A Guide To Not Falling For The Bad Boy

1.

#1: There is a reason he is everybody's ex.

A pounding startled me out of my sleep. I threw the warm cave of covers off of me trying to get my eyes to focus on the clock. 

"Bro, let me in?" A voice cracked from outside my window. 

I turned to see my best friend sitting on a limb of the tree that sat outside my window. "Otto, what in the world are you doing?" I asked, unlocking the window and pulling him inside. 

He wiped down his baggy jeans once he was stable on the floor. He looked up to me. His hair, a curly bush on his head, wobbled. He looked around my room as much of a mess as I am right now. 

Clothes scattered the floor hiding the grey carpet. Otto began to pick them up, putting them in the polka-dotted hamper by my door. 

"Otto, what are you doing?" I asked again, trying to comb the knots out of my hair with my hand. 

"You are going to be late." He said. 

"What do you mean? It is 7:30 school isn't till eight." I rubbed my eyes wishing I was still in bed. 

He looked at me as if I was the crazy one. "Okay," I sighed. "Give me a second to get ready." 

He nodded opening my door. 

"Where are you going?" I asked. 

"To go get breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day." He said in a duh tone. 

I rolled my eyes before grabbing some clothes to go take a shower. 

                               𖦹︎𖦹︎𖦹︎

A cloud of steam escaped my bathroom as my bathroom door opened. I wore a t-shirt that the school sold last year, overpriced as usual. And a pair of boot cut jeans. 

Otto sat cross-legged on my blue comforter scrolling through his phone. Pictures of him and I along with a couple of other friends littered the wall above my bed. 

"You didn't scare my mom too bad did you?" I asked, dragging a brush through my hair. I examined the frizzy mess in the mirror. The ends were fading blue, while the natural black color occupied the rest. 

"Of course not. You should be worried about how much your dad scared me." 

I smiled bending over and gathering my hair and twisting it into a messy bun. I came back up to examine how it turned out. I could see Otto's nose scrunch in the reflection. The bun looked like an impossible knot on the brink of falling to pieces. I sighed taking it back down. If only I was one of those girls who throw my hair up and look like a princess. 

"What he do this time?" I asked as I brushed out the new knots. 

"He just said that I best not come through the window again unannounced. There is a front door for a reason." He ducked his head as he slid his phone back into his pocket. 

"He has a point," I said, slipping on Nike slides. 

"It's supposed to rain," Otto warned. "And then he gave me the death stare as he finished eating his waffle." 

I laughed, digging under the bed to find my slip-on vans as a comfortable replacement. They used to be checkered but now were to worn out to make out the pattern 

My dad was a tough one to please. It took years for my dad to let Otto come over, much more to let him come into my room. My dad finally realized how harmless he was and loosened up a bit. 

It's a miracle my sister was actually able to get married from the way my dad acts when any guy looks our way. 

"Raine said they were going to Starbucks if we wanted to meet them." 

"No thank you," I said. "Coffee is disgusting, but you can go if you want." 

He shook his head, "It is too sweet in there it gives me a headache."

"Everything gives you a headache," I remarked. 

He stood from the bed walking over to the door. "Ready?" He asked, his voice cracking. 

                             𖦹︎𖦹︎𖦹︎

Raine ran over and gave me a tight hug, as she does every day. She rolled into the crappy parking lot at 7:59. Unlike Otto and I, who insisted we get here at 7:45. 

Unlike me, Raine was dressed to impress. She wore a pair of skinny jeans that shaped her perfectly, a cute red top with a jean jacket thrown over it. 

"Isn't he your ex?" Otto questioned, pointing. We all turned to see a guy, leaned up against a table in the courtyard, staring directly at us. 

She scoffed, "Otto, he is everyone's ex." 

I squinted my eyes to see the guy. He had a well-defined jawline and flippy hair that should have been left in the 2010s. "He looks like a Xavier," I said rolling my eyes. 

"His name is Zander." Raine corrected, she brushed a piece of blonde hair behind her ear and fixed her bangs.

"Precisely," I said looking to Otto for back up. 

"And he is staring at you." Raine continued, wiggling her eyebrows. 

"Please, He is 'everyone's ex' for a reason," I said, doing air quotes. 

"Plus, why are you making that face if he is your ex?" Otto spoke up. 

"Otto please, you don't know anything about girls." She said, waving her hand as if it explained it. 

"Apparently I don't either," I remarked. We followed behind Raine to the bundle of brick builds, waiting for the bell to sound. 

"Just because he is my ex doesn't mean I regret the time we had together." She clarified. 

"Then why is he your ex?" Otto asked. 

Her eyes hit the ground. "I wasn't enough for him. Our personalities clashed, but that does not mean Naomi can't date him." 

 "Raine, I am not really into dating right now. I am just focused on school." I said. I knew it was a lame excuse, but it was better than saying 'No one has ever expressed interest in me before, and I am terrified I will mess it up if they do.' 

"We will have to fix that," Raine said, patting my head before she made her way to class.