Hammered Humanity (✅)

Chapter Sixteen

After another day of school, Greg walked outside and saw Terra waiting for him. She was wearing her usual jeans and worn out sneakers with a baggy white anime shirt.

"Hi, Greg!" Terra exclaimed with a large smile on her face.

"Hey... You weren't in school today. Again..." Greg replied monotonously as the two started walking down the sidewalk.

"I didn't see a reason to go since I aced all the tests so far," she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I never really thought class was interesting. I finished all the textbooks within the first week and have been acing every test since then."

"What?!" Terra exclaimed even louder than before, practically bouncing with disbelief. "The entire book?! All six of them?!"

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard," Greg said without much reaction to the girl basically freaking out beside him. "They're written with the intent to educate hormone-ridden pests for a few months. They're pretty easy to get through."

They both walked passed the local gas station and weren't surprised when a familiar voice rang out.

"Hey, sexy! Why are you still fucking that loser when you could have a real man?" Chad called out, flexing his arms while his group of friends snickered behind him. "Tell you what. Dress in that school girl outfit again and I might let you come feel 'em!"

"Maybe I want a man with blood pumping somewhere other than his gross arms!" Terra mocked right back, immediately attaching to Greg's side.

A chorus of oooohs came from Chad's lackeys along with a few of their own mocks and leers.

Despite the group trying to convince Chad to go kick their asses, the kid remained still and just stared the two down.

"I don't wanna waste my energy before the big meet on Saturday," he sneered, doing nothing as Greg led Terra away.

The two walked in silence the entire way to Greg's house and were greeted by even more silence as they discovered the house was empty.

The silence continued as they sat down and pulled out a book, but eventually, Terra spoke up.

"I'm sorry I put you in that position," she said softly, not looking up. "Chad seems to not want to mess with you and I figured if he thought you were my boyfriend, he might back off."

"Chad doesn't mess with me because he knows he would lose, and about the girlfriend thing, I don't mind," Greg shrugged back.

"R-Really?!" Terra gasped softly, looking up from her book this time.

"Having a girlfriend would get my parents off my back about finding one and it would let me...run late at night without them freaking out so much," he said, catching himself before he said too much.

"So I guess we are boyfriend and girlfriend now," Terra smiled, hiding her blush behind her book.

"Guess so."

"Should we...maybe..." Terra subtly suggested, the dark blush travelling from her cheeks down her neck as she moved closer and pressed her lips against his.

Her heart beating fast, she leaned too far forward and found balance by placing her hand on Greg's solid chest, noticing his own heart was beating steadily.

She popped back up to find his eyes were also open, looking at her blankly.

"Am I doing something wrong?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, it's just..."

"What?"

"Do you actually like me...?" Terra asked, slowly sitting backwards and avoiding his gaze.

"I don't know how to answer that," Greg said after a short pause.

"I kind of figured that you don't feel things, but do you have any opinion of me at all?" Terra questioned further, clearly getting somewhat emotional.

"I think you are the closest thing to an innocent person that I've ever met, and that makes you the prey for the monsters of this world," he answered a little too quickly. "While I don't care what happens to you, I hate when cowards target the weak."

"That's it...?" Terra pushed again, her brows furrowed as if she didn't quite care what he just said and was waiting for more.

"That's it," he shrugged back.

"Were you born this hollow?" she asked with a slight pout.

Greg opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, his own eyes slowly travelling away.

"You can tell me, I mean, who would listen even if I did tell someone else?" she pushed him.

"I don't want to face it anymore than you do your own problems," he said with a bit of an attitude, making Terra suddenly slam her book shut.

"Fine!" she huffed. "I'll tell mine first, then."