Taming The Bad Boy By Ivy Coleman Chapter 3

When Sam awoke the next morning, the sunlight streamed in through the cheap nylon curtain that parted roughly. The room shivered with the ache of the ache of the cold that seeped in through the cracks on the wooden door painted dark blue.

When Sam’s hand reached out to grip the ladder of the bunk bed, his skin contacted the cold metal and he jerked it back, rubbing his cold hands together. As he sat up, the thin covers pooling at his waist, he glanced around, stretching his sore limbs above his head which cracked and popped as he winced.

His eyes caught no sight of the lion as he lowered his arms slowly, glancing around. His chocolate eyes blinked once, blinked twice as he leaned up on his knees and braced his palms against the handle.

A knock sounded at the wooden door that sent echoes of it bouncing around the room. Sam yelped in surprise as he jerked forward and found himself tumbling over the wonky rail that was supposed to support him. Sam closed his eyes ready for the impact but found that the floor was much too muscular and smelt of oranges. He peaked open one chocolate eye before he sputtered out in surprise.

He had no idea where Hunter had appeared from (he was exiting the tiny bathroom when he saw Sam beginning to wobble against the rail), but he had caught Sam before he could fall. Sam, however, was flustered and surprised and so when he spluttered in Hunter’s grip he sent the two of them on the floor.

Sam groaned as he leaned up, straddling Hunter who laid flat beneath him. Sam’s eyes widened, his hands either side of Hunter’s head as Hunter glared up at the ceiling. Hunter’s face was the perfect reading of a sarcastic ‘really…’ look and so Sam’s mouth stuttered open and closed like a fish out of water. His fingers trembled beneath him as he tried to figure out what to say but all he could do was straddle the dark-haired boy and gawk at him with large, puppy eyes. Hunter turned his green eyes to the innocent puppy as they both stared back at each other. Sam jumped, flinching as he closed his eyes waiting for the punch.

However, it never came.

As Sam peaked open his eyes, breathing out slowly in relief, he looked back at Hunter who was still watching him, this time with neither narrowed eyes or a growl. Sam’s brows furrowed in confusion but before anything else could be done, the knock on the door sounded again.

“Bro… you alright?” Happy’s voice rung out as Hunter’s jaw locked, he turned his head to the side, his hair falling over the left side of his face as his angular jaw glimmered in the dull light. His large hands came to Sam’s knee’s straddling his waist and pushed them away.

Sam stumbled slightly but crawled off of Hunter as Hunter sat up, shaking his head to get rid of any dirt, before standing up and going back into the bathroom. Sam heard the door click shut as he watched it for a moment with a startled glance.

“Dude, he’s probably dead, let’s just go.” Kay’s voice mumbled out with a groan and a slapping noise sounded, followed by Kay’s yelp.

Happy knocked again. “Sam, you okay?”

Sam smiled softly at hearing the worry in Happy’s tone and so he opened the door as Happy and Kay both stopped bickering and turned to look at Sam. The two glanced at each other when seeing Sam’s messy state whilst still in his clothes from last night. Kay snickered softly as he glanced up and down at Sam. “Damn, the teachers will love you if you turn up like that.”

Happy elbowed Sam before he smiled warmly. “Go get dressed, Sam. The uniform’s in the second draw. Hurry up though… Kay’s right about one thing, the teachers won’t like it if you make a bad first impression.”

Sam turned his head back slightly as he was confused for a moment before walking over to the small drawers and opening them. A neatly folded uniform rested inside and so he grabbed them as he stepped back towards Happy and Kay who were wearing theirs.

“Can you just give me a minute?” Sam asked as he wearily glanced down at the uniform. Kay groaned, strolling off but Happy yanked him back by his collar and grinned.

“Sure, Sam. We’ll wait out here.”

Sam closed the door as he turned around to get changed. The door to the bathroom opened as Hunter and Sam both looked at each other. Hunter only paused for a moment, in his uniform, before he carried on walking.

When he opened the door, Kay and Happy both glanced his way, thinking it was Sam. Kay jumped back and walked to the other wall once seeing it was Hunter.

Happy kept his hands dug into his pockets as he offered a nod towards Hunter. Hunter only glanced at them before pushing through and walking off. Kay leapt aside as he held his thumping chest. He turned to Happy with wide onyx eyes. “Did you see that! I almost died—”

Happy rolled his eyes as he braced his arm against the door frame. “Here we go again… hey, Sam you almost ready? The teachers will make us do laps if we’re late.”

As Kay continued to tell Happy about how he survived a near-death experience with the school’s biggest bad boy, Sam got dressed.

The uniform was only slightly big due to Sam’s skinny nature, but it wasn’t like the other students were dressed like Oxford students. Happy himself had about three buttons undone with his tie hanging loosely.

And Sam remembered that when Hunter came out he was wearing converse and a long-sleeved black shirt underneath his school shirt.

