Chapter 6

Sydney's POV

Gavin's intense scrutiny was making me self-conscious. His piercing green eyes probed, as he eyed me up and down, and for the life of me, it had me squirming a little as my feet shifted from side to side.

What if I look horrible?

What if I look overdone?

Oh my god! What if I look like a prostitute on some sidewalk?!

If I do, I blame Riley for this, and heck! Gavin needs to stop staring at me!

"Are you ready for your bad-ass lesson?" he asked to break me out of my mind, smirking like the devil. Oh, how I'd love to smack that smirk off his gorgeous fa-- hold it! Gorgeous? Where on Earth did that come from?

"Uh..." I stalled, not really sure what to say yet.

Is this bad-ass lesson really worth all the trouble I'm getting myself into? Am I ready to dive into a world where everything is unknown to me and foreign that in my scholastic career, I was the perfect student with perfect grades and flawless record and right now, I am going to tarnish that all in the name of proving myself that I am no pushover and plain Jane?

My mind flashed back to Craig's unsavory words.

Boring.

Not interesting.

Plain.

Remembering them again had me flinching inwardly.

Ah, screw it!

After a moment's hesitation, I nodded. "Yup," I said, popping my lips together at the last letter.

He grinned. "Alright, number one," he said, holding up his pointer finger. "Never take shit from anyone - and I mean never. If someone asks you for a favor, tell them to shove it up in their ass."

Say what?

I gasped, appalled with the very thought. "That's rude," I told him in disbelief. "What if they need help with their homework? Most of the guys at school ask for my help."

That's just wrong, to ignore somebody when they need my help, and Gavin telling me to shove it up to where it is to be shoved is just not me.

He rolled his eyes. "You see, you are a big pushover," he told me, crossing his arms over his chest. "You can help but not to the point in making their homework for them. I saw you do it and don't you ever deny it," he said sternly.

"I was just helping..." I mumbled softly. This is harder than I thought and damn it! I am good with math and science; if there'd be an actual subject on how to be a bad-ass, then, I'd probably fail with a big, fat F.

He narrowed his eyes into thin slits. "Well, lessen the help more on the sarcasm. Got it?" he said sternly.

I nodded. "Gotcha."

"Number two," he said, his middle finger up together with the pointer finger. "Play hard to get. Guys get excited for something they can't have. Once you achieve that, you'll be a forbidden fruit."

Now I have to act lascivious like that blond of a bimbo Shelly what's-her-face? What possessed him-- no, wait, is he crazy for suggesting that I should swish and giggle like an air-head?

I grimaced, repulsed by the idea. "I don't want to act slutty like Shelly."

He shook his head. "I'm not saying that you need to act slutty," he expounded. "Believe me, Shelly is not all that. Guys go for Shelly because she's easy, accessible, so act as if you don't care and that will get guys riled up."

Sounds pretty decent (I think) enough, so I nodded.

"Next, number three," he said, his ring finger up together with pointer and middle finger. "Don't be afraid to let out a little anger. Sometimes, if you want to be a bad-ass, you need to get into trouble once in a while. In short - live a little."

"Hold on," I said, holding up my hand, palms facing forward. "Trouble? Are you crazy? I can't afford having my record tainted for being a miscreant!"

I couldn't do that to me o4 to my parents, because of college. I need to have a clean record and with the thought that I worked so hard to keep it that way only for it to be dragged down into my new found adventure of being the new me?

"Syd, you need to get rid of that stick out of your butt," Gavin said with exasperation. "Like I said, live a little."

"But--"

"No buts," he interjected me with raised eyebrows.

I sighed; there is no point arguing with this boy, so I just nodded, again.

As the lesson continued, the list went on and on and I didn't know if I could keep up. I think I'm having a cerebral hemorrhage with all the information overload. Gavin pointed out some of my flaws, which I thought were okay, but entirely, they were anything but that. It stung a bit, to be honest, but I listened with such intent... I have to learn, and after this lesson I can finally say Craig was right. I am definitely, absolutely, precisely and utterly boring.

