"Stay away from me," he growled, electric blue eyes penetrating my soul. A tattoo peeked out from under the collar of his leather jacket.
I put my hands on my hips, scowling at him. Who the hell did he think he was?
"What? You think I enjoy being near you? As if," I scoffed.
He shoved me against the brick wall of the school building, bunching the collar of my favorite band t-shirt in his fist. He leaned close to my face and grounded out, "Don't speak to me that way."
"Do you hear yourself right now? You're a complete jerk. Get the hell off me," I threatened.
When he didn't make a move to get off of me, I slapped my hand across his face. His head flew to the side, black hair sweeping into his eyes. He slowly brought his head back around, still clenching my shirt.
"You're going to regret that, Angel," he spat.
He knew I hated my name. Who named their child Evangeline without realizing how preppy that sounded? I was far from an angel and he knew it.
I was sarcastic and people stayed away from me. I was known for getting into fights which were not always my fault. I really only had one friend. I didn't even know why he was my friend. He was the complete opposite of me, but we made it work.
My best friend, Xander, was basically the most average human out there. He was average height, average looks with his short brown hair and brown eyes. He got average grades and just lived a pretty average life.
My life was far from average.
I glowered at him, hand stinging from hitting him so hard.
"I never regret anything, Ryker," I defended myself.
We were never friends. Never even would be. I've hated Ryker Avery since we were kids and he's felt the same towards me. I had forgotten all about him until he moved back. I remembered being so happy when he moved far away.
But then he came back.
I couldn't even acknowledge the fact that he was attractive. His arrogant attitude and ego easily washed out anything attractive about him. He was the ultimate bad boy if there ever was one.
We pulled pranks on each other when we were kids, fought each other, and just about anything else you can think of, we did to each other.
A female voice squealed somewhere behind Ryker's back.
"Oh my gosh! What are you doing!"
The blond girl shoved me out of the way and wrapped her frail arms around Ryker's muscular build. I despised this girl. Freaking Hannah Schmitt has had it out for me since junior high when I "accidentally" spilled paint in art class all over her brand new skirt. Ryker let his arm drop around her shoulders. I wasn't surprised to see he had already made friends with the popular crew after just moving here.
"How dare you touch him like that!" She screamed in a high pitched voice that sounded so fake. I wanted to punch her. Did she not just see what happened? Ryker was the one who was freaking man handling me, not the other way around.
I opened my mouth to voice those thoughts when Ryker spoke, "She just wanted to let me know how much she missed me. Angel was in love with me when we were kids, in fact," he smirked.
I gasped. What was he saying?
"That is so not what was going on and you know it!" I accused, jabbing a finger at him.
Hannah completely ignored what I was saying. She stepped out of Ryker's embrace to turn towards him. She raised her hand to his messy hair, smoothing it back. A scar peeked through right above his eyebrow. He darted his eyes to mine to see if I had seen it. When he realized that I had seen it, he smirked again. He had serious issues.
I was done here. Without another word, I spun around and headed for the parking lot. Today was a long day and I just wanted to get home.
There was a sleek, black motorcycle parked right next to my banged up car. This was the first time I've ever seen it. This was also the new kid's first day of school.
I rolled my eyes at Ryker's choice of transportation. He sure knew how to show off.
I climbed into my car and turned it on. Except it wouldn't. It sputtered once and died. I groaned and got out of the car.
I knew absolutely nothing about cars, let alone how to fix one. I popped open the hood as smoke wafted out of it. Crap. This couldn't be good. I coughed and waved my arms around, trying to clear the smoke.
I shoved the hood back down to trap the smoke and leaned heavily against my stupid car. I glanced over at the motorcycle that must have cost more than my house and had the best idea ever, or possibly the worst.
I scanned the parking lot for anyone who might still be here. My talk with Ryker had delayed me from getting home, so mostly everyone had left already. The parking lot was empty of cars.
I walked over to the bike, checking the ignition. The idiot left the keys in and the helmet was strapped to the handle bars. It was as if he wanted someone to steal his motorcycle.
I grabbed the helmet and fastened it on my head. It was way too big for me, but it would have to do. I gingerly sat on the vehicle and started up the engine.
