Resisting the Bad Boy

[1] "Archer Cross"

     I WAS never the first pick or the go-to friend, but after experiencing that for so long, I got used to it. I like being the girl no one notices-I like blending in. Sometimes though, just sometimes, I wish I could be like my sister, Leila Michaels. Of course, though, I would never admit that--I could barely even admit it to myself.

     Dirty blonde hair, popularity of a celebrity, sparkling blue eyes, and to top it off, a killer curvy figure, she's every guy's dream. She has boys flocking her day and night, walking her to classes, buying her lunch, the whole nine. Sometimes it makes me scrunch my nose in distaste, sometimes it makes me wonder what I could have someday. In reality, she's not the nicest nor the most charitable, but it always worked out that everyone loved her.

     She even bagged my middle school crush, the school's notorious bad boy Archer Cross, quite possibly the hottest (and scariest) guy in school, but also a major player with a heart of stone. Rumors used to go around that his dad beat him or something of the like. Some even said he could be a killer who got away from prison time, but that's a story for a different time. Archer Cross wasn't branded a murderer for some rumor—some of it has to be true. I believed most of the rumors, but that's why it was so absurd to everyone for him to be actually settling down. People always gush over the "true love" complex he and Leila have. I think it's all just...just bogus, but whatever.

     To talk with him would only be a dream for someone like me, someone shy and maybe a little scared of him? Just kidding, yes, way scared of him. Nonetheless, he was every girl's dream with his dark, black hair, tall form, muscles for days, and loads of money to go along with it. I was never one to look to much. He's always lived alone, or at least that's what I've heard. His mom is gone all the time with his dad completely out of the picture—dead, but no one even knows that happened because he's been so tight-lipped and if his friends knew, they wouldn't rat.

They wouldn't dare cross Archer.

     I wasn't one to care about money, but a lot of people took pride in blending his status with their own. His home was like a mansion, so I've heard, and he even has a pool. That I know for a fact because he throws some killer parties that Leila has gone to. I, on the other hand, have only seen pictures and heard from word of mouth.

     Anyways, back to what I was saying. Leila managed to get Archer to date her, much to everyone's surprise. He didn't seem the type to give up the bachelor life...but back to the point, after they started dating, things at home got worse-and I mean way worse. My parents, well...my adoptive parents to be clear, hadn't ever liked me, but after my sister and Archer started dating, she made me her doormat too. It's humiliating to say the least. I liked to think Leila didn't see me as her enemy, but the verbal abuse was worse than what was normal.

     So maybe we were sort of enemies to her...we just didn't go out of our way to make each other's lives horrible...

     Until Archer came along.

     Before they dated, it was a mutual "I don't talk to you, you don't talk to me. Stay out of my freakin' business...I kinda hate you". After a few weeks of them dating, crap hit the metaphorical fan. It didn't help that I worked at the local diner where they always came to hang out after school. I was getting into my apron while they ordered food...Leila most of the time spilling it so I'd need to clean it up. She thought it was funny or something, but it wasn't amusing to me. Leila, of-fudging-course, knew where my section was, so she always asked to sit there, flaunting Archer in front of everyone, including me, on whom she didn't know had an impact. Archer just looked like he couldn't have cared less. Of course, though, I wouldn't say a word, cleaning up the mess and keeping the talking minimal.