Stay With Me (Merome)

Epilogue (but it's a flashback because why not?)

Jerome's POV

I could hear those quiet footsteps over the harsh noises.

I stood at my locker, door open, and watched this new, unfamiliar face pass by...

Except he didn't.

Instead, he paused, turned to me, and blinked. I noted his left eye was bruised. "Hi there, my name is Mitch, and I'm new to this school. I was hoping you could help me." He whispered quietly, and I heard the different accent in his voice. It was at this time that my friends noticed me, and decided to come over. Tripping over feet, pushing each other, they stumbled their way, while Mitch was blocked by my locker door. "Jerome! Oi! Wanna come along? We have this new kid who's being a bit of a chicken today." I shut my locker door, revealing Mitch, and turned to see them surround us. "Hey look! Jerome's with the new kid!" Mitch froze, and looked at them. "What do you want?" He asked, forcing himself to sound strong. The biggest, our leader named Harrison, stepped forward. Even though he was eleven, he was already a muscluar, formidable kid, easily clearing five feet six. He cracked his knuckles menacingly, and I froze, connecting the dots (and bruise) together.

Harrison stepped forward, and I rolled my eyes. "Come on Harrison, cut it out. He's just a new kid. Where's Johnny anyway? I'm sure he'd appreciate the gesture more!"

I didn't know why I was helping this kid who'd just come into my life. He'd been here for less than a minute, and already, I felt so protective and willing to help. I was standing up to my friends, who'd given more bruises than had eaten candy. It just felt right.

Harrison leered. "Jerome, why don't you just step away from this loser and let us deal with him, and then we'll call you over later."

"I said I didn't want to fight, and I don't." Mitch mumbled, and Harrison ignored him. "Jerome..."

"Why? Just so he can feel so traumatised that he never wants to come to school again?"

"Jerome, I said to get out of my way."

"No."

"Jerome, move!"

"I. Said. NO." I roared, quickly pushing Mitch to the side. I knew what was coming for me.

I ducked right as Harrison's fist came to meet my head, and grinned as I heard the sound of knuckles against metal. "Jerome..."

"Lay off him, alright?" I challenged, and Harrison shook his head, enraged. For a second, I got the image of an insane bull. All we were missing were the smoking nostils and crazy horns...

Harrison stepped back, and started making my prediction come true, arms in a football tackling stance. "Oh shit." I barely dodged as he charged, and then hit my locker again, head ramming. I sighed. "That is going to leave a dent..."

Harrison stood, a little dazed. "Look, just stay away from him, okay? Just lay off him."

"No-"

"Yeah Harry! He's no fun anyway, lets just find Johnny and get it over and done with!" Everyone else started to walk away, looking like a band of wild coyotes seaching for their prey. Harrison paused though, and leaned close. "If you or your little friend ever cross my path again, I will make you pay for it. Do not mess with me. Got it?" He whispered slowly, fear intended. Instead I shrugged. "Just don't cross our path!" Harrison snarled, but walked away.

Mitch paused behind me. "Thank you." He said. I looked at him. "Hey, they needed to stop bullying the new kids. I wasn't okay with it, but what do you do when they ask for it..."

"I love how you didn't even need to raise a finger." I grinned. "I know he reacts before he thinks." I sighed. "I'm just going to have a hard time explaining this to  the pricipal." Mitch laughed, and it warmed me to hear it. "Look, I move around a lot though, my dad always gets new jobs around the world. I may not be here long, so that may not pay off."

"You know what? Someone needed to stand up to him. Maybe I'm starting a revolution!" I paused, noting the time. Bell would ring soon. "Hey Mitch, what do you have first?"

"Uh. Math with Mr Beetee."

"Ah yeah, I have him too. Don't worry, he won't send you to sleep..." We wandered off to class, and the smiles and conversation that followed was easy and natural, like I'd known him all along.

Mitch paused at final period, which we also shared. "Jerome, listen, I don't want to make trouble for you, so if you don't want to talk to me anymore, then I completely un-"

"Mitch. Stop apologising. It's fine." I said firmly, then grabbed his arm and a pen. "Here's my home phone number, call me when you want to hang out?" I scribbled it on his arm, and he looked at it before grinning. "Sure Jerome. Here, have mine as well." He returned the favour, and I was left with a neat tattoo of blue ink on my arm.

That night, I called the number. I'd been hesitant, but excited, and I laughed the moment he answered. He tried to avoid his accent, but it slipped into conversations still. "Hey Jerome, man, thanks for sticking up for me. Really means a lot. I know I said I move around a lot, and I do. I've never had a friend like you though." Friend. It warmed me to hear him say that. The moment I knew I loved him. It scared me, but made me so happy at the same time. Oh Mitch, I will be more than just a friend one day. Yeah, one day. One day, I'd protect him, and he'd protect me. One day, we'd hold hands, have him feel butterflies around me like the ones he gave me. One day, I'd make him stop moving, and stay with me.

Okay. I have an awful memory, admitting it right now! This is because I keep forgetting to thank you all for an amazing 10k reads! I know we passed it ages ago, but it's still amazing and more than I thought this book would get, so thank you all so much! We also hit 500 votes, which means this is my second book to do so, and that is also amazing! Genuinely didn't expect this to happen so soon!

I'd do personal thank you notes as well, but I feel like I'd be thanking a lot of people, so I just want to say that, if you're reading this, whether you voted, commented or just read it through to the end, thank you for having faith in me, and I hope you'll stick around for the next two Merome books I've posted ^_^ which, btw, they are the final book in the Ours trilogy, and a Merome diary thing from a unique POV...

But let's just say Tashaandbuddy got the 500th vote... even though she claims she actually doesn't have much of a place in the Merome fandom... -_- HOW CAN YOU NOT?

Anyway... thank you all again, so so much! It's been awesome writing this book for the last five months, with all of you to read it and share your lovely support! ^_^

Shine bright!
Amber