The Bad Boy Had His Reasons

"Ah, Ms. Green, you finally decided to show up for class." My science teacher Mrs. Sealock bitterly greeted. I looked around at all the faces staring at me; they were making me very nervous. I don't tend to do well under pressure. "What's your excuse this time dear? You've only had to think of at least seven in the past two weeks," I mentally cursed at my teacher. All my excuses had been true. They weren't lies, I don't lie. My science teacher and I weren't exactly on good terms right now, even though I get straight A's and always turn in my work, she still hates me.

It probably has to do with the fact she had my trouble-maker of a brother two years ago.

"Well you see um..." I looked around at the class. They seemed to be very interested in what I was going to say next. "I woke up late, due to the fact that my obnoxious brother had pulled a prank on me, by messing with my alarm clock. He changed the time on it, so instead of my clock saying that it was six, it said that it was one. Because of that nasty prank I wasn't able to wake up in time to get to school on time. So I asked my good for nothing brother to drive me and he said 'no' because it was my fault because I didn't wake up, then we got in an argument, which made me even later for school. I had to get my skateboard and I had a four mile skate and I couldn't call any of my friends because they were all ready in school and-" I was rambling again, everyone in class was laughing, they weren't even trying to keep it quiet. I don't know what would've happened if Mrs. Sealock hadn't told me to stop talking.

"Come here please, Kaelyn." She instructed. I walked to her desk, with my head down, looking at my maroon colored Vans.

"After school, you will go to detention," my mouth dropped, I had never been there. I was a goody goody and they don't belong there. That's where all the trouble-makers go. She handed me my slip; I could tell she was silently laughing in her head. "Now I will have no more of this nonsense, you will be here every day on time, unless you would like more detentions." She smirked. I quickly nodded and walked through the rows of desks to a seat in the back of the classroom; actually the only seat that was available.

And just to my luck, it was in front of Shane Collins, the school's bad boy. I've always tried to steer clear of him, but I have him in almost half of my classes. I've never sat anywhere remotely close to him, until today. This day just kept getting better and better.

Shane was famous for his fights, his bad mouthing, one night stands, and also his looks. I couldn't care less about what he did, who he fought, and who he badmouthed, but I had to admit... puberty did wonders for him. He had icy blue eyes, jet black hair, and a deep voice, which made all the girls go crazy for him. That's not even mentioning his abs. I'd seen them once when I happened to be at one of his fights.

It was on the front lawn of the school, and when he was taking off his hoodie, his shirt lifted just enough for me to see his six-pack. They were extremely toned and it looked like he spent a lot of time trying to keep them that way.

I was one of the few girls that haven't been a one night stand for him. I didn't tolerate things like that. I thought that it was stupid to do that, because all it leaves you with is probably an STD and a lot of explaining to do to your parents. Of course, I wouldn't have to explain anything to my parents, they were dead. They died in a car accident about three years ago. Now I live with my older brother and my grandma lives only a few houses down from us.

"Earth to Kaelyn," Someone spoke into my ear. It was a deep voice, a voice that was recognizable no matter how high my head was up in the clouds. I shivered and turned around to look at him. Shane. "You know you still need to hand me that paper on your desk. You might want to start focusing." He mumbled into my ear. He took a strand of my light brown hair in his hand and twirled it around his finger. I swatted his hand away and handed him our science prompt that was due at the end of class. I bent down, so I could unzip my backpack and get out a pencil and my notebook. When I sat back up, I could feel warmth on my waist. Two hands were holding it, their thumbs moving in a circular motion.

The bad boy was holding me. No, no, no, no, no. If he thinks he can get away with that then he's crazy. I will not fall for his little game.

I quickly turned around, only to meet his eyes only inches away from mine. He was smirking and I could tell he was amused.

"Don't touch me," I said. For once I hadn't rambled. Oh no. Don't jinx yourself Kaelyn. I was nervous, and I always ramble when I'm nervous... especially if I'm around a boy or someone I don't know that well.

"Why not?" He smirked. I bit my lip; I had to keep myself from making a fool of myself.

