The Bad Girl and the Good Boy

by Karla Luna

  “Here they come.” I snapped back to reality at hearing Davne’s voice again. And to keep him in this ‘good mood’ or whatever, I decided to play along and throw some of the eggs and balloons at people… very hesitantly. I felt bad, but after a while, it felt quite alright. I was alright.

  The gym teachers or coaches weren’t even there, but most of the kids ended up looking up at the sky, wondering where the eggs and water balloons were coming from. Some of them almost saw us and yelled out, but Davne and I ducked down just in time. I actually ended up chuckling when I saw some of their faces. Gosh, they were hilarious!

  “You’ve got some good aim, man,” Davne raised his hand up in the air and I ended up jumping a bit. He was a bully. Of course I was scared he’d pound my face in, probably for something I didn’t even know I did wrong. He ended up laughing at me though, and lowered his hand, probably to show he meant no harm. “Calm down, I won’t hurt you. Here, just give me a bro fist.”

  I did as told and brought my fist up to bump with his. It actually felt pretty weird, too. I even frowned and looked back out at the view for a little distraction… until I realized I really needed to get back to class. I didn’t need to be skipping class just for this and get in trouble with my mother. She’d probably end up blaming Evelyn for it and I didn’t want that either.

  So without another hesitation, I got up and started walking back. “I-I really should be getting to class. I can’t have any absences, my mom would kill me.” I turned to leave when I heard him speak again.

  “Always the good little boy. You know, I actually always admired that about you, Zavier.” I tensed up when I heard him stand up, inching closer to me. “But I never understood you. No one can be that good, and you just proved it to me.”

  I slowly turned to him while clutching my backpack strap. I probably looked mad at him but… his words were just… what? True? Was he actually right about me?

  “You can do something mean and still laugh at people. Sure, you may feel bad at first. But you just gotta have fun once in a while, which is why your mind tells you later on that it wasn’t really all that bad.” At that, he took a small pause with a deep sigh. “You know, the quietest people actually have the biggest attitude. The most innocent people do the naughtiest things, and the nicest people do the most horrible things. They’re just so damn afraid to show it. Now come over here and tell me if I’m wrong.”

  I just continued to stare at him, saying nothing at all. Yeah, those are certainly true for some people. And I knew it, because two of those might very well be true for me. Two of those might probably, most likely, be true for me. Maybe even all of them and more, and I just didn’t realize it.

  “Now, let’s get to class,” he said as he passed right by me, making sure to gently hit my shoulder with his. “We have Physics together, don’t we?”

  I forgot about that one. Then, he practically led me to class. I didn’t even feel my feet moving, or see what was happening around me. There was absolutely nothing, only the thoughts of what Davne had just said to me back there.

  Evelyn looked worried and pale once she saw me enter the class. But all I did was nod at her and give her a small smile as I sat down in the seat right next to her.

  “Zavier, I was so close to leaving in the middle of class just to look for you,” she said as I stared at the chalkboard that had so many words written all over it, words I couldn't even properly read at the moment. “A-are you okay?”

  After what seemed to be several minutes, I slowly looked at her and noticed her glaring in one direction. When I turned to see what, or who, it was, I saw Davne smirk and wink at her.

  For some reason, I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth before answering her question; “Yeah, I’m great.”

  But was I?

  30: The Little Secrets

  • Evelyn •

  “HUMP DAYYY!”

  I playfully rolled my eyes and turned to look at Jesse enter the cafeteria with his lunch bag in hand. Ethan was too intrigued by his book to notice him or anything around him. And Zavier… well, let’s just say he’d been a bit off since Monday. It really wasn’t weird seeing him study in the table, but at least he wasn’t reading his damn Health book. Seriously, when he had that thing, I just wanted to close it and throw it out the window.

  I still wonder what happened on Monday though, or if Davne fucking did something to him. The two came into class at the same exact time and Zavier had looked a little impatient about something. Afterward, he just didn’t talk much. He almost seemed pretty angry and I had no idea why. I still have no idea why. But I was really itching to know, and when I asked him again, he wouldn’t budge and wanted me to let the matter drop, just like he would usually do. But I won’t let him.

  “Hey,” I said, deciding to show that I know of Jesse’s existence as he plopped himself in the seat right next to Ethan. He gave me a nod and a smile, making himself comfortable.

  “What up, what up,” he said, looking at both Ethan and Zavier. Ethan nodded in acknowledgement and turned a page in his book. But Zavier didn’t even say or do anything. The guy was just in his own little world. He knew we still exist, right? He was not home alone or anything. He was still in school, and his friends were trying to talk to him. I sure hope he was not ignoring us, because I felt like he’d been trying to do that often lately.

  Jesse and I looked at each other, and then at Zavier, who was absentmindedly nibbling on a plastic spoon that didn’t really have anything in it. Sighing deeply, I decided to just kick him right under the table to get him to finally notice us. He took the spoon out of his mouth as he groaned and almost hit his head on the table. But he was fine. I only kicked him in the shin.

  Once the pain was gone (I think), he looked up at me with a startled expression. He was a little red in the face as well.

