Twisted Devil by Ivy Blake

Chapter Twenty Three

Tyler

The months flew by in a flurry of exams, assignments, and dates with Ruby. I would never have predicted that me of all people would be walking hand in hand with a girl that I actually loved and who loved me back. It was crazy and I was still struggling to wrap my head around it.

I introduced her to my parents after she’d been announced as valedictorian (her choice not mine) and while they were over the moon that I’d landed myself a super smart girlfriend; they weren’t happy that I’d lost out to the role that they’d set out for me.

After numerous conversations with Ruby about my relationship to school and how I’d let it affect what I actually wanted in my life as well as my relationships with others, I’d found myself being able to ignore my parents criticisms as I counted down the days until I’d be free to go to college.

On the morning of graduation, as I got ready, my phone buzzed with a text from Ruby. I smiled as I saw the little heart emoji next to her name and clicked onto the screen to open up the picture she had sent me.

What do you think of this?x

My mouth nearly dropped to the floor as I looked at the picture of her in her graduation dress. The royal blue bodycon number was literally made for her because there was no reason for it to be fitting her figure so perfectly. Even though we’d been dating for a few months now and I saw Ruby almost every day and I’d seen her with her clothes off plenty of times, I still couldn’t get over how gorgeous she was both inside and out.

I can’t wait to see it on my floor. Xx

I texted back quickly. Even though there were far more salacious things that I wanted to say, I was going to save those for later when I could feel and hear the physical reaction that Ruby had to my voice. Ruby’s response came back almost instantly.

What a filthy thing to say to your valedictorian!xx

I’d like to do many filthy things to my valedictorian… xx

Any hints?

“Tyler, are you ready?” Mom called up the stairs for the third time. Shit, I needed to get a move on and make sure that my boner had gone down before I got downstairs. That was a conversation that I did not need to have.

I’d like to start with my tongue…xx

I replied quickly before tucking my phone away. I checked my reflection in the mirror one last time, happy that I could afford to get a good tailor for my suit. I slipped on my graduation robes and held onto my cap. I was only going to put it on when I had to because I didn’t want to mess up my hair unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Coming!” I called back to Mom as I made my way downstairs so that we could get in the car and head off to the ceremony.

* * *

Then graduation ceremony itself was a bit underwhelming and I couldn’t wait for the party this evening that Rob was hosting because I knew that it was going to be a fucking night to remember and worth all those fucking exams that we had to sit.

I did all the rounds and spoke to my teachers and gave them my thanks for all their help, even going so far as apologising to Miss Green for some of my behaviour- not all, because at times I still believe that I was justified. She just laughed it off lightly, which confirmed that she’d already been hitting the bubbly, but I couldn’t blame her- it was her day to celebrate too.

I wasn’t watching where I was going as I looked around to see where Ruby had gotten off to. I wanted to congratulate her for her amazing speech and for being so confident on stage. She had shone brighter than any star I’d ever seen and made me even prouder to call her my girlfriend.

I didn’t have to tell her that hearing about her journey at Valley High, even if it had been a short one, had brought tears to my eyes but I was sure she appreciated the fact that I’d been the one to start the standing ovation. What could I say? I was most definitely her biggest fan.

I nearly bumped head first into Rob and managed to hold myself up before I sent us both flying. Rob looked really good in his blue suit and bow tie and had started growing an interesting looking beard. For the sake of our friendship, I was holding back my comments for now.

“Damn man, where are you running to?”

“Just looking for Ruby. Have you seen her?” I asked as my eyes continued scouting the crowd.

“I’m pretty sure I saw her near the canopy with Bella.” Rob pointed in the direction that he was referring to and my eyes widened as I saw that he was right.

“I’m glad that you and Ruby worked it all out. She definitely makes you less of a dick,” Rob said, nudging me in the arm. I tore my gaze away from my beautiful girlfriend as she and Bella stood and chatted animatedly with their families while dressed in matching graduation attire.

An involuntary smile broke out on my face as I was once again reminded of how lucky I was. “She definitely does,” I chuckled. “I’m also glad that I have you as a friend because you keep me in check!” I pulled Rob into a big hug and he squealed when I squeezed too tightly.

“Enough, I don’t want Ruby to think I’m stealing her man!” he teased.

“Don’t worry, there will always be space for you,” I winked, blowing a kiss for added measure.

“How did it feel watching her do the valedictorian speech?” he asked.

“To be completely honest, I felt relieved,” I chuckled.

“Really?”

“Hell yeah, I didn’t have to pull some speech out of my ass- plus I’d rather Ruby have it. She didn’t have the easiest time here, at the start,” I said quietly, those familiar feelings of guilt pricking at my brain. “She worked for it. She truly is the best and I love her for always giving her all.”

“And here I was thinking you’d be having a hissy fit,” Rob said with a massive grin.

“Now I will have hissy fit if you don’t have any kegs tonight!”

“You might have to ask me nicely…”

Rob and I laughed and caught up some more until our parents came to join us for more pictures. Mom fussed around with my hair and insisted on posing with me in most of the shots, because this graduation was just as much hers as it was mine (because she gave birth to me- her words not mine) and I obliged her. Dad, on the other hand, seemed like he wanted to leave and was far less enthused by her. Instead of focussing on him, I focussed my attention on Rob, his family and Mom who were all in an excitable and celebratory mood.

Later on, a few guys from the swim team came up to congratulate me and tell me how excited they were about the party tonight. From the moment that they pulled me aside, we could all sense that there was something between us that wasn’t being said. Someone was absent and even though none of the staff had said anything today, word had gotten out and we all knew the one person who was missing from the celebrations. Coach.

“It’s weird not having Coach here, right?” whispered Jackson.

I tensed up at the mention of Coach. Soon after Bella and her parents had come in and reported him to school, he’d been ‘suspended’ while the investigation continued to go on. Everyone knew that meant Coach Jenkins was guilty, and it didn’t take long for the real truth to come out. There was no way that he’d ever be coming back to Valley High or would ever teach again, but that didn’t stop there from being a ‘debate’ about his actions over whether they’d actually happened or not.

Some students still wanted to hold on to the fact that he was a good person simply because they had positive memories of him and tt was becoming exhausting having to counter claims I heard in the hallway on behalf of Bella and any other girl that he might have hurt while he’d been at Valley High.

“It’s better than having a pedophile on campus,” Ashton said under his breath, and Will chuckled in response.

“I hope he gets what’s coming for him,” I said finally, before walking off to join Ruby.

Coach had been a topic of discussion for the last few months and while I was aware that situations like these didn’t just disappear and that people who were victims, like Bella, couldn’t just get over them and forget, I didn’t want it to cloud the celebrations for today.