"You don't think my outfit looks a little too much?" Colton asked me as he ran his hand across his dress shirt.
He was wearing a black dress shirt, black dress pants and a red tie.
"I mean, what are you so dressed up for?" I asked, eyeing him from top to bottom.
I must admit, even though Colton may come off as a nerd, his body was very fit. His muscles appeared through his dress shirt, but not too much to make the shirt rip apart.
"It's for this speech I'm giving today, to the Student Body," he responded.
"Then no, you're not too dressed up," I reassured as I took a second glance at his outfit.
"Alright, stop checking me out," he chuckled as he pressed his finger against my forehead.
I smiled, pushing his fingertip away from my face, "You wish, hot shot."
It's been a few days since I've attended this school, and the only friend I bothered to make is Colton. At least I had a friend around here, I always tend to keep my circle small so having just one friend didn't really bother me. I really liked my alone time anyways.
"Alright," Colton started, "I got to go now. I'll catch up with you later."
I nodded and waved him goodbye as I walked towards a random hallway.
Even though this school was quite big, I was able to trace out where the main parts of the campus: the gym, cafeteria, my classes, and most important, the art class.
That reminds me.
I turned back around and started walking towards one of the private art classes, where students can come in and spend their free time painting, drawing, making art, basically.
The art class is where I felt the most comfiest. This school is nice and all, but I never felt myself fitting into any of the cliques here. Even though there are other artistic kids in this school, majority of them are competitive. They want to be the best of the best, or part of the popular kids; so there was no real passion for art.
I opened the door to the empty classroom and set my bag down. Breathing deeply, I stared at the blank canvases set in front of me. It reminded me of one of my artwork that was ruined by the jerk, so called Landon. I huffed in annoyance from the memory, and sat down on the stool.
I pulled out my phone and went in my playlist, playing "Alaya (Outro)" by xxxtentacion for inspiration. Even though x was known for his crazy music and hyped up beats, the new album was very close to heart. His music was even more powerful than they were before.
I cleared by throat as I lost track of reality. My brush stroked against the canvas softly, and before I knew it, the painting was finished.
My breath stopped as I stared at the painting in front of me. Sometimes, I don't even know what I'm capable of. I smiled proudly as I slightly bit my lower lip. If anyone was watching me right now, I'd probably look like a crazy girl fantasizing over her own artwork. I blew against the canvas in effort of making the paint dry faster before my next class start. However, paint doesn't dry that quickly.
Instead, I grabbed a sticky note from my back and wrote "Wet painting! Don't touch please." And stuck it to the wooden pencil holder right below the canvas. I stepped back and admired the color of the painting really quick before packing up for my next class. Smiling as I exited the room, I found myself running to a pile of kids in the middle of the hallway. Everyone was rushing towards one side of the hallway. Confused, I followed the crowd.
A little later, I figured out that all the students squeezing their way through the tight hallway was to watch two students fighting. All cell phones were held up, in attempt to record the fight. Just like any other student, I was curious as to what was happening.
With my small body, I managed to squeeze myself through the crowd of people.
There were two bodies: one of top of another. The male on top was constantly throwing punches at the boy who was helplessly straddled on the bottom. I furrowed my eyebrows trying to get a sense of what was happening. Even though I thought watching a school fight might be entertaining, the blood gushing from both of their faces were gruesome. I swallowed my saliva nervously and suddenly caught a glimpse of the male's face. The guy on the bottom was a soccer player, Isaiah Chaser. A lot of students have talked about the all-star soccer player, Isaiah Chaser around school. Apparently, he was getting a scholarship to a big university with a Division 1 soccer team.
The guy on top. . .
The guy on top was Landon!
My eyes widen at the look of Landon beating the life out of the soccer player. It wasn't shocking to find out that Landon was causing trouble around school. What was shocking, was that Landon had no mercy for the other student and kept punching.
"Is no one going to do something?" I screamed as I looked at the people around me. No one heard me, everyone was too excited about the fighting scene.
With a rush of second hand guilt, I took a step towards the fight as I felt a sudden pull on my arm. "No!" the voice from behind me yelped. It belonged to a girl with orange, red hair. She had high cheekbones, and a thin yet fit figure. She shook her head as she held onto my arm, "Don't get in the way of Landon." She told me.