  “Why did you do that!?” he demanded while holding his shin.

  I simply shrugged as an answer. I so wanted to laugh though, since his voice got a little high-pitched at the first word. “What are you reading?”

  “You kick hard,” he mumbled a little angrily as he sat up straight and looked back down at his textbook and papers. He was quiet for a little while… until he realized I had asked a question. He looked up at me with those cute brown orbs and then looked back down just as quickly as if he was afraid to make any eye contact with me at the moment. Then again, I wasn’t really giving him a very nice look. Well, it was my face when I was pretty annoyed. Or was it just my default facial expression. I couldn’t really tell at times, to be honest.

  “U-uh, just some History stuff for that little pop quiz we…”

  “We’re having a pop quiz!?” Jesse yelled, throwing some lettuce from his sandwich up in the air by how scared he probably was. “Dammit! What the hell…”

  “I mean, if we have a pop quiz, Jess. You never know,” Zavier redeemed himself with a small smile, causing Jesse to groan and happily throw his fist in the air.

  “Oh, thank God! Man, I got worried for a second there.”

  “You wouldn’t have studied anyway,” I stated the obvious.

  “I know,” he shrugged, causing Zavier to roll his eyes and look back down at his book. “But I would’ve made sure to sit next to some smart kid or something.”

  “Aren’t you a nerd, too?” I asked, trying to hide my smirk, though I failed to.

  Jesse glared at me and then looked down at his sandwich. “Are we forgetting I’m the Science geek here? And maybe a little bit of Math, too… but definitely not a History one. God, no!” He looked back up at Zavier, who was back to ignoring us again as he scribbled some shit over his notebook.

  He’s been tutoring me in Math these past few days for about an hour a day. And I’m slowly starting to understand a few things. He just makes them seem so much easier. He really should be a teacher. I’m always sleeping in Math class and it doesn’t help the fact that the teacher has such a soft voice. On the other hand, I could listen to Zavier all fucking day.r />
  “… whereas this guy…” Jesse continued, obviously talking about Zavier since he stared at him the entire time, “knows everything about anything.” He chuckled when Zavier didn’t say anything and leaned in to whisper to me instead. “Except, he ain’t street smart at all.”

  “I can still hear you,” Zavier said in a deeper voice.

  For the rest of the lunch period, we just talked for a bit. Zavier continued to not acknowledge us, but I decided I’d talk to him later.

  But just as the bell rang, and he was barely starting to put his stuff away, he called out to me. I looked back to see what was wrong and noticed he suddenly looked a bit hurt. He was breathing heavily while clutching his pencil in his hand so tight I thought he’d break it any second. And when he looked up at me, I saw how dark his brown eyes had gotten. What was wrong with him?!

  “Zavier, what’s wrong?” I asked as I started to walk back to him.

  But he put his hand up to signal me to stop as he closed his eyes for just a few seconds. He took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes again. I guess he couldn’t look at me this time though, and it only made me more the worried.

  “Evelyn, can I talk to you later? Like, at home… in private,” he shyly asked in a low voice. It really must be something important. He would be blushing if it were about a part of our lessons or something.

  I nodded. “Yeah, of course. After school. Living room?”

  This time, he looked up at me with those adorable teddy bear eyes I loved so much. They suddenly got lighter and he just looked like a lost little puppy. It was adorable and I just really wanted to go over and hug him… and kiss him forever. He really did make me feel so nice and warm inside all the time. I never thought it was possible. I mostly just had darkness and bad surrounding me, but he’s really changed that. He’s changed my view of the world very slowly.

  He gave me a small smile and nodded before starting to pick his stuff up. But instead of leaving, I went over, kissed his cheek, and helped him out so that we could get to class together. I was determined to be with him at all times during school… and keep him away from Davne, as much as I could.

  I think something happened between them more than Zavier let on. Something definitely wasn’t right here, and I needed to find out what really happened. He was going to tell me or I’d go after Davne and get him to spill. He had been pretty distant too, and that was just damn weird for him.

  I paced back and forth in the living room, checking outside every minute or so to see when the hell Zavier would finally get here. Usually his crazy friends would drive him over. I would’ve taken him on my bike, but first of all, he was still scared for his life at the thought of riding the thing to hop on it again, and second of all, he was at one of his little nerd meetings at school… with little Miss perfect Barbie doll.

  I still don’t like her with passion. Is it really hatred that I feel toward her? I realized that it was. But could it probably be jealousy that I might be feeling as well? Ha! Jealous of what? What could I possibly be jealous about? She’s pretty. Whatever. She’s smart. Whatever. Zavier likes her. Wha—

  He fucking likes her.

  Why the hell does he seriously like that chick?

  I was getting a little deep in thought when I heard the front door starting to open. I stopped walking and looked up with slightly parted lips, to see Zavier walking in with his black jacket in hand and textbooks in the other. I was about to say something, maybe a little ‘hey, teddy bear’ with my usual playful smirk. But I’d been waiting for this all day. So now that the time was here, I just had no words and it irritated me. I always had something to say, so why not now? This boy seriously just took the words right out of me. How did he do that?

  By just being himself, maybe.

