The Bad Boy's Girl (The Bad Boy's Girl #1)(4)

“Is he hot?” Beth asks, smirking, and it takes a second for the question to register. I wait a few seconds to answer as I pull the proverbial knife from my back. Why does it matter if he’s hot? Hot monsters are still monsters.

“Honey, that boy puts Michelangelo’s David to shame!” Megan sighs dreamily.

I hit her arm and she pouts. “It’s true, though, that guy is hot.”

If only she were wrong.

***

Last period arrives without me running into either of the twin horrors, Nicole or Cole. But that’s largely because Nicole’s been stuck in dance practice all day. The last class is unfortunately PE and while I’m now much more comfortable with my body, the Fatty Tessie inside me still struggles to put on gym shorts while parading in front of judgmental teenage boys.

But I still have to because PE is a mandatory torture right up there with mystery meat Monday. The bell for last period allows me to put my guard down. It’s safe to suppose that Cole isn’t in school today and since I haven’t seen Nicole, I realize that it’s been a pretty good day. Too soon, these words just came out too soon. I mentally curse myself and bite my tongue when I hear her.

“Hey, Fatty.” Gritting my teeth, I morph my face into a neutral expression. Turning on my heels in the locker room, I come face-to-face with the she-devil herself.

“Nicole,” I say, acknowledging her presence.

She stands there in her purple-and-yellow dance outfit, which basically consists of skimpy skirt and an even skimpier cropped top. Her dark hair is pulled into a high ponytail and allows her features to stand out. Her skin is unblemished as always and the perfect caramel color. Her outfit accentuates the hazel in her eyes and her full lips are smeared with neutral gloss. My ex-best friend is a stunner and she knows it. Her Latin heritage makes her stick out amid the pale-skinned, fair-haired majority.

How she manages to look so good despite spending the day in a sweaty gym baffles me.

“I see you still aren’t doing the hip reduction exercises I told you about.”

Right. Mock me and my supposed huge butt.

“They don’t seem to have worked on you so I decided it would be a waste of my time.” The word vomit happens occasionally around her. I know better than to retaliate, but this day has taken its toll on me. I’m exhausted and honest-to-God sick of being afraid.

She sneers and closes the distance between us until a few inches of space separate us. She obviously means to intimidate me and it has surely worked.

“What did you say?”

“Uh-uh nothing—I said nothing,” I stutter, the bravado fast disappearing.

“That’s what I thought. Now move out of my way before I crush you like the roadkill you are.” She growls and literally shoves me out of her way.

After she leaves I find myself standing in the same spot for about ten minutes, struggling to stop myself from hyperventilating. I am not good with confrontations, and God knows what propelled me to talk back to Queen Bitch. I do some of the breathing exercises I’ve seen on TV, which prove to be pretty pointless. Still in shock mode, I walk to my locker, which is where I stash my gym bag and phone. I’ve taken to changing the combination every few months after a prank by Nicole and her cronies.

It’s more mortifying to walk around the school naked in real life than in any nightmare you’ll ever have.

After securing my belongings, I make my way back to the gym, only to be interrupted for the third time that day. This time, however, my heart reacts in the totally opposite way to how it had reacted to seeing Nicole.

My heart flutters, it flutters!

“There you are, Tessa. I’ve been looking for you all day.” Jason Stone comes into my line of sight, and I lean back against my locker to stop myself from fainting at the sight of his smile. He looks like a blond Adonis in his gym clothes. His strong, toned runner’s legs and bulging biceps make my eyes glaze over.

“You have?” I sigh dreamily as he nears me, then mentally slap myself for sounding so silly. “You have?” I repeat with a deeper voice, yet I manage to sound like my dad when he choked on a bone last week.

“Yeah, I have. I’ve been meaning to talk to you since yesterday, actually.”

I know I should listen to him, he’s obviously saying something important. But he’s just so beautiful. I let my eyes roam over his body, his face, his perfect blond hair . . .

“Tessa?” He waves a hand in front of my face, making me crash-land into reality.

“Wh-what?”

“I wanted to know if you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” I reply, knowing that a full-blown smile’s on my face this very second. Jay’s so cute, caring about me, asking if I’m okay, talking to me even though his girlfriend is vehemently against it.

“Really?” He seems surprised. I wonder why?

“Yeah, totally. I was a little feverish on Sunday, but nothing some good old chicken soup can’t help.”

“No—I wasn’t—” He looks so cute when he’s confused!

“What?”

“What?” he repeats, his face scrunched up in adorable confusion. We take a second to regroup and I pull myself together. Jay squares his shoulders and looks at me sympathetically.

“Look, Tessa, I thought you should know that Cole’s coming back. He left a message and he’s going to spend his senior year here, at home.”