Twisted Devil by Ivy Blake

Chapter Seven

Tyler

“So, tell us Tyler, how the fuck did you let Ruby beat you?” Amber exclaimed as I joined her, Rob and two other girls I didn’t care to remember the names of on the bleachers.

“How the fuck did you leave the house with your extensions hanging on by a thread?” I snapped back at Amber. The knot that had formed in my stomach in response to Amber’s words was replaced with a sick but familiar feeling of pride as I watched her face get consumed by a horrified look. She brought her hand to her hair self consciously and cast me an ugly sneer.

“Insecurity doesn’t look good on you, Katz,” said Amber coldly. I felt a pang in my chest and my hands curled into fists as a result of Amber’s words. Who the fuck did she think she was calling me insecure?

“And lip fillers don’t look good on you, Amber,” I growled.

I always knew how to get people where it hurt most. That was my forte. Amber blanched and the girls she was sitting with gasped in horror. They all looked the same, like fucking plastic dolls expecting guys to fall at their feet for their ‘achievements’ in the beauty area when they had nothing to offer in the personality department.

“Damn, the claws have come out today!” Exclaimed Rob as his gaze flitted between me and Amber as if he was watching an action packed movie. From the glimmer in his eyes, I could tell that he was enjoying this a lot more than he should be.

“You think you’re fucking God’s gift, but you’re just a massive asshole!” Amber screamed through tears. I shrugged and sat down beside Rob, deciding that the conversation was now over. Calling me an asshole wasn’t new. I knew I was an ass. That shit wasn’t surprising anymore.

Insecure.

The word reverberated around my brain as I tried to nonchalantly sip from my coffee while keeping my eyes trained on Amber. Any sign of weakness and she wouldn’t fucking stop going at me.

“Is that it?” I asked in a bored tone. Amber was now stood up in front of me, her face red and angry tears streaming down her face.

“That tramp showed you up, and it’s me that you’re getting pissy with?” Amber was practically seething. “Clearly you’re not as great as you’d like everyone else to believe.” And with that final comment, Amber picked up her handbag and stormed off across the pitch with her minions in tow.

You’re not as great as you’d like everyone else to believe.Fucking bitch, look who’s talking.

“That was… intense,” Rob said after a moment.

“Who gives a shit? It’s just a fucking test,” I said in the most calm voice that I could muster, even though I was feeling anything but calm.

“You and Amber seem to give a shit,” Rob said pointedly, and I had to refrain myself from punching him. “Look, man, it’s honestly not that big a deal-”

“Well, it is, because now Ruby’s going to walk around thinking that she’s special or something,” I said through gritted teeth. As if I had summoned her by simply mentioning her name, I spotted a flash of red hair across the pitch and my eyes narrowed instantly.

“There’s your girl,” said Rob, nodding over to Ruby as she walked with Bella around the pitches. “I can’t lie, she’s cute.”

Without thinking, I punched Rob in the arm, and he let out a cry of annoyance.

“What the hell?” he exclaimed, rubbing the area on his arm where I’d punched him. I shrugged and took a sip of my coffee. The whole time my eyes were focussed on Rubys curly mess of red hair.

“Dude, if you’re that pissed off, don’t take it out on me!” Rob said in an agitated voice and he was right.

Rob hadn’t started this, Ruby had. Watching her laughing with Bella made my blood boil. As if she didn’t know what she had done, what she had started. Now I had people on my case, asking what went wrong and how this had happened, how I’d been beaten. Amber had been the worse, but not the only one with questions.

I knew I had to beat Ruby on the next test, no questions asked, but even that wouldn’t be enough. I turned to Rob.

“What have you got next?” I asked him.

“A free period…” Rob said warily. “Why?” He searched my eyes with his dark brown ones and I could tell he knew that I was up to no good and that I was going to drag him into my shenanigans.

“Wanna go on a little adventure?” I smirked at him. Tyler released a big sigh.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” I shook my head at him.

* * *

Ruby

The bell that signalled the end of school had gone off, much to my relief. I loved my literature teacher, but even my eyes were starting to go funny from staring at Shakespeare all afternoon and I couldn’t wait to grab my things and go home.

