"Knock, knock," My mother playfully banged on the side of the door to my bedroom. She leaned against the frame with a smile on her face and a laundry basket on her hip. Her mousy brown hair was tied back into a loose ponytail and her chocolate colored eyes were lost behind her thick glasses. She glanced around my room, pursing her lips. "Riley, why haven't you started packing yet?"
I parted my hair in the mirror, my brown eyes that matched my mother's stared back at me. I snapped my black backpack off of the ground and slung it over my shoulder, flashing my mother a sour smile. "I don't want to move. I like it here, so I'm keeping my stuff here."
"Riley, you're seventeen years old. Practically an adult," She sighed, shaking her head. She stepped into my room and looked around at the discarded boxes that sat in the corner, untouched since she first put them there. "You need to act like it."
I wrinkled my lip but pushed past her out of my room and headed to the front door, snagging my keys off of the counter. My mother followed me downstairs. "I swear, Riley, if you don't start packing soon, one day, you're just going to come home and your whole room will be packed up. I mean it. I'll do it myself and I don't think you want me riffling through your drawers. Riley, do you hear me?"
I rolled my eyes and slipped on my tennis shoes, once again, not answering. She folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "I'm talking to you, Riley. No more games; I'm done playing around with you. I'll ship it to the new house so fast your head will spin. If you don't want that happening then you better get to packing yourself."
My stomach flipped at that. Deciding it was better not to answer; I continued to sulk and kneeled down to tie my shoes, not bothering to look up at her. Finally, she sighed and leaned against the wall, looking blankly towards the window. "I don't want to leave this place either, you know."
I hesitated, knotting my shoe laces. I muttered a quiet, "I know," before standing up once again. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and walked out of the door and too my car. I started it up and pulled out, heading to school. In all honestly though, I wasn't really paying any attention to the road.
Yes, folks, you've heard it here first. Riley Love is moving away. Away from his home of seventeen years, home to all of his friends, away from his school and all of his family he had here. I leaned on my hand against the window.
Well... I guess it won't be so bad, right? I mean, I am a senior this year so I won't have to be stuck there for too long. That's a plus I guess. But I had my whole life planned out! I had everything mapped out, where I wanted to go to college, where I wanted to live when I got out... Everything was right here, in my hometown. The very place I was being forced to leave behind.
While it may not seem like a big deal to any of you, it really was to me. My whole life was here. But because of my father's work, I was being uprooted and forced away. I blew up my bangs.
This year was supposed to be my year. It was supposed to great. I would take the football team all the way to states. I would ace all of my classes and date the hottest girl in school. I was supposed to be more than just the golden boy this year. Someone with actual purpose, not just status.
I pulled into the school parking lot and grabbed my backpack from the passenger's seat. I hopped out and entered the school, strolling towards my locker. I was greeted by my usual familiar face, Carson, bounding towards me. Carson had been my best friend since seventh grade when we got in a fistfight over who would be getting a seat at the lunch table. We were stuck in detention for a week but we'd been inseparable ever since.
"Good morning, Ry," He all but sang, clapping me on the back and beaming that huge smile of his. "How the hell are you doing this fine morning?"
I curled my lip and shoved his hand away, my hand tightening on the strap of my backpack. "Take a guess. It's way too early for you to be this happy. Making me sick."
He smirked and clasped his hand over his chest. "Such vulgarity. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. For the third time this week. What the hell happened to you? Did you run out of protein powder again?"
"No," I said, chewing my lip, pushing through the crowds of people in a weak attempt to get to my first period. "A lot of shit. Mom was getting on my case again this morning because I still haven't started packing yet, I have a test in my first period that I am not even remotely prepared for, and to top it all off, we were all out of Apple Jacks this morning."
"It is a hard knock life," Cason sighed mockingly, causing me to roll my eyes. His smile seemed to falter though after a second and he glanced up at me. "So, they're really going through with it, huh...?"
"Looking that way."
"Any chance they'd let you stay with me?" He offered hopefully. "Just let you ride out the year? At least until graduation."
I pursed my lips and shrugged. "Doubtful. But thanks, man. I'll catch you later; I've got to go study for this damn test."
