Chapter 4 - Beyond Repair

I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay away from him for the whole day, so I made sure to avoid him as long as I could. Every class that passed without catching his attention meant that the redness under my eyes would have more time to go away.

Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid him at lunch.

We had the same lunch period so he was going to go looking for me, especially after I escaped from him this morning.

So what did I do?

I hid in the student council room. None of the Shadow Knights would step foot in there because if they got caught, they'd probably cause some trouble in the school.

Well, at least, that was my mindset. They probably want to cause trouble. My other option was the bathroom, but everyone hides in the bathroom.

If a member of the student council walked into the room, at least I would have the excuse of being a new student. I could just say that I was lost and a teacher wanted me to print something.

But I couldn't help but freeze when I heard footsteps outside the door.

"(Y/n), you can't hide forever," I heard a girl call out.

I forgot that he actually has friends.

I groaned quietly and pushed up against the wall in case the girl tried to peek in through the window on the door.

When I heard the footsteps disappear, I checked the time, realizing I had only 5 minutes before I had to be in class.

Before I stepped out the door, I put my ear against it to make sure no one was near.

"Coast is clear," I sighed happily, opening the door.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I turned right, only to ram into something.

Or someone.

"Oh my Irene!" I shouted, putting a hand on my chest in an attempt to slow my erratic heartbeat.

Gene laughed, a smirk present on his face as he leaned on the wall next to him. "Did you really believe that I wouldn't be able to find you, little dove?"

I squinted my eyes at him, starting to feel my anger rise. "Will you stop calling me that? I don't want to join your childish group!"

Gene was suddenly quiet, making me realize that I made a grave mistake. "Childish?" He asked bitterly, frowning. Gene took a step closer to try to intimidate me and it was working. "You think we're childish?"

I tried my best to stick to my ground and not let the upcoming fear take over my body. "Y-Yeah, I do."

Curse my stuttering. Now is not the right time!

Gene's smirk appeared back on his face. "Are you scared, little dove?" He whispered, getting even closer.

"No, I'm not," I lied, glaring at him. I couldn't let him know or else he'd take advantage of it.

Gene was about to open his mouth to say something when the bell rang, halting his actions.

"Well, I guess that's our cue, I don't want to be late!"

He laughed, catching my wrist as I tried to walk past him. "You're already late."

"Wait, they don't do warning bells here!" You replied, your eyes widening.

"No, we're not babies here, we can tell time," He retorted. I looked around, not knowing what to do. "Now's the perfect time to see what the Shadow Knights actually do. We're skipping class."

I tugged and twisted my arm to get it out of his grasp as he dragged me behind him.

"Stop trying to run away," He chuckled, amused at my weak attempt to get free.

"I'm not going to do drugs with you and your posse!"

Gene paused, sending me a bewildered look. "Just because the Shadow Knights don't have the best reputation doesn't mean we do drugs."

My face reddened, realizing that I was making stupid assumptions. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean-"

"Just drop it," He said, continuing to walk.

This time I followed him, knowing that there was no way that I would be able to get away.

•••

The whole time that we were walking I felt like I was in space with just me and my thoughts. You would expect it to be a peaceful experience but all I could think about was how bad I felt for judging Gene, especially because I don't really know him.

I'm such a hypocrite, here I am starting to judge other people while at my high school I hated when that happened. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't one of those cliché bullied kids in high school (which bullying should really be fixed by now, it's the 21st century), but I definitely was not classified as a very popular person.

Part of it is because I was such an outcast in middle school and I ended up just getting involved with people that weren't the best role models. In fear of losing everything, I just stuck with them my whole high school career, leaving me with a terrible reputation, especially when everyone heard about my family struggles. By that point, my reputation was way beyond repair, to the point where I don't want to even go near that school again.

I guess that's why I'm so eager to get away from Gene because I think he's going to be the that bad influence that's going to ruin everything again. But when I was in my cloud of thoughts, I realized that I shouldn't think that. Maybe he's the one who got stuck with bad influencers. Maybe he's the one who never wanted a reputation like this. Maybe he's the one who's struggling the most on the inside.

That's why I'm now determined to get to know him better.

I want to help him before he ends up well beyond repair.

༺༒༻

I hope the end isn't that bad. I'm supposed to be in bed right now but I'm not so I'm kind of rushing. I was just really in the mood for writing some thoughts (which is why the ending is so terribly written, sorry). Anyway, I thought you would like an update because I haven't done one in a while.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! <3

- Author~Chan