Bad Boy Attraction

~Haisley ~

I woke up from bed, yawning as I rubbed my eyes slowly. It was the end of summer and time for school-School.

I laughed bitterly. Honestly, I hated it. Right from high school to college, school had always felt like it was a battlefield, a battle I never signed up for.

I strolled towards the mirror, my feet dragging against the cold floor. My reflection stored back at me- pale face, sleepy eyes, tangled hair. I looked like someone who had fought a storm in her sleep . the reflection seemed to beg me, not to go, to stay in the safety of my room. But I had to - not for myself, but for my parents.

"Haisley, are you in there?" My sister's voice cut through my thoughts, sharp, abrupt and impatient.

"Yeah," I muttered, fumbling for my brush as I paced round my room.

"Be quick, I don't want to be late for my classes," she said coldly, her tone dripping with irritation and hate.

Hazel.

My twin sister.

Identical, people said. But I had always felt like the lesser version - a rough sketch beside her perfect portrait.

Wasn't it supposed to be that reins shared a bond. A bond so deep that one could feel each other's pain?

That they understood each other without words?

Well not us. Not Hazel and me.

You see, Hazel didn't like me. Hate was too gentle a word - she despised me. And the worst part? I didn't even know why.

I had tried everything: talking, joking, even giving her space. But it was like trying to hug a shadow - the closer I reached, the faster she disappeared.

I sighed, strapping my bag across my shoulder and heading out of my room. The smell of buttered toast filled the air. Mom was humming softly in the kitchen, her hair tied up in a messy bun,but still managing to look elegant even in her

beautiful tone without even trying, she rarely cooked so why today.

"Good morning, sweetie," she greeted when she saw me,her eyes sparkling with joy.

"Morning," I mumbled, sliding into my seat at the dining table.

Hazel appeared moments later, her golden hair perfectly straightened, her makeup subtle but flawless. Even in a school uniform, she looked like she'd stepped out of a teen drama series.

"Morning, darling," Mom said to her with the same warmth she'd given me - but somehow, it always felt different, I didn't know why I felt like that.

Hazel smiled sweetly, that practiced, effortless curve of her lips that made everyone adore her. "Morning, Mom."

Our dad walked in with his newspaper tucked under his arm. "My girls, ready for a new semester?"

Hazel nodded eagerly. "Of course! I can't wait to see everyone again."

I just took a sip of juice, hoping no one would notice the silence hovering over me. I wasn't.

After breakfast, we climbed into Hazel's sleek car - another thing that screamed she's the favorite. I wasn't allowed to drive yet; "Too distracted," Dad had said.

The ride to Silver crescent College was quiet except for Hazel's music - upbeat pop songs that grated on my nerves. She sang along under her breath, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. I watched the scenery blur past my window, the morning sun burning through the mist, my reflection ghosting faintly against the glass.

When we arrived, the campus was already buzzing. Students filled the walkways, laughing, hugging, showing off new clothes and summer tans,something I didn't care to know about. I instantly felt invisible.

Hazel parked the car effortlessly and stepped out. Heads turned, noise erupted

Of course they did. They always did.

"Hazel! Oh my God, you're back!" a blonde girl squealed, rushing over to her not able to hide her excitement.

"Nora!" Hazel laughed, her voice full of delight. They talked animatedly, like best friends in a movie.

She left me alone, well she had always did.

No one looked my way.

I tighted my grip on my bag strap and started walking towards the main building, head bowed down. Conversations floted around me - parties, new teachers, summer trips. None of them involved me.

I had barely made it past the courtyard when I bumped into something. No someone. Hard.

My bag slipped, books tumbling onto the pavement

"Watch where you're going," a deep voice said, low and rough.

I froze. Stood still. The guy in front of me towered over me - messy dark hair, storm-grey eyes, and that unmistakable aura that screamed trouble.

His black jacket hung loosely over his shoulders and a cigarette dangled from his fingers, lit, ashes falling to the ground.

"I-I'm sorry," I stammered, bending down to pick up my books, wishing I could evaporate.

He crouched too, grabbing one before I could. His fingers brushed mine, just briefed, but enough, enough to may my breath hitch

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that you nearly walked into me, Flower," he said, a faint smirk playing on his lips as he stared at me

His tone wasn't cruel... just..... teasing. Dangerous, in a way that made me small.

