The Bad Boy (5 page)

               
It was so dark. Black and blue. I placed my hand
on my cladded stomach right over the giant bruise that I knew
Conner had given me. Conner. I looked up through watered eyes and
was relieved when I saw he wasn’t around.

               
The nurse came through the door and smiled at me.
“Sweetheart, how do you feel? Your boyfriend brought you in and
said you hit your head on your locker.” I remember Conner
whispering that to me before I fainted. I took my hand off my
stomach hoping she didn’t notice the protective way I was holding
it.

               
“
I feel fine now. May I leave?” I asked standing
up wanting to go to the bathroom and cry to myself until school was
over.

               
“
Yes. School ended about ten minutes ago, so I
suggest you put some ice on your face and rest. Okay?” I nodded in
approval and thanks and made my way to the door. When I was in the
doorway, I turned to her. She looked at me waiting for what I had
to say.

               
“
He’s not my boyfriend.” I turned and walked out
not missing the confusion that crossed her face.

               
I made sure to wipe away the remaining tears, even
though I had barely cried.

               
The hallways were empty except for one person. He
was leaning on the wall across from me with his hands shoved in his
pockets. “I heard what happened.”

               
“
And what’s that?” I asked as I walked over to
him. We headed for the main doors walking side by side. My hands
occasionally brushed against his leg but he didn’t seem to
notice.

               
“
That you were flying on a unicorn and fell off
because you’re the devil and the unicorn doesn’t like nasty girls
and you hit your head on a locker.”

               
I stopped walking and Jared stopped too giving me
a ‘what-are-you-doing’ look. “Where the hell did you come up with
that?” I laughed and kept walking when he smiled at me.

He shrugged.
“Thought you needed a laugh and it worked.” That was sweet. “But
really what I heard was you hit your head on your locker. How? I
don’t know but knowing you, you would find a way.” I hit his
shoulder and pushed open the doors letting the cool air whip at my
face.

               
“
Well you heard right. I hit my head.” It was
better than the actual story that no one will ever find out. I will
figure out somehow to deal with Conner but right now I just wanted
to forget about him and the little scene that went down with the
two of us.

               
He stopped at his bike and smirked. I was about to
ask what he was thinking when I looked around the parking lot and
noticed something missing. Shit! My car wasn’t here. I got a ride
from Hailey this morning. “Ever rode on a bike before?” Jared
smirked.

               
I shook my head giving him a terrified look. He
laughed mockingly at me and pulled out a helmet.

               
“
Well I’m glad I will be with you your first
time.” Then he shoved the helmet on my head.
  

I smiled up at
Jared as I ran a hand through my now clean hair. “I like your
family. They really know how to make people feel welcome.” I
laughed trying to lighten the mood.

               
He leaned against the door and smirked at me but
in his eyes you could see something else. “Yeah, whatever.” Then he
brought his hand up and I thought he was going to touch my face. I
locked eyes with him and felt my heart pick up. Why did he have to
be so attractive? “You still have spaghetti in your
hair.”

               
My cheeks flamed and I smacked his hand as he held
out the sauced covered noodle that he must have missed when he
washed my hair only a couple of minutes ago. “Yeah, whatever.” I
mocked him, trying to copy his smirk but knew I failed. Jared had
his own special smirk.

               
Jared shook his head at me. He walked backwards
until he was inside his house and said, “I’ll see you later bad
girl.” With a wink the door was shut in my face. I let out a loud
laugh before walking away from the house that looked calm on the
outside but was far from it on the inside.

               
I should probably explain what happened from when
I first got to Jared’s house and why I ended up with pasta in my
hair and a new nickname.

               
With my arms crossed and a glare directed at
Jared, I refused to get on his street bike. The only way I would
get on that death trap is if he knocked me out and strapped me to
it. I was smart enough to know that a boy like Jared would do
stupid tricks with a street bike and I wasn’t taking any
chances.

               
With his head hung, Jared spoke. “Emilie, I
promise I will not go fast, do any tricks, or cause any danger with
you on the bike. Now can you please get on so we can get to my
house?”

               
“
Why should I trust you? For all I know, once I’m
on you will gun it and I will fly off landing on my head and will
die!” I shouted being a little irrational. I had pulled the helmet
off as soon as Jared put it on, refusing to listen to him. There
was just no way I was going to go on that bike!

               
I could tell he was now getting frustrated because
he was gripping his hair roughly. I did feel bad about fighting
over this but I was always afraid of bikes and never wanted to ride
on one. And it isn’t going to happen now.

               
“
Fine.” Jared bit out, slamming his helmet on his
head. He flipped the little shield up so he could talk to me. “I
will go home, eat and sleep and screw the fucking project. We can
just get a failing grade and when the teacher asks why, you can
explain.” With that, he hopped on the bike and started the
engine.

               
I bit my lip as I watched him getting ready to
leave. He started moving forward and I looked down to see I still
had the helmet in my hand. I clenched my fingers into the hard
material of the helmet as I let out a groan. I knew I was going to
regret this!

               
I quickly caught up to Jared because he barely
moved and tapped him on the arm. He turned his head towards me and
I wanted to smack him in the face when I saw the smirk on his lips.
“I knew you couldn’t resist a bad grade.”

