C h a p t e r 7 : Woody?

                                    

                                          
◇ Akira's POV: ◇
A hand reaches out from behind me, grabs the forearm of the arm that's holding me, and twists his arm. 
My mouth hangs open as I hear Leon scream and let go immediately, gripping his forearm. 
I turn around and see Blake behind me, and I move my head a bit to see Cole next to Ava, who's free from Johnny's grip. I see Johnny on the floor, clutching his left cheek. 
"Blake?" I say, still in shock at what happened.
"Hey. Are you okay? Are you hurting anywhere?" He quickly asks.
"I'm fine, my wrist might bruise later on though." I look at my wrist before looking up again at Leon.
Leon's face is now a bright red and his eyebrows are pinched together, "Have you been cheating on me?! You say I'm cheating on you, but you are the one cheating!"
I widen my eyes, "Excuse me? I am not cheating on you, he is my childhood best friend."
His bejavior is only immature, and it has nothing to do with me. 
Leon rolls his eyes and walks away, not before saying, "Whatever. But you'll regret breaking up with the hottest guy in school."
"Mhm sure, I'll definitely regret it." I roll my eyes, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ava rushes to me, "Aki, are you okay?"
I hug her and nod, "What about you?" 
She nudges her head to Cole, "Nope. Cole punched that dude so hard he feel on the floor though."
We both stifle a giggle and then I turn to Blake.
"Blake? What are you doing here?" I ask. 
He shrugs, "I was going to come look for you with Cole, and then we heard you guys shouting, so we rushed over here."
Cole walks up next to Blake and throws an arm around Blake's shoulder, "I'm not going to ask you if you're okay since these 2 already did, but the boyfriend of yours is an asshole."
I frown, "Yeah, now I see that he is. I guess I was just too blinded by love." 
"Also, he's not my boyfriend, he's my ex-boyfriend now," I add.
Cole nods, and the crowd around us slowly dispersed. 
I look at Blake, seeing him clench his jaw.
"Blake? Are you okay?" I ask with concern in my tone. 
Even though I didn't want to talk to him, he was and is still, hopefully, my best friend. I still care about him.
Blake nods, turns around, and walks away. 
Before he walks out of earshot though, I said without thinking, "Blake, get my number from Cole, let's catch up."
As soon as those words left my mouth, I regretted it. He wasn't here to talk to me, he was here because he transferred. 
But when Blake stopped for a second, hope filled me. 
He responded with a nod and turned a corner, leaving the three of us standing in the middle of the hallway.
Cole gives me an awkward smile, "Well, I gotta go catch up with him. But hopefully, see you guys tomorrow?"
Ava and I turn our heads toward each other, turn back toward Cole, and nod. 
As he's walking away, I ask Ava if she wants to head to my place to study. 
She agrees and we head out of the school, walking the short distance to my house side by side.