M.A.R.

Chapter 20

Ami smiled at Ritsuka who had decided to walk her to class hand-in-hand as if to prove that he would be with her no matter what people would say. And people were sneering at him, whispering about him, and completely avoiding him. Even people like Cole or his other friends would take one look and run in the other direction, their faces dripping with fear.

Ami was afraid that this would hurt him, but whenever she looked into his eyes, he seemed like he barely even noticed the chaotic emotions that he caused. She wondered if it was because he didn't care or if it was because he was already so used to it…

“Here we are, Ami.” Ritsuka chirped, stopping in front of her homeroom class.

She turned to him to say thanks when her lips were suddenly embraced by his own.

Ritsuka squeezed her hand lightly as he shamelessly kissed her full on the mouth, despite everyone watching and despite Ami’s initial surprise. Soon, she melted into the kiss as well, giving in to his lips. He cupped her cheek before gently pulling away from her.

Ami looked up at him, her face flushed and her expression confused. “Why did you-”

“Stay strong Ami.” Ritsuka whispered before kissing her forehead sweetly. “Stay strong and I will stay strong with you.” He promised with an enchanting smile before turning around and walking away down the stairs.

Ami placed a hand to her lips. Gently smiling down, she turned and walked into her classroom.

“Ew, it’s the freak with the hair again.”

Ami stopped cold, knowing that voice too well in spite of only hearing it once.

“Who knew I’d have to be in homeroom with a monster like you?” Chanay sneered, a gaggle of girls giggling behind her.

Ami sneered at the blue haired girl, remembering what Ritsuka had just told her. “What do you want from me? And what is so wrong with my hair that you like to make fun of!”

“Hun, just look at it!” Chanay snickered. “It’s that color and that length…” she looked Ami up and down, running her fingers through her own hair as she said it. “I guess some people’s hair just can’t be as perfect as mine.”

As the girls began to laugh loudly at her again, Ami turned to her other classmates for help. Each and every one of them turned away in fear when she had looked at them. She shouldn’t have expected more from them, anyway.

“If I were you I would just shave it all off.” Chanay suggested, getting Ami’s attention once more. “I would never be caught with hair as hideous as yours.”

The girls burst up into laughter again, a smirking Chanay at the lead.

Ami’s anger grew tenfold in the pit of her stomach, practically consuming her whole. Between the snobby, laughing girls in front of her and the unhelpful classmates surrounding her, Ami was being bullied without a single caring hand in sight. She would have to do this alone, something that frustrated her even more.

“Oh, are you getting mad? Am I angering you?” Chanay asked as Ami’s cheeks heated up. The girls laughed harder at Ami’s frustrations, this time pointing and laughing at her.

Stomping her foot, Ami marched to the teachers desk and dug through the drawers furiously. Pulling out a pair of scissors, she pointed them at Chanay causing the laughter to stop.

“This hair?!” Ami screamed at the stunned girl. “This hair does not make me who I am!” In the heat of the moment, Ami grabbed her pig tail and loosened the ties a bit from her head. Pulling the scissors open, she swiped them across her loosened pig tail. Freed hair cascaded down her cheek, tickling it as it waved down. Ami held the freed, crimson hair towards Chanay. “And I will never be ashamed of it.”

Dumping the hair in front of Chanay’s flabbergasted posse, Ami ran out of the classroom, her flowing, light hair dancing around her…