Being the Bad Boy's Victim (43 page)

Ladies and gentlemen, Connor Michaels has arrived!

He stood by the entrance, James and Matt flanked him. With his signature smirk and a mischievous gleam in his eyes, he looked absolutely breathtaking. His dark suit enhanced his handsome features, and it made my heart almost burst through my chest.

“Guys, I know I look better than all of you, but please keep the staring to a minimum.”

He did not just… but he did.

Laughter echoed throughout the gym and a few wolf whistles and catcalls were thrown into the mix. I couldn’t help myself and joined in with the laughter as the boys made their way over to us. When they reached us, I gave them all a quick hug before smacking Matt in the chest, telling him I knew about his little joke.

It felt nice, standing there in the gym. People I cared about surrounded me, and there really wasn’t anything else I could have asked for at that moment. When Principal Helen appeared at the entrance, we all knew what to do. Standing in our assigned order, we walked out in pairs. The red carpet lined our way to the field, and the applause that began told me that this was the real deal.

It was happening.

This wasn’t just a graduation signifying our departure from high school. It wasn’t just an ending for us. In fact, it was a beginning. This was our start in the real world. No more outrageous gossip of who liked who, or what the next school scandal would be. No more high school drama.

The graduation went perfectly. My parents made it their job to be the loudest when my name was called, and my dad had no problem in embarrassing me by urging me to crowd surf.

Later, my family took me out to dinner, where we met up with the Michaels and the Postons. Matt and James were there, too, making it a huge family dinner—one that I wished would never end.

My few weeks of summer freedom went by so quickly that I wasn’t sure if they even happened at all. They were filled with laughter, jokes that would always be funny, and memories that wouldn’t be soon forgotten. There were also kisses that would take my breath away and fill me with butterflies at the very thought, dates that I would cherish forever, and pictures to remind me always of the good times.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. This was something that I truly understood while I stood in front of my car, surrounded by my family and friends.

“You better text me every day,” Jess told me through her tears.

“I promise.”

She gave me a soft smile despite her trembling lips. Although she had promised me she was happy that I was going off to college, it was easy to see that she wished I would stay a little longer.

“I hate goodbyes,” Matt whispered in my hair as he gave me his final hug.

I held on tightly and gave him a bright smile. “It’s not like I’m never going to see you again,” I snapped, hitting him jokingly.

“Oh, yeah!” He grinned. “Now, remember, if there are any hot single girls, don’t be afraid to share my number.” He gave me a sly wink before stepping aside so that I could say goodbye to James.

“Don’t party too hard, babe,” James said, grinning at me. “We all know that you can’t handle your…”

“Shut up right now!” I hissed, glancing around to my oblivious parents. Thankfully, my parents were practically deaf, so they did not even notice what James was saying.

James laughed loudly as he pulled me into a giant hug, rocking us back and forth in an exaggerated manner.

“Okay, okay, unhand my girlfriend now.”

The sound of Connor’s gravelly voice made me pull away from James, and I immediately went straight into Connor’s arms. In his arms, I felt safe, secure, calm, and relaxed—feelings I never wanted to forget. He placed a light kiss on my lips, before pulling away, and standing by Matt’s side.

“Pumpkin, I hate to say this, but we need to go now if you want to make it,” my dad said, a sad expression crossing his features.

I nodded in understanding and gave my friends a large smile, which greatly contrasted with the tears that filled my eyes.

“Bye, guys,” I whispered.

Instantly, I was engulfed in a large group hug, and I wanted it to last forever—only it couldn’t.

It was time for me to leave, to go off and conquer whatever new obstacles that college life would lay before me. So I slipped into the car and gave them all one last wave as my dad drove out on to the street.

When my friends became mere dots before finally disappearing from view, I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes. The feeling was bittersweet. Even though I knew I would stay in touch with them all, I couldn’t help but feel like I would never see them again. This was obviously not true, since Jess already scheduled when we would Skype, call, and text, and she even went so far as to plan a visit in the fall.

Fortunately, we all had at least two weeks together during winter break, and it was already decided that we would all go to the beach together in the summer for a week.

It wasn’t a final goodbye, but it still hurt.

We were all going off to different places—Jess was going to be at Boston College, Matt was going to UVA, James was going to NYU, and Connor was going to Florida State.

We would all face new challenges, some easy to get through while others would be harder. We were all growing up.

Yes, I was nervous as hell about going to college. But there was something—something I just couldn’t put my finger on—that told me I would be able to get through this.

Well, perhaps it was James’s voice relentlessly telling me that I was going to own this shit, or Matt’s lectures about how I was going to kill it at college. Maybe it was Jess and her strong faith in me, and the way she could always so confidently tell me that I could get through anything, and that nothing could hold me back.

