Finding Freya

The Almost Fight

[A/N] Hi everyone! Here's the next chapter :) Tell me what you think. Almost 1k reads! Extremely happy right now!

At school the next day, I felt more comfortable than I had all week. I could talk to all of my friends without feeling awkward which was great and everyone seemed to be getting along really well.

The bell rang for lunch and and Luke and I rushed out of the library. We had just finished a double study period.

Once in the hallway, I slowed down and Alex walked beside me.

"Why do you guys try to make an enemy out of almost everyone?" I asked, nonchalantly. I was curious

Luke sighed. "It's not like we want everyone to hate us, but, well, it's... fun." A crooked smile went on Luke's face.

"I guess that-" I was cut off as someone bumped shoulders with me, causing me to stumble backwards and drop my books. I looked behind me, shocked and people moving around in the hallway stopped to watch what had happened. Luke crouched beside me almost immediately, helping me get my books back.

"Oops, my bad," Connor said, pushing his shaggy brown hair out of his face. A smile graced his lips and his eyes sparked a challenge in them. "Accidents happen." So this is how he wanted to play. I noticed Ethan and Oliver were with him.

Before I could say anything, Luke left my side and grabbed the collar of Connor's shirt and threw him backwards against the wall. "You think that's funny, pretty boy?" he growled, grabbing his shirt again and holding him against the wall. "Do it again, do it. Make a wise crack, I dare you."

By this time, the hall way had cleared a spaces for bystanders to watch what was happening. Some were egging on Luke to punch him, others were shouting at him to stop. But no one got up to intervene... so I did.

"Luke, stop this," I said, going over to his side.

"Yeah, Lukey, listen to your little girlfriend," Connor mocked, but his stupid smile was wiped off of his face when Luke pushed him harder against the wall.

"This is what he wants, Luke, he wants you to punch him so you can get suspended. Don't do it," I said, grabbing one of his arms. I heard foot steps running down the hall behind me and suddenly Alex was by my side.

"Wow, Connor, I thought after getting put to sleep by me you'd leave us alone. Do we need to teach you another lesson?" Alex asked, tilting his head to the side. I felt my skin begin to crawl again. I hated this side of the boys, the ones who were only hungry for blood.

"Luke, listen to me. This is what he wants, please stop," I pleaded again, tightening my grip around his arm.

Luke's gaze was intense, staring down at Connor. His breathing was heavy, blowing out of his nose, but it began to slow down and he finally released him.

Finally free of Luke's grasp, Connor ducked out and disappeared into the crowd.

"Yeah, run like the little pussy you are!" Alex shouted after him, and then I heard Zac's snicker from the crowd as he made his way towards us with Sam, Hayley and Jordan at his side.

"Well, well, you put on a show," he said, slapping Luke's back. But Luke didn't respond, still staring at where Connor was standing.

"Come on, Luke," I said, curling my fingers against his hand, causing him to turn towards me. "Let's go."

***

The rest of the day I sat tense in my classes and all I could think about was Luke. As much as I hated to admit it, he was a lot like Alex when it came to the ticking time bomb theory. All it took was one thing to set him off and he'd blow up, and of course I was really worried Connor would find him again to try and push him over the edge. If Luke truly wanted to beat the crap out of Connor, I would let him so he could get past this, but I wasn't about to let Connor get the best of him and get him expelled.

"Snap out of it, princess," I heard Alex say beside me. I looked over at him and he was watching me with a casual look. Of course, we were in English class. This was the one only class I had with Alex, at least the only one I had with him that he didn't skip.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning back in my seat.

"I could be asking you the same thing. Why so tense?" I didn't answer to that, figuring he'd probably laugh at my response. Plus, if he wasn't going to tell me a lot about him, why should I tell him stuff about me? "It's Luke isn't it?"

I bit my lip and turned away. The closer I got to these boys, the easier it was for them to read me like a book. I didn't like it, but it was something I was coming to accept. I mean, how was I going to be able to avoid that, anyways?

"Look, Freya, don't worry about him. He's a big boy and he can handle himself, he only lost himself there because Connor shoved you," Alex said, causing me to look back over at him. "He doesn't like it when other people mess with his friends, he'd probably do the same thing for me or the rest of the guys if Connor did that. I mean, I guess he wouldn't because we'd retaliate ourselves, but since you don't stick up for yourself, he decided to do it for you."

I watched Alex carefully, trying to see if he was lying to me or telling the truth...but from what I could tell, he was being honest. Slowly shaking my head, I tried to comprehend that. "Why would Luke go out of his way to do that for me? I don't need it, I'm fine."

"It doesn't matter what you think you need or not," Alex said, and I must have taken an offensive stance to that because he quickly went on, "I mean, look... It's what's going through Luke's mind. He's already got a beef with Connor for what he said about you, and then him shoving you was just another thing to push Luke over the edge. In his mind, it was perfectly logical for him to kick the crap out of him because that's three strikes now. I don't know how you were able to stop him, because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to myself...but if it's one more strike, Connor's out." Alex shrugged his shoulders and his words didn't make me relax at all.

I stared at Alex with wide eyes and my mind began to flurry with things that Connor could do right now to piss Luke off. "B-but," I stammered, trying to come up with an excuse but I couldn't find the words.

"Look, Freya, this is how I see it and why you shouldn't be worried. Although Connor's words themselves do piss him off, he didn't act on them. I mean, you stopped him before he snapped out of it. So, Connor can only really piss him off is when you're around Luke." Alex shrugged his shoulders. "See? Problem solved. Stop your worrying."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, shaking my head. "So your idea is to get me to stay away from Luke?"

Alex sighed. "God, I really do have to spell things out for you. Every time Luke got pissed off, you were able to calm him back down. So, in a sense, you're also the cure to his anger. As long as you calm him down before he punches Connor, you'll be fine."

"Why do you want to defend Connor so badly, anyways?" Sam suddenly joined the conversation. I could never tell when he was paying attention and when he was daydreaming.

"I don't," I protested. "If Luke wants to kick the crap out of Connor outside of school, by all means he can, I mean, as long as he doesn't take it too far...but in school, I don't want him getting suspended because that's what Connor wants."

Sam nodded his head. "Makes sense, I guess."

The bell rang, and instead of fleeing the class like he usually did, Alex stood up slower than he usually would. "Hey, princess, we're going to the shopping centre today after school, you in?" I stifled a giggle at that...I couldn't picture the him going there. All I could imagine was Alex going to stores and trying on a bunch of clothes. "Stop your laughing, it's for the music stores, sweetheart."

I wrinkled my nose at his stupid pet names and stood up myself. "Yeah, sure, I'm in. I'll tell Hayley and Jordan. What time?"

"You're riding with Luke, Hayley and Zac, I got Zac to tell them so you don't have to," Alex said, and I could see Sam fighting a smile on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him, confused, and Alex turned to see what I was looking at before he punched Sam in the shoulder.

"Geez," Sam complained, and Alex shooed him away.

"Okay, see you later, princess," Alex said, walking after Sam.