He's Bad News
Copyright © Iris
All rights reserved
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PROLOGUE - THE DAY I MET RYDER WEST
I STILL REMEMBER the day I met Ryder West.
It was certainly... one of the most interesting moments of my life. But maybe that was because I never really got to do anything interesting at all.
Ryder West on the other hand was a different case. He always had the reputation of being a 'bad boy'. And no, by 'bad bad' I don't mean the player wannabe 'bad boy' we see in the movies and fell in love with. No. Ryder West was more like... the criminal, rebel bad boy with more issues than Vogue.
That's why I was more than surprised with myself when I, Chloe Anderson, a good, religious girl with perfect grades and good manners started hanging out with him.
I come from a small, wealthy suburban village called Oakheart just a little bit outside of Westchester country. Everyone here is nice and friendly, a little bit conformist and noisy but that is normal in the Suburbs. Oakheart is a very small, clustered diverse community filled with family oriented people, small children and Christian worshipers so I can't really say this place is the most interesting place in the world since nothing exciting ever happens here.
Well... you see that was before Ryder West moved to Oakheart -and gave life and excitement to this place or more importantly to the ones who wanted it. The ones who wanted adrenaline and danger and... life. And surprisingly they were a lot of people who wanted all these things.
It all began about a year ago when troublemaker himself moved to Oakheart after he vandalized his last school in a drunken state and the court decided instead of putting him to a juvenile detention center to relocate him to Oakheart as his 'punishment' for vandalizing and trespassing school premises. If I didn't knew Ryder West better I would've laugh at his punishment since Oakheart was like a paradise and any one would be lucky to be able to live here. But after I got to know him I realized that Oakheart was like hell to him.
And for everyone else after he moved here.
Everyone, including me, was shocked when they found out Ryder West was going to move to Oakheart, some of them were even scared. I mean come on; Oakheart was always famous for its perceived safety and relative lack of crime; bringing someone like Ryder West here was the biggest mistake they could ever make.
And we were right. Because Ryder West wasn't one to change.
The whole 'changing environment' and 'meeting new people would be good for him, a fresh new start'; that didn't work out of course. He continued causing troubles and did whatever he could to keep his 'bad boy' reputation. That wasn't the worst thing though. The worst thing was that he had –somehow - managed to take down with him good kids from notable, wealthy families and turn them to some kind of mini versions of him.
It was just... unbelievable! One moment everyone was scared of him and avoided him at all costs and the other they all admired him and wanted to be part of his 'group'. The boys had him as their 'role model' and the girls, the precious naïve girls of Oakheart, couldn't help but fall for him and his good looks although they were too exaggerated to admit it and made no move whatsoever to go anywhere near him.
I used to be one of these girls. Actually I used to be lot of things.
But just like Oakheart changed when Ryder West moved here just like that I changed too. The good, innocent, really religious and moralistic Chloe Anderson had somehow change to a new, a very different Chloe.
And the worst part was that I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.
***
It was three in the morning when my cell phone rang, waking me up from my deep sleep. And also scaring the life out of me.
Sluggishly, I stood up from my bed and blearily walked towards my desk, tripping there and then in progress. 'Who was calling me in such an ungodly hour!? I swear if it was Annabelle calling me to tell me about her weird, nasty wet dreams again, I was gonna have a BF!'
"Hello?" I murmured sleepily over the phone.
"Yeah hi. Is this. . . Chloe?" An unfamiliar Heath Ledger like voice spoke over the phone.
I frowned. "Yes, who is this?"
"I am. . ." There was a small pause for a second. "A friend of Seth's. Yeah, listen he is completely wasted and can't drive home. He asked me to call you and see if you can pick him up?"
I sighed knowingly; both relieved and worried at the same time. "Yes, of course, where are you?"
The stranger guy gave me an address and a few directions and at the end I understood the place he mentioned so I told him that I would be there as soon as possible. As we hung up I couldn't help but feel kind of anxious and tired -tired not because of my lack of sleep but because of Seth's altitude.