But I finally found my voice. You could've moved too, you know."

Thatade him grin, slow - amused? "Feisty. I like that."

My eyes widen, before I could respond, someone called out from afar, across the courtyard.

"Xaiver! There you are!"

He straightened, shoveling his hands into his pokects. Catch you around, twin girl," he said with a smirk before turning away, leaving me completely stunned.

Twin girl?

I frowned, realizing he must have seen Hazel earlier - of course he did. Everyone did.

As I walked into the hallway, the whispers started again, never seizing to stop.

"Isn't that Hazel's sister?"

"They even look alike. But this one is different"

"She's so quiet... weird, right?"

I kept walking, pretending not to hear. I'd mastered the art of being invisible - it was safer that way.

My first class was Literature, one of the few things I actually loved. Books didn't judge. They didn't whisper neither did they compare.

I slipped into the seat near the back, pulling out my notebook. A few minutes later, the door opened, and the teacher walked in - followed by Xavier.

He looked bored, hands in the pockets, headphones still hanging around his neck. Of course he sat right behind me.

Great.

No pressure at all.

As the class went on, I tried to focus on the discussion about "Wuthering Heights," but I could feel his gaze in me, watching. Once, when I turned slightly, he smirked again - that same lazy, dangerous curve of his lips.

When class ended, he leaned forward, his voice near my ear. "You've got a habit of showing up where I am, twin girl."

I turned to face him. You're in my class. "I didn'tplan it."

He chuckled softly. "Maybe fate did"

I rolled my eyes and shoved my books into my bag, but I couldn't stop my cheeks from burning. As I left, Hazel was waiting outside, surrounded by her friends, lost on their own world. She looked perfect as always - like she belonged under the sunlight while I belonged in the shade.

When her eyes met mine, she didn't smile. She didn't even nod.

Just turned away.

And for a second, I wondered what it would feel like- to be seen, really seen - not as "Hazel's twin," not as "the quiet girl," but just as Haisley

Maybe someday, someone would.

But for now, all I could think about was my studies and that strange glint in Xaiver's eyes when he'd said fate. We'll he was just teasing. He was a bad boy after all.

But something told me - maybe this semester wouldn't be so invisible after all.

~Xavier~

I flickered ash into the ash tray, the black powder coloring the crystal tray. Smoke curled around me lazily as I leaned into the sofa allowing my weight to lie on it, my mind far away from this world the cigarette stay in between my lips as I go through the documents in my hand tossing the other documents as they were no use to me, but I stopped mid-air when my fingers fall upon the name of the person I was looking for "Haisely Flynn" her picture stapled to the side she looked meek- naive.

I smile, taking in another draw from my cigarette "Haisley" I muttered tossing the document on the table. My eyes glinting mischievously " Why are you smiling now? " Lucian said not looking up from his phone, making me remember that I wasn't alone" Nothing, just found something - or rather someone.... interesting" I say exhaling the puff of smoke. He faces me, giving me a knowing look -The one he gives me when I find a new toy

-someone to play with.

"Found a new toy to play with " Lucian mutters ignoring the smoke that floats lazily around the room

"No not a toy-a fucking meal" I say, my voice raspy with want and desire. Facing him so he could see how I was - Obsessed - yearning. He shares his head " I really pity those girls, you really have a way of attracting then even after breaking their hearts" he adds, his voice dripping with sacrsam.

Suddenly the door bust open, a red hair girl storms in. Her eyes swollen and red like she had been crying - like I care she walks up to me"How could you, Xavier? I thought you liked me" she snapps her chest rising and falling, her breath uneven. I scoff- tossing the cigarette stick at her"Don't be stupid, I never said I liked you," I say curtly "And besides I don't fuck the same girl twice" I add walking away ignoring the way she threw a tantrum.

Her piercing cries meant nothing - they were even useless - and it wasn't like she tasted good, with her wide pussy and disgusting body -well I had to work with what I had at the moment. But now I had something sweet - finally someone naive.

Gentle.

Her. Haisely.

Get ready flower, cause am going to make you crave - and obsess over me when am done with you. I let a faint smirk play on my lips already picturing her.Naked under me - chanting my name like a spell, screaming on her lungs as I drive into her.

