𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐌𝐄

─ ❝ act iv ❞

⎡ act iv - danger ⎦

┊❝ You're absolutely pathetic... how fun ❞┊

── THE moment (Y/N) walked into school, she felt herself stiffening when spotting Dylan, Ian, and the rest of their gang loitering in the hallways leaning against a row of lockers casually. They all seemed to be snickering about something—well, Ian looked as impassive as usual—that she couldn't see, but neither did she care as she tried to quickly walk past them without them noticing.

Unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky.

"(Y/N)!" Dylan called out to her, forcing her to stop by slinging an arm around her shoulder just as he did the day before. "There you are!" Leaning down to whisper into her ear, he continued, "You weren't planning to walk by without saying 'hi,' right?"

"Um... no..." she muttered.

God, she felt like such a pushover.

But to be honest, she really didn't want to start a fight she knew she couldn't win.

"Wait, Dylan, don't tell me this is the girl you found?" A feminine voice proclaimed with a disbelieving giggle, as if the owner of said laughter couldn't fathom that (Y/N) could ever receive Dylan's attention, negative or otherwise. "I have to say I'm disappointed in your tastes. She's awfully... plain, but I guess that is what we look for."

Turning towards the one who had spoken, (Y/N) was surprised to see quite a pretty girl standing there, looking down at her with clear disinterest on her face. With blonde hair that shimmered like strands of gold pulled up into a low ponytail so that loose strands could frame her face and sharp blue eyes somewhat hidden under thick lashes, she was practically breathtaking. And though she wore a T-shirt and jeans, one could tell even beneath such articles that her body was equally as stunning. (Y/N)'s eyes then flicked downward to the lit cigarette between her fingers, identifying the source of the smoky scent she had smelled upon walking into the school.

The apprehension from seeing the girl smoking so obviously without even trying to hide it must have shown on (Y/N)'s face, for the next thing she knew, the girl took a drag from the stick before slowly blowing out the smoking in her face. Coughing and waving her hand in front of her face, her eyes somewhat watering, she watched as the girl gave her a vicious smile.

"Don't," the dark-haired friend known as Ian stepped in, his eyes narrowing. "Poison your lungs all you want. Don't drag others into it, though."

"Always such a fucking bore, aren't you?" The girl scoffed in irritation.

"Carmen," Dylan smiled as he removed himself from (Y/N) to instead curl an arm around Carmen's waist to bring her closer, something she didn't mind in the least. "Listen to Ian. We need to make sure (Y/N)... has the right spirit. We can't have her getting sick since it's obvious she doesn't smoke. You can restrain yourself, can't you? For me?"

Carmen looked annoyed, but she agreed nonetheless, too caught up in getting lost in Dylan's sweet gaze to care much.

"Now, (Y/N)," Dylan turned back to her with curved eyes, a dark glimmer residing within that made her want to shrivel backwards. "I want you to accompany me to somewhere that I'm sure you'll love since it concerns our little friend that you so valiantly tried to stand up for yesterday." His smile widened when seeing her shocked reaction, practically dragging her down the hall after grabbing her wrist, continuing, "I'm sure he'll want to meet the person who... helped him, right?"

(Y/N) wanted to rip her arm away from him.

She wanted to scream.

Wanted to yell.

Wanted to cry.

Basically, she wanted to do everything to both get away from Dylan and hide away from him.

Such a want was impossible.

After being tugged into the abandoned classroom from yesterday, she gasped in a mix of horror and queasiness when seeing the limo body sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the space. The boy she had had seen yesterday was practically unrecognizable, his face—and she was sure the rest of his body that she couldn't see hidden underneath his clothes—was splotched with purple and black bruises while his hair was cut into jagged fragments, his clothing also worn and tattered.

She grit her teeth to stop herself from retching.

"I told you we'd have some fun today," Dylan murmured into her ear as he once more draped an arm around her shoulder, repeating the action as if it were natural to him when it only made her shudder in disbelief. "I guess now you know what happens when you try to pull shit like you did yesterday. He'll be fine, too. I mean, he'll live, if that's what you're wondering.

"Why..." (Y/N) swallowed, her throat almost as dry as a burning desert. "Why did you do this?"

"Hm?" He blinked down at her, as if he were more surprised from her confusion more so than her question. "Why? I thought that would've been obvious. He owed us. And when he didn't pay us back as promised, we took it. This was just a friendly reminder for him."

"'Friendly?'" She choked on the word, letting out strained laughter afterwords. "I think we have different meanings for that word."

"Sure we do," Dylan shrugged with that nihilistic smile of his. "Only difference is I'm right."

Laughing, he left the room as if he didn't have a care in the world, allowing her to sink to her knees due the strength that seemed be sapped from her body altogether. She wasn't sure what she was feeling in that moment, but all she did know was that ever creeping, ever stifling sense of being constrained. Footsteps behind her made her whirl around, dreading them to belong to Dylan again, only to find Ian standing there with one hand on the door frame and the other tucked in his pocket.

His cool grey eyes bored into her own, lacking any and all emotion that she could see.

"You should've known this would happen," he started, his voice a bit lower than it was when he had been speaking to Carmen, implying that he was trying to be more discreet about the beaten boy's condition than he let on. "Why you even tried to help is beyond me, because look at you now."

(Y/N) dug her nails into her palms, willing herself not to snap back at him that she normally didn't plan to involve herself with bullies.

"You're absolutely pathetic..." Ian continued as he knelt in front of her grabbing her chin harshly to force her to look back up again, his once emotionless mask gone to instead be replaced with something more sinister. "How fun."

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To be continued...