His to Ruin

My dad is a tech mogul. My mom is an heiress.

Together, they’re the Sterlings, a name you’ve probably seen in headlines.

And me? I was just a straight-A student, plain and simple.

Everyone says a good girl’s biggest weakness is a bad boy.

So when Liam Ryder crooked a finger in my direction, I fell right in.

I skipped class with him, got into fights with him, raced cars with him. I even deleted my applications to the Ivy Leagues and applied to the same community college he was going to.

On graduation day, he stood beaming in front of the whole class, declaring victory.

“See? Told you six months ago. Good girls are the easiest challenge there is.”

I looked down at the acceptance letter from NYU in my hands, and I smiled, too.

My mom always said that with my family and my grades, my future was destined to be blindingly bright.

So I figured, if I was going to cause a little trouble, I’d better get it out of my system early.

1

I got back from the state academic decathlon to the sound of chatter spilling out of my homeroom.

“Ugh, the mouse is back from another competition. I bet the principal gives her another damn award at the Monday assembly.”

“I’m so sick of it. It’s always her, showing off. Can’t stand the sight of her.”

“Seriously. That whole holier-than-thou act is disgusting. What can she even do besides ace every test?”

“She can be born. Got the right parents, didn’t she? Hahaha…”

My name is Claire Sterling. To my face, my classmates called me Claire. Behind my back, they called me “the mouse.”

I leaned against the cool cinderblock wall in the hallway, waiting for the noise to die down. Just as I thought it was safe, my hand on the doorknob, I heard my name again.

“Hey, who do you guys think a girl like Claire Sterling, a total bore, would even be into?”

“What, you interested?” someone jeered.

The guy laughed, a sly, mean edge to his voice.

“Come on, wouldn’t you love to see the ice queen finally melt? I refuse to believe that if Claire Sterling actually got a boyfriend, she’d still be the perfect, untouchable saint the teachers are always gushing about.”

“You’re not wrong. A good girl like her has probably never even held a guy’s hand. She wouldn’t go for someone sweet. It’d have to be someone with experience, someone who comes on strong. You know… like Liam Ryder?”

“Oh my god. The delinquent and the valedictorian. That’s straight out of a novel.”

The name Liam Ryder traced a line over my heart, leaving a tingling numbness in its wake.

A long silence followed. Just when I thought the topic was over, Liam’s low voice drifted through the crack in the door.

“Get lost. Girls like that are boring. I’d rather date a block of wood.”

The room erupted in jeers.

“Come on, Liam! Do it for all of us! You’ve gotta be the one!”

“Yeah, man, if you can get Claire Sterling to fall for you, we’ll all chip in and get you a gift on graduation day. Whatever you want.”

Liam laughed, a lazy, confident sound.

“Alright. But a simple bet is no fun. Let’s make it interesting. If I can get her to go to community college with me, you guys can buy me that new carbon fiber helmet I’ve been eyeing.”

Someone gasped.

“No way. That’s impossible. Claire’s a shoo-in for the Ivy League. No matter how much she likes you, she’d never throw away her future for a guy.”

Liam just chuckled again, sure of himself.

“You guys just get the gift ready. And watch.”

Everyone thought it was an impossible bet.

Until I started skipping class, street racing, and even getting into fights right alongside Liam.

Whatever Liam asked, I never said no.

I earned a new nickname. They started calling me “the puppy.”

A loyal little lap dog, trailing at Liam Ryder’s heels.

2

My parents’ status meant my life had to be a meticulously curated performance, one that could withstand the scrutiny of a magnifying glass.

I had to be brilliant, but not so brilliant that people would whisper about my family pulling strings. I couldn’t be too quiet, or they’d call me the family’s great disappointment.

My mother gave me the strategy: just be the perfect good girl who only knows how to get A’s.

So, from my first day of school, wherever I went, I was number one.

The first time I really saw Liam Ryder was at the freshman orientation assembly. He was so ridiculously good-looking that they’d made an exception and put him on stage as a student speaker.

Nobody expected him to toss the prepared speech aside and lean into the microphone.

“I’m Liam Ryder,” he’d said, his voice echoing through the auditorium. “If you’ve got a problem with that, find me after school.”

From that day on, he was the school’s resident troublemaker, with a disciplinary record a mile long.

I’d seen him once, decked out in a leather jacket, his long legs encased in tight black jeans as he swung one of them over a motorcycle and roared away.

Sharp. Dangerous. Beautiful.

I was jealous of every girl who had ever ridden on the back of that bike. They’d wrap their arms around his lean waist, shouting with joy into the wind as they sped off into a world of freedom.

That evening, during last period study hall, I flipped through a calculus textbook to distract myself. I didn’t dare look up. I could feel Liam’s eyes on me, and they hadn’t moved for half the class.

I knew he was about to make his move. The bet was on.

When the final bell rang, I deliberately told my driver, Andrew, that he could go home without me. I had to give Liam his chance.

A few minutes later, the roar of an engine grew closer. Liam cornered me in a narrow alleyway behind the gym, like a predator trapping its prey.

“Be my girl.”

He tilted his chin up, his eyes intense.

“You only have one answer: yes.”

His impossibly handsome lips were spouting the cheesiest lines I’d ever heard. If I wasn’t so captivated by his face, I might have laughed out loud.

He moved closer, his jawline sharp enough to cut glass. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.

My mom always said a girl should be demure.

I planned on playing hard to get, to draw it out for a few rounds.

But I quickly discovered that his patience was shockingly thin.

The very next day, I saw him tearing out of the school parking lot with a girl in a micro-mini skirt perched on the back of his bike, her arms wrapped tightly around him.

That night, I tossed and turned in my bed, a pang of regret twisting in my stomach.

Maybe… maybe I should have been more direct? Bolder?

Suddenly, my phone rang, shattering the silence. It was him. His voice was a low, rough pant, like a brush scraping back and forth across my heart.

“…Claire… hah… Claire…”

“Come be with me. Be my girlfriend.”

Clutching my bedsheets, I nodded silently into the phone.

3

My first time on the back of Liam’s motorcycle was on an afternoon we skipped school.

It was my first time ever cutting class, but even more thrilling was the feeling of the wind rushing past my face.

At first, I only dared to cling to the hem of his jacket.

He must have felt how tense I was. At an intersection, he deliberately gunned the engine, and I slammed into his back. His hand, large and warm, covered mine and guided it to his waist.

Beneath the thin fabric of his shirt, I could feel the hard ridges of his abs.

It was a very nice feeling.

I suddenly understood why our teachers were so adamant about us not dating.

It really does mess with your studies.

I was so busy reliving that sensation during my English exam that I completely missed an audio question. I still got first place, though.

On Friday night, the principal called me in to discuss the upcoming decathlon. He had to step out for an emergency, so he told me to head back to class.

As I stood at the classroom door, I heard my name again.

It was Mark, the class president, leading the charge.

“What’s up, Liam? You’re losing your touch. The mouse is dating you and her grades haven’t dropped one bit. Guess she doesn’t care about you that much, huh?”

Mark was number two in our class, and number two in our grade.

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