⋘ 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦... ⋙

Dolonia
|noun|
The fear that when people genuinely like you - that you can't fathom why; wondering if they have you confused for someone who you believe they deserve, someone who doesn't have the qualities you hate the most about yourself.

          "I'll see you when I get home from school mum, but I need to go right now. You've kept me back too long." Delilah rushes out as her morning turns into frantic squabbling.

Raina's eyes chased after her daughter as she stuffed multiple things into her bag, most probably not going to be used by the end of the day. Delilah rushes into the kitchen, throwing some food she had prepared this morning before Raina had woken up into her bag. "I know honey, but it's your first day. I want to make sure I remember it." She chides with a soft smile, wrapping her arms around Delilah from behind and forcing her to stop moving as she hugged her.

Delilah fell stiff in her arms as her face got squashed against her mother's shoulder, the bone digging into her cheek at an odd angle. "You will! But there won't be much to remember if I don't even get to school." She tried to reason, waiting for her mum's arms to drop away from her.

When Raina's arms did finally sag away, Delilah pushed herself back quickly, zipping her bag up as she gets ready to dash for the front door. "Wait a second," Raina calls once Delilah had exited the kitchen, already weaving her way through the house.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Delilah looks over at her mother. "Yes?" She questions through the house, her body itching to get moving again so she can get out of there and start the bike ride over to the school. She could already tell that she would need to peddle quickly if she wanted to arrive a bit before the bell.

"You'll tell me about your day when you get home," Raina states, the words lined up as a question as she walks towards Delilah. The girl in question nods her head quickly, letting out a soft affirmative hum with her actions. Raina continued to stare down at Delilah, her gaze a mix between neutral and unbelieving but eventually she nodded her head. "I'll see you when you get back. And make sure you have your timetable in your bag, the one that we picked up while dropping your documents off."

Not a second later, Delilah was out the front door and grabbing the handles of her bike. She quickly pushed the bike down from its original spot and through her driveway, getting on it when she reached the footpath, quickly cycling it through the streets.

She had memorised the route to school from when her mother had to drive by yesterday to drop off some final documents so she would be able to actually attend the school when it came time and not just be enrolled in it. The only problem with this route is it was following the main roads, so there were a lot of cars driving past and a lot more people making their own way to school.

Turning a sharp corner, Delilah nearly collided with someone else on a bike. The boy let out a startled yell as Delilah had to quickly turn away, cycling just as quickly as she looked over her shoulder, yelling a quick "Sorry" as she continued to make her way to school. There was something oddly familiar about the boy but Delilah couldn't seem to put her finger on it.

But those thoughts quickly vanished as she heard something coming up behind her. "Hey, Delilah," Bruce called as he came up alongside the girl, grinning over at Delilah as a second bike came peddling quickly behind him, Delilah would even say they looked to be a younger version of the boy if it wasn't for their opposite gender.

"Hi, Brucey." Delilah teasingly sang, her eyes glancing back to look over at the other girl following behind the two, trying hard to keep their bike in a straight line. "Who's this?" She questioned as she took her in, from her mid-length dark hair to her mismatched clothing.

"That would be my sister. Amy," Bruce said as he smiled back at the girl, a soft laugh leaving his lips as he watched her try to steady herself along the road.

"Hi!" Amy called excitedly as she rode after the pair, a slightly horrified grin on her face as the front wheel of her bike skidded for a second, the girl somehow being able to get it back under control. "It's nice to meet you. Bruce has told me lots about you." She said, looking slightly unsure of herself but proud of throwing some embarrassment towards her brother.

"Bruce speaks of me?" Delilah questioned with a brown raised, staring at Bruce beside her with a slight grin at the news. "Nice to meet you too." She quickly calls back once she realised she had forgotten to return the favour.

Amy shares a small smile before she picks up speed, becoming more confident in herself and her cycling abilities as she comes up on the other left of Bruce. "Yeah, he speaks of you all the time." She says with an eye roll, a grin however plastered on her face. "You would think your his only friend with how much he blabbers on about you to our mum."

"Aww, that's so cute Bruce." Delilah teases as she looks from Amy to the girl's older brother, who in fact was wearing a scowl as he stared at his little sister, the stare not lifting as he looks at the grin on Delilah's face. A loud snort leaves Delilah as Bruce lets out an annoyed huff of air.

