I can feel Garrett standing behind me, and with everything I possess I'm praying for him to walk away. But he doesn't, and he roughly grabs my shoulder when I hesitate to acknowledge him, an action that infuriates more than one of my friends.

Garrett roughly grabs my shoulder and spins me around, making me gasp at the pain of his fingers digging into my shoulder blade.

"You forgot something in my car yesterday," he sneers as he drops my backpack onto my lap, acting as if he can't let go of it fast enough.

I gasp again as the heavy weight of my books painfully hit my legs, and I have to bite my bottom lip against a whimper. Garrett rolls his eyes at my behavior and mutters, "Stop being so dramatic, you little pussy."

"Garrett!" Kat suddenly yells. "Don't you dare call him names, because we all know you are far more deserving of those names than Beau, you sleazy piece of sh—-"

"Okay, I think you should probably leave," Christian says as he stands up.

Garrett's eyes narrow as they immediately lock on Christian, and I can see the storm brewing behind them even before he opens his big mouth. "And who are you supposed to be, my new replacement? Wow, Beau, you sure do work fast. Are you going to actually put out of this—-"

Smack!

I, along with the whole cafeteria, gasps as Christian's fist connects with Garrett's jaw and sends him stumbling backwards onto the gray tiled floor. I can't believe what I just saw, no one has ever punched somebody else to defend me. I'm completely speechless as I stare up at Christian, with so many words I want to say stuck on my tongue. But before I'm able to voice any of them, a teacher suddenly appears and yells, "You, you, and you, come with me right now!" He demands as he points at Garrett, Christian, and I.

What!? I think. I didn't do anything wrong except let a nice guy defend my honor, why are you mad at us for that!? This is completely ridiculous.

I bite my bottom lip as I warily rise to my feet and grab my backpack, since I don't feel like losing it again after just getting it back. We follow after the teacher slowly, each of us has our head down, as if the stooped stance will make us look too sad and pathetic to punish.

The teacher leads us through the nearly empty hallways, only occupied by a student going from here to there, and then we're lead into the main office and told to sit. We do, and my mind begins to race. If I have to face the principal for something that Garrett started, I'm shaving off his blonde hair.

As we sit there, I keep as much distance as I can between my chair and Garrett's. Christian offers to trade me places, but I don't trust them sitting side by side —- I don't want a detention on top of whatever else will happen.

After another moment has passed, the assistant to the principal comes out of her office to tell us Principal Davidson is ready to see us. I rise slowly from my chair, and clutch my backpack strap in my hand as we make our way down the short hallway.

I've never gotten in trouble before, so therefore I've never had a reason to stand in front of the principal while my upper lip sweats from nerves. This whole mess is ridiculous, I wish Garrett would just leave me alone already. I'm done with him, so he better not slither back because he knows I don't want him anymore.

When we step into the principal's office, he gestures for us to sit down, and we do. "So why are you in my office today?" he asks, although surely already knowing why. He just wants our explanation, to see if the reason is different from his own.

"I was just returning my boyfriend's backpack when his jealous friend punched me," Garrett says.

Of course, you lie and blame Christian . . . I think as I mentally roll my eyes.

Principal Davidson purses his lips and folds his hands across his desk as he says, "Interesting claim, I heard you provoked the attack."

I see Garrett gulp from the corner of my eye, as I smuggly think, Hah hah, lying can't save you this time.

"I mean, I-I—-"

The principal ignores Garrett's babbling as he turns his attention to Christian, and asks, "Is it right you only hit your fellow student because he was saying inappropriate things to your friend?"

Christian nods. "Yes."

Then the principal glances at me, and asks, "Is that correct, Beau, was Christian only defending you?"

"Y-Yes," I squeak.

The principal nods before saying, "Okay, Garrett you'll have after school detention today. And Christian, although you were defending a friend for a good reason, I can't dismiss the fact you punched Garrett. So you'll have in-lunch detention tomorrow, now behave and go to class, I don't want to see you in here again."

We nod and mutter, "Yes, sir," before quickly leaving the room and making our way back to the cafeteria, with just enough time to spare before the start of our next classes.

Before we part ways and go to our last class of the day, I stop Christian before he can leave and ask, "Why did you . . . Why did you stand up for me? I mean, I'm grateful that you did but I'm just . . . I'm surprised, no one has ever done that before."

Christian purses his lips and replies, "It was the right thing to do, Beau."

"B-But now you have lunch detention because of me . . ." I mumble.

A ghost of a smile curves Christian's lips, and then he gently touches my cheek and softly replies, "I'd do it again." And then he blinks, as if realizing what he just said and did with his hand. A soft blush colors his cheeks, and then with an awkward smile he leaves.

I'm left staring after him completely dumbfounded, my mind racing a million miles. Why did he touch my cheek like that, and what did he mean by, 'I'd do it again'? Why does everything Christian Philips do confuse me? I sigh heavily and shoulder my backpack, and then I'm making my way to art class, my feelings too wild and conflicting for me to understand.

Word count: 1,082

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A/N: *sighs* Oh, Christian, bravo. One of my dear reads called the outcome. 👏🏻👏🏻

Hi, lovelies. How did you like today's chapter? Do you think Garrett will want to get back at Christian for embarrassing him in front of so many people? Or will he go after Beau instead because Christian was defending him?

🤔

I guess we'll find out . . .

Thank you so much for reading/commenting/voting, and please, don't forget to share this story with your friends! Thank you, have an amazing day/night!

Love from,
BunnyBaekkiee ❤️