over, sympathetic. "It kinda does."

"Damn," Nathan sighed, making a mental note to try dribbling more.

----

Outside, Acacia had crossed her arms over her body, wearing a sour look on her face which showed she was in no mood for a conversation. Hell, she wasn't even looking at him anymore, choosing instead to glare at a spot on the wall besides them. The tension between them was thick, the silence heavy around them.

"Were you ever planning to tell me?" Acacia was the first to speak. Her voice quiet when it should be loud and vitriolic. "That you were friends with Charlotte Madison. This is another one of her schemes to hurt me isn't it? Were you planning this all along with her?" she scoffed, pushing her hair back with her palm. She sounded hurt. Her scoff was a defeated sound, so unlike her.

"Man, that's low. And here I thought you really wanted to be friends with me," Acacia shook her head and grabbing her things from the boy.

 

[PlotBrownie]

"Hey. Wait. Stop that." Tyler protested as Acacia tried taking the chocolate bag but he refused to let it go. "Can we talk about this?" He asked but she didn't seem to want to talk. She wasn't even looking at him. "Okay fine. I'll talk. You listen." Tyler said as he held the bag behind his back and reached out with his other hand to grab Acacia's arm, urging her to stop.

"Look, I have no idea what 'planning' you're talking about. Charlotte asked me to some party yesterday after practice when you left and I said yes. I have no clue what's going on between the two of you." Tyler explained. It wasn't completely true as people knew that Charlotte and Acacia weren't on terms with eachother but the details around that changed depending on who was speaking. "Cia, I swear to God I'm not doing anything to hurt you. It's just a party." He pleaded.

 

[mon]

Acacia narrowed her eyes at him, scowling. It was clear she didn't believe him and she had good reason to as well. In her first year in high school, after rubbing things off wrongly with Charlotte, Acacia had excused herself from her gang and formed her own small group of, what she thought to be genuine, friends to hang around with. Instead of letting her live her good life, Charlotte had made it a personal agenda to give Acacia the most miserable years of high school possible. It was her way or the highway.

Of course, given Acacia's personalty, things didn't go as smoothly. She saw through most of her petty tricks and schemes, but having her close friends betray her was one thing that she hadn't expected. It stung. Lots. She hadn't made any close friends since their betrayal. Not any in Westmond High, at least.

But Tyler looked earnest, if not honest. A part of her wanted to believe him but she was too skeptical to even allow herself that. "Let me guess," she said sarcastically, "It's a party thrown by her sorority. She asked you when you were alone and came up to you like this," Acacia said, imitating the girl in a frighteningly accurate way, hands behind her back and all.

"Took your hand like this," she took one of her hand's, tracing her finger across her opened palm, "and wrote her number or something on your palm right?" The look on his face was enough to confirm her suspicions. She threw her head back and laughed meanly, "God, I knew it. You're being played, Bay."

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler saw the change in her expression but before he could figure out what it meant she was playing out the events of yesterday with surprising accuracy that made a chill run down his spine. "What? Why... Why would she do that?" He asked with a confused, and upset, frown.

Why would Charlotte do that to him when he hadn't done anything to hurt her? Did it have to do with Acacia?

"What if it was genuine?" Tyler asked, trying not to show that it stung his pride that the girl might have actually been playing him all along. What Acacia said made sense but he didn't want to believe it. "What? Is it that unbelievable that a girl like her would look at a guy like me?" he asked, knowing he probably sounded like an overly sensitive kid. "She has no reason to play me. I didn't do anything to her." He pointed out.

Not that he cared that strongly for the date anyway, but it still hurt to think that he was being played with for no reason.

 

[mon]

"Because she's a bitch," Acacia almost blurted, stopping herself in the nick of time. She didn't need to lower herself to Charlotte's standards by shit-talking her behind her back. Acacia was pretty verbal with what she thought of Charlotte to her face.

Instead, Acacia chose to shrug. "Beats me," she muttered, wondering the same thing at one point of time. She didn't understand why the blonde had to be so petty. It was already bad enough that she had tried to bully the ravenhead but to go as far as to tear her friends from her too? And people though Acacia was bad. Charlotte was literally the devil in Prada.

