Love Me Till The End

Something Changed

“You use this to come to school?” He asked when Tulip was almost ready to go home on her bicycle.

“Do you have any problem?” She asked as she mounted her bicycle.

“Nothing, I just thought you might be some rich brat from your attitude the other day,” he said with a smirk and Tulip fought the urge to wipe it off his face.

“I’m glad that we have similar thoughts because that was the same impression I got when you tore my book,” Tulip said through gritted teeth. “Also, I’m so, so sorry to inform you Mr. Hudson but you’re only half right unlike me,” she made a fake sad face before paddling her bicycle not giving him time to respond but before she was far away, his voice came from behind “that I can see Miss Goody-two-shoes.”

Tulip wanted to curse at him for calling her that, but she knew it would do her nothing good, so she remained silent and increased her speed. She knew both of them were referring to two different halves of ‘rich brat’. Tulip knew she was not a brat and she’ll never be. The way she had acted in past was more notorious than bratty. She was rich but not a brat but that the exact opposite of being, Tyler thought. Tulip knew he was referring to her being a brat, but it didn’t matter to her. The only thing mattered to her now was to work hard and make her dada proud.

And this was how Tulip’s first few weeks were like. Tiring classes, assignments and other things like the occasional ride to 17 mile drive because it’s had enchanted Tulip like nothing else. There were times she would sit with her dada and try to learn more about their business because until now she was never interested in it, but now she wanted to be a dutiful granddaughter.

One thing that annoyed Tulip was Tyler Hudson because from the day in the library he never stopped. Once in a day or two he would find some way or other to steal Tulip’s peace of mind, whether it is by throwing paper balls on her all throughout the class or changing her chemicals during the practical.

One day during the free period Tulip went to the library to complete the assignment in the school only so she could give some free time to herself or probably ask her Dada for some work. She was going down the stairs when she heard some noise that sounded like a moan coming from the stairs only.

Ignoring it, she took the steps and turned, but stopped when she saw a couple making out there.

“Horny teenagers," she started continuing her run down the stairs, giving them one last glance. The glance turned into a deep silent conversation when the boy there was the one who annoyed the hell out of her.

The girl placed a hand on Tyler’s cheek and made him look at her. Tulip felt like someone had dropped a bucket was ice on her. She quickly averted her eyes and went away, feeling a strange heaviness in her chest.

The fact she felt a little attracted to him was also not helping her. She even started doing yoga and meditation to divert her mind from unimportant thing. To control her anger and maybe jealousy, too. But she was sure what she saw was going to haunt her for days.

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Today they had their first test for which Tulip has been preparing for days. Even after studying so all night, Tulip felt nervous about it.

“You’re going to be just fine, honey,” her dada told her when he saw her nervousness, and that one sentence lessened her nervousness. She snapped back to reality at the voice of Mrs. Helen, their chemistry teacher.

“I want complete silence and don’t even try to cheat, now start your test,” she said before taking round around the class.

The paper was easy for someone who studied even for a day and Tulip had studied for a whole three days, so it was nothing more than a piece of cake for Tulip. She completed her paper and was the first to submit the sheet, but what happened next shocked her. The next person who submitted his sheet was Tyler.

She didn’t know how he was in his studies so she could not say that whether he submitted the sheet early because he didn’t know the answer or if he completed it just like she did. Deciding it was not something she should be worried about so she just went to cafeteria as she skipped her breakfast earlier because of her nervousness.

Tulip took two bacon sandwiches and went to sit on the table in the farthest corner. She was halfway through her first sandwich when Tyler came and sat on the chair across the table.

“What do you want now?” Tulip asked, while munching on her sandwich.

“Eating just like you are,” he said, raising the sandwich he was eating. She just ignored him because she has learned in the past weeks that it was the best thing to do.

“How was your test?” He asked. This was them fighting for one minute and talking like two normal students. The dynamic they had was complicated, and it confused Tulip every time she thought about it. She wasn’t sure where they stood, they were not friend that was confirmed, maybe be they were classmate.

“Just fine,” she said flatly. Then Tyler picked the other sandwich that was left on Tulip’s plate, not even bothering to ask for permission.

“Why do you always try to annoy me? Don’t you have another work?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

“I try that because I’m not yet successful in annoying you,” he said, taking a bite from her sandwich.

“Oh, you are really successful because you annoy the hell out of me. Now, can you stop doing it?” She asked.