"B-because," I stuttered. "Because I have a personal bubble. That means if you violate it then you will regret it because I will make you pay for violating it. So don't touch me again because it's my space. Well not actually my space because there are a bunch of kids who sit here throughout the day so it's technically not mine. But, for right now it's mine, so don't do it again. I have work to do so butt out, and leave me alone," I instantly regretted the last part. I told him to 'butt out' and you don't say something like that to Shane. Who knows what he'll do to me now. Oh my god I probably just put myself on his death list. I cringed at the thought and looked at Shane. He seemed very amused by my whole rambling scene. He leaned back in his chair and smirked at me.

"Don't worry, beautiful, just because you talked back to me doesn't mean that you're on my death list," He winked. Uh oh.

"I said that out loud didn't I?" I slouched down in my seat and looked at the floor.

"That little bit where you 'thought' that I had just put you on my death list, yeah you did." He laughed quietly. I glared at him, my heart pace was increasing and my cheeks were becoming warmer. I turned back around and hid behind my hair, so he wouldn't see my embarrassed expression.

Just when I thought he would leave me alone, he tapped my shoulder.

"By the way, I don't have a death list." He whispered in my ear. A wave of relief washed over me, but then I realized what he did.

He. Touched. Me. Again.

I shook my head and tried to concentrate on my work, but it was very hard to do with Shane sitting behind me, constantly tapping his foot on the back leg of my desk's chair. Why was he doing this? He's never even spoken a word to me, ever. It made me uncomfortable to know that he was the first boy to even touch me like that since my breakup a few months ago. I had been steering clear of boys since then; all boys except Carter. Carter's been my best guy friend since elementary school. We've always been there for each other and we protect each other like siblings. Carter has many girls swooning over him. He has light brown hair and green eyes; something a lot of girls fall for.

My attention was focused on Shane again when he was now playing with my hair. Eventually I snapped and when I was turning around my knee hit the side of my desk, causing there to be a loud noise. Everyone turned to look at me, and I could hear Shane laughing.

That jerk.

"Is there something wrong Ms. Green?" Mrs. Sealock asked.

"No nothing at all," I mumbled. I glanced at Shane once more before returning to my work, he was grinning. I had never seen the bad boy smile like that; it was weird.

"Hey babe," Carter greeted. I laughed quietly to myself and ruffled his hair.

"Babe?" I questioned. I raised an eyebrow at him. Carter just laughed and threw his arm around my shoulders. "I heard about your terrible time in first period today,"

"How? That happened not even three hours ago!" I slammed my locker door shut, causing some of my magnets to crash at the bottom of it. The ring of the magnets hitting the metal stopped and Carter smiled at me. He tightened his grip on my shoulders as we walked down the cluttered hallway.

"You know how fast things spread in this god-forsaken school. But, you've eased up on your rambling. It doesn't come out as frequent anymore." He grinned. I slapped his rock hard chest and instead of it hurting him, it hurt me.

"Ow," I mumbled. "That's what you think; I rambled at least three different times in first period. Even in my thoughts I was rambling!" I confessed. I looked around the hallway, and there were a lot of people staring at me. Great. Rumors did spread like wildfire in this school, but I wonder why they're staring at me. I wonder if it has to do with my long explanation on why I was late, or if it had to do with Shane.

"You know I can always drive you to school in the mornings, so you won't be late all the time." Carter offered as we walked down the stairway to the cafeteria. Before I could reply, someone grabbed my arm.

"You let Shane Collins touch you!" Grace shrieked. She was another one of my friends, out of our group. Our little group consisted of Grace, Carter, Sierra, and I.

"He what?" Carter dropped his arm from around my shoulders. Obviously he had only heard about my rambling at the beginning of class, not the rambling about my personal bubble.

"Yeah, I'll explain that later; after we get our food," I said. Even though I was slightly nervous, I never rambled when I was with my close friends. Carter gave me a confused look and then he walked off to our usual lunch spot. Our usual table was in the back of the cafeteria, by the windows. It was a pretty secluded area.

I got in one of the three lunch lines with Grace, she was still holding my wrist; cutting off my circulation. We were at the end of the line, so we had plenty of time for me to tell her all about my little Shane incident.