Or maybe it was Connor, the bad boy, my bad boy.

“So? How is it? Do you like it?” Jess’ excited voice echoed throughout my room as she rapidly fired off questions. I grinned as Matt, James, and Jess squished together, eager to fit the frame that the video camera provided them.

“It’s great, Jess. I absolutely love it. Everyone’s so friendly.”

“Do you have a hot roommate?” Matt asked, grinning widely as he tried to peek around my room.

I laughed loudly and angled my laptop to my roommate’s side of the room.

“I told you guys already, she arrives later today!” I laughed even louder at Matt’s disappointed expression.

Jess giggled and leaned onto James, and I felt my heart clench.

“Where’s Connor?” I asked softly, praying that I didn’t sound desperate.

They all looked at each other, sharing knowing looks. “He was busy today,” James finally said, a small grin playing on his lips.

I couldn’t stop the frown from showing on my face, but quickly tried to replace it with a smile.

“My main courses start next week!” I announced, my eyes shining brightly.

“I can’t believe you cut down your summer to nearly nothing, just for some program for extra credits that was optional. Optional!”

We all laughed at Matt’s exclamation.

“It was amazing though! I really liked it!” I said defensively.

After we completely caught up on everything, we said our goodbyes and ended the video chat.

It was nice being able to have our weekly conversations ever since I left. Don’t get me wrong, UPenn is an amazing school. The campus was absolutely breathtaking, and I had already made a bunch of new friends. Although, none could still top Jess’ sunny disposition and enthusiasm.

“Uh…”

I turned around to see a girl struggling to get through the door.

“Could you help me?” she said with a struggle.

“Of course!” I rushed out of my seat to grab the boxes that was weighing her down, happy to see the look of relief on her face.

“I’m Milly Crawford,” she announced through her thick southern accent, holding out her hand to greet me.

I grinned as I shook her hand.

“Bellatrix Brown, but call me Bella.”

Her eyes widened at the sound of my name, and almost immediately, a large smile stretched across her face.

“Oh my lord, I love your name! And your accent… Oh my gosh, you’re so cool!” She giggled and blushed at the end, which made me grin even more.

Milly was a petite blonde with large green eyes, which looked almost unnatural. She barely wore any makeup and her conservative clothing relieved me, knowing that I didn’t get some crazy girl as a roommate instead.

“Here, let me help you with those,” I offered, following her out into the hallway, where all the rest of her bags were.

As we unpacked, she told me all about her family, and managed to cover everything about her in the time it took us to complete the task. I discovered that she was a huge Harry Potter fan, and was what one would consider a bookworm. She was born with brown hair, but as she got older, it lightened into the light blonde that it was today, completing her country girl look. Then, I learned all about Tennessee, where she was from. And she even went into great detail about the time she almost ran over her brother with her grandpa’s truck.

All in all, Milly was a really funny person, and I knew we were going to get along.

“Hey, I heard that there is a steakhouse a couple of blocks down the road. Want to go get dinner with me?”

“Oh, thank God, I am starving!” I nearly yelled, making her laugh.

As we walked through the campus, I told her about myself and all my friends back home.

“I think it is daring that you and your boyfriend are staying together,” she told me, her eyes bright.

“Really?”

“Well, yeah! It’s so romantic!” She dramatically placed her hand over her heart. “And a bad boy? Oh gosh, if your life was a novel I would read it!”

I laughed and shook my head.

“You’re crazy. Yeah, Connor’s a bit of a bad boy, but…”

“He’s your bad boy,” Milly finished for me, grinning.

I smiled and nodded.

“Oh, well, I might know you have a boyfriend, but it looks as if that gorgeous hunk of sexy over there doesn’t know that,” Milly teasingly said, her eyes locked on someone behind me.

Cautiously, I turned around. A gasp escaped my lips as a look of confusion crossed Milly’s face.

The guy smirked and immediately walked up to us, making Milly stiffen at my side.

“Why, hello there!” he said softly, oblivious to my state of shock.

“Hello, uh, I-I’m Milly,” Milly stuttered.

“Pleased to meet you, Milly.” He shook her hand and turned to face me. “Looks like I’ll be attending school with you and Miss Brown.”

What the heck is going on?

It finally made sense. All those mischievous looks, knowing glances, mysterious secrets…

“Wait, do you two…?” Milly’s eyes widened and she looked from me to him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners? My name is Connor Michaels.” His arms encircled my immobile body, bringing me to his side. “And it seems I’m her bad boy.”

I continued to stare at Connor in shock as Milly started grinning and bouncing on her feet.

“It’s amazing how I can still make her speechless,” he informed Milly, while keeping his eyes on me. “Ain’t that right, Bells?”