Chapter 1: Pride
07/21 -- Author Notes: Bumped because more content was added to this chapter. Worth the re-read. Oh and I got a couple of PMs from people asking if I removed this story because they were getting a 404 error page. Umm... must be a problem with the site .
--
Pride - noun. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association.
Pride- noun. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
Pride... one of the seven deadly sins that plagues mankind.
--
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that touch ever so innocently.
I hate his eyes and the way they always look at me.
I hate the way he says what my heart pleas to hear.
I hate that he knows how to touch me so that I writhe beneath him.
"…"
"Say something," his words are faint as his lips descended on my scorching skin.
I try to hide the smirk tugging at my lips. I know what he wants me to say: his name. It is some kind of male domiance issue, that is, making a female scream her partners name in pleasure. But he should know by now, especially after all these years, I'm not the submissive type. Even now as he nips and bites my skin, I refuse to say a word, much less make a sound. Doing so would only serve as a means to let him think he has something over me and that certainly can't happen.
I cup his cheek in the palm of my hand and lean in, letting the smell of his being engulf me. He smells sweet and yet he still has that musky smell men usual do. It is an odd combination, but then again he is an odd boy. My tongue darts between my lips just dying for a taste of him. How can I possibily resist? I let my tongue slide from the corner of his lips to the center of his cheek.
"Say-" Plump lips move along my wrist, planting wet kisses. "-anything."
...anything...
"I'm…" I fight the urge to make a sound as I feel his hands snake their way up my thighs. "I'm bored." And his hands froze in place.
I guess that wasn't the best thing to say.
--
Because I remember the day as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
The day I fell out of a tree and broke my knee.
He smiled and laughed as he signed my cast.
"Why did you do it?" I remember he asked, and I refused to speak so I pouted my lips and turned my cheek. "Did you do it for me?"
--
"Do you want to leave?" His lips don't move from my skin neither do his hands. Despite my prior statement he is still fully entangled in me. "Tell me you want to leave."
"…"
I don't want to leave.
His breathe is warm and it tickles me as his lips once again are on the move.
Tyler...
How does he always manage to do that? To know just what to do to leave me breathless. How does he know just what to say to silence me? I hate him so much more for it. For being able to manipulate me into wanting him. It has always been this way. This unspoken relationship we've had since we were both fourteen is all we both have to keep us sane. I know his secrets and he knows mine. We should be perfect but we are so mismatched that it hurts. It burns.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
I can feel the vibrations coming from the leg straddling mine as his lips detach from my body. He sighs, irritated at the interruption and pulls the cell phone from his pocket. Looking at the number, he mumbles something under his breath before putting the phone on speaker.
Big mistake considering I have a pretty good idea who it is.
"What is it Reid?"
No reply comes from the phone.
I sit up from the dirty floor and begin to button up the open blouse. Tyler's eyes flicker to me in confusion, I shrug in response.
"Reid?"
"Are you still with that…" The boy on the other end of the line pauses and stifles a chuckle. "…with that girl?"
The way blondie drags the word 'girl'... it is enough to make my toes curl. I know what he is implying and the look on Tyler's face tells me he does too. The phone is quickly grabbed and slammed closed, but it's way too late for that. Not that I am surprised. I am the school slut. The whore at the bottom of every new rumor. I am the girl that not even the notorious Garwin wants to fuck.
Why would anyone want to be with me?
Especially someone like him.
Even now I can tell that the guilt is weighing him now. His lips open and close, trying to come up with something to say. Something that will make me feel okay, something that will let us be okay but I know that nothing he says can change the facts. The school prince is with the school whore and no words can ever make that okay.
"I should go." He nods slightly as he fixes his pants. I bit the inside of my cheek as I see the hickey threatening to peek over the collar of his shirt. "Here," I move the collar so that it covers the mark.
Lord forbid if the popluation finds the prince with a mark from a she-devil like me.
I give myself a one over to make sure everything is in place. His hand fondles my cheek ever so gently. It is his form of apology and I accept. Tyler moves his hand to cup my own but I move it out from his reach. There is no way we can walk out hand in hand. With a quick peck on the lips, I smile before opening the door to the storage closet.
What a place to be?
In a closet with the prince?!
Hmmm.
Maybe I am as slutty as they say.
--
"I have a juicy piece of fresh 411. Wanna hear it?" Isabel asks as she sets her tray across from me and takes a seat.
What a shock?
No proper greeting of course. She hasn't seen me all day and the first thing out of her mouth is 'wanna hear some gossip'. Pfft. I think not. Shock me with the rebellion. There is a new life destroying piece of information floating about in the mouths of all the students of this exclusive academy. Cruel Intentions, much?
"Unlike you gossip queen, I could give a rat's ass about the people in this school." I stab the fork into the potato relentlessly as I have been doing for the past fifteen minutes before she arrived.
