Kissing Pact With The Bad Boy

Prologue

There is something delirious in defying definitions. Living according to your own rule.

Prologue

(5 years ago)

"You are such a sore loser, Hunt." Sky taunted Hunter as she grabbed the soccer ball from his hand and dribbled it as she walked around him with a teasing smile. Hunter pouted at her, his blue eyes full of mock contempt as he tried to intercept the ball from her. He blocked her, but she was fast, faster than him and she was stealthy, quick on her feet as she swiftly turned away from his blocking body. She threw the ball in the air and, with the grace of a professional soccer player, she kicked it towards the goal post, whooping as she did and with a soft whoosh the ball hit the net. Sky cheered as she danced around Hunter. She punched her fisted hands to the soft blue sky. "Gentlemen and lady, she hits and she scores." Sky said in a deep voice.

"I am not a loser. You cheated, again, Sky." Hunter looked at her with a frown and Sky carelessly shrugged her shoulders. She wiped her forehead with her muddy sleeves, forming a line of mud smear across her cheek. She looked like she had been living in a pigsty all her life. Her white T-shirt had seen better days and probably, she had, too. She looked dirty and grubby, but the smile in her face was full of life and light.

"I didn't cheat. I got my goal fair and square, dude. My inswinger was perfect and Aadhi didn't miss it that time, like he always does. For once in his life, his calculation was perfect." Sky said as she looked at Aaditya, her other friend. He stuck his tongue out at her. His dark brown skin glistened in sweat as he limped around. Aaditya was not much in to Soccer, but he had to give in, because Sky always wanted to play soccer. Soccer was her first love.

"You are such an evil creature, tholi," Aaditya said as he scratched his chin. Sky smiled when she heard that word. She loved how beautiful it sounded when Aadhi said that. It kind of twisted around his tongue in an accent that reminded her of exotic things. Tholi was a Tamil word for a friend. Aadhi would often call Sky that when he was in a really good mood.

"My bones are tired and groaning in pain," Hunter groaned like a grandpa. "I need to rest. Playing with you is not good for my body." He complained as climbed up the wooden ladder of the tree house Sky's dad had built for her.

It was a quaint space littered with things Sky had collected over the years. Her Dad had built it for her, with the help of the guys and Sky, when this new place had been so scary for Sky, at first. Whenever Sky felt like she was suffocating, she would walk out of the big, empty house—it was too big for just the two of them—and Sky would go up to the tree house and she would curl up in the corner and she would immediately feel like everything was alright. The smell of it, the small cozy space, the old wooden rocker on the side, the antique, broken lamp, the small bookshelf, the posters on the wall and the framed photographs... this was Sky's home away from the big house.

"Where is Holden? Why isn't he here?" Sky asked with a frown as she followed Hunter, and Aaditya followed her.

Hunter gave her a deep look and continued leafing through the comic book he had in his hand. He kinda looked fidgety and nervous and it made Sky curious. Sky had always been a curious creature. Puzzles thrilled her. She loved asking questions. She loved learning new things, understanding new concepts, solving mysteries. In another life, she would have become a detective. In another crazy life.

In this life, she was just a curious girl with safe life choices.

Sky sat next to Hunter on the old rug her dad had generously donated to the tree house after Sky's constant grumbling about how the tree house needed a rug. She poked Hunter in his shoulder and he gave her an exasperated look. "Is he okay?" Sky asked.

She missed him. They hadn't been talking since the... accidental kiss. Ugh!

Skylar Mitchell, Hunter Reed, Holden Reed and Aditya Khanna had been friends since Skylar had moved to this small town in Vermont from San Francisco, when she was just short of eight.

She had been crying on the airplane, crying in the car. She couldn't stop the tears leaking down her chin. She didn't like to cry, but she couldn't stop once she had started. The tears just kept coming and she didn't know how to stop it. Everything around her looked new and scary and she didn't want new. She wanted the comfort of her old life, her old home, but her old home was gone. Her old life had shattered into nothingness.

She felt lonely in the new town in her new home, with just her dad and she missed her friends back home. More than that, she missed her mom. Mom... who didn't want her anymore. And she missed... she missed Ben.

They were all happy one day and then they weren't happy. Everything broke apart with just a blink. It was too big of a change for Sky, losing Ben, but she trusted her parents to work it out. She was left alone in her misery as her parents tried so hard to pick up the broken pieces, but the pieces were too hard to pick up, too hard to fix. They simply couldn't. The divorce was like a slap on her already stinging cheek.

Sky watched with helpless tears as her picture perfect family shattered and she knew, even then, their life would never be the same again. She would never be the same.

Three days of hiding in the new house, and she was tired of the dark. She was angry, bored and she knew no one in this town. Sky walked out of the big house that reeked of loneliness and sat down on the front porch. She stared at the quiet street with a sullen look on her face when someone threw a small stone at her. She had looked up to find a boy standing behind the fence. She glared at him.

"Idi*t." She said and he looked annoyed.

"I am not an idi*t. You are the idi*t," he said with a frown, and she looked away from him with a huff.

"Hey freckles," he called her again, and she ignored him. "Freckles, your ear alright?" he asked with a cross expression on his gray eyes.