Sam appeared at the door as Kay held his nose whilst he let out a ‘pfft’ noise. His eyes rolled over Sam. “Whoa, you look like you got Bear’s hand me downs or sommet.”

Sam laughed slightly as he closed the door and walked beside Happy and Key. Happy slung his arm around Sam’s shoulders as he asked “Ready for your first day of class?”

Sam sat on the benches that he and Happy had previously been to when it was his first day here. He tapped his foot against the floor beneath his battered shoes as he glanced around.

Class had been… different. The teachers took no interest in him or anything in life it seemed. They were all bored and dull, mumbling the answers and waving off their words as they would slowly trail off from their sentences, mumbling ‘blah, blah, blah.’

The students didn’t care any more than the teachers did. They talked across the room, threw things at each other, made witty remarks about each other and in the past few hours Sam had witnessed four fights.

They were all bloody and brutal…

Sam clasped the small, red stress ball in his palm as he bounced it on the floor before catching it again. His face rested in his palm, his elbow against his knee as he exhaled a bored breath out.

As Sam continued to bounce the ball, he looked around the grounds, watching and observing the students. Most of them were playing cards or wrestling with each other, it really was your stereotypical school.

Sam’s eyes searched around for the lion, expecting to see the lion trying to order his cubs about but to Sam’s surprise, Hunter wasn’t around anywhere. He hopped off the benches as he whistled lowly, unconsciously mimicking Happy as he stuck his hands into his pockets and hit the red ball of the ground every now and then. He trailed back inside of the school as the wind had started to nip at his skin and Sam wasn’t so fond of the wind.

Once entering the school grounds again, Sam flinched upon hearing a group of voices laced with bitterness. He heard a laugh, a sharp, cold laugh that sent shivers up his spine.

Everything in him screamed for him to leave but he just couldn’t. He knew curiosity would certainly kill him off someday.

As Sam approached the corner, where the voices were talking, he peeked round. His eyes landed on Hunter who was leaning against a window ledge. His back was on the wall, his long leg stretched out in a carefree way as he picked at a stray thread on his skinny jeans. Surrounding him were a group of boys all smirking menacingly at him but Hunter did not look afraid… no in fact…

Hunter looked bored.

Sam leaned closer to hear what they were saying but he couldn’t make out any faces, only that the one at the front seemed to be blond and seemed to be the leader—either that or he just talked a whole lot more than the rest.

“C’mon, what’s the big deal?” The blond laughed. The laugh was that bitter, cold one Sam had heard and Sam knew instantly from that laugh that he didn’t like this guy. Hunter didn’t seem phased at all, he did not even budge his chin in the blond’s direction.

“I reckon he’s shit scared.” A chubby boy beside the blond chortled out. Hunter’s eyes seemed to narrow only slightly but more in irritation rather than being provoked. The chubby one continued to snort until the blond rolled his eyes and elbowed him.

“That’s enough, lads. I’m sure, good ole Hunter here is just being friendly. But I don’t mind, lets—”

Hunter jumped down from the ledge as he stood up to his full height. Sam remembered watching an animal channel where a bear stood up on its hind legs and towered over its prey.

Watching Hunter reminded Sam exactly of this. Hunter looked down at the blond who stopped just below Hunter’s chin. His jawline flexed as his green eyes narrowed before he let out a cold, empty “No.” and turned on his feet to walk off. The blond pursed his lips as he smirked.

“Guess you really are scared shitless then” He called after Hunter. Hunter didn’t freeze or even flinch, he continued to walk, not bothered at all.

The chubby one dumbly scratched his head. “Hey boss, how are you gonna get the title if he don’t even care?”

The blond snarled at the chubby one, hitting him aside the head as he turned around on his feet to stalk off.

Sam darted back behind the corner as the blond and his minions all walked away, remaining oblivious to the nosy boy behind them. Once they were out of sight, Sam peeked back around the corner but frowned when he noticed Hunter was gone. He jogged silently down the hallways as he looked left and right before seeing a glimmer of dark locks heading down the left hallway.

Sam sneakily walked behind him, sticking to the side of the wall as he went to turn the corner Hunter disappeared down but suddenly fell backwards with a startled yelp when Hunter was standing over him.

Angry eyes looked down at him as Sam shuffled back nervously. “I wasn’t—I” Sam snapped his mouth shut, realising he had no idea what to say, he didn’t even know his own reasoning for why he had followed Hunter.

How was he going to explain this?

Once again Sam was waiting for the impact of Hunter’s fist, but nothing happened and so this made Sam weary. It made him even more cautious when his black locks shone in the dim light.

Hunter knelt down into a squat in front of him. His green eyes glimmered as He reached out, his fingers cupping Sam’s cheek as Sam’s mouth fell agape, his cheeks flustering red, Hunter leaned forward with a sultry gaze as he stared at Sam.

“You know… someone’s gonna start thinking you’ve got a thing for me.”