Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
Hannah
I walked through the school with a slight smile on my face. I was so happy with my art piece. 
After stressing over it for so long, I felt triumphant. And I know it was Ms. Topaz's idea, but I was still proud of myself. 
As I walked outside for lunch, I was shoved into a brick wall. I grunted and looked up to see the person who was now pressing me into the bricks. 
"What do you want Sabrina?" I asked, trying and failing to keep my voice steady. 
"What I want," she spit out, "is for you to stay the hell away from Bradley."
"Believe me, I'm trying."
Apparently that wasn't the right answer because Sabrina scowled and slapped me in the face. "Don't get smart with me bitch."
I winced and Sabrina cackled like a witch. 
"Now, stay away from Bradley or-"
"Or what?" A deep voice interrupted. 
I turned my head and was mortified to see Bradley standing there. Meanwhile, Sabrina stepped away from me and went up to Bradley. She twirled her hair and tried to lean into him as she flirted, but he pushed her away. 
"Oh come on Bradley," she whined. "What do you want with that skank?"
"I'm going to say something and you'd better remember it," Bradley told her in a scarily calm voice. "Stay the hell away from me and Hannah."
"Or what?" Sabrina asked, repeating Bradley's words from earlier. She was still trying to flirt and Bradley wasn't having it. 
"Or I'll make your life a living hell." 
The way Bradley said that had Sabrina's eyes widening. She recovered quickly though and scoffed as she walked off. 
"Are you ok?" Bradley asked. He walked up to me slowly and I turned my head away. 
I felt a hand gently grab my chin and I flinched.
Bradley turned my head and his other hand lightly caressed my cheek that Sabrina slapped, sending a shiver down my spine. 
"I'm really sorry."
"It's not your fault," I said and shrugged out of his grasp. I went over to my normal bench and sat down. Bradley sat next to me like he had since the first day of school. 
We sat there in silence for a few minutes, staring off into space. 
"You don't eat," Bradley said all of a sudden. 
"Excuse me?"
"I've never seen you eat during lunch."
I shrugged my shoulders, unsure of what to say. My dad wouldn't give me money to buy lunch and I wasn't allowed to take any of the food from home. 
"Come on."
I looked up at Bradley who had stood up and held out his hand to me. 
"What?"
"Come on," Bradley repeated. 
"Where are we going?" I asked, standing up cautiously. 
"To get lunch," Bradley said simply. 
"I don't know..."
"Come on, it's fine."
"Ok."
Bradley smiled and we walked to his motorcycle. I put on the spare helmet and climbed on behind Bradley. 
My arms instinctively tightened around Bradley as he sped off and he chuckled. 
Bradley drove to a small diner down the street from the school and we went inside. Bradley picked a booth in the corner and we slid in. 
I scanned the menu and found the least expensive item. 
A waitress came over to take our drink orders and while she did, she twirled her hair like Sabrina often did and batted her eyelashes at Bradley. Girls could be so stupid. I rolled my eyes. 
Bradley saw that and snickered. My eyes flew up to his which held a spark of mischief. 
I glanced back down until the waitress came back with our drinks. As she placed my water down in front of me, I noticed that she'd undone the top few buttons of her shirt to show some of her cleavage. 
When she gave Bradley his soda, she leaned in a little extra to give him a look. Bradley cleared his throat and lightly pushed the girl away. 
I chuckled. 
The girl scoffed and asked us what we wanted to eat. 
"I'll have a burger and fries," Bradley told her. 
"I'll have a side salad please."
The waitress turned to walk away but Bradley stopped her. 
"She'll have a burger and fries too."
My eyes widened as I looked at Bradley in shock. 
"The salad is fine," I said to the waitress. 
She looked back and forth between me and Bradley. 
"You don't actually want a salad," he said. I couldn't argue so I stayed silent. "She'll have the burger."
The waitress nodded and went to go put our order in. 
"She and Sabrina would get along well," Bradley said, catching my attention. 
I shook my head. "They'd be too busy fighting over you."
Bradley tipped his head back and laughed and I found myself laughing along with him. I couldn't remember the last time I truly laughed. 
The other people in the diner looked over at us and I pinched my lips together to keep my laughs in. 
Then, the food arrived and we started eating. I had to admit, the burger and fries were really good. Much better than the side salad would have been. 
"So, what's your favorite color?" Bradley asked me. 
I swallowed a bite of food and scrunched my eyebrows together. "Why?"
"We are supposed to get to know each other for our project."
"Oh."
"So?"
"Green," I told him. "You?"
"Black."
I rolled my eyes. "Of course it is."
Bradley chuckled and asked me another question. We went back and forth answering questions until we were finished eating. 
Bradley paid the bill and I felt bad that he had to pay for me. 
"I'll pay you back," I told him once we were back outside. I didn't know how I'd get the money, but I would. 
"Don't."
"But-," Bradley gave me a look that cut me off. 
I sighed and got on the back of the motorcycle so Bradley could take us back to school. He smirked in victory, but did drive us back to school.