Because Of Him

When I got to see the real you

I stared at him as the light from the moon bounced off of the top of his head which was covered with a SnapBack. "Grier, are you serious? It's 2 am!"

Why did he even ask me to go somewhere with him in the first place?

The question swam inside my head as I tried to bring my focus back to Hayes who was whispering at me but loudly.

"C'mon. Live a little." Hayes said as he adjusted his SnapBack and grabbed his skateboard.

"Where do you plan on going?"

"Just come with me okay? C'mon, just hang out for a little bit" Hayes hissed. I realized then at that exact moment that it was on the bucket list bet that my sister and I made.

"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"

I groaned in annoyance as I started pacing around the room trying to figure out a way to get out of the house without being seen. Most 17 year olds would be excited to go on a late night runaway adventure like this, but I wasn't like most 17 year olds. I was the complete opposite.

Many plans of escaping the house without being seen swiveled inside my head. I couldn't go out the door, that's too basic and my mom or sister would catch me. I brought my fingers up to my head and let it rest. I stared back at the window that had the light bouncing off of it. The way the light bounced off of it made it look like heaven's gate. But really, it was just a way of telling me I could get my ass out of the house without being seen. I ran over to my bedroom window and saw Hayes was still there staring up inside my bedroom window. I placed one foot out, letting it hang on the ledge of the window as I brought my other foot out. I gently crawled through and let my grip catch onto the ledge and my legs dangled. I let go of my grip and landed on my legs firmly on the ground.

"Nice. Have you done this before?" Hayes asked

"Not necessarily" I said In annoyance again. I just lost another $3 to my sister and now had a total of $5 down the drain and It was barely through the month already.

"Well let's go then" Hayes said as he brought his skateboard to the side of the road and I walked beside him slowly.

On the way to wherever we were going was silent. Hayes stared at the ground from time to time."where do you plan on going?" I asked again. This time I wanted an answer. Hayes stopped his skateboard making a sound off of the cold pavement. He stared at me as if he was glaring. "Do you wanna live a little?"

I hesitated. "Well I-"

"No. You're a 17 year old girl and you need to get out and see what life is all about." His words stung me as he gave me almost a death stare. I stared at him with the same expression back. "And what IS life all about Grier? Huh?! If you're so smart ass why don't you tell me?!" I barely know him and we only started talking today and he was already giving me migraines and outbursts of profanity. Hayes stared at me with his mouth slightly open like he was about to say something but was too afraid to say it. His blue eyes danced in the glare of light from the street lights that were on. Several pieces of his shaggy brown hair fell out front of his SnapBack.

"Life's all about flying" Hayes finally said.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Flying? Really? What the hell do you mean by flying?"

Hayes rolled his eyes back at me. "By flying I mean feeling free and getting to do things in life. Because you never know when your last breath will be." He spoke firmly For a Bad boy, he had some deep words that escaped at the tip of his lips. "Whatever. Okay? I'm going home. It's 2 am and I don't understand why you came to my-"

"No you're not. You're coming with me" and Hayes picked me up, threw me over his shoulder so all I could see was the ground and he took off on his skateboard. I was panicking as I begged him to stop but I could hear laughs and smiles in my voice that told me that I really didn't want it to stop. Because at that moment, I had someone who made me feel like I actually deserved to live and that I wasn't a waste of skin.

Hayes kept going and he started laughing along with me. Even though I was hanging over his shoulder and if he dropped me I could possibly get a concussion but I was living the late night get away that everyone else dreamt of having.

When he finally stopped he put me down gently. I tried to fight the giggles in my face expression but I wasn't doing such a great job. Hayes smiled at me. "See? That what I mean. LIVE a little" he said as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He said things in the call like "yeah okay" and "when are you coming?" And nodded his head most of the time until he hung up.

"Hayes, why are you all of a sudden hanging out with me?" I said and the words stung my throat. "Because" he said.

"Because?"

"I see something in you."

"And that is...?"

"You're like a caterpillar that's afraid to break out of its shell."

