Becoming the Bad Girl

Chapter 7

When Monday came around I was happy to admit that Raiden's group of friends were warming up to me. Venus still didn't talk very much to me but she didn't secretly glare at me or make remarks about me being around anymore.

Raiden and I were sitting in their usual spot as the others loaded up on food in the cafeteria.

"Mrs. Spanos pulled me aside this morning," I said as I pulled my notebook out of my bag.

"For what?" Raiden asked without looking up from his phone.

"To thank me for tutoring you. Apparently your grade is now passing in math. I didn't mention to her that we've only had one tutoring session."

He shrugged, "It's not a big deal. You needed to tutor me to get your grade up it's not hard to bring my grade up. I do the minimal to pass and you get your perfect grade. In the end, it's a win-win."

"I should thank you," I said opening my notebook and grabbing a pen; I began to doodle.

"I didn't ask you to." He said looking over. "What's this?" he asked picking up a folded paper.

"Nothing!" I almost screeched as I tried to grab it.

He raised an eyebrow and held the paper out of my reach, "That was quite a reaction to nothing." He mocked with a smirk.

"Okay, it's something to me but that's it. Now give it back."

"Now I'm curious." He said unfolding it.

"Don't you dare!" I said pulling on his arm in a pathetic attempt to grab the paper.

He chuckled at my useless attempt and began reading. "A bucket list?" he said turning to me with a smirk, "Let's see, number one, have first kiss. Ride a motorcycle, get a piercing, get drunk off my ass, lose V card, dye hair a wild color once, shoot a gun, skinny dip at least once, get a tattoo, and finally, fall in love." My face turned cherry red as he read through my bucket list. He chuckled, "I must admit, it's quite an amusing list."

"I'm glad you find my pathetic life amusing." I huffed out as I grabbed the paper.

"I didn't mean to sound like an ass about it," he said. He was silent for a moment like he was trying to think of the right thing to say. "I think it's cool you have a bucket list."

I scoffed as I shoved the list to the bottom of my bag, "Sure you do." I muttered.

"No really. I think it's cool that you have little goals you want to accomplish through your life." He replied as he went back to his phone.

I gave him a bewildered look. Was he being sincere? "Um, thanks?" I questioned.

"Besides, I feel pretty good knowing I was the reason for completing number two." He said with a quick amused glance towards me. "But I have to ask. Why is riding a motorcycle on there in the first place if you think of them as, what did you call it? A death trap?"

"It's because I think of them as a death trap." He looked even more confused with that answer. "Putting it on my bucket list was a way for me to do something that terrifies me. I guess I thought since I always do what I'm told and don't do anything reckless, that doing something that terrifies me is my version of being reckless."

"You know," he started and then paused as he looked at me as if trying to figure something out. "I think you act all sweet and innocent, but I think there's a rebel inside of you just waiting to come out, and when she does, no one's going to know what to do."

I blushed unsure if that was a compliment or not but Raiden didn't say anything else because his friends began walking down the stairs with a pile of food. Raiden didn't once mention or hint towards my pathetic bucket list after that.