Destroying Him

Chapter 2

"You won't believe who is my partner for the science fair," I said to Dylan during lunch.

"Who?"

"Ethan. Prescot."

"Ha, no way. This will be funny."

"And why is that?"

"Because he's a womanizing asshole."

"What do you mean? He seems kind of...nice."

"He has managed to get half of the girls in the school to fall in love with him. Of course he's nice to you."

"You're right. Never let your guard down with Ethan Prescot."

"It never hurts to be careful."

"Yep. I'm going to be use the bathroom before class."

"Alright. See you after school."

I was crossing the cafeteria on my way to the bathroom when a hand grabbed my wrist, spinning me around to face him. 

"Let's meet up after school to work on the project," Ethan said. 

"Hi?" I said, making him realize that he forgot the greeting portion of a conversation. 

"Hi. So I'll see you after school today?"

"Yeah, let's meet in the library."

"Cool," he said, his eyes locked on mine. His hand was still encircling my wrist. 

"Are you going to let me go?" I asked, interrupting his staring. 

He released his grip and I continued about my day until the last bell rang. 

I grabbed my things and headed towards the library. It was mostly empty apart from a few people studying and reading. 

I got a text from Dylan asking me where I was. Shit, I said I'd meet him after school. 

I told him I needed to work on a project with a friend. Not a complete lie. I don't know why I lied. I mean, we were just going to work on a project. I was overthinking everything again. I always do this. 

"Hey," a voice interrupted my thoughts. 

"Hi. You ready?" I asked Ethan. 

"Yep."

We began planning a draft for your experimental procedure when he received a call and a picture of a blonde girl popped up on his screen. It was the same girl I saw him with earlier. 

"Shit," he mumbled. 

"Girlfriend troubles?" I asked.

"Not my girlfriend."

"Tell her that," I joked. 

"I'll sound like a dick."

"You let her believe you are her boyfriend because you are afraid to sound like a dick? Do you even like her?"

"She's hot."

"That's not a yes."

"It's good enough."

I rolled my eyes in response. I decided not to try to understand his logic. He's living in a different world, which I could not even begin to understand. Dylan was so right about him. Ethan Prescot was an asshole. 

"Go ahead. Say it," he said, probably noticing the judgment in my face.

"It's not my place."

"You obviously have an opinion about this. Just say it."

"Okay. Have you ever considered...not dating girls for looks?" I tried. "I mean, I get that you have the whole fuckboy thing going on, but don't you get tired of hooking up with almost identical hot blondes over and over again?"

He started at me silently. 

"Alright. Go out with me," he finally said. 

"What?!" I asked, shocked. 

"You just said that I should--"

"I did not mean me! God, you are hopeless."

"You're not hot and blonde."

"Excuse me?!" I yelled. People were beginning to look at us. 

"I mean, you just told me to stop fucking hot blondes, and you don't look like those girls."

"You just called me ugly!" 

"No I just said that you're not a hot blonde," he protested. "Which you can't be because you aren't blonde."

"You are such an asshole," I said, picking up my things and throwing them into my bag and heading out the door. 

"We still have a project to work on!" he called out after me. 

I realized that he was right. We did have a project to finish and me grade depended on it. I had to do well on it, which meant putting up with this jerk. Be stronger than his words, I told myself. I turned around and took my seat again. 

We worked in silence for a few minutes. 

"You are really pretty," he said so quietly that I could barely hear those words. 

"What?"

"I didn't mean that you aren't ugly. You are far from ugly," he elaborated. 

I wasn't sure what to say, so I stayed silent, my brain not processing the words that he just said. What was I supposed to say? 

We worked in silence for the next hour until Dylan came to pick me up. I told him to meet me in front of the school because I didn't want him to see me with Ethan. 

God, I was lying to my best friend in the whole world. 

Because of Ethan.

Ethan Prescot.

Who called me pretty. 

Shit.