The redhead's perfume still clung to the air even after she slammed the door behind her, a sickly-sweet scent that mixed with my smoke. It was pathetic.

Really - the way they always came back.

They never learned.

They thought I was some wounded beast, capable of being tamed, healed if only they bled for me long enough. The thought made the chuckle under my breath.

Lucian watched me with a bored expression, his thumbs scrolling across his phone screen as if nothing in the world could touch him. We were two predators in a cage, but lately nly one of us loved to play with his food.

He preferred efficiency.

I liked the dance. Watching them crumble for me.

"What's so special about this one?" he finally asked, dryly. He knew me too well. He knew there had to be something.

I leaned back into the sofa, cigarette dangling between my fingers, and lifted the photo again. The girl stared back at me from the glossy print - soft eyes, pale mouth, hair like honey left out in the sun. She wasn't like the others.

No hardend.

Not wary.

She still believed in something. Hope, maybe. And that made her dangerous. It made her....delicious.

"She's... different," I murmured, tracing the edge of her photograph with my thumb. "Not broken yet." I smirk softly

Lucian snorted. "You're going to break her."

"Of course I am," I said, smiling faintly. "But I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

He shook his head muttering something under his breath, but I barely heard neither did I care too. My mind was already pulling her apart, imagining the first look, the first conversation. The first look she would give me - shy but curious. They always were. And then the first time she'd let her guard down, thinking she was safe. That was the moment I lived for.

I stubbed the cigarette out, the ash blooming like gray flower in the tray. "Haisely Flynn," I said aloud, tasting her name, it felt so soft on my tongue, like slik, how she would probably taste I smacked my tongue."She won't even see me coming."

Lucian finally set his phone down and fixed me his usual stare - cold, unflinching. "One day, Xavier, you're going to find someone who isn't a toy. Someone who bites back. And this might be that one. "

I laughed dryly. "Then maybe I'll finally be entertained."

Later, when he had left and the apartment was quiet again, I pulled the folder closer. Her life was laid out in paper and ink

Later, when Lucian left and the apartment was quiet again, I pulled the folder closer. Her life was laid out in paper and ink - her address, her school, her family's names. She was twenty-one.

I imagined her- behind the class, sorting her books with those delicate fingers. She probably smelled like paper and soap.

She smiled to strangers who didn't who smiled back. That was the things about girls like her : they didn't see the wolves until the teeth was already in their throat.

I exhaled and closes my eyes, the image forming clearer now. I wouldn't go to her. No. She would come to me. I would make sure of that if I get the right spots. Find her in her world.

That was the trick. They had to think that.

I rose, leaving the folder spread open like a crime scene on the table. In the bathroom mirror, my reflection looked back at me- sharp jacket , sharper smile. There was a smear of ash on my face. I brushed it away and adjusted my collar. Time to start the game.

~Hazel~

I sat at the table, mother and father lost in their own chatter- and then there was Haisely my so called twin, the naive one, the gullible one. She looked like she wanted to dissappear under the flourcent lights flickering over us, her hand nervously cutting her untouched food as she bowed her head in defeat. I was the better one, the flawless Hazel, when I spoke everyone obeyed without even thinking.

I had hated her.

Since when I could remember, they always saw her as the inoccent one.

And me?

I was the trouble maker- the one people didn't like until I found her weakness - her vulnerability

The air around the dinner table felt thick, heavy with an unsaid tension, and yet, I relished it. It was so easy to feel powerful when the people around me were too absorb in their own worlds to notice the crackling tension at the center of it all.

"Hazel, can you pass the salt?"My father's voice broke through my thoughts. I didn't move right away, and his gaze made me feel a jolt of irritation. I tossed the salt shaker across the table with out a word.

"Thanks." He didn't even look at me as he accepted it, he diverted his attention back to my mother- the stupid conversation.

I glanced at Haisely. She hadn't said a word since we sat down. Her posture was slumping, like she was trying to make herself as small as possible.

She always looked like that-fragile, weak and broken. Made no noise, no requests. Always trying to make herself invisible in the presence of everyone- especially our parents, trying to blending the background, like a shadow she couldn't escape.

But I notice.

I always noticed.

Her eyes flickered up for a moment, meeting mine, Full of something-something like desperation. It made my skin pickle, tensed but I quickly wiped the feeling away, replaced with a cold emptiness I was used to.Her gaze fell back to her plate almost immediately. Too sudden, and I fought the urge to smile.

