Mickey's Lessons on Bad

Prologue

        Mickey Varsity.

        The town's infamous bad boy.

        He sat there, his arms draped around the bench, with a cigarette hanging low between his fingertips. His eyes were a beautiful, amber color as they watched Michelle and her boyfriend. His hair was a mess laying on top of his head in a dark, honey brown color. Michelle couldn't help, but admire the beauty that was the town's bad boy. No one could deny that he, or pretty much anyone that's a part of the Varsity family, was beautiful— Breathtaking. A work of art.

        Though it surprised her to see him hanging out in the town's park. Usually, he was either in his house or just out of town doing some type of illegal activity. He looked so calm and peaceful.

        "Listen, Michie."

        She looked away from the bad boy of the town to her boyfriend that stood in front of her. "What?" she responded, her tongue running over her lips nervously. She and Logan had been dating since the fourth grade and it was the last week of summer before their final year of school began. They just arrived home from a summer they spent together alone. She was waiting for some type of ring to be slipped on her finger like a promise ring. Their love had grown so deeply and she was ready to become Michelle O'Connors once they graduate high school.

        Her eyes followed Logan as he placed his guitar case onto the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out the acoustic guitar. Instead of returning to his feet, he went onto one knee and positioned the guitar on his raised knee. She felt herself gulping and her teeth grazing her bottom lip nervously.

        He did a few notes on the guitar, making sure it was in tune, before he smiled up at her. It didn't look like a hopeful or happy smile that Michelle would think he'd give her if he was proposing. Logan began strumming the guitar, constantly glancing back to her then down to the guitar. But the melody was off. It wasn't something that sounded like a song to express his love, or one of the songs that he wrote. It was a familiar melody of a song she definitely knew, definitely listened to before.

        It clicked immediately when she heard the first few lyrics.

        "It feels just like it was yesterday, we were in love. Why's it falling apart?"

        It was Bad by The Cab and it began to worry her as he continued singing. Tears began to cloud her vision and they weren't happy tears.

        "I've never been one to walk away, but I've had enough and it's breaking my heart. 'Cause you love me just the way that you should. It's nothing that you do, no it's nothing you say. Yeah baby, I know that you're good, but I don't want a good girl no, not today. 'Cause I want it bad, I want a bad girl, baby, bad. I want a love that's crazy, yeah. I want a bad girl, baby, bad, I want it bad," Logan finished singing, staring at the floor rather than his guitar or Michelle.

        It felt like hours with neither of them uttering a word, but in reality, it was only five minutes.

        "Are... Are you breaking up with me?" Michelle asked rhetorically, her voice cracking.

        He finally picked up his head then rose to his feet. "I'm sorry," he apologized in a soft voice, reaching out to cup her cheek, but she moved back before he could touch her. "I would've sang more, but I think you already got the picture."

        "This is so stupid," she whispered to herself before saying it louder for her ex-boyfriend to hear, "This is so stupid! We've been friends since birth, dated for eight years. You decide now to break up with me, because I'm, I'm—"