"And your point is?"

Hayes let out a big sigh. "I've seen what your at school day is like. Constantly being teased and thinking life sucks."

"Well it does"

"No. You think it sucks. But maybe you just need someone to prove you wrong"

"Were you dared or something to-?"

"No. I wanted to do this. I don't know what, but there's something about you."

"Like?"

"I don't know. Just the way you live like your entire life is an incredible mystery. I like that."

"My life isn't an incredible mystery. It's just a stupid secret."

"Why do you keep it a secret?" Hayes asked.

"Because, if we ever become 'friends' you're eventually going to abandon me."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"Well I wouldn't. In fact, hi best friend."

"So now we're best friends?"

"Exactly. Now keep your voice down."

"What? Why?-" it was then I realized how Hayes and I were standing at the front of our school. The inside pitch black and not a moving soul.

"Hayes. Tell me. What are we doing here?" Hayes checked his surroundings again as if anyone was listening to us.

"Ready for another one of our pranks?" Hayes said.

My jaw dropped. "Are you serious?!," I said my voice getting louder and anger pumped through my veins. "I can't get suspen-"

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

I could hear my sister's voice murmuring those exact words in my head. "You okay?" Hayes asked as he squinted his eyes and flicked his finger directly in front of my eyes.

"What? Oh. Sorry, I kind of zoned out."

"So are you in?" Hayes asked.

Another $20 down the drain.

"I'm in." My voice said in a serious tone. Hayes smirked at me. "Good. Exactly what I wanted to hear."

"So what's the plan?"

Hayes gave me another smirk as a truck's light started flashing towards us at a distance.

"Vandalism. That's what."

The truck pulled up at the front of the school where Hayes and I were and Dylan, Riley and Logan came out of the truck. All with devious grins and stares that monitored me.

"Who's the chick?" Riley asked

Hayes faced Dylan and then drifted his gaze towards me. I remembered I never exactly told him my name. "Honey." Hayes said even though that never was my name.

Riley let out a 'whatever' Look and pulled out a black bin from the back of the truck. He dropped the bin in front of us causing a loud thud and a jump that struck my heart by surprise. This is exactly why I never wanted to get involved with these "bad boys."

Riley popped the top off of the black bin which revealed several cans of spray paint. Now I knew where this was going. "Ready?" Riley asked. They all nodded their heads and Hayes gave me 'it'll be fine' look. "I'll take this part of the school. Dylan and Riley take the back and Hayes and honey will take up whatever catches their eyes." Logan said. It was the first time I've heard Logan speak in such a serious tone, they were acting like their whole lives depended on this one little vandalism prank. I cringed when Logan had said honey. It was getting On my nervs because it was not my name. But I strictly refused to tell them my name.

It was just better off without them knowing.

Logan hopped onto the cement steps of the school, popped the top off his can and yellow paint spritzed out of the top. I stared down at the words he was writing and once he had finished he had spray painted the words "suck it" on the stairs.

Dylan chuckled. "How original" he sarcastically said as he and Riley sprinted towards the back of the school. I followed Hayes and wherever he was going. I could hear the sound of cement scraping at the bottom of our shoes. Hayes stopped walking and faced the back door of our school's gym. He flicked the top of his can and the top came tumbling off, revealing red spray paint.

"Now what're you writing?" I asked Hayes

"Well, usually I would spray paint a drawing of a d**k but since I have a lovely girl with me today I guess I'll keep it simple" Hayes joked which it have to admit. Made me laugh. Hayes gave me a smile before his back faced me and he started spray painting along the back doors of the gym.

Once he was done the words "fly honey" were dripping in red spray paint. "Fly honey?" I asked. "Yeah. So whenever you pass by this gym door, you'll think of me." And he bowed towards me. I gently nudged him. "Your turn"

"My turn?" I said as my eyes went wide and I could already feel my palms sweating. "Since it's your first time and since you're my special guest for tonight, I'll give you the honors of writing my initials onto my masterpiece" he said as he gestured towards the dripping red paint.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes I'm serious."