"Spill it," She said. She loosened her grip on my wrist, eventually she let go allowing it to drop back down to my side.

"Well... you've probably already heard about my rambling when I first entered class; about why I was late," She nodded.

"But, that's not what I want to know, I want to know about this," Grace pulled her white iPhone out of her pocket and went to her Facebook app. There was a picture of me and Shane in first period, his hands were on my waist and it looked like he was kissing my ear.

"Who took this?" I asked, I scrolled through the comments on it. Whoever posted it hadn't bothered to tag me in it... or Shane.

"Who do you think?" She eyed me. I handed her back her phone and looked at the wall.

"Ryder," I mumbled. "What an asshole! He's the one who cheated on me! Now he has to get all jealous and post pictures of something I didn't even want to happen! I didn't even know what was going on when this picture was taken! I didn't want Shane to touch me!" I screamed out in frustration, earning a few weird looks from people.

"Kaelyn, calm down, you're making a scene." Grace gestured to all the people who were staring at us. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Let's go back to our table," I muttered. I walked off, with Grace not trailing far behind me. I couldn't believe Ryder would do that. I know he's a jerk but, the caption he put under the picture just added to my hate towards him. 'Oh look at Kaelyn and her new boyfriend. I won't be surprised when he hurts you, just like he does to all the other girls. Then you'll come crawling back to me' Was what the caption read. That boy really gets under my skin. And to think I actually spent six months of my life with him; pathetic. I would never 'crawl' back to him and I've never even talked to Shane until today... well unless you count the few run-ins we've had in the hallway. I have literally run into him a few times, because me being the klutz I am wasn't paying attention. Let's just say that I'd never been so scared in my life. I mean- who wouldn't be? It's Shane Collins we're talking about. He beats up at least one person a day.

I sat down at the table next to Sierra, who was sitting across from Carter. They were both eating their lunch; I wasn't in the mood for food anymore.

"Why aren't you eating? And why are you in such a pissy mood?" Sierra asked innocently.

"Haven't you heard about her little incident in first period?" Carter asked her.

"No... What happened Kaelyn?" Sierra turned to me. "From the beginning please,"

"Shane Collins happened," I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then Ryder happened. That jerk." I mumbled the last part but, I'm pretty sure everyone at our small table heard it.

"Details?" Sierra asked as if it was a question.

"Well, like always, I was late for first period... Mrs. Sealock gave me detention!" Carter's eyes widened.

"Well, well, well, is Ms. Goody Goody turning bad?" He winked. I rolled my eyes and continued my story.

"After that the only seat that was left in the class was in front of Shane, so I had to sit there. Everything was going fine until he put his hands on my waist and leaned over his desk, so he could whisper something in my ear. So naturally, I turned around and started to ramble about how he can't touch me because I have my own personal bubble," This earned a laugh out of my three friends. "Then I told him to 'butt out' and then I thought that I was thinking it but I actually said, 'oh my god I bet I just put myself on his death list' out loud." I said a bit too fast for them to comprehend. But, I'm sure they understood the concept. Grace and Sierra stared at me with blank faces, while Carter was laughing his ass off.

"That's my girl, you tell him Kaelyn," He laughed. Grace smacked his arm for me.

"Shut up," I said.

"B-but Shane never has touched a girl like that in the middle of class before... why would he do it to you?" Sierra asked. I shrugged. I'm pretty sure that he's done that to other girls, maybe not in the middle of class... but, I could be wrong.

I looked around the cafeteria, and saw him. He was sitting on the other side of the cafeteria, laughing with his friends, Kyle, Gage, and Vincent. I saw that Shane was looking in my direction as well ; he winked and then turned back to his buddies.

Why did that simple gesture make my heart race? All he did was wink at me... Now I know how all the other girls felt when he did it to them. No Kaelyn. He couldn't have been winking at you. There are plenty of other girls in his line of sight, he would not be winking at me.

I pushed all of my thoughts aside and joined in on the new conversation that Grace had started.

"So, who's going to the game after school? Sierra? Kaelyn?" Grace asked. I shook my head.

