by Raathi Chota
Caught
Caught by the Bad Boys
Book One
By Raathi Chota
Caught
Copyright © 2019 by Raathi Chota.
All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: January 2019
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
www.limitlesspublishing.com
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-507-2
ISBN-10: 1-64034-507-8
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
To the strongest woman I know. I love you, Mom.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter One
Lana
I held my books against my chest as I walked up the stairs to another day in hell. Senior year only started a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t believe it was my last year. As I walked into the building, teenagers lurked in every corner. A group of boys stared at me, but I kept my head up high. A stupid idea, though, because the next thing I knew, I was on the ground.
“Geeky Lana,” they said and laughed as they walked away.
“Douchebag Benny,” I muttered as I stood up and fixed my glasses. Of all the days I wore a skirt, it had to be today when I got tripped, and my skirt rose. I had dressed in a black skirt, striped shirt, a denim jacket, and boots. I pulled up my maroon knee socks and picked up my books. As I walked to my locker, people greeted me with the term of “Geeky Lana” or “Good girl,” which I got used to by junior year. I turned the corner, and my sad face lit up when I saw my best friend. “Hey, Miranda.”
“Hey girl…how was your weekend?” She smiled. Miranda Stevens had been my best friend since she arrived in sophomore year. Seniors teased me, and she came out of nowhere and rescued me. From that day, we became friends.
“It was boring…I finished my English assignment and went with my parents to that boring dinner,” I groaned as I took my books out. Before Miranda spoke, someone turned the corner.
“They’re coming!” the girl squealed. She set her top so it’d be more “revealing” and adjusted her skirt so it’d be shorter. I rolled my eyes as I got my Calculus book out, then shut my locker. I turned around and leaned on my locker as I watched them turn the corner. Them. They did it ever since the new guy arrived, well not just them, but the whole school. Everyone gave them space to walk like they were knights who saved an entire village, and everyone congratulated them, but no, they were just a bunch of narcissists. The biggest ego heads the school ever had and it made me sick to watch them every day as they walked past and got acknowledged by everyone.
Ethan Baxter. Jefferson High’s jock. He had dark brown hair with blond highlights that he got when senior year started. He was team captain, and his dad owned the biggest, most popular sports store in Illinois. I had to do a project with him last year, and we got an A for all my work, even though he came to my house. He had broad shoulders and a significant tattoo on his chest that was only exposed to the public during practices or after a game. I hadn’t seen it up close, but I’m sure the girls he slept with had.
Aidan Rowley. The school’s prankster. He always had a mischievous grin on his face and was up to no good. He’s the shortest out all of them, and he had brunette hair and a six-pack that made the girls swoon. At the start of senior year, I walked to my Calculus class and saw Mr. Bronx with the rest of the class. The door was locked. Mr. Bronx opened it, and I kept in a laugh. Aidan and his friends had turned everything upside down. The desks and chairs were on the ceiling, and the posters were upside down. Aidan got away with it because it was the first day and Mr. Bronx was a cool teacher.
Carter Halls. He was the nicest—well, the smartest one of all. He was a player with his platinum blond hair and indigo blue eyes; he got any girl he wanted with his looks. Also, he was sarcastic, so I barely spoke to him. As soon as he talked to a girl, they’d be the most hated girl in school.
Blake Gunner. The new guy became friends with them on the very first day; I wish it were that easy. Blake and Ethan were the tallest. Every day he had headphones on, music at its loudest setting as he looked straight ahead. It’s rumored that he sold a kidney and used the cash for an upgrade on his motorcycle. Cliché and scary at the same time.
As they walked past me, I saw Aidan’s and Blake’s gazes on me. My jaw tightened as I eyed them. Once they turned the corner, I bit the inside of my cheek because they never looked at me. The bell interrupted everyone, and I headed for my first class of the day.
***
“Good morning, Mr. Bronx.”
“Morning, Lana, how was your weekend?” he asked, propping his legs on the table, then putting his hands behind his neck. Griffin Bronx and my dad were friends in college, and he always used to play with me when I was small. It turned out that he was my godfather, so to have him as a teacher was a bonus.
“It was good, and yours?” I smiled as I opened my book.
“Boring.” He laughed. I watched everyone come into class, and Mr. Bronx took the attendance. I sat right in the back because I didn’t want to catch any attention. “Where is Mr. Rowley?” Mr. Bronx asked as he looked around the classroom. He opened the door, and of course, there was goofy Aidan. “Aidan…you’re late, sit down!” Mr. Bronx warned as Aidan sat down next to me. “Right, class, please take out the homework that I gave you last Thursday.”
“Homework? I don’t recall,” Aidan shouted. Mr. Bronx walked to the back of the class where Aidan and I sat and looked at him.
