It's a Cruel World, Sir (Student/Teacher)

22 | Important

"But, you said—"

"I know," he interrupts, "but that was before."

"Then... then..." I search for the right thing to say. "Then why do you bother helping me?" I demand.

"Because I don't want others laying their hands on you," he says easily. "I have an incorrigible urge to impress upon any creature that touches you that you are mine. It's getting to the point that I may actually end up killing some pathetic human for blackmailing you."

My face heats up. "You can't just kill someone for... for blackmailing me."

He sighs. "Yes, well, that's what I'm trying to convince myself." He looks at me, thumb tracing a line along my jaw. "I don't think you understand how affected I am by you."

I sputter. "W-why would you... I mean... Oh, forget it."

He chuckles, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me on his lap. "Now, back to the matter at hand: is that the only thing Canty said? That he'd fail Leon and Whit if you told them?"

I'm too aware of his arms around me to really focus. "Uh, well, part of the agreement was that I couldn't fight Noah anymore. No matter what he tried to do to me," I mumble.

Surprisingly, he stiffens, arms like iron bars around me. "And what did you say?"

I tilt my head, not really sure why he's so tense. "I can handle being touched by the idiot, so—"

Frost starts splintering around us, covering the window ledge under me, the carpet, the walls—everything is frosting over. My eyes widen as Chase himself begins to frost, the tips of his fingers actually hurting me because of how cold he is.

"What—" I try, but he holds up a hand, stopping me.

There are a few beats of silence as he closes his eyes and breathes, jaw locked. After a minute, I almost ask him what's wrong, but the frost suddenly eases away, the room warming up again.

When the last bit of the ice is thawed, he opens his eyes and looks at me. "I believe I've already said this, but I'm going to repeat myself anyway: you are an incredibly frustrating human."

I roll my eyes. "Well, excuse me for—"

He covers my mouth with his hand, effectively shutting me up, and I glare at him. "I know it's going to take time to prove to you how important you are to others, but it is painstakingly frustrating to be so irate at a human of all things only to have you try to play it off as trivial."

I move his hand, huffing. "I'm not saying it's trivial or whatever; I'm just saying that compared to what Whit and Leon would go through—"

"And when are you going to learn that you can't compare one atrocity to another?" he demands. "Yes, Mr. Reid and Ms. Hall failing would be a tragedy, but you can't compare that to you being raped. Both are gruesome and horrifying in their own way, so there's no way to compare the two."

"But Whit and Leon would be abused and—"

"And so would you," he counters. "By a classmate who would have no qualms about spreading around the school. How do you think Ms. Hall and Mr. Reid would react if they heard that rumor, hmm? How do you think they would feel if they found out it's happening because you're protecting them?"

I stop, cringing.

"Exactly," he says, sighing. "Vixen, you're not protecting anyone by taking the fall all the time. Instead, you end up not only hurting yourself but those who care about you as well. This situation with Canty is a good example: you know why Mr. Reid and Ms. Hall would ignore their own consequences and go after him for threatening you, don't you?"

"Because they're impulsive and short-tempered."

He rolls his eyes, actually rolls his eyes, and looks at me. "It's because they know how much you've suffered, and they don't want you to suffer anymore."

"That's just because they're—"

"It's because they're your friends," he says simply, "and they want you to feel as if you're a part of their family."

"But I do think of them as family!" I argue. "It's because I think of them as family that I can't... I can't let them go through that! I feel like I might break if anything were to happen to them! Leon's an idiot and a worrywart, and Whitler's an overprotective loudmouth, but they're both so important to me that... that I don't know what I'd do without them."

"Don't you think they feel the same way about you?" he asks softly.

I stare at him, unable to blink.

I'd never thought... I'd never thought about it, honestly. I thought that even if I was hurt, as long as they were okay, as long as nothing happened to them, everything would be fine. Everything would be...

"Just like you hurt when they're hurt, love, they hurt when you're hurt," he says. "That's how family works."

I... Have I been wrong all this time? Putting myself last just to help them... is that not how friends worked? Is it just... Is it just me, hating myself so much that I couldn't see how anyone... anyone else would care what... what happened to me?

Do I matter too?

"And I'm sitting here, telling you rather openly that I care for you, yet you're so sure that no one in this world would be bothered by you getting hurt?" He cups my face with his hand again, looking at me. "Are you so sure of that? After everything?"

"I... I..." I try to speak, but nothing comes out.

He smiles, the corner of his lips turning up, and leans in, planting another soft kiss on my lips. "Your friends and I would traverse Hell to make sure you're okay. Never forget that."

— xxx —

Well, cupcakes, you have Grammy to thank for this update because she said, "MC, Mrs. Tice and I had to wait a year for a new book, and you're making your fans wait a year for a chapter! Don't make them wait anymore!" and, well, here we are~

I did point out to her that I'm a full-time student with a full-time job, and, as much as I would love writing more, I can't afford to just drop my work and focus on it. To which we hatched a plan:

How do you guys feel about Patreon for me? I was thinking of having rewards like access to chapters in advance ($1), all the book covers and chapter pictures and even commisioned pictures for your favorite stories ($3), never before seen content that includes how your favorite stories came to be and rough drafts and even possible future stories ($5), and maybe even the chance for you guys to dictate what I update via polls and have some say in what happens in the very next chapter ($10)!

It's still a rough idea, and I want it to be as custom to what you guys want as possible, so comment or PM me and let me know what you think and what you'd like to see!

(Naturally, the stories themselves would still be available on free sites like Wattpad and FictionPress, but the updates there will be slower than Patreon members would get)~

Happy reading, cupcake~(: