I Don't Wanna Be Bad

"Do you truly, honestly think that this is really the way to get Barakat's attention?" my best friend, Rian, asked rather skeptically as my other best friend, Zack, finished looking me over for any flaws.

"I think it could work," Zack spoke up before I could even reply, nodding his approval.

"But he's not being himself," Rian pushed, and both of them turned to look at each other and practically ignore my existence.

"He just needs to get his attention, then he can go back to 'being himself'," Zack argued.

"No, he won't. He'll have to stay being some big bad ass that he actually isn't because that's what Barakat's into; he won't be interested in Alex when he finds out he's not who he thinks he is," Rian disagreed with a shake of his head, his arms crossing stubbornly over his chest.

"Guys," I cut in, stepping between them before they'd get so into it that the fists would fly, "this is my decision, alright? I'm not gonna be bad, I'm just gonna be bad enough for him; which, come on, how bad could that really be? Now come on, we're gonna be late."

"Being on time, what a bad ass thing to do," Zack joked quietly, but I was already gathering my things up.

With that, I walked out of my house and hopped into Zack's car, simply waiting for them to follow behind. Zack didn't seem phased by my sudden change, but Rian was definitely exasperated about the whole ordeal.

"I just don't understand why he's doing all this for some guy who has never even acknowledged his existence before," he grumbled as he climbed into the backseat.

The ride to school was silent, something it isn't usually, but I was consumed in my thoughts about what would happen. We seemed to be pulling into our usual spot all too soon, and I hopped out of the car perhaps just a bit too eagerly.

After spending a few seconds calming myself down, I began walking towards the school's entrance, making sure to be as casual as possible. Looking back over my shoulder, I saw that Zack and Rian had met up with Rian's girlfriend, Cassadee, and her best friend, Tay. This kind of put me at an advantage, because now I'd be able to find Jack without having to deal with them.

Finding Jack was actually not as difficult a task as I'd originally planned for it to be; he was simply standing in front of his locker, not really doing anything other than ignoring the handful of people trying to talk to him. I'd only taken a few steps into the building when the bell signaling first period rang out, which – for once – worked wonderfully in my favor.

Picking up my pace, I was able to bump into him. Sounds pathetic, right? Well, when we made eye contact, I scoffed out a, "Watch where you're fucking going," and continued on my way. I'll never understand why people find that attractive, but whatever. I'm pretty sure I saw him check me out just as I was turning away.

I couldn't help the grin that tugged at the corners of my lips, and I allowed it to be as I walked into my first period. Rian walked in about two minutes later, and even then I couldn't help but smile stupidly.

"So I take it something good happened?" he asked as he sat down next to me, shifting so he could prop his feet in my lap across the aisle separating our desks. Thankfully enough, we sit in the back corner, so it's not like we were actually in anyone's way.

"I bumped into him, and he looked at me," I replied with a shrug, my grin only seeming to widen at the memory of just five minutes ago.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" he questioned incredulously, removing his feet from my lap so he could sit up and lean towards me. "You're getting this excited simply because he looked at you? Did he even say anything to you at all?"

"Well, no, but," I started, suddenly feeling just a little stupid for making such a big deal out of something so trivial, "he was definitely checking me out, Ri, I know he was."

"Don't you say that about everyone?" he inquired thoughtfully, tapping the tip of his pointer finger against his chin and gazing up towards the ceiling.

"That was one time," I huffed, crossing my arms as I leaned back in my seat. "If I would've known that that guy was looking at the girl behind me, I wouldn't have attempted to flirt. The fact of the matter, though, is that Jack was definitely looking at me."

"I'm sure he was," Rian sighed, "just don't expect him to fall for you all in the matter of looking at you for five seconds."

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled back as the bell rang.

The period dragged on, and I was off in my own little world for all of it. The same thing went for second and third period, but when fourth period rolled around, I remembered that Jack was in my class.

I walked in the door, trying to be nonchalant about my entrance, and it turns out he wasn't even there yet. With a sigh, I sat down in my seat, which was positioned closest to the door. I stared at the top of my desk rather boredly, and I glanced up when I heard someone walk in.

Jack's thin frame – covered by black skinny jeans and a leather jacket, an outfit that coincidentally matched my own – came through the door, and he took a quick survey of the room before his eyes met my own. A smirk settled on his lips, and I did what I thought would help my case best: I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. Something must've – hopefully – worked, because he let out a light chuckle as he made his way to the back corner on the opposite side of the room, ignoring his loyal followers as he went.

