Stella Flores
I walk over to my locker and grab my science textbook, leaving my other books in there. I hadn't seen Isla all day. I just assumed that since she left my house at like 4 in the morning, she just went home and went to sleep. It sounded like her.
I close my locker and turn around, and standing on the other side of the hall, was Harry. He was leaning against a locker, talking to a girl.
Gross.
I felt my chest rise in anger. He puts his hand on her shoulder and rubs it with his thumb. She smiles and i can hear her giggling, ridiculously. He turns his head to me, noticing that I was watching, and smirks deviantly.
He looks back to the girl in front of him and tucks some loose hairs behind her ear. I can't stand him. He was doing it to piss me off. Unfortunately for him, it's not working.
I turn and make sure that the lock is closed on my locker, then walk toward the science lab.
I sit down in my usual seat, and take out my textbook, as it said to on the board. Harry walks in and plops himself right next to me like I expected.
The teacher picks up a stack of papers from his desk and stands up. He walks to the front of his desk and then leans back onto it, crossing his legs. "I've got your tests, I'm going to pass them out so you can use them as a study guide for the topic test which is next week."
He shuffles around the classroom, handing papers to their rightful owners. He comes to my table and drops Harry's. In curiosity, I peer over and can't seem to see what he got. He looks at me and I instantly move my eyes to my hands that were sitting on the table, so he wouldn't see that i was trying to see his grade.
With the corner of my eye, I see him half-smile and shake his head, looking down. I'm guessing he saw me.
I receive my paper back and I flip it over so I can see my grade. I got a 92.4%. I smile at my success and then I see a small note written in red at the bottom corner. It read 'Good Job! Please see me after class so we could talk.'
Thats so strange. Why would he need to talk to me if I got a good score?
Harry taps me with one finger repeatedly, like a child, "Anise. Anise. Anise."
I turn my head quickly to him, annoyed, "What Harry?"
He stops tapping me and smirks. He grabs his test, so only the back of it is visible to me. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours?" He raises his eyebrows up and down in a playful manner.
I pick up my paper and hand it to him. He grabs it excidetely, and scans the paper with his eyes.
He grins, and hands me my paper back. "What a smart one my Anise is."
I take it and smile. I then hold my hand out waitingly for him to hand me his paper.
He picks it up, shamelessly, and gives it to me. A 87%. Better than I expected. I smile. "I've got to give you some credit, I didn't expect that."
He rolls his eyes, and grabs his paper back. "Of course you didn't. No one does. I mean the average person will see my obvious beauty and assume I have no brains but clearly that isn't the case. I'm the full package baby."
I smile and feel my cheeks blush at his new-found nickname for me.
The whole two-class hours flew by. We read a few chapters in the book, and took notes, then went over the test. I only got a few wrong and I did pretty good. Maybe he just wanted to give me extra credit after class or something.
The dismissal bell rings, allowing everyone to leave and go home for the day. I put all my stuff back into my bag as everyone leaves the class, including Harry. I pick it up from the floor and sling in onto my shoulder.
I walk towards Mr. Grey and he takes a few steps to me as well. So my back was facing the desk, and he was in front of me.
"You wanted to talk to me?" I murmur as I fiddle with my fingers in awkwardness.
He smiles and exhales, "Well you are my best student and I wanted to give you a little, reward."
I furrow my brows and look up, forming my lips into a line. I don't get it.
He steps closer to me, now making me slightly uncomfortable. He touches my hand, then slides it up my arm. I feel my hairs stand up and I step back, running into the desk. "No it's alright. Can i go now?"
He takes another step towards me, leaving me trapped. He brings the back of his hand to my cheek and caresses it. "What's wrong? I just want to show you how much I appreciate hard working students, like you."
He places his hands on my hips and lifts me up, imeadietly making me shriek. "Stop!"
I can't believe this is actually happening to me. Everyone knows about all these bad things but they always think they are the exception. That it will never happen to them. I thought that way too, until now.
He places his hand over my mouth to silence me and uses the other to grab my breast.
I start crying. I felt so helpless, so weak. I slap his hand away when it moves to my other breast.
He chuckles softly, and murmurs, "Don't fight it. Just let it happen. If you do, I could help you keep that grade of yours up."
He removes his hand from my mouth and moves it to my shoulder. I instantly yell, for someone to hear.
He didn't like that.
He smacks me across the face, hard. "You idiot! Be quiet." I start sobbing, I can't let this happen. I wouldn't.