Heaving a sigh, Carson clapped me on the back once again and nodded, telling me he'd see me during third period. I walked into my first period and plopped down in my usual seat in the back corner, pulled out my chemistry book and glanced up at the clock. Alright. Let's see what ten minutes of studying can do.
As the ten minutes droned on and I grew more and more anxious, I quickly made the decision to... wait for it... cheat. Yes, now, I know what you guys are thinking, but chemistry is the only subject that I have a C in right now. If I get a good grade on this test, it could raise my grade up to a B. At least a B-! I'm leaving soon anyway. I might as well risk it all. I glanced around; heart pounding in my chest, making sure that no one was looking my way. Hesitantly, I pulled out my phone.
The classroom was still fairly empty, with only a few kids just staring at their phone, not even really worrying about the test. After I snapped a few pictures of the study guide, I quickly jammed the phone back into my pocket and sucked in a breath. This will only be used as a last resort. That's it. Only if I can't remember and I feel like I'm going to fail.
I continued to study my notebook as students began to slowly file in, sitting in their usual seats. A few of my friends from the football team sat near me, distracting me even more from the task at hand. Finally, our teacher, Mr. Puckett, arrived, all but throwing his things onto his desk, looking way more excited than one should be when about to hand out a test. He began to call role as the bell rang and the final student burst through the door, dragging a hand through his pitch black hair.
"Mr. Mitchell," Mr. Puckett began, clicking is tongue at the young troublemaker. He peered at the student over his glasses, a distasteful look in his eyes. "You always have to make an entrance, don't you? Never a minute early but always a minute late."
"What can I say, I'm a creature of habit," The student, Abel Mitchell, local delinquent, smirked, walking past me towards his seat. The smell of cigarettes and roses followed after him. I rolled my eyes. I've always hated that kind of thing. Being late every single day, it was just plain disrespectful. Mr. Puckett signed, crossing off the final names on his attendance sheet.
"We're going to pretend that you were late because you were so busy studying for your test that you simply lost track of time, alright, Abel?" He began, picking up a stack of paper, sending Abel a glare. Abel flashed him those pearly whites once more.
"That's exactly right."
I guess Mr. Puckett decided that it was just better not to reply at this point because he simply began passing out the test. I felt my nerves start to boil up inside of me once more as he finally got to me, giving me a reassuring smile, and placing the stapled together papers in front of me.
After passing out a test to every student, Mr. Puckett did what he always did and retired to his desk, kicking his feet up, with a book in his hands. He hardly ever paid attention to us during tests or quizzes. It's like he was asking us to cheat!
I stared at the questions, feeling everything that I had been studying just seem to disappear. I began to panic, my stomach twisting into knots, my heart pounding in my chest. I anxiously drummed my pencil on the side of the desk and glanced around me, seeing everyone begin to bubble in answers. It was literally like everything that I had ever learned just disappeared. Deciding that maybe it was just the first few questioned that stumped me, I'd go through and only do the questions that I knew for sure and then come back and narrow down my answers for the other one.
That sure got me far.
I only knew twelve.
Out of fifty.
I tried and tried again to remember something, anything at all, but only ended up drawing a blank. I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I went through and attempted to at least narrow some of the questions down but even after that, I still had no idea. People began getting up to turn in their tests and I glanced up at the clock. Thirty minutes had already passed! What the hell?! Where had the time gone?!
Finally, with no clue what else to do, I did something that I had never done in my life. I peered around, making sure that everyone else was as engrossed in their tests as I was, and I pulled out my phone. I ignored the pit in my stomach and gradually began to fill out answers, matching them to the ones on the study guide. Within ten minutes, I was finished and feeling awful. I tucked my phone back into my pocket, turned in my test, received a smile from Mr. Puckett, who seemed more than bothered at the fact that he had to look up from his book, and returned to my desk, packing up my things.
The next ten minutes until the dismissal bell seemed to drag on, feeling more like ten hours then ten minutes. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I finally rang, allowing me to all but sprint out of that classroom.
I did it. I fucking did it.
Geez, I think I'm going to throw up.
Unable to really control myself, I sucked in a deep breath and attempted to go on about my day like that wasn't the most badass thing that I had ever done in my life.
