How to Be a Bad Girl ✔

Chapter Ten - The Perfect Guy

I've spent the past few days researching – okay, who am I kidding – cyber-stalking my next target: Mark Hamilton III.

But the research turns out to be harder than I originally thought. Don't get me wrong. I know how to use Google. I know how to stalk people online. But no matter what keyword I type into the search engine, I can't find any information about the Mark Hamilton that I'm looking for.

As it turns out, there are over twenty Mark Hamiltons living around the area.

Twenty!

Ugh! Why does he have to have such a common name?

But, the hours I've spent on the web aren't totally useless. If any, I've learned a new thing about him. Apparently, he doesn't have any social media account (because I've checked out every single one of Mark Hamilton I could find on the net and none of them is my Mark Hamilton) – which makes me even more curious in return. What kind of a teenager doesn't have an Instagram account? Who is he? A royal?

Through a short conversation with Mark the other day, I found out that he attends Southwood College – a campus in a neighboring town. But that was the only thing I got from our conversation. He was being super... mysterious.

It's hot, I gotta give him that. But it also makes my plan a lot harder to execute than I initially thought.

My curiosity drives me to reach out to my friend, Lorelei Mauvais, a fellow bad girl in Southwood College. Tonight, I hitch a ride to Southwood and meet her at a small bar on the outskirts of the town.

"So, why do you want to know about that Greek God?" Lori asks.

"Greek God?" I snort out a laugh. "What do you think this is? Some stupid online novel?"

Lori gives a small chuckle. "That's what we call him in Southwood. I mean, have you seen that guy's abs?" She rolls her eyes and grunts. "They're like Thor's!"

A smile was formed on the corner of my lips as I can practically see the drool dripping from Lori's dark goldilocks lips. Unlike me, Lori prefers dark clothing and make-ups. Today, she is wearing her favorite black biker jacket with a dark blue mini dress underneath. She looks amazing with her newly cut pixie, jet-black hair that complements her tanned skin. The nose ring that she wears tonight makes her stand out even more.

"Oh yeah. He's yummy, alright." I take a quick sip of my beer. "So, what do you know about him?"

"Not much, really." Lori shrugs before drinking her glass of beer. "He's quite famous because of his good looks and super thick wallet, but no one really knows him, you know what I mean?"

Interesting... So he is indeed a really private guy. My lower lip juts forward in agreement as I give a small nod. I wonder what he's hiding...

"Everyone knows him as the perfect guy though. Handsome, kind, rich–  which brings me back to my original question." Lori's arms are folded on the table as she leans forward.

"Why the sudden interest on him? I mean..." Hesitation spreads in her voice as she softens her voice. "I thought you hated rich people?"

"I do," I mutter under my breath. A wave of horrible memories starts to fill my thoughts, causing me to gulp loudly. All of a sudden, my heart feels like it's being crushed into pieces and breathing slowly gets harder. Closing my eyes for a quick second and taking a deep breath, I pull myself together and shift my gaze back to Lori.

A shot of guilt is seen on her dark brown eyes as she bit her inner lip, probably regretting what she just asked. Having been friends since we were in high school, Lori knew all about my history with rich people –including my worst nightmare. We haven't talked about what happened in a long time and she knew better than to dwell on the past. After all, she's the one who always encourages me to move forward and get on with my life – something I have done.