The Love of My Bully

“Pru, she’s not worth it.”

“Is that what you say to her every night when you’re done with her? That she’s not worth it?”

“You think I spend my nights with her?”

“Why not? It’s not like you need to worry about commitment. You can do whatever the hell you want, right? You don’t have to care about anyone. Your parents have your future mapped out for you.” She took a deep breath, hating how mean she sounded.

Finally, when she couldn’t take staring into his eyes another moment, she looked away.

“Are you done yet?” he asked.

She didn’t say anything. What is wrong with me? “Yes. You can let me go.”

“I’m not letting you go. The principal was heading our way and I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I can handle myself.”

“Pru, stop being a bitch and just accept you can’t handle everything.”

“You have no right to interfere with my life.” She stared into his eyes, letting him see all the pain he didn’t think he was causing. “Remember? You told me we were over, that we were through, and any right you had was gone.”

“Pru, I didn’t want it to be like this.”

“Neither do I. I wonder how you’d like it if Sean was all over me. Do you think you’d be happy about it? Do you think you’d be happy for me to hold you back, telling you not to hurt him?”

“I don’t want Sean anywhere near you.”

“We never get what we want, and you’re just going to have to deal with what happened. You’re not the boss of me, and you never will be.”

He slammed his hand beside her head but she wasn’t afraid.

All their lives, he’d hurt her, but in the past few months, she’d seen a side to him she knew no one else saw.

“Stop trying to win this. You won’t like where it goes.”

She smiled. “I’m not trying to win anything, Drake. You think people are going to talk because you pulled me off your fuck buddy? What will your parents think?” This time when she shoved him back, he didn’t put up a fight and backed off.

Brushing down her body, she pushed some hair off her shoulder and opened the door.

Everyone had disappeared from the corridor and while Drake had been holding her back, class had already reconvened.

“If you go to class, there will be questions,” he said.

Ignoring him, she walked out of the school. She still didn’t have access to a car, but she had no problem with walking. What she didn’t expect was for Drake to keep on following her.

“Your parents will probably see you being all naughty,” she said.

“Don’t care.”

“Oh, please, you care and we both know it bothers you.” She stopped and whirled around to glare at him. “I have to say I’m surprised, though. Doesn’t it get you all hot and bothered to know a couple of chicks are fighting? It must be really hard for you to contain yourself.”

“Why are you being a fucking bitch!” Drake didn’t back down from her taunting. He stepped right up into her face. “Is this what you want? You want me to get into your face? Growl at you? Scream a little? What exactly is it you want from me?”

“I want fuck all from you.” She tried to leave but he grabbed her arm. “Will you stop doing that? I don’t want you touching me.” She raised her hand as if to slap him across the face but he stopped her. She couldn’t do anything, and she hated him for it. “Ugh! Let me go.”

“You seem to think I’ll just accept this kind of behavior from you.”

“I really don’t care what you think you want or don’t want from me. I just want you to leave me alone.”

“You see, I’m trying to do that. For your own safety, I’m fucking trying. I know shit now that makes all of this impossible.”

Drake wasn’t hurting her hand but he also wasn’t letting her go.

“What do you mean?”

He glanced back at the school. “Are you willing to go for a drive with me?”

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Why are you suddenly nervous? Don’t you trust him? Don’t you want to go with him? Why is it so hard to give in?

Was it really hard?

When Drake started to lead his way back into the parking lot, she didn’t stop him, not even when he pushed her into the passenger seat. She went willingly. Even as she put her seat belt on, she knew this was a really bad idea. Nothing good could come from her going with him. Yet, she knew there was nowhere else she wanted to be. This wasn’t about hurting each other or annoying one another, this was about so much more and there were times she truly was tired of fighting with him. It seemed to be all they did.