Hired by the Bad Boy

The school bad boy hired me, the valedictorian, to be his girlfriend just to beat the school golden boy.

I was in it for the massive paycheck. He was in it for my ability to crush his rival.

The whole school witnessed the most bizarre pairing. The volatile, rebellious school bad boy showed up at my classroom door right on time for our daily PDA check-in.

He picked fights, I stopped him. He got mad, I calmed him down. He threw a tantrum, I patted his head.

Everyone was horrified. "A leash on a mad dog. Isn't this just the wicked witch and her curly poodle?"

Chapter 1

The school bad boy, Vincent, cornered me in an alley. He leaned against the brick wall, a stick jutting out of his mouth. He looked every bit the untamed rebel.

I assumed he was going to hit me.

Instead, he offered to hire me to be his girlfriend.

"Why me?" I clutched my backpack straps and tucked my chin into my only winter coat.

"You're pretty." He said it like an absolute fact. He pulled the stick from his mouth. A lollipop.

"You get good grades. You're the valedictorian. You can crush Carter, and you look good doing it. Be my girlfriend, and I'll pay you."

Crushing Carter. That was the real motive. "How much?"

He named a number I couldn't refuse.

"Deal."

Vincent shamelessly paraded around as my official "boyfriend."

He announced it to the world immediately. He would have told the stray dogs outside if he could. He wanted every living, breathing thing to know I belonged to him.

I accepted the title without blushing or flinching. I had no choice. The paycheck was too good.

I was in the AP Honors class. So was Carter. The valedictorian and the salutatorian. We naturally sat next to each other in class.

Except. I glanced at the items covering our two desks. One side was neat but pathetic. The other was perfectly organized and screamed money.

That was the difference between me and Carter. He came from a rich family. I had no parents.

Vincent swaggered past our classroom and poked his head in. His lackeys waved excitedly from behind him. "Hey, the boss's girl!"

I paused. According to the contract, I needed to respond. I gave his lackeys a polite nod and a smile.

I needed to get out of my seat. That meant getting past Carter. He was busy filling out a worksheet. "Excuse me."

Vincent made it clear this was all about showing up Carter. So I added a helpful little detail. "My boyfriend is here for me."

Carter's pen stopped. He silently moved out of the way.

Vincent handed me a carton of milk, playing the perfect doting boyfriend. Then he dropped his voice to a whisper. "Can you keep your rank on this next exam? I heard Carter's parents got him a private Ivy League tutor."

"Top-tier stuff. If you're losing confidence, I can hire one for you too."

"Grades don't just jump from a private Ivy League tutor." I took the milk from his hand. "You can't tutor raw talent."

Vincent gave me a thumbs up. "Badass."

We didn't talk much after that. But to sell the romance, we stood together outside the door for a solid five minutes. Plenty of people saw us. It cemented Vincent's grand announcement in everyone's minds.

The anonymous school message board blew up.

[Holy shit. Eleanor and Vincent? Do those two even talk?]

[I see Vincent lingering outside Eleanor's door every two periods. He's hot, but that's straight-up creepy.]

[They're definitely dating. One hundred percent true. Vincent's crew said Eleanor got mugged, Vincent played hero, and it was love at first sight!]

I clicked on that last comment and read it carefully. I looked up at Vincent, baffled. "Mugged? Played hero?"

"It adds some flavor to our meet-cute. Makes the story a little more romantic."

"What exactly is a mugger going to steal from me? My backpack full of practice exams or my frayed winter coat?"

"We'll patch the plot holes next time." He was far too confident in his own imagination.

Chapter 2

Vincent and Carter. Natural born enemies. Both were gorgeous. Both came from money.

During high school, people naturally favored the guy with the better temper and the top grades. Because Carter was the salutatorian, the title of the school golden boy fell right into his lap. As for Vincent, his temper was lethal. No one dared to cross him.

He texted me.

[You absolutely cannot lose to Carter!]

[]

I replied.

[Even if I beat him, no one will think you beat him.]

[You're my girlfriend. You being the valedictorian makes me look good! How about fifteen grand if you keep first place this time? I'll raise the stakes next round.]

I stared at the fifteen grand on my screen for a long time.

Then I picked up my pen and started tearing through practice problems.

A girl knocked on the window next to me. "Excuse me, could you get Carter for me?"

I didn't even lift my head. I just leaned forward a bit so she could see Carter sitting beside me.

Carter stepped outside. She was supposedly his girlfriend. When he came back, he had a carton of milk and a bag of cookies. The cookies smelled freshly baked.

Maybe this was the real reason Vincent hired me. Because Carter had a girlfriend. A bizarre, toxic rivalry.

The next second, my phone vibrated violently.

[People are saying his girl brought him food?? Where is mine?? I want some too!! You can't let me lose to him!]

