The Bad Girl and the Good Boy

by Karla Luna

  Well, let’s just find out, shall we? Come on, Evelyn, work your magic.

  Walking closer to the table, everyone looked up at me. One of the other boys smiled while the one that I had kissed earlier just blushed and looked down. The Barbie doll – ‘Joss’ - chick just looked at me with a small smile.

  “Hey, guys! Mind if I sit down with you?” I paused and pretended to look around the table. “Oh shoot... no more open seats though.” Another chair or two could maybe fit in the space, but there were no more chairs by the table and the cafeteria was really full.

  “Um, I think there’s an open table over there,” Joss sweetly said, pointing over somewhere, but I just ignored it and smiled at her.

  “No, thanks, I’ll just sit over here instead.” I walked over to Zavier and sat down on his lap. He shifted a little as I placed my hand on his firm chest. “Hi, Zavier,” I said, almost seductively. But deep down inside I was laughing at Joss’s reaction. Don’t catch flies in your mouth, girl.

  I think she kind of liked Zavier. I needed her to show it to him, then. For one, I knew he really needed a girlfriend. You know, a girl to be comfortable with, to love, to always confide in – all of that good, lovey-dovey stuff. Like Drake and I for example. God, I missed him. I still couldn’t believe he wasted all of his saved up (stolen) money for a motorbike for me. I wouldn’t have accepted it, but knowing him, he would never have taken the gift back.

  Honestly, I think I would’ve already taken the bike and escaped back to my hometown with my boys by now if not for two reasons. First, they’d find me before I even crossed the border of New Jersey, and second, I found myself wanting to stay just because of Zavier. I really wanted to know the guy and help him with his ‘girl’ problem. Plus, it was fun messing with him. He was just too adorable, I swear.

  “Uh, h-hey, Evelyn…”

  I giggled and grabbed his left hand. Then I traced it up my thigh as he stiffened and cleared his throat, looking over at Joss. And by the way, she did not look happy. Her face was a bright red and I even ended up smirking at her.

  “Well, hey, Evelyn… we meet again.”

  I looked up and made eye contact with one of Zavier’s friends, the more outgoing one. He was smiling at me as I laughed and grabbed a French fry from his plate. Zavier must’ve already told them my name.

  “Name’s Jesse, and this is Ethan.” He patted poor little Ethan on the back, causing him to start choking on his drink. “Oops, sorry there, buddy.”

  I let them be after that, and turned back to Zavier, who was nervously playing with his hands on his lap. I grabbed his chin and made him look up at me. I noticed him swallow hard, too.

  “I’ll leave you to talk to her,” I whispered. He frowned, blushing, as I playfully rolled my eyes. “You obviously like her, it’s plain to see. Just talk to her more, become great friends and we’ll take it from there.” I paused to fix the collar of his shirt and run one hand through his soft hair. “Just be yourself.”

  And with that, I excused myself and left the cafeteria without a single backward glance.

  But for some reason, I found myself not wanting to leave him alone with her.

  5: Just Teach Him

  •Evelyn •

  I didn’t know what to do for the rest of lunch period, so I just decided to walk around the school a little bit. Zavier hadn’t shown me everything, but with the places he did show me… well, I didn’t pay much attention to them, to be honest – so never mind.

  But hey, I was sure I’d be fine, that I wouldn’t get lost.

  Turning a corner while looking down at my iPhone to quickly check the time, I stopped dead in my tracks once I found out I had arrived at a dead end.

  Shit. I was lost.

  I turned back around, trying not to look too panicked. I turned my body in every direction in an attempt to find my way out, but couldn’t find anything.

  I probably shouldn’t have left Zavier in the first place. I should’ve helped as much as I could and talked to Barbie doll (obviously her nickname from me, which didn’t beat teddy bear’s at all) about the many things Zavier didn’t do during his free time, just to make him seem more interesting and less boring.

  I was only slightly kidding.

  Then again, I told him to be himself. In truth, he actually seemed pretty interesting. He just didn’t show himself to people as often as he should.

