The Bad Girl and the Good Boy

by Karla Luna

  Now, I was in the back of this old beat-up black van, with two strangers sitting right across from me. They’ve been staring intently at me for the past few minutes – maybe half an hour, I’m not exactly sure – as if I was going to run away any time soon. Honestly, it was making me very uncomfortable. Why the hell did they have to keep their eyes on me so much? And why do their eyes seem so familiar? Who were these guys?

  That’s when I’ve had enough and decided to speak up. “So when are you assholes getting me out of here? I’m tired of seeing your ugly-ass faces this whole time even though I can’t even see them properly.”

  All they did was narrow their eyes at me, as they got closer by resting their elbows on their knees. I scowled and tried my best to move away. I didn’t like people getting so close to me. It’s my own personal space, bitches.

  “What, can’t talk? Fucking tiger got your tongues?”

  “It’s ‘cat’, for your information,” one of them said, making the other elbow him hard in the ribs. I frowned and cocked my head to the side. Even his voice sounded familiar, but why the hell couldn’t I put my finger on who it is exactly?

  “Take your masks off,” I demanded.

  “You’re not the boss of me!” the same guy yelled, and that’s when I heard the voice a little bit better, and realize who it actually was. Of course!

  But fuck, it couldn’t be them. It just couldn’t.

  “Oh God… D-Darrel?”

  “Fucking hell, you couldn’t just keep quiet!” the other one, who I knew was definitely Ian, yelled at Darrel.

  Then, they sighed deeply and took off the masks that were covering their noses and mouths, so that I could see their faces a whole lot better. Then they took their hoods off, too, and ruffled their hair up.

  It’s been so long since I’ve seen the guys. They seriously have not changed. Supposedly, they have been behaving well back home, but the thought still made me laugh. These guys may look like the type who can’t hurt a single fly, but they’ve done so many bad things that they’ll definitely see what hell is like.

  And I mean actual ‘hell’ – not school. Just saying.

  “Hey, Eve,” Ian hesitantly said as he shyly put his hands up a little. “Surpriiiise…”

  It was silent for a while after he said that. I just glared at him.

  “You little prick, untie me,” I demanded yet again as he quickly got right to it. Seriously, because of these two, I couldn’t tell Zavier how I felt until I saw him later. I had such great luck, didn’t I?

  It’s not like I wasn’t happy to see my bad boys, because I was. But still, this was pretty damn important to me. Though, there’s always later. I could still tell Zavier my true feelings later. I just had to get home and everything will be alright. Nothing will stop me this time.

  “Why did you guys fucking do this!?” I asked them in a very harsh tone. Because seriously, they could’ve just told me they were here instead of practically kidnapping me!

  But Ian and Darrel don’t like being like other people. They like being ‘original’ or whatever, so they like to do things differently… usually just to scare me.

  “Well damn, I thought you’d be happy to see us. Rude ass,” Ian said as he put his hand in front of my face and looked away as if to give me some of his good ol’ sassy attitude. Boy, did I miss this guy.

  “Just shut up and tell me.”

  “How am I supposed to tell you if you want me to shut up, huh? Ever think about that?”

  “Ian.”

  At hearing my threatening tone, he stopped being the big goof that he was and sat up straight to explain to me exactly what was going on. “All right. We just wanted to get you back and take you home. But then we remembered we pretty much ran away from our problems…”

  “Aren’t you guys on parole or something?”

  “Technically we were, but we found a way out of it – leaving no trace or anything at all. Drake didn’t want any more trouble though. If only he knew we actually got out!” At that, Ian and Darrel shared a handshake.

  But at the mention of Drake, I felt like my heart dropped. I missed him the most. “Um… Drake’s not here?”

  Ian scoffed. “Hell no, we couldn’t get him to leave Virginia. Motherfucker wanted to stay for his good little girl. Now, where are we heading off to? I was thinking Florida or L.A., baby!”

  “Hell, yeah!” Darrel yelled out as he hit his own chest to show his excitement.

