Tyler's Gem: A Teen Romance

by Rua Hasan

  I chuckled to myself at their behavior while walking to Troy’s car. I guess the night was over already. Matt drove off while Troy placed Sydney in the back of the car between Eva and I. I closed the door to see Tyler standing outside looking at me. I gave him a questioning look, making him smirk.

  “See you around neighbor,” he said, making me roll my eyes.

  I let out a breath once the car began to move. Sydney was dosing off while Eva was looking at her phone. Once in a while, Sydney would lay her head on her sister’s shoulder, but Eva would smack her in the face and call her a ‘drunken octopus’, making me laugh.

  Troy drove around the neighborhood since he wasn’t drunk, dropping us home. Actually, none of us were drunk drunk. Only Sydney. First it was the twins, then it was me and Jasmine was for last. I didn’t ask why. He probably wanted to make out with her before she left.

  As I walked through the front door, I turned on the lights since it was so dark inside. After gulping down a glass of water in the kitchen, I took off my heels and went upstairs to my room. Five minutes later, I had all the makeup on my face removed. Then I took off my dress, wore Matt’s oversized shirt that I stole—I mean borrowed, crawled into bed and decided to sleep since I had really nothing better to do.

  But that was a lie because five minutes later I found myself watching a video about cat desserts on YouTube.

  And I didn’t even have a cat!

  A couple minutes later went by and I needed to pee real badly. It felt as if my bladder was about to explode, so I got up and walked into my bathroom.

  I stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes landed on my worst nightmare. I felt myself go white as my breathing stopped. I screamed and started to jump around like a crazy person, looking around for a shoe or a broom to kill the disgusting creature in my bathroom.

  There was a big, hairy spider just standing there in the center of my bathroom tile, looking at me with so many eyes and probably saying, “Hi, I just need to take a dump. I hope you don’t min—hey, what’s that broom for?”

  I was about to kill it when it moved, making me scream again. I might exaggerating but who doesn’t hate spiders? Especially when they’re big, hairy ones! I hit every place it was standing but it moved so fast. I was afraid it would go hide and call it’s family, plotting to kill me while I was asleep.

  Well, looks like I’m moving in with Matt.

  I was beyond shocked when I felt a hand on my shoulders. I whipped my head to look at Tyler.

  Tyler?

  What the hell was he doing in my room?

  Wait, let me rephrase that.

  What the hell was he doing in my house?!

  “What’s wrong? I heard you screaming from all the way in my room like there was a bloody murderer!” he said while looking at me with concerned eyes.

  I wanted to say that there was something worse than a freakin murderer but held it back.

  “How did you get in?” I asked.

  “Your window was opened,” he said, shrugging his shoulders while pointing to the open window behind him. I mentally smacked myself but didn’t say anything when I saw the spider from the corner of my eye. “S-sp-spid-SPIDER!” I shrieked as I gave Tyler the broom and jumped on my bed for safety.

  “Kill it! Kill it kill it, kill it!” I yelled as he looked at me, dumbfounded.

  He smirked and gave me an amused look. “Relax, it’s just a bug,” he said as I let another shriek when I saw it move.

  “A big hairy one!” I yelled, hugging my pillow.

  Tyler rolled his eyes before dropping the broom to the ground. He walked over to it as if he wasn’t scared of that hairy creature and stepped on it without the care in the world.

  I felt myself relax in relief, for once happy to have his company. I guess I spoke to soon because all of a sudden I found Tyler running towards me with a dead spider in his hand. I let a shriek escape my lips as I jumped off the bed and out of my room like my life depended on it.

  “Come on, Gem! It’s dead. You don’t have to be afraid” he yelled from behind me.

  I’m pretty sure if someone walked by my house, they would think someone was dying with all the screaming.

  “You bastard!” I yelled as I rushed down the stairs, with him following not too far behind me.

