The Bad Boy I Shouldn’t Fall For

Everyone else sees the cold shoulder, and the trail of broken rules Jace Sullivan leaves in his wake. They hear rumors about the parties he destroys or the guys he’s put in the hospital, and the others who turn and walk away. I know I should do the same, when he looks at me with those sharp, dark eyes, his jaw clenched in the familiar look of pure irritation, every survival instinct I have tells me to run. He talks to me like I’m a nuisance, a little kid who wandered into the battlefield. “Go home, sweetheart;” he’ll snap, his voice like gravel. But, I’ve seen the way he twitches towards me when someone is too close in the hallways or the leans over my desk in the classrooms. I’ve seen him stand between me and the worst parts of this school, even while he’s glaring at me. He tries so hard to act like a monster, but I’m not afraid of him. I’m afraid of what happens to him when no one is looking.