Seeing Tyler's hurt expression gave her flashbacks to how miserable and sad she was the first year. She didn't show this to anyone of course but she probably looked like how Tyler was looking right now.

"Aw, come here." Acacia sighed, coming close to pull Tyler into a hug. "Chin up, Ty. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong," she said in comfort, curling a finger underneath Tyler's chin to force him to look up at her, "I wouldn't count on it though. Lotte has shit taste in men. You'd be too good for her." She had no intentions of letting Charlotte lead Tyler on, but she wasn't so heartless that she would completely shatter the boy's hopes. It was better to find out now than later.

Inside, Nathan and Liam were watching through the glass windows. They nearly choked on their fries when they saw Tyler pull Acacia into his arms, tilting her face up like he was going to kiss her.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler felt as much like a kicked puppy as he looked. Acacia pulled him in for a hug and he felt almost like a pathetic kid that needed comforting but even with that knowledge he didn't pull away and accepted the hug and words of comfort.

"What do you think she has planned for me? If it's all just a game I mean." Tyler said in a small voice, sounding like he was believing her more now. Idiot. How couldn't he see it till now? Charlotte was definitely out of his league. "Whatever it is it won't work now that I know I should be on the lookout for any funny business. But I should still go you know. It's rude not to." He said, though part of him wanted to go because he still held onto the hope that maybe this wasn't a mean joke after all.

 

[mon]

Acacia looked down at Tyler for a good minute. The hurt look in his visage told her that maybe he really wasn't in cahoots with the blonde after all, but she could never be too sure. For all she knows, Tyler could be a damn good actor.

She sighed and pulled back, shoving her hands in her pockets, "I don't know and truthfully, I don't care. What Lotte does is her business. I'm just tired of her dragging me into it," she rolled her eyes, going back to McDonald's with a wave. "Do what you want. Don't say I didn't warn ya."

She met eyes with Liam and Nathan. Their shocked expressions told her they were probably watching her from inside so she winked cheekily in their direction, before heading to the counter to order. "Cheeseburgers or Big Macs? If you say Fillet O'fish, I will grill you," Acacia said, once Tyler followed in after her.

 

[PlotBrownie]

He watched her go in and sighed as he stood there for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he was walking into a trap or not. He couldn't find out for sure unless he went though.

So without saying anything more he followed her in, flowers and chocolate in hand.

"Big Mac chicken. You know I don't like fish. I'm pretty sure you even thought of sneaking salmon into my food." Tyler pointed out, reminding her of their conversation. As she ordered he dug into her jeans and as expected found what he was looking for. Taking a yellow one, he handed her the other colors that came out and popped the candy into his mouth. The taste was growing on him.

 

[mon]

"Oh, right," Acacia grinned sheepishly, somewhat relieved this time that he didn't. "Two Big Macs please," Acacia ordered, gladly taking one of the Starbursts from him. If she keeps this up, she'd turn Tyler's body into a sugar addict. She had a lollipop just this morning and candy breaks in between periods. Now was no different.

Once their food was ready, Acacia took their tray over to where Liam and Nathan were sitting. They had "kindly" invited her to eat with them after all, so who was she to refuse. Plus, it would interesting to gauge their reaction to her, though it would've been a lot more entertaining if she had been in her own body.

"So, are you two going to Lotte's party?" she asked casually, not yet knowing that Charlotte had invited Tyler when his friends were around.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Liam glanced at Acacia (Tyler) suspiciously, as if he blamed her for their friend's sudden memory issue.

Tyler noticed the look and realized that Acacia was asking the boys about the party while in his body, and she didn't know they were there when she was invited.

He glanced at Acacia, hoping to convey to her his thoughts without being too obvious that the boys would notice, but apparently he wasn't obvious enough.

"Dide he hit his head during practice? I didn't see that happen. Liam?" Nathan turned to Liam and they both then turned to look at Tyler. "Dude, are you okay? We're starting to worry." Nathan told him.

"You remember we were there right? We even talked about it right after?" Liam added.