But Delilah's joy soon faded away as the new school appeared in front of her, looming high in the air as she cycled towards it. There were hordes of people outside, walking into and past the school as they chatted with friends and waited for the bell to go, signalling the beginning of class. Delilah could see many people hugging friends as they saw them for the first time in weeks.

As she came to a stop near the edge of the pavement, following Bruce and Amy as they walked over to some of the bike racks stationed outside, Delilah surveyed the school, taking the building and people in as she looks between them all, only looking away when she had to put her bike in between the racks and put the lock on.

"I'll see you here after school Amy," Bruce says to his sister as the two of them begin to part ways.

"Okay. Bye Bruce. Bye Delilah." Amy calls, waving at the two older teens as she begins to walk to a separate building, only a few meters away from the one Bruce and Delilah stood outside of.

"See you, Amy," Delilah says absently as she turns to Bruce. "So, how does the first day of school process work here?" She questions briefly as she starts walking towards the school's main doors, Bruce following after her.

"Well, we should all already have our timetables since they got posted out to us, but for those who don't have them just go to the office and get a new timetable. But since we do have our timetables, we just show up to class and hope for the best." Bruce explained leading the two of them towards the building's entrance.

Delilah slowly nods her head, stopping short next to Bruce as they step inside the building, a maze of lockers and hallways appearing in front of them. "So, are you going to lead me around this place until I have it memorised?" Delilah asks cluelessly as she begins to take small steps forward, following Bruce's lead at a slower pace so she can try and remember the different hallways.

"I can try and pick you up before and after classes if that's what you mean," Bruce suggests, taking a turn down a few too many corridors for Delilah to keep track of. "But I'm not actually going to give you a tour of the place. You'll just have to follow some of your classmates around if you ever can't find your way around."

"Let's hope you are in all my classes then," Delilah says with a small grumble, staring down at the tiled floor as they walk through the hallways in some random direction. "Where are we going anyway?" She questions as they aimlessly turn down another hallway.

"To my locker," Bruce states, his eyes locking onto one of the metal boxes lined up across the wall. "We can go to yours afterwards if you like?" He suggests, looking over at Delilah with a raised brow before his hands meet the lock keeping his locker shut. He slowly turns the digits until the lock was unclasped and he was able to swing the locked door open after unhooking the lock.

"I don't think I have anything I need to offload." Delilah comments, leaning her shoulder against the locker as she watched Bruce unzip his bag and start to pile items inside. Bruce lets put a soft hum before he's shutting his locker and doing his own bag up again.

"Why don't you show me your schedule so we know where you need to be first period?" Bruce asks, looking to Delilah expectedly as he jumbled up his locks combo. Delilah silently moves her bag in front of her, zipping it open and finding the folded paper that had her timetable printed on it. She hands it over to Bruce quickly as he reads over the slip of paper. A smile quickly stretches across his face as he notices something printed on it.

"What?" Delilah asks as she takes a step forward, trying to peer at the sheet of paper so she could read it for herself, like what had made the other boy smile so brightly at it would just be illuminated for her to see. Like this morning, Delilah couldn't make out the sheet of paper as the printed words meant nothing to her just yet, the numbers and names printed onto it holding no value.

Bruce looks up at her once she had backed off from trying to read the paper. "We have some classes together." He states happily. Delilah looks up at him, one of her brows raising as she waits for him to elaborate further. "Math, Spanish and P.E we share with each other." He says, offering the paper back to Delilah.

"Do we happen to have any of those classes today?" She asks as she looks down at the paper, her eyes tracing over the three classes that Bruce had just said.

"We have one of them," Bruce says, watching as Delilah's face drops slightly at the news. "It's math." He continues on. "But that's first period so your first lesson won't be spent sitting by yourself at the very edge of the classroom." He says with a sly grin, nudging Delilah with his elbow as she folds the slip of paper and places it back in her bay.

"How fun," Delilah said with an eye roll and a sigh, trying to keep the act of being upset up, but this time it was aimed at being stuck with Bruce and not that they only had one class together.

Bruce feigned being offended as he lightly punched Delilah in the arm. "How rude." He declared. "I'm nice enough to grace you with my presence every day and this is how you repay me?" He says with a shake of his head, taking a few steps away from Delilah so he could put some distance in between them.

