Miles nodded, gathering his own belongings. "Yup, math with ol mr. Dem. Heard he already scolded a student this morning.." All was well until the jocks and the popular kids came up.
Miles tried to be tactical, be nice. "Yeah, she is cute. What of it? Step aside please, we have class."


However, soon it became apparent that these males were not just out to tease and irritate. They were full on bullying and harassing. Miles glared at them. How on earth did people become so cruel?! They were like a pack of ravenous hyenas.
Hearing the hissed words and seeing them pull the poor female around, Miles felt his blood boil. Why were people so mean to her?! What had she ever done to deserve such treatment?
"Leave her alone! Pick on me if you want, but that was uncalled for! Have you no shame, pushing around and hurting a lady? What kind of people are you?!"Miles was pissed. Never before had he been so angry at anyone. Gathering some courage and strength from some unknown source, he slugged the first one to call her such a filthy name and grab the young woman full in the nose.

Jayce stepped forward right around the time Miles decided to join the fray. The male pushed the other boy away, taking the blow that was directed at him.
"What the hell, man?!" the jock yelled, trying to get at Miles.
Jayce moved to stand in his way, shoving him back. He wasn't going to let this happen.
It was then that the fight really started. Bella was shoved aside into some lockers, where she swiftly tripped over her own bag as it hit her legs. The second that the girl was out of the way, blows were traded.
Jayce was a traitor at that moment, and the populars weren't about to let that slip.
-

Jesse Lockwood sighed, hearing commotion out in the hall. Standing, the art teacher excused himself from the classroom only to find that there was a group of nearly two dozen teens cluttering the hall. Roughly five of them were actually fighting, and the rest cheering. Time to clear this up.

Surprised that the head jock himself was defending him, Miles nodded in thanks and threw off a male who was grabbing at him. As soon as things heated up and he saw Bella thrown into a locker, Miles went wide eyed, rushing to her side. "Bella! Are you ok? Are you badly hurt?" Placing an arm around her shoulder and offerring her his hand, the black haired youth scooted aside, acting as a shield lest the fight come to close and helping to keep her away from the merciless jocks.

Not long after the comotion started, thereby startling the kitten in her arms and making it mewl unhappily, Rhianwen decided to sate her curiousity. With a gasp and a look of dissapointment and confusion, she saw the melee in the hallways, and...was that Jayce? Of course, head jock of all was bound to be involved, and he almost seemed nice. But still, why were his friends the ones beating on him?

"I'm okay," Bella sobbed out, her face immediately falling into a careless mask. She sniffed once, stuffing her emotions down as she always did. Her arm was a bit sore, and she was a bit emotionally messed up, but she was never hit . . . except by the lockers, which didn't count. She had run into them, and then tripped over her own stuff. Clumsy.
"I need to get to class," the girl muttered, turning her face away from Miles. Looking at the books and papers scattered about the hall, Tweak frowned. Great.
-

Lockwood stepped out to grasp one of the boy's arms, shoving him back. "Enough!" he called out, shaking his head. "Detention! All of you!" Turning his brown eyes to Jayce, who was picking himself up off of the floor and wiping a smear of blood off of his cheekbone, the art teacher pointed to the clock. "If you're not all in class in two minutes, I'm calling the police. Juvenile hall isn't the best place to start out your life."
A few of the crowd began to disperse with mutters and giggles, while the jocks slowly started to get to class. More than a few of them suffered from minor bruises, and Jayce himself had a gash along one cheek bone from someone's fist, but overall everyone would live. Enough.

miles frowned, shaking his head and holding Isabella's hand. "No, you aren't ok. You seem physically ok, but I doubt you're fine. Here, I'll help walk you to class." Taking her bag, he proceeded to pack her things back up and help her out.

Rhianwen hoped Jesse Lockwood would call the cops. Some of these kids could use some straightening out. About to walk off to class, the redhead caught sight of Jayce. He seemed to have taken the most damage.

