The Bad Boy (13 page)

I know that look.
Hailey only gets that look with a guy. I was going to have to ask
her about that.

I saw I had a new
message and held back a smile when I saw the message and name. It
was a picture of me sleeping in Jared’s bed. The text said, ‘
Now
I have proof that I got you in my bed(;
‘ I looked at the
contact name and let the smile fall onto my face. It read: Jared my
(boy) friend.

I answered him
with the picture of him after I creamed his ass in pool. The text
said, ‘
I have proof that I kicked your ass in pool(;
‘

My phone vibrated
a minute later and he said, ‘
Touché.
‘

I laughed and
closed my phone putting it back in my bag. Hailey looked at me with
curious eyes. “Now what did you have to tell me?”

I felt my heart
go into a frenzy but knew this was the right thing to do.
Pushing my hair behind my ears, I dove into the story.

“
Dumb
jerk-face…” Hailey murmured throwing another shirt over head from
the closet. I quickly ducked my head to the side avoiding it from
whacking me in the face.

“
Hailey…” I said trying to catch her attention.

“
I
should take him down to the river and drown him…”

“
Hailey.”

 “
They won’t look in the river for him…”

I stood up from
my bed and started walking to her. “Hailey.” I said a bit
louder.

“
They
never do.”

I grabbed her by
the shoulders and got in her face. “Hailey! Would you shut up and
listen to me for one second!?” I yelled. Her mouth clamped shut and
her eyes bugged out of her face. I sighed and plopped myself down
next to her, crossing my legs.

“
Sorry, it just frustrates me what is happening! If you were
me, you would be acting the same way!” She wailed throwing another
shirt behind us after making a disgusted face at it.

I shook my head
and pulled my knees up to my chin. “No, I would be thinking
reasonable thoughts.” I argued giving her a shameful
face.

She held up a top
and was looking it over as she said, “Drowning him in a river is a
very reasonable thing.”

“
No
it’s not!” I cried falling onto my back staring at the ceiling.
“Going to the police, telling my mom, or even telling Jared would
be reasonable. Drowning him is out of the question.”

Hailey got on all
fours and leaned over me smiling, “Okay but I know a guy who
can—“

“
NO!”
I yelled shooting up and knocking heads with her. We both groaned
and I fell back again. I rubbed my head and closed my eyes. “I
don’t know what to do but I know killing him or harming him isn’t
going to solve anything.”

Hailey snorted
and laid down next to me. “Emilie he hurt you! He could possibly
kill you! And you don’t think evening the score is a good
idea?”

I bit my lip
trying to think the way Hailey was thinking.

It’s been three
hours since I told her my story and three hours of me hearing her
‘brilliant ideas’ on how to teach Conner a lesson. Now we were back
at my house and Hailey was going through my wardrobe trying to find
me a perfect outfit for tomorrow which I forgot was the town
fair.

I also forgot
today was Friday and we didn’t have school for some reason, making
everything jumbled up in my head. That would explain why Louis had
his party on Thursday and why I forgot that the town fair was
tomorrow.

Hailey was still
making me go to the fair saying that it will get my mind off things
for a while and then after we can figure out how to kill Conner.
She was dead set on killing him. No pun intended.

 “
I just want him to leave me alone.” I admitted turning my head
to the side so I could look at Hailey. “That’s all I
want.”

“
He
can leave you alone… if he’s dead.” She put a finger to her lip and
had a thoughtful expression on her face. “We can burn his body and
then throw him in the lake!” She grinned at me and clapped her
hands. “Perfect, that’s what we are doing.”

I rolled my eyes
and got off the floor. I walked to my closet and started rummaging
through my clothes again. I know for a fact Conner won’t be at the
fair tomorrow because Hailey told me that he was talking about
going away this weekend with his parent’s in one of the classes she
has with him. That was a bonus that I got to forget about him for a
weekend, have fun, and then figure out how I am going to get him to
leave me alone.

If it got to the
point where I had to go to the police, then I would but I didn’t
want to make a big scene for nothing. Now, that Hailey knows, I
feel a little better and safer but I still had to watch myself and
find out how to get out of this, without too much trouble being
caused.

“
Hails, I need you to be serious. I don’t know what to do and
that’s why I finally told you. It’s putting too much stress on me
and I wasn’t going to lose you as a friend because I was holding a
secret.” I pulled a dress off the rack and pulled on the hem
stretching it out a little.

It was a pretty
dress that was tight around the bodice but then flared out to two
inches above my knee. It was had swirls and other designs coating
the front and back. I held it up for Hailey and she smiled jumping
up.

“
I
love it! You have to wear it tomorrow!” She fell to her knees and
starting searching through my shoes that lined the bottom of my
closet. “And these shoes will go perfect with it!” She threw me a
pair of sandals that were black and strapped around the back of my
ankle.

“
You’re right. Okay, I’ll wear it.” I smiled and put the shoes
and dress to the side. I started picking up all my other clothes
that Hailey had scattered around my room and put them back in the
closet. When everything was put away and you could see my rug
again, I sat on my bed and Hailey took the spot next to
me.

“
Why
don’t you tell your parent’s and then they can go to the police?”
Hailey questioned picking at one of my throw pillows.

“
Going
to the police would mean a lot of shit. Plus, he only hit me once
and it’s weird because one day he is everywhere and the next I
never see him.” I explained furrowing my eyebrows, just now
recalling Conner had a weird pattern.

Hailey looked up
at me with sympathy. “Emilie you have to realize, it can get worse
and before it does you should really tell the police or your
parents. You don’t want to end up in the hospital and that’s how
everyone finds out.”

