Sleeping with a Bully

V. The Heir

Hannah looked up and smiled tremulously when she spotted me. She waved the empty space beside her and I took it.

"Thanks for getting me my food, Hannah," I told her as I picked up the fork from the tray.

She leaned into me and murmured, "Did you hear the news, Terry?"

My eyes went to her. "What news?"

Across the table, Mary and Cecil, two friends of the same year, stopped whispering at each other and looked at us. They both had brown hair, both on the short and chubby side and looked like they could be sisters except Cecil had brown eyes while Mary had blue.

"He's back, Terry," Cecil said with a worried frown.

"Who's back?"

"You know who."

"Voldemort?" I said dryly and saw Hannah's lips twitched. Cecil, however, did not look amused. "I'm not in the mood for guessing games, Cecil, so please. Just say it."

"Gage," Mary blurted out, wringing her hands on top of the table. "Leon Gage."

Ah.

This again.

"I thought he was finally expelled." Cecil shook her head. "With all the crimes he had committed, surely the school had done something about him."

"I heard that over the summer he beat up little children in the park," Mary supplied.

"I heard he was caught using drugs."

"Where did you get those information?" I asked curiously.

"From the school grape vine," Hannah replied.

I scowled. "Rumors. You know how I dislike rumors, Hannah."

"But what if they're true?" Mary protested. "Then we're all in danger."

"You should have moved schools then, Mary," I said tersely.

Mary bit her lip and moved her gaze away from me. Cecil gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder and gave Hannah a meaningful look. Hannah sighed and elbowed my side gently.

I gritted my teeth. Mary's and Cecil's parents were my parents' friends from business. I was supposed to be pleasant to them at all times. But it was tiring, trying to keep up with them when we had nothing in common. If it weren't for Hannah, I'd be sitting alone in the cafeteria, an outcast. Not that I wouldn't minded. I'd rather prefer being alone than being with shallow people who wasted their parents' money lavishly and thrived on petty gossip.

Leon Gage was the most feared and the most dangerous student of East Private School. According to the rumors, he was a bully with a violent temper, a formidable enemy and a frightening opponent. Nobody dared to cross him because of this. Not a student, not a teacher. He practically owned the school without even saying it.

Usually, while everyone talked about him and discussed the rumors circulating around him, I'd ignore everyone and mind my own business. I never gave a damn about him. I had my own problems to deal with. But whenever he came to school, he was always with the person I didn't want to see. It made me care enough to step away from his path.

Hannah elbowed me again and I exhaled exasperatedly.

Looking at Mary, who was close to tears, I amended in a softer tone, "We're safe if we're careful and avoid him, Mary. He doesn't come much to school anyway."

Hannah nodded. "That's right. We've done it before, we can do it this year. We'll just have to stay away from him. Him and John Steele."

My gut tightened at the mention of John's name.