  “Ahh! Put it down! Put it down!” I shrieked as I found myself cornered in my own living room. He laughed in response. “I’m serious, you jerk! Get out of my house and take that thing with you!”

  I grabbed the first thing I could find—a pillow on the couch—and threw it at him. It hit him in the face, making him drop the spider. He let out another laugh and picked up the spider again. I grabbed my heels from earlier and threw them but unfortunately, he dodged.

  “Ok, ok. I’m sorry. See?” He walked to the nearest trashcan and was about to throw it away.

  “Stop!” I shrieked. “Are you crazy? It could come back to life and kill me while I’m asleep! Go flush it down a toilet.”

  He chuckled again before he walked into the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet while I waited outside. I was so caught up in that whole spider situation that I totally forgot I was only in Matt’s oversized t-shirt. I felt myself blush in embarrassment at the thought of Tyler seeing me in this. Once he was out of the bathroom, there was a moment of awkward silence. I crossed my arms and sent him an icy cold glare.

  “You know I would have thanked you for killing that spider but you just chased me around my own house so that’s not going to happen,”

  He shrugged his shoulders. That was when I noticed his eyes roam over my body. He clenched his hand into a fist as his eyes turned darker for some reason—and not because he was some kind of werewolf, because come on, they don’t exist.

  “I didn’t know you had a brother,” he said.

  I lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t . . . ”

  “ Then who does that belong to?” he asked, making me look down at Matt’s shirt.

  “That’s none of your business,” I said.

  He nodded slowly as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Yea, you’re right. I’ll just be on my way then.” He turned and walked to the front door before slamming it shut.

  I stood there for a moment, rewinding what just happened.

  Well, him being moody was unexpected.

  Chapter 15

  I ran one more lap as the sun rose. The early morning air hit my skin as I quickened my pace to my home. I’d been in the empty park for almost an hour for my morning routine before my classes.

  The past few days had been pretty boring yet relaxing. I spent most of them watching Netflix with Matt and his friends as well as running and reading. I saw no signs of spiders and Tyler which made them the best two days of my life. Who knew being Tyler-free felt this good? But what happened on Friday night kept repeating in my head. Not the spider but the change in Tyler’s mood. He went from playful annoying Tyler to a don’t-touch-me-I’m-mad Tyler.

  I shrugged off my thoughts and ran down the quiet road. When I got home, I walked into the bathroom, took off my clothes, and had a quick shower. Ten minutes later, which was shorter than the time I usually spent showering, I wrapped a towel around my body and opened my walk-in closet. I grabbed a pair of leggings and a long pink shirt that came down to my thighs. It had big green letters that read ‘I’m a ninja.’

  Once I had my hair up into a messy bun, I grabbed my backpack and walked out of my house. It took me a five minutes to get to school. As I walked down the hall, I looked at the time on my phone. I only had a couple of minutes left to get to class so I forced my legs to move quickly. I met Matt halfway running to class just like me.

  We sat in our seats once the bell rang. Students were rushing into the class, hoping that the teacher wouldn’t notice them. I guess luck was on our side since because Mrs. Visconti wasn’t in the room and we instead were greeted with a substitute teacher.

  He seemed to be around fifty to sixty years old. He brushed off the late st
udents, and closed the door.

  After an awkward silence, the teacher introduced himself as Mr. Williams, and told us to open our text books. I turned my head to look at Matt and wasn’t surprised to see him texting while chewing gum. I rolled my eyes and tried to get his attention when I noticed Mr. Williams looking at his direction.

  Too late.

  “Excuse me, young man!” he said, making Matt raise his head away from his phone. “Cell phones aren’t allowed in class, so put that away before I take it from you.”

  “Oh, but sir, Mrs. Visconti lets us text in class all the time.”

  “Really? You actually think I’m going to believe that? And that includes chewing gum,” he said, pointing to the trash bin by the door.

  Matt rolled his eyes but said nothing, as he put his phone inside his bag, and got up to throw the gum. Not that I’m saying what just happened was interesting, but it was something.

