The next class that Avery had was Science and she was nervous about the reaction she would get and about Aiden. The last time she was in the classroom, Aiden had violated her personal space in an incredibly inappropriate way; Since then he had done much more, and she just prayed that he would stay away from her.

Avery took a seat at the front, close to the door in case she would have to leave again and hoping that he wouldn’t want to sit so close to the teacher. She waited for the greasy-haired boy to enter, silently hoping that he wouldn’t show up today. It wasn’t uncommon that Aiden and his friends would skip classes to smoke and get into trouble.

Much to Avery’s disappointment, the strong smell of cigarette smoke alerted her to his impending presence. The brunette trudged into the room, his eyes immediately settling on the blonde in the first row, a miserable frown crawling on his face. Avery held her breath as she looked down and watched his feet as he shuffled around her desk, hoping that he would sit somewhere else. Anywhere else.

She let out a sigh of relief as he walked down the centre of the room and took a seat at the desk second from the back in the other row. She wasn’t bothered by the fact that she was sitting alone in the front row during the science lesson, she was just glad that she didn’t have to endure the unforgiving assault of cigarette smoke and wandering fingertips.

Avery avoided turning to look at the back of the class as much as she could. It was so hard to ignore the burn of eyes on the back of her head during the entirety of the lesson. Anytime she shifted her attention back to listen to someone answering a question she could see him staring at her with a look of frustration.

_____

After school had ended, Avery was quick to head towards the bus. The driver was an older lady who hated being made to wait. It wasn’t unheard of that she would close the doors as someone ran towards the bus, leaving them at the curb and driving off. A 40-minute walk home wasn’t something that Avery had on her to-do list today.

She carried herself quickly through the car park, cutting across so that she could make it quicker to the yellow bus she could see past the trees on the other side.

Suddenly Avery’s eyes caught on the messy head of Aiden striding in her direction, his face alight with vexation. Avery gasped, quickening her pace as she watched the boy speed up his own pace in response. She glanced back at him with fear in her eyes as he got closer to her. His expression was plastered into a serious scowl, the intensity of his eyes sent a shudder through Avery.

She broke into a jog, turning her attention towards the bus and hoping that she could get there before he was able to catch her, her hopes were dashed as she felt something brush her arm. Slim, boney fingers caught her upper arm in a vice grip and yanked her backwards, causing her to stumble. Avery let out a panicked yelp as the skin of her arm twisted in the tight grip, causing a pang of pain to flood through her.

She turned her head, already knowing she would see the angry brown eyes of her assaulter staring back at her. “Don’t run away from me” Aiden’s tone was aggressive, his grip tightening around her arm in case she tried to escape. Avery attempted to pull away from him but his strength was far greater than hers.

As she stared into his cold eyes, flashbacks of the previous day strung through her mind. His fingers pricking the skin of her waist, his breath burning her skin, and his words echoing through her and into her dreams. Avery couldn’t say anything; stop, let go of me, getting caught in her throat, hasty breathes escaping in their presence.

“You don’t have to run from me” Aiden grumbled, yanking her towards him as he noticed her trying to keep as much distance as possible, “I NEED to talk to you”. Talk? What could Aiden possibly have to talk to me about?

Avery assumed that her confused, frightened expression must have set the anger already bubbling inside of him to a boil because his fingers dug into her skin as he pulled her, trying to usher her back towards the school buildings. He turned back to Avery who was fighting against his strength, but as he opened his mouth his shirt was yanked back, choking him as he was thrown onto the asphalt.

Aiden was quick to roll over so that he could see who had just tossed him to the ground, his eyes being greeted by the frown of a curly haired demon. Avery looked up at Azrael who now stood between her and Aiden. “I...” Avery began, eyes beginning to burn as she was finally hit by the bottled emotions she had forgotten in her fear.

Azrael turned to her with that smile she had grown accustomed to seeing, “Sorry I’m late” he apologised before turning his attention back to Aiden who had scrambled back to his feet.

“Get lost” The demon growled, his hands curled into fists at his sides.

It was clear that Aiden was intimidated by his presence. Just like in the locker room, he bowed his head low like a dog to a wolf.

“This isn’t your business! Who the hell even are you?!” Aiden spat, glaring up at Azrael.

Azrael took a step towards Aiden with a loud stomp, “Actually it is my business” he began, “And if you ever come anywhere near Avery again, I will personally rip your throat through your mouth and replace it with your arm”. The tone Azrael used sent shivers through Avery, even though they weren’t meant for her.

Aiden’s expression went from intimidation to pure fear as he took a couple of steps away from the demon, his hands shaking as he brought them to his chest.

Aiden was snapped from his staring contest with Azrael as a familiar voice asked, “What’s going on?”.

