The Boy Witch

9: Unscathed

I take a short breath and swallow my nerves before slowly turning around. My eyes follow the hand on my shoulder, to a pair of broad shoulders, and meet a pair of furious dark eyes. The guy was huge, almost a foot taller than me, and he had such a domineering aura that almost felt suffocating. The entire cafeteria silences and turns to watch whatever would unfold.

"I'll ask again," he growls, his hand tightening uncomfortably on my shoulder. "What are you doing with my girlfriend?" The silence rings in my ears as I try and find a response. After a moment, I lamely ask, "Girlfriend?" His eyes grew impossibly darker, and he quickly reaches for the hood of my jacket before dragging me out of the cafeteria.

I trip over my feet trying to follow his brisk pace. I cry out small protests, but they fall on deaf ears and the large guy continues to drag me out. Rosie and Matthew follow behind, their expressions worried with slight fear as they look at me. "Josh, calm down," Rosie said, her words laced with creeping panic. "Josh, he's a friend, he didn't know about you and Rosie," Matthew tries. The boy dragging me, Josh, lets out an animalistic growl, promptly shutting up Rosie and Matthew altogether. I was stunned into silence, letting Josh drag me away.

The hallway was clear of students, everyone off to get lunch, meaning that there were no witnesses to what was happening. I hear him open a set of doors and the bright sunlight shines in my eyes. He pulls me up to my feet before shoving me against the side of the building. We were behind the school, in a place with no cameras and with open forest neighboring the property. It was the type of place people would go if they wanted privacy.

Josh bends down to eye level with me, hands on either side of me to block any escape. His dark eyes shimmer with barely contained rage. "You're gonna get it, trying to steal my girl," he hisses. Rosie cries out, "Josh, don't! Can't you see that he's injured already? He still has patches!" Unconsciously, I lift my hand to touch the white gauze patch on my cheek that hid a particularly deep gash.

"I don't care!" Josh snarls. "What he did is unforgivable!" He turns to the two, who stood rigid at the door. "I want you two to leave us." When they didn't move, he barks, "Go!" They scramble away from him and open the doors, hesitating for a moment before closing it behind them.

He turns back to me, an expression of pure anger twisting his otherwise handsome features. "Hey, now," I say as calmly as I could. "This is a misunderstanding." I duck as his fist came flying at my face, denting the gray brick wall behind me. I step out of between him an the wall, and try to distance myself from him. He whirls around to me, fists clenched and slowly stalks towards me.

I hold my hands out while simultaneously slowly backing away from him. "Listen, you don't want to do this," I say slowly. "Let's just talk this out." I couldn't get another word in as he charges, swinging his fists at me. I quickly dodge each strike, growing more agitated each time he attempted to hit me.

I jump away from him, my frustration with him reaching a breaking point. I grip my hair as I yell, "Stop! Just stop and listen for one moment, just one!" Josh, who was about to charge me, suddenly froze in his place. Slowly, he lowers his raised fist down to his side and watches me intently. I stare back, my eyes glowing with a bitter green.

I breathe deeply. "You misunderstood. Rosie had approached me and asked if I would like to join her for lunch, that is all. I was not trying to take Rosie away from you, and I'm not interested in her that way. I only wanted to be her friend." I gauge his reaction as I explain the full situation to him. He no longer looked at me, instead took to staring at the ground at his feet. It was silent for a long moment, and all I want to do is run away as fast as I can.

I had used my magic, an unspoken spell to stop him. I let my emotions take control, something I had sworn I wouldn't let happen. Anger and disappointment and fear pools in my gut, and I could only pray to whatever gods there were that I wouldn't be discovered so quickly.