He places one hand back onto my mouth, the other undoing his belt.
I'm not sure if its the adrenaline or just my fear but I lifted up my knee and hit him In the crotch as hard as I could.
I jump up from the desk and run to the door. I try to be as fast as possible, but I just wasn't fast enough. He grabs me by my arm and pulls me back. I stumble back and he catches me.
With my back to his chest, he whispers in my ear, "It won't be that easy to escape from me."
How is this happening to me? What did I do to possibly deserve this? I nod my head slowly. Maybe I should just let him, I can report it after and maybe he won't hurt me if I stop resisting.
He slides his hand up my tennis skirt and pulls down my underwear. I feel him undoing his pants from behind and I suddenly hear his belt buckle hit the floor.
No, I can't let him do this.
He won't run out of the classroom with his pants down. There are cameras. All I have to do is make it out the door.
I turn around to face him and I wipe my tears. I needed to play my cards correctly.
He smirks pervertedly making me want to vomit. "Are you going to be good now?"
I force a smile and nod. I sniffle and manage to murmur out, "Can I- Um Can I lean my back against the wall or something? I- Uh I'm. I mean, I've never-"
He chuckles under his breath, "Say no more."
He walks us over to the wall right next to the door, just like I wanted him to.
Men are such idiots.
He leans into my neck and I feel his disgusting lips touch the core of my neck. I try to keep from crying. It is so sad that I have to go through this. That I even considered letting him do this to me.
I put both of my hands on his face, pulling it away from my neck, to face me. I grit my teeth into a fake smile.
He smiles, and then goes to move his head back, to continue, when I stop him, "Wait. Can I tell you something first?"
He rolls his eyes and runs one of his hands through his hair, then shrugs lazily. "Make it quick. My wife is expecting me home soon." Disgusting. This man deserves nothing but the worst. Look what he is trying to do to me, and I'm sure I'm not the first.
"Go to hell." I mutter out before landing a punch right in his eye. I quickly run for the door as fast as I could. If I don't reach the door, who knows what will happen.
I grab the door knob, pulling the door open and sighing in relief. I continue running, with my underwear at my thighs. I pull them up and just stay sprinting down the hallways with no sense of direction.
I hadn't exactly planned this next part. I have to tell someone. Not even for myself, because I can easily switch to another teacher without them asking too many questions. But I had to do this for the future girls that he would try this with. Not all of them might be able to do what I just did. Not all of them might get away.
I feel hot tears running down my cheeks. I look back to see no one there. Thank god.
I figured he wouldn't follow me, because of the cameras. Imagine seeing a teacher running down the hallways chasing a crying student.
I run down the stairs, reaching the first floor. I quickly decided that I need to go to the office. I need to tell someone even if I really didn't want to. Even if I didn't want to talk about how he touched and saw my bare body without my consent. I have to. For the future girls.
I swing open the office door, and the first person I see is Harry. He turns his head to me and then smirks but when his eyes met mine, that have been crying, his smirk quickly faded. "What happened?"
I feel my body start to feel weak. I feel my knees beginning to drop. I finally feel my body hit the floor. "Anise? Please, look at me."
I feel my eyes tiredly open then fall closed, I can't feel anything else emotionally or physically. I could only hear his voice. "Anise, look at me." I tried so hard. I just couldn't. I felt like I was dead.
"Look at me, please." I hear his voice crack slightly.
I open my eyes and see him hovering over me. "Look at me Anise. Look at my eyes."
I do as he says and as soon as I do, he places both hands on my shoulders. I flinch at his touch, and begin to cry again. I shout, "Don't touch me, please!"
He quickly pulls his hands off of me and takes a step back. "I don't wanna hurt you. I just want to help. Please. I don't want to see you like this."
I believe him and for some odd reason, I trust him. So, I nod slowly. I felt the presence of someone else and I shoot my eyes open, hoping it wasn't who I thought it was.
Thankfully, no. It's Mrs. Avery, my principle.
"Oh dear, what happened to her?" She runs to Harry and I, her heels clicking every step.
I open my eyes and I feel like I can breathe again. I start breathing rapidly, still laying on the floor. I want to get up. I don't want to feel how I felt in that classroom. I don't want to feel helpless.
I try to sit up but I can't. I physically don't have the strength to right now. My body was giving up on me.
Harry steps toward me again and kneels down so he is somewhat aligned with me while I was on the floor. "Do you want me to help you up? Is it alright if I touch you now?"
