The Bad Boy and I | Pt.5

*WARNING: Mentions of sexual assault and drug use. Proceed with caution.* 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?"

Adrian had popped out of nowhere, staring at them with red in his eyes. He strode in quickly and yanked Vick up from the seat by his collar. 

"Don't touch me." His hand was swatted away causing him to lose balance, nearly falling over. 

"Keep your hands off what's mine, Vick." Adrian was quick to get right up in his face again. "Let's go, Allison!" 

"She's not going anywhere that she doesn't want to." The hand that attempted to snatch Tora's was grabbed and pulled away. Vick used his body to block Adrian from her. 

Tora felt impressed at the insanity of this situation. It was straight out of a dramatic TV show. Her eyes stared at the large back that became her only view. 

"Allie!" Karina was quick to run out after seeing the situation. She took her eyes off her friend for a second and a tick shows up sucking on her friend's blood again. She sent the drink in her hands flying towards the boys, drenching both of them in sticky juice. 

"This stupid bitch—!" 

"Easy now." Although he was also wet, Vick seemed to cool off a bit from that. He pushed Adrian lightly and gestured toward the yard that now stood a few people watching. "Your lover is here." 

Sarah was strangely quiet as she stared at them. Her eyes shifted from Adrian to her brother, and then toward Tora. Something about that cold, emotionless, look sent shivers down Tora's spine. 

It won't develop the same way as in the novel...right?

"How about you boys get changed and join us later?" Her smile was gentle as she approached them. "I'm so happy you decided to join the party, Brother!" 

"That's your brother!? Oh wow...is he perhaps...single...?" One of the girls that came with Sarah whispered excitedly. 

Vick chose to ignore them and turned around to face Tora. He seemed hesitant like he wanted to say something. After a quick debate, he decided to just leave and go get change. 

Now with Vick gone, things became awkward. Adrian wanted to approach Tora but was held back by Sarah and dragged into the house. 

"You have no idea how happy I am at the thought of never seeing those two ever again after tonight." Karina sat down next to Tora after everyone followed Sarah inside. Jada and Laura came to join them, sitting on the pool lounge across from them. 

The chatter between the three continued as normal. Tora, however, could not bring herself to pay attention to it. 

Reading about a character that's written in a biased way only shows you a side that the author wants you to see. This is something Tora was familiar with as an editor but failed to take into account that what she knew about Sarah was what was written on paper. A biased view of Sarah to be exact. 

Seeing Sarah's gaze just now caused her to rethink the situation that led to Allison's downfall in the novel. 

Was it really retribution caused by her own actions? Tora didn't think so.

In the book, Adrian and Allison fought in the gym which led to her altercations with Sarah that same evening. The book described the school board members to be money-hungry monsters who took David's money in exchange for not suspending Allison. Sarah, however, was not as lucky and got suspended for two weeks. 

This led to her being depressed. The relationship between Allison and Adrian snapped and they finally broke up due to the accident. Adrian, feeling sorry and concerned about Sarah, would visit her every day after school leading to the two of them falling in love.

In the book, Vick, seeing his sister's worsening condition, felt pity and began opening up to her as well. Their relationship strengthened and he became Midas's golden hand for her. Every issue she had was easily resolved by Vick.

Allison, as written in the novel, was jealous of Sarah's and Adrian's growing love. She continued tormenting Sarah both mentally and physically with her group of friends all the way up until graduation. 

Proud of her achievements, Vick helped Sarah plan her after-party. Although Adrian and Vick advised against inviting Allison and her friends, Sarah decided to be the "bigger person" by announcing that she forgave Allison and wanted to invite her over as a sign of goodwill. 

The party was a success and everyone had a great time. There were a lot of people including Vick's acquaintances and most of the graduates. Everyone excluding Karina. At around Midnight, Karina came walking in, asking where Allison was. This led to a whole search party looking for Allison who went missing. 

By the time they found her, she had already taken some drugs and had been sexually violated. The news spread about this and Allison was ridiculed by everyone. Her life fell apart and she fell into heavy drug use and prostitution. Her father's business suffered from her infamous reputation leading to the collapse of their family financially. 

The only person who continued to support and stay by her side was Karina. Karina often times brought up the fact that the situation was strange and tried to put the blame on Sarah for orchestrating it. Unfortunately, Karina also perished after getting into a car accident. 

The way it was written led the readers to sympathize with Adrian and Sarah. Often times downplaying the seriousness of the allegations Karina brought up to being jealous and spiteful. 

 The more she thought about it, the more suspicious Tora felt. 

Why would Allison, who's so prideful and self-preserving, end up in a situation like that willingly?

It was unsettling. 

"You don't look too good. Do you want some water?" Karina gently shook her out of her thoughts.

"You look so pale, Bestie. What's wrong?" Laura kneeled in front of her and started to inspect. Her hands were placed on Tora's forehead, checking the temperature. "Other than your skin being super cold. Everything is fine." 

"Maybe she's cold. I'll go ask for a blanket or something." All three of them got up. They told her to wait here and that they would be back in a bit. 

'I told you the story was interesting.' Her hands curled open once she felt the piece of paper. She didn't even realize that her fist was clenched tightly. 

I feel sick.

'You should head home.' She frowned at the note.

"I heard that you're not feeling well." She felt something soft and warm wrap around her body. The person that just arrived had carefully placed it on her as he knelt down in front of her. Tora noticed that his eyes were on the note in her hand. 

Can he see this? He reacted to it back then as well...

