A whole week passed since the first day of high school.

A whole week passed without a single scratch on me.

Naturally, I was shocked to the core. I wondered. I anticipated. I was almost reduced to blubbering after the third day. Though after that, I let things be. If bullies decided to leave me alone, there was no way in hell I was complaining. However, I always kept my guard up at all times.

As soon as I was done with the last of my problems, the bell rang, signalling the end of my second hour -Mathematics. I shut the notebook, swung the bag on my shoulder -having packed five minutes early- and managed to be the first one to exit like always.

I rushed to my locker to keep my stuff away and start making my way to French. But just as I got to my locker, my feet left the floor and I felt myself slowly being lifted above it. I felt a presence behind me as well, who was also the reason I was hovering about a foot off the ground.

Dread pooled in my stomach. Not because I knew I was in trouble, but because I knew exactly who was going to be my dose of misery of the day.

I bit my lip and sent a silent prayer for my aunt's well-being and for my life.

One must think me as an over-dramatic, but when Brody Hunnigan was on someone's case, he made sure they barely made out alive. There was no gender discrimination for him, and although I have been against chauvinists, at that instant I couldn't help but wish he didn't give both the genders the same amount of pain and misery.

"Why hello there, my little, face-less squirt!" His tone was jovial, but mocking.

I wasn't little in anyway, being five feet seven inches. But since he was a six feet seven inches tall, beefy freak, I was sure as heck a little, face-less squirt to him.

I gulped, feeling the real meaning of terror and helplessness. I heard him chuckle and felt myself being levitated to his body.

At that moment, I thanked the heavens above that I had got out earlier and that my locker was in the far end of the hallway. As much as it was a curse since I could be caught alone and suffer whatever at the hands of my slayers as I was at the moment, the blessing was that I stayed out of everyone's way and the bullies usually left me alone after they were done with. After that, it was like nothing ever happened. No one got to know or made fun of me either. So I stayed out of ridiculing eyes.

"You got something I want," he whispered as soon as my ear was near his lips, which was obscured by my baggy, red hoody.

I contained my shiver -chilled to the bone. Not daring to speak louder, I evenly rasped out, "What do you want?"

"Nothing much." He said casually, letting go of my hoody. I landed swiftly on my feet since I was already alert of his every move and righted myself.

"I haven't gotten a good lay in a while..." His words trailed off teasingly, making the desired effect. Bile rose up my throat. I took a step back in an attempt to gain distance.

"And I'm done with cheerleaders..." He continued menacingly, taking two steps forward for each step I took back until I was backed up to my own locker.

He pressed up into me and I squeezed myself against the locker, trying to create some gap and failing horribly. I gazed up at him discreetly to see him grinning down at me creepily, his eyes filling with untamed desire and mischief.

"So I thought, why not try a different flavour?" He whispered darkly, all signs of mischief gone, as his eyes raked over my entire body.

Panic began to brew within me and coursed through my veins in an agonizing way. I could feel my heart rate skyrocket and my palms become sweaty. Only one sentence kept repeating itself in my head like a broken record:

This can not be happening to me.

"Let go of me," I demanded firmly, wriggling and pushing against him with all my might.

"Ah, being feisty with me? I like it," he purred, making my skin crawl.

As scared as I was, Brody's behaviour left me puzzled. I couldn't understand him. He was never the guy to take interest in a girl unless she showed it to him. Whenever he happened to bully someone, he either pulled a horrible prank, beat them up, snatched their lunch money or made them do his homework.

"Why me, huh?" I spat, pushing my forearms against his chest to try and push him away. "As far as I knew, I was a face-less, squirt to you. I never got in your way, did your bidding, even took a few of your pranks with sealed lips. So why the sudden interest? You could get willing girls anywhere to be your flavour of the week."

He smirked and bowed his head near my hooded face, halting my struggles by gripping my wrists in his big, warm hand. I could feel his breath heat my frost-bitten cheeks. It smelt good, minty. But I could never be comfortable with what he planned to do to me. As disarming as his looks were, with what I knew about his intentions and heart, I understood he could never be a gentleman.

"Hmm... You're right. I could get any girl to pleasure me willingly," he said quietly, his baby blue eyes glittering with amusement. He closed his eyes as he moved over to my neck, shocking me by placing a gentle kiss on the column of my neck, making me gulp.

"She could be pretty and daring too," his voice rumbled, his breath warm, lips brushing against my skin lightly with every word he spoke.

I was beyond terrified by now. I knew I couldn't escape by struggling since he still had me pinned and my wrists were practically shackled to his hard chest. But I desperately started to try and think of ways to escape the situation. There was no way in hell I was giving up so easily on myself. I couldn't allow that.

"But..." the sound of his voice brought me back to the position I was in at hand. I gazed up at his face and saw all his warm, charming demeanor change into something vile and wicked. He gave me a lop-sided grin, his eyes darkening with the evil within him.

"Where would be the fun in that?" he cooed, laughing when the bell rang and I jumped, chilled to the bone from the sound of his malicious laughter. I hadn't even noticed I could've easily screamed for help. Though now, as I watched helplessly down the hall, I saw the students clear the halls and head to their class.

Deciding to try and see how high I could scream with my gifted vocals and lungs, I opened my mouth to gasp in a breath and let out the highest scream I could manage. But as my lips parted, I felt his palm press flush against my mouth. My eyes widened and shot up to him. My face was hidden, he couldn't have known I planned to scream, but I guess when I turned my head to look at the students far off, he got the hint.

Clenching my jaw, I became wild. I tried my hardest to make it as frustrating and annoying to hold me in place as possible, I even screamed -though it came out muffled. Either way, I gave it my all.