"Ma-Cacia are you okay?" Nathan asked once he had turned to the girl and noticed the nervous look on her face. He almost called her mad dog to her face after being used to calling her that in private so much.

 

[mon]

"Uh, I meant, date wise," Acacia fibbed, instantly picking up from her mistake. It was a good thing she was a smooth-talker. She lied her way through things with confidence, "It's a sorority party after all, so they're probably expecting suit and ties? I still have to find mine, haha," Acacia said, with a fake laugh, frowning slightly when Tyler's memory was insulted.

She looked over at Tyler with an apologetic shrug.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler rolled his eyes but was otherwise thankful for the quick coverup. His small smile reassured her that it was okay.

"I'm taking Liz from the basketball team." Liam told them, "Nathan still hasn't found anyone." He told them with a grin, earning a kick under the table and a scrowl from Nathan.

Tyler bit into his sandwich for an excuse to stay quiet. A bit of sauce smearing his chin.

 

[mon]

"Ooh, fun," Acacia commented, before going back to eating. The food gave her an excuse not to talk. She could pretend her mouth was too full to save herself from blowing Tyler's cover.

"You can try asking Hannah from the Astronomy team. She's a nice girl. Cute too," she suggested. Hannah was one of the few girls who stood up for Acacia during the Big Rift; albeit, she quickly faded behind the scenes afterwards. Acacia couldn't blame her. No one wanted to go against Charlotte Madison.

Liam rose a brow at her. Since when was Tyler acquainted with Hannah? But Acacia didn't notice her slip up, and if she did, she didn't care much. It was a passing comment.

"Actually.. I've been meaning to ask Lara from the girl's volleyball team. I just," Nathan buried his face into his hands, "Haven't gotten around to asking her yet."

Acacia rose a brow, looking amused as she sipped her soda. Liam patted Nathan's back, "He's basically too shy to ask the poor girl out," he explained with a smirk, before his gaze trailed over to Acacia.

"Hey.. Ma--Acacia, you're a girl. Have any suggestions for my poor friend Nate here?" Liam asked, trying to keep the nervousness out from his voice when talking to Acacia. She looked pretty normal when she was just sitting there eating, and even without the rumors, the boy could tell she was pretty. It was unnerving to have her with them.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler snorted at the question then noticed Liam's serious face. Oh.

"Well," He started, putting his sandwich down then started racking his brains for actual good advice. "For starters you don't go announcing that she's a girl as if you're implying you thought she was something else." He pointed out, but his casual demeanor reassured them that he wasn't offended, or more specifically Acacia wasn't.

"Girls like it when you show that you've been paying attention to them but not in a creepy way. Like for Lara you can go up to her after practice and tell her she was good. It's actually better if you do it with her team around, so she won't be intimidated and also who doesn't like to show off?" He explained to them. He didn't count himself as an expert but spending two days as a girl made him feel like he was better acquainted with the opposite sex.

"Or if that doesn't work you could always bite them and bribe them with candy." He added as a joke, looking directly at Acacia. "Ask them to help you pick out things for another girl you're interested in." He added, now his sole purpose was to tease the girl.

He turned to the guys again, "That was a joke. Don't do that." He clarified.

 

[mon]

Acacia nodded, and though what he said made sense, it was a very vanilla (cough, boring) way to court a girl. She wasn't impressed but she wouldn't criticize either, that is, until the conversation became a personal jab at her. She choked on her drink, coughing.

"Hey, that was one time!" she replied on reflex.

Nathan and Liam looked at her in confusion and surprise. Acacia had to calm herself down as she fiddled with her fries, "A joke. We're joking," she laughed and the boys nodded slowly. They finished their meal with small talk in between. Nathan and Liam found that talking to Acacia wasn't as bad as they thought. Because it was getting late, they had to excuse themselves first.

"Should we get a move on too?" Acacia asked, once Tyler was done eating. Since they got their food a lot later, they finished later as well.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler smirked, for some reason pleased that he had gotten under her skin, but the memory of the bite made him blush and he had to pull himself back into the conversation before he turned the shade of a tomato. Wouldn't that be a sight for the boys. Acacia Romans blushing.