I had some serious catching up to do on Netflix. I grabbed my bag and was practically sprinting down the hallway to my locker so that I could swap out the books I’d need this evening. As I approached the hallway where my locker was situated, I couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot more people there than usual at this time of the day. As I got closer, they all turned to me, some laughing and casting me looks that suggested they knew something I didn’t, while others wrinkled their noses in disgust and walked in the opposite direction.

My pace slowed down as I found myself face to face with my locker and the horrible smell that was clearly coming from it.

“Where is that smell coming from?” I heard a voice exclaim behind me.

A few other people agreed enthusiastically, and I knew the onus was on me to sort this problem out. My shoulders had grown heavy, and I felt like I was going to be sick. Glancing at the faces around me, I secretly hoped that someone would come and take over, but of course, they didn’t. They just stood and watched me with disgust and intrigue as I put in the combination for my locker and opened the door.

Shit. As in literal faeces were sitting in my locker in a bag on top of my books. The smell hit me like a fucking truck and I swear to God my eyes were bleeding from the foul smell that emanated from the bag..

“Gross!”

“Oh my god, that’s disgusting!”

Voices bounced around and I was barely registering them as my eye caught sight of a folded up piece of paper taped to the inside of my locker door. I took it down and opened it up, unsurprised when I saw what had been written there:

You ain’t shit, bitch.

Tyler fucking Katz. He’d struck again. And this time in one of the most childish, yet still humiliating, ways he could have thought of. How the fuck had he gotten into my locker? Where the fuck did he find literal shit from? How far was he willing to go to make sure that I knew he thought I was beneath him?

I scrunched up the letter in one hand and with the other, I reluctantly picked up the bag of shit and turned to find a bin to throw it into.

“Ew, no, stay away from me!” a junior girl squealed as she backed away from me.

“Is that your lunch?” Some guy called out from a group of sophomore boys, who all burst into laughter at their friends’ remark. I shot them a dirty look but continued towards the bin, trying my best to hold my breath so that the smell wouldn’t overwhelm my nasal cavities.

My legs wobbled with shame as I walked past a bunch of students who took in the sight of the new girl carrying a bag of shit in her hand, and by the looks on their faces, I could tell that they were coming up with a myriad of conclusions.

“Oh, so that’s why you smell like shit! It’s part of your makeup routine, right?” Amber snickered behind me, along with the two girls that followed her everywhere.

“I don’t have a problem dumping this on your head,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, really?” Amber taunted me, that familiar sneer returning to her face. She clearly wasn’t afraid of me and it’s because she knew that she outranked me in these halls. Fuck it, Amber probably outranked me in this town.

“Come on Ruby, let’s be honest, you’re used to rolling around in shit with pigs so this can’t be new to you,” Amber smiled sweetly, but her eyes were pure evil.

“Amber, I’m sure you have the rest of your life to be a fucking bitch. Why don’t you take today off?” I snapped, before storming past her. I didn’t wait to hear her response, but could tell that my words had irked her from the annoyed sounds that were coming from her and her little friends.

I finally got to the bin and tossed the bag in there, not caring whose job it was to sort that out later. I’d had enough. My patience had completely snapped, and I felt like a shell of a person with only anger left in me.

The sound of a deep chuckle brought me back to my senses and my head snapped up to see where it had come from.

That same cold and ruthless look took over his face and his body, but as soon as his eyes locked onto mine, his face broke out into a smile as if he were a kid opening up his presents on Christmas.

Seeing how much my misery brought Tyler joy made tears build in my throat. At the same time, my hands curled into fists as if I would even dare to swing them his way, especially in such a public place. He was way bigger than me and would overpower me in seconds. My cheeks went hot at the thought and I instantly regretted it when Tyler raised an eyebrow at me.

He better not be able to read my thoughts.

“I see you got my message,” Tyler purred.

I’d gotten his fucking message alright. The game had truly begun. Before I could say something stupid, I stormed out the door without looking back and before Tyler could stop me.

After washing my hands in the bathroom about ten times with lots and lots of soap, a thought crossed my mind. I’d gotten under Tyler’s skin and now he was doing everything in his power to fuck with me. He simply couldn’t get his head out of his ass for two minutes or allow himself to believe that anyone, let alone someone like me, could beat him.

I had to find a way to get back at him, even if it meant putting up with his shit. Even if the only thing I wanted to do was scream and cry my eyes out, I wasn’t going to back down that easily. Well, at least not yet.