  “Guys, I’m not leaving anywhere.” Once that was said, they froze up and stared at me. “I have unfinished business. Plus I can’t just leave like this.” The truth was, I wanted to stay with Zavier for as long as I could. And I really didn’t feel like moving to a whole other state again just to do the same old crimes with these guys. Things wouldn’t be the same without Drake. Plus, I sort of wanted to stop doing those bad things.

  It was crazy to think that, but for Zavier, I was willing to be as good as I could possibly be.

  I’ll still be the badass bitch though. Not changing that.

  “Oh, is it the good boy you’ve fallen for?” Ian asked as he wiggled his eyebrows and smirked at me. I hated it when they did that.

  “Everyone’s falling for someone good! What’s so great about innocent people?” Darrel asked.

  “She just wants to turn his innocence into naughtiness,” Ian answered for him, though he was smirking and winking at me.

  I sighed and dropped my head down in shame. “Yeah, I missed you guys so much,” I said in a sarcastic tone, making them go ‘aww’ as they came over and hugged the life out of me.

  But then I realized something, so I pulled them away from me and looked Ian straight in the eye.

  “Wait, so who’s driving?” I asked.

  Ian shrugged before replying to me, “Beats me, I don’t even know whose van this is.”

  Well, shit.

  We had a chance to escape the van when it stopped at a red light. And luckily for us, we weren’t even that far from Stormy’s house, it was only less than a mile away. But Darrel always complained about having to walk long distances, so I threatened him if he didn’t keep quiet. And they knew how scary I could get when I was extremely irritated.

  Talk about anger management.

  “So this is the famous Coin residence!” Ian said as he looked the house over from the outside and rested his arms behind his head. “Sure beats our old tiny house.”

  “Look, they’re not here yet, but I’ve told her a little about you guys before, so maybe – just maybe – if she trusts you enough, then she can take you guys in for at least a few days… until you get out of here or get your own place.”

  “Cool, cool,” Darrel said with a few nods.

  “So glad we robbed a bank before getting here,” Ian said, making me shake my head at him yet chuckle nevertheless.

  We all jumped right then and turned our heads to the driveway when we heard a car door slam shut. Stormy was coming up the house, carrying a few boxes in her hands along with her purse. Because double trips just aren’t worth it, as I’ve told her before. And it seemed like she took the advice.

  Damn right.

  Darrel saw her struggling, and being the actual ‘nice’ guy, he ran over to her and grabbed the boxes from her fragile arms. But she still hadn’t looked up from her keys. It was dark so she couldn’t have seen us when she was driving in.

  “Here, let me help you with that.”

  “Oh, thanks dear, that’s so very…” She cut herself off to scream as she hit Darrel over the head with her purse, which looked large and full. “Who are you!? I’m calling the cops. I have pepper spray in my purse!”

  I forgot they practically looked like muggers with those clothes they were wearing.

  “Wait, Stormy, wait!” I stood in front of her because it seemed like she was so close to just kicking him right where it could seriously hurt. And I wanted to be the only one that does that. And he didn’t really deserve it for actually being helpful! “He’s not a robbe
r.” That was obviously a lie. “He’s not a bad guy.” Totally lying still. “He’s a friend of mine.” Not a lie that time… sort of.

  “Oh… oh!” Stormy laughed nervously as she fixed her hair and her dress. Then, she licked her dry lips and looked at Ian and Darrel. She was a little hesitant too. “Well um, is he… are they nice boys?”

  “Super nice,” I replied to reassure her, so that she didn’t have anything to worry about. Ian and Darrel were bad of course, but they don’t just hurt people for no reason. They hurt people for being complete dicks. And obviously Stormy wasn’t like that. They’d most probably love her like I’ve learned to.

  “What a fu—”

  “Ian.”

  “—fun fact that is! Hello, ma’am, my name is Ian. That dork right there is Darrel. Don’t mind him. Never got his lesson in manners.”