"Gavin, what time is it?" I asked as my eyes wandered around to look for a time-telling device.

"It's 15 minutes to 9:00pm," he replied, looking at his wrist watch.

My eyes bulged out of its sockets. This can't be good! My parents are going to eat me alive!

"What?" I exclaimed, my heart thundering wildly in my rib cage. "My parents are going to rip my head off if I come home late!"

He chuckled. "Relax, I'll take you home."

I shook my head. "No, you don't understand," I reasoned. "My parents are going to K-I-L-L me for coming home late."

He rolled his eyes, clearly not affected by my nervous breakdown. "If you want to be a bad-ass, learn to come home late past curfew." He raised his eyebrows. "Have you heard about tuck and roll? It's quite effective if you want to avoid being detected by your parents."

Great. There's more to being the shit?

I let out a heavy sigh. 'Now he's teaching me acrobatics? he must be out of his mind,' I thought in disbelief.

"Gavin, just take me home if you want me to see the light of tomorrow," I said, itching to get out of here and head straight home.

"Wait!"

Turning around, I spotted Riley carrying bags upon bags that I assumed were clothes inside. As she reached me, she shoved everything to me and said, "Here. These are all yours. You just gave me an excuse to go shopping."

Struggling to balance the bags in my hands, I replied, "Uh, thanks...?

She giggled and then let out an evil smirk that was so eerily similar to Gavin's. To be honest, it had me shuddering starting from my toes all the way up to the tips of my hair.

Yeah, this is how scary she looked right now.

"Sydney?" she asked.

I gulped. "Yeah...?" I croaked out.

She grinned widely. "Knock 'em dead."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **

Jamming my hand to silence my blasted clock, I am definitely going to throw that thing across the room one of these days, but then again, I am a heavy sleeper, so I need something loud to wake me up. Sitting upright, I stretched, rubbed my tired eyes to get rid of morning grogginess and got up from my bed. I made a beeline to my bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror intently.

As I stood there, rooted to the floor, staring at my reflection as my crystal blue eyes glinted with apprehension, I couldn't help but think: can I really pull this off?

Today is the day I'll go to school with my new look and I hope Gavin was right about this whole personality overhaul.

"It's do or die..." I muttered then stripped out from my pajamas and stepped in the shower.

The hot water took all my nervousness away as it cascaded down my back like a waterfall. I told myself a thousand times in my head that I'll be fine and that I need to prove a point that even though I'm intelligent, I can be fun and very interesting. Sure, Craig had hurt me and spoke words as though he was rubbing salt into my wound. However, Gavin used my vulnerability as a catalyst in reinventing myself. As I was done with the shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and got out of the bathroom.

It took me thirty minutes to get ready. Usually it would only take fifteen minutes, but today is different. I am dressing up to get rid of traces of the nerdy Sydney who stuck her nose in a book for god knows how long to be replaced by a hot, sexy, bad-ass Sydney.

Talking in third person is seriously freaking me out.

With last finishing touches with my make-up, I heard a car honk outside. "That must be Gavin.' I thought.

He insisted on picking me up today, which I thought was not needed, but as usual, he didn't give me a choice. I grabbed my stuff, went out of my room, headed down the stairs and bolted outside the house. I couldn't take a chance of letting my parents see my new look, because I'm not so sure if they would like it. I got in Gavin's car, closed the door and threw my bag in the back seat.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

I nodded hesitantly, looking at him with clear, unadulterated nervousness. Instead of butterflies, I had birds flapping widely in my stomach and I felt like lurching in the ditch.

"I don't know..." I muttered. "What if I'll look stupid in school? What if they laugh at me?"

He rolled his eyes. "You worry too much," he said to me. "Remember what I taught you. Walk, talk confidently and everything will be fine."

I huffed. "Fine," I conceded.

"And Syd?"

I gave Gavin a questioning look. "What?" I asked.

"You look beautiful today," he said, then turned on the ignition, backed out of my driveway and headed for school.

Holy crud...