I really tried to focus on whatever French shit Ms. Kohler was spilling, but it felt like someone was constantly staring at me. Whenever I'd risk a quick glimpse around, though, no one would even be looking in my general direction; some people were taking notes, some were just merely paying attention, and Jack was staring out of the window located on his right.

"Mr. Gaskarth?" Ms. Kohler said, pulling me from my thoughts and snapping my line of vision from Jack to the front of the room.

"What," I stated, sounding more bored than anything. Hell, it didn't even come out as a question.

She simply blinked at me before gesturing to the board, saying, "I wanted you to translate this phrase: The white shirt costs more than the black one."

Of course I knew that it translated to, 'La chemise blanche est plus coût que le noir,' but I replied with a muttered, "I don't know."

"What was that, Alex?" Kohler pushed.

"I said, I don't fucking know," I snapped, rolling my eyes a little dramatically at her.

"Alexander! I could give you a weeks worth of detentions for that!" she shrilled, seeming utterly appalled.

"Whatever," I mumbled.

Instead of giving me a detention, sending me out of the room or even so much as demanding that I see her after class, she turned to none other than Jack. "Care to give us the answer, Mr. Barakat?"

Of fucking course, he'd have no problem giving her the right answer, which only made me worry that I was trying too hard. What if he thinks I'm just some douche after that? All of my efforts will have gone to waste, and so god damn soon.

Slumping back in my seat, I counted the minutes down in my head as I waited for the period to just be over with so I could go see Zack, Tay, Ri and Cass at lunch. It took forever, but, then again, my counting was probably off by, y'know, a lot. As soon as the bell rang, I was out the door without a second glance back.

When I eventually made it to the cafeteria, none of my friends were in sight. Their classes were on the other side of campus, though, so it wasn't an uncommon occurrence that I was the first to arrive. Making my way across the crowded room, I stopped when I reached our table and plopped onto the blue, plastic bench, quickly sliding my phone from my pocket. I didn't necessarily have anyone to text, but at least I could make myself not look like a complete and total loser.

After a few seconds of just tapping away at random buttons, someone sat down next to me. Thinking it was Zack, since that was where he'd always sit, I turned to smile at him. Of course, I wasn't expecting it to be the gorgeous, lanky boy I was trying to impress. My smile fell and I looked at him expectantly, simply waiting for him to say something.

"Hey," he greeted, a – flirty? – grin taking over his face.

"Hey," I replied, turning back to my phone.

"So you're Alexander Gaskarth, right?"

"Alex," I corrected shortly, still not looking at him.

"Well, Alex, I'm Jack. Jack Barakat."

"Cool."

"Come on, don't be like that," he cooed, sliding a little closer, slipping his arm around my waist and leaning in to run the bridge of his nose along my jaw momentarily. "Y'know, you're kinda cute."

My heartbeat sped up at his words and actions, but I did my best to not let my thoughts show on my face or in my tone. "Yeah, whatever. What do you want, exactly?" I pondered aloud, allowing myself a quick glance up at his face, which was now only a few inches from my own.

"Nothing," he replied smoothly as he grabbed my phone from my hands and turned to start typing something into it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I cried, attempting to reach around him and take the device back. If he started reading through some of my most recent texts, I'd definitely be screwed.

"Nothing," he said again before he handed it back, moving so that his lips hovered about an inch from my ear, "I just think you should call me sometime, sexy." With that, he quickly nipped my earlobe before standing and walking away, not uttering another word or sending a glance back.

I sat in shock, simply staring at his retreating figure for a few moments before he disappeared out the cafeteria doors completely and Tay popped up out of nowhere, waving her hands in front of my face a little obnoxiously. "Close your mouth, Gaskarth; I already know how attractive I am, you don't need to ogle."

I blinked a few times before I looked around at all of my now seated friends, who seemed to be waiting for me to start story time or something. Cass, of course, was the first to speak up.

"So.. that was Jack then, wasn't it?" she asked, a small smile making it's way onto her dainty lips.

I nodded in response and Zack practically jumped from his seat, shouting, "Pay up, Dawson! I told you it wouldn't take long at all!" and successfully pulling the attention of everyone within twenty feet to turn and look at us as though we were stupid.

"We didn't bet on how long it would take," Rian scoffed, clearly annoyed at his outburst.

"No, but we did bet on whether or not it would work," Zack countered, grinning madly.

"You dumb asses don't even know if it worked in the first place," Tay cut in before she turned to look at me again. "So what happened?"