I made my way to my second period classroom and sat my stuff down, waiting for class to begin. Fairly soon, the class was full of people and I was surrounded by friends, finally taking my mind off of that test. Just when I thought that everything was going fine, the door swung open and a tiny, pixie like... girl, who was dressed in ripped jeans, a black beanie, a dark gray shirt, and a red plaid shirt tied around her waist bounded inside, a smile on her pretty face, and a yellow note in her hand. Her thick combat boots pounded on the ground as she made her way across the room, walking with pure confidence.
My Spanish teacher, Ms. Gonzalez, turned towards her, tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ear. The girl slipped her the note and then looked to the class, eyes searching. When her crystal blue eyes landed on me, they didn't budge again. Her smile widened and I finally got a good look at her face. She looked like she was only a few years younger than me, with a round, flawless, childlike face, pierced ears, big doe eyes and pretty pink lips. She was cute, no doubt, so why the hell was she dressed like a guy?
"Riley Love," Ms. Gonzalez announced, her eyes finding me as well. She slid the little note into a drawer into her desk and gestured to the little pixie girl. "You're needed in the guidance office."
There was a small echo of "oos" around the room and I swallowed, my cheeks flushing. Am I caught already? It's barely been an hour! My heart hammered against my rib cage.
"Does the note say what for?" I asked, trying not to sound too shaken. Ms. Gonzalez opened her mouth to answer, but was quickly cut off.
"Don't worry, Riley, you're not in trouble," The girl said, waving her hand. Her voice was soft, like that of a wind chime. She flashed me a pretty smile, crooking her finger at me. "They just want to talk. Come on, I'll walk with you."
I wet my lips anxiously, glancing around, only to be met with the snickering faces of my friends, who all just reveled in the thought that the perfect Riley Love would be getting in trouble right now. Hesitantly, I nodded and stood, gathering my things.
"Oh, you don't have to bring your stuff," She said, strutting towards the door. Her smile was sweet and innocent, but I couldn't help but feel like she knew something more than she was letting on. She rested her hand on the door. "This'll only take a few minutes."
Reaching back, I hooked my hand on the back of my neck and nodded once more, ignoring all of the eyes on me as I shuffled my way through the desks and to the door. The girl held it open for me, closing it once more as we entered the hallway and I could hear Ms. Gonzalez instantly resume her lesson. I started towards the guidance office, totally planning to confess, give myself up, and accept whatever punishment they had for me, when I felt a small hand on my forearm.
"Ah, ah, ah," The girl said, wagging a finger at me. I glanced back at her, crooking my brow. She beamed up at me, giving me a gentle tug. "Not that way. Come on. Follow me."
"The office is the other way though," I began, staring at her dumbly. She pulled at my arm and under normal circumstances; I would have thought it was kind of cute. It was like being led by a small child. She nodded, ignoring that I clearly weighed more than she could pull, and continued to yank.
"I know."
"So, why are we going this way?" I asked, starting to trail behind her. Much to her delight, she stopped tugging on my arm as hard and simply looped her arm through mine, more leading me at his point than dragging.
"Do you always talk this much?" She mused, glancing back at me, amusement in her brilliant eyes. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"I haven't said that much," I mumbled, causing her to chuckle. She continued to drag me down the hallway, making turn after turn, until we were in the south wing. I watched her intently, just letting her lead me wherever she was taking me. She looked oddly familiar. With a look like this, it would be very hard to forget her. She was pretty. Very pretty. If she were to just put on a skirt, some heels, maybe even with that short hair she'd be a knockout. But I couldn't help but think that I'd seen her somewhere before. "You know... You look really familiar. Do I know you?"
She peaked up at me through hooded eyes, pursing her pretty pink lips. "Not many do. I don't really have a lot of friends."
She didn't say it in a sad way, like she wanted more friends. She was rather content about it, like she was simply stating a fact. I started to speak again when suddenly; we came to a halt in front of the stairs.
"Oh, no," I began, stopping suddenly, causing the girl to take one step too many and be snapped back into me. She looked up at me, furrowing her brows. "I'm not going over there. That's where all of the burnouts hang out. No, thank you. Not to be judgy or anything but I really don't think that I want whatever it is waiting for me over there-,"
"Yes, you do," She began, untangling her arm from mine and crossing her arms. "Trust me. You'll be glad you came with me."
