Irresistible ✓

05: My Delinquent Friends

❝ You got style, I got popular demand, they got envy, I love how we make them mad ❞

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Entering the class, I sat on my usual place waiting for Ray to come. I was going to talk to him about the assignment today.

To pass the time, I decided to stick my nose in another one of Rainbow Rowells novel—Eleanor and Park. I'd read it about five times, and everytime I finished reading it, I couldn't stop crying a little. Everyone deserved a happy ending and I liked to think that Eleanor and Park did too. Every person in love, no matter how difficult it gets, should find a way to be happy.

Two fingers tapped on the desk as Ray looked down at me, his eyes clearly stating boredom.

"You're here." I said, with much effort. My cheek still hurt but it was better.

"Yeah I guess its obvious," he mumbled, rolling his eyes and sitting down. Once he sat himself down, his gaze landed upon my wounds. "How is your cheek? Any better?" He enquired.

"Still hurts, but I can speak. Thanks to you." I bit back, taunting him a bit. He scoffed and looked away muttering what I figured out to be whatever.

"Can we get this assignment shit done with?" He said, rubbing his forehead. "I could be out, you know, hanging with my buddies but here I am, doing an assignment, so can we finish it off?"

"Fine whatever." I replied, opening up the textbook and reference books.

Over the span of next ten minutes, I explained to him what he had to do and how this whole thing was going to work. I could tell he wasn't interested, but nevertheless he paid attention to which I was very thankful for.

"So yeah, basically this is what is to be done," I finished, passing him the paper on which I had jotted down the basic points. "I'll do most of the work, so only if you could find me the material, it'll be a done deal." I said, folding my hands.

"Okay." He stood up, stuffed the paper in his bag and walked himself out of the classroom.

How rude.

I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get through him. He even had distanced himself from his friends, not allowing them to pry inside of his mind and accepting how he was, so I didn't expect him to open up to me with a simple snap of my finger. It would take time.

But it was still a mystery to me as to why did I want to be his friend, why did I feel like helping him and why did I want him to open up to me. I didn't have the answer to these questions and I was extremely confused internally. No matter how much the people around me tried to convince me that he was no good, that he was just another delinquent, just another fucked up, prideful bad boy, my heart didn't seem to agree to that.

He definitely had so much more to him, he had warmth somewhere inside of him and I did believe in that.

Yes, he was scary, he was intimidating and he definitely was an asshole but his eyes. His eyes always gave him away. I kind of knew that he wanted people to like him, to love him but he had these walls built around himself.

Something had definitely happened to him. People always seclude themselves when they feel that the people around them will harm and hurt them the same way they've been in the past. They do not want to open the barely healed wounds again.

I wasn't pretending like I knew Ray inside out. I barely did. But I for sure knew, he wasn't the Ray that people were perceiving him to be and I was going to help him. I was going to be there for him as a friend and I was going to make him believe that even when this world is brimming with the waters of darkness, somewhere in the ocean, a lighthouse is there.