Azrael and Avery turned their attention to the pair that had just appeared to their right. Ethan had a concerned expression as his eyes scanned from Aiden to Azrael then to Avery. Paige stood behind him, simply staring at Aiden before turning to stare at the tall dark stranger in front of Avery.

Silence fell over the trio as Azrael looks Ethan up and down before his attention shifted to Paige, his eyes squinting at her disapprovingly. Avery didn’t know what to say, she couldn’t form any coherent thought as she just stared at the brunette boy with tears in her eyes.

“I was just trying to talk to Hughes when this guy shoved me to the ground and told me to leave!” Aiden began to mouth off, leaving out any of the parts where he had grabbed Avery, hurting her and yelled at her.

“Shut up” Ethan snapped towards the mop haired boy, his attention turning to Avery as his eyes softened, “Are you okay?”. Aiden shut his mouth with a huff as Ethan waited for Avery’s response.

It was when Avery looked into his emerald eyes that she was able to find her voice, “H-He chased me and grabbed my arm and started yelling at me...” She mumbled, tears that she had forgotten about falling from the corners of her eyes.

Without a beat Ethan turned to Aiden, “Leave” he growled, pointing.

Aiden took a step back, “B-but...” he stammered.

“Leave!” Ethan repeated, louder this time.

For the first time Avery felt unnerved by Ethan. She hadn’t realised he had it in him to sound this angry, this intimidating.

Aiden pursed his lips and fisted his hands bringing them to his sides, his eyes turning to the brunette that stood beside Paige as though she was his last hope. A huff fell from Paige’s lips as she averted her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as silence fell over the group.

With a low growl Aiden gave Ethan and Azrael one last glare before turning on his heel and walking off quickly. Everyone watched Aiden pass a car in the parking lot, kicking at the tyre angrily before continuing on down the field beyond the parking lot.

Ethan pulled everyone’s gaze to him when he let out a long sigh. His expression switching from anger to concern as he gave Avery a half-smile as if apologising. His eyes were quick to move back to the tall dark haired boy who stood beside Avery, eyeing him up and down before he spoke, “Who are you?”

Azrael looked the tanned boy up and down in return, before turning to Avery expecting her to have some kind of story for him. When he is met with a blank stare by the blonde he sighs, turning back to the jock and reaching up to scratch the back of his head, “I’m her boyfriend”.

At this, Avery, Ethan, and Paige’s eyes all widened in unison. It was clear that neither Paige nor Ethan thought that this dark haired, tattooed and pierced guy was the boyfriend of such a shy, introverted girl.

Avery wasn’t expecting for Azrael to claim that he was her boyfriend. She had only thought that he would tell them his name and give no other details. The very last thing that she wanted was for Ethan to know of Azrael’s existence, let alone think that he was her boyfriend.

“N-N-” Avery began as Azrael steps closer to her, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her towards him, stopping her from speaking as a short gasp escaped through her lips. She glances up at the demon with a horrified look as he gives her his usual smile.

“Is that true?” Paige questioned, taking a step forward so that she was standing beside Ethan. She seemed the most shocked and confused of the three and put her hands on her hips as she stared at Avery waiting for an answer.

Avery could do nothing but give a small nod of agreement. She couldn’t just tell them it was a lie, what would she say then? This is the demon that I made a contract with last night and it’s his job to protect me from people like you.

Ethan’s shocked expression faded as he reached his hand out to Azrael, “Oh. Sorry if my tone was harsh, man. I just wanted to make sure your girlfriend was okay”.

Ethan gave the dark haired boy a gentle smile as Azrael removed his arm from Avery and reached forward to grasp Ethan’s hand, shaking it firmly.

“I’m Ethan Wilson” He introduced as they held the hand shake for a brief moment.

“Azrael” The demon returned the pleasantry, letting go of Ethan’s hand to step back beside Avery, this time putting his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“I haven’t seen you around, do you go here?” Ethan questioned.

“I’m transferring in next week”

“Oh, cool. Then I expect to see you around a lot more”

“That seems to be the case”

Avery elbowed Azrael’s side, granting her a side smile from the demon before he turned his attention back to Ethan. Ethan gave a little smile, choosing to ignore the indifferent attitude of the tattooed boyfriend of Avery’s.

Ethan reached up to scratch the back of his head as he continued, “Well I invited Avery to a party this weekend at my house. So if you’re free you should come along too”.

This information seemed to light something in Azrael because he answered, “Oh really?” before turning to give the blonde a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, the more the merrier” Ethan said, placing his hand back down by his side.

“We’ll be there” Azrael answered, giving him a smile that Avery couldn’t tell genuine from ingenuine.

“Great” Ethan says, “We’ll see you guys there then”.