"Look, you seem like a nice girl, but-,"
"I'm not a girl," She started, gritting her teeth stubbornly. My eyes widened and my jaw about dropped.
"You're a guy?!"
"No," She/he said matter-of-factly, as though that made any sense. I held up my hands, all worries about whatever was waiting for me around the stairs gone.
"That doesn't make sense. So, what exactly-,"
"Kala is gender fluid," A smooth, rough voice said from around the staircase, causing me to jump. "They use the pronoun 'they' because they don't see themselves as either a boy or a girl. Duh."
My head snapped to the direction of that voice. I knew it. I knew that voice. Kala smiled smugly and nodded, gesturing at the empty air. I knew I know who this was from somewhere. Abel's little sidekick. Wherever he was, this person was. She- uh, they gave me a slap on the back and a playful shove. "Go on. Don't worry, he doesn't bite. Much."
"No. Oh, no, no, no, no, no," I sputtered out, shaking my head, turning away. "Everything about this just screams recipe for disaster. I think that I'm better off just going back to Spanish class-,"
"Sure, kitten, you could do that," Abel's rough, gravelly voice purred, his boots echoing off of the tiles as he walked towards us, finally coming into view. His dark hair was pushed back out of his face, held back with a single bobby pin, showing off a single silver hoop in his cartilage. His dark eyes flickered with amusement and his pink lips curled into a wild smirk that showed off his sharp canines. There was a fire that sparked behind those irises. "But then, all of those pictures of you might just... slip out."
There was something... animalistic about him. He seemed so wild, even in his stance alone. He walked like a man demanding respect. He walked with purpose, instantly grabbing everyone's attention whenever he entered a room. The aura around him radiated with power and confidence. Even though he was all of this, however, he was also very graceful. He was cautious and careful. While he seemed to be spontaneous and erratic, he planned things out. Abel was smart. Even if he didn't show it in school. He was cunning and everyone knew it.
Although he was shorter than me, he had a fair amount of muscle to him. He had a wide chest and broad shoulders, along with biceps that were hidden behind a leather jacket. I'm sure that if he hadn't spent all of his time tagging buildings and hijacking cars, he would have excelled in some kind of sport.
"Pictures?" I asked quietly, furrowing my brows. Abel glanced over at Kala, his grin widening, then flicked back to me. I hesitantly took a step back as he came to a stop in front of me, the smell of roses and cigarettes wafting off of him.
"Now, now, Love, no need to be scared," He mused, those dark orbs of his looking me up and down, making me shift uncomfortably. I suddenly had the urge to put on as many coats as I could. "This doesn't have to be ugly. Not unless you want to make it that way. But looking at you now, I highly doubt that you could make anything ugly."
I curled my lip and Kala chuckled, only giving me a smile when I shot her a scowl. Abel ignored her and raised his hands.
"I was simply talking about the pictures that I took of you during first period," He said, matter of factly, crossing his arms and leaning against the stone wall. "You know, the ones of you looking at the answers to the test on your phone. Those pictures. You know the ones?"
Instantly, my eyes widened and my blood ran cold.
"You look a little pale, Riles," He stated, pursing his lips, cocking his head. "You feelin' alright?"
"You're joking, right? You've got to be," I sputtered out, taking another step back, causing Abel to smirk. "Do you have any idea what that would do to me? To my life?! If I get caught cheating-,"
"Let me guess, you'll be kicked off of the football team, lose your free ride, blah, blah, blah," Abel drawled, waving his hand, looking fairly amused with himself. He sent that sly, wild smile my way once more. "I figured as much. So, if you don't want this picture coming out and everything in your ivory tower to come crashing down, I suggest you listen to me and my terms."
I grit my teeth, my heart hammering in my chest, and balled my hands into fists. I took a step forward.
"This isn't some kind of fucking teen drama that you can just blackmail me on," I ground out, feeling extremely out of my comfort zone talking to someone like this, but hey, when your whole life is on the line, you've gotta talk tough. Not like it was doing much damage, Abel only seemed to be more amused than before, a huge smile rising on his face. "I'm not agreeing to any of your "terms". I don't know what the hell you thought was going to happen here today, juvie, but I'm not just one of those little dorks that you can bully into doing what you want, alright? This is my whole life on the line and I'll be damned if I'll let some punk like you get everything I've worked for taken away from me. Delete those pictures. Now."