A scoff escapes Delilah's lips at the other boy's actions. "Grace me with your presence?" She questions him slowly, like she had misheard him the first time. "I think you have it confused. I chose to grace you with my presence. I have many other options I could occupy my time with." She corrects, sticking her nose up in the air.

"Sure." Bruce drawls out, not taking Delilah's words as he begins walking, momentarily leaving her behind as he begins to walk to their first class of the day. Delilah is quick to walk after the taller boys, falling into step beside him as she tries to memorise the route Bruce was taking them. "I'll keep that in mind when you get flocked with fans and you pick me to sit next to."

"As you should." Delilah agreed in the affirmative, keeping her nose in the air as she and Bruce walked through the halls, not caring for any of the odd looks sent her way as not many people had seen her before.

The two of them talked the whole walk over to the math classroom, finding something new to fight about as they waited outside of the room and for the teacher to show up and take their lesson. So when a tall woman with olive skin and curly black hair showed up, they were all welcomed into the classroom.

Of course, Bruce being Bruce, he chose to sit at the very front of the room, forcing Delilah to have to sit with him or she would be left alone to sit at the back. So, sucking it up, she slid into the seat next to him, placing her bag on the floor between her legs as she waited for the teacher to tell them what to do.

"Right class, I'm Miss Steen. I'll be taking you for the next school year." She announces to everyone, staring brightly from the front of the class and she takes everyone in. "You'll only need your workbook and a pencil for today." She states as she turns to the chalkboard behind her, raising a piece of chalk as she begins to put a number of equations on the board, the squeaking coming from the chalk rattling off and piercing the ears of everyone in the class.

Delilah let a small grimace take over her face as she pushes her seat back, digging around her bag until she pulled out the book she had chosen for math and a pencil to use for the period. Placing it on her desk and pulling her seat back in, Delilah flips to the first page where she puts a heading and a date before beginning to work on the equations provided.

Delilah was able to work through most of it fairly quickly, the work only being revision for what they learned last year. When she had time to spare in between, she would either talk or help Bruce with his own questions, the boy taking slightly longer to work his way through them as it made sure there were no mistakes with his work and that it looked presentable while Delilah had rushed through it all, her writing coming out as nearly scribbles.

So by the time the bell went signalling the end of period one and the beginning of period two, Delilah had a few pages worth of math questions and the favour of her teacher for being such an efficient worker. Walking out of the room with a smile plastered on her face, Delilah feels her hopes for the day rising.

"So, what's next Bruce?" Delilah question the other boy as she turned to look at him, Bruce only being a few steps behind her as he just got out of the classroom.

"Well, I have English while you have history." He informs her. "So that means different classes and I won't see you until later." He announces a few seconds later as he sticks his hand out, waiting for Delilah's timetable so he could read where she was meant to go.

"Ugh, finally a break from you," Delilah says, looking up at the tiled roof like she was thanking god for separating the two of them.

Bruce scowls at her gently as he takes the paper from her, reading the digits printed on it. "Your next two classes are really close to one another." He states as he hands the paper back, beginning to walk down the hallway and towards a staircase as Delilah follows, slipping the sheet of paper back into her bag as she walked.

"Yeah? What are they again?" She says breathlessly as she catches up to Bruce, throwing her bag back around so it sat on her back and not curled around her body.

"History then geography." He states effortlessly, just remembering it from the top of his head.

"Right." Delilah nods her head as they reach the top of the staircase, Bruce leading them last rows of doors, all having numbers labelling them. "So I won't see you 'till lunch then?" She questions.

"Yeah, I'll show you your geography class now then so you can walk to it later. But I'll pick you up before lunch if you like?" He offers to turn his head to stare at Delilah.

"Yes please." She says quietly.

Bruce only nods his head before he gestures to a closed door. "That's your geography class," He says before the pair continues walking down the hallway. "And this is your history class." He says as they come to a stop outside of an open classroom, a few people labouring around the door as they wait to be allowed in.

But now that she was about to be left alone with not knowing anyone else, Delilah began to doubt herself. What was she going to do now? Gwen was in the year below her so it's not like she had a chance of sharing any classes with her. Vance- Vance is a different story. A story she doesn't even want to touch up on since she doesn't have a single clue of what's going on between them and if they're even friends. Was she just going to have to sit by herself in silence for six hours every day?

