When the class finally ended, I collected my stuff as quietly as I could and darted out from the door before Mrs. Ellis could see me. I also hoped to get away from Deon, but he was too fast for me.

“Oh no – you won’t get rid of me that easily,” Deon chuckled. “Besides, I’ve saved your ass twice now, so you’d better show me respect.”

“W-What do you w-want f-from me?” I stammered when he started leading me somewhere.

“Well, I’m glad you asked,” Deon smirked. “Here, carry this for me, will you?” he continued and tossed his bag against my chest.

I had the feeling he wasn’t really asking. His bag was surprisingly heavy, like he was carrying rocks in it. My own bag was heavy enough to carry around all day long, but I didn’t have the courage to start arguing about it with him.

I forgot all about the backpack when I saw Sean walking towards us. I nearly freaked out when he looked at me. I wanted more than anything to run and hide, but Deon’s hand landed on my shoulder, preventing me from going anywhere.

“No…” I muttered and tried to pry his hand off, but he was too strong.

A thousand possible scenarios rushed through my mind, and each of them ended up with me getting hurt. But Sean just walked past us with Glen and Drake following him closely. None of them gave us a second look, and it almost seemed like they were too scared to do so.

I turned to stare after them. The look on my face must’ve been really shocked since Deon chuckled lightly as we continued our way.

“They’ll think twice before trying to ambush me again,” Deon said.

I didn’t ask what he meant by that. I didn’t need to. Sean had most likely tried to get even with him, and he obviously failed.

“Go get me coffee,” Deon ordered, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

We were in the cafeteria, and I almost forgot how to breathe when the other students noticed me. They were clearly shocked to see me there, in a crowded room.

“What are you waiting for?” Deon grunted and pushed me towards the coffee vending machine.

I stumbled forward with the two heavy bags, trying to find my balance again. I stopped and looked around timidly. People were watching me, and once they had recovered from their surprise, their looks turned mean and calculative. They were already planning on ruining my day.

I couldn’t move a muscle. All I could think of was getting the hell out of there.

“My coffee?” Deon grunted.

Between a rock and a hard place… Deon took a step closer to me, so I rushed to the vending machine, and thankfully, I was left alone. Then it occurred to me I didn’t have any money left. I swallowed hard when I turned around to look at Deon, who was walking lazily toward me. He rolled his eyes when he saw my face.

“You have my wallet – it’s in the small pocket.” he grunted and leaned against the wall next to me. “I’m sure you wouldn’t dare to rob me, right?”

“P-Pocket…?” I repeated and turned to look at the mean looks I was receiving.

“Hey!” Deon said sharply, snapping his fingers in front of my face. “If I don’t have my coffee in ten seconds…”

“S-Sorry,” I muttered and turned to look at the machine again. “B-But I don’t have–”

“Damn, are you deaf, stupid or both?” Deon snapped, getting really pissed at me. “You have my wallet!”

“Where?” I asked and looked around out of pure instinct.

Deon pressed both of his hands over his mouth. He just stared at me with a disbelieving look in his eyes. I think he was holding his breath too. I could almost see what he was thinking: I was the stupidest thing he had ever met. He looked like he was trying his best not to start yelling at me. Then he grabbed his bag from me and opened the front pocket.

“A CAT scan would do you good,” he muttered and slapped the top of my head with his wallet. “Do you even know what money is?”

“I do,” I whispered and took his wallet hesitantly.

“Then hurry up!” Deon hissed and rubbed his temples. “My God, how many times have you been hit in the head?”

“Plenty,” I muttered in sadness as I opened the wallet. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t get the damn coffee himself since he was standing right next to me. “What do you want from me?” I asked once more.

“To get my fucking coffee,” Deon muttered angrily.

“You could’ve bought it yourself,” I noted.

“I told you to do it,” he said like it was the answer to everything, looking at me with squinted eyes.

I looked at him for a moment, and even though I was still scared of him, I wasn’t on the verge of breaking down because of it anymore. I took a deep breath and coughed a few times before turning my attention to the machine.

“What do you want–” I spoke, but he cut me off.

“Oh, for the love of God…” Deon muttered. “This isn’t about you, dimwit! I’m just annoying Sean!”

I frowned and took a quick glimpse of him. “I meant the coffee…” I murmured.

“Oh,” Deon said and snapped his mouth shut for a moment. “Regular.”

I found a five-dollar bill from his wallet and put it in, then selected regular black coffee.

“So… You’re trying to annoy Sean? Why?” I asked quietly.

“He was ranting about me stepping on his toes or something. He didn’t like me saving your ass,” he explained and chuckled. “Yesterday, they cornered me after school, crying about losing their favorite toy. They had a full speech about how I can’t be there to protect you all the time.”

“They are right,” I said quietly. “And why would you even want to do that?”

“Out of spite,” Deon shrugged. “Besides, now I don’t have to carry my bag anymore.”

Then his eyes started sparkling like he had just thought of something.

“You don’t have to do that for me,” I said weakly. “What happens to me is none of your concern.”

