The next week...was a shit show. Apparently Tsukishima is fairly popular, despite nobody having the courage to talk to him because of his nasty attitude.
The bullying has gotten worse. One person had mentioned that I think I'm above everyone since I sit next to him now, but that's not the case at all. Tsukishima and I haven't even talked to each one bit since he came to my house last week. I'm not sure why these people think sitting with someone is the equivalent to flirting with them.
Today, isn't any different either. I stayed two hours after school to get ahead on some work, and as soon as I leave the classroom, I'm ambushed.
"Fat bitch." Nami laughs, pushing me against the classroom door, the knob digging into my back. "Look at you, you're so pathetic."
"She's so helpless too, gosh I'm getting embarrassed just being this close to her." One of her friends says from behind her.
"What are your plans for the weekend? What buffets are you going to try this time?" She laughs again.
"I-I'm not going to one." I whisper, and I feel her grab the front of my shirt.
"Huh?! Are you saying I'm lying?" She asks, but before I can deny it, I feel her hand make contact with my face.
Then again. And again...
"Please stop!" I cry, putting my hands in front of me to shield myself.
"Why? You're so fucking pathetic, people like you deserve this. Hold her, damn it!" She says and immediately I feel her two friends holding onto my arms.
"Please stop, I didn't do anything." I whimper, and her fists makes contact with my face again.
"You're just so fat and ugly it makes me angry!" She growls, kneeing me in the stomach. I double over, gasping for breath. "Stop being so fucking dramatic, you can't even feel anything due to the amount of fat you have." She scoffs, pulling my hair and making me stand up.
"You better stay out of my sight. If I see you tomorrow I just might kill you." Venom laces through her tone and her friends let go of me. She yanks my hair, making me fall onto the ground.
"Ugh, let's go. How fucking pathetic is she?" I hear Nami say before the sound of their shoes clicking on the floor becomes distant.
God,
What did I do? Please God tell me what sin I've committed to deserve this. Please let me fix it, please forgive me. I'm not sure how much of this I can take anymore.
Ame-
No. God isn't real. If god was real he wouldn't let this happen to me.
I slowly push myself up into a sitting position. I see small droplets of blood on the floor and I touch my nose. Ah, it's bleeding. I can feel my eye swelling already too, and my cheek hurts. Everything just hurts.
I grab my bag, taking out a few tissues with shaky hands. I press one to my nostrils, and use another to wipe up the floor.
I want to go home. I want to disappear.
"And then I was like BAM and you looked like grrr! And Ta-" I hear a boys voice, but it gets cut off when he gasps. "Kageyama, I think that persons hurt!" He yells and I feel my body tense.
The sound of a pair of shoes running comes closer and closer, and soon they're in front of me.
"Oh- it's you! From the gym. You had a panic attack, are you okay?" His knees are now in front of me, meaning he's crouching.
I scramble away, trying to get away from him. I bump into something behind me and I look at see another pair of legs. This must be who the guy was talking to. Kage...Kageyama?
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I panic. They're going to hit me too. They're going to-
"It's okay. Can you stand up?" The boy asks and it takes me a minute to register his words.
"W-What?" I ask, keeping my eyes glued to the floor.
"We aren't going to hurt you. We want to help. Are you okay?" The other boy comes into my line of sight again, and I stare at his shoes. "My name is Hinata Shōyō, first year! The guy over here is Kageyama Tobio, he's my friend."
For some odd reason, I feel like I can trust him just by his voice.
"Take my hand, and take his too. We'll help you up." He extends a hand to me, nudging the other guy to do the same. His hand is small, frail looking. The other guy's is big, with long slender fingers.
"N-No, I'm too heavy." I decline, pushing myself up. With the hand that's not pressing the tissue to my nose.
"What? Don't say that...that's not nice." Hinata says, and I can hear a frown through his words.
"It's true." I mumble, grabbing my bag.
"Let's take her to Kiyoko. She has the first aid kit and such." The other boy, Kageyama, speaks.
"Ooh! Good idea! Come follow us, we can help you treat your wounds." Hinata says and i shake my head.
"We're not asking you. We're telling you." Kageyama says and I flinch at the coldness of his voice.
"Kageyama! Say it nicely! She got just hurt..." Hinata says. "Come on, we're going to help you." He says and starts walking. My feet make the decision for me and I begin to follow behind the two boys.
"So, what's your name?" Kageyama asks.
"Yuna Mei." I say quietly.
"Ooh! Yuna is a cool name." Hinata says, excitement lacing his voice.
"T-Thank you..." I say, and we're quiet for the rest of the walk.
We go into the gym, and I keep my head down as I follow the two boys.
"Kiyoko-San! We found Yuna Mei-San in the hallway while we went to go buy milk. She's hurt, can you treat her?" Hinata asks.
"Ah, we didn't even get the milk!" Kageyama's voice comes, and he sounds annoyed.
"I'm sorry!" I apologize, feeling guilty. I immediately bow, a pain shoots through my stomach at the sudden movement.
"Eh? It wasn't your fault Yuna-San! We'll go back and get some right now." Hinata approaches me. "Friends don't cause inconveniences to others, so it's okay!"
