~My Teacher Hits Me~ (Book 1) [Rewritten]

Chapter 14: Times are A Changing

Rylan flees the small music store and turns left, in the direction of the food court. Her eyes shift nervously from side to side. Liam seems to have disappeared completely. Rylan pulls her phone out and frantically texts her dad.

Can we meet early? Not feeling well.

She waits anxiously for the reply as she continues walking. A ruckus begins behind her and Rylan knows without looking that it's Liam and Blake. She peaks swiftly over her shoulder anyway. Liam stands in front of the music shop with his back to Rylan. Blake stands opposite him, speaking in a hushed yet furious tone. Rylan walks faster.

She throws another glance over her shoulder and Blake finally notices her. He smirks and starts after her. Rylan breaks out into a run, but Blake catches up quickly, grabs her by her jacket, and yanks her backwards. The sudden backwards force sucks away the air Rylan planned to use for screaming. Instead a small huff wheezes out.

"Don't cause a scene, Rylan." Blake warns.

Liam blocks Rylan and Blake from the rest of the mall. She tries to replenish her breath to work up another scream.

"Let me go." She demands as she attempts to shove Blake away.

Blake shoves back and Rylan's head cracks against the wall. She bites her lip and whimpers.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you here again. Where's Blondie this time?" He teases.

"She's at home. What's it to you?" Rylan spits.

Liam chuckles.

"Too bad. She has more balls than you do. It would've been fun to talk to her." Liam mocks.

Rylan peeks down the mall. The food court is still a long ways down and passersby are paying her no attention. Once again, no one cares. She contemplates her next move when her phone buzzes in her pocket. As if on cue, Mr. Winchester appears, walking down the opposite side of the mall towards the food court. Rylan prepares to call out to him, but Blake notices the change in her expression. He hits her in the stomach with his elbow, knocking the wind out of her.

Rylan hunches over in pain and gasps for air. Blake lifts her head up against the wall.

"What did I say about making a scene?" He reprimands.

She shakes him off and hisses through clenched teeth, "Fuck you."

This time Blake laughs. "Better watch that mouth of yours. It's getting a little too dirty for you."

Rylan springs forward to break through the tiny space between Blake and Liam, but Blake catches her on his arm, spins her around, and slams her face-first into the wall. Rylan throws her hands up to prevent her face from making damaging impact with the wall. Her cheek slams against the cold surface a half-second after her hands do.

Blake presses his hand against the back of her neck and inches her more closely against the wall. He leans in.

"I hate it when you don't listen to me. I thought I made it pretty clear when I said to leave your friends out of this."

"What's going on over here?" Some random stranger inquires. Blake and Liam turns toward the man and Rylan uses the distraction to push off the wall and twist away from Blake.

She races past the stores as Blake and Liam recover and follow her. Rylan maneuvers around chairs and tables in the food court. She puts as many obstacles between her and her pursuers as she can. Rylan's eyes roam the room and land on the familiar figure of her father. She practically body-slams him and wraps her arms around him to keep both of them from flying to the floor.