15

                                    

                                          
"Do you think you could give me a ride?" Luke asks me from his porch as I look out the half-opened truck window. It's raining and it's only going to get worse. 
                          
"Yeah." I say loud enough for him to hear and he runs for the truck. He gets inside and huffs.
                          
"I hate rain." He mutters. "Did it mess up my hair?" He asks and looks in the mirror.
                          
"No, Hemmings, your hair is fine." I say and laugh. I drive down the road and he turns on the radio.
                          
"You done with that boy yet?'' He asks.
                          
"No, I'm not, and he has a name." I say.
                          
"I know it well enough." He says. "The question is, how well do you?" He asks and I stop at the stop sign and look over at him. He has his eyebrows raised.
                          
"I guess I don't know." I say and sigh, driving on to school.
                          
"He isn't really as nice as you may think, Carpenter, I'm not trying to make you hate him, but please be careful, would you? I like you too much to see you get your heart broken." 
                          
"Like me too much, eh?" I say and he smiles. 
                          
"Of course, who would give me rides to school to save my hair?" He says and I laugh. 
                          
I walk through the hall with Luke as he follows me to my locker. "Do you think you could give me a ride home after school? If the rain doesn't stop?"
                          
"Don't be late or I'll leave you in the rain." I say and he smiles before walking away. 
                          
"Yes, sir." He says and salutes me.
                          
As I walk toward the safe room, I hear laughing then I am slammed into the wall. I fall to the ground with the wind knocked out of me. "Good morning, Molly." Reese laughs and takes my bag. "How has your morning been?" He says as he unzips my bag and dumps everything out. "Tell me, I'm honestly interested." He says seriously as he throws the back down at me.
                          
"Stop it, Reese." I say and go to pick up my stuff. He stomps down in my hand and I cry out. "You asshole!" 
                          
"What's this?" He asks and picks up my binder. "Aw, pictures of the little baby?" He rips the plastic back and gathers the pictures from inside while putting all his weight in my hand. 
                          
"Dammit, Reese, stop it!" I yell and manag pull my hand away and stand, trying to take the pictures.
                          
"What's the magic word?" He says and holds them above my head. 
                          
''Please." I growl and bring my knee up and hit him in the crotch. He groans and rips the pictures in half before I can get to them. He throws them down and I bring my fist up and slam it into his face. By now, a crowd has gathered around us and his friends stomp my papers and books into the ground. He eyes me sharply before slamming me into the wall and I struggle to breath, his fist squeezes my throat.
                          
"Do that again, and I'll kill you, Carpenter." He growls.
                          
"You'd be doing me a fucking favor." I ground the words out and he is shoved away from me.
                          
"Leave her alone, Reese." Calum says and shoves him again, he falls backwards and his friends try to catch him, but they all fail. I look down at the shredded memories and angry tears gather in my eyes. I bend down and pick them up and I set them on my broken binder, they stomped it until they broke it. When I look back up, I make eye contact with Michael. He gives me a worried look but then looks down, and walks away. I just shake my head and put everything in my bag. My hand throbs, so it makes the task difficult.
                          
"Are you okay, baby?" Calum whispers as he lifts my bag for me. He takes my hands in his and gently runs his hands over the red marks. "This looks like it hurts."