Perfect

“What were you thinking Isabella? Are you asking for a death wish?” She queried as soon as we got to the large oak tree. I groaned loudly at her question, I honestly just wanted to go home and sleep. My headache had gotten worse throughout the day and especially during the whole situation that happened about ten minutes ago. “I don’t know why I slapped him Claire, my brain just kind of told my hand to pick itself up and slap him fair across the face.”

After I’d hit Cameron, we made sure to make ourselves scarce and not sit anywhere near the cafeteria. Not that we were planning to anyway. He’d had one of those 'if looks could kill' vibes going on after I'd hit him and it was hard because I’m not usually a violent person. I obviously went to boxing twice a week but that was only for protection. I’ve never had to use it against anyone before and this hadn’t even been self-defence. It’d just been simply because he was an absolute ass and deserved the red hand print on his face that I’m hoping he had. I turned back to Claire who was happily munching on another one of her sandwiches as if none of this had happened and she didn’t have a care in the world.

“How am I going to avoid him for the rest of the day Claire? It’s going to be physically impossible.” She had a thoughtful look on her face and I could see the cogs turning around in her weird little mind, “You’ll just have to pray he lets you keep your life Bella, if not, use ya cool ninja skills on him!” She exclaimed jumping up and showing me some examples of the moves that came from Kung Fu Panda. I cracked up laughing and ended up falling over onto the grass clutching my stomach gasping for air as she continued to dance around like an absolute lunatic. This ladies and gentlemen is why she was my best friend.

I reached the library door for my fourth period spare and pushed open the door. Big mistake since it hit the wall from the force of me opening it so hard. I gasped and looked around before rushing through the entry, my feet carrying me all the way to the back of the library where there were a few beanbags perched up against the wall and books scattered everywhere. The boys wouldn’t come back this far and luckily, I hadn’t seen any of them and I wanted to keep it that way. They hate the idea of books, well I hope they do anyway. Grabbing a few beanbags and placing them in a row behind one of the book racks with the letter ‘Z’ on it, I jumped down onto them and made myself comfortable, also making sure I was well hidden in the shadows. I grabbed out a new book I had found and started to read it.

I was about at least two-hundred pages into the intriguingly good book and forty minutes into the period when a body popped up beside me. I clamped my hand over my mouth therefore muffling the scream emitting from my throat while jumping ten feet in the air, well not literally. But it caused my book to fly out of my hands onto the nearby beanbag and for me to hit the ground on my bum. The tall figure beside me chuckled and for a moment I had a mini heart attack, Cameron had found my hiding spot. Ever so cautiously looking up I found myself looking into shining amber gold eyes filled with amusement.

A large breath escaped from my mouth, one that I hadn’t been aware I’d been holding in. “You scared the shit out of me Seth.” I scowled standing up and rubbing the side of my butt cheek, advancing over towards my book and grabbing it off the beanbag. “I actually find it quite amusing that you’re hiding from Cameron, but you shouldn’t let him have that power over you.” Seth explained, concern masking his beautiful features. I shook my head, “He does though.” I took a deep breath trying to control my anxiety and the fact that my head was spinning didn’t help. I stumbled towards the wall and put my forehead against the cool surface relishing in the relief it gave my temperature.

Seth appeared beside me the concerned look obviously cemented into his face, “First things first Bella; are you okay?” I kind of just wanted him to finish what he had to say and go away. I chucked a quick glance at my watch, ten minutes left thank god. I nodded at him not wanting to interrupt his speaking even though any normal person would be able to see that I wasn’t well.

He narrowed his eyes a little but continued on anyway, “Okay good, second thing; I will not make excuses for Cameron even though I’m one of his best mates but I will say one thing to back him up. That kid has been through a heck of a lot in his life and although he probably burst a fuse in the cafeteria he in no means would actually hurt you. He may have meant it in the heat of the moment but I don’t think he would now.” Looking at him in utter disbelief I shook my head again for what seemed like the eighty fifth time in this discussion, okay I’m over exaggerating but oh well. “It’s nice to know now that I can piece together some of the reasons that he’s an absolute asshole but it’s no excuse, at all. He scares me and that’s final. I’d rather stay away from him than be near him at all to be honest.”

He looked at me with a calculating look on his face before a smile tugged on his lips, “That’s understandable, I’ve got football training so I have to leave early but I’ll talk to you again soon. Or you could get my number off your hot friend Claire for me.” Seth winked before turning around and walking out of my little nook in the very back corner of the library, grabbing a book on his way past the end of the book shelf and disappearing. I was silently praying that he wouldn’t reveal my spot or what I was doing in this spot to any of the boys.

To my surprise the bell went about two minutes after he left and I just finished packing up my stuff. I waited a little while just to make sure I was the only one left in the library before walking out of my little corner and peaking around to see if anyone was still in the area. I need to stop creeping around like a ninja but the area was all clear anyway, there was just the librarian Anita and a few of the helpers in there for the afternoon. Brain still obviously stuck in ninja mode, I was out of the library in a flash. I took a deep breath when I walked out the doors and hurried into the hallway of busy student’s running back and forth to race home and be out of this hellhole.

Pulling my hoodie back over my head I kept my head low to the ground and retraced my steps back to the locker. When I reached it, I saw a pair of black heels standing in front of my line of vision. I groaned internally and looked up to see who it was when a smirking Claire caught my eye. I breathed out a sigh of relief before shoving her off my locker and putting necessary books in and taking others out. “Rough lesson Bella?”

