When The Bad Boy Hates You

Chapter 9

"Have you finished your IT assignment yet?" Lisa asked as she threw her apple up in the air and caught it behind her back. I wish I had that sort of coordination. 

We were walking through the hallways from our fourth period class out to lunch and for the first time in two years I was doing so in peace. Ever since Blake has started sitting next to me in all the classes we had together and publicly defending me to anyone who tried to bully me people were starting to leave me alone. 

For the first time in a long time I finally had some peace, I felt like I could be myself at school and not need to hide and sneak from class to class without the fear of someone bullying me. And I owed that all to Blake, the boy who openly hated me and refused to acknowledge my existence even when he was defending me. What a strange situation we were in. 

"No, have you?" I replied to Lisa. I had been working on this assignment in every spare moment I had and still haven't managed to get anywhere close to finishing. It was really starting to frustrate me. 

"Nah, it is mind tormenting hard. I have spent nearly every night this week staying up late to crack it but its turning out to be stubborn. My roommate is staring to get pissed at me for having the light on all night. I told her to sleep in the garden," she growled with a flat look on her face. I had to laugh out loud because her roommate Betty, is the roommate from hell, everything Lisa does her roommate makes an argument over. Lisa boards at the school as her parents are from Singapore, so they sent her over here to get the best education she could.

"Harsh," I grinned and we both locked eyes and then cracked up laughing just imagining that situation.

"Did you want to hang at the library and see if we can crack this together?" Lisa asked.

"I would love too but I have self-defense tonight," I admitted, disappointment flowing through me, I wanted to crack this as much as Lisa did. Her face dropped.

"Why do you still do that? Haven't you already mastered self-defense?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. She was right, but I still loved it.

"Well my sister always said that the most important thing about being a woman is the ability to protect yourself," I explained. My older sister Ellie and I started learning it a few years ago after she was mugged outside Freddie's bar a few years ago. But since she left for college a year ago I had just kept going by myself. It was something I really enjoying it, empowering myself and knowing that no one can hurt me physically which was a great comfort to me when I started being bullied.

"Yeah, I wish I could kickass like Jacki Chan," Lisa agreed sarcastically.

My witty retort died in my throat as we turned the corner around the art building and my eyes landed on Blake. My eyes were so tuned to his form now that whenever he was near my eyes would automatically lead me to him. He was talking with Dean and Liam, the school delinquents and guys you only go near if you want to become a delinquent too. 

They were hanging out in the old orphanage gardens that was beside the school. The orphanage was bought by the school a few years ago as it attracted too many delinquent and criminal kids to the area and was giving the school a bad name. It has been under development for a year now as the school are still deciding what to transform the building into. So now it just sits there unused and decaying and is used as a hangout for the kids at school who wanted to break the rules and do shady things. 

They were all smoking, just that alone could get them all expelled. This interaction was not good.

"Blake looks pretty suspicious," Lisa commented leaning into my ear and in a low voice so only I could hear. A strange sense of fear rushed through me as I watched Blake interact in such a friendly manner with those guys but not for myself, I felt fear for him. He is setting himself up to destroy his life if he hangs out with them.