Falling For the Bad Boy

Chapter 1: Talk about awkward!

A/N: First ever Stella and Brandon story! So it probably won't be that good. :)

Brandon isn't in this chapter yet, though. Just wait...

"Yes! I WON! Suck on that, Carter!" I yelled triumphantly, standing up and throwing my hands in the air as I stuck my tongue out at Carter. He dabbed his hands to his eyes as if he was crying like a three year old.

Childish, I know.

"B-but... Stellie!" Carter fake sobbed, causing me to laugh the hell out of myself. He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he directed a playful glare at me.

Why was Carter acting like this?

Well, my friend, he just lost the game of checkers for the first time, ever. And to think he lost it to ME, even though it was my first time playing it. What a bummer.

"How the hell did you beat me if it's your first time? And, I'm like the best at this game! This is... YOU CHEATED!" he accused, pointing a finger at me.

"I did not!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms in front of my chest, "I just happen to be better at it than you."

"I hate you." he huffed out. I sighed. I pouted at him and crept slowly towards him, kneeling down to look straight into his eyes.

"Aw, come on! You didn't mean that! R-right...?" I frowned, feeling slightly upset about this. I bent down, but still remained in my standing up position, as Carter was sat in front of me on the sofa. I placed my hands on my knees as I pouted at him.

To make things clearer, Carter Richardson, here, is my best friend. Well, technically my brother's, but I'm still close to him because he's just as sweet as an apple pie.

Oh, and he hates it when I say that. Carter's the rebellious, egoistic, player, who's 17 years old in my High School, but I've got to agree with the rest of the female population, Carter is fine. Yeah, sure, he's hot. I'll give that to him, but he constantly teases me all the time, in a playful way. That's how we get along. Despite him being that guy who's been with loads of girls, he's actually really fun to be around.

His short black hair was messy today, which only boosted his stunning appearance, and his grey eyes looked timidly around, trying to avoid my gaze. Wait a second... is he blushing?

OH MY GOD. This has got to be the first time he's blushed, ever. And I just witnessed it!

Where's my god damn camera when I need it?!

"You're blushing." I pointed out, a sly grin on my face. Knowing Carter, he'd probably scowl at me and flip me off, but to my complete surprise, he blushed darker. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"S-Stellie..." he stammered my nickname he gave me nervously, trying to look at anything but me. I remained in my bent down position in front of him as I raised an eyebrow. Again, god damn it, why didn't I bring my camera and capture this perfect moment?

"The way you're b-bent down..." he choked out, trying his hardest to look up at my eyes instead of below. Wait, what?

"I can perfectly see a good view of your boob-"

"CARTER!" I shrieked, instantly jumping from my bent down position and slapping my hands over my chest. I bet my face is burning 50 shades of red right now.

This is so embarrassing.

He was trying his best to avoid looking, I see, that's why he was blushing. I was a bit grateful that he respected that and at least tried not to look, but...

"Although," he drawled out, a smirk on his face, "They are big and might I say, are very-"

"CARTER!" I hissed again, knowing my face was getting darker.

This is so embarrassing. This is so embarrassing. This is so-

"What's going on here?!" I heard my brother's voice, causing me and Carter to flinch in surprise. My brother stood near the door of the living room, a coke in his hands.

If my brother caught Carter inwardly staring at me... in that way, he'd kill Carter in a heartbeat. Not literally, of course, but he can be very over-protective.

"NOTHING!" Carter shouted out of nowhere, still blushing, and I would have grinned at how cute he looked if I wasn't still taken aback about what happened. Talk about awkward.

My brother raised an eyebrow and sighed, walking towards us as he eyed the checkers board, "Who won?"

I still wasn't able to speak so I remained silent. Sky is my twin brother, but I'm unfortunately 10 minutes later at birth which made him become this older, over-protective brother around me. And let me tell you again, he's very over-protective. Heck, he doesn't even let me date until I'm properly 23. I mean, come on!

We both recently turned 17 last month. Sky looks like me, I guess, with shoulder length blonde hair a shade lighter than mine, and ocean blue eyes. He's also pretty muscular.

I, however, have long blonde hair which was a shade darker, and my skin was slightly tanner than his, and my eyes are the complete opposite of his- They were a honey-golden colour.

I broke out of my thoughts when Carter coughed awkwardly, "Stellie did, apparently."

"YES! You admitted it!" I grinned, causing him to roll his eyes.

"My little sister beat you at CHECKERS?! At her first time, too! That's amazing!" Sky cheered, high-fiving me.

I ignored the fact he called me 'little'. I secretly hated it.

