~My Teacher Hits Me~ (Book 1) [Rewritten]

Chapter 21: All Around the Mulberry Bush

Rylan lurches forward, but holds herself back when Blake glares at her.

"Are you threatening me now, Tucker?"

"You're damn right, I am. So stay away from Rylan." Tuck hisses.

Blake's eyes tighten and he glances at Rylan again.

"Rylan, go to class." Tuck orders.

"Don't you fucking move, cupcake." Blake growls.

Rylan stands completely still.

"Tuck... "

"Rylan, get out of here now." He orders again.

She glances at Blake; his gaze meets hers.

"I dare you." He mutters.

Tuck shouts inaudibly and shoves Blake back against the lockers on the wall.

"Go, Rylan!"

Rylan watches with wide eyes as Blake swings Tuck and switches their positions. Tuck slams against the lockers and grunts in pain. He pushes back against Blake's hold. Blake punches him in the abdomen and Tuck pushes Blake's face. Tuck kicks and swipes Blake's feet out from under him. The two fall to the floor and topple over one another.

"Tuck! Blake! Stop it!" Rylan screams helplessly.

Tuck swings and connects with Blake's jaw, but Blake hits back just as hard.

"What the hell is going on over here?" Principal Kennedy shouts.

He and another teacher saunter down the hall and force Blake and Tuck apart. He looks angrily between the boys before settling his gaze on Rylan. Rylan notices how his eyes linger on her stitches.

"Miss Winchester, get to class." He orders.

"But—" Rylan argues.

"Now." He repeats, softly but firmly.

Rylan nods and makes her way around the group and down the hall. She ignores the peeping faces in the windows of the classroom doors.

"Boys, we don't tolerate violence of any kind here. You both know that. The next time I catch you in the halls after the bell, you'll get much worse than detention. After school. Don't be late." He peers sternly between Tuck and Blake. "Now get to class." He orders.

"See you in detention." Blake taunts and glares at Tuck one more time before heading down the hall.

"Yeah, see you." Tuck mutters and swipes up his backpack and heads to the art room.

Rylan takes a seat in the art room, apologizing to her teacher for her lateness, but the teacher acts as if there had been no interruption. I guess this was one upside to almost dying. The students here are just as bad as all the others though; they stare at her like she just murdered someone.

Rylan bounces her knee nervously as she waits for Tuck to show up. He is in trouble because of her and now has the wrath of Blake to worry about as well. None of her friends are safe around her. Blake won't leave her alone. Even Tuck's threats didn't bother him. Rylan hates having to worry about this on top of her worries over Mr. Quinn. She stares blindly down at her blank sheet of drawing paper.

A few minutes later Tuck enters the classroom. Rylan shifts her attention to him worriedly. Rather than asking him what happened, she places her hand over his on the table.

"Are you alright?"

A bruise slowly materializes below Tuck's left eye and a few others probably materialize beneath his shirt.