  Second period was as boring as the first. But thank goodness, it flew by fast because I was really excited for PE.

  I grabbed my bag when the bell rang and rushed towards the girls’ locker room which wasn’t too far from my last class. I walked into where my locker was at and took out my PE clothes. Once I was done changing, I walked past a little white board a female teacher used to write on each day’s activity. I looked up to see that today we were playing dodgeball.

  Damn it! It just had to be dodgeball. No matter how much I loved PE, Dodgeball or what others called Crossfire was my ultimate weakness. The ball always seemed to be attracted to my face!

  I groaned to myself as I walked out of the locker room and into the field. From what I had heard, everyone played this game outside and I didn’t know why though. Maybe it was because the ball needed more space to go around.

  We spent the first five minutes stretching. When Mr. Bony would ask us to do some push-ups, I usually noticed that most of the girls would just stay facing the ground with their butts in the air, not even moving when he wasn’t looking. We did a couple of jumping jacks and then headed towards the center of the field.

  The game started and Mr. Bony split us into two teams, with an equal amount of boys and girls. It was actually fun until I noticed that the number of girls were decreasing. There were only three girls left, including me and a couple of boys. The other team seemed like they were going to win. I dodged a ball right before it hit my leg. Another ball came flying at my face, thrown by a blonde girl, but I caught it in time and threw it at her. It hit her arm, taking her out.

  I smiled to myself before I heard the two girls on my team squeal in surprise. I turned to see that they were both taken out by a jock from the other team, leaving me and three other boys.

  Just great! I’m on my own now and that very moment, I felt like a ninja. It was like I was everywhere. One moment I was standing all alone and the target of a ball, but I soon figured out a strategy to hide behind a boy from my team. The ball hit him instead and took him out. I kept moving around, and every now and then, I would grab the ball and throw it at someone.

  It went on until I was the last person standing. All the boys and a few girls were shouting at one another, telling someone to take me out. One ball came close to hit me, but I managed to escape from it. I smirked to myself while the other team struggled to take me out.

  “For Pete’s sake! Somebody take her out! She’s just a girl!” A guy yelled.

  I lifted an eyebrow. Just a girl?

  I’m just a girl, aye? I’ll show you what this girl can do. I was able to catch a ball coming my way and threw it at the guy who just spoke, hitting the other guy next to him.

  I waved him goodbye when he started to walk to the benches, glaring at me in annoyance. I turned my attention to the last remaining students, who looked like they were about to give up. A moment later, a girl threw the ball at me. She missed, so I took the opportunity to chase and kneel to pick it up.

  As I straightened up, a poster on a pole caught my attention. I let my eyes scan the paper as a bubble of excitement ran through my body, completely forgetting about the ongoing game.

  I reached out to snatch the poster to take it with me to the office and sign up for the event, but out of nowhere, Mr. Bony shouted my name. I whipped my head to his direction and saw a ball coming right at me.

  It was as if time stopped and the ball was coming at me in slow-motion but I couldn’t do anything about it.

  The ball hit my face and left me seeing dots as they took over my vision. I stumbled backwards but didn’t allow myself to fall. The ball dropped and bounced with a stain of blood on it, as Mr. Bony ran toward me. I saw my nose bleeding and throbbing in pain.

  A groan escaped my lips as I covered it with my hand, trying to minimize the blood flow.

  Well, at least I didn’t pass out.

  “Are you okay?” Mr. Bony asked.

  I raised my head to look at him. My hand was still covering my nose and was starting to get soaked with my blood.

  “Yea, I’m fine,” I mumbled.

  He shook his head.

  “You don’t look fine. Take this pass and head to the nurse’s office so you can get that cleaned up,” he said.

  I took it gladly, and headed toward the main office as everyone else headed for the locker room. Some of the students stopped to ask if I was okay, but I would just nod and continue walking. It was difficult to talk, in case I accidentally swallowed some blood, which wasn’t the best feeling in the world.

