Bad boy

Chapter 3

Colby's POV

The next morning

Jake and I were walking to school but something felt off. People were looking at me different. I ignored all of them but I could feel their stares on me. As we approached our lockers Jake stopped and I looked up and realized why everything was different. Someone had spray painted 'GAY!' across my locker. I growled and threw my locker open before I put my entire backpack inside and Jake did the same.

"Someone wanna tell me who the hell thought this was a bright idea?" I hissed at the crowd of bystanders that instantly all pointed at Maggie who was throwing a spray can in the air and catching it. Jake snatched the can out of the air and threw her against the wall. I pinned her there and growled at her but all she did was smirk.

"Well doesn't this feel familiar? Though I think you were smiling and about to make hot love to me. Is that what this is?" She asked with a smirk and I punched her hard in the stomach. She gasped and groaned as she started to struggle against me. "You can't do this to me!"

"Actually I can, you know why? Because you. Spray painted. On. My. Locker!" I hissed as I punched her in between each word as my eyes got dark. She gasped and groaned as she tried to block my punches but I was much bigger than she was.

"You deserved it!" She screamed and I punched her again. "You're  the one that protected Sam!"

"I didn't protect him. I stopped Jake from making a dumb mistake. There's a difference Maggie" I hissed as I was inches from her face and she had bruises forming on her arms and I'm sure she had some on her stomach. Her eyes were wide and I felt like I had done enough as I shoved her into the wall again and growled. "Don't mess with me again or I won't let you off so easy next time" then I dropped her and glared at the other bystanders. "Well what are you guys looking at? Scram!" And they did, as I walked back to my locker, grabbed my bag and my cigs, pulling one out and lighting up before I went out to the bleachers. Jake started to follow and I looked back at him as I puffed out a ploom of smoke.

"I won't drag you into my angry mess if you don't want to follow. The choice is yours"

"I just want to make sure your okay" I sighed as I took another long drag and blew out slowly through my nose, looking like a slightly pissed off dragon.

"Thanks Jake I'll be fine. Just need to take a breather ya know?" Jake eyed the cigarette before he sighed and nodded.

"Just text me if you need something or you wanna vent okay? I'll see you at second period." I nodded and walked out to the bleachers and sat there spinning the cigarette between my fingers. I knew I probably shouldn't be smoking this right now, it would probably cause bad habits but I didn't really care at this point. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down as I tilted my face up to the sky feeling the warm sun on my skin. I was slowly starting to calm down, and I knew that the cigarette was helping though I tried not to think about it. As I was letting my thoughts wonder, trying to focus on anything but what Maggie had just done I heard someone clear their throat a few feet away from me. I opened one eye and looked over and saw Sam standing there looking all nervous. I closed my eye and took another drag.

"What do you want?" I mumbled as I blew a few rings.

"Well um I-I had seen what had um happened to you this morning and um-"

"Spit it out would ya? It's not like it's a million dollar question." He looked at the ground and became all flustered like when he thanked me yesterday. Then he took a deep breath.

"I just wanted to apologize for what she had done. In a way it's my fault because if I wasn't gay then you helping your friend wouldn't have caused such an issue." He looked as and I flinched the slightest when he said that. I hadn't meant for him to hear that part.

"Her stupidity isn't your fault. You should be allowed to be who you want. And for the record if I didn't feel like protecting you I would have let them bully you yesterday" he looked up at me still blushing but he had a light smile on his face. I smirked as I glanced over at him and took another drag of my cigarette. He must have noticed because he squeaked quietly and looked down blushing again. Then he mumbled.

"Isn't that bad for you?" I tilted my head to the side and looked at him.

"Is what bad for me?"

"Smoking. Isn't it dangerous to your health?" I looked at my cigarette and sigh before shrugging.

"Probably but I don't smoke enough to make it dangerous. Well until today anyway." I looked at my phone. I was gonna have to have two today if I didn't want to light up on someone at the end of the day. I knew I shouldn't but I didn't want to get in serious trouble today.

"You smoke to keep calm?" I nodded and he looked at me surprised. Then he looked at the pack next to me.

"Don't even think about it. It took weeks to get used to but you get addicted on the first hit. I don't want to give you a major addiction to this shit." I finished my cig and put it out on the bleacher before flicking it away from me as I blew my final two rings. "So tell me, how the hell does a bullied abused kid stay calm without being some kind of druggie or alcoholic?" He started to play with his fingers as he was studdeding through his thoughts and I smiled. "You can sit if it will make you less jittery"

Sams POV

I blushed hard and quickly sat on the bleachers, then realized I was sitting straight up and relaxed a bit. I wasn't at home waiting for a beating. Instead I was talking to Colby at school, skipping first period. I looked over at him and almost went all stuttery again. He was wearing black skinny jeans that were ripped at the knees, a simple white tee shirt and I leather jacket that clung to him perfectly. He had a dog tag around his neck and a nose stud piercing that I hadn't noticed until now. His hair was slightly hanging in front of his face and he had a beanie just barely pulled on his head. He had a tattoo that I could just barely see the edge of peak on his shoulder and his fingers were covered in metal rings. He looked surprisingly attractive for a bad boy who smokes on occasion, which might have been the reason why I couldn't look at him for long or why I got so jittery around him. He raised an eyebrow at me and I suddenly remembered that he had asked me a question.

"Honestly? I don't. But no ones done anything to piss me off. People either annoy me or hurt me and I suffer through that until it goes away but I've never let anyone make me mad. I always tell myself that their jealous, I have higher confidence and self respect than they do. So they hope to break mine so that theirs is higher, but that's never how it works." He sat there and thought about it for a second then nodded.

"That makes sense. But let's say you had to let it get to you, it was the only way to keep your image the way it was. How would you stay calm?" I sat there and thought about it before I looked up at the sky and smiled.

"I'd either go for a walk and just let my thoughts wander to happy things or I'd climb to a high point and look out at the city to remind myself that it'll be over eventually. Then I will be able to travel anywhere I want to." I was still looking up at the sky and didn't notice at first that Colby was looking at me with a smile. Once I noticed I started to turn toward him and he instantly looked at the ground.

"Wow...that sounds really peaceful" he said with a nod as he looked at me and I nodded.

"Yea it does." I smiled at him and realized I wasn't all nervous anymore. I was able to sit there and talk to him about simple things without stuttering or blushing or being jittery. We stared at each other for what felt like forever before the bell rang and I jumped instantly blushing. Colby chuckled and laid against the bleachers again with a sigh.

"You should go, before Maggie and Hannah sees you and assumes we were making out." I laughed nervously and nodded.

"Yea...okay. Well good luck and...b-be careful" was all I said before I stood up and jogged down the bleachers and almost ran into the kid that was beating me yesterday. I think his name was Jake. He looked at me with a smile before shaking his head and continued to walk toward Colby. Why was my life becoming so confusing and upside down? Was all I thought as I ran into the halls and out the front. Then I took a deep breath and walked toward my tree.