She

The Nerd

We walked through the halls of our school that had a mood almost as depressing as a funeral. It feels like the building was alive at one point and now we were walking around in its corpse... 

The atmosphere was just unsettling and eerie; Lights flickering in various parts of the hallways and classrooms, unhappy expressions on every face you see, and even the occasional rat or cockroach scurry past your feet. Schools in a small town of Ohio weren't exactly expected to be high class, but this level of shifty-ness was probably not 100% legal.

I have to admit, it was pretty spooky here, but I always felt safe here with Maddie. Hell, I felt safe anywhere with Maddie. Nobody messed with her. She was the tyrant of this school, and I was her second-in-command. We were rulers. 

I didn't exactly ask to be feared simply because of my association with Maddie, but whatever, it has its perks.

We walked through the grotesque halls, passing various people speaking amongst themselves. We passed a younger girl, probably underclassmen, with a petrified look on her face being pushed against a locker by a much bigger senior boy, named Jesse. Maddie must've noticed, because she gave me a sly grin before handing me her bag and began walking their way. "Maddie, please do-" 

Too late to protest. "Hey fuckass, mind taking your hands off of the young lady?" She crossed her arms and gave a tight smile to said fuckass.

He looked back at us just as he was bringing his fist back in front of the girl's face. "Beat it Maddie, I don't want nothin' to do with you, or your little minion." He gestured towards me but remained looking at Maddie. I took a step back, not wanting to get involved.

"Take your hands off the freshie before I'm forced to rip you a new one."

"Oh yeah?" He smirked.

He smirked. 

He's done for.

Maddie angrily cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips, then closed her eyes for a couple seconds before tightly smiling. Without warning, she swiftly brought her steel-toed boot in contact with Jesse's lower region. He immediately reacted to the sudden blow, bending over and grabbing himself, falling to the ground, wincing.

At this point there was a small crowd surrounding them. She yanked at Jesse's hair to get him to face her and you could see tears forming in his eyes. "If there is ONE THING you don't do, it's attempt to mock me or my friends. Got it?" He didn't respond. "GOT IT?!" She pulled his head up even further nearly pulling him to his feet.

"Yes, yes! I got it! I'll never mock you again, I'll let the freshmen go, just please, leave me alone!" he cried out. She flung his head back down, just barely missing the floor. He quickly gathered himself and ran through the crowd and far down the hall.

Maddie now had a smug face on as she turned to the crowd who was still surrounding us and yelled, "This isn't a circus, you can piss off and get to class now!"

The only reason Maddie had such power like this is because of pure respect. Physically, she's no Ronda Rousy, but she has the respect of anyone who's never picked on anyone else. As you might be able to tell, Maddie simply can't sit back and watch someone else be messed with. As close as I am with her, she's never actually told me why she feels so strongly about it. She's not what you would call the "squishy-feely" type.

As soon as everyone dissipated, I took a moment to peak at the freshman. She had bangs that framed her dark (nearly black) eyes. She's definitely what I would describe as "the cute nerd" type.

"Maddie, what the hell?" I said.

"I can't watch someone get messed with. Exactly how we became friends, remember?" she replied, with a point. I rolled my eyes and dropped her bag.

Maddie took a chance to introduce us to her. "Hi! I'm Maddie, this is Carter." she said with a confident smile. I gave a small wave and a tired smile.

The girl turned to Maddie and replied, "Hi.... I'm Blake. Blake Renai." Her eyes were locked to the floor and she held her books tensely close to her chest. Maddie noticed.

"C'mon then, Blake. Relax a bit. I promise I'll never do that to you if you play nice." Maddie said with a sly smirk. This made Blake look up, and smile, and I noticed how contagious it was. "So, you wanna walk with us?"

"Are you sure?" she replied, blushing slightly.

"It's cool. We don't bite... Well, I don't. And stay on Maddie's good side and she won't either." I said, inviting myself into the conversation.

"Well, okay. Sounds nice." Blake said while giggling.

"Aight, let's go then." Maddie placed her arms around both me and Blake and we began our walk through the hall. "I can already tell we're gonna be great friends, Blake."