Seth was my sixteen year old brother and up until a couple of months ago he was normal.
A kind, popular kid who was always surrounded by his team players and had his future set up for him as one of the players of Yale University's lacrosse team. He had everything planned.
But these past couple of months, Seth wasn't exactly . . . much like himself.
And he was acting really strange. He lied to our parents, snuck out, got drunk and God only knows what else! And who had to save his butt every time? Me of course! Because if our parents ever found out what he'd been doing these past couple of months they would send him off to Borstal school. Yes, our parents were that strict. That's why he acted all goody-goody around them!
I sighed, something I was doing awfully a lot lately. I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand and grabbed my phone and car keys without bothering changing into clothes. I opened my bedroom window and stepped out of it to the flat roof of the second floor, while looking around to make sure no one was watching. And surely no one did.
I walked towards the edge of the roof where a big tree was planted near the edge. Skillfully I placed each hand, grabbing branches and swinging down effortlessly, to land in the grass on my feet. This was something I did pretty much all the time these past couple of months, for Seth's sake and I absolutely hated it. Not only because I hated the whole idea of 'sneaking out' but because condoning his attitude wasn't doing him any good.
I got into my car and drove off to where Seth's friend told me too, my mind spinning with numerous questions.
This was, what the third time this week, and probably the hundredth time this summer I had rudely woken up in the middle of the night, to go pick up drunken Seth? And this was probably the last one too. I was done. I was so done, covering up for him and lying to my parents! Enough is enough! Tomorrow when he was sober, he and I would have a very serious conversation!
Five minutes later I parked my car in front of a brick house. My brother was lying on the opposite sidewalk, across the brick house and some guy with leather jacket -his 'friend'- was knelt down in front of him, his back facing me. At least this time Seth wasn't alone. His so called 'friends' used to leave him passed out somewhere, alone, and only called me to pick him up. By the time I was there, no one was around. I had mixed emotions about this. I mean sure I didn't want Seth to be alone in such state but I also didn't want to have any awkward encounters with his 'pals'. News traveled pretty fast in Oakheart and I didn't want to all of sudden be the center of attention for something like that.
"Chloe!" He slurred when he saw me walking towards him. I smiled weakly at him while looking down at him. Like every other time his brown eyes were bloodshot and there was a weird smell around him, no doubt, alcohol.
"Hey buddy. Come on let's get you home." I whispered, grabbing his extending hand and pulling him up to his feet.
His friend helped me pick him up since Seth was full of muscles and weighted as much as my aunt Sissy. "Thank you." I said to his friend. "I hope he wasn't-" the words died in my mouth as I turned to face Seth's 'friend' for the first time.
No. Way! "You. . ." I whispered in shock, I couldn't believe my eyes. He was Seth's so called friend!?
Well then no wonder why Seth acted so strange lately! No wonder why he mentioned him so awfully lot of lately. The person who stood in front of me was no other than 'the' infamous Ryder West. I must have been pretty distracted or pretty stupid for not noticing him sooner! Well maybe it could be the fact that it was pretty dark outside. Yeah. . . that could be it because there was no other explanation or excuse why I hadn't recognize him sooner!
Ryder West wasn't the one who passed unnoticed, believe me.
There was an air of badness around him that you simply couldn't ignore! Always wearing his so 'infamous' black leather jacket and black ripped jeans along with his combat boots he -indeed- looked bad ass. His half shaved jet black hair were messy from the late summer's breeze and his dark green eyes that could easily drive a girl insane were now bloodshot, either from drinking or getting high. Or both.
"Me." He said in the same tone, giving a breath of laughter.
I couldn't see where the funny part was.
"What did you do to my brother?" I exclaimed, before I could stop myself. I could feel my blood starting to boil inside me and my hands curled into fists.
I couldn't believe it! He was responsible for my brother's strange behavior? Ryder West! ?Since when did he and my brother were buddy buddies anyway? They had nothing in common and last time I checked they didn't even knew each other! Or. . . did they?
