Living With The Bad Boy [COMPLETE][VERSION ONE]

Chapter 12

It's been a week since I pranked Jase, leaving him waiting for me while I took the bus home, and I thought my little joke had been all but forgotten about. Nope. Turns out, Jase is just really good at revenge. It is a dish best served cold, as I'm sure you've heard.

Well, apparently I haven't heard that.

It's seven-thirty, the time Jase and I usually leave for school (Lizbeth continues to insist that Jase drive me for some reason), and I'm standing in the hallway, waiting. Lizbeth and my mother are gone for some art show, Jase's dad and brother just left, and the house feels strangely empty. "Jase!" I call up at him. No response.

Well that's... weird.

"Jase!" I call again, starting up the stairs. "I swear to god, if you don't respond, I'm going into your room. I have a Physics test today, I really can't be late!"

I bang on the door one last time before, with an eye roll, I shove the door open to find-

Why is Jase's room so clean? And where the hell is he?

"Jase?" I call again, more unsure, as a sort of dread fills me. He didn't... leave... did he? I practically slide down the staircase, sprinting outside, my chest falling when I see what I feared all along:

There's no car in the garage.

Shit.

Trying not to panic, I manage to sprint to the bus station, just in time to see the light blue vehicle driving away from the stop.

No. No. This cannot be happening. Tears start welling up in my eyes of their own accord, and every intake of air becomes a challenge. Everything is spinning. All I can think of is my physics test, of not being there, of having to take all of my effort and hard work and studying and throw it all away and get detention for being late and another bus isn't going to be here for 45 minutes and I can't wait that long I'm going to be so late.

The worst part? I know how irrational I'm being. I know, in the grand scheme of things, how not a big deal this is. But I can't help it. The panic attacks come regardless of whether there's a reason for them to or not. Practically collapsing onto the bus stop bench, I try to refocus my mind on something, anything else, but thinking about anything requires more energy than I could possibly have after this. At this point, I'm trembling like a leaf, my face streaked with tears. My breathing is ragged and unsteady and doesn't feel like breathing at all. Every time I try to inhale, my chest gets stuck on the air and I feel like I physically can't. My fingers shake as I take my phone out and tap on the newest contact I have entered.

"I-I am going to kill y-you."

"Whatever for?" Jase asks. I can just feel the satisfactory smirk behind his words. I want to punch him. "You know-you know w-what, Jase," I say, the way I choke the words out humiliating. He's never going to stop mocking me for this, is he?

"I thought we were just playing a game," Jase says, and the cavalierness makes me want to scream. "You decided to leave me at the school waiting for you, and now it's my turn to annoy you."

"This isn't- I can't-" I can't say another word. I literally can't. And the realization that this is happening right now, before my physics midterm, in front of no other than Jase Turner is making the breaths I'm trying to take even harder. I literally cannot breathe.

"Wait, Red, are you crying?"

I mean to say no, but all that comes out is a pathetic whimper. My god this is humiliating.

I hear a sigh on his end. "Hang on. Where are you?"

"Bus- stop," I choke out.

"I'll be there in 10 minutes," Jase says, and for once, his tone isn't full of condescension, anger, or mockery. "Stay there."

"Okay." I'm not sure where exactly Jase expected me to go, but I'm already humiliated. It can't get much worse and I really need a ride.

When Jase's car pulls up to the bus stop, I almost want to pinch myself. I want to believe that everything's fine so, so badly- but it feels like I can't really accept anything good happening right now. Slowly, I stand up, gripping the pole next to me as I feel a wave of dizziness. I wipe away the few tears left before getting into Jase's car. I'm not sad anymore; I'm pissed. Jase can't just treat me like this and get away with it.

"Are you okay?" They're the first words out of Jase's mouth, and, though I can't detect any mockery, there has to be some there. Right?

"Just peachy," I mutter, turning away from him. "You're such an asshole."

Jase's voice gets steely. "Exactly what part of me coming back to the middle of fucking nowhere and skipping soccer to drive you to school makes me an asshole?"

I can tell he's offended, but you know what? So am I. "I think you're forgetting that it was your fault that I'm here in the first place!"

"Oh, I see. So you're allowed to just ditch me and let me spend an hour waiting for you in the parking lot, but I can't return the gesture? Seems a bit hypocritical if you ask me."

"Wow. I'm surprised you even know what that word means," I fire back, glaring at him. He rolls his eyes. "God, Red, you're insufferable. No wonder you're such a loser."

I gasp. "I cannot believe you just said that, Jase! What is wrong with you?" The tears that had left before coming back with stunning force, and I have to turn away from him, my vision swimming. I can feel him sigh in the seat next to me, probably shifting in his seat and running his hand through his dark hair. It surprises me, for a second, that I know this. I have no idea when I learned to read Jase's moods, memorize his movements, but now that I've realized it, it seems like the most natural thing in the world. Weird.

"Yeah, I'm...are you seriously crying again? I will never understand why girls cry so much."

"I'm not crying," I say softly, the wobbles in my voice making it perfectly clear that I am, in fact, crying. "You don't get it, Jase. I studied hours for this test today. I worked my ass off and I deserve an A, not the grade I'm going to get when I show up halfway through class for no reason. Mr. Adichie could just flunk me for that alone, if he really wanted to. What I did was justified after you decided to just leave me to walk 20 minutes because I wasn't good enough to be seen with you. Messing with my education? That's different."

"You're going to be fine, Red. You're smart and you've studied. I bet you've gotten all As in Physics all year."

"Yeah, but..." I look down. "I cant believe you haven't tried to get this on video yet. I thought that the day I cried in front of you would be the day my social life ended."

"What social life?" Jase asks, annoyingly amused. "In case you haven't noticed, you're kind of a loser."

I turn back to face him, the glare on my face not missable. "exCUSE me?"

He rolls his eyes. "I don't mean it in a bad way, only that you're...different. You don't care about this idiotic popularity contest that everyone else seems to be completely obsessed with."

I give him a dubious look. "All this coming from the popular guy in school? The one who supposedly has no feelings whatsoever but pretends he's an actually okay person to seduce every girl he sees? Forgive me if I don't entirely believe you."

Jase shakes his head, looking away. I can see his sharp jawline, the muscles around it clenched. "Yup, that's what everyone thinks, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Just forget it," he says. We've gotten closer to the school then ever before, already past Newman's. Jase seems to realize this at the same second I do and pulls over into a side alley. "Good luck on your physics test," he says softly. "I'm sure you'll do amazing, no matter how late you are."

"Thanks," I say, a confused blush in my cheeks. "I don't... I don't know. Look like I've been crying or anything, right?"

Jase looks me up and down. "Nah. You look good, like usual." His eyes go wide as he realizes what he just said. "Fine. I meant fine. You look... relatively sufficient. Like usual. I'll see you tonight, Red."

What on earth was that?