"Fuck you, both of you." Carter scowled, crossing his arms in front of his chest in annoyance.

Well, here it goes again. I walked towards him and slung my arm around him, briefly placing a soft kiss on his cheek, "Awe! Cartie-Boo is upset!"

Sky burst out in laughter and I joined along. But what shocked me was when I took a glance at Carter, he had touched his cheek where I kissed him and smirked to himself, his face turning a light shade of red.

Weird.

But I shook it off.

...

It's been one whole week since that great game of checkers with Carter, and now I felt like my whole world is crashing down on me. I felt...

Sad would be an understatement.

I felt terrible, that I wanted to just start thrashing around and scream out, 'NO' all day. This wasn't fair. I don't want to move there, I just... I can't.

Not again.

I sobbed quietly as I slung my pink jumper over myself, and then stepped out of my empty room, which now looked dull and echoes could be heard when you talk. My brother was outside; talking with Carter- The person I'll miss the most, along with my other best friend, Nova.

We were moving.

To a completely different state, different house, different school. And to make things even worse than it was? We're moving to California.

I was totally against the idea of moving. I started yelling and crying about it, because it would mean leaving the only things that kept me happy- My friends, and here. We currently lived in Washington, where my life had took a different turn.

I originally lived in California, heck, I was born there. I hated my life then. But I then moved to Washington at the age of 11, which is where we currently lived, and I've been so happy here.

Until I found out we had to move back to where my childhood was a nightmare.

As I reached outside, Sky glanced at me and sighed, "Come on, Stell, It won't be that bad."

I scoffed and looked into Carter's eyes, which were filled with sorrow, "Easy for you to say, idiot, everyone at school loves you, god damn it!"

The thing I was scared the most about moving there was the school. That was the main reason I hated it, but I didn't like thinking about it. I walked towards Nova and briefly hugged her, as she comforted me and tried to tell me that it was going to be okay.

I know it wasn't.

"Come on, kids, we're going in a minute!" I heard mom say, causing me to close my eyes and shake my head. No, I'm not ready yet. This can't be happening.

Sky glanced at me and then went inside the Taxi, where our parents were. I turned around to face Carter this time, and he looked miserable as he stared at me.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Stellie." He whispered, a train of emotions flashing through his eyes. I've never seen Carter like this, that it made me want to cry even more.

I was caught by surprise when he pulled me into his warm embrace, which felt like forever, but I leaned in and hugged him back. Heck, I'll miss him even more. Life without Carter Richardson is just... empty.

"I'll miss you more, Cart." I sighed in sadness.

I'll definitely miss this egoistic, cocky, sexy, playful jerk. I'll miss his stubborn, carefree attitude and his sarcastic sense, which always seemed to brighten up my mood whenever I was down. Honestly... I love him- for being him.

"Promise me you'll see me again?" he said softly, pressing a gentle warm kiss on my neck, causing me to shiver in surprise. His eyes were staring directly into mine- Sorrow, anger and love in them. I couldn't utter out a single word when his lips pressed softly against mine, just for a few seconds, leaving me speechless. But to my complete disappointment, he quickly pulled away and leaned his forehead against mine.

"Promise."

But we broke our embrace when my mom told me to get in the car again. I stared up into Carter's beautiful grey eyes, as he leaned down closer to my face.

What's he doing?

He placed a soft, lingering kiss on my forehead as his eyes clouded with tears, but he closed his eyes right after and mumbled a soft 'goodbye'. I wanted to break down, again.

...

When I was child, I was that girl who constantly wore baggy clothes, glasses, wore braces, and had messy hair. I was that one girl, who sat at the back of the class with her head in her book, too intrigued with the lessons to care about anything. So just like that, people stereo-typed me as a nerd.

Was I really a nerd?

No, I wasn't. I'm not exactly that smart, I didn't have good grades. But just because I was quiet and looked the way I was, didn't mean I was a nerd. I didn't really care about anything, and I only had one best friend- Bloom. But I was still classified as a nerd. So why did they call me that? Because I looked like one. Plain, simple.

And that was when a dramatic change happened to me at the age of 9, the cutest boy ever came in school that day, with his tan skin, his short brown hair, messy yet increased his stunning appearance. Instantly, he became the most popular boy in school- just like that. Plus, he was rich too.

His mother is Spanish and his dad is American. Thus, creating this beautiful boy.

So little old me, of course took notice of him. God, he was so gorgeous. But I was still too young to even realise what he was like. So I thought- if he was that good looking, his personality must match, right?

Little did I know that I was wrong.

So wrong.

