A Bad Boy's Worst Nightmare (Book 1)

18. Prom

Corey's P.O.V

It had been over a month since Kelsey had found me sleeping in Ryder's bed, and she still hadn't let go of it. I looked at the Astronomy final in front of me. I had met Ryder in the beginning of March, the tenth to be exact, and it was now May fifteenth. Two months. She had only taken two months to completely change me. I looked up and across the room, where Ryder had been assigned to sit while she took the final. She was filling out answers quickly, twirling her hair in her fingers lightly while she wrote with her left hand. Over a month since I decided to make her mine, and I still hadn't done anything about it. Other than spending every opportune moment with her, I hadn't done anything to show her that I was interested in her. What was wrong with me? If I wanted her, I had to get her. It should be simple.

Except it wasn't.

The bell rang, causing me to jump. Today was the last day of finals, and I had only just finished the final when it rang. Tonight was the Prom, which Ryder repeatedly insisted that she wasn't going to go to. Maybe I should just ask her. It would be a lot easier for me that way. I think.

When I walked up to her, there were a couple of guys lingering near her.

Since I had met her, she had directed most of her aggression and anger toward me when she needed to, so she didn't really scare many people anymore, even Lacy, who had been petrified of Ryder for two years. That meant people went around her more often. Specifically, guys.

"So...Ryder...Prom's tonight. You thinking of going?" douchebag number one asked.

She shook her head. "No point. I don't want to really."

"Are you sure?" douchebag number two piped up. "I'd really like to take you. If...uh...if you're interested that is."

Ryder smiled politely, but shook her head again. "Sorry. Dances really aren't my thing."

"Come on," douchebag one prodded. "It'd be fun. You know, dancing, slow dancing, maybe a little after dance fun," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

The sick look on Ryder's face gave me some satisfaction, but not enough. I tapped the guy on the shoulder. "Get lost, loser. She said no, so just drop it. She doesn't want to be your little fuck toy, understood?"

The guy looked at me, then paled. "Um...Tyler, maybe we should just come back another time."

The other one, apparently named Tyler, nodded in agreement, and they both fled.

Unlike Ryder, I still scared people.

Good.

She looked up at me with her brown eyes that I had come to love. "Thanks," she breathed. "I didn't know how I was going to escape that one. God, what's the big deal about Prom, anyway? It's not like it's the end of the world if I don't go." Ryder sighed, picking her backpack up. "How do you think you did on the final?"

"I think I did pretty well."

"Liar," she said with a smirk. "I was watching you take the test. You looked freaked out."

"I wasn't here for most of the year," I muttered defensively.

"I know," she acknowledged, reaching up and messing up my hair. She had taken a liking to doing that recently, mostly because it upset me to have her screwing with my hair. Ryder's fingers stopped in my hair for a moment, causing me to tense a little bit. "The white in your hair stopped spreading," she declared, finally removing her hand. "I was kind of hoping to see what you looked like with entirely white hair."