  Shaking my head, I turned once again, only to gasp when I saw someone very close, and right in front of me. I immediately punched them in the gut, so that they’d go down on their knees in an instant.

  I heard them groan but I just ignored it. They wore a grey hoodie with the hood up, so I couldn’t tell who it was exactly…

  Well, no matter!

  I turned and did an awesome kick to the shoulder. I usually did a kick to the neck, but that one would’ve most likely killed him/her, and I didn’t want that as the impression for my first day here. So a kick to the shoulder was obviously my best option.

  “Take that, you rapist!” I yelled, wiping the back of my hand over a bead of sweat that had appeared on my brow.

  “God… dammit, you’re strong….”

  I breathed out, feeling shocked and relieved at the same time, and went down on my knees once I (sort of) recognized the slightly rusty voice coming from the ‘stranger.’

  I took the hood off their head and my eyes went wide once I saw who it actually was.

  You’d probably think I’d actually be all, ‘Oh are you okay? I’m so sorry, buddy!’

  Well, my friend, I think you’re forgetting the fact that I was never the goody-goody girl who immediately cared for people when they were injured.

  Especially if I was the one who actually caused them pain.

  So that was the reason why I just slapped the guy’s arm instead of asking him how he was from that awesome kick I just gave him.

  “Jesse! What the hell were you doing!? Scaring the shit out of me!”

  He earned himself yet another slap from me, as he just gaped and held on to his poor arm, which was also the one I had kicked.

  I probably should’ve hit him softer. Or hit his other arm instead…

  “Ow! Damn…” He brought his hand over his slightly dark, curly hair. “I was… trying… to look for you… but now I’m… bleeding internally… thanks to you.” He had taken a bunch of pauses and deep breaths since I probably punctured his lungs.

  “Well that’s completely understandable, but yell out my name next time! I thought you were a damn rapist!” I yelled, grabbing his hands to help him up. He winced and put his hand on his lower back once he was standing straight. “Now, why are you here again?”

  He took yet another deep breath, and just grabbed my arm tightly, as if he couldn’t even hold himself up anymore.

  “Zavier… wanted to come looking for you the minute you walked out of the cafeteria. This school is a four-story building and you don’t know your way yet. He didn’t want you to get lost. But being the awesome best friend that I am,” he took a pause to dramatically fix the collar of his blue shirt, “I left him with his ‘lady-crush-friend’ and came looking for you myself. Now I know not to ever do that again!” He said the last part to himself out loud, grabbing on to his ribs.

  After a second, he looked around, probably to check and see if there were any teachers around to bust us for not being in class.

  “So when does the next period start?” I asked, making Jesse look up to meet my eyes. He slightly frowned and then looked down at his phone to check the time, I think.

  “Lunch finishes in about 30 minutes.” He shrugged, putting his phone away as I pursed my lips in thought.

  “Where’s Ethan?”

  “Oh, he didn’t want to be the third wheel. Plus, he had homework to do, so he went to the library instead. Meaning…” He stopped, letting me think of the right words after that.

  “Zavier and Joss are completely alone, huh? Well then, let’s sit down and you can tell me all about those two lo
vers, ‘cause I’m sure Zavier would never tell me about them at all.” I nudged him with my elbow and winked. He just gave me a strange look, but nevertheless, laughed warm-heartedly.

  “Wow, you’re really something, Evelyn. I wish there were more girls like you in this school.” He led me to a different empty hallway, where we leaned against some cold, hard lockers and slid down to the floor.

  “Meaning?”

  “I don’t know… reckless, rebellious, fun. I mean, you kissed Ethan for fuck’s sake. That was just out of nowhere, too.”

  I nodded, thinking back to that. Ethan was just so cute. I simply couldn’t resist.

  But honestly, I wanted to kiss Zavier instead. I just knew I’d actually feel bad for stealing his first kiss. But it was a good thing I didn’t, right? He was obviously reserving that for little Miss Barbie doll, Joss.

  I smiled up at Jesse, who was giving me a small smile back. He clapped his hands once and sat up a little straighter since he started to slide down the slippery floor.

