The Bad Boy & The New Girl

Ignoring The Bad Boy

Chapter 7

Ignoring the Bad Boy

I had spent all of yesterday avoiding Jayce in school. Every time I would see him coming my way would change directions.

Lilliana had scared me and I didn’t want to deal with any problems here.

Even in class I chose to sit away from him.

It was only my second day in this school and I had already made an enemy, I didn’t want drama. If there was one thing I had learned in the past couple of months, it was that there was no room for drama. I needed to focus on my studies and helping Bella.

“Ivy!”

I was walking away from Mr. Lathar’s class when I heard Jayce yell out my name. I pretended not to hear his name and continued to walk away.

“Ivy, right?”

I felt an arm link with mine and looked over to see a girl walking beside me.

“Yes…”

“I’m Ophelia.”

“Hi”

We walked down the hall and turned the corner, stopping once we were away from Jayce.

“Sorry I grabbed you but it looked like you were trying to get away from Jayce and I thought I would help.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

This girl that I had never met before was dressed in a preppy outfit. She reminded me of our uniforms back at Bergmont. I loved it.

“Your welcome. It’s your second day here right?” She asked.

I nodded.

“And the school bad boy is already chasing after you.” She joked.

“The school bad boy?” I asked.

“Jayce McKinney, he has a reputation.” She told me.

“What?” I was confused.

“Yup. And it looks like he wants to win over the new girl.”

I shook my head rapidly. “Oh no! It’s not like that, his dad asked him to help me out.” I explained to her.

“Then why are you running away from him?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

I was silent for a minute. I didn’t even know this girl and it felt like I was being interrogated.

“There you are!”

I looked over to see April walking towards us.             

“Hey Ophelia!” April said giving the girl a hug. “How was the debate competition?”

“We won, of course!” She answered.

“Of course,” April laughed. She looked at me. “So, you two have met then?”

I nodded.

“I was rescuing her from Jayce.” Ophelia stated.

“Rescuing, uh?” April asked with a raised eyebrow?

“Of course.”

They were giving each other looks and I felt like I was missing out of some part of the conversation.

I tried to ignore it.

But all of a sudden April turns to me, “Your avoiding him because of Lilliana, aren’t you?”

“I just don’t want any drama. I’ve only been here for two days.” I responded.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s harmless.”

Ophelia scoffed. “Ya right.”

“Lia!” April said giving her a look.

For once I was getting annoyed. “Guys!”

They both looked at me.

“What’s going on? Because believe me you guys are acting shady.” I told them.

“It’s fine.” April answered.

I decided to ignore it and move on, so I nodded and turned to walk to my next class.

“Wait Ivy.”

I looked at Ophelia, “What’s up?”

“You going to be joining the debate team right? Mr. Lathar told us you were part of the Bergmont team. I know you’ve gone and done it internationally but we could use someone like you on our team. You were ranked internationally.” She said.

This is what I needed. I needed to focus on school.

“Of course, I need to immerse myself into some activities.”

“Great! We have a meeting today during forth period, do you think you can make it?” She asked me.

I nodded. I would be able to avoid Jayce and Lilliana. That’s would you call hitting two birds with one stone. It was perfect..

“Great.” She said smiling at me.

I gave her a smile back.

“You should have lunch with me today, I can fill you in on everything you need to know, academically of course. I know that April probably filled you in on everything else.”

“Sounds great, lead the way. April will you be joining us?” I asked my new friend.

“No, you guys go ahead. I need to go find Jayce.”

I nodded and then turned to follow Ophelia.

I had had a great day!

Currently Ophelia, April and I were walking to April’s car.

She had a classic looking little red convertible. It was awesome, gave me a Marilyn Monroe vibes. I feel like that was April’s essence in a sense. Aside from her fiery red hair, she had a 50’s/60’s vibe to the way she dressed and looked.

“Hop in!” April yelled walking over the driver’s side.

I waited for Ophelia to get into the back and was looking around.

I saw Lilliana Jayce walking out of the school with a guy and a girl that I hadn’t met behind them.

Jayce looked up and saw me staring at them and smiled at me.

I felt this wash of guilt come over me. He had been nothing but nice to me for the past couple of days. But I just didn’t want to deal with any drama and I knew being friends with a guy like Jayce could make me more enemies then necessary.

