Page 9 of Loved By The Bad Boy

Five

There area few things to note about my new school. It has only been a week, and I love it. There is no hierarchy. Cheerleaders sit with nerds. Jocks sit with anyone. The sitting arrangement has more to do with friendship than ranking. Broadway Heights can learn a thing or two from them.

Stepping into the cafeteria, I join the line for lunch. They have great lunch too, and I’m already friends with the lunch lady. It is a bit sad, but I am struggling to make new friends. Mom says it will take a while, but I haven’t made much effort to socialize. I don’t know if I will.

Someone taps my arm. Annoying Calum. He’s that itch you learn to live with. I am getting used to him. But today, I am extra sensitive. My period is almost here. Ben being Ben, he would have made plans for an ice-cream date and braced himself for the unpredictable mood swings over the four days period. My cramps are barely existent, but he always volunteers to massage my belly.

Facebook hasn’t been helpful with those constant memories. I can’t believe I posted us. I had to deactivate the account. I will create a new one when I think I can handle the little reminders of Ben. After seeing those memories, I spent the next hour stalking his page. Unlike me, he is doing fine.

Ben has moved on. He is okay, but I am not. Until my heart stops racing at the thought of him, and every blue-eyed boy doesn’t remind me of him, I will never be fine. I guess that’s okay, too.

It has to be okay since it’s my new normal. I gave him my heart, and he smashed it.

“Hey, sexy,” Calum says. This is one of the reasons I find him annoying. “How can I annoy you today?” Another reason I dislike him. I am not sexy or anything. I am just Tessa, and I like it that way, but he takes pride in teasing me. He feigns hurt when I keep mute. “No deep comeback?”

“I’m not in the mood, Calum.”

It might be how I say it, but he takes the hint. My heart skips when he whisks his hair out of his lashes like Ben would have done. Why can’t he cut the damn hair so he doesn’t have to run his fingers through it every fucking second? What’s wrong with humans? Why can’t I be left alone?

The line moves along, and soon, it’s my turn. Calum doesn’t leave, but he lets me order without interruption. I don’t know who made him my knight in shining armor, but he has escorted me to all my classes and sat by me during lunch. He doesn’t want me to be alone. Lame excuse. As if being alone is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Maybe it is. Being alone makes you an easy target. But this isn’t BH. No one cares if you sit on the cafeteria floor to eat lunch.

I grab my tray and march to my table. There’s no use running from Calum. He will catch up to me, but I still try. One day, maybe today, he will finally take the hint. I stop halfway to my table.

It’s occupied.

Mira, the girl with spiky blue hair and goth makeup, is in my seat with a dark-skinned girl beside her. I don’t like Mira, and I don’t know her friend’s name. I do know they have a band. Calum is in the band, but I am unsure what role he plays. They haven’t bothered me since I resumed, so why are they in my seat today? If they need a new member, they can count me the fuck out.

I stop beside her bench. She looks up and resumes chewing her gum. If I could, I would slap the gum out of her lips and fix it in her hair. Mira needs a makeover. That hair and jacket need to go.

“You’re in my seat,” I finally say. A feeling of déjà vu washes over me. My first real interaction with Ben went the same way. She rolls her eyes and points to the empty bench across from hers. I don’t want that spot. I want mine. But to avoid an argument or an unnecessary conversation with the weirdo, I move to the other side of the table and claim it. “What are you doing here?”

“Calum thinks you’re sad sitting by yourself.”

Speaking of the idiot, he appears beside me with his tray. He sets it down on the table and slides right next to me. We might have gotten along if he didn’t have eyes like Ben, but he reminds me too much of my first love. On the bright side, his hair is a different color, and he’s not an ass.

“Those were not my exact words,” Calum says.

Calum steals a fry from my tray, the same thing Ben would have done, and the last of my residue weakens. I slam my fist on the table. This gets the attention of Mira’s friend. She looks at me for the first time with something akin to amusement. If the bitch wants funny, I can give it to her.

“I don’t care about your exact words, Calum,” I tell the grinning fool. He finds everything funny, and I am sick and tired of it. Of everyone. “I like sitting by myself, Mira. I like being alone.”

To support my point, I grab my tray and stand. Where the fuck will I sit? Students occupy the other tables. Mira chuckles while Calum stares in awe. He doesn’t understand the concept of boundaries.

“Sit your ass down, Theresa.”

Mira knows my name? She has stuck to calling menew girl. It might be partly why I don’t like her. The other reason is she reminds me of Olivia with that air of superiority hanging over her.

“Don’t call me Theresa.”

She scoffs. “Or what, The-re-sa?”

The mockery in her voice sets me off. I may have tolerated Olivia, but I won’t tolerate this bitch or any other Olivia wannabe. Noting the change in my mood, Calum taps my knee to calm me, but I am not the one who needs to chill out. It’s Mira. I lower my tray to the table and punch her.

Mira curses as my fist connects with her nose. The whole table gasps, and a hush falls on the cafeteria. I shake out my arm, a smirk taking over my feature. That’s what happens when they mess with the new girl. I might be new, but I won’t take anybody’s shit. New school, new Tessa.

“What the fuck?” Mira screams into her palms.

Blood seeps through her manicured fingers as she raises hateful eyes toward me. Her friend is too shocked to move. The bitch is not such a talkative anymore. Too bad it had to come to this.

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