I nod slowly and force a smile. He quickly moves his hands to my shoulders and pulls me up, to stand as he stands up himself. Basically pulling both of our body weights, at the same time.
Mrs. Avery runs back from wherever she went and hands me a cup of water, while smiling in pity and concern.
This is a big part of why I don't want anyone to know. They are going to feel sorry for me. They will feel pity, just like Mrs. Avery is right now.
"Sit, please."
I smile and take a seat, slowly bringing the water to my lips. Hoping I would not choke on it through my shaky breaths, I sip it softly, letting the cold water run down my throat and through my body.
Harry sits next to me, not touching me at all. I turn my face to his, expecting his "smile" to be the same as Mrs. Avery's, full of shame and sympathy. But instead, he carried a blank expression. No pity, no sorrow, no sympathy. Just a plain, poker face.
I still can't seem to believe that I was almost raped. I almost got raped.
"Are you alright now?" I hear Mrs. Avery murmur softly. I look up from the floor and turn my face to hers. I wanted to say no. It was the truth after all. How could I say I'm 'alright' when I almost had a man inside of me. A man that I never gave permission to touch me.
I instead, force a small smile with my lips pressed together. "I'm fine but I need to tell you why I almost just passed out on the office lobby floor."
She nods and looks to Harry. "Mr. Styles, maybe you should go. We shall continue our conversation tomorrow." He nods and stands. Out of instinct, I grabbed his arm.
It's weird but when I was laying on the floor, he didn't make me feel uncomfortable. He actually acted in the exact way I needed him to. "I want him to stay." He furrows his brow and turns back to me. "Anise, really. Its fine. I can come back tomorrow. You obviously have something more important to discuss. Feel better, I'll text you later."
I felt my heart warm to his words and again it was exactly what he should say. Which is why he can't leave. "Please. Harry, stay." For some odd reason, I feel really secure with his presence right now.
When I told him to not touch me, and he immeadieatly pulled his hands away, I knew that I could trust him.
I expect it to already be hard enough to talk about, and maybe I am making a huge mistake asking Harry to stay and to listen, but it's what feels right.
He nods and sits back down. Mrs. Avery stares at me, waiting for me to speak. I take another sip of my water before muttering, "Mr- Mr. Grey he-" I feel my tongue swell and my mouth go bone dry. There were no right words to say right now. Everything about this whole situation was wrong. So I took a deep breath, and just spat out, "Mr. Grey, he tried to rape me."
Harry grits his teeth together and clenches his jaw, so tight that it could cut someone. Mrs. Avery's jaw just dropped, with her eyes widened. She said nothing nor did nothing else either. She just sat there in shock.
"He-. He um, he asked me to stay after class to discuss an assignment. When everyone exited the classroom, he began touching me inappropriately, and I told him to stop. Of course, he just continued. I didn't let him...... succeed in his plans but he did pull off my clothing. He made it very clear what he was trying to do, physically and verbally." I feel my eyes water again and I sniffle, finishing my words, revealing my truth. Harry grabs the tissue box from the table and hands it to me.
Mrs. Avery, still not having said one word, quickly gets up and runs to her desk. She picks up her phone and dials in three numbers. I heard her speaking but I couldn't hear her words. You know?
I let my focus release off of Mrs. Avery's obvious phone call and turn my gaze to Harry. He was already looking at me, and yet, he still didn't look sorry for me. His face just looked pale and blank. I didn't want him to be sorry for me, I just expected his pity.
He places his hand against my cheek, and rubs his thumb across my face to wipe one of my many tears. "Please Anise. Don't cry. I hate it."
I smile at his words and chuckle softly, "You told me that I'm pretty when I cry."
He smiles softly, and shakes his head. "You always look pretty blondie. But I don't want to see you cry over something like this. Something that isn't even remotely your fault."
I nod my head, and smile softly. "Thank you, for saying that. For thinking that."
He furrows his brows, "Any person who doesn't agree, is simply an idiot."
I feel my tear ducts swelling again, but this time I don't try to hold myself back. I just let it out. He subtly places his hands on my upper back and hugs me, pulling my face into his shoulder.
He knew how to comfort me so well. He always knows exactly what to say and to do. He doesn't make things awkward or uncomfortable. He makes them better.
He actually makes them better.
This chapter was a lot of things. For one it was really intense. It is also about 3,000 words which is my longest chapter so far:) Please, if anything like this has happened to you, call 800-656-4673 for help. Thank you so much for reading this book. -L