  “All right, Zavier might kill me for telling you everything, but whatever. He needs all the help he can get with this girl, I swear.” Jesse almost immediately went to serious-teacher mode. “See.” He made gestures with his hands as a start. I just raised my eyebrows at him. “Like most people, Zavier and Joss are completely oblivious to each other’s feelings. She likes him, but he doesn’t know it or even see it. He likes her, but she doesn’t see it either. Plus, they’re too embarrassed and afraid to come out and spit their goddamn feelings out.”

  That was understandable. It was hard and scary to tell a crush you liked them, or to tell a person you loved them. It’s probably because you think there’s a chance that they didn’t like or love you back. And if that's true, you just know your whole life would be over, even when it really wouldn't be. If you ask me, someone out there probably loves (or will love) you, you just have to find them.

  Okay, seriously, what was it with me and all of this deep-shit talk? Back to Jesse talking now. Please.

  I put my fist to my chin and looked over at Jesse, who was raising his eyebrows, probably waiting for some small response from me so that he could continue on.

  Then a thought crossed my mind almost instantly.

  “Oh! Well then why don’t you just tell Zavier that she actually likes him?” Why couldn’t he have thought of that? It was obvious!

  I thought otherwise, once I saw Jesse give me a fake smile and hiss.

  “Thing is, Zavier… well, he’s sort of a pessimist. So he doesn’t think everything in his life – especially his love life – will ever be perfect like what happens in those damn fairy tales, with a Godmother there to grant his every wish. He thinks it’s likely impossible for someone as pretty and smart like her to like him. I don’t know what goes on in Joss’s head, but I’m sure she also thinks of her own insecurities and likewise thinks Zavier’s too good for her or something. But that’s just me.”

  I lightly shook my head. I really hated it when two people were just perfect for each other and actually liked each other, but thought the other didn’t like them back.

  Well, in this case, Zavier liked Joss, and Joss liked Zavier. So what was stopping them from just asking each other out? The thought of them being together, however, suddenly made me nauseous to the stomach. I inhaled deeply and blew out a deep breath.

  Oh come on, Zavier’s definitely going to become the next damn president, and you’re just a criminal. Putting these two together is like… like putting orange juice and toothpaste together. Bleugh… definitely not a good combo.

  “Stormy said he had these girl problems,” I said as I played with my thumbs and rested my wrists on my knees.

  “Ah, yes. Zavier is just very terrible with girls it’s not even funny. Okay, it is sometimes, to be honest. But the problem is that he just gets too shy, and he blushes so easily it’s noticeable from miles away. He’s just so terrible at flirting.” Jesse mumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t catch it since he put his hands over his face. “I’d be surprised if a single cheesy pick up line escaped his lips.” Jesse chuckled, making me laugh, too.

  “I see. Poor Zavier.”

  There was a small pause between us, and I only heard the clock tick, making me feel a bit anxious.

  “So… who are you exactly?” Jesse asked out of the blue.

  “Me? Well, I’m just a girl.”

  He lightly punched my arm while smiling. “I’m serious.”

  “Well, so am I, you asshole!” I playfully yelled at him, but then turned serious to answer his question. “I’m a delinquent girl who got sent to live with Zavier, so that I could have private therapy sessions with his mother. That’s all.”

  Another pause took over us, as Jesse tried to process the words I had just told him.

  He chuckled, but I knew it was a fake one. “Y-you’re a delinquent?” It seemed as if he wanted to yell it out, but he kept it at a whisper instead, which I was grateful for.

  I nodded. “Well, that’s what they think I am. I mean, yeah, I’ve done bad things. And I know I’m going to hell, but I’ve never even been to jail.”

  “Never too bad or…?”

  “All I had to do was pay a few fees and stay in a holding cell. But I never got caught with the super bad things, my dear Jesse.” I patted his shoulder and winked. “I’m just that good.”

  Jesse nodded, raising his eyebrows and looking at the space right in front of him.

