Perfect Eve

3

"Answer me, you bastard!" Tyler spat, furiously.

The guy was oddly calm, watching Tyler with a hint of disgust in his eyes.

Neither those light brown eyes nor the chocolate brown hair was familiar. He was tall. Tall enough to stand against Tyler in a fight. Maybe even a couple inches taller than him.

"To you, son of a bitch." Tyler spoke again and I looked around.

Half of the students in the cafeteria watched the show from their seats, enjoying their lunch. The other half ignored the drama.

No one came forward to ask if there was a problem, no one got ready to pull these guys apart if it ended up in a fight.

Without even sparing another glance at Tyler, the guy turned to me with his  furrowed eyebrows.

The most grateful thing to do will be to utter a simple thank you. But I stood there, staring back at him, confusion etched across my face. Was he a different version of Tyler? Another bully, maybe?

Maybe not.

But just before I could thank him, a girl stepped closer and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure." I nodded at her, and the next second she was leading me to the washroom.

"Thank you. But you should probably go have your lunch before the break is over." I said and she smiled.

"So is he an all-time bully?" She pulled out some cream and gave it to me as if I had burns.

"It didn't really burn me. It was a drop, I think."

"Doesn't matter, prevention is better than cure. If I were you, I wouldn't want even a sliver of burn mark on my skin." She muttered. "This is a moisturizer, though. But I think it'll help."

"Thanks again but -"

"Your thanks always have a following but?"

Well...

"I've known Tyler for a couple of years now. He was in my school and if there's one thing I know, it's that he'll bully you too if you stand in his way. I don't want that for somebody just because they helped me."

"That's sweet." she stood up with a smile and left, her blonde curls bouncing all along the way, making me wish I had that attitude.

                             ~~~~~~
                     
Whilst having lunch, I turned my phone on and started listening to the voicemails one by one, until one got my complete attention.

Mrs Ridge, it's Alicia Patrick.

Mrs Patrick, Theo's teacher.

The voicemail went on as she said Theo wasn't feeling well and how she called the given contact number of his guardian and since no one answered, as a last resort, she had to call this number.

I checked the call log to see that I missed her call half an hour ago when I was in class.

For a minute, I was completely defeated. Bills, I would manage. Looking after them, I'll happily do.  And she can't even answer a call?

"What happened?" I asked as soon as my eyes found his little brown ones.

"A little tummy ache." I was startled when a young lady behind him spoke, someone whose presence I completely missed.

"Mrs Patrick." she shook my hands and ruffled his hair, "Nothing serious, we had the school nurse look at him. He just freaked out. Cried a lot, asked me to take him home, created a scene..."