  As I stepped into the main office, the bell rang, signaling that fourth period was about to start. Well, it looked like I wouldn’t have to see Tyler for a while. I guess good things did come out of every situation. Snapping out of my thoughts, I walked to the desk and gave the lady the pass, which probably wasn’t necessary. My bloody nose was proof enough that I needed to see the nurse.

  “Can I get this cleaned up?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened when she saw the blood, and nodded her head quickly.

  “Of course, sweetie. Come with me.”

  She got up from her seat and knocked on a door labeled ‘Nurse’s Office’ in black. A lady with gray hair and glasses was standing right in front of me. She looked concerned when she saw my situation but let me in before closing the door.

  “Oh, dear. What happened to you?” she asked, as she sat me down on a stool.

  “I got hit by a ball,” I replied.

  She took out a bunch of cotton and some tissues.

  “I need you to go into that bathroom and wash your face,” she said. “I’ll clean any remaining blood and give you something to ease the pain.”

  I washed my face as instructed and sat down on the stool again. I thanked her for the pill she gave me and walked back to the previous office.

  “Hello, can I get a pass for my next class?” I asked the lady at the desk.

  She pointed at a clipboard. “Sure. Just sign in over there.”

  Five minutes later, I was standing in front of my fourth period class while holding the slip in my hand. I opened the door, catching everyone’s attention. I walked over to Mr. Jones’s desk, handed him the slip and walked over to my seat, which was unfortunately next to Tyler. I sat down, ignoring everyone’s stares and his questioning look.

  “Where were you?” he asked.

  “That’s none of your business,” I said, which made him scowl.

  “Yea, I guess everything isn’t my business,” he said, probably talking about what happened on Friday night.

  I just shrugged and turned to the front of the class. Mr. Jones walked to the board and started to detail the project we were supposed to be working on after school. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I knew that it had to be done. No matter how much I disliked Tyler, I had to get a good grade on this project.

  “So, when do you want to meet up after school?” I forced the words out of my mouth.

  “Oh, so now you like me?” he asked in amusement.

  “Really? I said nothing about liking you.”

 
“Sure, okay let’s go with that,” he said.

  “Just answer the freakin question,” I hissed.

  “Fine, fine. How about today at five?”

  I thought about it and nodded my head. I had nothing better to do, so I might as well get this over with.

  “My place or your place?” I asked.

  “How about your plac—”

  “Na, let’s do your place.” I interrupted him. I knew it was best because at least he had his mother living with him.

  “Fine, my place it is then,” he said.

  I nodded and faced the board as an awkward silence took over.

  “So, about Friday night . . . ”

  “You were being an immature jerk,” I said, glancing at him.

  He gave me a confused look.

  “Huh?”

  “You know, about that spider situation and you chasing me around my own house.”

  He scratched the back of his head as a chuckle escaped his lips.

  “Oh, yea, that,” he said, but looked like he wanted to say something else.

  He seemed to be pretty cool for the past week although he seemed to be acting weird now, it looked like something was getting to him. Normally, I would just laugh and take satisfaction from this but disliking him didn’t make me a bad person.

  “Is something bothering you?” I asked.

  “What no, of course not,” he answered. He stuck his hands in his pocket and avoided my stare. I shrugged my shoulders and looked away. Maybe it was something personal or something to do with that Paul guy whom I saw him giving medicine to in the middle of the night last week.

  I stopped my thoughts from wandering and paid attention to class.

  The day went by smoothly after the dodgeball event. I spent my lunch with Matt as always as we teased Sydney about Friday’s party. Eva mentioned that once they got home, she took a shower with her clothes on which wasn’t surprising. It was nothing compared to what she’d done before. The classes went by quickly which confused me the most. I mean, on a normal day they usually take forever but since today I had to meet up with Tyler after school, it went by fast.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. I turned around to look at Tyler.