"Cocky much?"

"A master knows what he's good at." Hayes said. I rolled my eyes trying to hide my uncontrollable smile. The top of the can came off as I flicked it and the gym doors were in front of me. I took a deep breathe, put pressure on the spray paint can and green paint came out. I initialed the letters 'H.G' at the bottom of his little 'masterpiece' and once I was Done I felt a weight off my shoulders. And suddenly it felt good. I never did this stuff before. I've never tried this stuff before...I also never really had someone who wanted to hang out with me before.

"It's a real beauty." Hayes said. I checked the time on my phone and it was already 4 am. I didn't know how fast time could go by. I spent most of my time staring at the clock dreading the hours to go by. But not now, I wanted tonight to last forever.

"Yo hayes!" Someone called up front. I'm guessing it was Dylan. Hayes and I ran upfront both with giddy smiles on our faces. When we reached up front Dylan, Logan and Riley were standing there. Admiring the work of what one of them drew, which looked like a diamond that was drawn with light blue spray paint.

"Whats that for?" I asked

"It's a diamond to represent a girl named crystal" Riley said and Hayes nudged his shoulder.

"Who's crystal?" I asked again

"Damn. Do you always ask so many questions babe?" Dylan said and my teeth gritted when he had said babe.

"Damn. Do you not answer questions douche?" I hissed back

"Wow. You gotta a sassy mouth there. I think you'd fight right in with us" Dylan said again as he crossed his arms with pleasure. I laughed quietly. "So who's crystal?"

"She's a girl hayes had a thing for before." Logan exclaimed

"Shut up." Hayes said

"No continue" I said. Hayes opened his mouth ready to speak but Riley cut him off. "She use to come with us and do pranks and all that s**t. And every time we finished a prank she would spray paint a diamond at the destination where we had the prank." Hayes was trying to cover Riley's mouth now with his hands.

"And what happened?"

"She cheated on Hayes with Nash"

Dylan said. Hayes had given up and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets as he stared at the pavement with sad eyes.

"Then what happened?" I asked and the guys exchanged looks.

"Nothing happened. This went down a long time ago. Nash and Hayes made up. and crystal moved to Spain to go with her mom or something."

I got quiet as the cold air whistled around all of us as we crowded at the front steps of school.

"Guys. We better go. We almost got caught last time" Hayes said breaking the silence. "Alright man, you and honey want a lift?" Dylan asked as he jumped into the truck and Logan and Riley followed.

"Nawh. We're good. We'll just walk."

Hayes said. And Dylan, Riley and Logan drove off until the light from the truck was nothing but a memory in my mind. Hayes and I went the other direction and started walking back to my house as he dragged his skateboard behind him.

"Why so quiet?" I asked Hayes. He didn't speak for about 15 minutes since we started walking. "Nothing. It's just-whenever I hear crystal's name I just get- I don't know" Hayes said as his nose scrunched up which looked cute actually.

"Hayes. I've been cheated on before. I know how it feels."

"Really?"

"Yup. Another reason why I hate my life: cheating boyfriends"

"Do you really hate life that much?" Hayes asked

"Yes I do."

Hayes and I reached the front of my house and I started carefully making my way up the ledge of my window until my body was back in my safe room of mine.

"Can I hear your other reasons?"

He yelled loudly so I could hear him from my bedroom window.

"One day you will."

"Why not now?"

"Because it's 4 am grier. Get some sleep" I yelled back. Hayes scoffed loudly as he got back onto his skateboard and went into the road.

"I never sleep" Hayes said as he started making his way off my street and gave me one last smile until all I saw was the back of his head making his way down the street with his arms carefully above his head holding up the middle finger in both hands. I laughed before I close my bedroom window again and threw my body onto my bed.

"I never sleep" hayes's voice replayed in my head.

Yeah, after tonight, I don't think I'll be able to sleep also Grier.

$25 already down the drain.

Oh boy.