Because Of Him

When It Started

I sat at the table chewing on my cereal that was partly soggy because of the cold milk. My mom stared out the window then took a seat beside me as she flipped open the newspaper. "Those trouble makers are at it again."

"What?" I mumbled as I gulped down the last of my cereal

"Those troublemakers. The ones who are up late at night around midnight skateboarding through the streets. Knocking down trash cans and god knows what else."

I nodded my head unsure of what to reply with

"Do you know them?"

"No." I lied. I knew them, they just didn't know me.

A few of them were in my classes. I knew exactly who she was talking about. Hayes, Riley, Dylan and Logan. They were always like a "gang" since kindergarten. They were never personally mean to me because I've never seen them harm anyone. I've seen them cause trouble and such. But never physically harm anyone at our school. Logan was the quiet one. Not speaking in normal conversations but once trouble starts he's never shutting his mouth. He had really dark hair that was shaggy and always some what covered his entire forehead. He was mischievous and quiet. Riley was the sneaky one. The one to plan all the schemes and always knew how to do them perfectly without getting caught. He was like an Einstein in the body of satan who always had on point dirty blonde hair. Dylan was the loud one. Constantly talking and dissing everyone in his way. But he was also pretty athletic. But he was like another Riley but was much more riskier than the other. Then came Hayes. Everyone knew him. I don't know why. Maybe it's because of his piercing blue eyes or maybe it was because he was basically the leader of their little group. He was always the one to get the final say in things, the one who planned when it would all go down, it was his speciality. I have to admit, I always tried my best to stay away from hayes. But it's weird. Every time he passes by me without knowing my existence, I can't help but look. There was just something I saw in him that I didn't know of but couldn't stop myself from feeling. He had shaggy brown hair that ended just above his eyebrows, a winning smile and little Tattoos from here and there. How do I know all of this?

Well, because.

They're the biggest bad boys in school.

My older sister Rachel came jogging down from the stairs. She use to have light brown hair but she had dyed it a light blonde. She was always the prettier sister With her soft caramel eyes and clear skin. She was older than I was. She was 25. She wore a neon green matching workout outfit and carried a duffel bag thrown across her left shoulder.

"What's new?" She asked to my mother and I as she took a bite from an apple.

"Those kids are at it again" my mom hissed

"Who? The G squad?" My sister asked. My mom stared at her blankly as did I.

"What kind of f*****g name is G squad?" I slurred

"Language!" My mom yelled back at me.

"Sorry..." I muttered annoyingly beneath my breath. Even though my sister swore all the time our mom always seemed to only get mad at me. I wasn't sure why, but it was unfair and was one of the reasons why I hated my life. I hated a lot of things.

"What's the G squad?" I asked my sister breaking the awkward silence after my potty mouth word that our mom had claimed.

"It apparently means: Grier's crew"

I rolled my eyes at my sister. "Grier's crew? As in, Hayes? Hayes Grier?"

"Yeah. Why? Know him? Do you love him?" She said in a musical tone sticking her tongue out at me.

"Ew what the f**k! Gross!" I said

"LANGUAGE" my mother called out again.

I exhaled deeply. "id never love him in a million years." I hissed back at my sister. The words pouring out of my mouth like venom.

"Oh please. My ass. Wanna bet little sis?"

"Hell yeah I do!"

My mom slammed her hands down onto the table. "That's enough! Both of you, hurry. You're both going to be late for school." She said as she handed me my back and pushed me and my sister out of the house.

"I love you both though" my mom said as she laughed playfully before shutting the door in our faces. This was how it usually went down every single morning.

The cold morning air hit both of our faces as the sun was starting to rise. The sky was slammed against the colors of light blue, orange and a yellow. We stared at each other as her blonde hair flew back on her shoulders.

"So what's the bet?" She asked. Her voice sounding so cold that it was colder than the wind that was passing us.

"What?"

"The bet, you know" she said as I gave her an unsure look. "For crying out loud, are you a p***y or something? Come on. Let's make a bet." My sister and I always use to go against each other. Some bets never really ended nor did some even begin. "Well fine."

"Alright," she said her voice taking charge. "Let's make the bet about Hayes and the 'G squad'" I rolled my eyes back but also gave her an agreeing look. "Actually. Let's make this more interesting..." My eyes went wide as I eyed her mischievous look. She let out a heavy sigh as she clapped her hands together. "Let's make this more like a bucket list. But the opposite. If you do anything on the bucket list you owe me money. The objective is to not do anything on the bucket list that involves Hayes and the G squad for an entire month"

"Alright fine." This was going to be easy. Hayes and the g squad never even knew I existed. I would be leaving this month with a bunch of money in my pocket. Today was January 1. So I still had a long time to go, but surely. I was going to win.

"So This is the bucket list:

1. If you talk to either one of them including Hayes you owe me $2

2. If either one of them asks you to hang out you HAVE to say yes and go along with it. Then you owe me $3

3. If you smoke weed with them you owe me $10

4. If you kiss any one of them ESPECIALLY HAYES you owe me $20

5. If you go along with one of their pranks you owe me $20.

And lastly

5. If you fall in love with Hayes you owe me $50."

I didn't even hesitate to reply: "deal." I said. My sister knew I had loads of cash on me. My dad still sent birthday money even though he left us a long time ago, and I always had my money saved up from past years from birthdays and other occasions. My sister would always go to the mall every weekend and spend up what was always in her pocket.

"Shake on it" my sister held out her hands and we shook on it. I had a smirk plastered onto my face at the thought of how I would easily win this.

"How do you even know about Hayes?" I asked my sister.

"I have my ways."

"How?"

"I'm dating his brother Nash," I scoffed at her sassy voice with me when she said that. I knew mom would find out eventually and Rachel would be caught in a fit. "Now walk to your bus you i***t Before it leaves you." My sister said as he pushed me off to the curb of the road. We had the playful fighting sister relationship. I walked backwards as I stuck my tongue out at her. She had her hands on her hips as she gave me a smirk and gently shook her head.

I flashed her a look of confusion when all of a sudden I heard skateboards streaming down the road as their wheels made sounds off of the cement. "Look out!" One of them called. I turned around and before I could stop someone's body had been thrown to mine and his skateboard fell to the side to the curb. My head hit the ground and caused my face to flush into the expression of pain and anger. "Hey! Watch where you're-"

I opened my eyes and met with hayes's. His blue piercing eyes stung to my eyes like he was hypnotizing me. I could feel my sister's stare gazing at us both.

"Oh. I'm-uh-sorry." Hayes said as he licked his lips, pulled away from the gaze and got up quickly. Managing to grab his board and retreat quickly. Riley, Dylan and Logan had smirks on their faces as Hayes ran to meet up with them.

"Who was that?" Logan said in the distance

"I don't know...." Hayes muttered loudly

"Nice one Hayes..." Dylan said with a smirk

"Shut up man." Hayes hissed

"She was pretty hot though," Riley said. Hayes gave him a death stare and Riley flung his arms up. "Just saying."

I'm surprised they thought I couldn't hear their conversation. I sat there still laid down on the pavement. I stared at my sister and she laughed and held onto her sides. "That's $2 already little sis." She said in between laughs. I groaned in annoyance as I got up from the pavement and waited at my bus stop.

Once my bus came I went to where I usually sat. At the back by myself where I could hear nothing but mumbled in various conversations. I learned how to deal with being alone a long time ago. I rested my head on the cold window on the ride to school knowing I had already lost $2 down the drain. It was then I let out a deep exhale before I told myself that this month wasn't going to be easy.

I also realized that Hayes was in all my classes.

Fuck.