Protected

Whispers

"So, are we, like, officially together?" I asked.

Lucas and I were in his car, on our way to school. Farkle and Riley were driving together.

"Do you want us to be officially together?" Lucas asked.

"That was a trick question!" I said, playfully smacking his arm.

He laughed, "Yes, we are officially together."

I smiled. 

We got to school, which was already buzzing with activity, and he opened the door for me. We walked into school like that: Lucas, with his hand around my waist, while I tried to ignore the staring. People whispered, which I guess was normal. 

But, as I walked through the hallway, I realized something wasn't quite right.

More and more whispers. Girls giving me dirty looks. Guys smirking at me.

All of a sudden, the double doors at the end of the hallway were thrown open. I saw a familiar black-haired girl with glasses, strutting down the hallway with two blond airheads on either side of her.

Smackle.

She strutted straight up to us, stopping two feet from Lucas and putting her hand on her hip.

"This is the slut you left me for?" she growled.

"Back off, Smackle," Lucas said quietly.

"What are you going to do, Lucas? Push me?" she taunted.

"No," he said, his jaw tightening, "You don't matter that much."

She looked incredibly insulted, but she covered it up quickly.

"Whatever. Because now, everyone in the school knows Maya is a slut," Smackle snapped.

Lucas looked up, and I resisted the urge to run away.

His eyes were full of such a powerful hatred that the phrase 'If looks could kill' came to mind. Smackle would probably be dead.

I could see the fear in Smackle's eyes, too.

"If you ever call Maya a slut, ever again, you will regret it," he said quietly, "The only person here who is a slut is you."

And with that, he gently steered me around Smackle and down the hallway to history class.

In big letters on the board, it said: Project due TODAY!

"Crap!" I said, "We didn't do the project!"

Lucas calmly pulled a manila folder from his bag.

"Done." He said simply, sitting it down in front of me.

"Seriously? You're the best," I said.

He kissed me on the cheek, and my skin tingled. I smiled down at my hands.

"Did you do the extra credit?" I asked hopefully.

He snorted, "What do I look like, a slave?"

I temporarily forgot about Smackle and her blond bobble-heads. Because I had Lucas, and right now, that was enough.