"Hey, Delilah," Bruce says, snapping Delilah out of her worried-filled trance. Turning her head up to stare at the other boy, she waits impatiently for him to begin talking. "You'll be fine, alright? You'll meet someone along the way that you can spend your classes with and if not I'll just introduce you to someone. You don't have to worry about anything." Bruce reassures, smiling softly over at Delilah as he comforts her.

"Okay." She says, barely a whisper. She tries to smile up at Bruce when his had widened, but she fell slightly short as it felt more like a flash of teeth.

"Okay," Bruce repeats her words. "You have just had history, you'll be so bored to death that you won't worry about talking to anyone." He explains with a grin, making sure the history teacher taking Delilah's class didn't hear him.

A small smile began to stretch across Delilah's face before it dropped in an instant. "Oh my god, Bruce, I know that kid." She says in panic as her eyes land on a familiar face about to walk to her history classroom. While the boy walked past the pair, leaning on a nearby wall as the teacher took their time, Delilah had grabbed onto Bruce's shoulders, pushing him in front of her to act as a human shield, protecting her if the boy was to look her way and recognise her.

Bruce went pliant at Delilah's manhandling, letting her shove him around as he took in the boy she was currently hiding from. "How do you know him?" He asks as the boy doesn't pay them any attention.

"My mum nearly hit him with her car, and then I nearly hit him with my bike this morning," Delilah says in a hushed tone, still sceptical as she stayed behind Bruce.

Bruce tried not to snort at Delilah's words but he couldn't help himself as a small wheeze left his body. "Looks like your family has a thing for nearly running people over." He says in between breaths, turning out of Delilah's hold as her hands fall from his shoulders. "Look, I'm sure he won't mind that you almost killed him twice, but as much as I love being your human shield, I need to get to class now or I'm going to be late." Bruce breathes steadily.

"I didn't almost kill him twice," Delilah says defiantly with a scowl. "I had nothing to do with the first attempt." She states with a sharp nod.

A chuckle leaves Bruce's mouth as he shakes his head. Once he had calmed down he peeks over at the boy quickly. "I'll see you after geography so we can go to lunch together."

"Yeah, see you then," Delilah says, slightly dejected as she watches Bruce walk away, heading to his own lesson. Turning back to her own class, she walks through the door when the teacher calls everyone in. With her head held high, she was one of the last people to walk into the room. Her teacher was an old woman, her hair sitting in a high bun on her head as streaks of grey began to run through it. The teacher looked up at her briefly, sending her a wrinkled smile before she turns back to her own work. Looking at the rest of the class, most of the students were talking to others around them, all heavily engaged with their friends.

There were only a few seats left open, the rest either having people sitting in them or bags placed in the way of anyone who wanted to sit there. Most of the empty ones were near the front, no one wanting to take up the row. The rest were randomly dotted around the room, large groups surrounding the empty ones.

Well, all except one seat. A seat directly next to the boy she had been avoiding only moments before.

Once again, Delilah surveyed the room one last time, hopping for a new seat to show up but when they only began to disappear, Delilah began walking to the free seat next to the boy her mother had nearly run over a few days ago and who she had nearly crashed into barley an hour prior.

She kept her eyes glued to the ground as she walked past, pulling the seat out and sitting down quickly as she kept her eyes either trailed on her desk in front of her or at the teacher as she sat doing nothing at her desk, purposely keeping her eyes off the boy next to her.

Finally, once most of the seats had been taken, the history teacher stood up in front of the room. "Morning class," She began, her accent coming out thicker than what Delilah had experienced from most people in the area. "I will be taking this class, and must I say, I see so many beautiful young faces before me." She said with an overly pleasant smile before turning to the chalkboard behind her. Written in big lettering, a name appeared on it. "You may address me as Miss Tholson."

The class fell silent as they listened to their teacher's words, taking them in as they watched the letters appear on the board. Some students fished out empty workbooks as they waited for further instructions. Delilah was about to unzip her bag and pull out her own bag before Miss Tholson cut her movements off by speaking up again.

"I'm going to take the class roll now. I need absolute silence while I go through it." She explains briefly as she moves back to her desk, picking up a sheet of paper that Delilah could only assume had a list of names on it. She tapped the sheet a few times before picking up a pen and and moving to sit back down behind her desk. "Bailey Abra?" She called out to the room.

"Here." A boy responded as his hand raised up in the sky, signalling his location in the room for Miss Tholson. Miss Tholson looks up from her sheet of paper, putting a little tick next to the boy's name while giving a small nod.

