A Chance to Change #SaveALife [on-hold]

Chapter 2

He is  6'5". He has dark brown hair. When I grab his hand our eyes meet and I stare directly into his dark brown, almost black eyes. They are mesmerizing and he stares back at me.

"Thanks." I say then look away from him.

"No problem. Are you okay? That was pretty rough." He says looking down at me.

I nod my head slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." I say as I look down at the ground.

"Are you sure? They totally just knocked you down." He asks me with a bit of worry clear in his voice. He puts out an arm to make sure that I was steady as I stood up.

Why is he so worried about me? Why does he care so much if I am okay?

"I'm fine. I'm used to it." I say quietly still looking down at my feet.

"Why don't you stand up to them?" He asks looking down at me.

"If I stand up to them things would just be worse." I look up a little bit at him and try to ignore the pain that I am feeling.

"You could tell a parent or teacher, ya know." He says still looking at me.

I shake my head. "I...I can't." I look down at my feet again. I can't tell my father because he hurts me as well and I am to scared to tell a teacher, I think to myself.

"Why can't you?" He obviously didn't know much about my family but I can't blame him for that. No one knows what happens at my house.

"I'll go with you." He says his voice calm.

"It won't make things any better." I say. They will just make things worse, I think to myself.

I know that if I tell a teacher my father would make things worse. He knows about what Veronica and Ace do to me and doesn't try to stop them which means he doesn't care if they do, which makes sense because he does that to me also. If I told a teacher and got them in trouble they will all three gang up on me at home and make my life even more of a hell.

He frowns looking at me. I can tell that he really wants to help but I don't know how he can.

"I'm Aladdin, and yes I know, just like the Disney character." He says with a small chuckle but then frowns slightly. I can tell that he doesn't really like his name.

"I like that name." I give him a small smile which I rarely do. The name is cute and I feel like it fits him.

He smiles back at me, a quick crooked smile, but a smile. I think that it was kind of a endearing.

"And you are?"

Oh how did I forget to tell him my name, I think. "Oh right, sorry. I'm Astrid." I feel really stupid for not saying my name yet.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He says smiling at me.

I blush then I look around realizing we were still in the hallway by my locker. The hall is mostly empty now. "Th..thank you Aladdin." I smile trying to hide my blush. I'm not used to this. No one has ever been this nice to me except for my mother.

He nods then shoves his hands in his pockets, leaning against some of the lockers. He looks so cute as he does this. His hair looking slightly messy.

"Can I ask you why you're being so nice to me? No one else will talk to me unless they are calling me a name or saying something rude to me." I ask him curious to see why.

"Because I'm not an asshole... at least not that I know of." He says as he rubs the back of his head.

I nod. "Thanks for not being mean."

"Anytime, and hey, if you ever need someone to talk to I'm here." He says to me with sympathy in his voice.

I nod my head again. "Thank you so much. That really means a lot."

He nods his head at me as he puts a hand gently on my shoulder. He then walks away heading to his class. I grab my books from my locker that I was trying to get when Ace came up to me. I start walking to my class and when I walk into the classroom I see him at a desk in the back of the room. I didn't even know he was in my class.

I take a seat in the middle of the class. As I am sitting down I see him look at me then he looks down. Class starts and I take out my notebook to take notes in. Ten minutes into class the teacher assigns the class group work and we can pick our own partners. I look around to try and find a partner but Ace comes up to me before I successfully find one.

"You're my partner, Astrid." He says to me.

I sigh quietly and that when I see Aladdin walking over to us.

"Hey Astrid. Wanna be my partner?" He asks me after walking over and getting in front of Ace.

I nod at him. "Yes please." That's when Ace steps in.

"To bad buddy. She is already my partner." He says looking at Aladdin with a glare. I'm worried he is going to hurt Aladdin.

Aladdin grabs my hand. "Not anymore." He says to Ace and I look up at Ace and he looks like he wants to punch Aladdin but he doesn't because our teacher is in the room.

Aladdin leads me over to his desk. "Thank you so much." I say my voice quiet as I pull a chair over and sit down.

He nods at me and sits down. "I know many people take advantage of you. I won't, I promise." He knows that Ace always wants me as his partner so I can do all of the work.

"Thank you so much." I say quietly.

He nods again then he pats the top of my head. This reminds me of someone patting the head of a dog.

"What was that for?" I ask him confused why he did that.

He shrugs awkwardly. "I'm weird, deal with it." He says as he smiles at me.

He is different but I like that about him.

I smile back. "Okay."

He nods and begins working on the work. I try to help but he refuses to let me help. I can tell that he knows how Ace makes me do all of the work every time.

"Thanks." I say again for thanking him for doing the work.

"Please, don't thank me." He smiles softly at me.

I nod. "Alright."

He nods and goes back to finishing up the project. We had to research about Edgar Allen Poe then write some facts about him in a way that shows what he was like.

Once he finishes the project I smile at him. He drew a raven and put the facts neatly written inside of the raven.

"That smile really suits you." He says awkwardly.

"Really?" I say not really believing him but my cheeks turn bright red.

He nods at me, I blush and smile again. He puts his hand on my shoulder then goes to turn in the project for us. I smile as he walks back over to me.

"The teacher seems pleased. Good job, Astrid."

Why was he thanking me? He wouldn't let me help him at all.

"Thank you but you did all of the work."

"That doesn't matter. We did it together." He says with calmness in his voice.

"Okay." I smile. He is being so nice to me.

Finally, the bell rings signaling the end of the class. We split off into our different classes. Now, I am alone with Ace and Veronica, a disaster waiting to happen.

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