The Once and Gifted King [ON HIATUS]

Chapter Fourteen: They Lied

 After the lunch break, we returned to our homerooms. As Blake and I neared the classroom, I heard a voice call out to me. I turned around to see Neil jogging down the hall toward me, the sword still at his hip. Blake touched me on the shoulder.

“Gwen, wait,” Neil shouted. “Just let me talk to you.”

“It's okay,” I said to Blake. “You go ahead.”

“Are you sure?” Blake asked.

“Yeah. I'll meet you inside.”

He turned and left just as Neil caught up. Neil leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Other students passed us, disappearing into classrooms.

“Thanks,” he said.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and rose a couple inches so we could see eye to eye. “What?”

“I'm sorry,” he said, meeting my gaze.

One of my eyebrows went up. “About what?”

“After you left, some jocks came by and started joking about you,” he explained, “with me. They said some pretty nasty things, and I wondered if any of it was true.” He looked down. “From what I've seen of you, they didn't seem very accurate.”

“What sort of things?” I asked. What did the jocks know about me? I never associated with any of them.

Neil blushed slightly. “Doesn't matter. The point is I defended you, and I realized I was wrong.” He looked up at me with his bright blue eyes as big as an anime character's. “I'm sorry for being a jerk. Will you forgive me?”

I couldn't help but smile. “Of course, you Brit! Do you hug?”

“Um...”

I hugged him anyway, and he patted me on the back. I let go and said, “Thanks for sticking up for me. I knew you weren't a jerk.”

Neil smiled and took my hands. It made me feel giddy inside all of a sudden.

“We should get to class.”

“Wha... oh, yeah.”

Neil put an arm around my shoulders (bringing me back to my normal height) and walked with me into the room. When we did, the teacher looked at us.

“Late again, Miss Grace?”

I blushed. I hated being late, and this was why.

“They were probably smooching,” someone said. The room erupted with laughter. I groaned. Not again.

I felt Neil tense and saw his free hand clenched in a fist.

“You wanna say that to my face?” he seethed.

“I already did.” The reply was followed with a chorus of “oh”s and one “Tss, burn!”

“Sit down, Mr. Barker,” the teacher said. I guess he mean Neil. “There's work to be done.”

Neil continued to glare, but I put a hand on his chest. It felt warm around his heart. He looked at me in surprise and said, “I can't let them say things like that to you.”

I looked him straight in the eye. “Now's not the time to fight.”

“Miss Grace is right,” the teacher said. “Besides, fighting will result in detention, even for you, Mr. Barker.”

I finally felt Neil relax, and he dropped his arm from around me. While we went to our seats he said, “I apologize for the disturbance.”

“Thank you, Mr. Barker. Now you can all return to your orientation papers.”