CHAPTER 8

I have traveled through madness to find me

Lunch came and I practically ran out of English class. Not that I hated the subject, but the teacher herself was too creepy. I found myself swarmed in the midst of students and I followed them to the cafeteria. Thankfully I was the first on the queue so I took my time to choose my food. I picked 2 slices of pizza and a diet coke.

I turned around and searched for Ginger but couldn't find him. I shrugged and made my way to the last isolated seat of three chairs. I threw a slice down for Storm and began to eat my food.

A shadow loomed over me and I looked up to see the girl that was with the bully, Todd. I gripped the plastic plate tightly, trying to control myself from scathing her pretty face off.

"Hey." She sat down on the third seat opposite mine and I sat up straight as if she was in my territory.

"What do you want?" I asked with a voice showing her she wasn't welcome here. My fingers went to my leather bracelet absentmindedly.

"I'm Tess," she started and I raised my eyebrows at her to show her I wasn't impressed. The name suited her bitch behavior.

"That's not what I asked." I corrected, flipping my short hair in a sarcastic manner and I didn't fail to notice the anger that glistened in her eyes.

"In this school, you're given three options. It's either you join the populars or you join the unnoticed and that means you don't attract attention, or you join the losers," she explained and I kept looking at her like I didn't get what she meant. I understood perfectly. This was a sign of how immature Todd was, and another sign that I was surely going to be a target of their so called popular group.

"Look Todd Williams is the King of this school, everyone worships him and you don't wanna get on his bad side. So are you in or not?" She asked and I rolled my eyes, this conversation was so pointless.

"Get the fuck out of here." I told her nicely, with a nice smile plastered on my face.

"Think about Harriet. I like you, you're tough. Don't you wanna be popular?" She asked placing her hand on the table and my eyes got drawn to it. I grinned at it and slowly brought out my knife from my bracelet. She didn't notice it until I threw it on her hand. She screamed and stood up with adrenaline as it missed her hand a few inches. Fuck that was close.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," she screamed, drawing the attention of nosy students and I groaned inwardly. 

"Fuck off." I whispered loudly, still keeping the smile on my lips. It had gotten wider in mockery though.

"You know what. You just gained yourself a loser badge. You won't like it I swear," she said and walked away. I glared at students who were still looking until they looked away. Irritated suddenly by what happened, I picked my food and threw it in the bin before leaving to my next class.

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Today was okay but not great. I didn't see Ginger since the last we talked, and nobody wanted to talk to me. Not like I cared though.

I shut my locker in a moderate this and walked through the half crowded hallway. All I wanted now was to go home eat a lot of food.

On my way out of the school, I heard noises and saw students crowding at a locker. Interested in what was going on, I stopped at the back of the students and tried standing on my toes to see but they were too tall. I scoffed and began to eavesdrop at the loud voices.

"I bet you like it when I punch your face huh?" A familiar voice asked and there was no reply. Only a painful grunt.

"You shoulda thought about it when you forgot to do my homework," the voice said and my eyes widened. I hope it wasn't who I thought it was now.

I forcefully made my way through the crowd of students and what I saw made my grit my teeth in anger as I fixed my brass knuckles.

"Hey! Let him go." I screamed and Todd turned to stare at me still pinning Ginger to the locker. He had a busted swollen lip with blood running down his temple.

"You did that to him you sick bastard." I screeched and Todd nodded at Tess and the other boy.

They kept my arms behind my back as I fought for freedom. I felt irritated that I couldn't get free from them. I shouldn't have tried to help. I just couldn't control myself when it came to him. Something in me wanted to punish them for treating him this way.

"You brought your little girlfriend to come save you right?" Todd laughed and punched Ginger again. All I saw was red. There was no way I would let them get away with this.

"She's not my girlfriend." Ginger replied in a grunt and my blood boiled at the pain I was seeing inside him.

"I'll report this I swear." I yelled and Tess laughed. I'm trying so hard to listen to what mom told me.

"This is Cali babe, no one cares," she whispered in my ear and I glared at Todd who threw Ginger to the floor and came towards me slowly. Thinking about Tess's words I knew there was a 70% chance that Todd was going to hurt me. I had to do something.

"Leave her out of this Todd. It isn't worth it." Ginger said quietly and I glanced down at Storm. It was time for him to move. Storm stayed upright as he waited for me to say the word. I eyed Todd carefully as he stood before me.

"Help." I told Storm without looking at him and grinned when I heard a scream. I stepped on the foot of the boy and punched Todd with my brass knuckles. I jumped on him like a koala and continued to punch his lips, laughing at his screams as he tried to pull me off but I clung to him tighter. I felt a strong pair of arms pull me off and threw me to the ground. I knew it was the other boy, but I stood up and straightened my cloth, ignoring the fact that I didn't do anything to him. He was there to help the both of them home if they were too weak to move. My eyes found Tess and I smirked at Storm as he kept scratching her face.

"That's enough Storm." I ordered and Storm released her, jumping into my arms. I grinned at their faces. Todd had bloody lips, Tess had scratch marks and the third boy was free. I frowned at that but decided to let him go. Training Storm had been the best thing in my life right now.

"You'll pay for this." Tess said and I rolled my eyes and watched as they walked away in embarrassment. The crowd slowly reduced until it was the both of us left.

I glanced back at Ginger and gave him a hand but he pushed mine and painfully got up himself.

"I don't need your help, I'm not a charity case," he said through gritted teeth and slung his backpack over his shoulder. I watched in grimace as he limped away.

"So you prefer the pain then?" I asked following him and he groaned and turned to face me. I cringed at his sight, he still looked cute though.

"Listen here British girl, you don't know what pain is. This isn't pain, I'm used to this," he said and continued to limp away. I frowned at what he said and continued to follow him. Of course I knew what pain felt like. I knew what it felt like to be locked up in a dark room and drowned in freezing water for an hour as punishment. I knew what it felt like to get locked up in a chair and get your brain electrocuted.

"I know what pain is." I argued with him as we left the school's gate.

"You don't. The only thing you know is to inflict pain on others. I know who you are. I've seen you on the local news feed. I've heard of the things you did in England," he said and I smiled genuinely. At least a person knew me here.

"That doesn't mean I do it for fun." I told him and got no reply.

"Leave me alone," he said slowly and I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.

"Why?" I asked and he groaned lowly again, his angered face slowly turning soft.

"I've got somewhere important to go to. Please stop following me," he pleaded and I sighed and turned around, walking to the direction of my house. I had a lot to know about him.

Okay, so maybe he was a bit rude