Gossip moved fast in this school. I texted back, unfazed.

[I'm broke.]

The next day, the space under my desk was stuffed with snacks.

[From now on, I'll bring you snacks every day. You just have to pretend you bought them for me. Of course, so I don't distract you from crushing Carter, I can come pick them up myself.]

So I found Vincent practically guarding my window every single day. He leaned casually against the frame. I placed the snacks in his hands. "Ugh, why are you so good to me?"

"It's not like I'm going to starve. Look at you, making me walk all the way up here to get this."

He might as well have grabbed a megaphone and shouted it directly into Carter's ear. I played right along. "I just worry about you."

I didn't know how Carter felt about it, but Vincent was clearly thrilled.

When I finally sat back down, Carter spoke up. "You don't need to do this."

I turned and looked at him. The milk and cookies from this morning were already in the trash can. The guy was entirely two-faced. Wasting food was a sin.

"I like him," I said. "I love him."

I put on the performance of a naive, lovesick teenage girl. "I want to fight the whole world for him. You have a girlfriend, don't you? Don't you understand how this feels?"

"I thought you would get it."

Carter frowned. "But I'm not going to make things convenient for your little romance. Stop going out to see him all the time. It's distracting me."

I instantly looked offended. "Do you know how many times I made things convenient for you, Carter? The love letters, the gifts, passing messages. Did you just forget all that?"

"But the second it's my turn, it's a problem? My God, you have no conscience. I'm never forgiving you for this!"

Carter tightened his jaw.

I shot him one last look. I didn't say another word. My acting was on point today. I earned every single penny of that paycheck.

Chapter 3

Getting mixed up with Vincent would bring me a lot of trouble. It did not matter. Trouble meant nothing in the face of cold, hard cash.

The homeroom teacher dragged me into his office. The teachers at this school always looked at people with this sickening, judgmental glare. Everyone in the office pretended to focus on their own work. In reality, every single ear was strained in my direction.

"Sir, you don't need to try and tear us apart." I beat him to the punch.

The homeroom teacher stared.

"Love is an unsolvable equation," I declared.

His face went dark. "The most important thing for a student right now is studying."

"I am the valedictorian."

"Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions are?"

"I am the valedictorian."

"Bring your parents in here!"

"I am the valedictorian."

Oh. He asked about my parents. I smiled. "Sir, if you want to find my parents, you will have to use a Ouija board to summon them up."

This was the exact same man who once told me that a wild child with no parents was impossible to discipline. Clearly, he had forgotten.

"How many people in this school are dating right now? You always pretend you don't see it. You don't dare touch them. You only target me." I kept my voice perfectly level.

"Sir, aside from this dating issue, you have chewed me out for countless other things. Just for the sake of fairness, why don't you call Vincent's parents in here instead?"

He kicked me out of the office.

I looked down, smoothed out my collar, and walked away completely unbothered. I could tolerate his disdain and his misunderstandings. But nobody was going to sever my bond with my money.

The rumors only burned hotter after my bold declarations. No one dared to gossip in front of Vincent. They were terrified of him. But as the weird outcast student, the ugly words easily made their way to my ears.

I demanded pain and suffering compensation from Vincent for that exact reason. He didn't hesitate. He handed over the cash, tracked down the source of the rumors, and pinned the guy to the ground.

Vincent looked down at him, a dark smile curving his lips. "You've got a lot of nerve."

"Man, I was just talking! I swear I didn't mean anything by it!"

"That's fine. I'm just throwing punches. I don't mean anything by it either." Vincent smiled, but the amusement never reached his eyes.

He had been hanging around me so much lately that people forgot who he really was. A ruthless, untouchable tyrant. I waited until he finished dealing with the guy. Then I stepped quietly out of the shadows.

"Vincent, let's go."

Vincent let out a cold laugh and kicked the guy on the ground one last time. "Do it again, and you're dead." Then he slung his jacket over his shoulder and followed me.

The crowd watched our retreating backs in absolute horror. He left with a single word? He answered the second she spoke? Vincent actually listened to Eleanor?!

Eleanor looked so quiet. Nobody realized she had a sick twisted fetish for keeping vicious dogs.

Chapter 4

Actually, our conversation went like this.

Vincent poked my thin coat in disgust. "This is hideous. What even is this? It is not keeping you warm or cool."

"Let me buy you a few jackets."

"Pass." I shoved my hands in my pockets. Unbothered. "Two days in your clothes and everyone will say I am your sugar baby."

The pot calling the kettle black. With his atrocious taste, I would be drowning in tacky, logo-plastered designer gear by Tuesday.

Vincent frowned. "That is just the delusions of broke people getting jealous."

Having a deep conversation with Vincent was impossible. He refused to read between the lines. He only heard exactly what he wanted to hear.

