Bully's Proposal

Part 0

I stood at the school gate, readying myself for the last year I had to face. Just one more year in this godforsaken school. Just one more year of Ashton Brown and then I'll be free. Free of this shitty town, this school and Ashton's bullying. With those thoughts in mind, I began walking to my locker. Since first lecture was chemistry, I took the relevant books out of my locker but before I could take my hand out, the locker was banged shut on my hand. I quickly retracted my hand and hissed in pain but the damage was done.

"So clumsy love." Ashton said. Of course, who else would bang the fucking locker on my hand.

"Got nothing to say sweetheart?" He smirked as everyone gathered around to see what was happening.

His god-like body stood in front of me and if he wasn't my bully, I swear I would be drooling at those black orbs that were his eyes.

"I--I'm sorry." I said even when I had nothing to apologise for.

"Hmm... It's okay love. Be careful. And if I were you, I'd stop embrassing myself." He said before walking away. With that, the crowd began dispersing too and I was left behind holding my hand, hoping it wasn't broken.

In class I couldn't write. I was right handed and Ashton's act had damaged my right hand. So I just sat there. Not one person was going to help me and I knew it. It has been like this since 6th grade. Ashton had driven all my friends away from me by making sure that if anyone tried to be my friend, they would recieve endless torment.

I can't even recall how this bullying started anymore. But I couldn't do much about it. Ashton's parents practically ran the school and my foster parents couldn't care less about me. The only person who was even remotely nice to me was Ashton's best friend Jake. As my lecture ended, Jake approached me.

"Hey." He smiled sadly.

"You're here again." I said.

"Take this. The ointment should help with the hand." Jake said pointing at my hand that was now bruised purple.

"Thanks. How is it that you always know when to help me?" I asked taking the ointment from him.

"I just do." He said walking away.

This is the routine. Whenever Ashton does something bad to me, Jake helps me. I don't understand how Jake and Ashton are friends and I think I never will. Jake is the complete opposite of Ashton and despite being Ashton's best friend, he always helps me out. He's the boy I've had a crush on since freshman year because he has helped me since time immemorial.

I went to the washroom and applied the onitment to my hand and it instantly felt a little better. Of course it was still throbbing in pain but I wasn't new to pain. Thankfully Ashton didn't trouble me for the rest of the day. After school, I walked home.

"I'm home Ma'am." I announced to my foster mother.

"Good, clean up and then cook." She ordered.

Did I mention that my foster family hates me? I'm the Cinderella in my story but the only difference between our stories is that no Prince is coming for me. I'm forever going to live in this hell hole. Now back to my foster parents. They only keep me around because they get money and I cook meals and tidy the house for them. Basically I'm their free maid service.

After doing all the chores that were assigned to me, I eat dinner and then go to sleep with no will to wake up the next morning. Huh... Guess my life sucks more than I thought.

The next morning when I woke up, I did all the morning chores all over again. It was a process I couldn't rid myself of. Once I was done, I took a bath and put on the same clothes that I had owned since about 4-5 years because my size hadn't grown and I wouldn't get new clothes unless I outgrew them. I made sure that I put ointment on hand so that it gets better. Then it was time for school. Luckily, Ashton didn't find me in the first lecture but we had second lecture together so unfortunately we crossed paths.

"Hey love avoiding me?" Ashton asked.

"N--no" I stuttered.

"Okay then, go ahead, attend class."

I had frozen in my spot. This was most definitely new. Ashton had never just let me go. When I say never, I mean it.   I should have known it was too good to be true because the moment I tried to enter class, he put his foot in the middle and tripped me. I fell face first.

My nose and left arm took all the impact and I'm pretty sure my nose was bleeding. I tried to get up on my own but no awail. I think Jake finally couldn't see me so helpless and so he helped me out. He put his arm around my waist and used his other hand to hold my hand and then helped me stand up. Once I was sure I could walk, I nodded at him and he helped me to a bench. He handed me tissues from the teacher's desk to stop my nose from bleeding. This was the first time Jake had ever helped me in front of Ashton and I could see that Ashton was already planning his revenge.

His eyes were glowing with a sort of darkness I hadn't seen before. I'm not sure if it was rage, it looked like more pure emotion. Whatever it was, I knew I was going to be at its recieving end and that scared the hell out of me. Once the teacher entered, the entire class settled down. Jake didn't leave my side and sat next to me instead.

"Jake, what are you doing? Ashton's glaring at us." I said.

"He can go fuck himself." Jake said. It was the first time I had heard Jake curse.

The lecture began as usual and we started with the basics and all. But then our teacher decided it would be a good idea to drop a project on us at the second day of school... Fucking great.

"So the project will be in pairs but the good news is you can choose your own pair."

Good news? That's a disaster! No one would ever willingly pair with me. Or so I thought.

"I'll pair with Minerva." said both Jake and Ashton at the same time.

"Who do you want do pair with?" The teacher asked me. I paused for a second, what if I pair with Jake and Ashton troubles me more than usual? But pairing with him would lead to the same concequences.

"Jake, I want to pair with Jake." I said. In that moment, Ashton didn't care that there was a teacher in class, he stormed out but not before glaring at me one final time.

I knew something had changed today. I knew something was different. What I didn't know was the degree to which things were going to change around me. My world was going to get better and fall apart at the same time.