It felt good, actually.

Very pathetic.

"I hope you girls are enjoying your return to school is," Mom said, oblivious to the fact that Haisley hadn't even touched her food. "You should communicate more with your mates, Haisley."

"Don't you think it's early to be saying that? " I asked referring to her last words, my voice flat.

"It's never to late to try, Hazel," Mom snapped, not even sparing me a second look. "You could help your twin sister instead of staying inside your little bubble."

I bit my lower lip to stop myself from snorting. My mother always had her favorite -always comfort Haisley like she was some sort of angel sent down from heaven.

But that's what Haisley wanted, wasn't it?

To be loved.

To be perfect.

To be the one everyone talked about with affection in their voices. Too bad she didn't know how to play the game.

I did.

The very first time I realized she was.... weak, was when we were ten. Our birthday, of course. Our parents were out with friends, leaving us at home for the night. And like always, Haisley had tried to make us both a cake. She always tried to make things better, like she was trying to forced happiness into the cracks of our broken family.

I hated it.

It was stupid.

The cake was a disaster, too dry, frost too thick. But she smiled anyway, watching me eagerly as I took my first bite. I remember it so clearly. Her eyes were wide with hope, the kind that only a child could have, the kind I never had. I pretended to savor it, smiling back at her through gritted teeth.

I trashed it anyway, threw the rest of it away-completely unnoticed by her.

The next morning, she had looked so hurt when she found the cake in the garbage, but it was already too late. I didn't care. It felt too good, watching her unravel over something so small, something so insignificant.

But she hadn't learned.

She never did.

I could see it now, too.

How she tried to please everyone, to make everyone happy, to make herself small and quiet, never drawing attention to herself. The more she did that, the more I began to see the cracks-how she was the one who was easily manipulated, easily broken.

Trusted people too much. Believed in them. Hoped that they would never let her down.

I couldn't stand it.

The worst part? She still thought we were "the same." She thought we were connected-two halves of the same whole. I could see it in her eyes every time we stood in the same room, like she was waiting for something, waiting for us to come together, like some sort of cosmic reunion that would make her whole again.

It made me sick.

Iwas better than her.

I had to be.

I just had to keep reminding myself of that. I smiled staring at her, savoring every little emotions she made.

Haisley pushed Hee peas around the plate, the forks scarping lightly against the porcelain. The sound was small, barely audiences, but it sliceed through the human of my parents' conversation like a blade. I watched her, my chin resting on my palm, and tried to decipher what was going on behind those doe-like eyes of hers.

She was thinking about something - I could tell. The way her muscles in her jaw twitched, and every so often she would glance towards me, like she expected me to say something.

Apologize, maybe.

Or smile. Or offer her some kind of mercy I never had.

She should have known better by now.

"I'm finished," she murmured suddenly, her voice so faint it barely existed.

Mom frowned. "But you barely touched your food."

"I'm not hungry."

Of course she wasn't. Haisley never was. She fed on guilt, sadness and silence.

"Go ahead," Dad said absently, waving his hand. "Just rinse your plate."

She rose from her chair, careful and slow like she always was, afraid to make too much noise. I followed her very movement with my eyes,watching how the light brushed her pale hair, how her fingers trembled as she picked up her plate. It was almost beautiful - that fragility. Like a porcelain doll you could drop just to hear it shatter.

She turned to go, her shoulder brushing mine. For a moment, she froze. I felt her tense, her breath caught in her throat, and I smiled without meaning to. She could feel it - my control. She always could.

"Hazel," Mom said sharply, pulling my gaze away. "Stop glaring at Haisely like that."

I blinked, feigning innocence. "Like what?"

"Like you're angry at her."

"I'm not angry," I lied easily, my tone sweet as sugar. "I'm just... watching."

Mom sighed and shook her head, muttering

something about teenage moods, They were just to blind, too blind to see the difference between us and I leaned back in my chair, letting my gaze drift back toward Haisley. She was at the sink, rinsing her plate under the cold water, her back trembling slightly. The water ran and ran, even after the plate was clean. She was stalling - I knew it. Maybe trying to stop herself from crying. Maybe trying to make herself disappear.

Pathetic.