  “Hey!”

  Stormy laughed at the two and shook Ian’s hand, nodding at Darrel since his arms were completely full. “Well, so very nice to meet you guys. Why don’t you all come in for a bite, huh?”

  “She’s a mad cook guys, trust me.”

  “Oh hell, yeah!” Ian yelled out as he made a run for the door. Darrel on the other hand tried sprinting over to the door while holding on to the boxes, but he almost ended up dropping them, so I helped him with a few.

  “Do they need a place to stay?” Stormy asked as we watched the two boys stand by the door, trying to be as patient as they could be.

  I scratched my head a little and gave her a shy smile. “Uh, yeah, sort of.”

  “Well, that’s fine. Just not too long, alright?”

  I nodded. “Got it. I’ll kick them out if I have to.”

  She laughed at my joke and was about to walk towards the door, when she stopped and retraced the couple of footsteps she had taken forward. “And they’re harmless right?”

  “I’ll make sure they are at their best behavior.”

  “Good. All right.” She was about to walk toward the door again when I gently grabbed her arm to make her stop and turn back around to face me.

  “Um, Stormy, where’s Zavier?”

  “Oh, on his date with Jocey,” she replied with a smile. “Such a nice girl she is.”

  “Oh, um…” Goddammit, that still seriously upset me. I hated the idea of him being with her and not here, with me, instead. “D-do you know when he’ll be back, you think?”

  “Could be a couple of hours. I told him not to stay out so late. Bring her home before 11 and all.”

  And it was about 9pm, so at least I still had time with my boys. I could tell him later how I felt. I just had to wait a few.

  After two full hours of getting Ian and Darrel settled in, and Stormy getting to know them a little (but not too much about the crimes so as not to scare her), we all went to our designated rooms to finally get some rest.

  I couldn’t go to sleep though until Zavier got home. This seriously could not wait until tomorrow. I had to tell him tonight.

  I started getting extremely nervous and shaky when I heard the doorknob starting to jiggle, telling me that he was finally home. I had to take deep breaths and stood right in front of the door so that I could be the first thing he saw.

  When he came in though, he had his head down and closed the door while holding his varsity vest in his hand. Then he hung his keys by the key rack and looked up to head towards the stairs. When he finally noticed me a few feet away from him, he completely froze and tensed up.

  My heart was going crazy. This was the boy I’d fallen for and he was finally going to know how I really felt. I just hoped he didn’t feel awkward about it afterwards and stopped talking to me completely. That would be horrible.

  “What do you want,” he demanded with a frown, as he looked me over with an expression that seemed to be disgust. Well, ouch. Why is he suddenly being like this? Did I do something wrong? Was his date total shit?

  I mean, it is Joss we’re talking about here.

  “I… how was your date?” I still asked, trying to calm my tone down a bit.

  “Oh, the best,” he said with a smile and a sarcastic tone, as he folded his arms across his well-built chest. “But I’m sure your time with Davne was just even better, right?”

  I... what?

  Oh, fuck no, my heart couldn’t take this. It was already going absolutely crazy when he came in. But now, it seemed to have just stopped, much like my breathing did. “What are you…”

  “Don’t even think about lying to me, Evelyn. I mean, it’s all right to lie a little bit when it comes to certain things, but this… Should I even be bothered by it? No.” His voice rose with each word. “Because you can do whatever the hell you want, right? But lying and going behind my back with the guy that has caused me so much pain and misery is just… Evelyn, he almost killed me once and I’m not letting that happen again.”

  “I did it to protect you, Zavier. I’m just with him to protect you! You have to understand that!” Please… please believe me.

  I had to bite my lip to stop the tears from streaming down.

  “Oh, to protect me?” He laughed and it scared me when he went right back to glaring at me. “Well, it sure didn’t look like it to me,” he said, right before passing by me and heading for the stairs.

  “My goodness, what is going on down here?” I heard Stormy ask.

