(Jayden's POV)
It was the next morning and so far, the only thing I learned at school yesterday was that the boy who made me feel tingly was named Aiden. He's the alpha of the four friends he's always walking with. The twins were named Alex and Cameron, though I still can't figure out which is which. Then there is Dylan and Hunter who are dating, or at least enjoy each others company with how much they kiss each other.
I yawned as I was walking to my locker. Normally, I would have met up with Sage but he said he wasn't feeling well. Sighing I grabbed all the stuff I needed and headed to class. I hadn't even made it two feet away from my locker when all of a sudden someone grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and slammed me into the lockers. In front of me I saw three burly guys staring down at me. The one holding my collar is in my first period but I had never seen the other two before.
"Who do you think you are?" He spat angrily.
"W-what?" I had no idea what this person wanted with me. I had literally never even spoke to him before and here he was slamming me.
He seemed to get angrier at my confusion. I guess I was supposed to magically know what he was talking about. He muttered curses under his breath before dragging me off into the boys bathroom.
I tried to fight him, not wanting to be beaten to a pulp on my second day of school.
The guy threw me to the floor, kicking me as if I was some bug on the floor. The others didn't intervene, seeming to show some mercy by not breaking every bone in my body with their feet. I curled up in a ball and felt my eyes sting. I was too weak to fight him off. I had done nothing to him and he was treating me like this.
After a while he must have gotten bored or maybe tired. He stopped beating me but left me crumpled on the bathroom floor crying my eyes out.
I didn't do anything. I kept telling myself. I didn't do anything to him.
I slowly got up, wincing on my way to the mirror. I needed to see the damage.
I have to hide this. I couldn't have problems already on my second day of school. I thought. I grabbed a few paper towels, wiping my mess of a face.
When I was done cleaning up, it looked like I got in a fight with 10 cats (no pun intended). It's a good thing I brought a hoodie with me today. Carefully sliding it on, I decided it was time to go to my next class. I had already spent too much time in the bathroom and couldn't afford to miss anymore school.
When I walked into first period, everyone turned to look at me as always. I quickly sat down in my seat and adjusted my hood so no one could see my face. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I began crying silently, trying to be as quiet as possible.
~
(Aiden's POV)
I was talking to Alex and Cameron about some pack matters when a certain someone who had been on my mind since yesterday walked in. He looked awkward, more so than normal. He was limping and had a pained look on his face. That or he had to use the bathroom. He was wearing a baggy black hoodie that swallowed his small frame with ripped blue jeans and checkered vans.
He practically ran to his seat, looking down the whole time. He immediately laid his head down, hugging his head as he began to cry. I could hear his small sniffles that he tried to keep quiet so no one heard. My pack and I all looked at each other.
He's crying... I said sadly.
I know, I hear it. I wonder what happened... Dylan said, looking over at my mates trembling shoulders.
It was only his second day of school, he shouldn't be this upset so soon.
Did you see the bruise on his ankle? That's why he's limping. Hunter pointed out. I never noticed it, I just thought he walked funny.
I don't know but after class I'm going to find out. I said determinedly.
They all agreed with my decision before closing off the mind link.
~
The obnoxious bell rang as everyone started filing out of the classroom while Jayden just sat there at his desk with his face still buried in his elbow. I mind linked everyone and told them to go to class ahead of me since I needed to help my mate. I sat down in the chair next to Jayden and softly shook his shoulder. Maybe he would open up to me about what happened to him. I now noticed the bruise Hunter was talking about on his ankle. It looked really dark but still fresh.
"Jayden." I whispered. No answer. I called his name a little louder, still shaking his shoulder, but he wasn't answering.
I lifted his hood up a little to see if he was asleep or if he was just ignoring me.
Immediately I saw a cut on his right ear. I moved his right arm over a little bit to see his face. He had his eyes closed with dry tears on his face.
I heard his soft breathing and knew that he was sleeping.
I gently picked him up, hoping I wouldn't wake him, and carried him to the roof of the school. It was a really nice day out today and maybe Jayden just needed some fresh air and sleep.
I mind linked my pack and told them I'd be on the roof for the rest of the day. Jayden really needed me now, especially with his wound on his leg.
I positioned Jayden beside me so that his head was resting against my shoulder. His right hand balled up into a tiny fist as he slept.
I heard the roof doors open suddenly to reveal my pack with a pillow and a blanket in hand they probably snagged from the nurses office. I laid my jacket on the ground so he at least had something to lay on before putting the pillow under his head and wrapping him up in the blanket almost like a burrito.
Dylan took off his shoes, his strange maternal instincts coming in. He suddenly gasped, making us all jump.
"What? What's wrong babe?" Hunter asked, kneeling down next to him.
He covered his mouth.
"What's going on?" I asked, feeling worry pool in the pit of my stomach.
"Aiden, look at him." Dylan cried, pulling up the pant leg of Jayden's jeans.
That's when I notice them. There were bruises everywhere. I didn't know what to make of it.
I started checking the rest of his body to see if there was anymore damage. The worst part were his ribs and back.
Alex and Cameron's dad was a doctor so they both have seen their fair share of wounds and they concluded that Jayden just had a badly bruised rib on top of the rest of them. Nothing was broken by some miracle.
I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face, trying to think of who would do this to him.
An abusive parent maybe? I don't know anything about his home life to be sure if that's true or not. A bully at school? It better not be anyone at school or they were going to suffer a pain worse than death.
Alex made a run to the nurses office to ransack more items from her office like an ace bandage for his wrist and ankle.
He then patched up Jayden as best as he could.
His eyes suddenly flew open. We all jumped back, afraid he would freak out with all of us staring down at him like we were. On closer inspection, we noticed he was just half asleep. He started mumbling inaudible words that none of us could understand.
I started playing with his hair, hoping to sooth him back to sleep.
As I was playing with his hair, some of it fell over his nose. He immediately shot up and sneezed. It was literally the cutest thing I have ever heard in my life. It was such a small but cute little noise and the way his nose scrunched up was absolutely adorable.
"Bless you." Hunter laughed as he held his stomach, almost rolling on the floor.
Jayden jumped at the sound and looked around him before sneezing again then disappearing.
We all jumped at that, wondering where the hell he went.
It wasn't until I saw a little pink nose peaking out from underneath the blanket did I realize that he shifted to his bunny.
"Oh my god he's so cute!" Dylan squealed as he hung all over Hunter, wanting to get a closer look of my mate but not being able to get past his hysterical mate.
I. am. dead. There was no way something, or rather, someone could be that cute.
He hopped out from underneath the blanket and looked up at all of us, his nose twitching in the cutest way.
"I can't handle it!" Dylan cried as he clutched his heart, almost starting to foam at the mouth from my mate.
Just as soon as he changed to his bunny was he back to his human form. With another sneeze and a puff of peach colored smoke, the original Jayden was back.
"Sorry about that, when I get flustered or sneeze I transform. Um what am I doing up here?"
"It's fine, you don't have to apologize." I reassured him. "As for why you're up here, well you wouldn't wake up when I tried talking to you so I just brought you up here. I figured you wouldn't want to go to the nurse with... Those." I said, pointing at his leg.
He looked down at where I pointed and his face flushed with embarrassment. He tried his best to pull his pant leg back down and cover his leg up but it was too late. All of us already saw them. It made me feel awful that he was embarrassed by something he couldn't control.
"Who did this to you?" I tried, grabbing his hands that started to fidget in his lap.
"Well..."
Comments (2)
See all