His hands reached forward to grab it, missing it by just a bit before it disappeared. His eyes widened a little but his hands kept going until hers was wrapped in his. Tora was sure that he noticed it but acted as if he didn't. No questions asked, just silent comfort between the two. 

"Do you truly love me?" 

"With all my heart." 

"How did you come to like me?" 

"I did say that I've loved you since middle school..." His hands squeezed hers gently. "But honestly speaking, I can't seem to recall what you were like back then anymore. Not ever since I met you again two months ago." 

His laugh made her subconsciously frown again. "..."

"You're frowning again." He chuckled and sighed. "I love everything about the you in front of me." 

Tora felt hopeless at the sudden heart skip she encountered. She didn't hate the idea of dating, but she couldn't quite imagine a life with someone related to the downfall of Allison. She was also not someone who liked beating around the bush.

"But you see...I have a habit of playing the villain." The confused look on Vick's face made the corner of Tora's lips curl up. She pulled her hands out of his and grabbed hold of his face. "Your sister's future, I'm planning on ruining it." 

She leaned in close and whispered softly, "I'm giving you a choice. It's either me forever or your sister's future."

Tora didn't wait for his reply, she got up and walked into the house. Confused, Vick quickly followed after her. "Show me her room." 

"What for?" Noticing her glare, he quickly continued, "Not that you can't go! I'm just curious." 

"She has something precious hidden up there. I want it." Vick simply shrugged and led her upstairs. The room was very spacious and well-decorated. It wasn't difficult finding the drug that she suspected caused Allison to end up like that. As an editor, she's read countless dark romance stories and they usually hide them in similar spots. 

The drug was liquified and stored in a tiny pendant on a bracelet. The bracelet was placed in the drawer next to her bed. 

"If you wanted a bracelet..."

"I don't want a bracelet." 

"I was gonna say that I would buy it for you. But stealing is fine, too." 

Is he stupid or stupid? Because I can't tell.

"You wait here. I have something to do."

She made her way back downstairs and made herself a little drink. The content inside the pendant was poured into two cups of alcohol. The whiskey mixed with ginger ale covered any signs of foreign substances. 

"Allison..." 

As expected.

"What do you want?" 

"I'm sorry...about earlier." Adrian approached her once he noticed her making the drink. "The thing about me and Sarah—." 

"I can't think about that right now." Her hands swirled the drink in the cup around, catching Adrian's attention.

"Are you going to drink both of those?" His eyes had a weird glint to it. 

"It'll be easier to make her mine if she's drunk," is probably what he is thinking. 

"Yes, I think I can handle alcohol just fine." She brought the cup to her lips and tilted it upwards. Adrian saw this and his eyes sparkled in excitement. "It tastes weird. Is alcohol supposed to taste like this?" Her eyebrows scrunched and her lips frowned. 

"Let me try." He snatched the cup from her and took a mouthful. The alcohol was a lot stronger than he anticipated, leading to him frowning as well. "Whoa! I think that's a bit too strong." 

"What are you doing!?" like flies, they just keep popping up unexpectedly. All she needed to do was sprinkle a little something and they came buzzing around. "What's wrong with the drink!?" 

Her hands snatched the other one on the counter, bringing it up to her nose and sniffing it. Her eyes stared suspiciously at Tora. Curious, she took a sip out of the cup. 

"It's a bit strong, right? I'm not good at mixing alcohol. I don't like drinking out of someone else's cup either." Her eyes gestured towards the cup in both of their hands. "Since you drank it already, I'll just make myself a new drink." 

"Whiskey is supposed to taste like this, you're just not used to it!" Sarah snatched the whiskey bottle from Tora's hand. "You're supposed to add A LOT, it makes the drink better." 

Tora watched as Sarah prepared a new drink for her. Half the cup was filled with whiskey and only a little ginger ale was poured. Tora could tell from a glimpse that Sarah was taking this opportunity to get her wasted. 

"Here! As an apology for treating you that way." She shoved the drink into Tora's hand and raised hers. "Share a drink with me and Adrian. We should all forgive and forget about the past after finishing this drink!"

"I took some time to reflect and decided to apologize as well. I'm sorry, Allison. This is what marks the end of our relationship." Adrian raised his glass and urged her to drink. 

A bunch of snakes. 

"I hope you have a bright future. Let's never meet after this." Once she drank a sip, the other two also took a sip. 

"You have to finish the drink. Here, I'll show you how it's done." Adrian nudged Sarah to follow his lead. They both finished the whole cup with a few gags here and there in between. "Your turn." 

Tora complied and drank it slowly. She took her time while complaining about how bitter and disgusting it was in between. When she finally finished the whole cup, she noticed that the drug had taken effect. 

Sarah swayed a bit and was extremely hot. Both Adrian and her felt their body burning up with each passing minute. They felt a sudden high spread across their body. It was like they were on cloud nine.

"You two are sweating so much. You don't look too good. I'll get someone to help you to your room." Tora approached a group of guys she'd never seen before. It was obvious who these people were from a glance. 

Probably the ones Sarah hired.

They listened to her request and went to help bring the two of them up to their rooms. It was great because most of the people were in the basement hanging out in the arcade room, so no one was really there to bother them. 

Upon noticing the newcomers, Vick walked over to Tora. "What's going on?" 

Tora wasn't inclined to reply so she simply put the bracelet back in it's place and told the men to figure out where to put those two. Before leaving, she made sure to have a good look at Sarah's drugged-up face. She leaned in close and whispered so that only they would hear.

"You should have left me alone and moved on with your life when I gave you that chance."