“Exponential Functions, Aidan. It was mainly practice, which you requested!” Mr. Bronx exclaimed, then turned to me. “Lana, show him.”
“Well, I didn’t do it,” Aidan said. Mr. Bronx turned around and sighed.
“You should be more like Lana Willson, Aidan. Otherwise, you’ll fail.”
“GG,” Aidan coughed out. There were a few snickers as Aidan looked at me. I rolled my eyes and raised my middle finger at him.
“Detention,” Mr. Bronx coughed loudly for the whole class to hear. Everyone laughed, and I smirked at Aidan, who rolled his eyes.
***
Next, I had Phys Ed, and the only good thing about Phys Ed was I had Miranda in the class, but there’s always a bad when the
re’s a good. They were in my class. I changed into my uniform and walked out of the girl’s locker room to stand with Miranda. I glanced over and found all four of them there, which was rare, since they ditched a lot.
“Okay listen up…since my throat is a bit sore, we’re going to do some stretches, then have a good game of dodgeball, all right? Good? Okay. Stretch!” Coach Harris, who was also the coach of the varsity football team, said in a raspy voice. After doing a few stretches, we were in two groups. None of them were on my side.
“Shit,” I muttered to myself as we got into position. Aidan glared at me, and he must’ve told the rest to get me for revenge since I got him detention. At least I had an active girl in front of me who did all the work, but I still had to be careful.
It was halfway into the period, and on my team was another guy, Miranda, and me. On the opposite end were Blake and Ethan. We. Were. Screwed. Ethan grinned as he rested his palms on his knees while Blake stared. Ethan came out of nowhere and knocked down the poor boy. I looked back at Miranda, who got the ball. She was good at sports, but Ethan was better. She ran up and threw it yet missed both of them. I backed up as Blake took the ball. He threw it immediately, and I dodged it, then sighed in relief until I heard a scream. I turned around to see Miranda on the floor. I ran up to her, completely forgetting about the ball.
“Miranda, are you okay?”
“Willson, back in the game!” the coach said, his voice loud and clear. What happened to his sore throat? I made my way to the ball, picked it up, and looked at the guy. I stared at Ethan, taking careful aim. I threw it, but it didn’t hit him. It hit Blake. I smiled to myself as his face changed as he realized he was out. Blake scoffed and sat down by Carter. Ethan turned to look at me with determination in his eyes. He picked up the ball and threw it without any aim. It hit Miranda on the head again as she tried to walk to the nurse. “That’s it! Game over, everyone. Go change!”
“Are you okay? I’m going to kill him!” I grumbled as I ran over to Miranda.
“I’m okay, and no, you’re not. See you later.” She sighed as she walked to the nurse’s office.
Miranda went home, and I heard Ethan and Aidan were looking for me, so I hid in the girls’ bathroom and ate my lunch there. The final bell rang for the end of the day, and I walked to my locker and got my bag. I was about to go to Miranda’s locker but remembered she went home…which meant I had to walk home because Miranda usually drove me. I groaned as I began to walk. I lived ten minutes away, but that was by car. So for the next half an hour, I strolled until I heard something. Music, not any music, it was “American Slang” by The Gaslight Anthem. I turned around to see a black BMW. It stopped right next to me, but I continued to walk and look straight ahead. I could see from the corner of my eye that it continued to follow me. So I stopped, and the car did too.
“Get in, Lana,” the deep voice said, and I furrowed my eyebrows. I stepped over to the car and looked down to see them.
“Excuse me?” I asked. Ethan drove while Aidan sat in the passenger seat and glared at him.
“Get in. I’ll drop you off.” Ethan shrugged. The music was off by now, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Blake and Carter in the backseat.
“That’s okay, I just live around the corner…”
“No, you don’t. Now get in,” Ethan demanded. I scrunched my nose up at his attitude, then backed away from the car. As I reached the sidewalk, my heel slipped, and I landed on the ground with a thud. I cursed as I looked at my foot, stuck on the edge of the sidewalk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone get out of the car. I glanced up to see Carter’s blond locks fan my face as he helped me. I tried to walk, but my foot ached as I gripped onto his arm. He dusted the dirt off from my back, then rested his hand on my shoulder.
“Are you okay?” His voice was deep as I looked up at him. His blue eyes stared down at me with concern. I slowly nodded as my mouth fell open, yet nothing came out. “Come on, we’ll take you home.” The corners of his mouth pulled up into a smile. Carter held the door open for me as I got in.
“Thanks,” I mumbled and sat next to Blake Gunner, who had a cigarette rested in the corner of his mouth. He didn’t seem fazed as he stared out the window. “Hi.” I forced a smile to see what he’d do.
“’Sup,” he said. I rolled my eyes and looked straight ahead as Ethan drove.
“Err…sorry about your friend,” Ethan broke the silence.
