The Badboy's Heartbeat [BxB] √

CHAPTER 39

"The Bride?" Jane asked utterly confused.

"You that badass bitch in Kill Bill?"

"Ohh, ohhh, I know her. Uma Thurman? She's a badass bitch!" Jane chimed in giggling with excitement.

"That's what I'm about, purrrrr...."

I love Nikki and she just unapologetically exhibits a whole lot of characteristics that I love about being a woman of color. Not only that she loves a badass character, she's also a badass character herself and it takes so much balls to be young and yet super charged up with such confidence. Of course, I love Jane as much as Nikki. She's more like this person who calms Nikki and me down to a notch, she's some sort of a stabilizer or something. She's this pristine white girl who comes off as a boring maid most of the time, often obsessed with her white boyfriend who's enjoying his life in college.

When we got to the bleachers, we managed to secure a good spot just behind the cheering squad led by Michiko Takao. Today's match was the very first match of the district cup and it's between our school, the Northern Hudson Sharks against the South Springfield Orcas of the South Springfield high.

"Look, there's your boyfriend." Nikki whispered intentionally teasing me behind my ear. She's clearly pointing towards Zach who looked absolutely good in his jersey.

"He's not my boyfriend, Nikki." I trailed off keeping my tone as low as possible. Zach and I only hanged out twice and the second time around, Nikki and Jane joined us and they already think I'm dating him for some reason. He's a nice guy and while he's been showing up out of nowhere just to purposely greet me, I just don't feel anything else beyond friendship with him. And it sucks that I feel like that because for the longest time, I've been dreaming of him ever since. I guess I just needed more time to get to know him better and maybe then, I might at start falling for him.

"Why is Xavier not here?" Jane pulled me on the other side and as soon as she said it, my eyes roamed around the field and Xavier's nowhere to be seen. My eyes even travelled to the bench and there's only Chad along with a few others.

Somehow, I'm a little bit worried about Xavier. Everyone knows he's one of the best player on the team and he's not here to bring such glory to the school. Zach might have to carry the entire team on his back and that's a hard thing to pull off on his own.

The match eventually began and for a while, our school only scored one point while the opposing team already scored three goals. Michiko and the cheering squad kept on cheering as they should but it doesn't seem to be working. Everyone on our school's team appeared to be exhausted having not gained any progress to close the gap and at one point, coach Millstone had to call in a break and eventually subbed his asshole son in exchange for Nixon's position. I personally think it won't change the game anyway.

While the game was rolling, I noticed how Chad kept on messing up his game and eventually, Levi got pissed and started punching him right in the face. It created a ruckus and that's when Nikki, Jane and I decided to leave the game. We already knew that's a losing battle and just like we thought, we eventually learned that our team lost their very first match up.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Zach as he started the engine of his car. This somehow became my normal routine and I ain't going to lie but it's starting to become apparent that he's hitting on me. Zach would show up out of nowhere and then asks to drive me home, which was fine because I'm thoroughly enjoying his company. I just secretly wish it was someone else other than Zach but who am I to complain? I don't have anything to complain about.

"I'm pissed. I'm not going to lie but it's sort of expected that we'd lose." He replied breathing out heavily.

"Chad really did hold you all back huh?!" I muttered easily stating what I've seen during the match.

"Yeah, he freaking sucks but even then, we all know we are going to lose that match. South Springfield really was the team to beat and we got unlucky that we had to face them on our first match. We still have one last chance though and hopefully by then, Xavier shows up." Zach began driving and I just can't help but want to comfort him for the loss.

"D-do you know where Xavier is?" I inquired. I wasn't really expecting myself to ask that but I'm also curios. I saw him during the day and while he's acting pretty much normal, he went missing when the school needed him.

"He got called to the principal's office." Zach heaved out.

"What? For what reason?" I suddenly felt nervous and worried. What did Xavier do this time?

"I just heard this from someone but I don't know if it's true or not. I heard he robbed a store."

"WHAT?!" I yelled out of pure shock and Zach was surprised too but not because of what he had heard but it's because of my initial reaction. I had to look away for a while.

By the time Zach pulled over in front of our house, I wasn't shy as I invited him inside to maybe have some refreshment or something. I know he's not feeling great about the match and I just thought maybe I could make him feel better. However, he respectfully declined my kind offer.

I got out of his car and when I entered the house, I was widely surprised to see a strikingly familiar visitor with a flaming red hair.

"Hi, sweetie!" My mom instantly greeted me with her business pearly smile. "This is Mr. Rockwell of the Rockwell industries." She introduced me to this man who's basically a spitting image of someone I know.

"Hi, sir." I faked a smile at the guy whom I know was the main reason as to why that person I used to know was living in shambles. "Mom, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, sweetie." I pulled my mom towards the kitchen. "Please excuse me, Mr. Rockwell."

"Sure." The man nodded.

Before I opened my mouth, I made sure the man's out of earshot. "That's Xavier's father." I whispered as low as possible.

"What?" My mom looked shocked and paused for a moment. I could see her eyes twitching, she's probably thinking about it. "Oh, yeah, they both look like each other."

"You're working with him?"

"Yeah, he was trying to hire me to design the interior of his new hotel."

Now that we are here, I haven't really talked to my mom about Xavier and his relationship with dad.

"Okay. Also, don't mention that we know Xavier." I ordered.

"Why?"

"Because...." I looked at my mom straight in the eye and gestured how Xavier's parents are already separated.