  “Nothing, mom. I’m tired. Let’s go to sleep,” Zavier told her as I rubbed the tears off my face. But they just kept coming and I was glad I was still facing the door and not the stairs, which meant they couldn’t see me.

  Goddammit, I was weak. I was weak and I was alone.

  I was left all alone once again.

  “Evelyn, sweetie?”

  “Fuck,” I whispered to myself, completely ignoring Stormy’s worried and concerned voice.

  Then I sniffed, rubbed my tears away again, and went over to grab my bike keys. I walked out the front door without even looking back.

  All right, let’s see just what this bad girl can really do.

  35: And The Bad Returns

  • Evelyn •

  I giggled as I walked along the gravel of the sidewalk with a beer in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. It was getting dark outside and I knew I was drunk out of my mind. So I had decided to leave my bike parked somewhere where I’d easily find it later – because walking was honestly better than driving.

  I wasn’t stupid. I would never want to kill myself, or anyone innocent out there because I decided to drink. So I just took a walk around the empty neighborhood. At least until I felt sober enough to go someplace else.

  Though really, where would I go next? Because going back to Stormy’s was definitely not an option considering what just went down. I’d rather go sleep in an alleyway with a random-ass hobo, because just thinking about going back to see Zavier made me feel so…

  Damn.

  I giggled again and put my hand over my mouth, as I felt tears starting to stream down my face. But it’s like I didn’t realize the tears were there, since I left them alone and continued to walk through the dark street.

  My hair was tangled and all over my face, flowing around with the wind, and I’m sure my eyes were bloodshot. I could not stop laughing at the world, and it felt so good to just forget every single bad thing that has been done to me.

  At one point, I started humming to myself and danced around a little like a crazy-ass person.

  Oh gosh, I wanted to hurt so many people right then!

  Starting with Davne, that bad boy. Tsk, tsk… Boy, did he deserve some horrible beating. If only I wasn’t so small, I’d beat him up myself. But I’m sure he’d just shoo me away him as if I was a fly in his way.

  Sure, whatever Zavier saw, or heard about, was probably from someone that really didn’t like me. Or maybe Davne himself had sent him something to show that I’ve been with him in secret this whole time!

  “Oh, the little prick!” I whispered to myself, though I still laughed right afterward. When I’m angr
y and drunk, this is what usually happens. I would just sound very, very happy, yet hate the entire world at the same time! Then again, I always hated the world, but right now, I just hated it a little more. Just a little.

  And when I thought of one person who really didn’t like me… well, I thought of a person I really didn’t like either. I mean, I admitted long ago that I didn’t like this person, but the actual truth was, I hated them with every fiber of my being.

  And lookie here! There she was, getting out of a nice and expensive car with a few bags in her hand. I almost forgot this chick lived here. No wonder the house looked quite familiar.

  Aw, and she wore a pretty blue dress to match her blue eyes! How fucking adorable. Was it for her and Zavier’s wittle date? Haha. Oh I wonder how that one went. Pretty horrible, I suppose. Maybe that was why Zavier was pretty angry earlier.

  But she seemed happy-go-preppy at the moment and I wanted nothing more than to pound her dumb, fake, Barbie face in. I wanted to show her just how bad I really was.

  Self-control might be the hardest thing I’ve had to learn these past few weeks, but I needed to let it go for someone. Badly. I’ve been keeping most of my anger in, and who better to take it out on than someone I loathed?

  The house seemed to be quite empty.

  Oh, why Evelyn, let’s go have ourselves some fun, shall we? Perfect opportunity as well! I guess we’ll start with her instead of Davne!

  After all, it is never too late to be the bad girl I was born to be… again.

  Smiling and putting the cigarette to my lips to take a long drag, I stumbled over to where Joss was. And since she was holding some bags, she was struggling a bit to open the door with her keys.

  I was trying my very best not to laugh at this point as I quietly walked up the steps to her front porch. I was looking her over, wondering if she was even the sweet, innocent, good girl Zavier always thought she was.