Just Another Bad Boy || Book 1

Ch 1: New Trimester, New Bad Boy

Thoughts of last trimester came shuffling in through all the other nonsense in my brain. Andy, my best friend, has always been gorgeously cute. Ever since we were little, I couldn't help but like him, even as more than a friend. He just had these unbelievable blue gray eyes, soft skin and contrasting deep black midnight hair. The way he'd styled it since we were kids was because he hated getting it cut, so he'd let it grow out and sweep it to the side, over his forehead and just let it stay like that until his mother would bug him to get it cut. I teased him a few years ago when it became a trend- 'emo' hair. Then again, when Justin Bieber became popular.

Well anyways, it was the first day of freshman year. Me and him had been best friends and literally inseparable our whole lives, so obviously, we got Adam, his older brother, to drive the both of us.

That day was supposed to be super special, because it was the anniversary of when we created the triple spit take (a really gross, childish handshake; which neither of us did anymore for sanitary reasons). That was the day we had agreed to be friends for life. So we usually celebrated it with gifts and stuff.

That year I had planed on telling him how I really felt about him, too. So I got all dressed up and fancy. I wore my red dress with white polka dots along with my black leather jacket that I was so fond of. When we got out of the car and into school, Andy was immediately swarmed by girls. As usual, he fanned them off and we kept walking. Like I said, he was very cute, which made him very popular.  I couldn't help, every time he would wave girls off like that to spend time with me I felt special.

That afternoon, Andy and I were waiting at Adam's car for him to take us home. Andy's hysterical 'fans' had left and there was just me and him now. I'd spent the whole day trying to build up the courage to say what I needed to. This was it, the moment. So I decided to tell him. I took a deep breath.

"Andy?"

"Ya, Jessica?" I cringed as he referred me to the name I hated so badly. But he refused to call me anything else so that's what I got stuck with. Jessica.

"I-I have something to tell you. And... and it's really important."

He gave a small chuckle before he saw my serious expression. His face became serious. "Ok. But before you do, I just want to say thank you."

"...For what?"

"For not falling for me like everyone else. For not wanting me romantically. For not making it be a cliché love story where the girl falls for the best friend. I'm so over this cliché I'm already stuck in." he gives an exhausted laugh, half joking and half serious, turning over the rock in his hand he'd picked up as we'd walked over to the car.

I stood there shocked beyond my comprehension. Not only had he guessed exactly what I was going to say, he'd taken the wind right out of my sail. A sail I'd been trying to blow into for years. Andy looked over at me as tears began to brim on the edges of my eyes. I tried really hard to hide it from him, turning away. But I had a feeling it was too late now. 

"Oh, no!" He said with a groan. "Please tell me that you don't like me that way!" He practically whined.

His tone mixed with my feelings of guilt frustration and embarrassment, and I felt the anger well up inside of me. As a few tears slipped past and slid down my cheek, I turned back to face him.  "And what if I had been about to tell you that, huh? Then what?" My words came off more defensive than I had meant. There was no going back now.

"Oh my Gosh! You were. Ghaaa!" He said throwing the rock he had been holding earlier. I was surprised, and couldn't get a clear read on him. I didn't like that. "Listen," He said turning to me, his face suddenly calm and collected, with a fire in his eyes that told me otherwise. "We can make things not awkward. We can just pretend that this didn't happen. At all."

I shook my head. "What do you mean? I just kind of- well.. I tried to tell you and you shot me down and got so angry you threw a rock? And what if i can't? What if I don't want to pretend this didnt happen?" He just shook his head, not saying a word to me.

"Are you really willing to just pretend that I didn't just tell you that I have feelings for you? To ignore it? You aren't a video camera. You cant just erase the memory!" I tried to keep my voice down, as more people filed into the parking lot, reaching their cars. Even though my chest was flaring, and I felt so disheartened, I still gave him the decency of keeping my voice down to not cause a scene, which I knew he hated. 

He stared at the ground, not saying anything. With that I took off. My school wasn't terribly far from home, 5 or so miles. I didn't mind, it gave me time to cool off. About halfway home it began to rain. I cried the whole way home, hoping nobody would really notice; but not caring enough to find out.

I cringe as I remembered how much pain and hurt I had felt that night. That was the first time I cried and didn't care who saw me. I grab my chest for a moment, taking a deep breath. Things had been weird between me and Andy since then. And now I'd have to share a car with him.

"Jessica." Someone called me from across the road. Well, hell. Speaking of him....

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Hello, as of 9/1/21 I'm beginning to edit the chapters of all of my books. There will be no plot changes, just grammatical, rephrase, that sort of stuff. So .. you might get many notifications over the next couple months. I'm preparing for submitting my book to several of teh Wattpad sponsored benefits program. Please wish me luck!