NOT THE ANGEL HE THINKS I AM

“Mi amor." a voice laden with humour called from behind me and I smiled, knowing who it was before turning.

He pulled me into a bear crushing hug the moment I turned. “God, I can't breathe, ugly.” I squeaked.

He released me and smirked at me, ruffling his dark hair. “Oh come on, princessa. I'm the hottest boy on campus, there's no way you're calling me ugly.” He said, chuckling darkly.

I rolled my eyes as I fell into step beside him and we walked into the hallway together. All eyes turned to stare as we sauntered in.

I rolled my eyes mentally. Yeah, we're that popular. Okay…quick introduction. My name is Kiera Martins. Twenty years old, and I am in my second year in college.

I was studying psychology. I've always been fascinated with the human mind and I thought psychology was it for me, wrong.

I had no idea what the heck I was doing, but I couldn't go back now. At least my parents were proud of me.

My mum kept telling everyone that cared to listen that her daughter was going to be a famous psychologist.

Well, that's a tiny little detail about me for now. Ugly, my friend is actually named Peter, wow…surprised? I always thought his name was really Ugly.

Hehehe, stupid sense of humour I have, I know. Well, Peter is my best friend and we lived across the street from each other.

His parents and my parents didn't get along. Yeah, you were waiting for me to say we had Christmas dinners and New Year parties with each other's families?

Well, we're quite the oddball. My parents think Peter's an arrogant guy whose parents let get away with everything.

Peter's parents were criminals and everyone knew. But they couldn't get arrested because they had some high up politician relative or something who had connections with the police and the feds and every security agent you could think of in our small town, the country, even the whole wide world.

Yep, it was just a big mafia world. I lied to my parents about Peter being involved in the family business, but they never bought it.

They were convinced Peter was just as bad as his parents and he would get me killed someday.

The animosity between our parents was so bad that, every morning both our parents yelled insults at each other across the road.

Despite all these, Peter was the nicest person I had ever met. Yeah, he could be arrogant but he was sweet.

And that was why we were popular, the criminal's son and his psychologist. Yes, they actually go around saying I was trying to “use psychology on him” and make sure he didn't turn out like his parents.

Truth be told, I knew nothing about psychology.

As usual, we ignored the glances and strolled to our classroom, our first lecture for the day was a course we both shared but I couldn't even remember the name at the moment.

Some student I was, I giggled as we took our seats at the back of the class. The lecturer was yet to arrive.

I used to be more serious until my second year, when the Lawsons’ moved in across from us and I bumped into Peter Lawson in the school hallway.

From then on, my life changed drastically _ the way I dressed, the way I talked and even the way I thought.

I started cussing more and I picked up an ill mannered way of speaking and there were other things as well.

It wasn't like I didn't know that Peter coming into my life messed it up, I just didn't care and didn't know how to stop it either.

Besides, my life had never been all that great before him.

I thought Peter would be the difference my life needed and though my life s*ck*d, I didn't hate that it s*ck*d until things went ugly pretty fast.

Suddenly I was left wondering if some divine entity whispered that nickname in a nightmare because ugly is exactly what Peter made my life turn out in the end.

But, at least I was brought back to my old self, kind of, or he drove me to insanity, I couldn't seem to decide which one it was.

I sighed as I laid stretched out on the beach. My sunglasses perched on the top of my head, with the cool afternoon sun beating down on me.

I had skipped home to come to the beach for a few days because I needed to unwind and I decided a tan wouldn't be so bad.

And school wasn't in session anyway, and coming to the beach was definitely on my list of things to do during the holidays.

And, being here alone, I had some time to think. About a lot of things, my life, my career and my friendship with Peter.

If I was being truthful to myself, my life had direction before Peter came along. I held a 4.75 GPA in my first year.

I ran an online clothing store that also offered fashion tips for body sizes and figures.

My parents were proud of me and we got along well. Maybe my life had been a bit stifling and my parents were a tad bit controlling, but I had my priorities straight.

Peter came along and things came crashing down. I believed that he helped me realise I was battling anxiety and depression and helped me get treatment because my parents never believe me.

My confidence level increased and I learnt to say no to customers who were always buying stuff on credit.

The worse seemed to outweigh the good. I drastically went down to a 2.2 GPA and my business came crashing down.

I got introduced to night life and parties and clubs and drugs. My dressing changed and I quarreled with my parents everyday.

I watched as the waves crashed against each other slowly but yet forcefully. It was just like how Peter came rushing into my life.

KIERRA'S POV

I sighed as I got up, starting to pack my stuff back into my bag.

I draped my beach gown over the one piece blue bikini I had on that left nothing to the imagination.

“I'm thinking too much. It's time to go home.” I muttered under my breath as I slipped my feet into my black flip-flops.

My phone rang as I started to walk away. The caller ID showed it was Peter on the line.

I swiped right and put the phone over my ear. “Hey, ugly. What's popping? You suddenly remembered me, huh?” I asked dryly.

Peter hadn't been home for weeks and l had not heard anything from him at all.

It was the only the reason I started to think about how badly he had influenced me because he wasn't around.

“I'm sorry, mi amor. I had to take care of some business for dad. Some drug shipment. Just got done hours ago.” He said.

I grimaced. For the first time, I realized how bad it sounded. 'What the hell was I doing being friends with someone like