Reversing Roles

Chapter 8

Throughout the remainder of the day, Alyssa's heart hadn't stopped beating at the speed of light. As she walked through the halls, she'd kept her head down, but still noticed that everyone passing her gave her curious gazes or surprised stares. She hadn't seen or heard from Grayson since lunch; she just figured he was still with Principal Boomer, or that his mum came to pick him up early or something. She hadn't seen that dickhead Josh, either, which she was perfectly fine with. Jade had stayed by her side, too, but the pair hadn't really spoken about what happened. Alyssa figured that Jade wasn't really into talking about personal, or deep kind of stuff.

She still couldn't quite comprehend what had happened, though. A boy, which she'd only met two hours beforehand, came and stood up for her, after another air-headed boy had slapped her ass? That was crazy. Or maybe, Grayson was just standing up for himself, and everyone else who had ever been affected by Josh. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with Alyssa at all, she just happened to be there. Still, it was nice of him.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As soon as the last ding! of the bell echoed through the school, students all around Alyssa shuffled about, stuffing their books into their already exploding bags, and pushing and shoving their way through the door, in a rush to escape the stuffy classroom. Alyssa wasn't in such a hurry to get home, so she dawdled. She slowly packed up her tiny backpack, blew a strand of midnight hair out of her face, and trudged toward the door. As the teenagers hurriedly swept passed her, one carelessly knocked her to the tiles below, and she landed with a painful thump, on her butt. She winced.

Suddenly, a tanned hand reached down and extended itself out for her. Alyssa studied it for a moment, then cautiously accepted it, using it to haul herself up again.

"Thanks," she mumbled, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. She glanced up at the person, the boy, and frowned. She recognised him as one of Josh's friends, and more specifically, the one who had whispered to him, "Aw, man, you're screwed," when Jade had threatened him. She gritted her teeth. "Actually, no. I take that back," she responded, frostily. She hastily whizzed back around, and marched through the door, out into the hallway.

"Wait!" the same boy cried, from behind her. She rolled her eyes, but kept walking, swiftly picking up the pace. Alyssa could hear him gaining on her, jogging along. He suddenly emerged from behind her, and abruptly stopped her in her tracks. "Hold up for a sec?"

"Ugh," she huffed. She picked up her iPhone, using it as a distraction, and weaved around the boy, as he leant over to catch his breath. She heard him chuckle, then he reappeared in front of her, standing upright.

"You're feisty, aren't you, new girl?" He smirked.

"I have a name, dickward," she smiled, innocently. His smile dropped, but she continued strutting down the hall, with the boy quickly trailing along.

"Um, my name's Justin."

"If you're waiting for me to give a shit, I hope you brought something to eat, 'cause you'll be waiting for a looooong time," Alyssa replied, breezily.

"Oh, uh. Well, o-okay. Actually, I just want to talk about earlier?"

"Well, I don't," she snapped.

"Please? Josh only did it because he.... lost a bet," Justin lied. Alyssa stopped and swivelled around, raising one perfect eyebrow, obviously annoyed that Justin was wasting her time.