Ro P.O.V.
"Hi baby why don't you turn around. I wanna talk to you. Don't leave."
Alex grabs my shoulder forcing me to face him. He has the largest grin on his face. His friends come closer. One of them grabs my backpack, pulling me back. They pull me with so much force that I fall to the ground.
I try to get up, but they just push me back down. I hold back the tears I feel behind my eyes. I don't dare look up.
They just yell. " Get up fat ass. C'mon you can't even do that."
"Nah. She's too fat to move."
They start to kick my side's. I gasp for air, but it's too painful. I just curl up in ball and let the tears fall.
~~~~~~~~~
As soon as the bell rings I hurry to fourth. I don't want to even stay to look at Alex, let alone hear him. He hasn't hit me in a long time, but his taunts are enough.
The worst part is he's all I think about on my way to class. I feel stupid remembering the times I helped him with math, or when I had a slight crush on him. That was when he noticed, and started calling me baby, honey, darling, everything he knew would kill me.
I knew I wasn't the prettiest girl. I had been a lot more overweight in middle school, and that's where we met.
My self-esteem had grown a bit, and I was determined to not let anyone push me down. The only person who still had this effect was Alex. Every time I saw him I felt a sharp pain in my chest and it was hard to catch my breath.
Before I knew it I saw Julian outside waiting for me.
"C'mon you don't wanna be late."
I nodded in response.
"Yo smitty." I called out the the blonde math teacher. This was my third year with her and Julian's second, and she was my favorite teacher ever.
"Oh no, not you two again. " She put a face that screamed help me.
Julian let out a laugh and said, "Oh come on you know you love us."
Following his lead we placed our hands under our chins, and put on the most innocent face we could have, and batted our eyelashes. This got us an eyeroll from her.
Smith gave us a hug and asked," How was your summer?"
"It was great!", I blurted out. "A lot of movies, hiking, and days at the beach."
"I'm glad. Well go take a seat while we wait for everyone else."
We took our seats and I placed my bag down, casually looking to my right for anyone else I knew. I felt the same pain in my chest. There he was again, Alex.
I muttered softly, "Why..."
I felt a soft hand on my back. I turned around to see Julian. He gave me a reassuring smile.
He came close to my ear and whispered, "It's okay. Don't worry."
He pulled away and stood seconds from my face. I tensed up a bit at our closeness. I could feel my cheeks heating up, but I didn't want him to see, so I nodded and made sure to look down.
We quickly turned around to face Ms. Smith. Her geeky introduction took away any nervousness I felt. Things would get better, I knew they would.
They just had to.