[ c h a p t e r t w o ]
2 — the argument before lunch
[ z a r a ]
— point of view
The hallways falls silent as Xanthe Hale saunters down, his stride long and chin up. He knows that people fear him, his record filled with disciplines from teachers that hated his guts. He didn't care, he had the perfect grades - after all for him it's fun to aggravate the teachers for no valid reason.
Xanthe and I make eye contact, I felt shivers down my spine. This would always happen, the both of us will always glance at each other suddenly, the only form of communication we had was visual not even verbal. There are times in which I would want to speak to him, but I would always chicken out due to his intimidating aura.
"Xanthe, here's the keys to the car." Carter states, handing a set of keys towards Xanthe. Since when did the both of these guys talk? Still startled, I make my way towards my locker which was right beside Xanthe.
I felt Carter's burning gaze on me, I shift uncomfortably as I pull out the textbooks I needed for my math class. This wasn't the same as before, the looks he used to give were polite, the ones now seem to make me feel flustered and nervous.
Xanthe seems to notice my uncomfortable state, he sighs before speaking. "Let's go lunch, I'm hungry."
Carter walks past me, glancing at me once more. The look in his eyes didn't seem like admiration like before. It seemed like hatred, that feeling made me feel bad.
Xanthe strolls past me, he looks at me before shaking his head. Making me frown, did something about me irritate him? The social anxiety I had made it seem like everyone was constantly thinking bad things about me, I was too insecure to think about positive thoughts.
"Bryce is in hospital, Carter had fractured his jaw," I found Lisa standing next to me with her arms folded, her jaw was clenching. "Even though he deserved it, that Carter boy has no right of hurting Bryce."
"He deserved it," I state boldly, looking at her. "He bullied everyone in this school, hurting them physically and emotionally - and here you are telling me about how it was wrong for one of Bryce's victims was to smack him straight across the face! Have you seen what Bryce has done to Carter? He hit him until he went unconscious, left alone to bleed in the janitor closet - all alone."
Lisa gulps, clenching her fists tightly. "How do you know that? Nobody knew what happened to Carter that day after Bryce left him all alone."
"I helped Carter, I went into the janitors closet and helped him up because nobody had the guts to see how the poor boy was. His lips were busted, his face seemed pale and it was like he was dying from suffocating in the tight space alone."
"I-I didn't know he felt that way," Lisa fumbles on her words, looking at me sadly. "If only I knew, I would've tried my best to stop forming a friendship with Bryce - I can't stop that now." she says softly.
"Why?"
"I like Bryce, scrap that," she pauses, my eyes widen at her words. "I love him, whenever there's no people around, he'd be this completely different person that made me fall hard for him, I can't stand him being hurt. He only bullies people because of all the pain and frustration he's trying to contain."
"That still gives him no right to almost kill Carter Matthews because of his so called 'pain and frustration' it gives him no reason to do stuff like that." I snap, making my way past Lisa - making sure to bump her shoulder.
THIRD PERSON POV
Little did Zara know, Carter was standing beside the door in the hallways listening to her conversation with Lisa. A soft smile makes his face as he turns to go inside the Lunch Hall.
[ e n d o f c h a p t e r t w o ]
#3 — authors note
guys, i am so sorry for the late update. I'll try my best to update daily! what do you think of xanthe? what are your feelings on lisa's confession? what do you feel about carter?
thank you for 800 reads, vote, comment, and share!