He put up with it for a few minutes, bored and amused at the same time from what I could pick up from the faint smile on his lips and the way his brows were raised arrogantly as he waited for the fight to leave me.

But as the halls cleared altogether and we were completely alone, I began thrashing even more.

Chuckling with his head thrown back, he looked back at me once more.

"Oh come on! Give up already! It's not like you won't enjoy it," he said casually like we were talking about trying a new pizza.

I wished we were.

Then, his lips curved up into a lazy smile and his eyes became droopy, giving me the jitters and making my head pound with the warning bells that were going off loudly in my head. As if I already didn't know I was in trouble.

He pressed harshly to me with his own body, making me cease movement forcefully and cutting off blood circulation at many places in my body with success.

"Okay that's enough!" He growled, scaring the living daylights out of me. My breathing began to pick up as hysteria settled in.

He didn't need to order me though. I'd long stilled when he'd squished me into the locker. He then took in a whiff from the crook of my neck and I barely held in whimper of despair. I couldn't believe he was going to do what he was doing in a school hallway and get away with it.

"By the way," he started in a low voice. I bit my lip to keep the tears at bay when I felt his hand come in contact with my stomach skin beneath my hoody and t-shirt. I felt it trail back and forth right below my belly button, giving me goosebumps all over my body.

"I always did know you were mega hot beneath these sack like rags that you wear. You're attitude and bravery is just the icing over the cake," he drawled, exploring my lower half and moaning.

I felt sickened, violated. Never in my life had I been harassed the way I was being in that hallway. And the worst part was that I knew that I would feel, hear and smell him even after he was done.

He nibbled on my ear and my eyes popped right out of their sockets when he began to undo the button of my jeans.

"No," I whispered inaudible to the monster who was about to wreck me past the point of salvation.

"No." I said, louder this time, determined to break free from him.

I wriggled back and forth, trying to stomp on his feet but he was quick to lock my feet between his. My breath hitched when I felt him beginning to lower my zipper. I shook my head in denial and helplessness, still trying to keep my tears at bay while screaming my throat apart even though I knew no one could hear my suppressed cries for help.

"God, you're such a turn on. I can't believe I've been so stupid to have spent time with those scrawny cheerleaders when the real deal was right in front of me, just waiting for me to take her out of wraps and ravish her,"

After that, the next five minutes of my life seemed so surreal, I felt I was in a parallel dimension.

Brody was wrenched off of me roughly. I quickly zipped up and buttoned my jeans while keeping my eyes on the startling scene that was out of this world.

As soon as Brody did a one-eighty because of the gracious person who had snatched him off of me, I witnessed his fist collide squarely with Brody's face with a sickening crunch. And to my utter surprise, Brody lay flat against the floor the following minute, knocked out cold.

Alongside this, imagine my shock when the gracious person turned out to be Conner Francis of all people. I stared at him -shell-shocked.

His stance was lethal -scaring me. He was panting in anger, his hands still tightly-fisted at his sides and shaking vigorously in silent rage. His clenched jaw twitched once in a while to keep from going to do any further damage to an unconscious Brody.

In that moment, no one could deem him a nerdy weakling -no one could dare do so. And the sheer power emanating from him, it was something girls would swoon on.

I was brought out of my surprise when I heard raspings and muffled sobs, only to realize they were my own. The shock was finally wearing off along with the adrenalin and reality had begun to settle in my head.

Conner's focused glare turned on me and in a matter of a second, it softened and became concerned.

"Lucille?" He crooned softly, and in two long strides, he was in front of me. Though, I didn't feel an ounce of the terror I had felt when Brody had shown up. In fact, I couldn't have felt more cared for and protected.

"Are you okay?" he inquired with gentleness, a frown marring his smooth forehead -of worry.

I opened my mouth to assure him, but instead of words, my sobs filled the silent hallways. Conner's arms came around me and pulled me to his warm body. I felt his chin rest on my head and an arm clasped tightly around my shoulder, the other one rubbing my back as I let myself cry and break over in the comfort he offered.

In that second his eyes had met mine, I could've sworn the green of his eyes was glowing with rage and contempt. He had never looked more breath-taking than in that little moment. And when the burning green simmered down to his deep, malachite green, it was like calm and coolness engulfed me from all sides and I was floating in my safe haven.

I'd never felt so secure before, not even in my own room, where I felt the safest.

He kept me in his embrace, no questions asked, no words said. He just gave me what I needed most at that time -comfort and a sense of safety. I didn't know how long we kept standing there in that little bubble, but when my sobs had finally reduced to sniffles and hiccups, I felt him pull back slightly.

"Lucille, can you please tell me if he hurt you?" He asked in a placid tone.

I shook my head, feeling drained of all the emotional storm I just went through.

"Want to go to class or somewhere else?" He questioned again, surprising me with how thoughtful he was.

"I don't want to make you bunk classes. Especially when I know how important studies are to you."

"Alright, somewhere else it is," he replied decisively in a lighter tone.

I looked up at his face to see him smiling faintly at me. I felt myself flush with shyness.

"Are you sure?" I asked him reluctantly.

He just pulled back, took my hand and answered, "I'm positive. Besides, I'm already ahead in all my classes."

Then he raised his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and grinned. "Perks of being a nerd."

And that was when I felt myself smile widely again.

Author's Note:

I seem to be apologizing in every note. So I decided to make this longer to make it up to you, instead of ranting on about reasons you wouldn't even want to read. I hope it was good enough. Thank you for reading. Take care :) Dedicated to my cousin @Sundus29. Love ya sis :*