Soft Spot. (delinquent!male x f!reader)

⥽ 12 ⥼

Tuesday, February 18th, 8:56 AM

"Oh my god (Name), did you hear?"

(Name) looked up from her phone to see a concerned Carissa looming over her desk, "Hear what? That the other history class had a pop quiz? Yeah, I heard about it from Lila." Carissa groaned slapping her palm onto her forehead, emitting a loud thwack. "I forgot about that but no. There's rumours being spread about you and Ray, not good ones either," she explained, pulling at her fingertips anxiously. "I know none of it is true, my friends don't believe it either. We've been trying our best to put the false news down," she rested an easing hand onto (Name)'s shoulder. "Really? What're they saying?" (Name) cocked her in curiosity, not feeling particularly affected by the slander. Carissa swiped her hand through her hair pensively, "I remember something about-" Carissa's sentence was cut off when Ray slinked into the classroom and wordlessly sat down in Carissa's old seat, which was next to (Name). She gulped hesitantly, shaken up by Ray's silent entrance. "Uh- so like I'll you about it later. See you (Name)," she waved goodbye with a strained smile, ducking her head so that she kept her eyes off of Ray.

Ray paid no mind to (Name)'s classmate, instead taking the time to greet her significant other with a loving kiss on the nose. "I missed you," he murmured, leaning over so that his face dug into the crook of her neck. She tittered at his whiny tone, wrapping her around him and pulling him closer. "We saw each other yesterday," she pointed out, pulling him up so that she could look at his pouty face. "That's still a day ago," he replied snippily, acting as if a few hours was equivalent to millennia. "Okay you big baby, I get it," cupping his face to rub soothing circles with her thumb. He melted into her fingers, leaning into the touch. His solace was cut short when the teacher walked into the classroom, in turn, making (Name)'s hand fall back into her lap. Always at the worst times, begrudgingly falling back into his seat to face the front of the classroom. He was going to give the teacher one hell of a class today.

Carissa's warning was long forgotten by (Name), fully focused on the history lesson for today. She didn't feel influenced by whatever rumours her classmate was talking about. To her surprise, she didn't stress out like she normally would. As long as her friends believed her, she didn't find it an urgent need to deal with the news. They would know better than to fall for that trap and that's all she needed. She smiled smugly to herself, proud of her growth. It was good that she wasn't as sensitive anymore, especially towards comments from people irrelevant to her. It was sooner or later that she had to grow tougher skin, that time being now.

Though she told herself to be strong and focus on herself, there was a small seedling of doubt rooted in the deep dark pits of her stomach...

Just waiting for the right time to sprout into one big beanstalk of misery.

As the teacher droned on in the back of her internal panicking, (Name) felt Ray's hand snake over to hers. In a docile motion, he wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed it lovingly. It was as if he knew of the qualms swimming in her head. His act of affection sent a surge of confidence through her, like a part of his assertive personality had transferred to her. It was a good reminder that he would always be there to support her. That's right, I don't need to care about them. You're better than that (Name), she told herself, returning a firm squeeze.

To think that he was still able to raise her spirits without even saying anything.

Tuesday, February 18th, 11:32 AM

"(Name), you're feeling okay, right?"

(Name) swallowed the food that was in her mouth, a skeptical glance on her face due to Jameson's abrupt question. "Why wouldn't I be?" she replied, setting down her thermos to take a sip of her drink. Jameson spun his phone around in his phone, something he did when he was thinking deeply. "As I was walking here, I heard some students talk about you. I think grade nines, I haven't seen them around last year. They were so tiny! But anyway, it was something about Adelaine and suspension? I couldn't tell. It's so weird, this random gossip about you popped out of nowhere," he went on, a concerned look on his face. Ray sat up, lifting his chin off of (Name)'s shoulder with a sharp glare in the eyes. His arms that were wrapped around her stomach tightened, pulling her in protectively. "Who said that?" his eyes narrowed, an eerily calm tone to his voice. Ignorant students to flip the story around and point fingers at (Name), which was why Ray would be there to prevent it. It was the least he could do as her boyfriend.