Falling for the Ruthless Bad Boy

Alyssa

The crowd roared behind me as Bennett grabbed a hold of the ball flying towards him. He caught it with so much precision I found myself grinning from ear to ear at such a mundane thing to do, to me that is. Without further ado, he lunged towards the end zone as he swiftly dodged the opposition deftly coming at him.

"Go, Bennett, go!" I winced as screams from beside me pierced through my ears, disorienting me for a second. I snuck a glance at where the sound came from and it suddenly made sense. Just a few feet away were the school's cheerleaders, headed by the one and only; Emily Sinclair. Her perfectly blonde hair swished from side to side and I found myself staring at her way longer than I planned to.

Shimmery make-up complemented her ruby-colored lips as she wore the widest grin the human face could produce. The fuzzy ends of her huge pom-poms tickled parts of her neck and collarbone as she hopped from one foot to the other, doing well to cover the extravagant v-neckline of her cheerleading outfit that showed too much skin if you asked me.

But that was the point, no one ever asked me....

"Goal!" Another ear-deafening sound cut my mini scrutiny of Emily short. I pulled my eyes back to the game so I could figure out what just happened and a huge smile grazed my lips when I found out. We won! And the winning touchdown was scored by none other than Bennett.

"Bennett! Bennett!" A good number of students in the stadium seemed to be yelling at the top of their voices as his teammates hauled him up onto their shoulders, joy carefully etched into their facial features.

In a flash, I saw his helmet fly off his head; one of the tigers had knocked it off.

Yes, the school's football team was known as the MAL-U Tigers.

"Go, Tigers, go!" more cheers erupted from the crowd as a replay of Bennett's touchdown filled the screen. We didn't just win the game, we beat the opposition by a whopping 32 - 31.

"Go, Tigers, go!"

Amidst the chaos, I tried to lock eyes with the man of the hour and I grinned when I eventually did. I watched Bennet's blue eyes light up the moment he laid them on me and I waved slightly, a pink tint circling my cheeks.

Call me crazy, but my breath hitched in my throat as I made out the words on Bennet's lips.

" Hold on a sec, I wanna go see my girl." And true to his words, he did. Another round of cheers and whoops filled the air as he rode on his teammates, till he was at the end of the pitch.

A metal railing divided the field from the rest of the stadium and no one else was allowed to be in the empty lot between the field and the seats, except the cheerleaders and well; me.

Ever since I started attending every one of Bennett's games, he'd arranged a special booth for me, just so I could watch him up close and no one went against him.

I could run into the game just to give him a hug or a really shy kiss and no one would say a thing. But I couldn't do that, it would risk his chances of being recruited by top teams in the state, even in the country too.

" Hey, you." His velvety voice had me turning my attention back to him. The crowd went silent as I became aware of the pairs of eyes that stared at us, literally drinking in our every action.

Beads of sweat lined his forehead as he ran a hand through his hair, but I didn't mind. I still found him hot as hell. Hotter even.

My cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink as I pouted, hoping it would unfurl the knots in my stomach. It didn't work.

That was the kind of effect Bennett had on me.

"You were amazing out there." I breathed, my voice a tiny whisper, but he heard me. His deep smile confirmed that. " Really amazing."

"Yeah?" He grinned, a boyish smile on his lips. "But I know something that can top that, do you want to know?"

"Yes!" The answer resounded all around us and we let out a laugh. Bennett's head tilted to the side as he asked a question only I understood and in response, I gave a small nod.

I gently pressed my eyes closed as Bennett's face drew closer, courtesy of his friends still holding on to him. I didn't have to wait for long as his lips crashed onto mine in only a matter of seconds.

Whistles and cheers buzzed all around me as Bennett did his thing, his lips slowly moving over mine. I felt him smile as we reluctantly pulled apart, before facing the outside world again.

An image behind him caught my eye and I instantly realized that the camera connected to the main screen was trained on us the whole time.

Oh, holy shit.

More cheers echoed around as the tigers whooped, each man slapping Bennett in the arm, all in good nature of course.

Eventually, they let him down on his two feet as the crowd slowly began to disperse, even the recruiters who were huddled together at the far end of the field.

"That was amazinggg!" Emily beat me to it as she squealed, the moment Bennett scaled the railing to the other side. " I just knew you would win."

"Of course." He wrapped his hand around my shoulder, before placing a kiss to the side of my head. " I had my lucky flower with me."

"Bennett, that's enough., I muttered under my breath as I blushed furiously, praying to God that my cheeks wouldn't start melting halfway. "You're embarrassing me."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way." A foreign voice came from behind us. "If you're done embarrassing yourselves, could you please exit the field? I need to practice."

Even before we spun around to put a face to the voice, I already knew who it was. In fact, we already knew.

"Hey, Cameron!" Bennett beamed at the sight of the man in front of him, a stoic expression on his face. "Where have you been?"

" It's none of your business." I couldn't be the only one who felt the tension these two radiated. You could basically see it in their eyes, at least, Cameron's Anyway. " Now move."

"Come on, man." Bennett's smile was evergreen. "That's no way to talk to your brother..."

"Step. Brother." Cameron never failed to correct him and if that wasn't the truth, there was no way both of them could be brothers.

While Bennett's hair shone in the sunlight, Cameron's jet-black hair had its own shine, making it a perfect combo with his green eyes. While Bennet rocked his pale skin, Cameron's tan skin held more than a dozen pictures of black ink swirled across his body, from his neck, down to his fingertips too.

"Something caught your fancy, princess?" I froze at the question he threw at me. "I caught you staring."

"I.." his voice had caught me off guard, and it didn't even help that his British accent was spot on. " Not exactly...."

" Easy now, brother." Cameron glared as Bennett stepped in, his hand sliding down my arm to slip in between my fingers. " Don't take this out on Alyssa."

"You're still doing this?" Cameron scoffed, half amused and half bored. He eyed our intertwined fingers wearily before bringing his gaze back to my face. "You never learn, do you?"

I kept mute as he took slow and calculated steps before us, just stopping right in front of Bennett and me.

"Remember, Bennett isn't who he seems to be." It was barely a whisper. I heard it, and I was sure everyone around a ten-centimeter radius would have heard it too.

And without giving me the luxury of having the last word, he stalked out of our midst, but not without checking Bennett in the shoulder, and hard too.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Alyssa

Time couldn't have been slower as I stared at the man in front of me, his red pen skating along the edges of the white sheet underneath him. This was the eighty-fifth one.

I would know because I'd been counting, right from when he started marking the damn scripts.

Couldn't he be faster? I wanted to yell out loud, but a tiny part of me wasn't sure I wanted that and I kinda agreed with it.

"Hey." I flinched at the touch of someone's skin over mine. Dainty hands wrapped around mine and only when I'd figured out who it belonged to, did I actually calm down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded as I whispered in the same tone she had used. I nodded again, twice, just so I'd convince her, but I knew deep down it was more for me than it was for her. "Yeah."

"No.I don't think so. " Vivian shook her head slowly, her brown eyes urging me to let her know what was wrong. But could I? I wasn't sure yet. "You're tensed up."

"No, I'm not.."

"You're clutching on to your pen like you're trying to hold on to your dear life." Vivian cut me off and my eyes flickered to my hand that was currently on my desk.

A small curse slid past my lips at the sight in front of me. She was right.

"And you only do that when something's up. So tell me, what's wrong?"

"Okay." I drawled in defeat, finally meeting her eyes. If there was one thing I admired about Vivian, it was how she always looked out for me. I guess that's why it didn't take long for us to be the best of friends. Or more specifically, my only friend.

"Is this about the test?" Oh, and I should have added she had this psychic ability to read minds too. Mine at least. It was either that, or I was really predictable. "Did you get an answer wrong?"

"No." Liar! Someone screamed at me in my head. I was never scared of tests, even if it was a pop quiz just like the one Mr Smith had just given us an hour ago.

But for some strange reason, I couldn't quite shake off the feeling that something was off. "At least I don't think so. What was your answer to the second question though?"

"47." Vivian chipped and I bit the inside of my cheek. I'd gotten a 2 as my final answer. "What did you get?"

