Isla's POV
I exit out of the library and start to head towards the cafeteria when I am suddenly grabbed and shoved into the girl's bathroom by Chelsea and two of her friends. Chelsea's nails are digging deep into my arm, causing me to bleed a little.
"I told you, you better watch your back. It's bad enough you stole Lucas from me. Now you're trying to get with his friends too. You are pathetic." She hisses at me.
"I-I I'm not trying t-to do anything. They c-came up to m-me." I stutter with tears falling down my cheeks.
"You are lying, ugly slut." Says one of Chelsea's friends as she slaps me hard on the face. My cheek stings, but I am numb to the name calling.
Suddenly the restroom door opens, and a girl I've never met walks in. She's really short with long black hair and porcelain skin. She looks like she would fit right in with Chelsea and the popular kids because of her beauty. She takes in the scene that is going on before her. "What are y'all doing to her?" She screams at Chelsea and her friends.
Chelsea rolls her eyes, "Look I don't know who you are, but if you were smart, you would stay away from this slut. She likes to steal people's boyfriends. You wouldn't want to hang out with trash, right?"
The girl looks at me and then back at Chelsea and friends before putting a sickly-sweet smile on her face. "You're right," She agrees, causing Chelsea to smirk. "I don't want to hang out with trash, so if you know what's good for yourself, the three of you will get the hell out of here before I kick your asses."
Chelsea stands in a daze for a moment as if she is confused about what the mystery girl had just said. She then glares at her and scoffs. "Come on girls." She says to her two friends, but then looks back at me and says, "This isn't over Isla. No one will be able to save you next time."
Chelsea and her friend's walkout of the restroom leaving me alone with the small but scary girl who just stood up for me. "Hi. I'm Kaira."
"I'm Isla." I whisper. The tears are still trailing down my face.
"Do they do this often? Bully and attack you?" She asks.
"Yeah, it's been going on since freshman year." I say as I fix my hoodie to help hide the marks on my face and arm. "Are you new this year?"
"Yes, my family just moved here over the summer." She says with a bright smile.
"Word of advice. You should probably stay away from me if you want friends. "I say with all seriousness.
She looks at me with sadness in her eyes and then it turns into a genuine smile. "It is nice to have friends, which is why I think you and I are going to be best friends."
"W-What? But didn't you hear Chelsea? I'm the 'school's slut'. I might sleep with your boyfriend."
"Should I believe her? You don't look like that type of person to me."
"I'm not that type of person, but everyone believes what Chelsea says. I haven't even had a boyfriend or a first kiss." I shamefully admit.
"I don't care about rumors and lies. She is a fake. It would be an honor to have a true friend like you, Isla." Kaira says while helping me stand up and pulling me into a hug. "Do you have first lunch by chance?"
I smile at her. It's been a long time since I've had someone at school who wanted a friendship with me. Well, besides Nick and Hayden today, but I'm still a little confused as to what that is about. "Yeah, but I don't normally eat. I hate going into the cafeteria. The whole school is pretty much against me because of Chelsea."
"Where do you go then?"
"I normally sit outside under the giant willow tree. It's really peaceful out there."
"Okay, I'll go and grab out lunches and meet you under the willow tree." She says linking our arms as we walk out of the bathroom.
"Thanks, Kaira. It's really nice to have a friend." If only she knew how much this friendship means to me...
Lucas' POV
I walk into the cafeteria scanning the room for Isla, but she is nowhere to be found. Hayden and Nick shortly join me, and I ask them, "Have you seen her? I thought you said she had first lunch?"
"She does. Maybe she's eating outside." Hayden says. We quickly grab our lunch and walk outside. I look around and she's not at any of the lunch tables that are outside.
"Hey. Look over there." Nick points out the giant willow tree where there is a girl sitting under it with her hoodie on. Not just any girl but Isla to be exact.
"Why does she have a hoodie on? It's super-hot today." I say to the guys.
"I don't know but let's go sit with her." Nick says rushing in her direction like a kid who spotted the ice cream man.