Her pen slowly traced down the sheet to the next name dotted on the paper. A grimace took over her face as she stared down at what was printed on it. "Del-ay-la? Del-lie-a-la?" The teacher calls out, her frown only deepening as she completely mispronounces Delilah's name. She looks up confused as she waits for whoever the name belonged to raise their hand.

Delilah let her eyes slip shut as she exhaled out of her nose before she slowly raises her hand. "It's Delilah." She corrects. A few heads turn to her, none of them has heard the name before and wants to get a clear view of who she was. But that also meant the boy next to her turned his head to face her.

His eyes flashed with recognition as he stared at her side profile. In those moments Delilah could feel dread eating away at her as she waited for Miss Tholson to read out the next name on her list and move on.

And eventually, she does, going through the rest of the list and pronouncing everyone else's name correctly. But as she neared the end of the list, it had Delilah staring off to the side in the same manner as of which it had happened to her.

"Billy Showalter?" Miss Tholson called out, continuing her normal pattern and staring down at her sheet of paper as she waited to mark Billy as either present or absent.

"Here." The boy sitting next to Delilah called out, getting Delilah to nearly snap her head towards the boy sitting beside her. Now it was her turn to stare at the boy's side profile. Delilah saw the boy... Billy swallow thickly as her eyes narrowed momentarily before she looked to the front of the room once more.

"Right." The teacher bellows from her seat. "Since it's the first day, I'm going to let you all get to know each other." She begins, raising the hopes of those in front of her. "The desks are arranged in even numbers. Talk with the person next to you and get to know them since these will be your seats for the rest of the year. If I see anyone talking to someone they're not meant to, you'll either be moved or sent out of the classroom."

Most of the students in the room didn't seem to have a problem with it, but Delilah and Billy looked at one another with wide, startled eyes as they stared at the other with unconcealed terror. But as the chatter in the room picked up, and Delilah and Billy being one of the few left not taking part in a conversation, the air surrounding them grew stiff.

Delilah tried to think quickly as to what to ask the boy next to her. She didn't want to bring anything up that could lead back to any incidents involving the boy and being run over. "What do you like to do in your free time...?" Delilah tried, her shoulders hunching up as the question left her lips. Out of everything she could have asked him, that's what she had chosen to go with.

Billy stared warily at her for a few brief seconds. "I'm the paper boy for our area." He said with a raised chin. As he spoke, he closed the book on his desk, the pages letting out a soft thud as the pages flapped together.

Delilah begins to nod her head before her brows bunch together. "You always throw our newspaper in the bushes." She said sceptically, her voice lowering slightly as she spoke up.

"Yeah, that's because you nearly ran me over." He responded. He didn't sound harsh or upset, but he did sound slightly cocky as the realisation began to dawn on Delilah, like he had either been waiting to gloat about throwing her newspaper in the bushes or to embarrass her with the story of escaping the grasps of her mother's car.

"That wasn't my fault." Delilah dragged out, trying to look innocent as she stared over at the boy—even though she was 100 percent innocent since she literally had nothing to do with him nearly being run over the first time.

Billy tilted his head at her words, giving her a slow once over that made Delilah feel slightly self-conscious as the boy's gaze travelled over her, something akin to disbelief and judgment. "Sure." He said lazily, turning away from Delilah as he focused on something else.

A crease grew in between Delilah's brows as her face morphed, a sick feeling rising up inside of her. "It wasn't." She yells as she stands from her seat, the chair's legs scrapping behind her, screeching against the tiled floor. All heads turn to her, the room going silent as all eyes were suddenly on her and Billy was shrinking back into his seat.

"Del-ay-la Carlton!" A voice yelled from the front of the classroom. Delilah quickly realised her mistake as she looked towards the front, Ms Tholson standing there with crossed arms. "What is the meaning for this disturbance?" She questions, her face sour.

"I'm sorry Miss. Just a disagreement." Delilah spoke quickly, deciding to not comment on the mispronunciation of her name as that might only anger the old woman more.

"You don't see Billy Showalter yelling out and disrupting the class." She said with a stern glare etched onto her face, disapproval clear as she stared down at Delilah. "Out of the classroom and sit in the hall." She announces. "And bring your stuff. You won't be coming back into this classroom until the next lesson."