"I um..."

"Order." Mr Smith's voice boomed from the front and I closed my eyes in relief, thankful for the interruption.

My eyes flew open again when I realized what that meant.

He was done marking the scripts.

Mr Smith had a rule he always stood by; the pop quizzes always stayed in class. It simply meant you'd get your results immediately and while I always looked forward to it, I wasn't sure I shared the same sentiment today.

"Sir?" I called after a while. I caught the attention of the whole class as I was the only one without a sheet of paper on my desk. "You haven't given me mine yet."

"I was getting to that. " His voice was cool and unnerving. "But before that, I want to ask; is everything okay?"

"Um." I bit down on my lip as the other students stared at me, their eyes boring holes into every part of my body. "Yes sir. Why?"

"This is why." He slammed a sheet of paper in front of me face down. I felt my heartbeat slow to a pause at that action.

Vivian's gentle smile and nod had me picking it up from the very edge. After taking in a mouthful of air, I flipped the paper over, ready to admit my fate.

"A D-?!" Vivian exclaimed a little too loudly and for once, I wanted nothing more than to pull her chocolate brown hair. "How's that even possible?"

Murmurs split through the class but that wasn't important, I had bigger things to be worried about.

"Sir?" My voice was barely a whisper. " I don't understand."

"Neither do I." Mr Smith's voice was curt. "This is the poorest you've done, forever. You got a good number of the questions wrong and it's never happened before. Is everything alright,Alyssa?"

"I.." my heart thumped rapidly against my chest as I scanned the class. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I knew I'd know when I found it. "Excuse me."

Without even waiting for his approval, I swiped my hand over my desk and shoved my belongings into my bag and walked out of the classroom as fast as my tiny legs could carry me.

I heaved a sigh of relief the moment the door to the girls bathroom shut behind me. I stalked to the mirror as I let my bag fall to the ground, a little thud filling the empty stall.

Bloodshot eyes stared back at me under the lense of my glasses. My hazel eyes were a dull color and I could literally see the worry in them.

What was wrong with me?

I'd never gotten less than an A- in any test and those were usually on my bad days. But today, this was unacceptable. A thought popped into my head immediately and I shuddered.

Remember, Bennett isn't who he seems to be.

Another shiver raked through my body. No, it couldn't be. It just couldn't. I was just reading too much meaning into what Cameron said and it was affecting me negatively, right?

Right.

There's no way he could be right. Cameron was literally the social outcast in our school so it shouldn't hold any water right?

If that was the case then why was it hard to focus during the test? Why had his words been ringing in my ears for the past one hour?

"Deep breaths, Alyssa." I cooed as I swallowed huge mouthfuls of air. In a flourish, I took my glasses off and turned on the faucet, letting the cool rush of the water calm my nerves.

I felt slightly better as the water splashed against my skin, before it's cool temperature seeped into my skin.

"It was probably a mistake." I mumbled to myself as I slowly put my glasses on. "I'll just head back to class and tell....Holy!"

The rest of my sentence died in my throat at the sight of the person in front of me.

While my heart hammered loudly against my chest in a desperate attempt to get out, he stood there, almost motionless like he didn't just scare the shit out of me.

"What are you doing here?" I fired at him, steadying my glasses on the bridge of my nose. "I'm talking to you."

Cameron said nothing as he stood still, his eyes raking over me. I peered at his green ones, perhaps I could find an emotion trapped behind them. But there was nothing, nothing at all.

"Cameron." I croaked, hoping it would sound more ferocious to him. "Why are you in the ladies restroom?"

I found myself taking two steps back as he took one towards me, his height looming over me. He didn't stop staring and I found myself sinking deeper into my skin.

"Wait!" My hand latched onto his wrist as he suddenly turned away. Irritation filled his eyes as he stared at the spot where our skin met and I pulled my hand away from him, a blush staining my cheeks. "I want to ask you something. What did you mean by that? What you said on the field."

"Maybe if you stick around long enough, you'll find out." He rasped. "Now let me go."

"Please, just tell me.."

