Stolen Innocence

3- Facing him the next day

Getting off the bus, I immediately noticed Ruben and Jesse standing with their group outside the front doors of the school. I could feel my body trembling, and I felt my heart starting to race as I realized there was really no way around them. Unless I wanted to take the long way to my locker and take the side door. They were blocking my path, probably on purpose too, particularly considering what happened last night. I swallow air as I force my body to start walking toward the doors, toward them...

"Hey Makena, what are you doing? Come over here!" I stop and turn towards the parking lot, spotting Suri climbing out of Jake's bright yellow blazer. I smiled at her, feeling a sense of relief. I took a deep breath in, trying to calm my heartbeat down. I take a deep breath as I approach her, watching Jake pull away to park the car. I smile and then tell her everything that happened the night before, and laugh as she looks over and stares daggers at him.

Suri hugs me and Jake approaches us cautiously. She tells me to tell Jake as well, or she will do it for me. So I also relay all of the information I just told her to him. As I told him about how his knocking scared me, he decided he'd start walking me to all of my classes. He wanted to make sure nothing happened. "No one will touch you today. Not while I'm here. That Jerk ought to be locked up or something. Jeesh, what is his problem anyway?"

We walked together through the doors, so I didn't have to walk the long way around. Jake very carefully put himself between Jesse and I. I was extremely grateful for him, I knew he was only doing it to impress Suri, but I would be an idiot not to accept his help. Jake liked Suri, and Suri liked Jake. But neither would make a move. If nothing changes soon I may have to take matters into my own hands.

Jake was true to his word, ensuring I got safely to and from all my classes. He was either waiting for me, or a guy from our group took me through the day after he told them an edited version of what happened. After the last bell rang, I was exhausted and was leaving the gym. My last class was dance; I enjoyed dance so much that it was a great alternative to getting my PE credit. Jake wasn't waiting for me, and I didn't see anyone else there either. Jesse would be heading this way for football practice and I needed to get to my bus. As I rounded a corner I felt myself run into a hard chest and almost fell backward onto my butt. I felt a hand grab my arm, keeping me upright. Upon looking up to see who I had run into, my breath caught as I realized I had run into Jesse, the very guy I had been avoiding all day.

"I'm so sorry." I quickly say, and then try to run away in the opposite direction. As I attempt to pull my hand away, he tightens his grip, holding me in place. My heart pounded, as I wiggled my arm trying to break free from his grip. But that only caused him to tighten his grip even more than before, and I glance up and see a devilish smile on his face.

"Look who I have here." I gasp for air, as I study his face. I don't want to be here with him at all.

"Jesse, please let me go. I can't miss my bus!" I pleaded with him in a whisper. I didn't know what he would do after what happened last night.

"Of course, we do not want you missing your bus, do we? Nope, that's not a real concern for me after all!" He growls out, his friends who're standing around us laughing. He tightened his grip, even more, when I do my best to wiggle free. He was hurting my arm, and if he kept on like this, there would be a bruise on it in an hour or so.

"Let me go, Jesse" I demand, grabbing at his hand with the other of my hands to get him off my arm. He grabs my wrist and tugs it away with his other hand. He shoves me against the wall, pressing me down with his muscular body and both of his hands. "Aaargh!" I scream out.

" Shut up, Makena!" he growls as he watches tears fall down my cheeks. He lets out a laugh at them. "Oh my, does that scare you, Love?" Looking into his eyes and seeing his smile, I realized that he was enjoying this. I look around and see everyone just walking by, ignoring what was happening.