"I have detention," I gulped. But, Grace knew that even if you had detention you would still be able to make it to the basketball game. She already knew why I didn't want to go. I didn't want to see Ryder play. He was captain of the team and he would be getting a lot of attention. Which means if he was getting the most attention, out of everyone on the team, he would be the one I would have to hear about every two minutes; and I don't want that.

"I have to go," I mumbled. I knew that Grace wasn't trying to make me sad, but it just happened. Despite their protests, I quickly grabbed my backpack and went out the door that led to the front yard. I sat down on a bench and put my head in my hands.

"I hope I can make it through the rest of the day," I mumbled.

Shane's POV:

I looked across the cafeteria, towards Kaelyn's usual spot; she always sat with her three friends on the far left side of the cafeteria. But, today, I saw that she was looking in my direction. She's never looked over this way- at least never at the same time that I've been looking. I didn't know what to do, so instinctively I winked at her. Her eyes widened and she quickly turned back to her friends.

Crap. I probably just scared her again.

"So, how was your first period today?" Gage laughed. I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but smile. First period was perfect, even though I might've crept Kaelyn out, but I still got to talk to her. Well, she did most of the talking, rambling on about her personal bubble. I smiled at the thought. Kaelyn was definitely different from the other girls.

"Heard you got to touch that fine ass that belongs to Kaelyn Green," Vincent winked. I glared at him. He knows what I've done to boys who talk about her like that. Vincent got a scared look in his eyes and backed down. I wouldn't beat up my best friend... but if he talks about Kaelyn like that again, I might. I do it to just about every other boy. It really is a wonder how she hasn't realized that's one of the biggest reasons I get into fights.

Oh yeah, don't forget Shane, she's barely even taken an interest in talking to you yet. She doesn't even know what guys say about her.

"Have you seen the picture of you two on Facebook? Apparently Coleman isn't too happy with you right now," My smile quickly disappeared from my face. Ryder Coleman... the one who took my first love away... the one who got together with Kaelyn just to make me jealous.

"Excuse me?" I said. I saw Kyle flinched at my tone. I would've thought he would be used to my attitude by now, but I guess he's not. Even though he's the newest addition to our group, he's seen my bad side plenty of times before.

"Go look at Coleman's Facebook page, his most recent photo," Vincent told me. I took my black iPhone out of my pocket and quickly logged into Facebook. I searched for 'Ryder Coleman' and his profile showed up instantly. I clicked on the link, and immediately I saw a picture of Kaelyn and I. My hands were gripping her waist and it looked like I was kissing her ear.

It was a damn nice picture, but the caption underneath it made my blood boil. 'Oh look at Kaelyn and her new boyfriend. I won't be surprised when he hurts her, just like he does to all the other girls. Then she'll come crawling back to me'.

I angrily shoved my phone back into my pocket and stood up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Gage asked me.

"Away," I mumbled. I walked towards the doors that lead out to the front lawn. I was oblivious to everything, and everyone as I walked down to my car. I unlocked it and sat in the front seat, debating if I should leave school or not.

Ryder made me so pissed off. I can't believe that we were actually friends at one point. He took my beautiful Ali away from me, the first person I ever felt like I loved. He was my best friend, and he let my, now ex, girlfriend cheat on me... with himself! What kind of a friend does that? Then... the worst of the worst happened, he figured out my secret; the secret that I had true feelings for a girl again. I don't know how he figured it out but, he did and he did everything in his power to keep Kaelyn away from me. He dated her for six months... six months, when that could've been me. He cheated on her... I would've never done that. Not after that vow I made to myself when I was twelve.

Now it's at least two months after their break-up and I want to make a move but, I know she would never fall for me. Her head's probably still filled with all the nonsense Ryder told her about me.

I looked around my car, trying to find something to focus my mind on, even if it was homework or something. I just needed to get all of these thoughts out of my head. My eyes wandered through the glove compartment, until I saw something that caught my eye.

10/3/13. Shane Collins. After School Detention. Report immediately to Mr. Wilson's room after classes are over.