“It’s okay…but it’s not me you should be saying sorry to.” I muttered the last part. I think Blake heard me when he scoffed. I watched as he threw his cigarette out the window, then looked at Aidan.
“Hey, Aidan…put on Happy Song,” Blake said. Aidan had that grin on his face as he took his phone and searched for the music. My eyes widened as I knew what would come. I took off my glasses as if to clean them, but I wanted to surprise them. The song started as they watched me. I lip-synced as the song went on because I liked Bring Me the Horizon. I sang with a smile plastered on my face and banged my head to the beat while everyone fell silent in the car. I lip-synced the entire song like it was nothing, yet they took it as a big deal. Once the song was done, they gaped at me.
“What did I do?”
“What was that?” Carter asked as a look of confusion crossed his face.
“That was “Bring Me the Horizon”. Keep up, Carter.”
“No, I mean…how do you know the song?”
“I like their music.”
“You like rock?” Aidan asked as he turned in his seat.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”
“Well, it isn’t normal for a goodie like you to like music like that,” Blake scoffed.
“Well, I don’t care. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. Aren’t we all full of surprises?” I laughed as I put on my glasses.
“Whatever, put on “American Slang”,” Ethan told Aidan, and he did. We sang along and bobbed our heads to the beat even though they found it weird. We came to a red light, and I turned to look at the car next to us.
“Shit,” I mumbled and ducked down.
“What? What?” Carter asked as he looked around.
“It’s Kelly.”
“So?”
“She hates me, I hate her, she sees me, and then she’ll embarrass me,” I said as tried to keep level.
“Ah, the good girl doesn’t want to get caught, does she?” Aidan asked, and I pictured that grin. I kicked his seat and told him to shut up. We moved again, and I lifted my head up. All of them had smirks on their faces, which I didn’t like.
“What?”
“You’re the ultimate good girl, Lana.” Aidan laughed.
“But we all know good girls are masterminds at being bad girls,” Blake whispered in my ear, which sent a shiver down my body.
“Whatever…I just don’t like getting into trouble.” I rolled my eyes even though Blake was right.
“We’re here,” Ethan said as the car came to a stop. Carter got out of the car to make way for me, and I got out. Once he was in, I turned back around.
“Thanks for the ride, Ethan.” I smiled at him. By now, my foot was settled to walk. “Listen…nobody has to know that this ever happened, right? I mean, for the sake of you guys and mine…like, I almost got caught back there with—”
“No problem. We wouldn’t want you getting into trouble, now would we?”
“Thanks, and bye.” I smiled then spun around. I heard their conversation behind me, yet I continued to walk.
“Why is she so scared?” Blake asked.
“Her dad’s the sheriff,” Aidan replied as I laughed. My joking manner immediately changed as I frowned. I let out a sigh as I thought of the recent event. Who am I kidding? They didn’t want to get involved in my sad life. In the end, they’d scream their way out.
Chapter Two
Lana
I groaned as I stretched my arms to the alarm clock; I hit it continuously, but it wouldn’t budge. I opened my eyes and turned the alarm off
. The time read 6:31 a.m. I took a while to get ready in the morning, and I had a bus to take, therefore I had to wake up an hour and a half earlier. I took a quick shower and brushed my hair. I slipped on some blue jeans, a cream sweater, and my white Converse. I looked in the mirror and almost vomited; my hair was a mess, so I slipped on a cream beanie to match my outfit. I went over the persuasive speech I had to do today, which I was nervous about since Carter and Benny were in my class. Once I was done, it was 7:15. I went downstairs to the kitchen, where I found Mom and Dad.
“Morning, hun. How’d you sleep?” Mom asked as she placed a cup of coffee in front of me. She did the same for my dad, who sat opposite me.
“Good, I guess, and you two?”
“Fine,” Dad mumbled.
“Everyone okay at work, Dad?”
“These stupid punks who are doing drugs and all that…we can’t seem to get them, and it’s a real pain in the neck.”
“Well, you should be glad I’m not like that, Dad.”
“I know my girl wouldn’t do anything like that.”
After breakfast, I walked to the bus stop. In the morning, I’d take the bus, and in the afternoon, Miranda dropped me off. Hope she came today, I wouldn’t survive another lunch in the bathrooms. I got off the bus and adjusted my beanie. It was going to be a long day. As I headed toward the main building, something caught my eye. I turned my head and saw them. They sat on Carter’s classic GMC truck. Carter was making out with a girl, and Ethan and Aidan were talking; then there’s the one who was staring at me. I looked at him, and he immediately looked away to his friends. Blake had his headphones on and acted as if he was in the conversation. I rolled my eyes and walked into the building. I got my things from my locker as the bell rang. I jogged to English class because I didn’t want to make way for them, especially after what happened yesterday. I entered the classroom and frowned when I saw Benny Nielson, not the teacher.