“Come on Ivy!” I heard April say..

Shit I had been staring at him for a bit. I looked over at Lilliana and she looked like she was fuming. If this were a cartoon I could imagine the smoke coming out of her ears.

She grabbed Jayce’s arm and pulled him closer to her.

I quickly looked away. I didn’t want to watch them kiss.

I…I just needed to stay away from the two of them.

I tired to clear out my head and got into the car.

His face was just ingrained into my mind. Even as we drove out of the parking lot and down the street, my mind kept flashing back to him.

The girls were talking away as I gave them directions to my house.

“Lilliana seemed more bitchy than usual, what’s up with that?” Ophelia asked April.

I looked over at the two of them and April gave me a look.

I nodded my head.

I had spent the day with Ophelia and she was hardcore about school and down to earth when it came to everything else. I had already considered her my friend in my head. Sometimes you have a feeling and Ophelia reminded me of Ziva a bit actually. Ziva also has this confidence about her, no one messes with her. They both were strong personalities.

“Lilliana thinks Ivy is a threat.” April stated.

Ophelia laughed. “Of course, she is. Ivy’s gorgeous, Lilliana should be more than just threatened, she should be scared. That girl is a walking grenade, she goes off whenever there’s a little pressure applied. She needs to experience something like this in my opinion.” Ophelia said in a cheerful tone.

I turned my head and looked at her in surprise.

“What?” She asked. “It’s true. I don’t like her at all.”

April scoffed, “You hate her.”

Ophelia laughed, “I really do!”

I looked between the two of them and realized I was missing some crucial information but decided to ignore it for now.

I honestly didn’t want to talk about Lilliana, she was the type of person I wanted to avoid in this school.

“Ivy? What about you?”

I looked back at Ophelia, “What?”

“I asked if your going to go to the football game tomorrow after school?” She repeated.

“Oh, no, probably not. I want to catch up on some of the assignments and I’m not really into any sports.” I told her.

“Really? Jayce is on the football team.” April said.

“That doesn’t surprise me, actually. He seems like the type.”

“What type is that?” April asked looking over at me for a second.

I shook my head at her. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

Ophelia leaned forward. “You do have a crush on Jayce, don’t you?” 

“Please, I don’t think I know him well enough to like him.” I answered.

“But your attracted to him?” April asked.

“No.”

I had answered to quickly and I knew it the moment the word left my mouth.

The girls both gave me sly smiles.

I looked outside the car in attempt to air out my flushed cheeks. I could feel how read I must have gotten.

Jayce was really handsome but he was not the type of guy I wanted to be around, not that I was ready to be around any guy. I had other priorities and I wouldn’t let a guy come between my goals, not yet at least.

“Its that house right there..” I said to April, pointing to the old Victorian home with a black door.

“Did you paint the door or was it always black?” April asked parking the car in the driveway.

“Actually, my grandma painted it. This was her house.” I told the girls, jumping out of the passenger seat and pushing it forward for Ophelia to get out.

“I like it.” Ophelia told me.

“Of course, you do. You have a dark soul.” April told her sticking her tongue out at her.

I shook my head at her antics.

April was so lively and a bit eccentric you could say. 

I walked up the stairs and pulled out my keys.

I opened the door and let the girls into the house.

“Bella, are you home?” I asked, yelling out.

It was silent for a minute, then I heard. “I’m just getting ready for work!”

“Okay, I brought some friends over. We’re going to study and then maybe watch a movie.” I yelled up the stairs.

“Alright! I’ll be down in a few minutes!” She yelled back.

I led the girls into the living room that was still stacked with boxes.

“I thought you said you were all moved in?” April asked, taking a seat.

I nodded my head. “We are some of this is for storage and some of it came from Paris and Zurich. We sold both houses and most of the things in them but we still have all my brother’s things, some memorable stuff and things that we couldn’t sell, we still have a few more boxes coming.” I explained to them.

“Your brother?” Ophelia asked.

“Ya! My brother Noah’s in the Navy, he joined before we moved back. He couldn’t take any of this stuff with him so we have it here, we still need to set up his room for when he visits!” I clarified.