“No, had an argument with Seth since he found me hiding in the corner. But he didn’t snitch so I’m not too worried. The boys also have football this afternoon so we can’t call Michael until they’re gone and I’m praying to the lord they ignore us when they come out.” Her eyes lit up in amusement and the smirk on her face had widened. “First of all, you know you overthink too much for a normal human being, second, you’ll have to tell me what you and Seth discussed and three that sounds perfectly fine to me. Just don’t be surprised if I fall asleep, I’m absolutely pooped.”

I laughed at her statement as a smile started to pull on my lips, “You know you’re absolutely crazy sometimes, right?”

“Yes, in fact, I’m absolutely crazy for you.” She said chucking a wink over her shoulder as she skipped towards the parking lot. I chuckled and followed her out the large doors, was I lucky to have her or what.

As Claire and I discussed the library drama with Seth I was having deep thoughts about what happened between me and Cameron. Honestly it was the last thing I wanted to think about but it was just nagging at the back of my mind, especially now that Seth had added his two cents in and made me even more curious. Like does anyone know how inquisitive I am, someone help please.

Although I hadn’t seen Cameron all day, he wasn’t making any valiant efforts to look for me and destroy me with his own bare two hands. The thought of that made me shudder, how utterly terrifying. My life hasn’t been hard, it’s had its ups and downs, one’s I’ve previously mentioned but what happened to Cameron must have been bad. A temper like that is almost like a destructive comet and since Cameron was being so quiet I just decided to assume it was ‘the quiet before the raging storm’ and again, it terrified me. ‘You’ll regret that you little bitch, I’m going to make your life a living hell,’ were his exact words and quite frankly I didn’t know what to expect now.

I regret hitting him and then again, I don’t. I think we’re even now. As Princess I should know better than to hit someone, than again if someone hit me or disrespected me in any way physically or emotionally they would be punished in the most extreme way at home. So, I didn’t see the difference anyway. I was just anticipating what would happen next now, every time I had turned a corner or opened a door today, I was sure to open it slowly and carefully just in case a prank was going to be pulled or Cameron was standing behind it ready to pulverize me.

A pair of hands whizzing past my face snapping their fingers broke me out of my thoughts, obviously trying to get my attention they were Claire’s. “Yes Claire?”

“Um, the boys are coming over here but Cameron isn’t with them.” Claire informed me with a shaky voice. I did a full one eighty and sure enough the boys were walking over with large grins on their faces looking extremely sweaty after football or maybe that was just water from the showers they took after. I’d be able to tell once they got here, even though I didn’t want them here at all.

I turned back around to face Claire, they weren’t that far away now so I had to speak quick, “I don’t care really Claire, Seth kinda promised me I wouldn’t get hurt and look where I am now and the rest of them, well. Again, I don’t care.”

“Ouch, that hit home hard Bella. But you should already know that I’m sorry I didn’t stop him.” Shit, wasn’t fast enough. My breath hitched in my throat when I heard Seth’s voice from behind me. I cursed in my head silently for not realising earlier that obviously these boys had extremely long and strong legs, of course they’d get here in two seconds flat.

“I wasn’t meant to say that so loud either,” I grumbled to myself, frustrated that I’d let him hear my whining when I had specifically told him already that I wasn’t going to whine. Well when I meant I wasn’t going to whine, I meant not to them or anyone else in the population but, Claire doesn’t count, she’s family. A hand grabbed my arm and I was whipped around for the second time today, to face the boys before I even knew what was happening. They were all gazing at me intently as if they expected me to pull a fucking rabbit out of a hat. Some of the boy’s gazes were floating towards the bruise on the side of my face and then would quickly look away when I caught them. It was a cute game I was playing with them.

“I won’t allow Cameron to hurt you anymore Bella, he can play his pranks on you as much as he likes but I don’t want them to hurt you.” Seth said, a sparkle of concern flashing through his eyes. For again, the second time today I was tongue-tied so I just nodded since my brain didn’t want to connect to my mouth. Ash, Jason and Ace were obviously in agreement since they were all nodding behind him in agreement, but there was a smirk on Jason and Ace’s face and that mortified me.

I groaned unreasonably loud, most likely sounding like I was in some serious pain, which I swear I was, mentally. “This feels like Deja vu all over again. Also, I should be slapping you all for laughing the day Cameron tripped me as well.” I said narrowing my eyes while crossing my arms and scowling at all of them.

“Well it was kind of funny.” Jason piped up from behind Seth. I raised an eyebrow at him and he just grinned. I shook my head and let out a long-exasperated sigh, I was so tired and ready to jump into my bed. These boys just had to leave though. A small vibration went off in my pocket and I pulled out the sleek phone to find a text message from Claire even though she was right in front of me.

Michael’s here Bella? - C

I looked towards the parking lot and sure enough the big black SUV was parked in the middle of the road waiting for me and Claire.

Okay let me shake these boys and we’ll start walking to the car. - B

I turned to the boys who had been chatting amongst themselves for a few seconds while I’d been preoccupied with the phone, “Okay boys, me and Claire have gotta run but we’ll see you on Monday. Adios.” I grabbed Claire’s hand and turned around to walk towards the car. We got about thirty metres before Seth yelled out to us again, “Wait Claire! I forgot to tell you there’s a party on this weekend at Jason’s since there’s a game next week and we want to party and shit before it gets serious, you two should come. I’ll text you the details.” And with that, Seth and the boys headed towards their own cars in the parking lot, leaving me lost for words. Third time today if anyone was counting other than myself. But holy shit;

I just got invited to a high school party.