Hard Boy ✔️

21

- Imagination; Shawn Mendes -
- Fallin' For You; R5 -

Aurora Holland

"Okay, falsely complimenting me will not make me forget about the fact that you just stopped me from decking that old man in the head!" I exclaimed, earning an eye roll from Carter. "What don't think I can't do it? Look, I'll show you--"

"Rory," Carter cut me off, grabbing my right hand in his. "He's like that with everyone, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I exclaimed, earning a look from someone walking by. Realizing how crazy I probably looked, I huffed. "Okay, maybe I should."

"Thank you," He said with a soft smile.

Carter looked breathtaking. He wore black dress pants that were ironed, causing a crease in the front of each pant leg. He wore a white button-up, a lot like the one Logan wore. He didn't have any type of jacket or blazer covering his body, and the first two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned as well as his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He also didn't have any type of tie on, making him dressed way less fancy than a lot of the men at the event tonight. His hair was brushed, but a little messy as he'd been running his fingers through it.

Realizing that Carter still had ahold of my hand, I pulled it away quickly. He was staring down, not saying anything. "Did he do that?" He asked softly, and I stared at him in confusion.

"What?" I asked, "That old geezer didn't touch me. Unless you count me bumping into him, but--"

"No, not Jenkins." Carter looked up at me, a look I couldn't decipher in his eyes. "Hanneman."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, before seeing his gaze on my hand. I looked down, seeing he'd grabbed the hand that Hanneman had ahold of after homeroom.

My left hand covered it instinctively, and I took in a deep breath as I looked at him. "The bruises, yes. B-But I bruise easily, so it was expected."

"Doesn't matter. He touched you, and he shouldn't have," He said as he ran a hand through his already messy hair.

"It doesn't matter. He didn't do anything more than that's what matters," I said as if it were nothing. Truthfully, Hanneman hurt me. I'd been bullied in so many ways over the years, but not once has any of it gotten physical. I'm used to the emotional and verbal things, but nothing as scary as it was when Hanneman slammed his hand down on mine in the way he had.

But what importance is that to Carter? Why does it matter whether he knows Hanneman did it? He already knew, anyway, because he just so happened to walk into the classroom to see the unknown boy trying to defend me.

Which he shouldn't have, the last thing I needed was for Hanneman to beat up a random kid because of me.

"But he shouldn't have even done that, Rory." He spoke softly. The tone was comforting, considering I could see just how angry he was. It made me feel safe, as odd as it sounded.

"Well it's done and over with, I'm sure he won't bother me ever again." I pushed the thought off, not wanting to think about what school will be like Monday. I had PE with him, not to mention we have homeroom together every day.

"He shouldn't, and if he does he'll regret it," Carter whispered, almost as if I wasn't supposed to hear.

Clearing my throat, I suddenly remembered something. I shifted my footing, feeling awkward all of a sudden. "Thank you," I said.

"What? For Old Man Jenkins?" He asked, motioning a hand behind me where we'd recently come from.

I shook my head, "For getting him off of me."