“But I didn’t get the reaction I want,” he said, leaning back in his chair like he has all the time in the world for this conversation.

“What kind of reaction?” Tulip asked, confused by what he was referring to.

“The one I got on your first day here in the Horizon.” He answered as he fixed his eyes on her face.

For a second Tulip's eyes widened at the realization that he noticed the change in her before she tried to act innocent, as if she doesn’t know what he is talking about. Even Elizabeth had mentioned nothing about the change in her behavior, but Tulip thought it was not a big deal as they met for one day only before she changed.

But it was the truth: had it been her old self, she might have dealt with his annoyance other than telling him to stop annoying her.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Tulip said, trying to get away from there and avoid the conversation.

In a flash of a second, he was in front of her, covering her petite frame with his large body. She was 5’1 but with his 6’2 she felt even smaller. Tulip tried moving back but only hit the wall she was caged between wall and Tyler’s body as they were on the corner already.

“Something changed.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Nothing changed, not your annoying self and definitely not me,” she said, trying to move past him, but he placed both of his hand on either side of her.

“What do you want Tyler?” Tulip asked.

“I want to know why you changed. I could see you holding back yourself from something you would have done if it had been you from the first day. On the first day I felt like you were tit for tat kind of girl but now you feel like those typical nerd. You are always in the book, always trying to control yourself from snapping back at me.” He said making Tulip look away from him.

“It’s nothing. You are totally wrong,” she said, not looking at him.

“If I’m wrong, then repeat yourself to me by looking in my eyes,” he said, and forced her to face him by placing his hand on her chin.

“You’re...” she was cut off when Tyler placed his hand over her mouth but what shocked her more was the incident that followed. Tyler placed his lips over his own hand at the same place where her lips were on the other side of his hand. Despite the hand in between their lips, she still felt the electricity passing through her. She shivered when he pulled her to him by her waist. Tulip wanted to pull away, but her mind was in shock and the feeling she was feeling felt good.

She closed eyes, feeling the warmth of his skin as he caressed her face with one hand. Both of them stayed still, not wanting to break the magic because in that moment nothing else matters. At least it did not for Tulip. For days she dreamed of having him close to her, though he always annoyed her. It reminded her of the times when their eyes meet in between the classes and they held each gaze for a second too long before pretending it never happened.

“Pull away Tulip, this is wrong. You don’t need this, it’s a distraction. You can’t be distracted,” a voice reminded her, and that made her push him away with all the force she could gather at the moment.

“Why did you do that?” Tulip asked, still breathless from whatever you will call what they did.

“Because I don’t enjoy hearing lies and I don’t want our first kiss to be against your will even though I know once I’ll kiss you senseless you won’t be able to resist it,” he said and pulled her to him once again. Tulip eyes widened at his word.

“What?” The word left her mouth from the shock she just received. Tyler leaned his forehead against her and inhaled deeply. Tulip fought the urge to close her eyes. Instead, she looked at his chest, not wanting to look into his dark brown eyes. She thought for a second what it would be like to place a hand over the left of his chest, where she knew her heart was, and feel if his heart was beating as loudly as her.

“I’m sorry I should not have done that but I can’t fight this pull Tulip.” He was also breathing hard, Tulip noticed. His voice was rough, like he was struggling for control, too. The way he said ‘Tulip’ felt like a prayer from his mouth.

“I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t control doing that,” he whispered. At that, Tulip wanted nothing more than to press her lips to his, but resisted. She knew what he was talking about. The pull of attraction that was there, but she knew better.

Tulip had seen him with different girls every other day. Some time had seen more than she wanted to, making out in the stairs, kissing in the parking lot, flirting with girls during class. Girls worshipped the ground he walked on. She would not be the cliché to fall for the bad boy. But the thing was, she was also not a good girl like those high school stories. Although she was trying to be a good girl but that was only for her family and she still could become bad if she wanted to.

“I’m sorry Mr. Hudson if I gave you any wrong sign but just to make it clear you have clearly mistaken that I’m interested in you. As for the first day, I was having a bad day, and you became the victim of my anger, for which I sincerely apologize. As you said I’m nerd, that’s true in all aspects. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I have classes to attend. Also, I request you to stop disturbing me. Otherwise I won’t have any choice other than to complain to the school faculty for bullying me and I don’t think that would be good for your reputation.” She said, looking straight into his eyes. Tulip took advantage of his shocked state and pulled away from him and went straight to girl’s washroom.