I've ridden motorcycles many times before, don't ask me why, so I knew what I was doing. I revved the engine and smiled under the protection of the helmet. I drove out of the school lot, heading home on the bad boy's motorcycle.
~*~*~*~*~
I slowed down as I neared the driveway. Mom wouldn't be home until I left for school in the morning so she wouldn't notice how I had gotten home today. She insisted on taking a vacation for herself once in a while even though we didn't have enough money for that. To make up for it, I worked weekends at the only place that would hire me; The Grill.
The Grill was the "hotspot" in this small town of Charlo, Montana. Everyone from school, and I mean everyone, came at least once during my hours. It wasn't surprising considering this was the best place to be around here and our school was tiny.
No wonder why Ryker was already accepted by the popular clique. Jeez, why was I thinking about him?
I hopped off the motorcycle, hitting the kickstand down with my boot. I unstrapped the helmet and threw my straight, brown hair in a ponytail, heading inside.
I unlocked the door to our very modest house. It was two stories with three bedrooms and one bathroom. We really didn't need anything bigger with just my mom and I living here.
I dropped my backpack right inside the entranceway and shut the door. I didn't bother to lock it since our house was practically in the middle of nowhere, with no neighbors to be seen for miles.
I collapsed on the floral couch in the living room, pulling my cellphone out of my jean's pocket. I had an unread text from Xander.
X: want to go out?
Me: nah I'm exhausted
And I really was tired. Xander would understand. He texted back a few minutes later saying that he was going to the movies if I changed my mind. I locked my phone and shut my eyes. I was out before I knew it.
~*~*~*~
The front door slammed against the wall, jarring me awake. No one ever came by here. I really should have locked the door.
I twisted toward the sound and instantly began fuming. Ryker Avery filled the doorway and was glaring right at me. Of course he would know where I lived; most people didn't. His family used to come over all the time when we were little.
I raised my eyebrows at his pissed off demeanor. It seemed to make him even angrier. He stalked towards the couch I was still sprawled across. When he reached it, he held out his hand.
I glanced down at his open palm then back up to his face. I shrugged like I didn't know what he wanted. I gave him a high-five and smiled innocently. His blue eyes sparked and he clenched his fist.
"The keys," he demanded, tossing his hand out again.
"What keys?"
"You know damn well what keys I want."
"No?" I played dumb.
"The bike is right outside your house, idiot. Give me the keys before-"
I waved my hands around. "Hey! First of all, you can't just barge into my house without permission and second of all, why would I do anything for you?"
He shoved his hands under my armpits, yanking me off the couch. Then he sat down where I had just been and crossed his arms over his chest. The leather jacket strained against his biceps. I refused to notice.
"I'm not leaving until you give me the keys," he said.
Aggravated, I took my time looking through the house to get his keys. I knew exactly where they were, I just wanted to make him wait longer for no reason. I pretended like I couldn't find them until Ryker stood up.
"I'm leaving," he announced and walked to the front door.
I looked out the window as a sports car peeled out of the driveway. The car windows were tinted so I couldn't see who was driving since Ryker would have needed a ride to get here.
He left easier than I thought he would. I knew better than to think that was a good thing.
~*~*~*~
"You look disgusting," my best friend said to me while I was taking books out of my locker the next day.
"Thanks, X," I said sarcastically.
I knew he was right, though. My hair was up in a messy bun because I had ridden Ryker's motorcycle to school today and it had blown my hair in every direction. I hadn't even taken the time to even dress appropriately for school. In fact, I was wearing blue sweatpants with a purple t-shirt.
Xander Nash had his short brown hair nicely styled and was wearing a plaid shirt with khakis. He always was well put together. I, on the other hand, never was.
His warm brown eyes smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile in return.
We headed to English together, which was the only class we shared. I had skipped yesterday so Xander had let me copy his homework about some book we were supposed to be reading.
We sat in the back row of the classroom. There were a million posters covering the walls and Mr. Duncan's desk was a cluttered mess. He entered the classroom right before the bell rang.
Mr. Duncan was old, like really old. I didn't think he should be teaching anymore. His white hair dotted the top of his head and his glasses were so strong that his eyes were huge when he looked at us.
