The Iceberg Tipping

Every nook of the hallway was either a safe haven or a trap in place of one. James could be lurking around any corner and Emma couldn’t stand the thought of running into him again. She could move, but he’d probably notice the difference and follow her. She nearly cried when he sat down next to her at lunch, sitting close enough to bump elbows when he picked up his slightly bent fork. Emma wasn’t eating anyway, so she tried to stand, eyes watering torturously. James simply raised an arm and slung it around her shoulder, pretending nothing was wrong. She was facing the corner of the room, so her back was to everyone. No one could save her when they couldn’t tell that anything was wrong.
indent Who’d want to save me anyway, Emma thought ruefully.
indent Rory, on the other hand, was just entering the cafeteria and automatically noticed a shift in the atmosphere. Emma’s table wasn’t empty. In fact, it was nearly taken over by a largely muscled boy. Rory’s stomach clenched when he noticed the way he held an arm around her shoulders and the rigid way her body language screamed out to him. He almost didn’t even grab food before charging towards them. “What’s up?” he asked loudly, catching both of their attention. He tried desperately to unclench his jaw and just play it cool, but instead his fist began to clench around his tray of food.
indent “Who are you?” James asked, making Emma flinch with his venom. To James, Rory was some sort of competition. It was weird, a quarterback having to fight against a scrawny nerd, but James took the challenge anyway. He could feel something between the two of them and it irked him severely.
indent It annoyed James almost as much as his arm around Emma annoyed Rory. Emma kept her eyes down, wishing she could control the tension in the air or the way she felt; she wanted control of something, anything would do. Emma wished she could hold some sort of control but there was nothing for her to grasp onto.
indent “I’m Rory,” he replied, glaring down at James, whose arm slowly slid from around Emma’s shoulders. “Who’re you?” he shot back with a threatening edge to his tone. Emma shivered in surprise, she had only heard the boy speak a few times and even less to her. They were quiet in the one class where they sat next to each other and there were hardly ever any group projects, not a lab to speak of yet.
indent “I’m Emma’s boyfriend,” James stated, turning forward towards his food, thinking that had ended the conversation. It would have ended it, had Rory not had the sense to glance at Emma just as she cringed. Rory swiftly walked around the table to sit across from the two of them, clenching a fist, that was just beginning to loosen up, when he saw the glimmering tears about to fall from Emma’s eyes. James took a bite, picking up his arm again and putting it around Emma’s waist this time. He tightened his grip before looking up to Rory, “why don’t you get lost, kid?”
indent Rory wasn’t sure whether it was the way Emma wouldn’t dare to look him in the eye as she shuddered or the way he’d just been addressed as kid, but he snapped. It was a subtle snapping, however. Rory was smart enough to not throw punches in the middle of lunch, but he had a new agenda now. This James guy was going down, and that’s all there was to it.