Page 14 of Loved By The Bad Boy

Without a word, she opens the door and slams it. The air is terser in her absence. The boy and I size each other. We both want her, and I am not giving up on my Gracie. He needs to back off.

With a sigh, he leans back on the wall. “Look, Benjamin, or whatever your name is.” He very well knows what my name is. This is our fifth class together. “Tessa doesn’t want any trouble.”

I snort. “I don’t want any trouble either.”

The few similarities between us irritate me. If he thinks Gracie cares about him, he’s mistaken. I’m her first love, her first kiss, her first boyfriend. He will always come second place as long as I’m still here. If the idiot had any sense, he would realize she would never replace me with him.

He pushes away from the door and stops a foot away from me. I straighten up, a scowl on my lips. His eyes narrow, and a corner of his lips lifts. I don’t know this boy, but I already loathe him.

“Then respect her decision not to talk to you,” he mumbles.

It’s not his choice to make, and I have no intention of listening to a guy who probably wants to get into my girl’s panties. What does he know about her? Does he even know her middle name?

“Is that so?” I tease.

My gaze scrolls over him from bottom to top. He’s also wearing jeans. I’m not one to fight over a girl, but I’ll break the rules for Gracie. I shove my hands into my pockets. For someone trying to win my girl, he’s dumb and unworthy to be called a competition. She looked disturbed when she left. A smart man would be out there comforting her instead of this lame attempt at a scare.

“What’s her favorite color?”

“What?”

“Her favorite flavor of ice-cream?” I reply.

“I don’t know what you did, but if you cared about Tessa, you would stay far away from her.”

“What’s her favorite ice-cream flavor?” I repeat the question from earlier.

The annoyance and frustration he tried to hide earlier spread across his face. His mouth opens, but he stays mute. Of course he doesn’t know. He also doesn’t know that Gracie likes to make up random insults. That one of her life goals, though impossible, is to taste all the ice-cream flavors. She can’t decide on her favorite ice-cream, but her favorite soda is Coke. Yet he wants me to stay away?

“I mean it,” he says, like he can tell staying away from Gracie is the last thing I’ll do. We stand so close, our shoes almost touching. His breath fans my face the next time his mouth opens, but I am too much of a goner for Gracie to back down. “If she doesn’t want to talk to you, let her be.”

“I don’t take orders from you, whatever your name is.”

My reply brings a crazed look to the boy’s eyes. Shaking his head, he stands straighter, and the room seems to shrink. I brace for a punch or shove, any excuse to wipe that sinister smile off his face. Unfortunately, he walks away without a word thrown my way or a mention of his name.

Seconds after he leaves, my shoulders sag. I bang my forehead against the door. My heart hurts. He might be right. If my presence will cause Gracie more hurt, maybe I shouldn’t be here. It made sense then to pick Olivia’s side. Now, I feel like the most stupid person on planet Earth. Liv wouldn’t pick me. She would pick her soulmate over me, but I picked her over my soulmate.

I touch the heels of my palms to my eyes. Nothing is certain for me. Miss Jota thinks nothing of SAS’s waitlist, but I know what it is. A complete waste of time, and it’s as good as a rejection.

No one at the house knows yet. I’ll inform them when I receive the rejection email. Josef thinks SAS is better than NYU. Mom thinks I should go after my girl. It’s laughable. I don’t have a girl. I’m a single boy with no plans.

The warning bell rings. I head to my next class, and for the remaining classes, I zone out.

I am the first to leave the class when it is time for lunch. The cafeteria is rowdy. The groups make me miss the boys back home. I haven’t spoken to Noah or the other boys from the school’s team since we arrived. I spot Gracie on the line. That boy, the idiot, is with her. They are not alone. There is a girl who looks like a unicorn threw up on her. She’s talking to another girl. I wait for them to leave before getting my order. After that, I am faced with the next big decision.

Where do I sit?

The lack of attention is strange since I come from a school where people adore me. But I kind of like it. I am here for Gracie. I stop in the middle of the cafeteria, having no idea where to go. A deep feeling of loneliness wraps itself around me. There’s a bench in the corner. I can sit there, but I would rather not. It will make me the school’s outcast. The girl with the colorful hair waves me over. That boy from my class warns her with his eyes. They engage in a heated conversation, and she shrugs.

Throughout their standoff, I don’t look away from Gracie. I need to know if she is fine with me sitting with them. My eyes plead for a second chance with her, but she stares blankly at me.

I miss us.

I miss Benny and Gracie.

The girl waves again. The boy stops talking to her and moves closer to Gracie. Insecure loser. If he feels threatened on my second day, then he will lose his mind if he finds out my intention is to win her back. I won’t let him have my girlfriend. Gracie still loves me. When you are mad at the person you love, it doesn’t mean you love them less, right? Oh, God. I think I am going crazy.

Gracie looks away as I start for their table. I drop my tray close to hers, thankful she is seated in the middle of the bench. Another confirmation this guy is not smart and can’t keep her from me.

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