Rules of a Rebel

The Rulebreaker

The Rulebreaker 

a tale of Rules of a Rebel, from the other side of the couple 

- () -

People call Archer a people person. 

Hell, even Archer calls himself a people person. There are two things Archer Raine knows he's good at: people and art. 

Art comes easily, at least to him. There are hundreds of ideas, thousands of inspirations, swirling around in his head and all he needs is a tool (whether it be a pencil, paintbrush or camera) to capture them.  

People, on the other hand, aren't so simple.  

So before the new neighbors arrive, Archer searches them up online. 

He lies on on his bed, Buster napping at his feet, scrolling through social media. Julia told him that there were three Monroe siblings. He finds the oldest, James, the fastest. He's a football player, already in college. Not too bad. He seems friendly, athletic, mischievous. Melody is around Julia's age and he briefly wonders if they'll be friends. 

The last sibling is nowhere to be found.  

Archer looks a little bit longer. All that comes up when he searches her name, though, are inappropriate pictures and crude comments under a Twitter account by the name of Xavier. He figures that's not what he's searching for. 

He gives up and goes down to eat dinner. 

- () -

Archer checks his watch. He's late. He's so fucking late. 

"Keep your eyes on the road," Sebastian warns. 

Archer glances up briefly to check the road, swerving into the main neighborhood with a screech, nearly running over Mr. Finley's purple and yellow mailbox on the way. His first swim practice as captain - thanks to Derek - went way longer than expected and now he's late to his own fucking party. 

Archer's phone chirps, alerting him for a text message. Even though it's probably from his mom, Archer brings out his phone to check. But it's not. 

It's from Julia. The new neighbors just arrived!! 

"Archer!" 

Archer looks up just in time to see a silhouette jump in front of the car. Reflexively, he slams his foot down on the brakes, bringing the car to a jagged halt that shoves both Sebastian and him forwards. He sees a flash of pale skin and black hair before the girl falls to the ground with a thud. 

For a second, both of them are silent. 

Archer thinks: shit, I just killed somebody. 

Archer thinks: this is not going to be good on the college applications. 

"We're screwed," Archer says. 

"You're screwed," Sebastian corrects. 

Archer takes another second to get senses back together, then swings out of the car. To his relief, the girl isn't dead. He walks quicker when he realizes there's another girl, with blonde hair this time, crouched next to her. 

"...don't have a concussion," The girl lying on the ground says, words slurred. 

Archer crouches down next to her, tipping her chin up to check signs of injury. "Are you okay? Is anything broken or bruised?" 

The girl gawks at him, dazed. Archer doesn't spot any signs of blood, but that doesn't mean she's not hurt. He moves his hand to her forehead just to check, then jerks in surprise when she slaps it away and grumbles something under her breath.