Chapter Four - Attacked
He walks down his driveway and looks over at me. He pauses in surprise before his brows furrow, jaw setting. But I'd seen his face before hand. He was upset. Eyes glittering a sad, dull green, face fallen. Then he saw I was watching him and instantly became the harsh, cruel young man I know.
"Diana." He states in surprise.
"Hi, Harry.." I nod a little, biting my lip. I pause before saying lightly "Harry, I'm uh.. You know how I'm new. I don't know the way to school.." He scoffs and shakes his head.
"Tough luck."
My brows furrow and I speed up, catching up with him.. "Harry, please.. I.. I need help..." I admit timidly. He pauses in his path and I hear him sigh. I wait hopefully, biting my lip. Eventually he turns back to face me. "Alright.." He mutters. I beam, rushing to walk next to him.
He glances down at me and I can see he's fighting a smile. I pause and ask casually "Why were you sad before?" He looks away and frowns deeply.
I frown too, watching his face. He swallows hard, mumbling. "What's keeping me from leading you the wrong way to school?" I shake my head.
"Nothing."
He looks down at me, brows furrowed in confusion. "You aren't worried." He observes.
I shake my head and he sighs.
After a moment I look up at him and take his hand. "Harry.. why were you sad..? You can tell me.." He looks down at our joined hands and swallows hard.
"It's nothing..." I frown a little. "It's just my dad.." He mumbles. I playfully nudge him with my elbow. "Now we're gettin' somewhere. Bit of emotion besides anger."
He looks down at me, not amused.
After an awkward pause, i clear my throat and ask as I pull my hand from his.
"What is it that your dad did?"
He sighs and looks down "Just..being the way he always is.." My head tilts to the side as i try to keep my voice sounding curious and concerned.
"Like what?" He shakes his head, speeding up. I guess thats as far as I'm getting today.
I sigh, running to catch up. We continue to walk in silence, him watching his feet, and me watching him.
Eventually the school comes into sight and I sigh, not wanting to go in. We push through the crowd together as we fight our way towards the school building. He opens a door for me, barely dipping his head. I blink in surprise. I never figured him as the gentlemanly type. I smile a little at him, walking in.
He follows me in and I bite my lip, watching him walk towards our first class. So instead of going to my locker, I follow him. We walk into the classroom, then towards our shared desk in the back.
He sits down in his seat, pushing his pencil around aimlessly. I pause and take a deep breath, slowly walking over and sitting in the seat next to him. He looks at me from the corner of his vision, letting out a deep long sigh.
"So..Harry.." I start slowly. I bite my lip and ask awkwardly "Do you play any sports..?" He doesn't even look over at me and barely shakes his head. I nod a little and continue my questioning.
"Do you have any siblings?" Again, he shakes his head. There's a long pause as I think of any other questions. "What's your favorite school subject?" He looks over at me as if I'm crazy and I laugh a little. I look down and mumble "Yeah, yeah. I know. I should've known.."
He looks back to his pencil that he's twirling through his long fingers and I sigh. This is hopeless. He's not opening up at all. There's gotta be something he's interested in.
I sigh, trying to think of another question. "Do you play any instruments?" There's a long pause and he barely nods.
I smile a little and sit up straighter. "What do you play?" I ask, slight interest growing in my voice. I watch his face as he stares down at his pencil. I sigh a little, mumbling "20 questions is it.." I sigh again, long and heavy before I think.
"Piano?"
He shakes his head.
"Guitar?"
He shakes his head.
"Violin?"
He shakes his head.
"Drums?"
He shakes his head.
"Bass? You look like a bass kinda guy."
He shakes his head.
I groan internally, and the interrogation continues. I go through every instrument that I can possibly think of. I grow exasperated and exclaim tiredly "Triangle?!"
He chuckles slightly and barely nods. I sigh, rubbing my face. "So you dragged out all of that for playing triangle. Okay. Okay. I'm done. Sorry."