"Honestly, you do not need to care what people say today. It does not matter."

"Are you just waiting to hit me up for more pain and suffering compensation next time?" He caught me.

I pivoted immediately. "But of course, when it comes to personal reputation, we have to take a stand."

Vincent scoffed. "You are officially my girl now. Anyone talking trash about you is slapping me in the face. They can come for you, but if they touch me, I will end them."

He finished his speech and looked at me, waiting for praise. "Moved?"

I did not dare move. After all, the guy was terrifying when he cornered people in alleys. I coughed to clear my throat. We said our goodbyes.

With the massive cash buff fueling me, the usual five-point gap between Carter and me stretched to over a dozen points.

Vincent was happier than I was on exam results day. He leaned against my window, flipping my transcript back and forth. "Hey Carter, how does someone even score this high? How did this happen?"

"How is there still so much room for improvement? Hahaha, I don't know man, my girlfriend is just that good. Some people can't even get it with a private Ivy League tutor. Not my girl."

"A total genius. Right, Carter?"

Carter kept a cold face. His lips pressed into a thin line. He did not say a word. He really did work hard.

But no matter how hard he worked, he faded into the background under my halo.

I slumped over my desk. My eyes narrowed. My head spun. I was sick.

That thin coat let all the wind in when I went out to see Vincent.Prologue

The school bad boy hired me, the valedictorian, to be his girlfriend just to beat the school golden boy.

I was in it for the massive paycheck. He was in it for my ability to crush his rival.

The whole school witnessed the most bizarre pairing. The volatile, rebellious school bad boy showed up at my classroom door right on time for our daily PDA check-in.

He picked fights, I stopped him. He got mad, I calmed him down. He threw a tantrum, I patted his head.

Everyone was horrified. "A leash on a mad dog. Isn't this just the wicked witch and her curly poodle?"

Chapter 1

The school bad boy, Vincent, cornered me in an alley. He leaned against the brick wall, a stick jutting out of his mouth. He looked every bit the untamed rebel.

I assumed he was going to hit me.

Instead, he offered to hire me to be his girlfriend.

"Why me?" I clutched my backpack straps and tucked my chin into my only winter coat.

"You're pretty." He said it like an absolute fact. He pulled the stick from his mouth. A lollipop.

"You get good grades. You're the valedictorian. You can crush Carter, and you look good doing it. Be my girlfriend, and I'll pay you."

Crushing Carter. That was the real motive. "How much?"

He named a number I couldn't refuse.

"Deal."

Vincent shamelessly paraded around as my official "boyfriend."

He announced it to the world immediately. He would have told the stray dogs outside if he could. He wanted every living, breathing thing to know I belonged to him.

I accepted the title without blushing or flinching. I had no choice. The paycheck was too good.

I was in the AP Honors class. So was Carter. The valedictorian and the salutatorian. We naturally sat next to each other in class.

Except. I glanced at the items covering our two desks. One side was neat but pathetic. The other was perfectly organized and screamed money.

That was the difference between me and Carter. He came from a rich family.

I had no parents.

Vincent swaggered past our classroom and poked his head in. His lackeys waved excitedly from behind him. "Hey, the boss's girl!"

I paused. According to the contract, I needed to respond. I gave his lackeys a polite nod and a smile.

I needed to get out of my seat. That meant getting past Carter. He was busy filling out a worksheet. "Excuse me."

Vincent made it clear this was all about showing up Carter. So I added a helpful little detail. "My boyfriend is here for me."

Carter's pen stopped. He silently moved out of the way.

Vincent handed me a carton of milk, playing the perfect doting boyfriend. Then he dropped his voice to a whisper. "Can you keep your rank on this next exam?"

"I heard Carter's parents got him a private Ivy League tutor. Top-tier stuff. If you're losing confidence, I can hire one for you too."

"Grades don't just jump from a private Ivy League tutor." I took the milk from his hand. "You can't tutor raw talent."

Vincent gave me a thumbs up. "Badass."

The anonymous school message board blew up.

[Holy shit. Eleanor and Vincent? Do those two even talk?]

[I see Vincent lingering outside Eleanor's door every two periods. He's hot, but that's straight-up creepy.]

[They're definitely dating. One hundred percent true. Vincent's crew said Eleanor got mugged, Vincent played hero, and it was love at first sight!]

I clicked on that last comment and read it carefully. I looked up at Vincent, baffled. "Mugged? Played hero?"

"It adds some flavor to our meet-cute. Makes the story a little more romantic."

"What exactly is a mugger going to steal from me? My backpack full of practice exams or my frayed winter coat?"

"We'll patch the plot holes next time." He was far too confident in his own imagination.

Chapter 2

Vincent and Carter. Natural born enemies. Both were gorgeous. Both came from money.

