Maybe Today

School has been decent today. Decent as in Travis hasn't pulled me aside yet. Maybe he isn't here today.

Lunch is pretty packed, as per usual. Even though Kim's bologna is pretty weird, this is all we have for the day. I can't lie, though. I always skip bologna days.

I look over at a fascinating group of kids. They seem really nice. I always sit alone, and it's because I'm too afraid to go talk to anyone. I'm in high school; I should own up already, right? Ha.

The girl slaps a hand over her mouth, hiding her laugh from the rest of the group. The boy with long brown hair just grins at her while the masked boys shoulders shake. My assumption is that he's laughing with them. The other two at the table are eating, really just staying to themselves. The boy with glasses isn't with them today, though.

The masked boy isn't wearing pigtails today, which is new. Today, his shoulder length blue hair is down. I like the change.

I know a bit about the masked boy, who I find myself paying more attention to than anyone else. I share a math class with him. And, as far as I know, his name is Sal. Despite never being able to see his facial expressions, he seems like a nice guy.

His group of friends look nice, too. They look like they'd be a lot of fun. I wonder what it would be like to actually be friends with them one day.

But today isn't the day to find out.

With a sigh, I dump my tray and head into the hallway to get to my next class. Math class with Sal, in fact.

In the hallway, thanks to my lack of knocking on wood, awaits my own personal bully, unfortunately.

"Back again, shit-head?" Travis half-teases, half-seethes in my face.

"Yea." I answer quietly, emotionlessly as I look past him and hope that the bell rings soon.

He leans down, his face far too close to mine as a big, angry frown curves his lips. "I told you to never show your face around here again. Whore."

"Can't do much about that. It's school." I reply, still quiet and emotionless all while avoiding his gaze.

"You better look at me when I speak to you!" He yells, grabbing my wrist and yanking on it. "I want to see the fear on your ugly face."

"I yelp in a mixture of pain and fear as I stagger toward him. My heart rate skyrockets as he raises his free hand. Not again...

"Hey, asshole!" I recognize that voice.

Travis pauses in his advances, growling angrily as he glances behind me.

I spin my head around, sending the group of three a pleading look. It's that girl from lunch who yelled. The girl who's friends with Sal and the brown-haired boy.

"Let her go! What the hell is wrong with you?" The boy with long brown hair yells, gesturing toward us with an extremely angry expression.

I can't make much of Sal's reaction, only that he's walking right over to Travis and I at the moment.

"Oh yea?" Travis scoffs. "And what are you gonna do about it? Get Sally Face to come beat me up?"

Sally Face. I've heard Travis say that before in regards to Sal. I guess that's his way of insulting him.

"If you don't let her go then that's what you'll get. Your choice." Sal states cooly, finally reaching us. He grips onto Travis's hand that has mine captured in a vice grip. I can see his blue eyes behind the mask, reflecting the anger he truly feels. Sal's harsh gaze actually astonishes me.

Travis and Sal glare at each other until the bully yanks his hand out from between mine and Sal's. The masked boy's hand drops to mine. He gently takes hold of it then nudges me backwards and toward his other two friends who immediately shield me.

Travis and Sal continue to silently glare at each other. But, finally, Travis simply humphs then stalks away.

I glance between the blue-haired boy and his two friends, my mouth gaping in shock.

"Thank you." I finally whisper, pushing my nerves aside as I look down at my feet. This meeting was meant to happen. Today is the day.

"S'no biggie." The long-haired boy shrugs, smiling at me. He seems relaxed now. "I'd help anyone get away from that fucker."

"For sure." The girl sighs, shaking her head. "I don't know what his problem is! He latches on to you like he latches on to Sally! Seems like he has it out for both of you."

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, smiling as Sal walks over to us. "I guess. I'm not really sure how I managed to piss him off, but he's been bothering me since I got here a couple months ago."

"Really?" Sal asks curiously. "Has he gotten that physical with you before?"

Biting the inside of my cheek, I avert my gaze to avoid embarrassment. Of course it's happened before. And, unlike today, no one showed up to stop his physical attempts to hurt me.

What am I supposed to tell him?

The long-haired boy seems to catch onto my silence though, exclaiming, "Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me!" He growls, expression growing angry yet again. "I'll kill him!"

"No, no. It's okay." I try to reassure him while panicking on the inside. The boy's attempt slash threat would only make Travis even angrier.

The girl agrees with him despite my attempts to change their minds. Sal sits silently, watching, waiting-- but only for so long.

"I see how you guys felt when Travis punched me. I kinda wanna kill him myself now." Sal says nonchalantly.

I gape at the masked boy beside me, wondering what I ever did to get myself into such a situation. "Please." I beg. "Let's not resort to violence. My life has been simple since moving to Nockfell, please..."

All three pause and turn to stare at me silently, their expressions absolutely incredulous.

"Simple?" The brown-haired boy eventually laughs, scoffing then mumbling incoherently to himself.

"Nockfell is anything but simple." Sal jumps in, pointing his chin at his friend.

The girl rolls her eyes. "Would you two cut that out?"

The brown haired boy's hearty laughter dies down to little chuckles. "There's nothing to cut out, Ash!" He shakes his head, a big smile on his face.

"Keep saying that and the ghosts'll get ya." Sal states, beginning to laugh with his brown-haired friend.

The girl, who I now know as Ash, rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. "Whatever." She sighs. "Ghosts-shmosts. There's nothing here."

"Because you don't look, Ash." Sal states, his laughter no longer accompanying his words. This seems to be growing more serious.

Ash frowns, opening her mouth to respond, but the bell cuts her off. Shaking her head, she plasters a smile onto her face and turns to me. "If Travis ever bothers you again, come find us. I'm Ash," Then she points to the boy with long brown hair, "this is Larry," Then she points to Sal, "and this is Sal."

Smiling back at her, I nod in understanding. "Thanks for the help. I'm Emilie."

"Nice to meet you, Emilie. Catch you around." Larry says, waving at me as he turns to walk down the hallway.

Sal stands beside me, watching his friend's retreating figures. Finally, we make eye contact. I can't help the little smile that makes its way to my lips.

"If you ever need help, we'll be around." He says, then he turns away and begins walking to our shared class. I guess he hasn't noticed that we have the same class.

As my smile slowly drops, I scurry through the hallway when I notice that I only have two minutes left to get to class.

Unfortunately for me, which seems to be my motto today, the bell rings just as I reach the math hall. I've never been late to class before in my life.

As quickly as I can, I run over to my class and frantically knock on the door. And, as soon as my teacher opens the door, my gaze drops to my feet.

"Well, thank you for gracing us with your divine presence, Ms. Davis. Would you be so kind as to answer the first question from last night's homework for us on the board? Since you can waste important class time, surely you can at least give us that." My teacher says loudly with the fakest smile I've ever seen on her face.

Mentally kicking myself for this entire scene, I nervously smile back at her and take the marker she's holding out to me. "Yes, Mrs. Packerton." I say quietly.

I carefully walk over to the board after my teacher recites the question I'm meant to answer.

It's an easy question, so I scribble down the answer and turn toward the class, freezing when everyone's eyes are on me, including Travis's and Sal's.

Travis looks angry while Sal... well, I can't really tell.

"Thank you, Ms. Davis. Have a seat." Mrs. Packerton announces, an announcement that I didn't need. I'm already halfway to my desk.

Right as I pass Sal, he whispers, "Good job." with smiling eyes.

I smile in acknowledgement then plop down into my desk a few paces behind him.