Loving Lisbeth Salander (XIV Series #1)

The Troubled Boy I

“Holy s**t, man. Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more popular.” f*****g Han. “Since when did you become a f*****g superhero, Four?” She reeked every f*****g alcohol there was at Jack’s party last night. She wasn’t trying to compliment me by saying all those. If anything, I could sense the insult she had with her tone. “What, are you, like, Wonderwoman now?” She snorted out loud as we approached our third morning class. Han wasn’t the insulting one, it’s the names she’s calling me. They’re insults that scar my pride. “But damn! James was a total d**k last night.”

“Isn’t he always?”

She laughed like she had weed for breakfast, hysterical. She must have. That explains her awfully big energy for being at an all-night party last night. “You’re right.” She smirked, approving of my remark. She knew too well that James wasn’t James if he wasn’t a big dickhead. “But the party was wild last night. It was awesome!” She exclaimed like she had just won another pot. “I wish every party was like that. We didn’t get caught this time, that’s why.” She playfully grinned, and I just shook my head rolling my eyes away from her.

I should stop attending stupid parties now if I wanted my migraine to stop. It’s starting to hurt every healthy living part of my dying body. This will be the death of me if I kept partying and working and studying and being a f*****g— that hurts my head so much. f**k. I wasn’t even going to attend that s**t of a party if I didn’t have some business to take care of that night. Then Han forced me to stay longer, and I ended up drinking after that stunt James pulled.

“Hey, but what about that kid that’s been tagging your tail these days?” She turned to me squinting her eyes like she was suspicious of me but I got nothing hide. She knew I wasn’t interested in entertaining boys, and they weren’t just particularly important to me. I got better things to take care of than deal with stupid men. “I heard they saw him last night at the party.” She suddenly sent me a rather mischievous smile. “Did you play with him all night?”

I glared at her in disgust and anger. In the first place, I wasn’t sure why she was asking me such ridiculous questions she already knew the answers to. “f**k you.”

She raised both her hands up in the air, shaking her head in surrender. “I mean, hey, the kid’s pretty cute.” She continued teasing but she looked like she was really rooting for this kid and I hated it. “And damn persistent if he managed to tag along your side for the weeks now.” She shrugged, giving me a teasing glare like the past moments we’ve been talking. “Exactly not your type which is your type.”

At that, I grabbed her by the rim of her collar and pulled her closer to me with a stronger glare. “Are you gonna stop f*****g talking or I’m ripping your p***y wide until you bleed to death?” I threatened but she just flashed a psychotic smile like the f*****g druggy that she was.

“Okay! Jesus. You’re really trying to kill me, are you? Jesus Christ.” She hustled on my grip on her and let out an awkward chuckle as I tightened my hold on her.

I rolled my eyes before I set her free. At this point, I was so pissed at my f*****g self for even thinking that I would rather have the kid as company rather than this w***e of a slut friend I call, and I’m clearly f*****g tipsy still from all the liquor I had last night for even considering that kid a better option. f**k. The things alcohol do during after effects are trippy.

“The kid gets my respect, I lost the bet to Silvia last week thinking he’d give up after three days.” She said fixing her collar after I just crumpled it off. “f**k was I so wrong!” she exclaimed but I wasn’t trying to talk to her anymore. She looked like she was having a conversation with a ghost as we walked and all her emotion were pouring out like she doesn’t know I wasn’t interested with whatever she has to say. “Admit it! He’s pretty persistent like how…”

I glared at her and her mouth immediately turned into a sly smile. She knew pretty well how I hated it whenever this topic came into light, so seeing her smile like this, acting like she wasn’t knowledgeable of that fact was making me hate every bit of her.

“Like how persistent you are, duh,” she tried to cover up what she was about to say, but I knew her too well now and it wasn’t going to work. “Okay, I’mma go. Take care, Lakey!” She ran. She ran to save her life and she made the right f*****g choice because if she opened that mouth of hers one more time, I would have tied her down in a basement to torture her ass.

“Forest!”

Fucking great. Singing my name like you’re trying to play catch-me-if-you-can was one thing, but another to sing it that way too loud, the entire school could practically hear it with one last increase of the volume. And one loud call of being ignored wasn’t enough. He figured it was okay to call me out second time just because I wasn’t responding the way he expected.