Seth was hiding a lot of things from me lately; I wouldn't be surprised if he was hiding that from me too -especially if it had to do with Ryder West! He knew everyone's hatred towards him and his family. He knew my repulsiveness towards him.
"Excuse me?" He asked more confused than offended. I could see why he was confused. I never really was the type of girl who yell or swore or caused any trouble whatsoever but now here I was yelling and making a scene at Ryder West.
But I couldn't help it. I was so mad at him! How dare he get my brother drunk! Who did he think he was? "What did you do to him?" I repeated, practically yelling. I lowered my voice, so I don't wake up the whole neighborhood. "Do You know he is only sixteen? How can you get him drunk? I don't know what you did when you were on his age, but you are not going to make my brother a junkie like yourself!"
"Hey, hey." He protested, pressing his palms out. "First of all you don't even know me girly so don't go around guesses and believing anything you hear around. And second of all, I don't give a flying fuck about your brother. He can go out and party and drink his ass off, I couldn't care less, I'm not his babysitter."
My eyes narrowed. How dare he talked about my brother like that! Especially from the moment he was responsible for his condition! But of course what did I expect from him? He was Ryder West! An Irresponsible, manipulative piece of sh-. I mentally stopped myself. No reason to swear.
I stepped closer to him and with all the courage I could find I put my shaking finger to his hard chest. "Stay away from my brother." Without waiting for a response I carried with difficulty Seth to the car, tripping there and then in progress..
I heard him chuckle from behind me "Need any help?"
"No, Thanks." I laid unconscious Seth to the backseat and closed the door. Without spearing a glance at his way I climbed in my car and started the engine. Before I could drive off, the passenger's door opened and Ryder got in. "What in the God's name do you think you are doing?" I exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes.
Was he going to kidnap me or something? "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"G-get out!"
"No can do cupcake." He smirked, looking down at my cupcake pajamas.
I tried to not let his words affect me -something that was impossible though. With flashed face I exclaimed; "Get. Out!"
His smirk remained on his face. "Or what?"
"Or...or... or...I'm going to call the police!"
He laughed, realizing I was just bluffing. "Go ahead, I don't care. What are they going to arrest me for anyway? But I should let you know that if you call them, then they will have to call your parents. How do you think your parents will react when they find out that their precious innocent little kids are out so late with someone like me?" I gasped at him, taken aback. What kind of person thought of all these things?
Obviously only Ryder West. A crazy inner part of me wanted to call the police just to see his reaction but-but my inner logical part of me knew that what he had just said was true. I couldn't call the police. No. Mostly because If I did I would look as guilty as him! And also if my parents found out about all these. . . well I don't want to imagine what would happen!
"Just tell me what you want!" I exclaimed desperate.
"Seth promised me he was gonna let me crash at his place." He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I stared at him dumbstruck for a couple of seconds. "No!" I said when I realized he wasn't joking. "Absolutely, not. No way!" If my parents knew Ryder West was sleeping on our house or well anywhere near our house they would kill me.
"Sorry cupcake but Seth promised me."
"Okay, get this thing straight, I don't care what Seth promised to you or not! Get that? I don't even care if he offered you to stay in our house forever! There is no way you are sleeping at my house!" I paused and look at him coldly. "What are you anyway? A hobo? Don't you have your own house?" The words left from my mouth before I could stop them. That was harsh, especially coming from me.
The irony was that I had nothing against homeless people, who did? I mean wasn't I the one who gave them food and clothes every Sunday after church? Wasn't I the one who sat down with them and tried to comfort them and let them have a bit of a cry in my shoulder? Of course I was! I had nothing against them, the opposite, as in fact I took care of them!