"My name is not freckles, you frog-faced moron." Sky yelled at the boy. He gave her a crooked smile.

"You curse a lot for such a little girl."

"I am not a little girl. I am eight." She said as she stared at him. "And you are the one who looks little."

Back then he was really little, too, shorter than Sky.

"Why do you look like you were about to cry? You going to cry?" He sounded intrigued.

"Because I hate this place," she had said. "I hate your face,"

"My face? My mom says my face is perfect." He gave her a smile that made her want to smile back. "You are new, right?"

"She has to say it, because she is your mom." Sky poked her tongue out. "Yes, I am new and this stupid town is boring."

"I can be your friend, you know. I have a brother and a best friend. We can all be your friends, if you want. It won't be boring with friends." He said to her, looking at her earnestly.

"Really? What's the catch?" She looked at him with wide eyes and he gave her a careless shrug. For such a small boy, he had such a big attitude.

"You are very untrusting for an eight-year-old. I am the same," he commented, and she smiled. "I am Holden, and you are?"

"Skylar. Sky." She said.

And then Holden Reed had introduced the girl to his brother and his friend and, since then, they had all been friends.

They had played together all through the summer and when school had started, they had stayed friends. Five years later, and here they were, still friends, or so she hoped.

All through pre-school and middle school, Sky was the constant target of the girls, who hated her for hogging the attention of three extremely cute boys. They hated Sky for being the centre of the guys' attention, and made fun of her every chance they got, but Sky didn't give a damn, she had her best friends and she was happy. She hadn't felt this free or happy since her parents' divorce. She still resented her mom, a lot, for not wanting her enough, but she was glad dad was the one who was with her.

Even though Sky often got bullied for not having any girl friends and called mean names by other girls, she just didn't care. Her life was perfect the way it was and she wouldn't change it for anything or anyone.

"He is okay." Hunter muttered without looking at her. "He isn't sick or anything."

Something felt fishy. So fishy.

"So why isn't he here?" She asked as she looked at Hunter with a small frown.

"Holden told me he was getting tired of playing with the same girl. He said he is still not eight," Hunter said with a guilty frown as he looked back down at his comics.

Sky's smile instantly fell. "He said that?" She asked, biting her lower lip, refusing to shed tears. She wouldn't cry for the jerk, no matter how much it hurt her.

"You are missing something, Hunt. He said he was getting tired of playing with the same boring flat-chested girl," Aditya added the fuel to the already burning flame and it burned Sky. It burned her self-esteem and pride and confidence.

Sky cringed back as if she had been hit, but the boys didn't see her utter look of mortification, or the way her eyes shone with tears she refused to shed.

They were deep in their comics by that time. Having guys as friends was all fine, until you needed someone to be emotionally there after throwing a bomb, like, your best friend didn't want to play with you because your chest was flat, yes, that kinda thing, and then it was all bad. They were the best of friends anyone could ask for, but they were still emotionally stunted and Sky didn't know whether it was because they were still young or whether it was a genetic error. Maybe both.

Sky glared at them, wishing they would just look up from their damn comics. If she could burn those comics with her eyes...

"Aadhi, dude, you need to know when to shut up," Hunter said with a frown as he finally looked up from the comics, after he finished the last line, and Aditya gave him a sullen look.

"She doesn't care she has no boobies. She is the most badass, most wonderful girl in the whole wide world." Aaditya said with a toothy grin. Sky shook her head at him. It was the right thing to say, but the damage was already done.

"Yeah, like who even cares?" Sky said with a belligerent frown, but inside she wasn't as confident. Something kept scratching at her insides and her heart felt weirdly quiet. Something felt so, so wrong.

"Don't worry about Holden, Sky, he is just an ass." Hunter reassured the chalky looking girl.

Holden wasn't an ass. True that Holden was always a little distant, a little dark when compared to Hunter's light, but he wasn't an ass. At least he hadn't been an ass to her until now.

"He- he is such a jerk. I hate him." Sky whispered as she stood up. "I am going to get cleaned up. You guys, don't forget to lock the door when you leave, okay?" Sky said and looked at the boys. They both nodded in agreement.

She grabbed the handrails and climbed down, hoping her legs wouldn't collapse under her. She walked inside her home and all the time, she prayed she wouldn't break down and cry. She didn't want to cry now. She wouldn't cry for an egoistic jerk. She wouldn't cry for someone who didn't give a damn about her.

She grabbed a T-shirt and walked towards the bathroom. As she took a short bath and wore her T-shirt, she stared at herself in the mirror. She was turning thirteen in a few weeks and she almost looked like a guy. Tall, thin, short hair. She had never minded it before, she had never given a s**t about how she looked, but hearing Aadhi tell her that Holden thought she was boring, because she had no boobs, it made her feel bad, it made her feel like she wasn't girl enough. It made her self-confidence teeter and fall. How could Holden do something like that to her?

Is there something really wrong with me?

She glared at herself in the mirror. If looks could've made her bust bigger, she would have had boobs by then. But no, nothing was happening no matter how hard she stared at them.

How could you do this to me? I hate you, Holden Reed. I hate you.

___