ii

The seconds in which I stared in bewilderment at Malio's face - on which a devilishly evil grin was slowly forming - just flew by.

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

I had the feeling of being stuck in a kind of matrix because the seconds felt so incredibly long - at some point, however, reality broke in on me with an unexpected force.

Because the events that followed happened so quickly that it was impossible for me to tell what happened first.

I didn't know if it was the scream of pain that pierced my marrow and plunged the entire courtyard into silence, or if it was Malio's tight grip that relentlessly wrapped around my wrist, forcing me to stay where I was to stay.

I tried to ignore the cries of pain that shattered the silence over and over again. So loud, so excruciating and so bloodcurdling.

Only now, when I opened my eyes again, did I realize that I had instinctively turned to Malio.

I stood inches away from him and stared into his ice blue eyes.

"Look at him!" he finally asked me in a calm, indifferent voice.

He didn't seem to mind at all being the trigger for those horrible screams that would surely haunt my dreams.

Into my nightmares...

I glared at him angrily, my dislike for him growing by the minute.

"Look at him!" he commanded again, a tad colder, a tad more indifferent.

When I made no move to do so, he spun me around in one quick movement, forcing me to look at what he had done.

Completely shocked, I looked at the boy lying on the ground. He writhed with cries of pain, clutching his left leg tightly.

"What did you do?" I asked him in disbelief. "What YOU made me do," he replies, whispering in my ear.

His sudden closeness and his hot breath caressing my neck made me flinch.

"Get away from me, you pathetic asshole!" I hissed at Malio angrily, trying to pull my arm out of his grasp - but he still held me tightly.

I heard him laugh behind me and tightened his grip even more.

"Let me go, I said, you crazy whore..." Before I could even finish the sentence, he turned me back with a firm jerk, and I bumped hard against his chest.

He looked down at me and said angrily, "Watch what you say if you don't want to be the next person to get a knife stuck in their body."

This sentence from his mouth didn't sound like a threat, it was much more a promise.

A promise that sent chills down my spine.

I backed away intuitively, wanting to put as much distance between us as possible.

"Well, now you understand me." He glared at me one last time, those incredibly cold ice blue eyes - which lit up in triumph for a second - before he let go of my hand and took a step back.

Finally. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking.

I rubbed my wrist where he'd been clutching, still looking at him with a mixture of disdain and fear.

He threw a crumpled ball of paper at my feet, "Pick it up." He pointed to the paper ball. I continued to glare at him contemptuously and my hatred grew immeasurably.

I took a few deep breaths to avoid making a mistake that I would surely regret afterwards.

But I wouldn't give up that easily.

He might have won a battle, but not the war.

"Come on!" he yelled.

I sighed and gave him what he wanted, picking up the crumpled ball of paper at my feet.

After I smoothed out the sheet, it turned out to be my timetable.

"Oh, how gracious - you give him back to me!", I sneered scornfully when I finally found the courage to face him again.

"I'm anything but merciful. You'll notice that, too.", he replied coldly and just pushed me roughly to the side to push past me towards the cafeteria.

Malio just walked through the shocked crowd until he reached the height of the boy lying on the ground.

There he knelt down and with a violent jerk pulled the knife out of his left leg.

Another pained scream shattered the silence that still reigned throughout the courtyard.

Malio looked at him blankly for a few seconds without saying a word - then he wiped the bloodstained knife on the inside of his red and gray jacket and disappeared through the cafeteria door.

Seconds later - as if just waiting for Malio to leave - a handful of students had gathered around the boy on the floor, writhing in pain, who was now screaming in pain again.

A few students knelt on the floor and seemed to be coaxing him on the arm while others tried to stop the bleeding by pressing a tea towel (which someone must have gotten from the cafeteria) over the gash.

Finally, I broke out of my shock and finally started to move.

Seconds later I had almost reached the group when Bekka spotted me, broke away from the group of students and called out to me; "Let's go."

"We have to help him!" I told her, horrified.

“He has enough help. Let's go before we get associated with this action!" she told me as she pushed me out of the yard.

Completely surprised, I threw a last look over my shoulder and saw how two boys hooked the injured man left and right and heaved him onto a bench.

Then he was gone, out of my sight.

Because Bekka had pulled me into some corner and first looked around to make sure we were really undisturbed before she asked me in horror: "What the hell just happened? What have you done?"

***

I rolled my eyes annoyed and finally answered: I didn't do anything. I just can't stand people like him and I'm definitely not going to hate a person like that."

It really got on my nerves that everyone at this school listened to him and there didn't seem to be anyone who really gave him an opinion - that he was a conceited, stuck-up, mean-spirited prat who thought I could get away with anything as long as he could, quite obviously, hide behind his family name.

I didn't care who he was - only one thing mattered: his behavior! And that was definitely underground.

Simply disgusting!

Without waiting for an answer, I added triumphantly, "Besides, he's shot himself now. With an action like that, he will definitely be kicked out of school!"

I was certain that I had emerged victorious and settled the Malio problem once and for all, for the whole school (each of them could thank me later) - but my sense of glorious victory was fading, when I noticed Bekka's resigned expression.

“Becka! He'll have to make sure of that, won't he?" I asked again, a little less sure.