We walk over to Isla and she's like a deer in front of headlights. I guess she wasn't expecting to see the three of us coming towards her. I was just about to ask her why she was wearing a hoodie in this weather when I hear shouting being directed at us.
A short girl, who looks like the wind could pick her up and fly her away at any moment comes marching over towards us. "Hey! Y'all get away from her. I may be small, but I will kick your asses. Why can't y'all just leave her alone? Your little red headed dog already did enough damage." She screams. Red headed dog? Damage?
She's about to punch Nick when he grabs her arm and stops her. "Jeez woman. How about you leave her alone and go back to Chelsea." He growls at her.
"That's enough." Isla says raising her voice above everyone else's. We all turn around looking at her with amazement. Now that I see her face her eyes bloodshot and puffy. She's been crying. "Nick, can you please release my friend?"
"Friend?" He looks at the girl whose arm he's still holding.
"Yes, you damn idiot. Her best friend." She says glaring at Nick. This girl looks like she could be a bull in a china shop. For someone so small, she is absolutely terrifying.
"Isla, are they messing you?" She rushes over to Isla's side.
"No." Isla slightly giggles. "I guess you can say they're kind of my friends too?" She says more as a question.
"That hurts, Isla." Nick says pouting. "I thought we were definitely friends."
Her eyes go wide and then she bows her head before whispering. "Sorry I didn't mean to upset you. It's just been a while since... since I've had friends."
Hayden slaps Nick in the back of the head. "Great work genius. You've upset, Isla."
"Isla, I'm just kidding. I'm not upset." Nick says panicking while giving her a hug.
She gives him a small smile and then she starts to introduce us to her friend. "Kaira, this is Lucas, Hayden and Nick. Lucas, Hayden and Nick, this is Kaira. She's new and just moved here over the summer."
"Hi." Kaira says sheepishly. Sorry for threatening y'all a few minutes ago. I just thought..." She looks over to Isla but trails off like they were hiding something.
"Isla, why are you wearing a hoodie? It's boiling out here." I ask her.
"Umm..." She looks down and I see tears start to pool in her eyes again. Before she can say anything, Hayden walks over to her and pulls the hood of her hoodie down revealing a bright red handprint on her face.
"Holy hell! Who did this to you?" Hayden growls.
"It--It's n-nothing." She murmurs.
"It's not nothing, Isla. She made your arm bleed too." Kaira says.
"Kaira." Isla says with pleading eyes to not say anything else. "Isla, if they're your friends, don't they deserve to know the truth? Take your hoodie off and show them what that stupid red headed monster did."
Isla obeys pulling her hoodie off revealing scratch marks that had been bleeding on her arm. "Who did this?" I say through gritted teeth.
"Chelsea and some of her friends, but I'm fine. Really, I am. I've dealt with this for the past three year and I can deal with it for one more. If any of you get involved it will only get worse."
"It's not fine, Isla. Do they do this a lot? Do they physically hurt you? Is it just Chelsea and her, or are the others too?"
Isla holds her head down in shame. "During my freshman year, it was mainly just them calling me names, but it has become more physical. Normally it's Chelsea, her friends, and other girls that told that I was hooking up with their boyfriends. Last year escalated to guys too. Chelsea keeps telling everyone that I'll mess around with any guy. So, when guys approach me wanting to do things and I say no, they can become physically demanding." She says, crying. "Although, I swear I haven't done anything. I always get away before anything like that happens."
I'm so mad right now that I can't control my anger and I punch the willow tree that we are all standing under. Isla looks at me scared. I'm an idiot. I walk over to Isla and pull her into a hug. At first, she seems hesitant, but then she wraps her arms around my waist and hugs me tightly back while crying. "I'm sorry. Please don't cry." I whisper in her ear.
After she calms down, we all sit and chat while Kaira does Isla's make-up so you can't tell she was slapped or has been crying. Isla is so beautiful that she doesn't normally need makeup, but with being slapped and crying, Kaira insisted on Isla wearing it.
The bell rings signaling that it's time for fourth period. Thankfully Kaira and Isla have history together and run off, arm-in-arm.
