Tamed by the Bad Boy Next Door

A Change in Perspective

Panicked, Ainsley couldn’t help but call after him, “I won’t do it again!”

Jay neither stopped nor turned around, so she had no choice but to scurry after him.

“I’ll go and talk to her for you,” she continued, walking slightly ahead so she could see his morose-looking face. “I’ve heard about what the problem was. If I explain it to her, maybe she’ll see it was all just a misunderstanding—so don’t lose hope just yet.”

But despite Ainsley’s best efforts, Jay wouldn’t even look at her as he shook his head.

“It’s too late,” he said. “Please, just stop bothering me. I want to be alone right now.”

Having been told off twice already, Ainsley didn’t continue pestering him. She stopped walking and could only watch as Jay increased the distance between them.

On the grassy path, Seb approached her from behind.

“Why are you even meddling with this?” he asked, sounding annoyed though he was genuinely curious. “Is it to make yourself feel better?”

From looking crestfallen over how she couldn’t get through to Jay, Ainsley went on to glare at Seb in a snap.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she replied, sounding equally annoyed. “You said it yourself—this is my fault. I can’t just go on with my life without even trying to fix it.”

Seb snorted lightly and looked away. “That’s great and all, but what’s the point? It’s not like their relationship is worth saving.”

Ainsley’s lips parted in disbelief. “How can you say that?” she said, looking at Seb like she thought he was a monster. “Have you not been paying attention to your friend? He’s freaking miserable.”

Seb felt a pang of guilt, but he still replied, “So? He’ll get over it. Like people do all the time.”

Ainsley let out a breath as if she was impressed. “Wow… When someone is struggling, do you think it matters to them what may or may not happen in the future? The only thing that’s important to them is what they’re feeling now. And right now, Sebastian, your friend is drowning—but here you are, unwilling to lift a finger to save him.”

With that, Ainsley began to walk away, but not before she said in parting, “If a time ever comes when I’d need someone’s help, I hope you won’t be the only one around I can count on.”

…

Long after Ainsley had left, Seb remained standing where he was, with others giving him weirded-out looks as they passed by him.

Of course, given how conventionally handsome he was, those weren’t the only kinds of looks he was getting.

Seb ignored them all. As he finally started walking in the opposite direction of where Ainsley went, he thought, ‘Well… that was surprising.’

The things the girl had said aside, he really never thought she would be the type to care about something like this. She always seemed to be lost in her own fantasy world, so much so that nothing else seemed important to her.

Instead, she was going out of her way to correct her perceived mistakes, even endangering herself in the process without a single clue.

Yes, Seb had said things to her that implied he thought she was to blame, but that wasn’t really the case. He didn’t think this was her fault. He only took a jab at her because he couldn’t deal with the guilt and the anger he was feeling for himself.

Ainsley was right. Far from helping his friend feel better, the stunt he had pulled yesterday had only made Jay feel worse.

What did it matter what he thought of the situation, anyway? From Jay’s perspective, it was like the world had ended. He would never think that things were better off this way.

And the reason Seb couldn’t understand that was because he didn’t know what it was like to have something good, only to lose it in such a stupid manner.

No matter how much he hated to admit it, it seemed, there were a lot of things Seb needed to think over.

But who would have thought…?

Of all people, he actually owed this realization to That Girl.

***

“Remiii,” Ainsley whispered to her friend in a pitiful-sounding whisper. “I’m so scared… What if she slaps me? What if she grabs me by the hair and tears off my scalp?”

The raven-haired girl beside her let out a resigned sigh. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Remi replied. “What kind of civilized person does that over a boy? Besides… I’m right here with you. I’ll pull her off you in case it proves necessary.”

“Huhu…”

“Oh, get it together, Ains,” Remi said. “It’ll be fine.”

At the moment, the two were waiting together outside another classroom in a different building. As this was at the end of the very last period, the sky outside was already getting dark.

Fortunately for Ainsley, her best friend had been free to come with her this time around. It really did scare her more, after all, trying to meet Colleen and hopefully have a polite conversation with her.

But while Remi did want to reassure Ainsley, a part of her thought there was a real chance that something like what Ainsley feared would happen. Jealousy could really make some people do crazy sh*t.

Regardless, this hot water that her friend had landed herself in was far tamer than the other possibilities she was concerned about. She only hoped this would be the worst of it.

“Oh, oh—here she comes…!”

As if by instinct, instead of coming forward to approach the other young woman they came here for, Ainsley took a step back to partially hide behind her friend.

“Girl, what the hell?” Remi hissed.

“Oops. Sorry.”

Putting on the bravest face she could muster, Ainsley slowly left her hiding place, allowing Colleen to notice her in the process.

Predictably, the girl greeted her with an immediate frown.

“What do you want?”

Confusing even Remi, let alone Colleen, Ainsley began with: “I’m a weirdo.”

“…Excuse me?”

“That’s all I am,” Ainsley continued. “I’m weird and I’m immature. I had a crush on your boyfriend… I mean, I still do, a bit, but—! That’s not the point! The point is… I really wasn’t after anything else. I’m just a weirdo who likes to look at people. I am so not worth getting jealous over, and I’m certainly not worth you breaking things off with a sweetheart like Jay.”

Before Colleen could express her displeasure over that last part, Ainsley hurriedly went on, “You know that too, though, don’t you? How sweet Jay is—how genuine he seems about everything. You wouldn’t have come to like him otherwise. But… he’s also a weirdo. Not in the way I am, but still…

“It’s why he was being so self-conscious whenever I’m around. It’s not because he likes me—did you know he was the one who asked me to stop looking at him? He was being self-conscious because he didn’t want you to think he likes me. Please believe that, Colleen. He was only being a weirdo about me because of how crazy he is about you.”

Ainsley paused to let Colleen take that in. She hoped that she was getting through to her, but it was hard to gauge anything from the other girl’s hard expression.

“I mean…” Ainsley said carefully. She was still a little scared that the situation could turn physical, though Colleen didn’t really seem to be the type to go that far. “Have you seen what he looks like lately? He’s so heartbroken, he’s practically been walking around like a zombie. He wouldn’t even give me the time of day when I tried to apologize—”

“You talked to him?” Colleen suddenly interrupted.

Ainsley gulped. “Er… I did…?”

For the first time since the encounter started, Colleen showed an expression other than anger. She looked hurt, almost to the point where she might cry any second.

Ainsley had no idea what had triggered it, but then Colleen said, “See? It’s no use… Everything you just said, I know all that, okay? But it’s me… I’m the problem.”

Before Ainsley could wrap her mind around what she meant, Colleen turned around and took off.