He was the last to finish his food and the boys were already gone. He agreed with Acacia and got up to put away their trays. "We'll have to go back to the school's parking lot to get my car though." He pointed out as they left the fast food restaurant and started walking back.

"Despite it being close to a disaster on many occasions," Tyler started to break the silence, "This was actually nice." He told her with a little smile as he offered his arm for her to link hers through.

 

[mon]

"Ugh, you're right. I almost forgot," Acacia replied, taking the skateboard from him to skate back this time. She kept her pace slow to match the speed of Tyler's walk, looking over when Tyler extended an arm to her. She smiled, but instead of linking arms, she chose to grab his forearm instead, holding it as though she needed balancing on the skateboard.

"You're right," Acacia said again, softly this time, looking out at the horizon. The sun cast warm orange hues on their skin, extending their shadows on the pavement. "It's been so long." The last bit was said mostly to herself and Acacia didn't elaborate further on that. The rest of their walk was filled with comfortable silence and the touch of Acacia's hand on Tyler's arm (or well, the other way around, really).

Once they reached the parking lot, they got into Tyler's car and Acacia directed him to the dormitories' parking space. She told him earlier that she had to drop by her place but given how late it was, Acacia changed her mind and chose to just sleep over instead.

"I'll have to sneak in though. The dorms don't allow members of the opposite gender into their rooms past 10," Acacia said, rummaging through her backpack to pass him the key to her dorm. "Second floor, third door to your right. Open the balcony door for me, yeah? I'm going to go in through the fire escape," she grinned before disappearing.

 

[PlotBrownie]

The unfinished words echoed in his head but he didn't ask her to finish them, guessing as to why she hadn't.

After driving there Tyler took the offered key and glanced at the glint of mischief in his own eyes then at the tall building. "Cia," He called out before she left, holding her elbow to keep her from leaving. "Be careful." He urged her. She was known for her wild side and she was in his body which scared him. He didn't want to fully admit that he was worried about her because worrying about Acacia Romans will just lead him to an early death.

He let her go and watched her leave before heading into the building, following her instructions. He'd already been here twice but never focused too much on the floor or the number of the apartment so he was thankful for the details.

Once inside he opened the balcony door in her room as instructed and sat down on the bed to wait for her, thankful that he didn't run into Callum.

 

[mon]

Acacia nodded and with a toothy grin, she ran up the fire exit steps but had to shuffle onto the building's ledge to get to her balcony. Once she was there, she climbed over her balcony's metal railings and onto the small space where she kept her neglected potted plants, ash tray and empty coat hangers.

With the glass door unlocked, she slid herself back into her dorm room with a stretch, locking the door behind her. It felt good to be back home. She kicked her shoes off before joining Tyler on the bed, flopping down face first. It was almost a direct comparison to what Tyler had done on the first day of their body swap.

"Oh, right. The presents," Acacia said, lifting her face from her sheets. She sat back up and took the flowers and the chocolate from Tyler, setting them on her desk. The chocolate bars were taken into the kitchen where she broke them into bits and placed them in a bowl to microwave. One could wonder what she was doing.

"I bought you some too, by the way," Acacia told Tyler when he joined her in the kitchens. Of course, she didn't tell him that she had swapped a few of the normal chocolates for mint chocolates in the box she was giving him. She had to get him back for his teasing one way or another.

 

[PlotBrownie]

Tyler felt the bed dip beside him and reached out to pat Acacia on the back, "There there." He said in comfort. They were both pretty tired from the day's events. Then Acacia was up and moving again and Tyler reluctantly pulled himself off the bed to join her in the kitchen.

"Oh. Thanks." He said with a smile as he took the box and perched on a stool before opening it and picking one up. "So what are you doing anyway?" He asked before popping one into his mouth then after the first bite he grimaced and got up quickly, searching for a napkin. When he couldn't find one he spit the offending object directly into the bin then turned to glare at Acacia. "I hate you." He told her as he went to the sink and cupped his hands under the faucet then took a big gulp of water to wash away the taste.