Protect me.

Chapter 4- Human anatomy class.

The overpowering smell of perfume coming from Mel made me want to hurl.

The grimace that Athena gave me hinted that she was thinking the same thing.

"How much of the assessment did you get done?" I wheezed through the thick smell.
"Literally nothing." Athena murmured. "I've barely finished part A."

Mel's ears perked up. "I can help you."
"Seriously? Thank you, ugh, like I don't even understand what this question means,"
"Which one?"

Athena pointed at her laptop, her face twisted into a cute expression of misery.

"Girl, that's easy what're you on about. Do you not know what the opposite action of pronation is?"
Athena shook her head with eyes rounded like a lost pop as she frantically darted her eyes from her screen to Mel and dug her fingers in her hair.

"So, pronation is the movement of crossing the radius, which causes the dorsal surface to create movement when the hand turns forward. So, supination is the opposite action."
"These terms are so hard to remember," Athena cried.

"Well it gets harder because later you have to record a video of youse pointing out all muscles and bones on your partners body and explain how the absence of one bone or muscle can heavily affect the other."

"Why're we doing this in two's?" I muttered.
"So, there's less work you have to complete since it's split between the two of you," Mel shrugged. "I'd be elated if I got to work with Mr. mysterious." Mel smiled, grinning even more at the sight of my annoyed face.

"I wish I could've just worked on this by myself."
"You can if you want to leave him sitting at his desk alone Ms Reeves." Ms Merrick said sternly from behind me. My eyes flickered to Cole, who was staring blandly at me with cold, black eyes.

"U-Uhm, I'm fine. I'll stay with him."
"Alright then missy, go accompany him. Off you go," Ms Merrick gestured.

I debated on the ability to complain but pressed my lips shut under her firm stare.

-

"Welcome back tiny," Cole sneered.
"I have a name."

"What is it? It wasn't important enough to remember."
I heavily debated pouring my water bottle all over him.

"I'm only joking Frya, calm down." Cole scoffed, pushing my laptop towards me.

"It's not Frya. Its Frey-ya. Freya."
"Sorry Friya."

"If you think your funny, you're not."

"Ouch Frey, you hit me where It hurts." Cole smiled slightly. Which was almost strange. I'd never seen him smile or pull once face that didn't make him seem half emotionless.

"Glad you finally got my name right Cole-ton."
"You think calling me by my full name is going to do something? People call me Coleton every day."

"Whatever."
"You get so offended so easily."

I frowned, obviously offended by his current statement but I pushed it to the back of my head, not wanting to think about it too much so that I could prove him wrong. I whizzed pass part B. It was a bit easier than I thought it was. I guess the stress caused me to not think straight or something.
"What's the opposite action of pronation?" Cole groaned, rubbing his temples.

"Pronation is the movement of crossing the radius, which causes the dorsal surface to create movement when the hand turns forward. So, supination is the opposite action," I repeated what Mel had said of Athena word by word.

Cole nodded, glancing up at me for a second before typing what I had said onto his screen.
Throughout the whole class, my breath had been in my throat from the anticipation of whether Cole might bring up what had happened the other day.

Maybe he just thought I was crazy. I blushed at the thought. I mean, he wouldn't be wrong. Even my therapist had thought I was crazy when I'd told her what was happening to me.
Ms Merrick then started to warn the class that we needed to film a video for part C and that we should get started on it within this week.

"When do you want to get started on this video?" I groaned and looked over at Cole. His already placed stare made me feel uneasy, as if he was deep in thought.
"When you tell me who bruised you."

"No. Get over it."

"Then we won't film the video."

"Cole!" I hissed, griping his shoulder. "Please, just drop it."
"The next time I see a new bruise on your face, I'm forcing the truth out of you."
I blinked. "Fine."

"Okay, then we'll take the video tomorrow."
I let my hand fall off of the shoulder. A weird feeling consumed my insides and rested on my heart.

I tried to breath it away, tried gripping the edge of my seat as hard as I could until my knuckles bleached a pale colour so that I could transfer my focus to something else.
Sadness.

Why did I feel sad? Was it because Cole gave up on his efforts of trying to save me? I bit my cheek and glanced at Cole.
No, no of course not. I didn't need his help, nor did he probably care.
Breathe Frey. Focus on your work. I reminded myself.
"You look confused. Like your lost or something." Cole pointed out. "The way your eyebrows sink give it away."
"It's nothing." I muttered.

"I don't like it." Cole stated. He was weirdly protective in a sense. He sat up in his chair, straightening his body as he typed, not making eye contact with me as he did so.

For the two days I had known him, his movements were almost robotic. He stared straight though his screen, with his usual facial expression that looked like he was either plotting different ways on hurting someone, or he was just deep in thought. Either way, it was kind of hot.

I shook my head, trying to shake the thought away. I couldn't be like the other girls and fawn over him 24/7. I swivelled my attention to my screen, hoping he hadn't seen me staring at him.
There was something about him.

Something that I couldn't shake off.