The Lunacy of Tyler Lockhart ✔️

Chapter Ten - Past

Victoria

"Don't get me wrong, he's bad news, like real bad, but there's something so strange about him that makes you wonder what he's hiding and you realize that you're going to get into trouble for following him around, and yet you can't stop yourself from wanting to get closer to danger. That feeling is exhilarating, isn't it?" Kayla Andrews said as she gave me a secretive smile.

We stared at each other for an awkward minute, and then I blurted out something before I could stop myself. "Do you have a crush on him?"

"You mean Tyler?"

"Yeah."

She made an adorable snort sound, "No. Of course, not. I do think he is attractive, although I wouldn't take any risks of dating him."

"Why?"

She raised her hands and rolled her eyes indicating ′isn't it obvious?′ "Because he's a Lockhart. Everyone in the town is aware that they are charming, and they get whatever they want. But they are also bat-shit crazy. I mean, serial-killer crazy, and I don't want to be involved in something like that, not even if the guy looks like a younger modern version of Elvis Presley. It's not worth all that money, either."

I instantly liked Kayla. I wondered why I hadn't talked to her before this. She seemed fun to talk to.

Everyone in school said Kayla resembled Rihanna with curly hair. She'd won one of those beauty pageants in town and pretty much half of the boys in our school were dying to have her attention. With her dark skin and brown almond-shaped eyes, not to mention those legs that ran a mile long, she looked exotic and almost made me seem like a potato. We'd sat through the same class for half of the year and never talked much because I thought she was one of those girls who pretended to buy a Pumpkin Latte just to seem cool but secretly preferred chocolate-chip mocha.

"Just to put it out there, I don't have feelings for Tyler so you have nothing to worry about. Plus, I already have a boyfriend."

"Sorry if my question offended you," I said quickly.

She waved her hand, "it's alright. And even if I did like him, it's pretty obvious that he's got hots for you."

My eyes widened in surprise. "You think Tyler likes me?"

"Girl, are you blind or what?" She laughed, "He totally digs you."

My heart began pumping in my chest. Kayla didn't seem like she was messing with me.

She gave me a pitiful look, "what? You still think I'm joking?"

I laughed, "it's just that, I've known Tyler all my life, and I've had a crush on him—

"...Since you were twelve, I know." She completed, grinning.

"Ten actually." I corrected her. "And he's never given me any signal that he likes me and he enjoys teasing me a lot and jokes often so I really don't know when to take him seriously." It felt so nice to unload all of my worries onto someone who actually understood how I was feeling. I couldn't talk about these deep feelings to Archer, that would surely be walking into Awkward Street.

Kayla listened to me, nodding her head, closely resembling a detective who was going to give me a detailed analysis of what was wrong. "I think it's time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to take him seriously. I feel like that's what he wants." She said confidently.

"I don't understand."

I pushed my chair closer to her. She leaned forward towards her desk and cleared her throat before saying, "Boys like Tyler are predators, they like playing games. For example, he knows that you have a die-hard crush on him, but he's waiting until you tell him that yourself. For him, it's a game and he teases you to push your buttons and see how far you go." She paused, "are you still with me?"