At that, I finally make eye contact with the boy. He's shorter than me, and there's a bright smile on his face. He's not looking at me in disgust, and my eyes drift to Kageyama. Neither is he, his expression is blank.
"F-Friends?" I repeat, looking back at Hinata.
"Yeah! We're friends now, right? So don't apologize. Let's go Kageyama!" He says, dragging the other boy away.
Friends. Hinata Shōyō wants to be...my friend?
"Yuna-San, hello." A girls voice breaks my thoughts. "Can you sit down? My name is Shimizu Kiyoko, I can treat you." She says and I look at the line of chairs next to each other.
Without a word, I sit down.
"What happened?" She asks, pulling a chair to sit in front of me. She puts a first aid box on her lap. I don't look at her face, but her body is fit. A lot of guys must like her. And her voice is so smooth, I bet she's really pretty.
"Oh, um- I just...I fell. Yeah. I fell." I stutter, looking at my own lap.
"Oh...okay" she says in an unsure voice. "Okay, this might sting a little." She says afterwards, and begins to clean my cuts.
My nose is no longer bleeding by the time she's done, and it seems like their practice is wrapping up now as well.
"Are you in a club yet, Yuna-San?" She asks, sitting next to me.
"No, I'm not. I was able to be exempt from participating." I say quietly. "Thank you for this." I stand up.
"Oh...it's no problem! If something happens again, you can come to the gym and hang out for a while. I could use the extra company."
This feels like a joke. Everybody so far has been nice to me. This is weird, they must be planning something. I'm sure if it. I can't come here again.
"Excuse me." I bow to her, grabbing my bag and heading for the gym to the door.
I push it open, but a hand reaches over me and slams it back shut.
"Here you are, causing trouble again." Tsukishima's voice comes. I wince, cowering away from him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." I say, and he sighs.
"Turn around I want to see what they did to you." He demands and after a moment, I comply. "Look at me." He groans, grabbing my chin and lifting it up.
I make eye contact with him for the first time and my eyes widen. I freeze, unable to move, but unable to tear my eyes away from his goldish brown ones. I gulp as he examines my face, and he soon lets go of my chin.
"You're an idiot. Didn't I tell you to call?" An annoyed expression comes over his face and I dart my eyes away.
"I'm sorry..." I say quietly. "It happens too fast."
"Did you hit them back? Or do you just sit there and let them hit you?" He asks, guiding my face back to him, he looks angry now. "God, look at me when I'm talking to you....please." He adds the last word, and I look at him.
"I'm sorry."
"Stay right here. Don't leave." He lets me go and walks off. I watch him as he walks to where the others are, and grabs his bag.
"Yuna-Chan! Bye! Get home safe!" I hear, and my eyes dart to Hinata Shōyō, who's waving eagerly at me. Hesitantly, I raise a hand and wave back.
I think...I think he's nice. I don't think he will be mean to me. Oh, that's right. Because we're friends!
I feel giddy inside because of that. Hinata and I are friends now.
"Let's go." I hear, and Tsukishima pushes past me to walk out the gym.
"Go? W-Where are we going?" I ask, following behind him.
"Home? I'm walking you home." He says, as if it's obvious.
"What? No! What if someone sees us?" I stop walking, getting scared. If someone sees us walking together I'm sure to get hit again.
"What? Are you stupid or something? We're just walking home. Friends do that all the time." He looks at me.
"We're not friends though. Y-You're scary." I mumble without thinking, and then my eyes widen as I realize what I said. "I didn't mean it like-"
"I'm scary?" He raises an eyebrow when I look up at him. "Why? Do I hit you?" He crosses his arms.
"N-No, but you're still mean." I frown, fiddling with my fingers.
"I came to check on you last week, I cleaned the glass up, I helped you clean your cuts, and I'm offering to walk you home now. And you think I'm mean?" He scoffs. "Fuck is wrong with you?"
"You are mean!" I say, suddenly feeling a burst of confidence. "You don't ask for things, you demand them! You call me names and that's mean!"
"You're finally raising your voice." He laughs. "Doesnt that feel good? Go ahead, yell some more. I'm tired of that soft quiet whisper you speak in." He takes a step closer to me, but I take a step back.
"I'm sorry." I bow and I hear him groan.
"Shut up already with the apologies. Let's go." He grabs my wrist and starts pulling me. After a bit, he lets go.
"Why are you walking me if we aren't friends?" I ask, looking at the sidewalk.
"I'm really walking myself home. Your house isn't too far from mine." He says and I look up at him in surprise.
"Really?" I ask, and he meets my eyes.
"Yeah." He says, before looking forward again.
"I-I've never seen you." I admit and he rolls his eyes.
"That's because you're always too busy looking at peoples shoes rather than their faces. It's rude, you know." I bite my lip, feeling guilty. I look away from him and my eyes glue right back to the floor. "You can look people in the face if they're nice to you."
"People don't like to see me." I sigh. "And I hate seeing the look of disgust on people's faces when they see me."
"Well, you can look at me. I don't look at you like that."