I turn to the guys and we all decided to skip fourth period, because we want to talk about what just happened.
"I feel like this is all my fault," I groan.
"How is this your fault?" Hayden asks. "What were you supposed to do? Date that she-devil?"
"Hell no. I've never wanted to punch a girl so badly before." I say through gritted teeth.
"I see why you like Isla so much. She's sweet. She doesn't deserve the crap she's going through. She actually cares about other people over herself." Hayden says.
"I wish there was a way that I could just keep her safe."
"She gave me a copy of her schedule." Nick chimes in. After comparing it to ours, she only has two classes that she doesn't share with one of us. Third period when we're in athletics and she's a library assistant and tutor, and None of us have fourth period with her. She's in history with Kaira. At least, she has Kaira. Damn, that little girl is scary.
"There's nothing we can do about third period, but if anyone is causing her trouble in fourth, then one of us can get our schedule changed." Nick says. "Don't worry, Lucas. We will watch over her."
"I know. Thanks guys. I just didn't know things were that bad for her. There are guys attacking her. It's not right." I sigh with frustration.
Isla's POV
"So earlier you said you had no friends, but it turns out you are friends with the three 'bad boys' of the school. How did that happen? Have they been mean to you?" Kaira asks me as Mr. Batson is going on how about something in history.
"Lucas is part of the reason why the school hates me."
"I'll gut him like a fish..." Kaira starts to stand up like she's going to find Lucas and hurt him.
I pull her down. "For such a petite girl, you sure are ready to fight those much larger than you." I laugh. "Plus, it's not his fault."
"Isla, you can't blame yourself."
"I don't, but I don't blame him either. The three of them have never done anything wrong to me."
She gives me a weird look then asks, "How is Lucas part of the reason that the school hates you then?"
"Before freshman year, me and the she-devil were best friends. She became popular and thought that it meant she could date any guy she wanted. Well she wanted Lucas, and he turned her down, because he likes me. I turned him down, because she really liked him, and she was my best friend. I also don't like the attention that surrounds him, you know for being one of the 'bad boys'. People are afraid of him and his friends. While I don't believe the rumors that he's in a gang and he's a bad person and all of that type of junk, I just didn't want the attention that would follow me if I was his girlfriend." She looks at me in understanding. I then whisper the next part because I have never told it to anyone before. "There's also another reason... I think I like a guy from my past, but he moved away. I still think about him every day. His name is Luke. He is forever stuck in my mind."
"Wow. Do you know anything else about this Luke guy?" She questions me.
"The other kids weren't very nice to him. His family wasn't well off. I was his only friend at school, but he said he had few outside of school. He was always getting in trouble. I remember always giving him a disappointed look. Me being disappointed in him always bothered him more than any punishment the teachers would give him. At the beginning of sixth-grade, he got into a fight with another kid, beating him until he was unconscious. I remember running up to him and yelling for him to stop. He stopped when he finally heard my voice. He walked over to me with tears in his icy blue eyes saying sorry. I could get lost in his eyes. The blue would change colors depending on his mood. Anyways, he hugged me and then whispered in my ear 'Please don't give up on me.' He was afraid to lose me, because he was always getting in trouble. Little did he know, I would never give up on him. I would be there forever for him, but before I could say anything he was dragged off by a teacher. He was suspended for three weeks, but never came back. His mom got sick, and they had to move so she could receive better treatment. I've never heard from him since." My mind races back to all of the memories I have of Luke and me. I hated that he left me. It broke me. Yes, I had Chelsea at the time, but Luke was special. He knew things about me that no one else did.
"Oh Isla. I'm so sorry. Maybe it's time to move on. If Lucas still likes you maybe you could give him a shot. He seems like he really cares about it."
"I don't know. Maybe. But he probably doesn't like me anymore. It's been three years since he told me he likes me."
The bell rings for us to go to fifth period. As I walk to my English class, I think about what Kaira says. I still think about Luke every day, but maybe Kaira is right. Maybe it's time to move on. Rather it's with Lucas or not, only time will tell.