Wicked End Academy

Matt goes back to the boys' dorm, leaving Brian and me to find something to do. We walk back past the principal's office, seeing Zacky sitting in a chair. We walk in but the secretary stops us.

"I have a question about the Italian homework," Brian tells her. The secretary crosses her arms.

"You don't have Italian class with Mr. Baker," she counters.

"I do," I squeak, attracting everyone's attention. The secretary smiles.

"Miss Merriweather, how have your first two days been?"

"Great. I really like it here." I glance at Brian and his eyes kill me to see. They have a mix of sympathy, anger, depression and knowledge. All together his eyes are heartbreaking.

"Glad to hear it," she smiles. "You may ask him anything you need to know." She walks away so Brian and I sit down next to Zack.

"What did you do to him," Brian asks quietly.

"Gave him a Baker Beatdown," Zacky grins, showing some blood on his teeth. "Knocked out a tooth, might've broken his nose, gave him a nice shiner, busted his lip... anything I could do before the damn prefects got me."

"Thank you, Zack," I murmur. "Really, that means a lot." He smiles kindly.

"Anything to make sure he doesn't hurt you again," he whispers. I smile as Brian looks at his watch.

"We better go, Char. It's five o' clock," he tells me. We stand up and I give Zacky a quick hug.

"Charlotte," he asks when Brian and I are standing in the doorway. We both look at him. He glances down at our held hands. "I'm winning." I narrow my eyes at him before I pull Brian out of the room. We walk down the stairs and go outside. The sun is already setting.

"Charlotte," Brian says, sounding confused. "What's he talking about?" I stay silent as we absentmindedly walk. Brian stops, forcing me to do the same due to his strong hold on my hand. He puts his free hand on my waist as he turns to face me. "What was Zacky talking about?" I look down and shake my head.

"It's nothing," I tell him softly. He removes his hand from my waist and tilts my head up with his index finger so I'm staring straight at him.

"Tell me what he was talking about," he whispers. "I don't care what it is, I just want to know." I swallow any fear I have of being this close to him.

"We made a bet," I say.

"What kind of bet?"

"He thinks you'll start showing more affection towards me and that you'll get jealous every time I pay more attention to Matt." He stays silent for a few seconds.

"You bet that wouldn't happen." It's not a question.

"Yeah."

"Do you want that to happen?" I stare at him, not sure what to say. A few seconds go by before he realizes I'm not going to answer his question. "I really like you, Charlotte. Everything about you pulls me in, all I wanna do is protect you from Rodney and anyone else that tries to hurt you. I know you probably don't feel the same way, but that doesn't matter to me." He looks up and looks around. "It really sucks that Matt feels the same way about you, but no matter what happens I am always gonna be here whenever you need me." I look down and nod, but he moves the hair from my face. He leans down and softly kisses me for a couple seconds before making it deeper. His tongue slips into my mouth until he pulls away. He rests his forehead against mine so I have no choice to but look right at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay," he whispers.

"Can you walk with me to the dorm house," I ask. "Just in case?" He smiles sweetly.

"Of course, baby girl." He takes my hand and we walk closely and silently to the girls' dorm. We stop at the steps and he kisses me again. He pulls away and sighs. "Tomorrow morning, don't leave the building. I'll be out here at 8:30 to take you to your first class." I nod and he wraps his arms around my hips. I wrap mine around his neck for about five seconds before we break apart.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I say. He smiles.

"Thank God for that." I smile also as he puts his hands in his pockets and walks toward the boys' dorm. I go into the girls' dorm and I am instantly surrounded by panicking girls.