Saving Madeleine

Chapter Two

CHAPTER II

Madeleine's POV

I stuffed a few books in the locker and shut it with a slam. I winced at the shooting pain that ran across my shoulder. The tattoo that I got yesterday hurt a lot, especially since it covered a vein.

My eyes scanned the jam-packed hallway for the biology class when a bunch of seniors ran past, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground shielding my tattoed shoulder from the impact.

The books that had been in my arms a few seconds ago, were scattered in all directions.

Cursing like a sailor, I knelt down in the busy hallway to pick everything up. Almost immediately, a pair of hands helped me pick up some books.

Surprised, I looked up to see a girl who seemed to be around my age or maybe even a year older. She had brown eyes and dark black hair. Even though a slight set of muscles ran down her arms, she was pretty.

"Thanks", I said, taking the books from her.

"Anytime." she grinned. "My name is Emily. Nice to meet you... And you are?"

"I'm Madeleine." I swung my bag over my shoulder. After hesitating, I spoke. "I'm sorry. I need to go."

She raised her eyebrows in confusion. "So I'll see you later." she got up and dusted off her pants, smiling at me.

I gulped.

"It's best if you don't." I muttered under my breath and walked away to the class, feeling her gaze burn into the back of my head. I walked in and took a seat in the far end of the classroom away from everyone. I pulled out my phone with a frown.

Why didn't I receive a message yet? Usually, if someone tried to befriend me, I would get a warning message from the hawks that they would be killed if they aren't part of the group.

I honestly don't know how they know what I'm doing. Other than the men who guarded my house, the hawks were seriously transparent. 

After 40 minutes of utter crap, the bell rang, jolting me out of my thoughts.

I collected everything and was about to leave when a voice stopped me.

"Madeleine!" Emily skidded to a stop near my desk. "I don't understand why you won't talk. "What's wrong? Does my breath stink?" She put a hand to her mouth and blew against it.

I chuckled. "It's not that, Emily." I replied as I packed my bag and stood up.

"Then what is it? Why won't you talk?" she questioned, eyebrows raised.

"I'm sorry it's complicated."

"Then make it simple." she shrugged, pulling out a chair to sit beside me.

I sighed, a tad bit annoyed. After an awkward moment, I finally said, "You'll end up in trouble because of me."

She cocked her head and gazed at me, eyes narrowed as if she was thinking. Suddenly realization flickered across her face and she smiled, like as if she understood something.

"W-what?" I asked, suddenly self-conscious. 

"Um, nothing. See ya later." She said and then simply walked away.

Puzzled by her weird behavior, I made my way to the cafeteria. As I walked through one of the corridors, I saw a crowd building up at the end. 

Everybody was chanting something along the lines of 'Fight, Fight'. I peeked over a red head to see what the commotion was about.

My eyes landed on two guys punching each other in the middle of the crowd.

One was sturdy and built like a wall, and the other was as hot as Channing friggin' Tatum.

Both of them were covered in blood and it seemed like 'Hot Guy' was winning. Suddenly, Hot Guy got a bit distracted and 'Mr. Wall' immediately punched his stomach which sent Hot Guy reeling. Hot Guy tried to get up quickly, but Mr. Wall kicked him over and over again.

With one final kick, he spat at the Hot Guy. He bent down and whispered something in Hot Guy's ear, and then walked away, limping a little. The crowd started to disperse and soon I was the only one left.

I fidgeted with my fingers, torn between two decisions- one was to take him to the infirmary, while the other reminded me of the group- they would castrate me if they found out about this.

After a minute of debating what to do, I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.

Screw the group.

And my shoulder.

I picked him up but then I realized that he was a bit too heavy for me to carry. I dropped him slowly on the ground, resulting in a slight thud. He groaned with pain and looked up.

"Can you walk?" I asked, kneeling down.

"I think my left leg is sprained." He replied coarsly, coughing to clear his throat.

Suddenly, I had an awkward feeling that someone was staring at us. I whipped around, my eyebrows furrowed when I couldn't find anyone.

Shaking off the weird feeling, I wrapped one of his bloody arms around my neck as he tried getting up. My shoulder screamed with pain and I hissed. Unfortunately, Hot Guy noticed it.

"What happened?"

"Nothing" I said quickly.

He narrowed his eyes at me but I just ignored him.

"You're lying."

"Where's the clinic?" I asked changing the topic, trying not to wince from the pain.

After a few wrong turns, we finally reached the infirmary. After helping him sit on a chair and getting an ice pack for my shoulder, I simply walked away to the cafeteria.

~~~

As Mr. Layman the chemistry teacher quacked on and on about the atomicity of an element, I looked out of the window. It has been two days since the fight in the corridors, and I hadn't seen either Emily or Hot Guy. Bored and restless, I placed my head in my arms and almost nodded off to sleep when something lightly bounced off my head.

Annoyed with being woken up, I looked around and noticed a crunched up paper ball on the ground. I picked it up and opened it.

Scrawled on the paper were the words 'Hey. Meet me after class?'

My eyes scanned the room and another pair of eyes met mine.

Hot Guy.

He was sitting two tables across, leaning against the table, a lazy grin on his face.

I looked back at the paper and then took a pencil and scribbled a simple 'No' on it. When I turned back, he was looking away. I aimed for his head, to get him back for waking me up, but he surprisingly caught it with one hand and then smirked, making me scowl at him.

Boys.

He scribbled something and threw it back.

'Why not? Just wanted to say a thank you for helping me out that day'

'There. You've said it. You're welcome. Now what?'

'No I want to say it properly.'

He threw it back on my desk. I took the pencil and started to write the answer when I realized that the room was silent. Death silent.

Crap.

I looked up slowly, wincing when I saw Mr. Layman's angry face looking back at me. I gulped as he looked back and forth between the both of us. He took the paper in his hand and scanned through it.

"You both can talk later during detention." He said, pointing the paper at both of us, making us both groan simultaneously.

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