  Dammit… damn him.

  “Oh, uh… hey, Evelyn.” He frowned at me as he put his jacket on the hanger by the door. He had on a short sleeved white shirt under so I tried not to stare too much at his biceps or arms or even his hands… because goddamn.

  Alright. Don’t get distracted, Evelyn. He’s not doing this on purpose, right? Definitely not… no… nope. Not on purpose.

  Oh, shut up already. You’re thinking too much. Just stop thinking and just do.

  I was about to open my mouth and finally say whatever would come out of my mouth at the moment (which probably would’ve been something completely stupid), but he beat me right to it.

  “What are you doing here?”

  What… is he actually serious right now?

  Taking a deep breath and putting on a very calm-looking yet super fake smile, I finally said, “I’ve been living with you for several weeks now, of course I’m going to be here. But I waited for you today, because you told me earlier that you needed to talk to me about something.”

  He froze in place and licked his upper lip before lightly biting on it. He then averted his eyes, shrugged, and shook his head as if it was nothing.

  “Nothing important now. I guess I just forgot about it.” He scratched his head. “I mean… forget about it. Just forget it, please.”

  “Zavier…” I called out right when he left for the kitchen. I chased him and he stopped walking to rest the palms of his hands on top of the counter. I couldn’t see his face but he seemed to be taking some deep breaths.

  “It’s nothing, alright,” he said, his voice stern and hollow, which meant something was wrong. He just didn’t want to tell me about it. He had changed his mind, but I wasn’t letting him go off so easily.

  “It’s something. Please tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help you if…”

  “I want you to teach me how to fight,” he suddenly said as he spun around to face me. I was stunned, I admit, but he was dead serious. He looked pale and had a little frown etched across his face.

  “I… what?” I asked, just to make sure I was hearing him right. I never thought he’d ask me something like that. Sure, I was helping him learn about what girls are like and what they like. But that was because of his dumb little crush. Now he wants me to teach him how to fight. But for what purpose? Did he want to fight someone? But he wasn’t like that. Was someone bothering him to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore? But I never really saw others bother him. They knew I’d kick their asses if they so much as look at him the wrong way.

  But maybe he just wanted to learn to defend himself? Yeah. I don’t have to think too much about it. People want to learn to fight to defend themselves all the time. That was basically the reason why I wanted to learn.

  Zavier looked anywhere but at my eyes and clenched his teeth together, balling his hands into tight fists as if he was angry and wanted to punch something. But maybe he was just angry with himself, because I don’t remember him doing anything bad to get him like that. He couldn’t have been angry with me earlier. “I just… I don’t want to be that scared little boy anymore. I want to learn how to fight if something ever came up. I want to be able to beat them up and not look back. Please, Evelyn.”

  This time, the anger had died down and he gave me those adorable puppy eyes. But I don’t think he knew he was practically pouting at me. He can be pretty oblivious at times, but it was cute.

  “You really want this?” I asked just to make sure, as I stepped closer to him. He didn’t move from his spot, as he looked deep into my eyes and slowly yet hesitantly nodded. “Alright. If you’re positive.”

  This time, I reached for his arms and slowly trailed my fingers down to his hands. He was tense, but that was probably just from my touch. I loved how I made him feel like that. “You have big, strong hands. They’ll work really well for punches. You’ll get less hurt. But always make sure not to put your thumb inside your fist, because it will break it.” He nodded.

  Next, I brought my hands to his chest and felt how fast his heart was beating. He was looking at me the whole time and I noticed him swallow hard as I stepped even closer until my lips were hovering right next to his ear.

  “Don’t tense up t
oo much.” I giggled as I pulled away and grabbed his hands to look him over, while biting my lip. “A fighter must be confident about himself. Never show your fear to the other person. He’ll beat you to a pulp.”

  He nodded again in understanding, as he moved his arms a little and stood straight.

  “Hmm, you’re a dancer.”

  He nodded even though that wasn’t a question.

  “Do you breakdance?”

  “I… y-yeah, it’s my type of dance.”

  “Good. If you can breakdance, you can use that and make moves to be able to fight.”

  He frowned at me again. “Really? Never thought of it like that.”

  “Well, of course. It’s actually very simple if you use that. Want to try it now in the backyard? I’ll show you some of my karate moves as well.” I winked as I pulled away from him and started walking to the patio. He followed me all the way to the grassy open space.

  “You know karate?” he asked, making me chuckle at the silly question. Did I not beat up a guy for him at his first party? Of course I knew some moves like the karate kid. Maybe not as good as him but fairly close, I guess.

  “Hmm, a couple of moves. I can definitely teach you to do a kick to the shoulder, or neck, face… balls…”

  He swallowed hard and looked down painfully. “Oh, gosh.”

  “I hope that’s a ‘yes’. Now…” I paused to smile at him and stood right in front of him. Then, I put my fists up to show that we were about to begin our first fighting lesson. “… let’s start, teddy bear.”

  After a good amount of time teaching the guy how to fight, we decided to take a break for the day. We were now sitting down on the chairs in the patio, drinking some Gatorade I had brought out for when we were done.