May Angels Lead You In

"S- so Marchelle," a voice came from the back while I was watching the rehearsal of the performance during detention.

I turned around in shock but quickly blew out a sigh of relief when I noticed that it was only Philipp. My eyes flicked over to Jimmy who was backstage and I saw him looking back at me. Quietly clearing my throat, I turned back to Philipp, giving him a small smile.

"Hey Philipp," I greeted him and straightened my outfit before focusing on Miss Chaney who was busy helping the actors through the play.

"Can you, you know," Philipp cleared his throat. "I mean, are you free after your detention?"

My heart thumped in joy. No guys have ever asked me if I was free after school so that I could hang out with them. I was beyond words but I remained calm.

I shifted myself so that I could face him and the stage at the same time. But before I could answer his question, Gabriel stood by Philipp's seat, looking down at the latter with his hands on his hips.

"Philipp," Gabriel's voice sounded cold and I saw the other jock jumped from shock.

Philipp opened his mouth to say something but no words could escape his lips. Gabriel just stood there, glaring down at him. Philipp cleared his throat once more before he stood up and scrambled out of the place.

"What do you think you're doing?" I snapped in annoyance as he took a seat next to me, making me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"Nothing," Gabriel murmured and focused on the front as Miss Chaney started freaking out that one of the actors is not in school. "Just wanted to let you know that you look good."

I froze for a moment before nodding my head. I realized that Zacky had joined Jimmy back stage and the former started jerking his head towards the latter who seemed to be watching my moves with scrutiny.

I quickly spun my head around to Gabriel and started to fake my giggles.

"You're too sweet!" I playfully hit his shoulder. Gabriel looked as though he liked the attention I was giving him.

I turned back to face the stage and saw that Jimmy was already making his way away from my viewpoint. Zacky, on the other hand, gave me a thumbs up with a grin before running after his friend.

+++

"Bitch!" someone screamed at the top of their lungs as I was making my way towards the parking lot.

Since these name-callings are always going around to everyone and anyone at any time and any place, I continued on my journey back home.

"Bitch!" someone grabbed my hair and pulled me back causing me to cry out in pain and fall on the ground on my butt.

There was a sharp pain on both my hands and I jumped, looking at my hands which was starting to bleed. My head shot up to the person who had just pushed me down and saw that it was Nicole and two of her cheerleading friends, looking down at me with their arms crossed against their chest.

"How dare you try to steal my boyfriend away from me," Nicole pointed an accusing finger at me with venom in her voice.

"And Philipp!" the other cheerleader - Hannah added with a frown.

People started to gather around us, watching my abuse with amusement. Nicole knelt down and started pushing my hair with anger.

"You think you can just change your hair and stuff to make the guys in this school fall in love with you?" Nicole hissed, before pulling my hair again. "You little slut!"

Before Nicole could give me a slap on the face, someone had grabbed Nicole's arm. Both of us looked up - Nicole looked shocked whereas I was thankful. Hannah and the other cheerleader had taken a step back from fright.

The sun had blinded me for an instant but when my vision got used to the light to see the face of my savior, it was Jimmy with the others right behind him.

Jimmy pulled Nicole away from me with one hard thug and the girl fell on to the ground with a shriek.

"How dare you, freak boy!" Nicole glared at Jimmy as she struggled to stand up.

Once she managed to do so, she raised her hand and collided it with Jimmy's cheek -- giving out a loud slapping sound that rang across the parking lot.

Nicole glared at his face, waiting for him to react to her slap. Jimmy did not move, nor did he spoke a word causing her to huff in anger. She went for a second slap but with quick reflexes, Jimmy grabbed her hand again. He stared into her eyes as she struggled to break free from his grasp.

I watched as Jimmy leaned towards her as though he was about to give her a kiss, making her frame rigid from fear. But he stopped just inches away from her face, not taking his eyes off hers.

"The only reason I'm not hitting you back is because you're a girl," though his voice was soft, they had a vicious hidden threat in them. "And I don't hit girls."

He pulled away and let go of her hands before turning to me. He grabbed my arm, pulled me up in haste and dragged me away from the parking lot.