Mercy

Chapter Six» Fighter

**Braxton's POV**

It's been a week since that night at my house. We have met at my house everyday to work on it, yet we still aren't finished with it. Caroline thinks it would be cool if we could work on it at her house this week. I agreed, so after school I'm just going to hers.

I think I might be meeting her dad so I want to look nice today. I climbed in the shower. When I get out I decide on dark jeans and a navy blue Patagonia sweater with my Clark's. I finish getting ready and text Caroline to see when she will be ready to head to school. I got an instant reply.

Caroline:  I'll be ready in about 5. Okay?

Me:  sounds good. See ya then

I find myself nervous once again. We have become closer and everything, but she still makes me nervous. There is just something different about her. I like her. I like her a lot, but I don't want to ruin what we have if I tell her. She probably doesn't feel the same anyway so I'll just not say anything. After all we've only known each other for a little over a week.

I tell everyone bye and leave for her house. I text her to let her know I am coming around the corner and she can meet me outside. When I get there she is already waiting for me. She looks beautiful, yet simple. She has on jeans with holes on both knee caps, a navy blue shirt with a cheetah print necklace. Her hair is straightened and pulled back a little. I can barely breathe.

She catches me staring at her, "Hello? Are ya there?" She laughs at me when I just stand there, frozen again.

"Yeah, uh, sorry. I was... uh you look really good today". I can't believe I just said that. I'm so stupid. She smiles really big and her cheeks start to turn bright red.

"Thanks! You look good yourself!" She pauses before she speaks again. "I think we are kinda matching."

I look down at my outfit and back to hers and it hits me. Oops.

"You look better though." Who am I? It's not even me to say things like this.

She is blushing even more now. "I beg to differ."

**Caroline's POV**

Okay, this kid is making it hard to just be friends with him. I mean don't get me wrong, I want to be more than friends. I just don't know how to tell him. What if he doesn't feel the same? Maybe I should just wait until he says something.

As soon as we walk in all I see is eyes. Everyone's eyes. I turn to Braxton and he looks just as confused as I am. We continue walking to our lockers to get our stuff for class. I feel someone beside me just as I shut my locker. I smell his gross cologne and recognize who it is. 

The sight of him makes me want to throw up. I want to punch him in the face every time I see him. He is the worst person known to man kind. His name would be Jack Calder, aka my cheating scum bag ex-boyfriend.

He never talks to me or anything anymore, so I don't know why he is standing here grinning like a mad man. He isn't saying anything so I break the silence, "What do you want, Jack?" All he does is stare at me.

"Oh, babe don't act like that." He brings his hand up to my face and I quickly move. I hate when he does this, acting like everything is fine. Everything is definitely not fine. I can't look at him anymore so I turn to walk away.

He grabs my wrist making me wince a little at the pain. Just then Braxton comes up to us, noticing that Jack won't leave me alone. He buds in.

"She was obviously trying to get away from you so you should let her go. Now." He is sticking up for me. I can't believe it. He is just too good to me.

"Is that right? I should? What are you gonna do about it?" As soon as Jack said it I knew he was going to regret it. Before I knew it Jack was on the ground with blood running down his face and Braxton was standing up, keeping his gaze on Jack.

I pulled on Braxton's arm and surprisingly he let me drag him away. I took him into the girls bathroom. Yeah, I know no guys are suppose to be in here but he needed to wash the blood from his hand. He agreed to let me help him.

We walk in and I lock the door behind us, making sure no one can come in. We have other bathrooms so they can find another one if they need to.

He leans against the sink as I get a paper towel and wet it. "Thank you for that back there. I really appreciate it you know."

"It's fine. He deserved it. Who is he anyways?" He had a concerned look on his face when he asked me. I began gently wiping the blood of of his hand. I looked up at him and chuckled a little, still in shock because he actually punched him.

I began telling him about Jack. "Well, umm he is my ex. We dated when I was a Freshman. It turns out he was cheating on me with my best friend. They had been sneaking around the whole time we were together, but I had no clue. I found out by Shawn. He saw them out one night and came and told me. I kinda knew it was coming because they acted weird around me when we would all hang out. He normally leaves me alone because that night Shawn threatened him not to go anywhere near me. I have no clue why he had an interest in me today."

I looked up to see him staring at me intently. He is probably confused as to why I dated him in the first place. But he was a better person back then, at least he made every one think he was.

"I'm really sorry you had to go through that. And with your best friend? I don't know how he could be that stupid that he would just abandon the perfect girl he already had. I guess I'm glad I did get a hit on him!"

He always makes me smile when he says sweet things. I can already feel my face heating up, only to be replaced by his cold hand on my cheek. We stand there for what seems like forever. We are just staring at each other. Our faces are slowly moving closer and closer and right when I think it's finally gonna happen, the bell rings.