She slowly shook her mop of dark hair and my triumphant grin faded from my face just as quickly as it had appeared.

“He will not be expelled from school! I thought I had made it very clear that you shouldn't mess with him." She said instead. "Why not? I'm not afraid of him," I replied confidently.

Which surprised me personally even more than Bekka - because the truth was, I was certainly afraid of him, but at the same time my pride was too strong to submit to him.

"I hope you know what you're doing." She replied in a weak voice.

I hoped so too, but I didn't have time to think about it because the doorbell rang for the next hour.

I accompanied Bekka to a room on the first floor.

"Please behave inconspicuously. And don't sit near him." She admonished me again before opening the classroom door.

Why should I voluntarily get close to him? I wasn't crazy.

When I then saw HIM sitting in the last row, the last spark of hope disappeared that I wouldn't have to see Malio again that day.

The fact that he was also looking at me with that arrogant expression didn't make it any better. I swallowed the rising anger and looked around the room for an empty seat.

One was right in the front row, right across from the teacher's desk - I would never sit in that seat, even if all hell froze over it was absolutely not an option for me.

So there was only the last free seat in the classroom - which was right in front of Malio's seat, in the penultimate row.

Oh great - so much for my agreement with Bekka to avoid him.

Noticing my insecurity, Bekka grabbed my sleeve and said, so quietly only I could hear, "Don't even think about it, Jolien! Please! It only causes trouble."

I definitely shook off her arm, took a deep breath and headed for the empty seat in the penultimate row.

I could feel her gaze boring into my back, but I didn't care.

"You can't sit here." Malio said when I was within earshot. "Why not? Looks like a free seat to me or is your invisible friend sitting there?"

Malio leaned forward, making him look like a lurking predator, ready to pounce on his prey at any moment.

The right corner of his mouth twitched up in a small crooked smile, then he challenged, in a calm yet intimidating voice, "Be careful, Jolien, or have you already forgotten my threat?"

Something snapped in my head at that moment and I leaned forward, placing both hands on the left and right of his tabletop - which meant that our faces were only milliliters apart and the tips of our noses were now almost touching.

"I'll never let you tell me anything, ya hear? Better you endure this now, like a real man, and get over it, or kindly cry quietly." I hissed at him angrily.

For a fraction of a second, a surprised expression crossed his face, but his face immediately froze again and he swung back.

The stack of books on his desk flew through the air in a high arc and fell to the floor with a crash.

He jumped up in a flash and roughly grabbed the collar of my blazer: "Keep playing with fire and you'll burn in the flames. I assure you, here and now!"

I winced at the readiness of his brutality, which hit me in those words.

I immediately swallowed down the rising tears, which he noticed with a grin. It didn't help, though, because I felt my eyes fill with tears.

For a moment he just looked at me with those raging, cold eyes, then after what seemed like forever, he finally let go of me and I let out a relieved breath.

I didn't even realize I was holding my breath.

"Get out of my sight!" he hissed devastatingly while dropping back into his seat as if none of this had happened.

Stunned, I stared into his cold blue eyes and seriously considered sitting in the front row, putting as much space as possible between us - but then it would all have been for nothing and I would definitely become his new favorite victim.

My entire body was still shaking when I finally decided against the warning voice in my head and turned on my heel to lower myself into the chair.

I heard Malio audibly panting behind me: "You've got nerves, girl."

I was relieved to find that those words sounded less hostile than the ones before them - I could almost swear there was a hint of admiration in his voice, but maybe I just wanted to hear that to calm myself.

"Hey you, spectacled snake. Give me my books." He turned to a blond boy with horn-rimmed glasses, who flinched and immediately collected the books and stacked them all back on Malio's table, trembling nervously.

A smug grin curled his lips as he leaned back in his chair and fixed me as well, noticing that I'd turned at the words and was watching him darkly.

For the first time, I was grateful to see a teacher enter the classroom.

It didn't last 10 minutes and my mind was wandering, as it always does with subjects that didn't interest me - and math was definitely one of them.

That's exactly why I didn't want to sit in the front row.

Lost in thought, I started scribbling something on my pad when I suddenly heard my name.

I looked up, startled, to find the entire class looking at me.

Hell, I had no idea what it was all about!

"Did you even hear me, Miss Chesterfield?"

No not true. I tugged at my hair nervously.

"We were just wondering if you might be able to solve the problem.", the teacher (I had no idea what his name was - that too had leaked straight out of my head) helped me jumps.

“Exactly, Jolie. You said you were an ace at math. Top of the class at your old school. Show us the solution on the blackboard." I heard Malio's cold voice from behind.

That bastard!

Now I shifted nervously in my chair.

I frantically thought about a solution to avoid this imminent crash landing, but I just couldn't think of anything.

"Then please come to the front.", said the arrogant teacher annoyed and pointed to the blackboard.

"Have fun!", Malio commented and his glee was clearly audible.

"I don't know the answer, sir." I finally admitted defeat.

“Then you had better put your energy into the lesson and follow the material. Then you can also provide the solutions to the assignments," said the teacher in a scathing voice.

I swallowed, nodded sheepishly and felt my head turn crimson.

Behind me, Malio broke into a nasty laugh, and then he said, amused, "Good start, Princess."