"Um.. I don't know, he typed something into my phone, said I should call him sometime, called me sexy and bit my earlobe," I said, my cheeks darkening a little, though I couldn't help the smile that I tried to bite away.

"What'd he save his number as?" Cass asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

I shrugged and opened up my contacts, looking for the one that hadn't been there before. "Uh, Jack Barakat with like a kissy, winky face thing?" I volunteered lamely.

"Are you gonna call him?" Tay pushed, leaning forward in her interest.

"No, you can't do that; it won't work. You just have to keep playing hide and go get him," Zack announced, slamming his hand on the table. "Ignoring him and being a jerk is clearly driving him crazy. He wants you so bad it hurts, I can tell."

"What do you know about playing hard to get?" Rian inquired, quirking an eyebrow accusingly.

"When was the last time you saw me with a girlfriend?" Zack asked back in response, causing Tay and I to burst into a fit of uncontrollable hysterics.

"You haven't had a girlfriend in a while, not because you play hard to get, but because no one wants you, Merrick," I managed to gasp out, earning me a halfhearted punch to my right arm.

"Says the one who's changing all for some guy.. And here I was, rooting for you this whole time," he grumbled.

Cass rolled her eyes and reached across the table to touch my hand lightly, simply saying, "Do whatever you think will work."

------

A week passed and I was still doing all in my power to make Jack seem like I wasn't interested in him, and he even went so far as to ask me out. Well, it wasn't necessarily a date or anything – not from what he made it sound like – but just us hanging out.

I stood him up.

He didn't seem upset about it, though, it was like he only started trying harder to get my attention after that. Kinda funny how I used to be the one chasing him, isn't it?

"So how long are you planning on keeping this up for?" a deep voice whispered in my ear, pulling me from my thoughts as a pair of arms slid around my waist.

"No idea what you're talking about," I muttered back, shoving the rest of my things into my locker before – reluctantly – wiggling my way out of his grip.

"Come on, I-," he started, but all of a sudden someone was calling my name; it was Cass.

"Do you know her?" Jack mumbled as she got closer, and I wasn't really sure what to do. Would it be a bad thing if she was my friend?

"Nope, no clue who she is," I replied loud enough for her to hear me before I turned and walked away. I saw her face fall a bit as I went, and my heart panged guiltily. She did say to do whatever I thought would work, right? I just hope she doesn't get too upset over my lie.

------

The next day at lunch – after explaining my reasoning to Cassadee for being such a douche to her, and her telling me that it was okay; she understood – we were all sat around at our table as we usually were, joking and laughing together about nothing and everything.

Out of virtually nowhere, someone sat down on my left. I didn't think twice about it, but the next thing I knew, someone was pressed against my side, their arm hooked around my waist and their chin resting on my shoulder.

"I thought you didn't know her?" came Jack's voice, but he didn't sound mad, just confused.

"I.. I, uh," I stuttered, trying to think of a somewhat reasonable explanation.

"Go on, Lex, tell him," Tay prompted, a smug grin on her face.

"Tell me what?" Jack asked, though it was directed at me.

"Noth-," I started with a shake of my head, but Rian was quick to cut me off.

"Seriously, dude, I think a week is long enough, just tell him and get it over with already. Or, y'know, we could do it for you.."

I sighed and looked down, avoiding everyone's patronizing gazes. "I've been lying to you," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut as I waited for Jack to blow up on me.

"Your name isn't really Alex, is it?" he joked, nudging my cheek with his nose.

"That's not what I meant," I snapped before letting out a deep breath to help somewhat calm my unsteady nerves. "I'm not who you think I am, I'm not a bad ass, these are all my friends," I rushed. "There you have it, I've been lying to you to get you to like me, and it was working, but now it doesn't even matter, so you can go back to ignoring me."

"You lied to me about her being your friend, while she was in hearing distance? That's pretty bad, Gaskarth," he commented after a few silent moments, moving to rest his cheek on my shoulder.

"I don't wanna be bad; I just wanna be bad enough for you," I explained quietly.

"I think it's plenty bad enough for me," he remarked, his arm tightening around my waist.

"Really?" I asked, perhaps just a bit bewildered.

He simply hummed in response before saying, "So how about when I ask you out this time, you don't stand me up?" It was mostly joking, but there was an underlying seriousness to it as well.

"Sounds good," I said, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips as I finally turned to make eye contact with him.

We all went silent, Jack and I simply gazing at each other as the others did who fucking knows what, when all of a sudden Zack muttered, sounding just a little too triumphant, "I fucking told you it'd work."