"I'm fine," Bella repeated, a mask of protection and abrasive cruelty suddenly covering her movements. "Just get away from me." Their words don't heal. Not when they carried a grain of underlying truth. Yanking her hand away from Miles, Tweak shook her head, brushing the front of her yellow sweater before taking her bag back, stuffing the last few things in it, and slinging it over her shoulder. Swiftly ducking her head and shouldering her way past her new friend, Isabella headed toward class . . . until Miles was out of sight. Slipping into the girl's bathroom, she waited until everyone was gone to quietly slump against the wall near the sinks, trying to muffle the sob that clawed its way up to her lips.
She would go home, but it was worse than school. She would go to her family, if they were any better than the preps. But it wasn't. And they weren't. Resting her head on her knees, the emo-themed girl sniffled, letting silent tears slip down her cheeks. Tweak wasn't going to be in math class that day.
-

Just as he was about to head off to class, Jayce saw Rhianwen standing not far off to the side. He glanced at the art teacher before stepping over with a small smile. "You see any of that?" he asked quietly, watching one of the last remaining jocks wander off. The bell was about to ring. He should be in class right now. But I actually did something this time.
Brushing his brown hair out of his face, the youth cleared his throat. "You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?"

Miles stared after the girl, shocked. What had happened? Was he missing something? Did he do something wrong? Deciding maybe she just needed space and time to cool down, he reluctantly headed to math class with Mr. Dem.
After 5 minutes into class, Miles became a bit anxious. By 10 minutes, he was worried. By 15, he was absolutely distracted. For the first time ever, Miles was paying absolutely no attention to the teacher or the lesson. He was worried about Bella. Something must be very wrong, and his gut wrenched in anxiety. Unable to stand it, he raised his hand.
"Mr. Dem, May I be excused? I don't feel too well sir."

Looking over at the bleeding Jayce, Rhianwen and Jesse Lockwood took in his appearance. "I did mr. Jayce, and don't forget, detention tommorow after school with Mrs. Pasternack, you and the other 4 boys. I suggest you two head to class now, lest you get demerits." With this, the art instructor returned to his classroom, shaking his head.
Seeing the blood, the redhead pulled out a scrap of a recently cut up t-shirt of hers that she had outgrown. Rhianwen...was a packrat. In addition, she liked to cut up her old clothes that were worn and torn and unable to be donated and use them as cleaning rags, tourneqets, and makeshift bandage wrap and such for animals. This time, she used it to wipe Jayce's cuts.
"You're bleeding...y-you should see the nurse."

Scott Dem turned to Miles, a slight frown on his aging face. "Be sure to keep up with the rest of class," he said, and with that, he turned back to the board. He had been dismissed that easily - it wasn't hard to trust a student that got straight A's on everything.
-

Wiping her smeared mascara off of her cheek, Bella took a shaky breath, leaning back against the cold wall. Swallowing, the girl stood, grabbing her bag and stepping to the door of the restroom. Just as she entered the hallway, one of the earlier jocks walked by, giving her a shove as they passed.
The move caused Tweak to drop her things again, stumbling backward into the girl's bathroom - and the jock got away. Letting out a frustrated cry, the young woman picked herself up shakily, moving back out into the hallway to start cleaning up her things. It was after the first few pencils when she finally just gave up, silent tears streaming down her face once again. Leaning against the wall, she sank down, resting her head on her knees.
Who cares who saw her? Let the entire school see that Tweak was having an emotional breakdown. Go ahead. Let them broadcast it on Youtube for all she cared. Isabella merely sat there for many minutes, not quite ready to move.
-

Blushing when Rhianwen wiped a bit of blood from his face, Jayce shook his head. "A bit of blood isn't enough to worry about," he said quietly, offering to take the bloody cloth from her. "I'll be alright." I get worse in practice. "Volleyball hurts more than this," the youth said with a chuckle, starting toward his next class. History next.
Thinking over the fact that he had detention the next day, Jayce sighed. "Well, at least no one got too hurt, right?" He ran a hand through his brown hair, sighing again. "What class do you have next?"

Miles wandered the halls worriedly, searching for any sign of Bella when he saw a lone, crumpled figure by the walls, hunched over into a ball. Eyes widening, he immediately ran over to the broken girl and knelt beside her, worry in his eyes.
"Bella! Did someone hurt you again? Please....tell me where it hurts...I-I wanna help."
Gingerly placing an arm around her shoulders, he took a tissue from his handy supply of useable odds and ends in his extra backpack pouch. Opening the travel packet of tissues, he lightly patted her tear streaked face.

