The Bad Boy’s…What?

After the whole fire drill dilemma and speaking to my bully-turned-cousin, my nerves are all over the place by lunch. My eyes stay downward, staring at the plate in front of me while my leg continues to bounce up and down. Occasionally, it bumps into the leg beside me which only causes Drew’s gaze to meet mine and a current of electricity to flow between us. Stupid Drew and his sexy smirk, beautiful eyes, soft hair… why was I mad at him again? Oh yeah, because he has to be so damn perfect.

“Are you alright?” Drew’s hand covers mine in a placating manner and for some odd, very odd, reason my body instantly relaxes.

“Yeah,” I nod. Avoiding his penetrating gaze, I begin to stuff food into my mouth with my other hand. What would happen if the guys found out that I spoke to Mike? Would they ‘take care of him,’ ‘send him to swim with the sharks’, or stuff his body in an old storage locker never to be found alive again. What would they do to me, keep me from my hidden candy stash which they could easily find?

The risks are just too great. Suddenly, the air around me starts decreasing and my lungs start burning, my eyes start to water and I think Drew finally decided to kill me. Until I realize that I’m choking on my food, I take one of the water bottles being held out for me and down the contents. Once I’m out of danger, I relax when everyone’s kind enough to not acknowledge what just happened.

That is until someone starts coughing before it turns into full out laughter. My eyes find Adrian across from me clutching his stomach, fighting for air and trying to compose himself. Even Sammy looks like she wants to kill him, but deep in her eyes I can see the amusement trying to fight its way through.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just… she choked on her hot dog,” Adrian explains before once again laughing uncontrollably. Sammy stops fighting it and leans on her boyfriend for support while she laughs her butt off, but Kohl really takes the cake, laughing so hard he falls out of his seat causing everybody to turn his way. Kim and Ruby have the decency to laugh discreetly behind cupped hands while Drew squeezes my shoulder comfortingly, as if that will make up for the fact he turned his head to the side while his shoulder were shaking. The bastard. That’s when I notice one little apple is missing from the bunch, Lucas.

“Where’s Lucas?” I turn to Drew. He seems to debate how to answer before shrugging like I didn’t just witness his mental debate. “You don’t know or you don’t want to tell me?” This time Drew turns to me, eyes intense and dark, raises an eyebrow before shrugging, making me grit my teeth in annoyance. “I’m leaving,” I state, getting up from my seat. Just as I turned to walk away, I find myself rooted in place as Drew holds my hand in his firmly.

“We’re leaving,” he tells the rest, who resume their conversation like nothing. With an eye roll, I let him lead me by the hand outside the cafeteria doors and into an empty hallway.

“Where’s Lucas?”

“Where’d you go during the fire drill?” Lucas, you little snitch, he couldn’t have just kept his mouth shut.

“Huh?” Drew’s eyes darken with my stalling before he pins me to the wall, one hand on either side of me caging me in. my heart begins to palpitate like cars zooming down a street race, my mind whirls thinking of different possible scenarios.

“I had a bad burrito in the morning so I went to the restroom.”

Silence.

You could hear a pin drop, where is the rest of the school population?

“All you had for breakfast was orange juice because Kohl stole your waffle. Why are you lying to me?” I forgot my boyfriend just happened to live in my house, why can’t my life just be normal?

“Why are you catching me in my lies?” I rebut. For a second Drew looks angry, but it turns to hurt and betrayal quickly and I begin to feel like the Grinch who stole Christmas. “Where’s Lucas?” I repeat.

“Breaking into the school’s security system to see where you were at. Did someone threaten you?” I kind of forgot Lucas was a tech nerd.

“No, no one threatened me. I was just talking to someone,” I reply.

“Who?”

“Seriously, I’m feeling really attacked right now.” I motion with my eyes to both of his arms keeping me hostage, but instead of backing away like I’d hoped, he leans in with a smirk. Noticing my breath hitching, he begins to kiss up and down my neck, landing beneath my earlobe. “Drew?”

“Remember what I told you when we just met and I found you hiding from me in the library?” He pulls back to look into my eyes, as if he’s searching for something. How could I forget that day, one of the many times he’s gotten all up close and personal with me. He leans into the other side of my neck, leaving me breathless with small kisses. “I told you this pulse jumps every time you lie, remember?” Hot breath hits my neck with his whispering, but he weakens my legs. As if sensing I’m about to fall, he wraps an arm around my waist, the other one moves to the back of my neck before bringing me closer, locking our lips together. And I tried, I tried not to give in, to keep my cool but somehow I always find a way to get lost in Drew Collins.

If he were a map, I’d get lost all over him, and that’s just one of many bad pick-up lines I know.

“Who were you talking to?” When he pulls back, I’m dazed and confused for a couple of seconds until I realize he’s trying to get the truth out of me. Growing a backbone, I place my hands on his chest before leaning up and kissing the side of his neck. Once his body relaxes, I push him up against the wall before clasping my hands behind his neck and kissing him softly, instinctively, he places both of his hands loosely on my hips. Just as the kiss begins to get hard and heavy, I pull away and pat his cheek before running off in the direction of my next class. This time my heart’s beating uncontrollably because I can’t believe I just did that. It felt good, I felt empowered. Now I know what Beyoncé meant when she said we run the world.

