Cherophobia

4

Darien James Walls was a young kid I encountered the first day we arrived in Roue Estates.

I knew him then by the name James, everyone called him that and I didn't even know he had another English name.

He wasn't an actual bully, he was a cool kid when we were young and from their huge house in the neighborhood, his family was pretty wealthy.

Rumors had it that the Walls had their own private jets and had a lot of five star rated companies around the globe which wouldn't be a surprise since they were always seen with different cars every month.

Before we came to the neighbourhood, we used to live in a rented apartment in another state which was a good thing since my family and I had upgraded from the shitty room we used to live in.

So when my mom got a new job in this part of the country with a good and affordable house, we quickly jumped on that opportunity and this was where I came to meet James.

After we packed and arranged almost everything in our house that day, I decided to walk around and be familiar with everything in the area.

Unfortunately when I got to the park, he and his minions were there playing football.

I sat on one of the empty benches in the park and they immediately approached me. But from the smirk on their faces, it wasn't going to be good.

As brave as I was I sat still, confidently eyeing each of them. James kicked my feet when he stood infront of me but I wasn't bothered.

I didn't want to cause any problems so I just looked at them and raised a brow waiting for them to say something.

"What is a girl like you doing here?" James obviously spoke first and I scowled at his silly interrogation.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me?"

He retorted and I stood up to face him. I already knew I couldn't beat them heck I couldn't even beat him, just him. He was too tall for a kid at our age.

"I'm sorry but the thing in your big mouth makes it difficult for me to hear your gibberish." I mocked him and his minions gasped.

Looked like I opened a wound that day. As he opened his mouth to speak an officer approached us, "what's going on here?" The officer asked with his hands on his waist and he beat me to it.

"Everything is fine sir, we were just talking to our new friend weren't we?" He slyly said and I nodded innocently. Two could play this game.

"Of course officer, he's done talking actually." I said amused and he scowled leaving with his minions.

I sighed as they left and sat down again.

"You okay there?" The officer asked again and I nodded.

"You poor kid, don't let them get to you. They are usually not like that. Are you new here?" I nodded at his question and he smiled.

"Welcome, this neighborhood is one of the decent ones so far...be safe alright?" I grinned and muttered a sure before he went back to where he was stationed with his colleague.

I rubbed my face with my palm and looked down to think about school.

I was attending a new school tomorrow. While my sisters were delighted to start, I was just not feeling it. What if I didn't like the school or I was bullied.

The latter I wouldn't let it happen because I've been sticking up for myself in my old school.

I sighed and stood up rubbing my palms on my dress to possibly clean the invincible dirt on my shorts. I felt a burning stare on my back and turned to look at James and his minions, they stood there glaring at me making me roll my eyes.

They were immature. And that was how I came to know about James and his minions. I never saw them come at anyone except for me.

Well his minions stopped after a while but he just kept going. Trying to get a reaction from me but as usual, I had my resting bitch face on so it was difficult for him to get a reaction out of me.

One afternoon after school, I saw him buy my little sisters ice cream and secretly told them not to tell me which they never did, but I just laughed looking at the guy who was trying to play mean with me.

I never saw him again after a while, looked like he was really with his uncle in Sydney and here I was sitting in his car.

"So you've been stalking me?" I said amused and he groaned, "are you now going to tease me with that all the time?" he pouted and I laughed.

"You mean bully and why were you always mean to me back then?" I asked curiously and he just shrugged.

"I don't know... I just felt like picking on you."

"Well it wasn't fun at all." I jokingly glared and he nervously laughed again.

"I know and I accept my fault. I've been meaning to talk to you ever since I came back for college but you are always busy so I decided to finally join your study group." he explained with his left hand on the steering wheel.

"So it means you've been stalking me for the past what...three years?" I teased him again and he sighed.

"Fine I have, but it wasn't stalking we literally had the same classes since first year it was more like a coincidence." He added making me nod.

"How was Sydney?" I asked looking out the window but there was silence so I turned to look at him.

"It was good, same old you know." I shrugged and decided to let it go, something was off with his answer, I just had a feeling.

I could read people really well and he was not comfortable about the question so I changed the topic.

"You removed your braises." I gasped dramatically and laughed,

"I'm twenty two and you still want me to wear them? Hell no! How will I get a girl?"

We both laughed and he started fiddling  the radio. There were few songs playing but I didn't like it.

"Wait I like that one." I hit his hand away from the radio and he complained about him being the owner of the car.

"Then be a good host and let me decide what we listen." I sassed earning a chuckle from him.

"Yes ma'am." he teased and we laughed some more as we entered our street.