The Bad Boy Next Room (Charlie and Taylor) novel Chapter 14

“Maybe,” Charlie answered.

“The College of Business takes things too seriously,” Taylor said. “It’s just a game. I think that’s why your captain will never win against me. He is too serious he can’t even take a joke -”

“You always piss him off on the court,” Charlie pointed out.

In every match between The Atomic Heat and the Wall Street Warriors, Taylor never missed a chance to get under Luke’s skin. With a smug expression, Taylor constantly taunted Luke, throwing out remarks like, “Is that all you’ve got, Sullivan? Why are you even on the court?”

Charlie had once caught Taylor mimicking Luke’s moves, and his team laughed about it. Taylor also often deliberately delayed the game by holding the ball too long.

“Sometimes, it’s a mind game, you know,” Taylor said with a laugh. “And fucking Luke Sullivan is a prick. He thinks he is so high and mighty just because his father owns the biggest grocery store in town.”

“You think you are high and mighty too,” Charlie pointed out.

“Are you really going to side with Luke Sullivan versus your roommate?” Taylor asked. “You better think carefully about which side you’ll take, Charlie Blondie, because I am not only your roommate, but I am also your cook and cooking instructor.”

He winked at her, claiming, “You will not survive without me. You’ll STARVE!”

Charlie’s mouth fell open. She leaned back in her seat and frowned. After a second, she declared, “Fine! I’ll side with you! I hate Luke Sullivan!”

“Now, that’s more like it,” Taylor said. He chuckled and washed his mug before returning to his room.

The rain continued to pour into Luxford. As the hours passed, it had become increasingly boring. Charlie opted to watch TV in the afternoon. Taylor eventually exited his room and stole the TV remote from her. He said, “I don’t want to watch this girly drama -”

“Hey!” Charlie snatched the remote back. She said, “I was here first!”

“I wasn’t -” She paused, figuring out how to get away with it. “I wasn’t staring at your body! I was picking up some techniques for doing push-ups! You are so conceited!”

Charlie turned off the TV and stormed into her room.

***

After two days of heavy rain, the sun finally came out. The University of Luxford called for a general assembly. The school was welcoming a new Vice President for Academic Affairs. With that, each college head took the chance to acknowledge all the students who topped the preliminary exam.

Charlie was used to being called to the stage and recognized. In her batch, she was always on top. But because it was a general assembly, other top students were also called on stage. Charlie never expected to meet a familiar face on the stage.

"And the current top student in Civil Engineering is—"