I start to stand up and I feel him catch my arm. I look back at him to see his brows furrowed, a slight frown.
He glances around, as if worried someone will see. "Don't go.." He mumbles softly. I feel my brows furrow a little in confusion and surprise, as I slowly sit back down.
He bites his lip and says quietly "I do play one other instrument.." I bite my lip, looking him over. I pause in thought and he taps his throat. I beam widely. "You sing!" He quickly shushes me, looking around. I'm still grinning like an idiot and he barely nods.
"Do you write songs?" I murmur with a tiny smile. He nods slightly and I feel my smile grow. "Do you think I can hear one some time?" He laughs once without humor. "Don't think so."
I put on a pouty face, crossing my arms. He rolls his eyes. "Quit the doe eyes, Bambi. You're not hearing it." I chuckle slightly, turning my attention to the front of the class.
∘∞∘ ∘∞∘ ∘∞∘ ∘∞∘
As the day went on, I'd continue to act kindly towards Harry, which he'd deny skeptically. I continued to push and push towards what had happened with his dad that had upset him, but every time he shut me down. But I'd try nevertheless.
The days continued to drag on. I was unable to uncover anything about his past. But I did begin to see a change in him.
Today he didn't flat out beat anyone up.
The next Friday, the harsh glimmer in his eyes was slowly replaced by a light twinkle.
The Monday after that, he'd smile at me and sit with me.
And by that Friday, he'd no longer try to intimidate me, but there was still those defensive walls he held in front of his past.
So it was Friday afternoon, and I walked into the cafeteria towards the table that Harry and I had made an unspoken routine of sitting at together. I sit down, picking up my fork and using it to push a meatball around my dish of "spaghetti", if you could call it that.
I feel the warmth of a body next to mine and I barely smile, saying casually "That's not your usual seat." I hear an unfamiliar chuckle and I stiffen, looking up to the unknown person.
An arm wraps around my waist and I see its a boy with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair that stuck up in neat spikes. He bites his lip in a small smirk, pulling me closer by my waist.
"Diana, right?" He murmurs softly. I try to scoot away, barely nodding. He laughs loudly, pulling me back into his side.
"Hey, hey, hey. I'm trying to have a conversation here." I can feel my hands begin to shake and I close my eyes. I feel his face nuzzle into my hair and I gasp, shoving him away.
"Stop it!" I command angrily.
A frown appears on his lips and he turns to straddle the bench, facing me. "Get a girlfriend, creep.." I mutter, standing up and abandoning my tray.
I hurriedly walk towards the exit of the cafeteria, swallowing hard and hoping Harry will see me walking out so he doesn't think I left him.
I push through the doors, walking towards the snack machine. I step up in front of it, inserting a dollar bill and punching in the numbers. My eyes are trained on the sluggish movements of the machine, having nothing else to watch.
Suddenly an arm wraps around my waist and I gasp, feeling my feet leave the ground. A hand cups over my mouth and I flail my legs desperately, kicking violently. I glance around, seeing it's the boy from the cafeteria. And he's pulling me towards the janitor's closet.
No. This can't be happening.
No.
I thrash desperately in his arms, trying to make some part of my body hit him, but I don't have the comfort of hearing any exclamation, or feeling his grip loosen. He gets closer to the door and slides his whole arm around my waist, squeezing tighter as he uses that hand to pull the door open.
A voice tinged with disbelieving fury rings out from the end of the hall "Diana?!"
The boy half turns and I catch a glance of my rescuer.
Harry.
A tiny yelp escapes me when the boy shoves me through the open door. I stumble slightly, knocking over a few brooms. The door slams after me and I jump forwards, finding to my horror, theres no knob on the inside. I'm locked in here.
Footsteps run towards the closet and my heart races faster, so fast I could swear it's going to pound out of my chest. On the other side of the door I hear scuffling and thumps, interlaced with an occasional grunt of pain.
My heart stutters when I hear a sickening crunch, followed by Harry groaning. The door rips open and the sight that follows, causes my heart to sink.