[Excerpt] [Bad Boy's Guide to...] Being Not Good (Bad Boy's Guide Book 1)

Chapter Four: Davin

Okay, so she looked great.

But when did she not?

Avery St John must have been born looking great.

'Oh, nurse, we'll just need to clean the baby before passing her to Mrs St John.'

'No need, doctor. She's perfect just the way she is.'

Yeah, of course she was.

There was thankfully no sign of whatever Blair and Avery thought Goths look liked these days. But I was hopeful that this was the most colourful she got because I couldn't handle any more than that.

She wore a cropped singlet thing covered in flowers and colours that assaulted the eyeballs while they were busy trying to cop too long a look at the smooth skin of her stomach. Her skirt was short and floaty and pink with a bow at the front. The monstrous heels on her feet were yellow and made you instantly forget the seemingly miles of leg you'd just got to perve on as you made your way down. Add to that the purple bow in her tumbling blonde curls and the little green bag she held and I felt like I was going to be ill.

But she'd look great while I was doing it.

Still. One date.

I could do this.

I felt totally underdressed, but I could do this.

One date and we never had to talk again.

"Hi," I finally said because it had just occurred to me that she'd said hi when she opened the door and I'd been standing there ogling her like a total twonk in front of her mother, her best friend, and what I assumed was a little sister rather than just some rent-a-kid play-date.

Avery giggled and I still didn't much care for it. "Hey."

"You ready to go, then?" I asked her, keen to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"You two have fun," her mum said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, and I nodded to her.

Avery stepped outside and I'll admit I didn't hate the fact she wasn't quite so short as usual. As we walked towards my car, I pretended I couldn't feel the searing hot stares of the three we'd left at the door.

"This is your car?" she asked and I looked at it like I'd forgotten if it was my car or not.

I tried to regain some control over myself. "Yes. That okay?"

She nodded as I opened the passenger door for her. "Yeah. It's nice."

It wasn't that nice. I mean it was a Jag, yes. But it wasn't all that. And I only had a Jag because my dad hadn't had the heart to get rid of my mum's car after she'd died. Fast forward eleven years and he's driving her old car because I refused to get in it, leaving his car – said Jag – waiting for me to drive.

"Thanks." To cover the sudden weirdness I felt at the thought of my mum, I added, "Backseat's nice and roomy, never been used, stain-free guarantee," gave her a wink and closed the door on her laugh. Hang on. "Do not cover weirdness with jokes. You'll just encourage her."

I paused before I went to the driver's side, totally conning myself that I was able to see through this nightmare.

"Jesus. It's just one date. How bad could it be?" I ask you.

Taking a deep breath, I went around and got in the car.

"You heard about the break up, then?" she asked as I started the car.

Eventually the rumours had got around to even me. "Who didn't? I think it's about the only thing getting through the Great Firewall of China this week."