Delilah stares at the teacher in disbelief, her eyes widening slightly. "You can't be serious?" She questions, her voice laced with annoyance as she stares at Miss Tholson, waiting for her to choose a different form of punishment. But Miss Tholson stood strong at the front of the class, raising a hand as she points to the door. "What a fucking joke," Delilah mutters, tearing her bag out from under the table as she walks past others and out of the room.

Her back crashed into the wall as she slides down to the floor, her knees hunched up near her chest as she sits outside for what felt like hours. It wasn't her fault that she lashed out. She didn't even lash out, just stated the facts that it wasn't her fault the first time that her mother nearly hit him with her car. There was nothing wrong with defending herself so why was she forced to sit out here by herself while the reason she yelled got away with no punishment? But soon she was joined by someone.

"What are you doing out here?" Vance questions as he looms over Delilah. His curly hair seems just as wild today as it runs over his shoulders, Vance's normal denim jacket with the sleeves torn off layering his body. His face was neutral as he stared down at Delilah, but she could see it in her eyes that something was laying behind them.

"I got sent out 'cause I yelled or something shit." She said, completely dejected as she rested her head on her knees, looking up at Vance through her lashes.

He lets out a soft snort at her words. "Who's your teacher?" He asks another question, not bothering to try and peer into the classroom as he takes a seat next to her, letting his legs take up the hallway as he relaxes against the wall.

"Miss Tholson." Delilah says with a huff. "She's a total bitch. Ever since I saw her wrinkly arse face I knew there was going to be something bad about her." She seethes, bringing her hands up to feign a strangling motion.

From beside her, Vance lets out a low chuckle. "Yeah, I had her last year. I'll warn you now, if you don't get on her good side quickly, she's going to pick on you for every minor mistake." He warns, leaning his head back against the wall, only looking at Delilah from the corner of his eye.

"Pretty sure that ship has sailed," Delilah mutters bitterly, looking to the open door where she could hear people talking inside once again. As she turned back to look at Vance, she realised he was the only person she had seen so far after being sent outside. "Why are you out here Vance?" Delilah asked, looking back up at the blonde boy.

Vance momentarily freezes up, his body going rigid and stiff as he side-eyes Delilah carefully. "I needed some time out of class to cool off." He explained slowly. "Most teachers just let me leave when I ask. Either scared I'm going to pick a fight with them or one of the other kids, or that I'll do something worse."

Delilah stayed silent as she listened to Vance's words. Slightly understood what he was going through; just in a different setting. At school she could normally stay in control, acting normal since she knew once people began to notice, it was pretty easy to catch on to what she was going through and what she had.

Vance didn't stay much longer after that, seemingly relaxed as he sat in content next to Delilah. So when he did leave she couldn't say she was so surprised.

When the bell went, signalling the end of the period, people began to quickly flood the hallways, and Delilah didn't waste an extra second sitting on the floor. She stood quickly, making her way to the geography classroom she had been assigned to. As she waited outside the door, a familiar face stood close by. Billy Showalter stood close to the door, avoiding eye contact with Delilah at all costs as he waited for the teacher to let him in. And once they did, he all but ran inside, staying as far away from Delilah as possible.

The whole time she was in class, Delilah just decided to focus on the work, getting it done rather quickly since she had nothing to distract herself with. When the bell rang again, she didn't hurry to put her items away, knowing that she would just be left standing around waiting for Bruce since he had promised to come and get her after class.

Slowly putting things away, Delilah tucked her chair in and made her way out of the room, being one of the last to leave as most of the other kids had rushed off with their friends, already knowing how to get around the school. But once she had walked outside of the classroom, she could see Bruce on the other side of the hallway, walking towards her with some urgency in his step.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she saw the boy storming towards her. "Why are you in such a hurry?" She questioned with a brow raised, grinning as Bruce speed walked.

"A fights breaking out on the floor below us." He says in a breath of air, eyes wide with excitement. "We have to go see it." He grinned out, grabbing onto Delilah's arm as he dragged her forward, leading her to a different staircase so they could go witness the fight.

"All this just to see a fight?" Delilah questioned, still smiling as she was dragged along by Bruce.

"I need to know what's going on before the rest of the school does," Bruce states sternly, pulling Delilah by the arm down the stairs. Now that there were nearing the next level, Delilah could hear the noise begin to pick up. "I don't want to hear about this fight from anyone else. I'm meant to be the one telling it.