With a nod, Rhianwen gave a little shy half smile in return. "True, but y-you still have a cut on your face...um..here, I probably have some stuff..."
Reaching into a side pouch, the girl pulled out a non latex adhesive bandage and some antibacterial oitment. Tentatively, she opened the bandage and squeezed a small amount of the infection preventing medicine on it and applied it to the small gash on his cheekbone.
"T-there you go. I hope it helps. erm....I have English next."

When she heard Miles' voice, Bella didn't shy away. Instead, she nearly crushed him in a hug, using his shoulder as her pillow. After he patted a few of her tears away, the girl sniffed, taking one of the tissues and blowing her nose. "I'll be okay," she rasped, clearing her throat. Just having him there, smelling nice and everything, made her feel bad. She shouldn't be worrying other people with her silly tears. Wiping them away, she smiled weakly.
"Just got upset is all," she whispered, leaning against the boy that was kind enough to help her. "Someone pushed me again." The girl vaguely motioned to her scattered pencils and papers, a devastated look on her pale face. And their words remind me of home.
-

"Thank you," Jayce said quietly, touching the bandage lightly. "English." He shook his head. "Mrs. Pasternack?" Slowly heading in that direction instead of his own classroom, the jock glanced about. "My class is just down the hall from yours. History with Jefferson." Smiling slightly, the youth ran a hand through his hair again. "So I guess I'll . . . see you around?" Looking down at Rhainwen, he smiled again before reaching out to pat the kitten in her arms. "Maybe I'll sneak away from volleyball to come and watch you in drama."

Miles petted her hair gently, not even realizing when he had started doing so. As the girl leaned against him and sniffled in distress, the boy shook his head, pushing his glasses back up his nose.
"It's more than that. You seem like the strong type, so it must be something deeper that's bothering you. Y-you don't gotta tell me, but...I promise to help in any way I can..." The young man smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner,picking up her scattered pencils and pens and putting them away for her.

Rhianwen held the kitten out so Jayce could pet it, nodding the affirmative in answer to his question. "History with M-mr. Ron Jefferson?" As she nodded and turned to walk off into her room, she paused, blinking in surprise, eyes wide. "H-How did you know I had drama class?" Then, as she registered he said 'sneak away,' a look of concern crossed her features. "I- I don't want to make you get into trouble.....b-but it was a nice offer..I mean you can if you want, but..I mean..well...just...you should be careful."

Strong. She tried to be. But it didn't seem to be working very well. She was breaking down more often recently - yet another reason for her nickname. Tweak glanced at Miles as he pushed his glasses up, a though in the back of her mind thinking it was cute.
"I don't know where to start," Isabella said after a few moments of silence. Ignoring the fact that they were supposed to be in class, the girl took a deep, shaky breath before continuing. "Things are bad." The dark covering of bangs flit over her eyes again. "They suck here, but they're worse at home." Bella cleared her throat, trying to sound stronger. "They're always worse at home."
-

Jayce shook his head. He wouldn't admit that he'd seen her on the list for the drama team - it sounded a bit too stalker-ish. "I won't get in trouble. I'll come and check it out during our team break." He smiled as she stuttered over her words, trying not to sound awkward. "I'll be careful. Don't worry about me." Nudging the girl's arm, the jock grinned, and then gave her a small wave. "I'd better get to class real quick. I don't want any demerits."

"Then stay with me!" Miles blinked, flushing a bit and shaking his head sheepishly. "Erm..well, Sorry. I mean, you need to find someone you can trust. If you're home is bad, you need someplace trusting, safe, and healthy for you...." With a sigh, he gingerly hugged her to him, hoping and praying he wasn't being too forward, he really sucked at interacting with new people and girls. "I'm sorry...I ..I wish there was more I could do to help you..."

Blushing beet red atr his smile and his nudging, Rhianwen nodded in understanding of his words. "A-allright. Well, have a good class...." the girl hugged the kitten close and walked inside, taking her seat by the window in her next class.

