#EXPOSED

CHAPTER - 36

Kill or get killed. 

Ranveer

2020

Fuck people.

I hooded my eyes as I watched...what was her name?

Maira and Ella laughed at her after throwing her lunch on the floor and I turned my head to stifle my laugh. She was a weird girl. I wondered how people didn't stand to bullies but it was also the least of my fucking concerns. I was operating on if-it-doesn't-concern-me-it's-not-on-me mode. People could go crack their skull open for all I cared.

I strode out of the cafeteria when I received a call on my burner phone. I was running low on my fix and I was in no mood for the next lecture. I punched the button on the phone to answer the call and looked ahead as I held the device near my ear and headed to the parking lot.

I had doubled down on drugs after I got out, solely because I had a point to prove. I wasn't backing down or stopping for the world anymore. Over the years, I had learned to live away from games. I didn't function under hesitation and fear. I had seen enough of the world to act and commit and get away with it. I was damned already—damned when my innocence was all I had and without it now, I was on autopilot mode to self-destruction.

My reputation had me stoned. I wasn't controllable anymore—nothing appeased me more than the thrill of sabotage. The world could go fuck itself for all I cared.

By the time I finished my call, I caught what's-her-face stroll out of the campus and storm out of the gates. I walked to her without registering a second thought and stood in front of her.

She was a dainty girl but she didn't strike to be the type who was weak. I offered my handkerchief to her and she grabbed it from my hand. "Is that all you do?" I asked her as I watched her wipe the streaks of tears off her face and her eyes flared.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was hoarse and she stepped back. "Look, I don't know what you want from me but I'm not interested."

I laughed lowly as she handed me the handkerchief back. "You have a misplaced nerve to stand up to a criminal who is only being nice to you but you don't have one to stand up to the bullies for yourself?" The corner of my mouth lifted with amusement. "What an uncanny irony."

"Criminals don't scare me," she threw back and sniffled. "Not in the least. My father is an alleged criminal too. I'm just confused as to why you would be interested to strike a conversation with me."

"Oh I don't intend for a small talk either," I told her and peeled my jacket off. "I assumed you needed someone to put some sense into you."

She shook her head and pinned me with a scowl. "Whatever do you mean?"

I gestured for her to walk with me as I advanced to my car in the parking lot. "Do you know why people bully in the first place?"

She followed me. "Because they think I'm weak?"

"Quite the opposite actually," I clarified and her scowl deepened. "They want you to think that you are weak but in reality, they feel threatened by your presence and what do you do with people like that?"

She contemplated silently and I smirked. "Stay away from them?"

I rolled my eyes and punched the button on my keyfob to unlock my vehicle. "That won't solve anything at all." I threw my jacket on the passenger's seat. "You find a way to add fuel to fire and let them burn. Running away will only prolong the inevitable until you succumb to something far worse than what you're dealing with at the moment."