He texted me.

[You absolutely cannot lose to Carter!]

[]

I replied.

[Even if I beat him, no one will think you beat him.]

[You're my girlfriend. You being the valedictorian makes me look good! How about fifteen grand if you keep first place this time? I'll raise the stakes next round.]

I stared at the fifteen grand on my screen for a long time. Then I picked up my pen and started tearing through practice problems.

A girl knocked on the window next to me. "Excuse me, could you get Carter for me?"

I didn't even lift my head. I just leaned forward a bit so she could see Carter sitting beside me.

Carter stepped outside. She was supposedly his girlfriend. When he came back, he had a carton of milk and a bag of cookies. The cookies smelled freshly baked.

Maybe this was the real reason Vincent hired me. Because Carter had a girlfriend. A bizarre, toxic rivalry.

The next second, my phone vibrated violently.

[People are saying his girl brought him food?? Where is mine?? I want some too!! You can't let me lose to him!]

Gossip moved fast in this school. I texted back, unfazed.

[I'm broke.]

The next day, the space under my desk was stuffed with snacks.

[From now on, I'll bring you snacks every day. You just have to pretend you bought them for me. Of course, so I don't distract you from crushing Carter, I can come pick them up myself.]

So I found Vincent practically guarding my window every single day. He leaned casually against the frame. I placed the snacks in his hands.

"Ugh, why are you so good to me? It's not like I'm going to starve. Look at you, making me walk all the way up here to get this."

He might as well have grabbed a megaphone and shouted it directly into Carter's ear. I played right along. "I just worry about you."

I didn't know how Carter felt about it, but Vincent was clearly thrilled.

When I finally sat back down, Carter spoke up. "You don't need to do this."

I turned and looked at him. The milk and cookies from this morning were already in the trash can. The guy was entirely two-faced. Wasting food was a sin.

"I like him," I said. "I love him."

I put on the performance of a naive, lovesick teenage girl. "I want to fight the whole world for him."

"You have a girlfriend, don't you? Don't you understand how this feels? I thought you would get it."

Carter frowned. "But I'm not going to make things convenient for your little romance. Stop going out to see him all the time. It's distracting me."

I instantly looked offended. "Do you know how many times I made things convenient for you, Carter? The love letters, the gifts, passing messages."

"Did you just forget all that? But the second it's my turn, it's a problem? My God, you have no conscience. I'm never forgiving you for this!"

Carter tightened his jaw.

I shot him one last look. I didn't say another word. My acting was on point today. I earned every single penny of that paycheck.

Chapter 3

Getting mixed up with Vincent would bring me a lot of trouble. It did not matter. Trouble meant nothing in the face of cold, hard cash.

"Sir, you don't need to try and tear us apart." I beat him to the punch.

The homeroom teacher stared.

"Love is an unsolvable equation," I declared.

His face went dark. "The most important thing for a student right now is studying."

"I am the valedictorian."

"Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions are?"

"I am the valedictorian."

"Bring your parents in here!"

"I am the valedictorian."

Oh. He asked about my parents. I smiled. "Sir, if you want to find my parents, you will have to use a Ouija board to summon them up."

This was the exact same man who once told me that a wild child with no parents was impossible to discipline. Clearly, he had forgotten.

"How many people in this school are dating right now? You always pretend you don't see it. You don't dare touch them. You only target me."

I kept my voice perfectly level. "Sir, aside from this dating issue, you have chewed me out for countless other things. Just for the sake of fairness, why don't you call Vincent's parents in here instead?"

He kicked me out of the office. I looked down, smoothed out my collar, and walked away completely unbothered. I could tolerate his disdain and his misunderstandings. But nobody was going to sever my bond with my money.

I demanded pain and suffering compensation from Vincent for that exact reason. He didn't hesitate. He handed over the cash, tracked down the source of the rumors, and pinned the guy to the ground.

Vincent looked down at him, a dark smile curving his lips. "You've got a lot of nerve."

"Man, I was just talking! I swear I didn't mean anything by it!"

"That's fine. I'm just throwing punches. I don't mean anything by it either." Vincent smiled, but the amusement never reached his eyes.

"Vincent, let's go."

Vincent let out a cold laugh and kicked the guy on the ground one last time. "Do it again, and you're dead." Then he slung his jacket over his shoulder and followed me.

The crowd watched our retreating backs in absolute horror. He left with a single word? He answered the second she spoke? Vincent actually listened to Eleanor?!

Eleanor looked so quiet. Nobody realized she had a sick twisted fetish for keeping vicious dogs.

Chapter 4

Actually, our conversation went like this.

Vincent poked my thin coat in disgust. "This is hideous. What even is this?"

"It is not keeping you warm or cool. Let me buy you a few jackets."