Gasping for air, I burst into my art class just as the bell rings for the end of lunch. Some students are already here and turn to look at me weirdly, I head over to my seat at the back table when my steps falter and I look towards the teacher’s desk. Instead of my loving and abusive teacher, there’s a young guy at her desk. I know that the new teacher is supposed to be Mason, Mike’s dad, and practically the source of all evil. But, the familiarity of this guy really makes my heart stop for a second. the betrayal I feel is palpable. Brown hair and green eyes, that all familiar smirk that Derek sends my way, he’s the bad guy?

Derek is Mason? Is he even old enough to have fathered Mike?

Oh my gosh.

“Come on.” Adrian grabs my elbow and drags me to our table before I have a chance to pound my fists into Derek’s face.

“Wait Adrian, I let this jerk in my house and he’s the bad guy,” I whisper. Adrian doesn’t listen to my protests and shoves me down onto my seat, places a pencil in my hand and sits across from me. His posture is cautious, as if at any second I’ll rush at a lying, conniving bastard. What really makes me mad is that he was so close to Lucy. He could have hurt her because of my stupidity. We let the class pass by in peace, and Adrian beats me five times out of four on tic-tac-toe, he’s that good. Or, maybe I’m just that bad. When the bell rings and all the students file out, I start jumping around like I’m in a boxing ring with my fists held out in front of me.

“Khloe, what’s wrong with you?” Derek still has the audacity to speak to me like we’re buddies. I don’t think anyone expected me to throw a punch, otherwise Adrian would have surely stopped me. All that is heard around the room is a distinct crack and I don’t know if it was knuckled, though they did hurt. At that moment, Mike stumbles into the room with Lucas, Drew and Mr. Pine on his tail.

“Damn Khloe, you got the dude’s blood all over the place, just go choke on another hot dog.” Adrian helps Derek up off the ground while the other guys look at me in disbelief.

“Why are you all looking at me like that? He’s the bad guy, you told me so.” I point to Mike, who’s looking at me like I’m stupid.

“I told you the new teacher was Mason, he’s a substitute. That’s not even my dad, Khloe.”

“Oh, Derek, I am so sorry for punching you in the face.” I turn to Derek, my good old friend, but grimace from the blood that’s cascading out of his nose. “Did I break it?”

“No, it’s just bruised,” Adrian answers before shoving a towel into Derek’s face.

“Wait, what do you mean Mike told you who Mason was?” Drew’s voice makes me jump for some reason.

“Mike’s my cousin and he was helping me out with the whole Mason thing, and please don’t hurt him,” I say it all in a rush. I get looks from everyone, even Mike, but Drew looks amused for some reason, I relax at that. “Wait, then why are you here? I didn’t know you were a teacher?” I turn to Derek.

“I’m not, I’m a cop.” Well, you learn something new every day, he must be Mr. Pine’s contact in the police, duh. It makes so much sense now, it really is a small world.

“Wait, wait, wait, you two are related?” Adrian looks momentarily perplexed before laughing uncontrollably. “First the hot dog, now this, your life really sucks sometimes,” he gasps between laughter.

“I saw him go into Sammy’s room last night.” I wait for it to sink into Drew before he rushed over to Adrian.

“I was going to say ‘goodnight’, damn it, since when are manners such a crime?” he defends himself. Seeing him appropriately scared, I don’t bother to tell Drew that it was around two in the morning. I want to get back at Adrian, I don’t want him dead. He’s still my best friend after all.

“Where’s Kohl?” I ask. Everybody just kind of shrugs, as if Kohl’s presence isn’t all that important, I agree but still. I have the inking sensation that he’s somewhere off with Kim, the two have been getting a little too close lately. Hard as it is to believe, my brother may actually have a girl.

“You’re not off the hook.” Drew whispering in my ear always makes me blush intensely, the guys notice and Mike begins to make gagging noises.

“Sounds like Khloe choking on a hot dog,” Adrian remarks. I’m going to kill him. Having sensed that I was about to jump on Adrian, Drew grabs me from behind and drags me out of the classroom. I continue to kick all the way into Drew’s car and refuse to acknowledge him to wherever it is he’s driving me. His hand tries to find mine on the way, but I dodge his advances, not because I’m truly mad at him but because I’m afraid he is at me.

“Are you going to stop ignoring me?” I heave a sigh.

“Are you mad at me for not telling you about Mike?”

“I would’ve been if it hadn’t been for that little scenario in the hallway. Who knew my little kitten had a wild side?” I roll my eyes when I finally turn to look at him.

“Don’t you know good girls are bad girls that haven’t been caught?” He doesn’t get my reference but I do, and it makes me smile widely. “Where are we going?”

“Home,” he answers slowly, as if I should’ve known that. Well excuse me if all the streets’ physical appearances all look the same.