"How about Bennett tell you, huh?" He shot back, a raging fire in his voice. "Go and ask him."

"But I'm asking you..."

"And I don't care!" I flinched at his loud octave. "Goodbye."

"You're bluffing." He halted in his tracks the moment the words left my lips. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"You wish." He scoffed, a dry chuckle following after. "

"Then why don't you tell me then?"

"You should ask your boyfriend." The words rolled off his lips carelessly and I found myself fuming underneath. "Or your friends. I'm sure they'll..."

"No!" I wasn't sure which startled him more; my loud voice or the fact that I was now in front of him, and a little bit too close for comfort at that too. "You're going to tell me what you meant by that comment."

"Why?" He cut me off, totally looking unfazed. "Just tell me one reason why I'd do that."

"Because I'm tired of being kept in the dark." I tossed my hands in the air before dropping them down again. "Literally everyone in the school knows something that I don't and you don't want to tell me about it! No one does."

"Because you can't handle it..."

"Yes I can." I stared him deep in the eye. "I can."

Time seemed to grind to a halt as I waited for his response. With each second that passed I became slightly and more aware of our proximity.

We were only inches away and if I listened closely, I could hear his breaths coming out in short rasps.

"Fine then." Something about the smirk he donned didn't sit right with me but I wasn't going to back down now. "Why don't we go pay your boyfriend a little visit?"

Alyssa

I stole uneasy glances around me as I walked down the empty hallway, my footsteps echoing around me.

With each class I passed, an awful amount of dread washed over me and it made me wonder, what exactly was I doing out here instead of being stuck in one of these classes?

A gruff huff from in front of me brought me back to earth, temporarily reminding me why I was stabbing classes. Cameron.

Cameron Diaz.

From my spot behind him I had a good view of his black hair and the messenger bag he shifted from one shoulder to the other from time to time.

It irked me, but I figured the least I could do would be to keep shut at least, until all this was over.

My mind wandered to Vivian and I bit down on my lips. The girl would freak out if she caught a whiff of what I was doing and whom I was doing it with too.

She wasn't really a Cameron fan and well if I was being honest, no one actually was and it made sense because he hated everyone back.

Literally everyone,but most especially me and I found that strange because,why would anyone hate me? Especially when I'd done nothing to harm them.

"Could you stop dragging your feet and let's go already?" Cameron barked up front as I tuned in to his conversation. " We don't have all day.I don't have all day."

"You're the one who's walking like you've got a spring stuck underneath your feet." I huffed as I jogged to meet him. It wasn't enough though, I still wasn't able to get to him. "Slow down."

"If you're really interested in what I want to show you then you should lighten your steps. " Cameron wasn't stopping. "Stop slacking."

"I'm not." I pushed myself Forward.

"Yes, you are."

" I'm not. If you would just...." The rest of my words hung in my throat as a shrill cry slipped past my lips.

An intense jolt of pain shot up my feet as my legs crossed over each other in an unnatural manner. Like that wasn't punishment enough, I fell butt flat on the cold tiled floor.

"Ouch!!" I winced as the pain spread through my body. Luckily for me, it didn't last for long but something else struck me, I was all alone. I patted my palm on the ground around me continuously until I'd found it.

Somewhere in between my impromptu fall, my glasses had slid off my face and plunked to the ground.

The moment I found it, I put it on just to find out that Cameron was nowhere to be found.

"Cameron?" I called out wearily as I scanned the empty hallway. I felt my heartbeat pick up its pace as the realization of what just happened dawned on me.

I was alone and the next class would end in no time and if a teacher were to find out I stabbed a class, I would be in deep trouble. " Cameron!?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I wasn't sure if I was to be relieved by his presence or scared by the anger laced in his voice, but I was sure of one thing, the closer he walked towards me, the more he looked like a menace. "Tell me."

"I fell." I whined. "And I think I might have sprained my ankle too."

"Get up." I froze. Did he not hear me? And couldn't he see I was hurt? "We don't have much time."

"But I..." rough hands grabbed me by the arm and in less than no time I was yanked upwards. An intense jolt of pain shot up my leg as I tried to steady myself, hoping not to hurt my already injured foot. "What did you do that for?"