What I meant was that even though he had a lovely place to leave and food and warm clothes he didn't really seemed to appreciate the comfort of his house since word on the street was he never really slept there -something that was very selfish of him, in my opinion- not because he had tons of friends who willingly opened the doors of their houses for him. No. More like because his parents closed the door of his house for him. I couldn't really blame them. But I couldn't defend them either. Even though Ryder had some serious drinking problems, as I had heard, closing your son outside of the house and telling him to never step his foot inside again was cruel. More than cruel. And just because of that I hadn't kicked Ryder West out of my car yet -that and also hundred more reasons that had to do with me being terrified of him.
That.... and also I felt sorry for him.
I wasn't surprised when he turned to look at me with angry, cold green eyes that made my breath caught up in my throat, my chest tightened and my heart skittered wildly. His face inched closer to me, so close, that we were suddenly only a couple of inches away from each other. We were so close that I could smell the scent of his aftershave along with alcohol.
"You don't know anything about me." He said in slow, threatening voice making me gulp scared. I wasn't stupid. I had heard the rumors of violent Ryder West and believe me I didn't want to get under his skin.
"You're right." I said guilty. "I'm sorry." And I really was.
His dark green eyes widened surprised just a bit and kept contact with mine for what seemed like forever before he pull away and look out of the window.
I mentally sighed in relief and made a mental note to myself to never offend Ryder West again.
When he looked back at me he was his usual jerk self. "Now that we clear that up, why don't you drive us home?"
I was taken aback for a while, from the sudden change of his mood and when I found my voice I said: "You are not sleeping in my house." In an end-of-story tone.
"Just drive."
I shook my head "I'm serious."
"So am I."
"I'm not putting a criminal in my house." Strike two Chloe! What is wrong with you tonight?
Ryder though didn't seem offended. He actually found it amusing enough to chuckle "Me? Criminal? Hardly."
"You are not sleeping in my house." I said again refusing to let it go.
Ryder was silent for a moment and then turned to look at me and said; "Fine. I'm leaving." I couldn't help taken aback. He gave up so easily? Not that I was not ok with it -I was- but Ryder West didn't seemed like the person who gave up that easily.
He opened the passenger's door and got out. He didn't leave though; he rested his arms on the car's open window and lowered his head down to look at me, a smirk playing on his lips. "It was nice talking to 'ya. Maybe I'll call tomorrow to make sure Seth is okay. I would like to have a little chat with Mrs. Anderson. Tell her what lovely kids she has and everything. "
I gaped at him shocked. He didn't -but he did! I should have known better by now. Of course Ryder West didn't give up that easily! I mean he was Ryder West for a reason. He was manipulative, sly and always got his way. And now he threatened to tell my mom on me! If only the situation was different, say if I wasn't scared of my parents, I would laugh at such childish behavior. But that was different. Ryder West knew; He knew how things were at my house and how strict my parents were. He didn't fool around. He knew what he was doing.
I didn't want to admit it but damn, Ryder West knew how to hit a moving target.
I glared at him, feeling my blood starting to boil inside me. "You wouldn't." I said through my greeted teeth.
He smirked "Try me."
There was only one logic answer to that and I already knew which was; No. No way. A million times no! Another thing I knew about Ryder West was that no one ever messed with him. Not unless they had a death wish. I had heard what terrible things happened to people who hadn't take Ryder West seriously and believe me I didn't want to be one of them.
So being the pushover and the goody-goody I was, I gave in. "Fine, get in." I hissed defeated and he grinned knowing he had won and climbed inside the car with a big, winning smile. "Put your seat belt on please."
"No."
I mentally sighed to myself. This was going to be a very long night
I could tell.
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A/N
A couple of things you need to know before start reading "He's Bad News";
- This isn't a cliche story -which is kind of ironic considering I am a sucker for cliche stories. But seriously is not a cliche story, give it a try, you won't regret it :)
- Oakheart isn't a real place, I made it up. Don't go around searching Oakheart to find Ryder West, both of them are not real (Unfortunately)
- You can read Ryder's POV of this chapter. As a gift to all of you for helping me reach 2M reads on my story I uploaded the Prologue in Ryder's POV. It's after Chapter 53 so make sure to check it out :)