“Yeah, I knew that. I was just making sure that you, the navigator, knew where you were going.” The rest of the drive goes by peacefully, except for that one moment where Drew flipped off a guy who cut him off. Today I learned that Drew has a bit of road rage occasionally. If he was scary before, just don’t get near him if you see him driving on the streets. Once we arrive home, safely and intact, I zoom inside and up the stairs in search of Lucy. I vaguely hear Drew call after me, but my baby’s waiting for me. Bursting into the room excitedly, I immediately walk back out wanting to gauge my eyes out at the sight of Claire kissing Roger. “Aah!” Immediately, Drew rushes up the stairs, a frantic expression on his face.

“What happened, is Lucy alright?”

“I don’t know, she might need years of therapy. I know I do,” I respond. He looks at me confused before stepping into the room, and cautiously, I walk in behind him.

“Khloe, nothing’s going on, why’d you scream?”

“Those two,” I point towards a blushing Claire and stony faced Roger. “They were partaking in lip lock, in front of the baby,” I whisper the last part. Drew shakes his head with a low chuckle before grabbing Lucy in his arms and swinging her in the air. Claire and Roger take their leave, and I’m left standing in the doorway watching Drew coo at the giggling girl. Oh, that sexy bastard makes a great father and I should not be thinking about that. But on top of all of that, I was right. Claire and Roger do have something going on.

I’m like a modern cupid, I bring love wherever I go.

“Khloe?” Realizing I was spacing out, I shake my head to clear my head and turn to Drew, who’s looking at me expectantly.

“What were you saying?”

“I said, do you want to take Lucy to the park with me?” Nodding eagerly, I grab her bag from the room and follow Drew out, though I do make one last stop he might not approve of. Taking advantage of Drew taking his time strapping Lucy to her seat, I knock on a wooden door repeatedly, hoping he’s home. “Damian.” I smile when Drew’s dad opens his bedroom door and greets me with a smile. “Would you like to go to the park with us and Lucy?” I beam when he nods his answer and I drag him outside by the hand. I’ve promised myself to get this family back together. Sammy’s practically forgiven her father, but there’s a tougher nut to crack and his name rhymes with ‘dew’.

“Ugh, why’s he here?” Drew groans after my squeal of excitement startled him and caused him to bump his head on the top of the car.

“He’s going to the park with us.”

“I don’t want him there,” Drew whines like a petulant child.

“It doesn’t matter.” The ride to the park is a quiet one with tension bubbling in the air, the only one oblivious to this is the small child next to me. I thought that Drew and his father sitting up front would ease some of the tension, but I’m just praying we don’t crash.

“So, how’s school?” Damian tries to start small talk.

“Crap.” Well at least Drew is giving one word answers, that’s got to count for something, right? When we pull into the park sighs of relief are hear throughout the car before I climb out with Lucy in hand.

“I’ll carry her.” The hopeful look in Damian’s eyes makes me hand the baby over, but a bubble of sadness washes over my body. There’s a price to bringing the Collins family back together, losing Lucy. Clearing my thoughts away, I breathe in the crisp air around us, my eyes darting around and landing on a snooty little girl giving me the stink eye. The same little girl I saw here a couple of weeks ago when I ran away from Drew. Making sure the guys don’t witness my childish actions, I stick my tongue out at her and gasp in shock when she shoots me the middle finger. I resume my walking, doing a little happy dance because that little girl got caught by her mom with her finger in the air, it was a joyous moment until I fell face first in the grass.

“I’m okay!” Coughing out little spades of grass, I lift my head up from the ground and find Drew and Damian giving me odd looks. Hoisting the baby bag over his shoulder, Drew crouches down to my side with a low chuckle.

“Will there ever be a day when you don’t fall?” I don’t answer him because frankly, I don’t think the world’s ready for a coordinated Khloe. The cosmic balance has to make awesome people clumsy in order to maintain the universe aligned, it’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Shaking off dirt and grass, we make our way over to where Damian’s set a blanket and is bouncing Lucy around. Although, ever since she started crawling a couple of months ago she’s honed in that skill, and thinks she can crawl wherever she wants. I’m so not ready for her to start walking, she’ll run away.

“Try to be nice,” I warn Drew. He nods his head with gritted teeth and I make a note to give him a cookie later. We close the last steps and take our seats on the blanket, where Lucy crawl over to me. “Come here, baby,” I coo at the little girl. The day was a relaxing one, surprisingly, but even Drew started making small talk with his dad. Okay, they were verbally fighting but it counts.

And it all came to a horrific end when I decided to wander off and get some ice cream. No, I didn’t choke on the ice cream, though it could be expected. Just as the ice cream dude was about to hand me my cone, a rough hand landed on my shoulder causing me to jump and turn around. When I did, I couldn’t believe my eyes, at first I thought I was looking at my father’s ghost.

And then it dawned on me.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

It was Mason.

He, who dragged me away into the parking lot and a dark SUV.

He, who didn’t let me get my ice cream before kidnapping me.