Broken Bad Boy
12

PERCIE

My classes ended, and I still found no message from Hailey. I rechecked it. Nada.

I walked to the bench where I found her before. Then there she was. She was talking to someone, and that someone just made my blood boil.

I strode in their direction at a long pace. Before I could get closer, Cassie saw me first.

"Hey, Percie. Meet my new friend. We have classes together. Hailey-"

I cut her off and grabbed her away from Hailey. "Stay away from her, Cassie." I didn't think it was a coincidence. "I don't wanna see you talking to her again. You can't be her friend. That's impossible. Someone like you who doesn't have the same interest as hers can't ever be her friend. You two are like night and day. You can't fool me, Cassie."

She glared at me, and I glared back. "Go."

She grabbed her things and walked away.

I look at Hailey, hugging herself and looking down at her feet. "Stay away from someone like her, Hailey. She's bad news. She plays a good girl, uses you, then treats you like a dog on a leash. Don't fall for someone's kindness. They all have ulterior motives, especially when they just came out of nowhere. Choose your friend wisely."

"She came over while I'm waiting for you." She sat down.

I sat beside her, releasing an exasperating sigh. "You have to be very careful of choosing a friend. If there's a mean girl in high school, there are worse types of people here. You're too kind and too good to be true. I don't want to see you getting hurt."

"Like someone like me will easily replace a friend." She shrugged.

My brows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Socially awkward, nerd, dork-"

Before she could finish, I was already laughing my ass out loud. For the first time in history, I laughed out loud.

"Then how do you call me? Which part of the society do I belong to, Hailey? Monster Jock? Broody Ltd? Zoned Out Guys Club?"

She wrinkled her nose. That was cute.

"What are those?"

"Oh, you didn't read those yet in your books?"

"No." Her answer was like telling me to explain further.

"They don't exist."

She chuckled. "You have weirder imagination, Percie."

I stood up. "You have no idea. That woman here before, I think of her as a zombie with a horn and fangs. She has no brains, but she whispers to everyone and takes them to her lair, then eats their brains, skins them, then drains their blood, and throws them afterward."

She giggled. Did she just giggle? "You're gonna be a good writer, Percie."

I nodded.

My chest tightened because Emma said the same thing.

"Let's go home. I'm starving." I grabbed my backpack. She walked beside me. When I looked down at her, she was smiling back at me. Just beautiful.

***

I woke up in the middle of the night to a terrifying voice. It was Hailey's. I dashed out of my door to her room.

I knocked urgently. "Hailey! Hailey, open up. Are you okay?" I waited for a while. A few moments later, the door unlocked.

"Um, sorry." She looked frightened. Her hair was everywhere, sticking on her sweaty face that she was trying to fix it. "Get in your bed. I'll get you some water."

"I'm okay, Percie."

"Just do what I said." I strode to the kitchen and grabbed her bottled water from the fridge.

When I came back, she was already in bed, her lower body covered with her pink blanket.

"Take this. Are you always having nightmares?"

She drunk the water I gave her. "Sorry if I woke you up. Sometimes I have a nightmare if I have too much in mind."

"Don't apologize, Hailey. I, myself, get nightmares too. Sometimes in my dreams, but mostly in real life." I regretted saying those words, but that was the truth. "I still wake up every day, dwelling with that same agony in that nightmare."

She was twisting her fingers when she asked me, "Who's she?"

Her question shocked me. "Who's who?"

She looked at me curiously.

"I guessed life is not always rainbows and unicorns like in your book, huh?" I pretended that I didn't hear her question. My heart ached. I wished it was easier for me to talk about my painful past. "That zombie with horns and fangs?"

She shook her head.

God, please. Don't push it, Hailey.

"Who made you like that?"

My eyes narrowed to slits. "Made me like what, Hailey?" I was deadly serious.

She flinched. "Nothing. Forget that I asked."

"I'm sorry. But I'm not ready to talk about it. It's still fresh and still hurts like hell," I tell her slowly. "And I'd like to keep the past where it is."

She bit her trembled lip. "I'm sorry."

I took a huge breath. Please, don't cry.

"Stop apologizing, Em-um, Hailey." Fuck. I swallowed hard.

Why did I keep calling her Emma when she was around? Maybe because I'd never been with any girl after Emma and never been close like this with anyone.

"Go back to sleep, Hailey. I'll stay here until you fall back asleep. If you don't mind."

Something was wrong with me. I couldn't feel pity towards her.

I felt strange-something strong made my skin tingle every time she got closer, something that made my heart flutter, something that gives me a butterfly effect in my stomach. And that was different-that I'd never felt with other women and Emma. And it terrified the living shit out of me.[]