I wasn't actually going to go to it, I rarely go to my detentions, but I was willing to go just because Kaelyn will be there too. I've been in Mr. Wilson's detention room enough times to know that Ms. Goody Goody Kaelyn would never survive alone in a room full of delinquents. Mr. Wilson always leaves to go to the staff room while he's supposed to be watching over us during detention. I've seen what the unsupervised boys have done to the newbie girls in detention and it's not pretty. None of the other girls that I've seen them gang up on have ever been as oblivious as Kaelyn, so that just adds to everything. If anything remotely bad is about to happen, I want to at least be there so I can put a stop to it. Maybe I could earn Kaelyn's trust then.

I honestly don't know why I feel so protective of her. She's capable of taking care of herself, but some part of me just wants to make sure she's safe.

As I was getting out of my car, I saw that familiar brown hair and pale skin that belonged to Kaelyn. She was walking around the front lawn with her head down and her hands in her pockets. She finally sat down on a bench and she looked like she was freezing.

Maybe I should start earning her trust now.

I silently walked up behind the bench she was sitting on, taking a deep, but quiet breath. I then walked around the wooden bench so that I was facing her. She didn't look up for a few moments; she stared at my shoes for a few seconds. When she did look up, her hazel eyes widened.

"Can I sit here?" I asked, I tried to make my tone nice and gentle.

"Um... umm..." She was getting nervous. "Well, can you? I mean surely you can but, the proper term is 'May I sit here?' not 'Can I sit here'. Shit. Sorry... um... why do you want to sit here, it's cold and old, hey that rhymed. Wow, can you make yourself look like anymore of an idiot Kaelyn? Crap. That was supposed to be said in my head," She slapped her forehead.

"Um..." I was trying not to laugh at her nervous breakdown. "Back to my question, may I sit here?" I put emphasis on the word may. Kaelyn blushed.

"Why?" She looked at me.

"Because... I thought you looked lonely," Kaelyn eyed me suspiciously and looked back down at her maroon vans. She rubbed up and down her arms, trying to regain body heat. It was November and the wind was going fast enough to make the trees sway really far back and forth. "Are you cold?" I asked her.

"Yeah..." She said. I saw that she was biting her lip, probably to keep herself from rambling. I started to take off my leather jacket, readying myself to let someone other than me wear it. "What are you doing?" She asked me.

"Here, you can wear this... you won't be as cold." I tried to give her my jacket but she wouldn't take it.

"I can't... I barely know you. And... I um..." She was at a loss for words. That's a first.

"I insist," I handed her the jacket, leaving me in my plain white v-neck tee-shirt. Kaelyn blushed and took the jacket from me. She put it on and stopped shaking and shivering. I had never given anyone else my jacket. My jacket was like my baby. I never go anywhere without it.

"Your jacket is really warm," Kaelyn said. I'm almost positive that she said it by accident because of the way she reacted afterwards. "I um...I didn't mean to say that, it just kinda came out. I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound creepy or anything-" I started laughing quietly but, Kaelyn noticed and stopped talking. "Is something wrong? Is there something in my hair? Or in my teeth?" Man, she was really straight forward.

"No, no, you're just really cute when you ramble." Kaelyn blushed a deep red and I bit my lip. I shouldn't have said that. But, she isn't making it a big deal that I said she was cute; which is good.

"Have you seen the Facebook picture?" She asked me. I got that feeling again. That feeling of hatred towards Ryder.

"Yeah actually I have," I slightly blushed when I remembered that I saved it into my camera roll. I've never really blushed before, even when I was together with Ali.

"Oh," She looked away. Before I could say anything the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Kaelyn stood up before me and she was about to give me my jacket back but I stopped her.

"No, keep it... for now," I slightly laughed.

"But, don't you want it back?" She asked me.

"Of course but, I'm going to see you again later, maybe after detention you can give it to me," Kaelyn gulped. I guess that was a touchy topic with her.

"You'll be there too?" Kaelyn started to put my jacket back on over her arms.

"When am I not?" I flashed a grin and I swear that I heard her laugh quietly.

"Thank you, for letting me wear it. I might've frozen to death if you hadn't shown up," Kaelyn froze. She had that look in her eye, like she had said something wrong again. "I uh... I have to go, bye." She quickly ran up to the school doors and sprinted through them. Only two more periods until I get to see her again... and my jacket.