  “Wow. I can’t believe how calm Zavier seems to be about that, since he obviously knows, considering you’re living in his house.”

  “Oh, he actually freaked out a bit. Stormy told me. But he calmed down, knowing I’m on watch, and that I agreed to actually be his friend and help him out a little on those girl problems of his.”

  He nodded in agreement. “That’s good. Honestly, not to sound gay here but the guy’s actually pretty good looking.”

  I chuckled to myself.

  Hey, girls called other girls beautiful all the time, so guys could do that, too. It was just a… let’s say it was like a ‘bro thing’. I stopped from giggling when I imagined a guy telling his guy best friend, ‘bro, you’re fucking beautiful!’ Now that would be simply awesome.

  “Girls would be all over him. It’s just the shyness, the awkwardness, the lack of an ability to flirt. Plus, the ‘nerdy-ness’ part sort of gets him down. But actually, the nerd part – well, I admit I’m a ‘nerd’ too, mostly a science nerd, that’s just us being ourselves. It’s the other three features he has to change.”

  “Is there a reason why he’s like that around them?”

  “I’m guessing it’s because he’s very self-conscious, which I don’t get. ‘Cause once again, I admit, he’s a good looking guy.”

  I giggled, remembering how beet red Zavier was when I met him. There wasn’t a reason for him to be shy. He was, honestly, really beautiful. I bet if I told him that though, he wouldn’t believe me at all.

  “I think I got a little idea…” Jesse beamed, moving so that he could sit cross-legged right in front of me.

  “And what’s that?” I asked, immediately interested. Oh, how I loved plans, especially bad plans. But for some reason, I felt like this wasn’t really gonna be a bad plan. Either way, I was gonna listen if it had anything to do with Zavier.

  “Teach him.”

  I arched an eyebrow. Teach him? Teach him what, exactly? The word ‘teach’ just reminded me of ‘teachers’, which just made me sleepy right away. But I let him continue.

  “Teach Zavier how to be really comfortable around girls. You know, like their language, what they like, hate, and of course, teach him about the body. Meaning, how to kiss, how to treat them right and be gentle, how to make them feel good. That sorta stuff. I mean, what if his sex life sucked? I’d feel sorry for the guy. I already do, which means a ton coming from his best friend.”

  That wasn’t such a bad idea. I’d really be helping him out. Plus, we would bond and get to know each
other a whole lot more, considering we were gonna live together for a while.

  The thing was, Zavier and I actually had one big thing in common. We were both virgins. So if I actually ended up taking his away – he would obviously be taking mine away as well.

  It was the end of school, and I chose this time to finally look for my locker. Once I spotted it after a super long time, which was like 5 minutes actually, I breathed a sigh of relief. Seriously, so much damn walking. I just wanted to get home already and throw myself on that cloud-soft bed in my room.

  Ugh, but Stormy was planning on giving me my first therapy session later today. The thought of telling someone about my personal life just made me want to vomit. So, I just shook the thought away and dialed in my locker combination.

  When it opened, I took a look inside the little empty space. We had dark blue lockers, and I was glad I got one of the top lockers instead of the bottom ones. I wouldn’t wanna bend down every time I had to get something. I was already tired of all the whistles and howls I got today.

  But hey, who said I was ever gonna use this thing?

  I laughed to myself and slammed my locker shut.

  “Well, hello there.”

  I turned at the sound of a familiar girly voice. Sure enough, Barbie doll was right there, standing a few feet away at her locker. I counted them as five lockers away from mine. Well, that’s just great.

  She gave me such a huge grin that I thought her face was going to break off any second. I looked behind me, just to make sure she was actually talking to me, but when I turned back around, she just laughed as if what I did was comedy gold. I raised my eyebrows and then frowned at her.

  “Evelyn, right? The new girl? Wow, Zavier told me about you during lunch. You’re a family friend, aren’t you?”

  The hell was this girl talking about? Family friend?

  Wait… was Zavier really that embarrassed that I was a delinquent girl in special ‘need’ of therapy from his Mommy? Real low, dude. Real low.