"I can't leave," Bella sniffled, wiping her makeup off of her face once again. "I can't let my mother stay with him." Swallowing, the girl wiped her eyes furiously with the edges of her sleeves. "Thanks for trying, Miles. But I choose to stay." She didn't mention that she didn't stay with the opposite gender - too many rumors stemmed from that sort of interaction. It wasn't something she wanted to subject herself to. But she couldn't help thinking of doing it anyway - just to get away from home.
"You can't be everyone's hero," she whispered, sitting still for a few more moments before glancing up at the clock. "We should go to class."
-

((And I'm going to say that Jayce went to his class. :)))

Miles offered Bella a clean handkerchief he carried just in case, feeling rather useless at the moment. And stupid. Of course she'd not stay with him...that was just asking for trouble. He was a guy and she was a girl, and such things were not appropriate while still in high school. "Perhaps...you and your mom can run away from him? Go live with a relative or family friend?" As Miles heard her whisper about heros, Miles flushed. She thought he was trying to be a hero? He sure didn't feel like it. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him."I'm sorry for prying....I don't mean to invade if it's too personal..I..I'm sorry, I just want to help..and well, I can't be a hero, but I wanna try and be yours!" The last part was blurted without thinking. Turning red, Miles groaned. Why did he let his mouth run ahead of him?! Placing a hand over his eyes and face, he hoped she wouldn't be too mad at him or think him too big a dork.

Rhianwen went through class quietly and without incident, except of course the usual scolding and issue with bringing in a stray...again....

Tweak paused, slowly letting her brown eyes move to Miles' face. "My hero?" she repeated, a small smile on her face. Reaching up, she ran a hand through the boy's hair, brushing it out of his face. "How about my friend?"
-

Throughout class, Jayce scribbled notes, thinking about that evening. Now that he had said he was going, he was eager to see Rhianwen in her Drama class. Very eager. Time went by slowly until he finally heard people start putting their things away, of which he swiftly followed. Only one more class.

Miles smiled, feeling his cheeks flush a bit as the girl played with his hair. He liked it. It wasn't like when his friends tried to piss him off with noogie-ing him. Brought back to reality by her voice, Miles nodded at her. "Yeah, Hero...K-kinda dorky, I know...ehe.." he mumbled sheepishly before taking her hand, a smile on his face. "I am your friend silly! Now, let me escort you to class m'lady."

Rhianwen scribbled notes and focused as much as possible, ocassionally doodling in her notes. When she wasn't paying attention or sketching, she petted, soothed, and otherwise checked up on the kitten in her lap. The combined head of the animal and her sweater and her body heat were making her lap warm. Finally, it was time for science class.

He was so cute when he blushed. Brown eyes tracing over Miles' smoothly featured face, Bella let a small smile grace her lips. The bell rang, startling Tweak out of any bit of reverie she was going through. "Math's done with," she muttered, pushing herself to her feet. Since Miles had her hand, the emo-themed girl pulled him with her. Slipping her bag over one shoulder, Isabella tossed her thick bangs out of her face and smiled a bit. "Alright, friend. Let's get to our classes before I start getting detention for skipping them."
-

Jayce stuffed his things into his bag just as the bell rang. Off to his last class, he breathed a sigh of relief. Volleyball next. And he could head over to see Rhianwen when he was done. . . .

Miles smiled as Isabella still held his hand and walked along to the science room. With a nod, he agreed with her sentiments. "Yes, we probably should head over. What class do you have? I have science with Mr. Calzone." As they walked together, the teen could feel several eyes on the pair, looking at them oddly and muttering to each other. Miles frowned; people were so crude!

Rhianwen gathered her things and wandered out of her classroom. Time for science, and then she was free! Much to her surprise, she hoped to see Jayce again soon. He was...nicer than she thought he'd be.

((Whoa, are they all in Science right now? :lol: I know that Jayce and Bella are. :yes:))

Bella smiled a bit. "I'm in your class, I think." She'd never given him much thought, and Tweak always sat in the back row near the door. She slept most of the time, really. School was important, but she just didn't have the energy. "I sit in the back," Tweak said, brushing her dark hair from her eyes as she fought to ignore the people whispering in the halls. I'll get it bad. Later, I'm going to be in trouble. It always seemed as much. There was always trouble, even when she didn't want it.
-

After gathering his belongings, Jayce headed to class - science. Stepping into the room, he took his usual seat - the place on the opposite side of the room from the door and closest to the front. He had just set his things down when he saw Isabella and Miles enter the room, and he sent them a slight smile before waving and sitting down. Funny. I never even knew they were in this class.