Spring's Unexpected Love

Chapter 26 (Asher)

I was free... finally free...

I just had to survive a few more hours at this wretched private school.

Just a few more hours...

I hurried through the halls, my head down, eyes lowered to the ground. I didn't want to run into Felix and his gang on my last day. I wanted to leave this place with no new terrible memories. So far I had successfully avoided them; I only had three more classes to survive before I could go home knowing that I'd never return.

I couldn't wait.

"Watch where you're going, loser!"

I froze in my tracks. Damn it! I hadn't been paying attention to where I was walking. I instantly recognized the voice as Charles. He hadn't recognized me yet.

Please don't recognize me! I silently pleaded as I shuffled in the opposite direction.

Please don't--

"Wait."

I froze in my tracks when Charles spoke again, my heart racing with fear. My eyes were squeezed shut and my fingers dug into my palms.

"Turn around," he ordered. I didn't move. I felt a hand grab my shoulder, spinning me around.

"I knew it!" Charles yelled, "Hey Felix, Emo Boy is over here."

I tried to wriggle free, but Charles held me in place. Felix arrived a couple of seconds later, a wide grin on his face. It was the kind of grin a wolf would make when it had its prey cornered.

"I heard you're switching schools," Felix said as he and Charles cornered me by some lockers. "It looks like you've finally realized lowlifes like you can never be around those with higher status like me. It's about time you've learned your place."

I stayed silent, keeping my eyes trained on the floor. I always knew my place. I always knew that no one liked me- not even my own parents.

"Why aren't you speaking, loser?" Felix said, shoving me against the lockers. "Did it finally hit you that you don't belong here?"

Something inside me snapped. I always knew I didn't belong. "I never thought I belonged in this crappy school from the start," I muttered.

Felix and Charles were both silent, staring at me with stunned expressions on their faces. They hadn't expected me to talk back, but to be honest, neither had I.

"You think I want to be around stuffy rich kids that do nothing but cry to their mommy's and daddy's when things don't go their way?" 

"What did you just say?" Felix's face was red from anger.

I only laughed; I had completely lost it and any other sense of reason. I was so tired of being treated like trash. Perhaps it was only inevitable that I would snap one day.

"Why do you think private schools for the rich exist? It's not because you guys are special; it's because the average person wouldn't be able to stand your insufferable attitudes."

Felix's mouth was wide open with disbelief. He backhanded my face the moment I stopped speaking. "How dare you!" He stalked closer to me until the distance between us was so small that I could feel his hot breath on my face. "You think that I'll leave you alone just because you're switching schools?" he hissed, "You'll regret speaking to me like that because I assure you, I will find you wherever you go."

A cold hand of fear clamped itself around my heart making me feel lightheaded. "W-what?"

He laughed, "You're an idiot to think that today will be the last time you'll see me. I was looking for you just so that you could tell me the location of your new school." He smiled wolfishly as he took a step back, "So, care to share, or should I have Charles beat it out of you?"

Despite the fear in my heart, at that moment, I made a decision: I wasn't going to tell Felix anything.

***

Everything hurt. I lay on the floor of the bathroom stall that Felix and Charles had dragged me into, my hair soaked from toilet water. My breaths were ragged, my throat raw from screaming. I was sure that I would be covered in bruises the next morning.

"You really won't spill it, huh?" Felix asked, kicking me hard in the side, "Fine then, I've wasted enough time with you as it is."

A feeling of triumph washed over me. Felix hadn't been able to get me to tell him what school I was transferring to; I had won.

"Oh, don't start feeling relieved," Felix sneered. "It won't be that easy to get rid of me." He laughed as he grabbed me by my hair, forcing me to look up at him. "You better watch your back, emo boy, 'cause I'll find you again! You can't hide from me..."

I woke up with a jolt, Felix's laughter still echoing at the back of my mind. I cursed, running a hand through my hair.

Another nightmare.

The past kept coming back to me in my dreams, a relentless reminder of how weak I had been before- how weak I still was. I hated that I couldn't forget my first year and a half of high school, hated that I still feared Felix finding me again.

I needed to forget about the past. I had an away game later today and needed to be at my best so that my team eventually made it to nationals. The team counted on me; I couldn't let them down.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text message. From Ximena.

Heard you had a game today. Good luck! :)

I smiled to myself,

***

"Good game, Urchins," Coach Jackson said as we gathered around him for our post-game huddle. "We handed it to those Gulls."

The team cheered, exhilarated by our performance tonight. The Gulls had stood no chance against us.

After the coach reminded us not to slack off on practicing, Jawad and Jin pulled me to the side, smirks on their faces.  

"So how'd it go on Saturday?" Jawad asked.

I couldn't keep a smile from forming on my face as I recalled Ximena's text from earlier, "It went well, although there was a little incident..."

"Ooh go on!" Jin said, literally bouncing from excitement.

I told them about our trip to the mall and the elevator incident. When I was done, they both stared at me, mouths wide open from surprise.

"Damn, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were living through the plot of some romance novel," Jin said; Jawad nodded in agreement.

If only life was a novel; things would be so much easier if I could just skip to the ending. I still hadn't decided what I wanted to do in the future, and as the end of junior year came closer each day, I worried I wouldn't decide on time.

Romance was the least of my problems- even as a very certain girl somehow managed to make a room for herself in my heart.

So I know I'm over a week late!! Sorry! I planned on finishing this chapter last week but got stuck on a certain part.

Apologies if it seems like this chapter jumps around a lot- it was the only way I could fit so many short scenes together.

Since we're almost up to my favorite planned parts, I'll try to stay on schedule!!

Thanks for reading <3