Another Sociopath

Eighteen: Confidence

Great more pain.

Willow takes the rubbing alcohol and dabs it onto the cloth. I sigh and close my eyes. I feel the stinging of the alcohol on my skin. It burned like shit. My breathing becomes more ragged. I try to hold it together, but it's not working. I squeeze Pansy's hand super tight. She gasps.

"Sorry." I mumble against the pain.

"N-no it's fine. Just...you have a strong grip."

"It'll only be a little longer. Don't worry." Willow reassures me. She was right. The stinging stops in a matter of seconds. "Wow. Those cuts were really dirty. I'm glad I cleaned them up."

"Thanks but next time I think I'll do this myself." I say. "No offense, but doing it myself is usually less pain and less urge to punch."

Willow just nods as she walks into the bathroom to put the supplies back.

"Here have some food you must be starving." Pansy hands me some chicken leg and a salad. "There wasn't much left on the tables, but I grabbed some."

"No. It's fine. I'm not that hungry anyways."

I quickly eat part of the the chicken leg. Pansy and Willow leave with the left overs, so they don't get caught out past hours. I snuggle up in my bed.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. My face still had scars, but I don't really care. I don't know make up anyways, so that doesn't help either.

The great hall was filled. The girl Hermione ran over to me as soon as I walked in.

"Hey! Are you ok? I didn't see you yesterday and we have all our classes together, so I was wondering if during a free time or during study hall I could maybe help you catch up."

"Umm...I'll think about it, but I'm not sure."

"Ok. Hope your okay!" Hermione waves as she heads back to the Gryffindor table.

I grab a muffin from the Slytherin table and then leave the hall. I walk into astronomy class. Great. Just great. Mattheo and Tom are already sitting at the table already.

"Nice to see you again." Tom growls.

"Yeah nice to see you too dipshits."

"So how was it with Tom?" Mattheo says giving me a knowing look.

How the fuck does he know?

"Horrible and annoying as usual. Honestly I would kill you both with my bare hands if I was allowed."

They both flip me off and kick me under the table.

Willow comes over and sits at her usual spot.

"How's it going Lanton?" Mattheo asks.

"Oh um. It's going-"

"I was being sarcastic. I don't actually care at the moment."

I stand up.

"Cliff, please take a seat."

I give Mattheo a death stare as class begins.

Halfway through class, Willow asks to go to the restroom. I look up at her to see her eye glossy and about to give way to tears. I stand up and follow here out of the astronomy tower. The teacher didn't even care to call at me. I follow her down to the bathroom where she starts to cry her eyes out.

Fuck. Crap. What do I do? I'm not good at this stuff.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Are you okay? Do I need to beat someone up?" I ask.

Willow chuckles. This leads to her hiccuping while tears stream down her face. I could tell her legs where about to give out, so I grab her in a hug, bringing her to the ground.

"I-hiccup-don't think-hiccup-you need to b-hiccup-eat up anyone." Willow says rubbing her head into my shoulder.

I felt like an older sister. Or something close to that.

Even though Willow was taller than me, she fit in my lap almost perfectly.

"Are you sure. I can teach them about nice and respectful." I show each of my clenched fists.

This makes her laugh. A goofy laugh. Not a girly laugh that someone just uses when a boys around. A goofy laugh. I liked it.

"If you want." she laughs, hiccuping afterwards.

"Was it Mattheo's comment?"

"Y-hiccup-yes"

"That dickhead." I growl.

"Hey. Watch the language."

"Oh come on he deserves it"

"Fine. He is a dickhead."

Wow. A Hufflepuff swearing never thought I'd here that, but Willow could definitely embrace it.

"You know you should swear more often."

"You think? Most Hufflepuffs swear not to."

"I think you could embrace it. It looks good and it definitely makes you feel stronger."

"Well. I have always liked swearing but I have never thought to say it to someone. I guess I should it might help with some stuff."

"Come on let's go back to class and we will talk to them after class."

"Them?"

"Yes. Them. Tom and Mattheo. They are both nasty."

"Ok fine. Should we practice what to say?"

"Nope improv. Best way to do it."

"Ok then." Willow stands up. She helps me up. Then, we walk back to class.

Class is almost done by the time we get back. Everyone is just sitting and talking while the teacher is grading papers from some other classes.

"Is there a new ocean down in the bathroom?" Tom asks, a smirk coming across his face.

"Actually, there's not." Willow says then glances at me.

The boys look in surprise at Willows remark.

"When did someone get so bold?" Tom asks, standing up to his full height.

Willow gulps then continues, "Since, I decided I had enough of you twos bullshit."

Willow was getting more confident by the second. This girl just needed a pep talk, and then, boom, she's on a roll.

Mattheo stood up to his full height. The Riddles towering over both of us. Willow starts to lose her flare.

"If you think height is intimidating, then maybe you should be smaller." I say, trying to help lift Willow's spirits.

"Oh so that's the road where going-"

Class is dismissed right at that second. I grab Willow's hand and we run down the stairs and all the way out to the quidditch pitch.

Willow and I collapse onto the pitch. Our breath heavy from running so far in such a short time. The grass wet with morning dew, cooling down my body. The light breeze helping to cool me down, too.

"Nice place to stop for a rest, aye?"
—————————————————————————
Word Count: 1063

Hope you like it. I am starting a story where it is going to mostly be from Willow's POV the whole time. (If you want to try it out)
- Brell