I heard Kala snicker beside us but I didn't take my eyes off of Abel. He watched me curiously, excited.
"You know, you really had me going there for a second. Isn't he just the cutest thing, Kala?" He started, his eyes darting to them, before returning to me. He looked up at me lazily, smirking. "Look at you, trying to be all big and bad and stand up to me. No, that's just not how this is going to work. First, you're going to do exactly as I say, or I'm going to take those pictures up to the office and expose your little ass. Understand? Second, you're not going to breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even that little lackey of yours. Finally, wipe that damn glare off of your face. You don't scare me. You look like an angry kitten."
I blinked at him, my cheeks flushing. He quirked a brow at me, as if to ask me if I understood. Still trying to keep my cool, I simply waved my hand.
"You don't have pictures," I began, shaking my head. "What the hell was I thinking? This is all just some cheap tactic to-,"
Without even a second of hesitation, Abel whipped out his phone and slid the lock screen to the side, the pictures already perfectly fitted on his phone. My jaw fell open and my chest tightened. I felt like I couldn't breathe. There it was. Clear as day. He swiped through them, showing off three pictures of me glancing between my phone and the test. Abel beamed.
"You believe me now, Riley?"
I couldn't speak. I felt a lump in my throat. The only thing that I could feel was the slap that I would get in the future if my mom ever found out about this. There was nothing that I could do. Abel had my hands tied.
"I thought you would see it my way," He said simply, tucking the phone back into his pocket. He leaned against the locker once more and I reached up, hooking a hand on the back of my neck, the tough façade that I had on earlier suddenly gone.
"What... What did you want me to do? What will it take for you to delete those?" I asked softly, weakly. I suddenly felt utterly powerless and I had no idea how to handle it. Abel looked me up and down once more and reached out his hand.
"Give me your phone."
"M-My phone? You don't want that, I'm way over on my data this month and-,"
"No, kitten," He sighed, shaking his head, crooking his fingers at me. "Open the phone, open your map app, and give it to me."
Hesitating, I did exactly as I was told and gingerly handed him my phone. He typed in a few things then handed it back to me.
"Go to this address at around six tonight, alright?" He instructed, walking over to Kala, leaning on their shoulder as they watched us with interested diamond eyes. "It's my house. We'll talk then."
I stared at the phone in my hand, raising my eyebrow. "W-Why do you want me there?"
He eyed me, a small smile rising on his lips once more. "I want you. That's all you need to know. Now, go on and get back to class, okay? Don't be late tonight. Trust me, you don't want that."
Slowly, I nodded, not wanting to talk any longer, feeling as low to the ground as I could get. This is exactly what I get. This is what I get for cheating. I never did before and this is exactly why. Because bad things happen when you cheat. I guess realizing that he wasn't going to get a verbal answer out of me, he turned on the heels of his boots and Kala moved to follow him.
"Don't you feel bad just watching him do something like this?" I asked quietly and Kala turned around to look at me over their shoulder curiously. They hesitated, chewing at their lip and shook their head.
"I was just supervising, not participating," They said simply, turning back and bounding after Abel. Suddenly, my shoes felt like they were filled with cement and ever step was increasingly difficult.
I couldn't help but wonder as I attempted to make my way back to class about just what the hell he wanted me at his house for. Was he going to make me clean or something? Or cook? Or help him bury a dead body so that he won't have to go back to prison? It just didn't make sense.
'I want you'.
I don't understand.
I made it half way back to my Spanish class when the bell for lunch rang and I still didn't have my backpack. I made no move to go any faster than I was already going as the hallways began to fill up with students once again.
Suddenly, I wasn't so hungry anymore.
~*~
HELLO MY LOVES!!
L HERE AND I JUST WANTED TO GIVE A QUICK WARNING THAT THERE WILL BE GRAPHIC BOYXBOY SEX! IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT, MIGHT AS WELL STOP READING NOW BECAUSE IN THIS BOOK SPECIFICALLY, THERE WILL BE A LOT. ALRIGHT THERE YA GO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
~L.