I had a crush on him for years, up until I was 11 years old. As he became older, he became even cuter. I was left in the dark in the space of those two years really- he never noticed me. Never.

But I still had hope in me. I noticed he liked to bully people and he was that one boy who made everyone laugh just by breaking the schools' rules, everyone liked him. He, of course, had many girlfriends, even at that young age, and it broke my heart. But that didn't stop me from confessing my feelings for him.

I've always wanted to tell him how I felt, but I never had the courage to. And anyways, why would a cute boy like him would like a nerd like me? But something clicked in me and I got so frustrated of bottling up these emotions that I decided to step up one day- Despite Bloom's warnings about him being that one boy who liked to bully people.

As far as I know, he hadn't bullied me yet.

So, at the age of eleven, I marched right up to him at lunch, noticing he was sitting in his usual table with the popular people. My brother usually sat with them, but he was sick that day and stayed home. I despised them for years, well, except for my brother, but that boy I had a crush on- He was just perfect.

And that was when I ruined my whole life- I regret it. I never should have made that two-minute speech about how much I liked him. I regret ever confessing to him that I had a crush on him. Stupid, Stella.

Why? Because right after that, he burst out laughing.

Yes, he laughed. Including everyone in the whole god damn lunch hall! While I just stood there like an idiot, my face red. That was the moment I knew I fucked up. What the hell happened next?

He made a 2 minute speech, which at first, I expected to be his acceptance and his confession of liking me. But what did it turn out to be?

The complete opposite. It was rejection.

He instead, said out loud, how much he always hated me and thought I was gross, just because I was ugly and am a nerd. Everyone in the lunch hall was cheering him on, while stupid Stella just stood there and cries. I cried.

Bloom was right; I made a stupid mistake. I never wanted to go to school again. I just ruined my life.

And that's how I got my nickname- Stupid Stella. The next few days everyone kept calling me that, and started bullying me, even. I cried every single day, and the whole school knew about my confession just because that boy was popular. The boy never talked to me after that, though.

I felt humiliated. So I was over the moon when I found out we had to move due to dad's new job. I never wanted to go to California, ever again.

Brandon Rodriguez, you cruel, ignorant bastard!

I liked you, but now I hate you.

"Hey Stell!"

I felt the side of my bed next to me sink down incredibly, causing me to groan.

"Sky, get off of my bed! You weigh a ton!" I shrieked, glaring at my brother who lied down next to me on my double bed, a sly grin on his face.

"A ton in muscles, not fat." He pointed out, flexing his biceps in front of me, causing me to cringe. "I bet a lot of girls would fall for me the moment I step into our new school."

Cocky jerk. Why oh why does HE have to be my twin brother?

I released a sigh and lied back down, closing my eyes, "I don't want to go to school, Sky."

Sky never did find out about the people who bullied me. I always avoided him when I was at school, meanwhile everyone crowded around me and called me names, doing cruel stuff like that. But I knew Sky would kill Brandon in a heartbeat if he ever found out, and if he wasn't his best friend.

Perks of being popular, huh.

He furrowed his eyebrows but then rolled his eyes, "If it's about being popular, don't worry, and having me as a brother will make you known anyway."

I was about to say something when he added, "But Stell, you've always looked pretty to me, despite you wearing those stuff all those years ago. But you never wear it anymore, right? You look different now, you look beautiful. Plus, you hanging out with Carter all those years made you more lively, perky and loud! And rebellious like him! Don't worry about it."

I sighed, knowing he was right. The braces were off, I no longer wore glasses- Not that I ever needed them anyways- I now wore more girly clothing due to hanging out with Nova over the years, and my personality changed drastically because hanging out with Carter meant you'd be exactly like him.

Minus the player part. I had a few boyfriends, but that was about it.

True, I no longer liked books, now wore makeup and acted girly, I guess. I looked different too, and I was talkative. My brother's words seemed to comfort me a little, and made me perk up a bit.

"You're right." I said, a smile slowly forming on my face, "It'll be okay. Yes, it'll be okay!"

"That's the spirit, Stell!" Sky grinned, high fiving me. High school will be starting in a week, and I'd be a Junior there, along with Sky.

I stared up at the ceiling of my new room, as my mind trailed off to my past again.

Bloom could be here. That's a plus. Maybe she hangs out with other girls too. I can't wait to see her; she probably looks different right now. I miss her so much; she was my first ever best friend.

But realisation dawned on me the second I thought about that. I frowned.

If Bloom was going to be there, wouldn't Brandon be there too...

Shit.

Well, I tried. Hope you liked it! Brandon will be coming soon, don't worry!

Review please, if you'd like me to continue it :)

- MusaRiven125