"Please clear off your desks. You will all take a reading check based on last night's reading."
I internally groaned. Xander gave me an apologetic look. He knew I didn't read and I was just barely passing this class.
I dropped my head in my hands and tried to think about which book we were even reading.
"Sorry, I got lost again," someone apologized from the front of the classroom.
I glanced up and groaned some more. A guy wearing a leather jacket shrugged as he entered the classroom, black hair sweeping into blue eyes.
Ryker would be in this class. He swaggered over to a desk a few seats in front of mine, right next to Hannah's desk.
Xander leaned across the row to my desk and whispered, "You know him?"
I nodded and rolled my eyes. He chuckled. I hit his arm to show him that I didn't think it was funny at all. That just made him laugh even more.
Mr. Duncan passed out the quizzes and I stared at mine. Apparently we were reading Frankenstein. I didn't even know the answer to the first question. I twirled my pencil in my hand to think about something that I could write down.
"Alright, times up. Pass them forward," Mr. Duncan said.
What?! I hadn't even written one word down besides my name. I glanced over at Ryker to see if he had been able to fill out the quiz without reading the story since he was new.
I couldn't see much since the other students in front of me were blocking my view. Ugh. I would have to pass my quiz up the row and Ryker would see I haven't filled anything out.
I gingerly passed it forward, dreading when it would reach Ryker. I didn't know why I cared what he thought about me. I hated him after all.
When my paper reached him, he smirked at my paper, and erased something on both of our quizzes. Then he scribbled something across the tops of them and passed the papers forward until they reached the teacher.
Xander looked at me and asked how I had done. I frowned at him.
"That bad, huh?"
"Worse," I mumbled.
I spaced throughout the rest of the class. The bell finally rang to dismiss us.
"Mr. Avery, please stay after class for a moment," Mr. Duncan requested.
Ryker nodded.
"I'll see you at lunch, X."
"Yeah, see you," he said and left.
I packed up my supplies and was about to exit the room when I heard Mr. Duncan say, "Why did you switch your name with Evangeline's on your quiz?"
What?
"Because she's stupid and would otherwise fail this class," Ryker's voice answered.
How would he know that I'm failing?
"Well, because you attempted to cheat, you will get the grade Evangeline was supposed to receive and she will get yours. Got it?"
"Yes, sir," the bad boy said.
I was still frozen in the doorway when a voice said behind me, "Move."
I jumped out of the way to let Ryker pass. His black faded jeans hung low on his hips and I was about to tell him to pull them up when he turned around and demanded, "You owe me."
I sputtered like a fish out of water. I didn't ask him to cheat for me! I didn't even know how much of the quiz he had been able to fill out so what if I still failed anyway?
"I got them all correct, if that's what you were wondering."
"I don't care. I don't owe you anything." Fed up with his attitude, I stalked down the hallway in the opposite direction to my next class.
By the time lunch rolled around, I was fried. I slumped at my usual lunch table with Xander and waited until the lunch line got a little shorter. I stood up to wait in line. I got pizza and a water bottle with an apple and started heading back to the lunch table. It was blah.
My phone buzzed in my pocket so I looked down to answer it without looking at where I was going. I was typing out a response to my mother's text with one hand when I collided with something solid. My pizza flattened between the two of us.
I stepped back to apologize when I realized who I had bumped into. Ryker.
His eyes flashed as he peeled the pizza off of his leather jacket. The whole cafeteria gasped. Everyone held their breaths. Ryker dropped the pizza on the floor and picked up my fallen water bottle. He grabbed my wrist so I couldn't run.
He unscrewed the cap and dumped the entire contents of the water bottle over my head.
The cafeteria erupted in roars of laughter.
Ryker let go of my wrist and smirked. I glowered, humiliated. If looks could kill, Ryker would be dead.
Without a look back, I sprinted out of the cafeteria and didn't stop running until I had reached his bike. I ignored Xander's pleas for me to wait.
I straddled the motorcycle and drove off.
~*~*~*~
Hey! I thought I would try writing a teen fiction story instead of science fiction. Let me know what you guys think so far by voting or leaving a comment. Thanks! :)
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