Taming the Tattooed Boy

- iii -

You clenched your teeth together, unable to hide the boiling emotions that you've kept for almost one hour from inside that room. It was almost unbearable to see his face nowadays without the urge to punch it, throw a brick at it, burn it to death.

"Hey, hey... There's Princess Tampon," said a couple of boys, as they walked passed you with a snicker. Your friends couldn't accompany you due to their practice for cheerleading, thus you forced to accept every single remark that was thrown at you.

Although you were furious, you couldn't help yourself into feeling less embarrass as well. If it wasn't for the stupid new kid, none of this would've happened.

"So partner, help me with number 4 would ya? OH! By the way, lemme borrow your pencil."

You couldn't even quite remember how he ended up as being your partner for the upcoming project. All you knew was, if you had a chance, you would've snapped every bone in his body into pieces.

Robbie, who was busy snooping inside your bag without any approval or permission, laughed rather loudly, earning the whole classes attention. His hands were deep down in your bag, and your eyes widened in nervousness. What could he have-

"Hey boys look!" He grabbed a handful of 'protections' and 'tampons' from your bag and threw them in the air, "Little miss perfect here is trying to get boys up'er skirt."

The whole class bursted in laughter, Robbie's laugh was no match for theirs however; it was the loudest one in fact. Even your teacher couldn't help, as he was trying to keep the whole class down, but under a failed attempt.

You couldn't have been more embarrassed, and you couldn't excuse yourself out. The bell was bound to ring in less than a minute.

59 seconds of humiliation is actually a long time.

You wiped a stray tear that fell from your cheeks, with every step you took, another round of giggling and laughing, and more pointing was tossed at you. Every single anger in your body was replaced with sadness, and humiliation. Unable to accept any further remarks, you ran and ran, dropping your notebooks in the process but you could care less.

You ran, ran until you reached the library, which was almost empty to your relief. It was barely accompanied by some girl who had nail-biting issues, and a guy, who was concentrated on a solar system nonfictional article.

Still flooded with embarrassment, you decided to calm yourself down leaving reality for only a little while until the bell rung signaling for the next class. Quickly rummaging in your bag, you fished for your copy of 'The Outsiders' before promptly sitting down along with the other two students.

The girl seemed to have paid no attention to your presence, though the guy acknowledged it. He looked up from his book and smiled, but soon faltered once he saw your eyes slightly red.

"Were you crying, just earlier?" He'd asked. Who was he? Why was he so concerned over some stranger?

"I-I wasn't crying.. I was.. was only trying to scratch my eye. See?"

You laughed nervously, forcing yourself to bring your hand up and rubbing your bloodshot eye. You heard him sigh, looking up to find him shaking his head in disappointment.

"'Can't fool me so easily. C'mon, tell me what's wrong, sweetie?" He spoke rather quickly it was almost difficult for you to keep up.

You exhaled a small breath. I mean, it would be very relaxing to release what you've bottled up. It can't hurt to tell a story to a stranger now, can it?

Facing him with confidence, you cleared your throat as his book now sat on his lip, eyes almost drilling into your skull.

"It's not everyday you stumble into the biggest bully on the planet, who happened to have completed his first task of embarrassing his partner.."