"You were wasting time." Cameron frowned. "And we don't have all day. "The moment he made the sentence, I watched him turn his back to leave, but I wouldn't have it.

If he left, there was every tendency that I would fall and probably break both of my legs this time.

"Are you coming or..." the rest of his sentence died in his throat as I latched onto him, just before he could walk out on me again.

I didn't know what I was thinking or what I was expecting, but it was safe to say I didn't see myself being twirled around and pushed to the nearby wall, with no one else but Cameron freaking Diaz, only a breath away.

Green eyes bored into mine. His glare was so intense I shut my eyes in fear of what would happen next.

His cologne was a mix of sweat and cinnamon, with a musky finishing, and somehow I found it so hot my stomach churned.

"Why you little....." The bell signaling the end of the class cut Cameron short. My eyes flew open in a flurry just to meet Cameron's again.

They were devoid of any emotion, just pure rage and agonizing fury. "Dammit! Damn you!"

"Cameron, wait." But it was too late. He'd already taken a step back, taking his warmth along with him. "I'm sorry..."

"Save it." He snapped and I flinched. "We could have gotten there by now if...."

"What's going on here?" I'd never been more relieved to hear that voice.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Bennett walked out of the classroom just two doors away.

A flicker of confusion passed through his face as he took in the scene, Cameron and I being dangerously close didn't sound so appealing right now. "Cameron? Alyssa?"

"Of course you just had to show up." Cameron rolled his eyes as he clenched his fists. "You just had to, didn't you?"

"What's going on here?" Bennett repeated to Cameron this time more than me. "Cameron, what are you doing with Alyssa?"

"Isn't that cliche?" Cameron smirked as Bennett stalked towards him, a certain bounce in his step. "I should be the one asking you what you were doing with....."

"Enough!" I yelled, causing both boys to turn their attention to me.

It wasn't until after I'd yelled did I realize we weren't the only ones in the hallway. Apparently, the ending bell and the brother's high octave, had attracted a small number of people.

If you considered about a hundred pairs of eyes staring back at you like they wanted nothing more than to eat you whole to be small. "That's enough!"

"Did he hurt you?" Bennett was next to me in a matter of seconds. He took my hands in his as he stared at me, urging me to speak. "Come on Alyssa, you can tell me."

"I.." I swallowed, suddenly unable to form any words. "You see, the thing is..."

"Tell him the truth, Alyssa." Cameron barked again, cutting me short. I found myself gazing at him. What truth did he want me to tell? That I was hurt? And while on the way to bust Bennett too?

"Alyssa, the truth."

"I like to think she can speak for herself." Bennett joined our hands together, our fingers going over each other's. "So I'd like to hear from her and not you."

"It's nothing. For some strange reason, I couldn't hold Cameron's gaze.

I found myself looking at his black shoes and fun fact, they looked bigger than I expected. " I was just heading to the fountain and I tripped and sprained my ankle. It's nothing serious, I just bumped into him on the way."

"Lies!" Cameron looked like he could punch something right now, or even worse, someone.

"Are you calling my girlfriend a liar?" Bennett was literally head to head with Cameron in the blink of an eye. Our hands were still joined together and I tugged at him, hoping that would reel him in. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Tell him the truth, Alyssa." Cameron shot at me instead, his eyes holding some kind of emotion I found it hard to understand. " Come on."

"That's enough." Bennett beat me to speaking, and I wasn't sure if I was glad or not. "I think you should stay away from Alyssa from now on. I didn't think it would get to this but I don't think I can tolerate this anymore."

"Really?" Cameron scoffed more at me than anyone else. With his eyes still trained on me, he let out. "Maybe everyone is actually right and you're just booksmart, nothing else."

"You're just a book nerd who can't see past her big , round and bulky glasses." He pressed on as I shut my eyes, the sting of his words landing on every inch of my body. "You actually get on my nerves and you know what, you actually deserve what's coming to you."

And without giving me the luxury of having the last word, he stalked into the opposite direction, the crowd of students paving a makeshift path for him to pass.