Alyssa's Pov:
It’s been 3 days since meeting him. He hasn’t shown up in the cafe, making me and the others feel more at ease. The last 2days were hectic as all of us including the shops owner were literally on our toes, fearing when he might show up. Catherine came rushing right after she got to know about the incident. And she has been staying in the cafe since.
But now it feels like he really was just joking around and it lifted a huge weight off my chest. I went to school but found out Rae is skipping school today. She said she found a haunted house near the city and she's gonna explore it. I asked why not go at night? But she told me she values her life and night time is too risky. And her skipping school isn’t risky? Where's her logic? She just said goodbye and dipped. Typical Rae.
I just hoped I didn’t see Damien today. But luck wasn't on my side. There he stood with his minions in the hallway.
**Flash back **
Damien was the son of the schools principle. I first met him during my sophomore year, we shared a few classes together. Some of the guys would try to talk to me, but me being my timid and socially awkward self, I would cower down in my chair and just answer them as much as possible in a meekly voice. Oh how I wished I was a little bit braver.
Some guys would ask me out, it was really hard for me to say no. Still I somehow managed to tell them all of. But there was this one guy, Lucas. He was one of the jocks and was in the football team. He just wouldn’t take a hint, he didn’t like it that I rejected him. He started threatening me at one point. I was scared. Fortunately Rae was there to help me.
She had some good connections, like really good ones. No one knew how she got them, she just did. Lucas knew he couldn’t mess with her. But one day when she was absent, he literally pulled me inside the school's basement after school. I had assignments to do, so I was in the library and left late. He had been waiting for me outside the school.
He pushed me on the ground, I tried to get up but he punched me. I felt metallic taste in my mouth, i was bleeding. He locked the basement from inside.
"Bitch, you thought you could get away with insulting me? You think you're so hot and mighty. I told you I'll be coming for you" he looked crazy..
Hovering over me he started ripping off my shirt and then started pulling off his own shirt. I screamed while his filthy mouth started to ravage my body. But it was already late, there might be no one around the school and that made me cry more in agony. Suddenly I heard loud bangs on the doors and after a while it burst open with a loud sound. Someone had come to save me. I internally thanked the lord. Lucas was pulled off of me.
I squinted my eyes which were filled with tears to see who it was. It was Damien. He fought with Lucas throwing him on the ground and warned him not to mess with me again or he'll get Lucas expelled. Lucas just walked out of there. Damien then covered me with his shirt and took care of me. He had saved me and was the gentlest person I had ever met.
He became an angel in my eyes and we started to hang out more. I started to have feelings for him. He was my first love. But it all started to change after he became the football team's captain. He started being distant, I would always wait for him in the bleachers, watch his every game, but he would barely even acknowledge me.. His behavior started to become rough and he also started to bully people.
But he would always be caring and soft around Rebecca, the school's queen bee. She was sweet, cute, sexy, confident. Everything I never was. He would give her full attention whenever she talked, while he would just shrug me off. It hurt, It stung.
I finally did manage to express my feelings towards him. Although I already knew the answer, I just wanted to get it off my chest. Plus, there was a tiny corner in my heart that hoped he would somehow like me back .. I thought, at highest he'd reject me. But.. He didn’t just reject me, he looked disgusted at my confession. I remember his words like it was yesterday.
" You really don’t know your place, do you? I just save you out of my generosity and you start following me around like a lost puppy. And now you even dare to propose me, how pathetic can you be?" he said, every word piercing through my heart.
"Why are you being like this...you can just simply reject me. Why are being mean...aren’t we friends? " I said as teats fell down my eyes.
" Huh? Friends? I never considered you as my friend. Have you ever seen yourself, no one would even notice you if I didn’t hang out with you. You are just a mere loser and an outcast whom I showed kindness upon. But clearly that was a mistake. You just stuck around with me and never took any hint. I really hate seeing your face. " with that he walked away.
My heart ached so much. I stood there, crying uncontrollably... My first love left me traumatised.
I had went home crying, I didn’t want mom and dad to worry about me, so I just ran in my room and locked it. I cried the whole night. Little did I know, that wasn’t the end of my misery.
The next day everyone at school was looking at me weirdly and whispering. I didn’t understand what was happening when everyone started mocking me. I saw Damien standing at the end of the hallway, smirking at me. He did this? He told everyone? How could he do this! Wasn’t rejecting me enough?
I saw Rebecca coming up to him, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, while still looking at with an evil look. Ouch, that stung even more than the insults.. So they were dating now...
The students started to make bad comments about me and he was watching all of it with a smile on his face like he was enjoying it. His gentle behaviour was long gone, he wasn’t the kind guy who had saved me. He had changed. He had became like them. He was now just another heartless person.
The mocking only kept increasing and I was on the verge of breaking down when suddenly everyone stopped. They were looking at someone.
I turned around and saw her...Rae. She was coming towards me in all her glory, her ripped jeans, chains around waist, and lip piercing made her look even more bad ass. Even though she was crazy, she was also a damn good fighter. No guy had ever beaten her in a fight. Everyone knew not to piss her off, and she looked pissed.
Is she pissed at me, pissed because she had such a pathetic friend like me. Was she gonna leave me...Was she gonna make fun of me too.. I remember thinking all those as my heart sank even deeper. I didn’t wanna loose her, she was my best friend.
She came close, I waited for her to say something hurtful. But she never did, instead I was engulfed in a tight hug. She looked at me in the eye and her eyes held so much care and softness.
" Heyy, you don’t need to feel ashamed or sad buddy. You just expressed your feelings, and it takes a lot of courage to do that you know. You did nothing wrong. Getting rejected is a very normal thing, everyone gets rejected at some point. Don’t let these people get to you. You were honest and brave" she smiled at me.
I never knew words could work like magic, because I instantly felt better. I had someone who supported me and that alone made me happy. I came to my senses, She's right, I shouldn’t let them get to me, I didn’t commit any crime,why should I be scared or ashamed. I smiled and nodded back at her.
"Good. Now then, where is that motherfucker? " she asked, giving me a fake tight smile. She was angry..
" heyy, I'm finee, don't do anything reckless. I don't want you to get in trouble"
"Shush, when did I ever care about getting in trouble. Plus, I wasn’t asking your opinion. Where is that dickhead?" she looked behind me and clenched her jaw.
"Found him" saying this she went up to him casually and punched him. They broke into a fight and everyone started to cheer for them. Rebecca and I tried to stop them but couldn’t. It was clear that Rae was way beyond his league as she was literally punching his face like a punch bag, while Damien could barely hit her.
The teachers stopped them. The principle wanted to expel Rae but after hearing the whole story, he gave both Rae and Damien 2 month's detention.
I was sad that Rae was punished because of me but was also happy to see what she'd done to Damien's face. He didn’t come to school a few days and when he did, his face was still bruised black and blue. We laughed about it a lot. I was truly lucky to have her as my friend.
**End of Flashback ***
But after this incident, he made sure he would make my life a hell every time Rae was absent. He looked at me and smirked. I knew today was one of those days. My once savior had become my current bully. The irony...God help me.