I shoved the
helmet towards him and growled. “Help me put it on.” Grabbing the
safety device from me, he pulled it over my head and then tapped my
chin, so I would tilt my head backwards. I felt his fingers brush
the skin on my neck as he tightened the strap so the helmet fit my
head and wouldn’t wiggle when I moved.

               
“
Okay, I want you to put your foot here,” He
instructed as he pointed to a peg on the bike. “And then you are
going to swing your other leg over and place your foot on the peg
there.” I nodded and followed his instructions. I held onto his
shoulders for support and was proud of myself when I made it on
without any mistakes.

               
He turned his head to me and I flipped open my
shield and said, “Where do I hold on?”

               
He grabbed my arms and wrapped them around his
waist tightly. “When I go around turns you have to hold on tight
and lean with me. When I tap your thigh, hold on tight or you can
fall off. Understand?”

               
I gulped. “Just don’t go too fast, please.” I
rather not fall off, I thought to myself.

               
He nodded and then shut my shield along with his.
I gripped myself closer to him and rested my chin on his shoulder.
He revved the engine and I jumped a little. I was going to shit
myself during the ride for sure. I heard him shout over the noise,
“Ready?”

               
I dug my nails into his skin and nodded. I closed
my eyes as I felt us move forward and sent one last pray to God. He
stopped at the exit of the school, looked both ways and then gunned
it out onto the street. My butt flew up a little off the seat
making me react by holding onto to Jared tighter. I felt him
chuckle but ignored him.

               
I could hear the wind whipping past us and knew
Jared was speeding or was it always like this on a bike? After a
couple of minutes, I gained the courage to open my eyes and was
shocked when I realized how much better it was to have them
open.

               
I loosened my death grip on Jared and looked
around at our surroundings. I couldn’t believe I was scared because
honestly this was amazing! I opened the shield on my helmet and
started laughing when I felt the wind push against my
face.

               
Jared tapped my thigh and I quickly got out of my
fantasy and strapped myself to him again. I saw the turn we were
going to take and remembered him saying to lean with him. As we
went around the bend, I leaned to the side as Jared did. The ground
was so close to me, I wanted to put my hand out and run it along
the road but knew that would be a stupid action.

               
The bike straightened out and I heard Jared yell,
“Are you okay?”

               
I couldn’t think of anything else to say but, “Go
faster!” Jared laughed and tapped my thigh again. I clutched onto
him and smiled not being able to help it as he sped down the
straight away. The wind smacking into my face made tears roll down
my cheeks but I was too lost in the moment to care. I couldn’t
believe I was actually scared of riding a street bike. They were
awesome!

Three more turns,
one straightway and a couple of stop lights later, Jared and I were
pulling into his drive way. He shut off the bike and after teaching
me how to get off, he was helping me un-strap the
helmet.

               
When we were both helmet free, I quickly wrapped
my arms around him and then pulled away not knowing if he would
have a good reaction. He placed the helmets on a shelf in the
garage while giving me a weird look. “What was that
for?”

               
“
That was awesome!” I screamed grinning at him.
“Thank you for forcing me on it, I can’t believe I was actually
scared to do it.” I gave him a sheepish smile.

               
He smirked and shut the garage door, opening a
different door and ushering me through it. “I knew you would like
it.” I stepped into what was a foyer and almost gasped but caught
myself. “What’s wrong? I thought you were just grinning like a
moron and now you are drooling on my mom’s favorite
carpet.”

               
I snapped my mouth shut and turned to him with
wide eyes instead. “You never told me you were filthy rich!” I
burst out throwing my hands in the air like a crazy person. I
looked back to the foyer to see a grand staircase that took up two
sides of the entrance meeting at the top where the second floor
started and doors lined the wall. A brightly lit chandelier hung
from the high ceiling while famous paintings occupied the
walls.

               
Jared shrugged walking past me and numbly I
followed still awed by the whole interior of the house.  It
didn’t look this fancy on the outside; well maybe I was still hung
on the whole bike ride to examine his house on the
outside.

               
“
I didn’t think it was a big deal. I mean I
thought you had money too.” He turned his head to look at me with
questioning eyes.

               
We were in the kitchen and I pulled out a stool at
the island and sat down. “My parents have money sure but we do not
live in a mansion like this.” My house was bigger than most but
nothing like Jared’s was.

               
“
Now you know I have money then.” He opened the
fridge and grabbed some water. Throwing me one he nodded his head
to another hallway. Knowing he meant to follow him, I got up and
walked with him to another set of stairs and upstairs. “This wing
of the house is mine, so I get my privacy.” He smirked and I stuck
my tongue out at him.

               
“
So this is how you get to bang so many girls,
sneak them out and never get caught?” I asked innocently fluttering
my eyes.

               
“
Funny.” He said dryly.

               
We walked down a long corridor until we reached
two large doors. Jared swung the doors open and I stepped in to
what had to be the biggest and nicest bedroom, I have ever seen. A
large four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room, a nightstand
on the left and a desk on the right. The desk had a computer with
magazines and random other things scattered around it.
 

               
On the far left of the room, there was a lounge
area. A plasma television was placed on a stand that had small
doors which were opened and video game systems were presented.
Video game cases were all around the stand on the floor some opened
others closed. Two couches incased the area looking really
comfortable.