Asher's POV

I watched Lily as she walked out of the house. I knew that she didn't eat breakfast with us because she felt bad about having to live in our home. Mom and dad were also worried about her. I quickly finished my egg and got up to wear my jeans, t-shirt and fur lined denim jacket before rushing to school. We still had thirty minutes until the first bell rang but I wanted to meet Lily before class. I got into my car and drove to school. For some reason, I had a bad feeling about today and I wanted nothing more than to keep Lily by my side at all times. Well, I always wanted to do that, but today the urge was four times stronger than before.

I parked the car and got out, rushing into the building. My heart was pounding loudly from the fear that something had happened. I ran to Lily's locker to see her fighting off Carter who had a tight grip on her wrist. No one seemed to even notice what was happening and I clenched my jaw at their obliviousness. They had their eyes and ears open for all kinds of gossip yet they were blind, deaf and paralyzed when someone was getting hurt. I walked behind Carter, motioning at Lily to not say anything. As he continued to clutch her wrist and try to pull her to who know's where, I cleared my throat. Carter instantly let go of her and turned to me, seemingly confused. As I saw his face, the anger inside of me went from level seventy to level hundred. Before I could stop myself, my fist connected with his jaw.

I heard gasps coming from all around the hallway but I was focused on killing the bastard who had caused so much pain to Lily. The most amazing person in the world. As I thought of everything he had done, I threw my fist at his face again and again. He tried to counter and block his face with his arms but I pushed him down, against the floor. Climbing on top of him, I threw a few more punches. Then, I felt a small hand on my arm. I looked up, ready to beat the sh*t out of whoever interrupted me, just to see Lily looking at me with desperation in my eyes. Her facial expression screamed at me to stop and my lovesick self gave me no choice but to comply.

I got off of the bleeding jerk and grabbed Lily's arm. I took her straight to the janitor's closet and locked the door.

"Why would you stop me? That piece of crap is the one who made your life a misery!"

She looked down and quietly said,

"I know. But I don't want to solve this problem with even more violence. I appreciate what you just did for me but you yourself could have been suspended if a teacher was there."

I sighed, knowing what she had said was completely correct and logical. However, I also knew that I couldn't let her go through this for any longer. Even if it meant that she hated me. I looked at her and said,

"Well, if we don't find a solution to this problem by the end of this week, then I'm sorry, but the only answer left will be violence. Or.... a court case. I can't let you keep going through this sh*t. I will stop at nothing to finish Carter."

With that, I left the closet and went to my first class. My knuckles were bleeding from the punches so I stopped at the bathroom on the way to wash it off. I then wrapped a bandage around my hand before walking into class. I looked towards the back to see Lily deep in thought. Ryan was in this class with us and he must have picked up on something. He made motions with his hand, asking me what had happened. I texted him everything  and motioned for him to check his phone. His eyebrows furrowed as he read the text. Before he could answer me, the teacher came in. Looking at the pop quiz's in her hand, I sighed, knowing it was going to be a long lesson.

*******

I wasn't able to talk to Lily for the rest of the day. She went to the library at lunch and spent her free period talking to some teacher. I had waited for her outside the classroom but she went to the bathroom for the last few minutes of the period. I knew she was avoiding me. I also knew that after what I had said, this was bound to happen. Even so, after school I followed her to the ice cream parlor. The guys knew what I was trying to do and had given me full support to go after her. As she was about to go through the glass doors and into the ice cream shop, I grabbed her arm and put my hand over her mouth, ignoring her struggling and taking her to the alleyway. She had managed to throw a few painful punches at my face but I didn't deter from my goal.

I pushed her against the wall and her eyes widened as she saw my face. I took my hand off of her mouth and she said,

"Why would you do that?! Do you know how scared I was?! I thought I was gonna get raped!"

I didn't think of that before and looked away from her face, clearing my throat. She tried to escape, but I held her tighter to the wall, moving closer. Suddenly, her face reddened, a pink rosy hue coloring her cheeks. For a moment, I got lost in her beautiful eyes. How was she so pretty? She looked away from me, staring at some nonexistent extremely interesting being at her right. I grabbed her cheek, making her face me so that I could swim in her blue eyes before saying,

"You were avoiding me weren't you?"

Her previously red cheeks paled as I stood their, waiting for what she had to say next.

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