Gated Heart

Chapter 1

Aren crashed backward into the brick wall behind the school. His back hit the surface hard as three guys gathered around him. Despite the impact of hitting the brick, Aren's face didn't change. His blank, uninterested expression hardly ever left his face, and now was no different.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Greg said, kicking Aren in the stomach.

"You're such a fucking dick, you know that, right?" Jack mused, as he slapped Aren across the face.

Greg kicked him in the ribs. "SAY SOMETHING, JACKASS," he shouted.

The blow knocked Aren onto his side on the ground, but he stayed silent.

Chris scoffed angrily as he grabbed Aren by the color and pulled him back into a standing position. "What? Think you're too good to talk? Don't feel the need to waste your words on us? Clearly you need some inspiration." Chris shoved Aren hard back against the wall.

Aren looked at him, not angry or afraid, but almost amused. "You're right."

"That you're a jackass?" Chris scoffed.

"No, that I shouldn't waste my words on you," Aren said, and he spat at them.

"Mother fu-" Greg growled at him, and he landed a punch straight to Aren's cheek, knocking Aren to the ground again.

"Hey!" Shouted a female voice.

The three guys jumped in surprise, while Aren sat on the ground, now bleeding. They looked in the direction of the voice, glad to see it wasn't a teacher.

The voice had come from Mia, a small girl from their class. She walked toward them angrily, but failed to look intimidating due to her small size and cute big, blue eyes. Her shoulder-length, brown hair bounced slightly as she marched, which looked even cuter against her petite frame.

"What are you guys doing??" she shouted.

"We're teaching him a lesson," Greg said coolly.

Mia looked from them to Aren and back. "What kind of lesson do you call this?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "You don't even know what he did, so mind your own fucking business." he said.

"And what did he do that could possibly deserve getting beaten to a pulp?" She asked.

Greg sighed. "This asshole gave me his notes to study for our history test-"

"And you're beating him up for doing you a favor?" She questioned.

"Could you shut up for a second?" Greg huffed. "I wasn't finished. The notes he gave me were all wrong. He gave us a fake set of notes just to screw us over."

"We all studied from those notes, and we all fucking failed because of him!" Jack shouted.

Mia crossed her arms. "He got the notes wrong, so what?? Who told you to take his notes in the first place? It's not like he tried to sabotage you, he just didn't write the notes down correctly!"

"Oh, really?" Greg scoffed and gestured to Aren. "Then tell me why this mother fucker got a 98% on the test!"

"How should I know?" Mia said. "Maybe you just didn't study right and he did."

"Are you fucking dumb?" Greg snapped.

"Here." Chris said, tossing a notebook to Mia.

Mia quickly scanned through it, then looked up. "I don't get it, all these notes look correct."

"No shit." Chris said. "Those are his real notes, the ones he studied from. The ones he gave us were bullshit."

Mia sighed. "Okay, fine. But that's still not an excuse for beating him up."

Jacked looked at her, but with less anger in his eyes than the others. "Just get out of here, Mia. It's none of your business." He said in a tone that sounded more like advice than a threat.

"Why are you even defending the sociopath?" Greg asked Mia.

"So, not talking much makes you a sociopath now?" Mia asked sarcastically.

Aren looked up at her in surprise, raising his head for the first time since she arrived.

Greg looked irritated. "It's not that he just doesn't talk. The fact that he usually keeps his mouth shut might actually be the best thing about him. But he's arrogant and rude as hell. He does shit just to screw people over."

Mia hesitated. "...So do you."

"Shut up," Greg snapped. "We just keep everyone in order and make sure everyone knows their place. This mother fucker doesn't even have the right to make eye contact with me, but he still thinks he can mess with us."

Mia looked down at Aren, who had been staring at her the whole time, but he turned his head away when she looked at him. Mia thought for a second.

"Well, I still don't see what makes him a sociopath."

Aren continued to stare at Mia, looking puzzled.

Jack sighed. "Mia, leave before things get messy."

Aren looked back down. He assumed she was going to leave. But Mia looked at them, back and forth between Aren and the others, conflicted. She didn't know whether to go or stay. She made up her mind.

"No." She said.

Jack looked at her in surprise. "No?"

"No!" She said again.

Aren's head snapped back up. He was completely confused this time.

Chris stepped forward, clearly at the end of his patience. "Bitch, get the fuck out of here before you end up like him-"

Jack cut him off. "Whoa, c'mon man, she's a girl..."

Finally, Aren broke his gaze away from Mia to look at Jack, then back at Mia. "He wants you," Aren said to Mia matter-of-factly.

"Shut up, freak!" Jack blurted. He reeled back to punch Aren, but Mia jumped in front of him, stopping Jack mid-swing.

"Stop!" Mia shouted. "If you want to hit him, you'll have to hit me too."

Everyone went quiet. Aren watched silently, observing the situation with curiosity as Jack and Mia stared at each other in a stand-still. They both glared into each other's eyes, and Jack grew more conflicted as he stared, contemplating what to do. Finally, he whipped around in frustration and turned to face his friends.

"Let's go." Jack huffed.

Chris gaped at him. "What? Are you joking? Just shove her out of the way!"

"Let's go!" Jack shouted again. "We've already beaten him up anyway."

Chris and Greg looked at each other doubtfully.

"Well, I'm leaving." Jack said finally.

His two friends rolled their eyes, giving in. Chris turned towards Mia.

"You got lucky," Chris said. "The only reason we didn't knock you out as soon as you opened your mouth is because of Jack."

Jack, Chris, and Greg walked away, looking back occasionally to shoot dirty looks at Mia and Aren as they went.

Mia looked back at Aren. "Are you okay?"

Aren nodded, then he stood up and brushed himself off.

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk before," Mia said lightheartedly.

Aren shrugged, acting uninterested. When Mia turned away, he stared at her, analyzing her with confusion. He felt curious. And he felt... something else. Something he couldn't quite place. Mia turned back toward him and Aren looked away again.

Well," Mia said hesitantly. "Uh... bye... I guess."

Aren said nothing, so Mia gave him an awkward nod and walked away. Once Mia was out of view, Aren looked up at the security camera and a slight smile fell across his lips.