Farm Girl Meets Bad Boy (#1)

Chapter Two

On instinct, I run down the stairs, trying not to fall. I fail miserably. Within seconds, I’m tumbling down the remainder of the wooden steps and land in a heap on the concrete. I’m about to jump up the run, ignoring the obvious throbbing pain on my elbows and knees, when the light is flicked on.

Emery stands perfectly still, leaning against the railing of the stairs, grinning ear to ear as if he were modeling. “Did someone take a little tumble?” He steps down towards me.

“You’re jokes aren’t funny.” I mutter, standing up and brushing myself off. I keep my distance, and head towards the mattress.

“Who said I was joking?”

I turn around and cross my arms, annoyed. “Well, if you’re going to kill me, kill me now.”

Emery laughs, and slides his hands into his skinny jean pockets. His look was of the darker variety, with band t-shirts, converse shoes, and tight jeans. “You want me to kill you?”

I shrug, no longer scared of him. “I would rather be dead then spend my summer vacation living in the same room with you.”

His face drops. “You have to be kidding me.”

I shake my head no. “My dad didn’t tell you?” I pick up one end of the mattress, and start dragging it towards the stairs, expecting him to help. He doesn’t. “Can you help, please?”

“This is complete bullshit. I’m not living in the same room with some farm hick bitch!”

I drop the mattress, and stalk towards him. “What the hell did you just call me?” I stand as straight as I can, hoping to be less short than I really was.

“You heard me,” he pushes me back by my shoulders, and I fall onto the old white mattress.

I pick myself up off the ground, and put my hands on my hips. “Look, we have to at least try to get along. Can we just stop fighting and carry this mattress upstairs?”

“No, I’m good.”

I roll my eyes and begin to drag the mattress up the creaking stairs. This could not be happening. This had to be a dream, and I would wake up any second, right? Why else could some rude, arrogant felonious boy be living in my house, or worse, my room?

“Why don’t you help River with that, Emery?” Dad says, sipping his coffee at the kitchen table as I drag the mattress through. It knocks over shoes and drags chairs as I yank it towards the second set of stairs.

Emery gives the same response to my Dad as he did to me. “No, I’m good.” Dad shrugs, and I shoot him a look. He sighs, putting down his coffee. He stands up and helps me carry the heavy mattress upstairs to my room. Once Dad’s gone, Emery appears in the doorway.

“This fucking sucks.” He drops his backpack on the ground, and looks around my room in disgust. The walls were painted a faded pink and pictures of famous guys, bands and my horses covered the walls. The wooden roof slanted over where my bed sits, preventing me from jumping on it. At the end of my bed, Emery’s mattress lays there, with old sheets and pillows sitting neatly beside it.

I plop on my bed, and stare out the open window at the setting sun. The fading light makes my room glow, as if an orange spotlight had been placed right outside.

Emery stares at me through murky turquoise eyes that made me uncomfortable.

“What?” I snap, annoyed.

“Leave.”

“Excuse me?”

“Leave.”

“This is my room,” I laugh. “You have no right to tell me to leave.” I pull my laptop off my bedside table and open it, turning it on. “Make your bed, mattress, whatever,” I mumble, clicking onto the internet.

“You have on last chance to leave,” he speaks through clenched teeth, but I pay no attention as I surf the web. When he realizes that I’m not planning on moving anytime soon, he stalks towards me.

Before I know what’s going on, Emery rips my laptop from my hands, and heads towards my open window. He smirks at me, as my mouth falls open in shock. He throws it out the window, and looks satisfied as I begin to freak out. A smashing noise rings out a few seconds later, as it breaks from the two story fall.

“You fucking asshole!” I scream, standing up. I push him back by the shoulders like he had done earlier to me. I want to strangle him, remove his head from his body, and claw his eyes out, but slapping him is the only thing I can do before he fights back.

He grabs my wrist, and twists me around until I’m facing the opposite way. He pushes my arm up and I know if it goes any farther it’s going to break. I scream, as tears start to fall from my eyes.

“Emery, let go!”

He laughs, and pushes my arm up a millimetre more. It’s enough to make me cry out, and he covers my mouth with his other hand.

“Never, ever slap me again, you little bitch. Or you’ll regret it,” he throws me away from him, and I hold on to my aching shoulder.

“I’ll regret it?” I yell. “I’m not scared of you and your empty threats, you asshole!”

Emery lunges for me, just as my dad runs through the bedroom door. He grabs him and pulls him back before he can reach me, then places himself in between us.

“What on earth is going on up here?” He looks from Emery’s angry face to my crying eyes. I go through the story about him throwing my laptop out the window, and how he threatened to kill me for the second time. “River, we can always get you a laptop. Why don’t you leave Emery alone for a little while and help me feed the horses?”

I go to protest, as Emery grins, but my Dad throws me a look. With clenched fists, I follow Dad out of the room and turn around one last time. For all I knew, the next time I saw it, everything could be turned to shreds.

Emery grins at me, but out of spite. His fingers wiggle in a wave as he closes the door to the only room that was mine in my face. If this is how an hour spent together turned out, what was going to happen when we went to sleep tonight?