“
Hail…” I trailed off seeing her eyes water. I moved closer to
her and put my arms around her. “I’m just scared and confused.” I
admitted holding her tighter.

She wrapped her
arms around me and started sobbing. Hailey was never one to cry and
if she was crying right now then she must be really upset or
scared. She must be really upset and scared for
me
. “I’m
your best friend; I shouldn’t be letting this happen to you!” She
sobbed pulling back and wiping her eyes.

I held her face
in between my hands and smiled sadly. “This will be fixed, I
promise. I will figure out something.”

She looked me
over for a moment before responding. “If you don’t do something
soon, Emilie I swear I will go to the police. Now that I know what
is going on, I can’t let it happen.”

My heart clenched
for my best friend and I tugged her into a hug, probably crushing
her. “I love you Hailey Jacobs.” I whispered felling myself start
to cry a little too.

She did a weird
laugh that was mixed with crying and hugged me back. “I love you
too Emilie Grey.”

A throat cleared
and we both looked at my door to see my dad standing there with a
confused face. I felt the blood in my body run cold thinking he
heard what we were talking about. But what he said made me want to
die… from laughing.

“
Uh…
Emilie is there something you aren’t telling your mother and I?” He
looked between Hailey and me and then stared me in the
eyes.

Hailey and I
looked at each other and then burst out laughing at how funny that
question was. I was crying now from laughter and my dad just stood
there looking back between the both of us.

I shook my head
and giggled a little before answering my dad. “I’m not a lesbian,
dad. Friends can say that to each other.” I laughed a little more
at the end. Hailey put a hand over her mouth trying to calm down
but her face was turning red instead.

“
Oh…
well you girls were crying and I didn’t know if you were having a
confession or something.” He scratched his head looking
uncomfortable.

I cocked my head
at him and said, “Were just glad to be friends.” It wasn’t a lie
that was what we were crying about mostly.

“
Huh,
well I remember my college roommate crying to me because he—“ My
dad quickly shut his mouth and gave us a forced grin. “You girls
have fun, I’m going to find your mother.”

He left quickly
after that and I looked at Hailey confused. “You don’t think his
roommate confessed to him do you?” I choked out in between
laughter.

She pulled her
hand away from her mouth and fell off my bed backwards
laughing.

Well that
answered my question.

“
Your
father and I are going out for dinner and staying at a hotel. We
won’t be back until tomorrow night. Will you be okay home alone?”
My mom asked pulling to the side of the road so I could get out and
go to the park for the fair.

I looked back at
Hailey and we both snickered. I wonder if my dad was taking my mom
out because of the memories from his college roommate. I faced my
mom and smiled. “I’ll been fine, you guys have fun.” I kissed her
cheek. “Love you.”

“
Love
you too.” Hailey and I got out of the car and waved to my mom as
she pulled away.

Hailey smiled at
me. “Your parents are funny.”

I laughed and
linked my arm with hers. “They’re weird, honestly.”

We walked into
the park and were automatically engulfed into the crowd which was
mostly children with their parents. A lot of kids from my school
came but they came more at night because then they could do stuff
they can’t really do in the day light.

The park looked
amazing. The booths were set up nicely and the rides looked better
than last years. I remember coming here as a little kid with Hailey
and we would always get cotton candy and then go to the fortune
teller.

Hailey obviously
still had the same plans because she grabbed my hand and dragged me
to where the cotton candy machine was. She grabbed two blues and
handed me one. We continued walking and that’s when I decided to
drop the question.

“
So
who’s this guy you are seeing?” I asked picking a piece of cotton
candy off the stick and popping it in my mouth.

Hailey’s mouth
froze mid-air aiming to bite off some cotton candy from the stick
when she turned her head towards me. “Whaaaaaa?” She either said or
just made a weird noise.

I smirked at her.
“I knew you were seeing someone!” I shouted fist
pumping.

She composed
herself and went back to eating her cotton candy. “I don’t know
what you are talking about Emilie. I would have told you if I was
seeing someone.” She tried to make it seem like nothing but I knew
there was something going on.

“
Who
is it?” I demanded pulling on her arm to stop her.

She threw her
hand in the air. “I’m not seeing anyone! And if I was which I am
not, I would have told you right away.”

I crossed my arms
over my chest and looked down on her. I wasn’t mad that she didn’t
tell me, I mean I had no right. In fact, it would make me a
hypocrite. I was finding her reaction to it funny and I knew she
was lying because she was looking everywhere but me.

“
What’s so wrong with telling me?” I asked walking again when
people started making rude comments at us for just standing in the
middle of the walkway. Hailey flipped off an old couple giving them
a glare to which they gasped and hurried off. I grabbed her hand
and put it down to her side. “You are avoiding the
question.”

She pouted and
shoved the rest of her cotton in her mouth. Then started talking.
“I ham sheeing shomeone.” Then she smiled brightly showing all the
blue sugar that coated her teeth. I smacked my hand to my
forehead.

“
Are
you really going to act like this? Just tell me who it
is!”

“
Fine!” She yelled exasperated throwing her cotton candy stick
in the garbage. She opened her mouth and then her eyes drifted to
the right and she screeched, grabbing my hand and pulling me. “We
have to go to the fortune teller!”

I threw my head
back with a groan because I was so close to figuring out who Hailey
was seeing and then she avoided it! If that was me she would have
beat me down in front of everyone to figure out my
secret.

We got on line
and I tried even more to get it out of her but every time I brought
it up she would tell me to be quiet because she had to focus. Focus
on what, I had no idea but I decided to drop it because I knew I
wasn’t going to get it out of her. Which sucked because as her best
friend, I thought she would have wanted me to know about it,
right?