The Bad Boy's Secret

-two-

After parking the car Pepper followed me up the steps and into my house. Mom and dad were still working, I'm sure. That's all they did lately. 

"I can't believe we already have homework from Mr. Bates! Who does that?" Pepper complained, heading straight for the refrigerator and pulling out some snacks for the two of us. 

Mr. Bates was our economics teacher and he had assigned a one page research paper on any political topic of our choice. Nothing too hard, but it still sucked for our first day of senior year. 

"Earth to Mace? You in there anywhere?" Pepper asked laughing and tapping on my head before I swatted her hand away. 

"I'm still a little upset I guess," I admitted, falling onto the couch in the living room and sighing. I knew I was being ridiculous, there was nothing I could do about the situation anyway. 

"I get that. I'm sure you'd be a lot happier if you'd been paired with Danny," She sang Danny's name and I couldn't stop the smile on my face. I grabbed one of my moms delicate throw pillows and threw it at Pepper, hitting her square in the face. Mom would've killed me if she'd been home and saw that. 

"Things would be a lot better, you're right. Of course Jaz got to be with him though," I grumbled, grabbing a piece of licorice from Pepper's hands. 

"Don't stress over it so much, you'll get wrinkles," Pepper flopped down next to me. "Danny probably likes you anyway," 

"You think so?" I couldn't help the excitement that bubbled into my chest when she said that. 

My crush had started off small, last fall when Danny had asked me to homecoming after breaking things off with his girlfriend at the time. I had felt like a rebound for Danny at first but after that night and how sweet he was, he hadn't left my mind since. Pathetic right? He had a spell over me and I hadn't figured out how to break it yet. 

"Of course I do! You're one of the hottest chicks in school, he'd be lucky to ever get with you," Pepper grabbed the remote control and switched on the TV, looking for a good show to pass the time even though we should be doing our homework. Mom would lecture me about that as soon as she got home. 

"Have you heard from Malia lately?" Pepper randomly asked after a few minutes of silence between the two of us. 

"She called last night to wish me good luck today," My older sister Malia, who graduated just last year had left two months ago for college out of state. Although growing up we had our fair share of fights and arguments, I couldn't deny I missed her...just a little bit. 

"Macy, I'm home!" My dad's low voice rang out and I heard the garage door close behind him just before he appeared around the corner, smiling at both Pepper and I. "How was the first day girls?" 

"Nothing to complain about so far," Pepper spoke before I could. 

"Lot's to complain about," I replied, my tone harsher than Pepper's had been and my dad's green eyes lit up in amusement. 

"Oh? Do tell," He walked past the two of us sitting on the couch, patting my head on his way, walking straight into the kitchen to set down his things. 

I got up from the couch and followed my dad into the kitchen while Pepper stayed seated, glued to the TV show she had decided on. 

"Mrs. Walker came up with a brilliant idea," I emphasized the word brilliant with sarcasm and my dad's smirk grew even wider. "She paired everyone in AP English up in partners and I got the worst one," 

"Why do you think you got the runt of the litter?" My dad turned his attention from the fridge to me. 

"He's rude and thinks he's all that, he even winked at me and kissed my hand!" I recalled the incident earlier today and shivered. The only lips I wanted anywhere on my body belonged to Danny. My dad laughed and grabbed a can of mountain dew from the fridge before sitting at the island counter, patting the seat next to him for me to sit down. 

"He is such a slacker too, I can totally tell I'm going to be pulling all the weight this year," I continued while my dad listened intently. He was always a good listener, mom on the other hand usually interrupted a million times and tried to argue half way through your conversation. 

"It sounds like you're being pretty harsh towards this guy Mace," My dad concluded once I was done ranting about Gabe. "Are you sure you know him well enough to make all those accusations?" 

I bit the inside of my cheek and dropped my gaze to my fingers instead of meeting my dad's stare. Dad was also really good at being a voice of reason. Which wasn't always a good thing. 

"We've been in school together since the 4th grade and he's always had a bad reputation, I think I have plenty of reasons to not be happy with Mrs. Walker's decisions," 

"Not being happy is one thing, but that doesn't mean you should be rude to this guy either. Maybe he's a good guy deep down," My dad stood and headed back to the fridge, returning a second later with a bag of baby carrots.

"Good guys don't get into fights on purpose and cut class for fun, dad," I rolled my eyes and my dad reached over to ruffle my hair. 

"Don't role your eyes at me young lady," his tone was light and playful but I also knew he meant that. "He might be going through a rough time too sweetheart, you never know. Have you ever been there for one of his fights?"

"Like, watched him fight before?" What a bizarre question. "No I haven't, but I've heard plenty of stories,"

"Then how do you know he fights on purpose?" Sometimes I wanted to strangle my dad for being so level-headed and kind, he always tried to see the good in people. 

"I just told you dad, I've heard all the stories. He's a wild monster from what I hear," 

My dad got up again, leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "Macy, all I'm saying is don't judge someone by their reputation all the time, get to know him before you make a decision on whether you like him or not," 

Dad reached for his phone and began to walk out of the kitchen, towards his office before turning back to wink at me. "Besides, it sounds like you'll have plenty of time to get to know this monster,"

I was about to reply with a smart ass response but his phone began ringing and he was gone before I could blink. Pepper was suddenly right beside me, leaning over the counter and letting her long blonde hair pool on the cold granite counter tops. 

"I think your dad was a saint in his past life," She whispered with a nudge to my arm. 

"He's just saying all of that because he's never seen Gabe. If he saw him he'd understand why I'm not happy about it," I muttered while sliding from the stool I had been sitting on. 

"Either way, better make the most of it 'cause you're stuck with him for the year," Pepper copied my dad and ruffled my hair before skipping to the front door. "I'll see you in the morning, don't be late!"

Even with my dad's voice of reasoning in the back of my mind I couldn't help but continue to have a sour outlook on Gabe Romero. There had been so many stories in the past about things Gabe had done, from fighting teachers to vandalizing school property to being caught with weed. The list could go on and on. My dad had a point not to judge someone before you got to know them, but I've known Gabe since 4th grade...sort of. 

For Gabe's sake, I hope my dad was right about him.