It is just another day and just like every other day, today is filled with brand new gossip. How extremely lucky of me to have a best friend connected by the hip to the gossip vineyard. But Isabel Lantely is my very best and only friend and that I wouldn't change. What I would change however is her extreme need to know what is going on in the lives of every living being in this place. Yes, even the professor's didn't escape the vineyard on occasion.
"Too bad." Isabel sighs loudly as her happy mood deflates almost instantly. She is sulking and if there is anything worse than a babbling Bella, it's a depressed Bella. It is downright scary how she knows just what buttons to push in order to make me feel guilty.
"Go on. You have my undivided attention." Sarcasm heavily laced my words, but Isabel seemed non-affected by it as she squealed in delight at my surrender. Scooting her chair closer to mine, she smiled in anticipation.
"The word around school is," she paused and looked around the cafeteria for prying ears, "Alexandra Paterson is on the lookout for some man meat..."
So, that was it? The bimbo head cheerleader wanted a boyfriend and made a public announcement about it. Should I be shocked? What part of that should make me give a fu-
"One of the sons of Ipswich." Isabel gives me a look, waiting for some sort of reaction. Seeing none, she sighs again. "She wants Tyler Sims."
Oh, that stupid bit-
"What are you going to do about it Elisa?"
I flicker my eyes to Isabel, who casually plays with her food but ears are radiating for a response. But what exactly did she want me to say? Fighting for a boy was not my thing to do. It went beyond my dignity and it went beyond my pri-
"Well? He is your boyfriend, right?"
I hate it when she pesters me.
But this time she is right, I had to something. It is a well known fact that he is mine. Sort of. Pfft. Another well known fact is that whenever Alexandra is on the hunt, all guys – taken or not - are her available target. This was the unwritten code of the jungle called high school. Failure to comply would equal in social damnation by those in power.
Not like I care of course.
I was already known as the school whore so how much further could I slip down the social ladder.
"Yeah right," I mumble as I stand up from the table. "See ya."
--
How could he not know?
I swore to get him back for daring to even ask.
"I will never do anything for you."
It wasn't the truth.
--
The scene that greets me as I enter study hall is one that I had been more than prepared for. But it still pisses me off. There she is, Alexandra Paterson, pressing against him, Tyler Sims. Sickening smile in place as she undresses him with her beady little eyes. The sight of her makes me want to hurl. Standing there with him, as if he were her property. Her stupid blond hair twirling around her stupid finger as she stupidly bats her eyelashes at him.
She is so stupid.
I feel like I have no control over my body. My feet are moving without my permission and before I know it I am standing inches away from the them. Her eyes look me over before she scoffs. I think I see her lips move from the corner of my eye, but I can't hear anything except my own heart beating rapidly. He has long stopped looking at her and is now staring straight at me. A question in his eyes, I take a step moving in front of him in answer. Standing on the tip of my toes, I plant a chaste kiss on his lips not bothering for his consent.
Eyes closed, I don't even bother to savor the moment with him because all I can do is listen. Listen to the voices spreading like a wildfire. There was a series of gasps and 'omg', followed by other various comments. Everyone was talking. I can almost foresee the new wave of gossip forming. Just like that, the spell is broken and I part my lips from his. I don't bother trying to settle my eyes on anyone before I move away.
Away from the voices.
Away from the eyes.
Away from him.
I can't stand him.
I ha-
"Ahh!"
In an instant, a hand grabs my wrist and spins me around before slamming me into the nearest locker. I gasp at the force of the push, clenching my teeth as I stare into the anger filled blue eyes in front of me. I had marched straight out of study hall and into the empty hallways. Apparently he was quick to follow me.
"What was that for?" The hand on my wrist tightens but I make no sound to the pain. "What happened to your number one rule," he demands.
Never show public displays of affection – under any circumstances.
I snatch away my wrist from his grasp, already feeling the forming bruise. It was the rule I had insisted we both keep since the day he confessed his need for me. Though I didn't understand what he could see in me, I accepted because there was a part of me I could not deny needed him too. Looking into his eyes I can see the daggers of accusation flying at me. I push him, not a light shove, but a full on push that makes him take a few steps back.
We both don't speak nor do we move. I don't know how much time passes between us as we stand this way across from each other. It could be seconds but it feels like hours. Until finally, he takes a step closer to me.
"What was that for?" His voice echoes in the empty hallway, making it seem louder than it was intended. I look up, but his own eyes remain on the floor.
I take a hesitant step to my right before taking another and then another. I am now further away from him. He has noticed I am sure, but still refuses to look up at me.
"It was for-" I take two more steps "-my pride," and with that I ran far away from him.
--
Author notes: This story is inspired by the seven deadly sins. A very short piece consisting of only seven chapters. I really wanted to write a sort of angst fic with Tyler since my other fic is such a silly one. I plan on updating this once a week so that way I will be done with it quickly enough. I hope you like this well enough since I am overly nervous about it.
All reviewers will receive an exclusive sneak peek into the next chapter!