“Forest!”

Jesus f*****g Christ. Can someone not annoy me today? Is that so hard to do? I thought to myself, lightly shaking my head as I kept walking as if everyone wasn’t already giving me glares.

“Hey!”

I froze the moment I felt his hands touch my skin. His fingers tips were so warm that it almost stung my cold skin and he looked like he felt that too so he quickly linked them away. He looked surprised but he doesn’t say anything about it which, for once, I was thankful for. What? I asked as I glared at his stupid f*****g face.

“H-Hi…”

I frowned at him, and continued walking and he walked by my side. From the corner of my eyes, I could see him leaning his face close to mine with his usual bright smile so I tried to step away from him as I walked which doesn’t seem to make him go away.

“Let’s walk to the lab together!”

For f**k’s sake leave me alone.

“Silence means yes.”

Means what?

“Do you have any plans tonight?”

“Ignore you.” I briefly replied.

He doesn’t reply for a moment. “Besides that?” He smiled still. “Do you have anything to do except ignore me? I’m starting to think I’m all you think about if that’s everything you always do every time I ask?”

He was not wrong. I could definitely see his point but that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, he dreams bigger than peas. “Don’t flatter yourself.” I feel that he was smiling after I had just responded to him. He really wasn’t going to give up easily. I can see that now. I’d clap for his dedication if I had to but I won’t because I was far too lazy to even clap for him.

“It’s true though?” He pushed further which I responded to with a head shake. “So you think about me?”

No.

“Not once?”

Never.

“Just even for a bit? Like for a split second, maybe?”

“I don’t even have time to think about myself.” I mumbled to myself. But he sure was paying close attention. So even my whispers he would hear because of how desperate he was. “Why do you think I have the energy to care about you?” I asked in a monotonous tone.

“Even when you see seagulls?”

How the hell did he know that I was calling him that?

“You say it out loud sometimes.” He chuckled and explained while I was thinking of reasons how he must have known it, and now I didn’t even had to ask. “I remind you of seagull, huh?” he wiggled his brows, forcing his face to my line of vision so I could see so I looked away with a sigh. “Why a seagull though?”

Your brows.

“You’re really not talking to me.” He let out a small chuckle. “If I was serious about you, I would have stopped now. I’m a little hurt but it would hurt more if I didn’t know you were lazy to speak. So I understand.”

He really does talk a lot. It figures. That he was a part of the school leaders. Anyone who could talk this much like him is a leader, after all.

Chemistry class never felt this exasperating. I didn’t even care if he was walking so close to me now because I was too tired to care. I’ve tried to deal with this stubborn kid several times and I learned the slow way that he wasn’t going to give up anytime soon. It was a much better option to leave him alone and keep ignoring him for as much as my patience can handle. The problem was I had so little of that and so much of his annoying attitude.

“So I realized something last night.” He started, but I kept ignoring him. “When I saw you save that girl,” What the f**k? “I really think that you don’t have the cold heart like everyone says about you.” I creased my brows. “I mean, if you really were cold hearted, you wouldn’t jump right in there and saved her. Only those with a good heart would do such a thing—”

I finally stopped walking and turned to him unable to sustain myself from interfering with his sentence when I ought to my f*****g self that I would never after he played me dirty. “Only because I didn’t want to ruin the c****x of the party.”

“c****x of the party?” he repeated. Of course he didn’t know what c****x of the party meant. What did I think? He was a normal student who was only focused on maintaining perfect attendance, and being a f*****g role model. “Then why did you look like you didn’t want to be there in the first place?”

I froze. This time. I knew it wasn’t because of the anger I felt or the annoyance this kid was making me feel. I froze because I couldn’t deny how accurate and right that sounded. For the first time, I felt like someone finally threw me the truth punch I always needed. “You don’t f*****g know that and it’s not your obligation to f*****g snoop around my life acting all detective Conan or some shit.” I said as I stared deep into his eyes and he stared back fearlessly.

His eyes weren’t shaking, nor did it show any sign of terror. He was staring back softly like he was seeing butterflies or rainbows. I was lost in his eyes for a few seconds before I snapped out of it. I turned around to walk away until he spoke, “Why do you like showing people that you’re bad, Forest?”