“Hmm? What?” Deon said absentmindedly and focused his eyes on me. “Oh, I didn’t ask for your opinion,” he said, took the coffee from me and stepped toward the doors. “Come. If you want me to protect your sorry ass, you need to prove you can be useful.”

It was my turn to stare at him with a disbelieving look. “I don’t need you to protect me! I didn’t ask for this!” I whispered to him.

“Do you seriously think I care?” Deon said nonchalantly and continued walking. “Follow me.”

I didn’t follow him. I just stared after him. I had no idea what was going on, or why Deon was willing to help me. I wondered if Sean had hit him too hard last night, making him lose his mind.

“For fuck’s sake! Hurry up!” Deon shouted when he noticed I was still standing at the vending machine.

I took a firm grip of both of the backpacks and rushed to follow him. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn’t want to piss him off. He was really scary, but that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want to make him angry at me: I’d just had the first decent conversation with someone in a very long time.

I was pathetic enough to be so happy about it that I followed him.

*****

“This could actually work,” Deon said later that day, when we were hiding behind the sports hall.

Well, he was hiding behind the building while I was keeping an eye on the teachers who prowled through the yard.

“What could work?” I asked quietly.

“This. I’ll keep your ass safe and in exchange you’ll be my sidekick,” Deon said, and I could tell that he was smiling.

And I could smell the awful stench of his cigarette. Smoking was strictly forbidden, but that didn’t stop Deon.

“Your sidekick?” I repeated.

“Yeah. I need someone to be on the lookout when I’m bending the rules,” Deon explained.

“Or, you know, you could stop bending the rules,” I suggested.

Deon laughed lightly. “So you do have a tiny spark left in you. But, if you knew me, you’d know it’s pointless to tell me what to do.”

“I know that already,” I muttered. “I know you think you can do anything you want.”

“I’m the king of the world,” Deon chuckled, but there was something off in his voice. “No one will stop me, no matter what I do.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ll get into big trouble eventually. And now you are taking me down with you. If they find out I’m helping you, they will get me expelled.”

But instead of walking away, I leaned against the wall and let out a long breath. It didn’t matter if I got expelled. My life was just an endless walk through a dark alley where people got hurt if they stepped in. I was so deep in my miserable thoughts that I didn’t even notice Deon never replied to me.

“Let’s make a deal,” he said when he dumped his smoke. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I need someone to give me a hand now and then.”

“You want me to be your sidekick?” I asked with a frown. “For real?”

“Yeah, why not?” Deon shrugged.

“Why me? What could you possibly get from hanging out with someone like me?” I asked, feeling almost frustrated because he didn’t give me a proper answer.

“Someone like you?” Deon repeated, but he didn’t look interested.

“Yeah. A… I’m a… I’m just a fag…” I murmured and looked down at the ground. “Everyone here hates me.”

“Do I look like I care?” he asked, and I looked up at him. “Like I said, this isn’t about you, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about who you want to fuck. As long as it’s not me.”

I didn’t believe him. I was so used to getting hurt because of my sexuality that I couldn’t quite believe there was someone who didn’t care about it.

“Listen carefully now: I don’t care. I don’t like you, I don’t want to be your friend, and I definitely don’t want you to start hitting on me. I will break your fucking neck if you do, understand?” Deon spoke with a low and highly intimidating voice.

“I… I… y-yeah…” I stammered and took a step away from him.

“Good,” Deon said and flashed a smile at me. “But I guess you already have someone special in your mind. It really is too bad Mr. Silver wasn’t too into the idea.”

He was mocking me; I could hear it in his voice. The past couple of days had been really rough, and I was still sick. The entire day had been mentally exhausting for me, and hearing his mean words really sucked out the little strength I had left.

So I nodded. “All right. I’ll do what you say”, I told him, feeling unbelievably dead inside.

Deon snorted with a smile on his face. “Don’t look like that – I’m not going to make you deal drugs or anything,” he laughed.

“What do you want me to do then?” I asked meekly.

“Anything I tell you to do, and you do not ask any questions,” Deon said. “None whatsoever, got it?”

“Fine,” I breathed out.

“Good boy,” Deon said and patted my shoulder before walking ahead of me.

I sighed again and turned to look away from him. My eyes landed on a tall figure that was leaning against a tree close by. It was Beau, and he was watching me with a hateful expression on his beautiful face. As soon as I tried to make eye contact with him, he turned and walked away.

I wanted to follow him and talk to him. I wanted to ask why he had taken me to the nurse’s office, but I didn’t have the guts to do so. I knew not to go near him. I didn’t want to hear him telling me to get away from him.

And I definitely did not want to hear him call me a disgusting fag ever again.

“So you don’t mind being seen with me?” I asked carefully, keeping my eyes on the ground. “Everyone hates me, so it’s not good for your reputation to be seen with me.”

“I honestly don’t care if you like it up in your ass,” Deon snorted. “Besides, if you haven’t noticed it,” he said and looked at me dead in the eyes, “everyone hates me too.”

For a short moment, I wondered if he was being nice to me.

“Maybe I should make you do my homework too,” Deon spoke cheerily. “I have always wanted a personal servant. This is going to be great!”

I let out a long sigh.

No – he was definitely not trying to be nice to me.