I ignored her comment and disrespectfully twisted my arm out of her grasp. I was scared, but I was more worried about the soccer player living after this point of the fight. Without a doubt, I ran towards the fight. Using all of my strength, I tried my best to push Landon off the soccer player who looked barely even conscious.
"The fuck are you doing?" I heard Landon snap. Then I felt a sudden push against my stomach as my body stumbled back slightly. I watched as Landon got himself back on the soccer player, continuously firing punches at the guy's face.
"Stop! You're going to kill him!" I cried as I ran back towards Landon and managed to push him off again.
I ignored everyone's presence. All that occurred in my mind was that this guy is barely stable to even fight back. I grabbed Isaiah's head as I shoved my side bag under his neck, attempting to stop all the blood from leaking back into his throat or head.
I turned my head to see Landon standing up and brushing off his hands. With one hand holding up Isaiah's head, and one hand balancing myself, all I could do was stare at Landon in disgust.
"What?" he asked me, "Never knew he had a prince charming." Landon smirked as he shoved his bloody hands back into his pocket.
"Does it ever occur to you that no one here likes you?" I slightly screamed at him. The crowd suddenly got quiet. No one dared to say a word.
Landon let out a laugh before taking a step closer to me. He knelt down in front of my face and stared at me in the eye. His blue eyes glistened under the hallway lights, although his eyes were filled with pure hatred.
"Does it ever occur to YOU, that no one here likes YOU?" he repeated my question, leading the question back up to me.
I didn't say anything back, instead I attempted to pull Isaiah up. Isaiah was barely conscious enough to sit up, with me supporting him with my arms wrapped around his back. Isaiah groaned in pain as I practically forced him up.
"Listen," I heard Landon speak up again. I attempted to ignore him until Landon grabbed my chin and forcefully tilted my head towards him. His face was only a few centimeters away from mine, "Come across my path again, and you're dead. You hear me?" he taunted.
I didn't say anything back.
"You hear me?" he asked louder this time.
Again, I didn't say anything.
Amused, Landon smiled at me as he began caressing my cheek with his thumb. "You're beautiful. We don't want this pretty face of yours getting messed up." He paused, "Although, you're lucky I don't hit girls."
My heartbeat starting racing against my chest.
"You don't talk much," Landon frowned, "I would've probably like to get to know you." He eyed me up and down.
I uncomfortably looked away and tried to put my full attention back on Isaiah. I stood up and wrapped Isaiah's arm around my shoulder as I attempted to drag him down the hallway. By this time, the crowd was starting to vanish. They were upset that they didn't get to see the fight finishing fully. But at this point, it's obvious who won.
I took a last glance back at Landon as he kept his eyes on me. Something softened in him as he saw me dragging Isaiah's body down the hallway. "Jerk," I mumbled as turned back around towards the door.
Suddenly, Isaiah's weight has been lifted off of me by a little.
"I'll help you," the familiar voice called out.
It was the girl that was attempting to stop me from breaking up the fight earlier. "You're brave," she started, "and with you being a girl, being able to break up a fight that's impressive."
I smiled at her compliment and shook my head.
"It's sad to see everyone not doing anything to help." I commented.
"You're a bad-ass," I heard Isaiah mumbled beneath his breath as all three of us headed towards the nurse's office, "Thanks for helping."
"It's nothing really," I responded, downplaying the situation.
After we brought Isaiah to the nurse's office, I sat in the waiting room with the girl.
"Your name is Aubrey, right?" the girl asked me, "My name is Bella."
I nodded as I shook her hand.
"How do you know?"
"Well a lot of people were talking about how Landon picked on this new girl during school. And seeing what you did back there, I supposed you were the new girl."
"Rumors do fly around fast in this school," I laughed a little.
"Yeah, this school is broken in so many ways," she added.
- - -
"Jesus, did you rescue a dying dog?"
"Well yes, but an Isaiah Chaser."
Colton laughed as he handed me an extra hoodie he had kept inside of his locker. I unbuttoned the bloody flannel I had on and threw the flannel in the trash. Because the flannel was slightly unbuttoned with my outfit, there were a few blood stains on the inside tank I was wearing. However, I carelessly tossed on the hoodie ignoring the rest of the red stains.
"Well, hero of the day: Aubrey Watson. Want to go get food with me?" he asked me as he held out his arm.
I smiled and grabbed his arm, "I would be delighted too."
- - -
Hey!
I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far.
I'm working really hard on it and it would mean a lot for you guys to engage in this reading. <3
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