"Oh my god, Bruce," Delilah said with a laugh, staring at the taller boy with glee on her face.

"What?" He snapped softly, looking over his shoulder in question.

"You're a little gossiper, aren't you?" Delilah asks smugly, taking Bruce's silence as a yes, only making her laugh more. "A shit-talking gossiper." She said like it was the funniest thing on the planet.

Bruce rolled his eyes as they got to the edge of a circle that had formed. "Yes, you got me. Now, let's get to the front." He says, gripping Delilah's arm more fiercely as he begins to weave his way through people, shoving when he had to so he could get to the front of the circle, Delilah right by his side.

Now that Delilah was at the front with Bruce, she could see who the two fighting were—even though they hadn't begun fighting just yet. One of the boys was short with dark hair that fell to his shoulders, and a bandana wrapped around his head. He wore a band t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off and some flare jeans. The other boy was much taller, maybe a year or so older than Delilah. He had short dirty blonde hair and wore a loose-fitting plain shirt with skinny jeans. How the boy wearing skinny jeans was going to be able to move was beyond her as she watched as he got ready to step up and throw a punch.

"You're going to regret messing with me today amigo." The taller boy said, spewing probably the only Spanish word he knew as he moved forward.

The other boy didn't seem phased as he stared at the taller kid. "Show me what you've got." He settled on saying as he raised his fists, waiting for the other to strike first. And the other boy did as he launched forward, throwing a fast punch towards the shorters head.

But the boy with the band t-shirt was quicker as he ducked out of the way of the taller boy's fist. Using the time his hand was outstretched forward, he sent a roundhouse kick to the boy's leg, contacting him in the hip as he leant back slightly so his foot could reach higher. A strained yell left the taller boy's mouth as his hand shot down to clutch his leg, shuffling back slightly so he could take a second to catch his breath.

Some of the people around Delilah either cheered or gasped, either ecstatic or horrified at the fight unfolding in front of them. Bruce didn't seem thrilled to watch the fight unroll, but he still watched it closely. "Who's fighting?" She asked, her eyes flickering over to Bruce briefly before back to the two kids fighting.

"That's Robin Arellano—the shorter one—and Sam Fisher. They are some of the toughest kids in our school--after Vance Hopper of course." He explained as he watched Robin follow after Sam, a grimace making its way onto his face as he watched Robin feign to punch him in the head before actually punching him in the gut.

She watched as Robin grabbed onto Sam's hair, dragging him forward quickly before letting him go, using the same hand to hook him across the cheek. Delilah's nose slightly scrunched as blood started to trickle from Sam's nose. "Why is Vance Hopper the toughest kid here?" Delilah questioned only moments later.

Bruce went silent, not answering the question as his eyes tracked the blood that rushed over Sam's lips and the blood dropping from Robin's knuckles. But someone standing close to Delilah decided to answer for him. "He's got to be bipolar or something. Going from eerily calm to a crazed frenzy." The boy who spoke up paused. "Either always fighting or never here."

"Right," Delilah answered, focussing back on the fight in front of her, trying to shake the boy's words from her head. Sam was trying to regain power as he elbowed Robin in the face, momentarily stunning him as he shook his head, trying to shake off the pain that radiated in his skull.

The crowd around them seemed stunned at the hit, Robin never taking on such a fierce one in a while. Robin reacted just as quickly, punching Sam in the chest as fast and hard as he could, effectively winding him as Sam stumbled back. While he was stunned, Robin got him in the face again, making him collapse onto his back. Robin didn't leave him alone either as he followed him down, kneeling over his chest and repeatedly punching him in the face, not stopping till there was blood leaking from his knuckles and teachers trying to pull him off of Sam.

At the sight of the teachers, most of the people surrounding the fight fled, running or speedwalking their way out of the hallway and into any other location of the school. Delilah spared one last glance at Robin before Bruce was seizing her hand, muttering under his breath something Delilah couldn't make out as they made a mad dash away from the scene.

‧͙ ⁺˚* ･ ༓ ☾ 　　 ☽ ༓ ･ *˚⁺ ‧͙

A/N

So I haven't properly edited this but I'm still posting it. So if some of it doesn't make sense that's probably why. Also the amount of times I had to rewrite this chapter is insane but I finally like it I think.