TWO

Timothy was  in his classroom  again. His first day yesterday seemed bad enough, but now  that  people  knew what  he  looked like  they  seemed to swarm around him like ants  on a  piece  of candy.  When the  class  hadn’t  started yet,  the  girls  were  crowded around his seat,  introducing themselves and acting like Sophie. They all left his seat with frowns on  their faces,  taking rejection from  him too hard.  He had turned them all away, tightly  setting his  lips  and shaking  his  head at  them. The only time he had spoken was when  he  told  them  to go  away  and  not  be  a pest.  They  all went  back to  their seats, throwing  him angry  glances and  muttering remarks.  The only  girl with a smile on their face  was  Stephanie. He  would not  think  it was a smile  really, it was more a  smirk. He didn’t  really see  what was so  amusing with  his  situation.  It  was more a  nuisance  and added to his  irritation.  There seemed to be a competition between the girls of who would catch his attention. Apparently, his patience was wearing thin, and soon he wouldn’t even bother to endure their prattle but stand up and leave.

During their break,  he would  go out  of the  cafeteria  and sit  down on the bench again. He saw Stephanie sitting under the same tree, eating her packed lunch. She seemed to want privacy, but then, so did he. He didn’t really know how to approach her after their short introduction yesterday. There wasn’t really much to talk about.

The next day,  it  was the  guys  who had  gone  over to  Timothy.  They  thumped him on  the back,  acting  like  they  had been  friends for  a long time. Timothy wondered what it  was with  this  school  because it  seemed  like  everyone  seemed  to come in big waves.  Like yesterday,  he turned  them away.  It was  weird  for  him  because  the  boys seemed  to  take it  harder  than  the girls.  His attitude seemed to simulate a fight between him and  one of  the popular  boys.  There  seemed  to be an unannounced law that no one should ever reject  a friendship  with Bobby Martin.  It seemed  like hurt  pride  was more important than the female’s romantic status.

The fight  stimulated in the hallway when Bobby had Timothy leaning on the grey lockers.  Timothy had  warned  Bobby that  he didn’t  want to fight. But he would only to imply self-defense. The students started  cheering, which seemed  to encourage  Bobby in continuing  their  brawl. The  fight  ended  though,  a  few  minutes  later,  with  Timothy leaving  unscathed, and  Bobby on  the floor  clutching  his bloody  nose.  They were both sent to  the  principal’s  office,  and  with  Bobby’s  bad-boy  reputation,  and  Timothy’s gentlemanly manner, it was Timothy who left the lions den victorious.

 

It  was lunch,  and  Stephanie  was  under  her  tree  again.  The doors opened, and again,  Timothy  stepped  out. His eyes landed on her for a second, then looked away, like he didn’t even see her. She watched  him with annoyance, disbelief, and amusement as he sat down on the same bench as yesterdays. Annoyance and disbelief because he knew she wanted  privacy;  she was  here first,  and it  was like  he  didn’t  even  care.  He  just kept coming  back.  With  amusement,  because  she  thought  it  was  funny  to  w a t c h  h e r classmates  to be  rejected  and walk away with their tails between their legs, and because he acted like a modern-time Mr. Darcy who knew butt-kicking self-defense.

Sure enough,  it took only  three days for Timothy to brand his reputation of being a loner. Her opinion of him on the first day  seemed to be wrong. It was the first time that her prejudice seemed  to be wrong.  But then,  there really  was something different about the new boy.

The  cafeteria  doors  burst  open,  and  Bobby  Martin  appeared  with  two  of his henchmen  on both sides.  Timothy stood up untroubled, and put his hands in his pockets. She watched as Bobby approached Timothy with his friends following close behind.

 

Timothy  watched  as  Bobby  came  closer.  It seemed  like he wanted to continue their fight from this morning. No one was around, except for Bobby, himself, and his two friends.  And, of course…  Stephanie… who,  disbelievingly,  was walking  over to them. She stopped, in between both sides.

“Who the hell is this?” Bobby said.

“What do you care?” she snapped back.

“What the hell are you doing?” Timothy whispered to her.

“Get out of the way.” Bobby said, shoving her aside.

“Don’t touch her.” Timothy said gravely. “Leave her out of this.”

Stephanie stepped back in between both of them.

“What can a girl do?” Bobby said jokingly to his friends.

“I can fight you.” She said bravely.

“Fight?” he laughed. “You?”

“I can scream too.” She said smugly. “What do you think people will think when they hear a girl scream and see you?”

“You are so full of yourself.” he said, taking a step closer to her and clutching her chin.

She slapped him hard. “So are you.”

“Why you…”

Timothy stepped between them, casting a protective arm in front of Stephanie. “I said, don’t touch her. This fight is between you and me.” He said, anger in his eyes, clenching his fist.

Bobby  saw that, and his nose still had a bandage on. “I’ll leave you and your girl-friend alone for a while. Come on guys.” He said, motioning to his friends.

They disappeared behind the doors. Timothy stared weirdly at Stephanie. She saw it, and left, without a word.

 

School  had  ended for  the day,  and  Stephanie  was walking on the sidewalk. No one was around, a detail which didn’t bother her, but she  soon  would discover, it would.

“Your stunt this morning really was the wrong thing to do.” A voice said.

She turned, and saw Bobby a few feet away, but was quickly nearing her.

Stephanie went rigid; her heart  was beating fast; her usual habit when she had the intuition that she had to protect herself.  She  clenched her  fist, ready to give him what he really  deserved.  She  wanted  to  appear  strong, but  he saw  the way  she  trembled.  He chuckled  and took  a step  closer,  taking  her by  the shoulders.  Her instinct  brought her knee up and hit him between the legs. He fell down to his knees. She started running. She ran up  the road.  Soon enough  she heard heavier  footsteps behind her, and he eventually caught up.

“You’re dead.” He said gravely.

She heard another pair of running steps, lighter, faster. And seconds later Bobby was on the ground, out cold, and Timothy was running, pulling her close behind.

They stopped running after a few blocks. They were both out of breath.

“You…” he said, gasping. “Really… shouldn’t have… interfered this morning.”

“What?” she breathed.

“You could have… saved yourself from all this trouble.”

She narrowed her eyes. “This… is the thanks I get?”

“I can take care… of myself.”

“Fine. I won’t bother next time.”

“Good.”

She huffed and stomped away.

Reviews

[clairvoyantmars]

stephanie, though very "frail" because of her "power" can be very defensive at times, this is a trait i love about her.