𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐱

Holly suddenly felt a feeling of nausea sink in. Her whole body seemed to tense up. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that since they were at the back of the classroom, he probably wouldn't see her, however, she was proven wrong. 

Almost immediately, Holly's abusive, auburn haired ex boyfriend locked eyes with her. He walked over to her desk, failing to see Henry. It was obvious he had an intent to speak to her, as he tried to appear as intimidating as possible. 

When Ryan reached the table, his bloodshot eyes widened. Now that he had seen Henry, he decided not to day anything at all, so he just pretended to look for a book or some other piece of stationery. As he walked away, Henry scoffed, a look of triumph evident on his face. Holly could basically hear her own heart beating, so she did the only thing she knew would comfort her. She hugged Henry. Everyone noticed this, and so they all turned around to spectate. 

Henry was not a big fan of this sort of stuff, but for her, he'd make an exception. He wrapped both arms around her as she lay her head on his chest. She allowed a few tears to fall from her eyes, but Henry was quick to wipe them away once he was looking at her face again.

Inevitable murmurs of gossip made its way around the room, but neither of them cared. Ryan wasn't too happy either. Ryan decided to be a comedian, so he shouted something to Holly. "Slut!" 

As soon as that word passed through Henry's ears, he let go of Holly. Holly sat at her desk with her head on the counter. Henry's eyes widened in anger as he stood up. "The fuck did you just say, cunt?" He questioned angrily. Ryan had a look of pride on his face, so he was quick with his comebacks. "You heard me. She's a slut. She jumped from me and then to you." Henry laughed at his pathetic little statement. "Sure, sure. Maybe I wouldn't have to hug her like that if you treated her right." Henry started. "But no, you just had to be a limp dick prick didn't ya?" 

Ryan went silent for a moment in a feeble attempt to properly process what was just said. Before he could retort, Henry made another comment. "Now before you say anything, think very carefully about this. Is this little classroom tiff really worth another lot of bruises and broken bones?" He antagonised. Ryan stood there, his hand wandering over his wounds until he reached his face. 

Henry raised his eyebrows at the boy, tilting his head sightly. Ryan fell silent, he knew that saying anything else would basically just be him signing his own death warrant. "That's what I fucking thought." Henry insulted one last time. However, before taking his seat yet again, he issued a message to the rest of the class. "Anyone else that has a problem with me being friends with Holly can meet me on the oval after school today. Any takers?!" He was met with an intimidated silence. 

He sat himself down and Holly put her head on his chest again. "Thanks for that, Hen." She whispered, anxious but still content. He placed his chin on the top of her head. "You're welcome, Holly, I'm just glad you're okay." Everyone went on with the rest of the lesson in silence. Henry sat with his hand still in Holly's underneath the desk for the remainder of class. He knew it comforted her. 

The duo actually got out of class 10 minutes early, as they had finished all their work, so they decided to walk over to Toby's classroom and wait for him. There wasn't much to do, and they couldn't really go on their phones because teachers were around, so the two just got to talking. 

"I'm sorry he said that about you." Henry apologised, looking to Holly with guilt ridden eyes. Holly nodded a few times before responding. "It's fine, I kind of expected him to say something like that anyways." 

"The thing is though, it's not okay! I mean, he shouldn't be able to get away with something like that." He professed in annoyance. Holly sighed deeply. "Really, Hen. It's fine. Besides, I heard he got hit by a car or something after the ball, so like, karma I guess." Henry was take aback at her statement. "Car? That's a weird nickname for me and Toby." He chuckled lightly. Holly's head shot up. "What do you mean?" She asked with worry. 

Henry took a moment to think about what he was going to say. He eventually decided on not telling her. "Oh, nothing." He reassured. "Just me being stupid." He laughed, shooting Holly a genuine smile.