I hoped that would be soon. I missed Noah so much. He was the best brother, he just seemed to doubt himself too much. His need to prove himself actually scared me a bit. Noah had always been the calm one out of the three of us, he took after our father in that sense but now, leaving behind all the opportunities he’d earned in the real world to go join the Navy right after our dad passed away…it always seemed like a rushed decision to me but I couldn’t say anything. Bella had tried and he had shut down in a strange way. Noah was brilliant though, he had gotten into all the best universities in the world and was going to study medicine. I knew he was fulfilling his dream but I wished he could be with Bella and I as he did. 

The girls nodded at me.

“Well, if you need any help you should let us know. We can come help you on the weekend!” April said.

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

I heard Bella walk into the room. “Hey Bella, these are my new friends. This is April and this is Ophelia.” I told her pointing at the girls. “Girls this is my older sister Bella.”

“I girls. I’m so glad to see Ivy’s made some friends! This is great!” Bella said excitedly.

I shook my head at her. “Bella!”

Ophelia and April were sweet. “It’s great to meet you! Ivy talk about you quite a lot.”

“Yes she holds you in such high regards.” Ophelia added.

I praised y eyebrow at them but didn’t say anything.

“Ivy I have to head to work, there is food in the fridge and if you need anything there is some cash in your room, I was going give you your allowance today anyway.” Bella said.

“I’ll walk you out Bella.” I said, following her down the hall and to the front door.

Once Bella had her shoes on she turned to me. “What are you worried about?” She asked.

“Bella you know I don’t need any money. I don’t want you to worry about me. You should save everything you can.” 

“Oh Ivy! You’re the one that doesn’t need to worry. Everything will be fine, I have everything under control.” Said with a smile. “I’m going to be late, you have fun with your friends.”

I shut the door behind her and walked back down the hall to my friends.

We had a blast!

We ended up reheating Bella’s amazing food and making popcorn. We watched a movie and talked. I got to know the girls quite well and I shared a bit about myself, including how it was living at a full-on boarding school.

Before we realized it was already 8:30 and they had to get home.

April and Ophelia told me they were going to pick me up before school tomorrow morning and I agreed.

I waved goodbye to the two of them at he front door.

I locked the door and turned to face the empty house. 

It was so quiet… growing up our house had always been the center of commotion. A lot of fun and very serious at the same time.

I walked up the stairs of the old house and was a bit scared to be here all alone. Most of the time Bella had been at the house at least at night but her classes had started and on top of that she worked two jobs.

It was fine, I would be fine.

It was just a house.

I got to my room and I changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth and got into bed.

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The next morning the girls picked me up and we headed to school, talking away and just picking up from where we left off.

April parked and we were off walking towards the entrance.

I was busy looking between my friends and talking so I didn’t notice the shadow appear in front of me until it was too late.

“Ivy”

I looked up and right in front of my with less than in inch between us was Jayce.

“Jayce.” I said quietly.

“Can we talk?” He asked.

“Um…” I looked at April and Ophelia and they just nodded their heads at me and walked around Jayce.

They left me with him! I was trying to avoid him and they knew it.

“Come on, please? I just want to talk about Lilliana and me.” He told me.

“Umm, I don’t understand.” I said.

Jayce smiled at me. “I just wanted to tell you there’s nothing going on between Lilliana and me. We used to date but that was a long time ago. We’re friends but that’s it.”

“Okay…” I said trailing off. I didn’t understand why he was telling me this. It made me no difference if they were friends or if they were dating.

“I’ve talked to Lilliana and she shouldn’t be bothering you again. I will make sure.” 

“Okay…

“Ivy I wanted-

“Hey man.”

A guy I had seen with Lilliana the other day walked up to Jayce and did some type of handshake.

I had no idea who he was.

“Leo.”

“Jayce man, coach wants us for a quick meeting before first period.” Leo told Jayce.

“Alright man.”

Leo finally looked at me. “You’re the new girl right?”

I nodded silently.

“Mmm okay.”

His eyes trailed up and down my body, it made me feel really uncomfortable but I didn’t say anything. 

But he was really weird and creepy.

“Um, I’m going to go in, Ophelia and April are waiting for me.” I said walking around the two of them and towards the doors.

“Wait Ivy!”

Jayce walked over to me again.

“Yes Jayce?” I asked

“Come on man, we have to go or coach will be pissed Leo yelled out from behind me.

“I’ll talk to you later.” I told Jayce and walked into the school.