I spent the next two days following Deon like a shadow. I carried his bag, fetched his coffee and food, took notes for him when he skipped classes, and kept an eye out for teachers when he was “bending” the rules.

And he bent them a lot. Smoking and skipping classes weren’t enough for him.

“Okay, just stand there and don’t draw any attention to yourself,” Deon said with a smirk just before he sneaked into the kitchen.

It was Friday morning, meaning I just had to survive the day, and I’d get to spend the whole weekend without Deon, and without being dragged into his mischief.

I was really looking forward to it.

I took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer to any god that was listening. We were so going to get caught. I had no idea what Deon was doing in the kitchen. I had no idea why he felt the need to cause problems all the time. And the weird part was that no one even punished him! It was different for me since the principal himself wanted me expelled. If I get caught helping Deon, they would kick me out in a heartbeat.

But sadly, that was a risk I was willing to take.

The past few days had been, well, not amazing exactly, but I was already getting used to not being bullied all the time. Everyone knew what had happened to Patrick after he tripped me, so no one had the guts to even look at me wrong as long as Deon was there with me. No one stole my stuff, no one pushed me around, and no one called me bad names even. It was like I didn’t even exist to them anymore, and I honestly was fine with that.

Because I had Deon to talk to. He wasn’t someone I wanted to be friends with, but he was the only one who tolerated me. He didn’t care much about what I said, but he didn’t tell me to shut up either. Not always, anyway.

After a small eternity, the door opened, and Deon sneaked out.

“Walk,” he muttered and hurried away from the door.

I followed him, trying to look as neutral as I could. I wanted to ask him what he’d done, but I knew he wouldn’t explain anything to me. Once we were halfway at the other side of the school, he came to a halt, and I walked straight into him.

“Are you going to eat today at lunch?” he asked.

“Huh? Um, yeah… Why?” I asked.

“Don’t use salt,” he said without explaining anything. “What class do we have next?”

“Geometry. What did you do?” I asked.

“Something really immature,” he said with a mad grin.

“Like yesterday, when you stole the receiver of Mrs. Quentin’s wireless mouse?” I said, rolling my eyes.

“I didn’t steal it. I just put it in her purse,” Deon said, his grin only growing wider. “I bet she still doesn’t know why it’s not working.”

“So the badass of the school is just a childish prankster,” I muttered.

“Don’t tell anybody,” he said and continued walking. “Do you have rubber bands?”

“No. Why?” I squinted my eyes.

“I need to get some,” he muttered. “Have you ever broken into anywhere?”

I was so going to get expelled because of him…

“No.”

“Come on then,” he said and turned around.

“The class starts in two minutes!” I protested.

“This will only take a minute and a half,” he promised.

I bit my lower lip, hesitating, but ended up following him – reluctantly. He stopped next to the art classroom and grabbed something from his pocket.

“What’s that?” I asked when I saw a key in his hand.

“I borrowed it from the janitor,” Deon said, and looked around in the empty hallway before he opened the door. “I love technology.”

“What do you mean?”

“Electronic keys,” he said with a smirk. “This baby opens every door in the entire school. Every teacher and staff member has one.”

“And now you have one too,” I whispered in horror. “They will kick us both out if they find out!”

“Come on, don’t be such a sourpuss,” he said and stepped into the classroom. “We need to hurry.”

I glanced around before I followed him. The classroom was dark and empty, but Deon seemed to know where he was heading, so I just followed him while tripping over chairs and kicking my toes on every table.

“Rubber bands…” Deon muttered, using his phone as a flashlight. “Where are you…” he sang as he opened the drawers one by one.

I glanced at the door. My heart was racing, and I started sweating. I’d never done anything against the rules before I met Deon. I never even crossed the street at a red light! And now I was breaking and entering and stealing stuff from our school!

“Do you need pencils?” Deon asked as he picked a handful from one of the drawers.

I stared at him in the dark for a second. “No!” I whispered in a high-pitched voice. “I don’t steal from anyone! If they find out–”

“Yeah, yeah… We’ll be expelled,” Deon ended my sentence and shoved the pencils into his pocket. “You’re so lame…”

“Well excuse me for wanting to stay in school,” I muttered and walked to the door. “Are you done? We have less than a minute before the class starts.”

“Found them!” Deon said triumphantly. “Okay, we can go now.”

“Why do you even need rubber bands”? I asked when he joined me at the door.

“Don’t know yet, but I might need them later,” Deon said, shrugging. “Go.”

“What? No! You go first! If there’s someone outside–”

“Ugh, fine,” Deon said, and without hesitation, he stepped out. “There’s no one here.”

I peered out to make sure he was telling the truth before leaving the classroom. I gave Deon an ugly glare before hurrying toward the geometry class. I heard him following me a few steps behind.

We barely made it. The geometry teacher, Mr. Nelson, squinted his eyes when we stepped into the room just when he was about to close the door, but he didn’t start yelling at us. He didn’t hate me as much as Mrs. Ellis or Mrs. Quentin did.

We hurried to our seats at the back of the classroom, and I gave Deon his bag. When Mr. Nelson wasn’t looking, Deon stuffed his loot into the bag and grabbed his books like he’d never done anything wrong. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I guess we were safe for now.

*****

Lunch was… interesting. We sat there at the end of the huge cafeteria, and every time someone screamed in frustration, Deon laughed. I rolled my eyes and watched as yet another student grabbed a saltshaker from a small table in the corner and carried it to his table. His friends were doing their best to hide their smirks as they watched him closely. They already knew someone had unscrewed the lid of every shaker.

“Why is no one saying anything?” I asked when the poor student grabbed the shaker and turned it upside down over his lunch. The lid fell off, emptying the whole thing onto his food. “I mean, they know what’s going to happen.”

“Everyone enjoys a good prank,” Deon explained with a chuckle. “They’re not going to stop it from happening.”

“People are cruel,” I muttered and turned to look out of the window with a deep sigh.

“It’s just salt,” Deon said cheerily.

“Yeah… It’s not like they’re hurting someone just because it’s fun.”

I saw Deon’s expression dropping.

“Sorry…” he muttered.

I shook my head. Deon was the only person who didn’t need to be sorry. We ate in silence, and I actually enjoyed being able to eat in peace like this. Every now and then a group of students burst out laughing when someone used salt, but Deon didn’t seem to find it amusing anymore. I peered at him a couple of times, but he seemed to be deep in his thoughts.

Then, suddenly, he turned to stare at me like he’d just come up with a brilliant plan.

“What?” I asked gloomily because I already knew I wasn’t going to like it, whatever it was.

“I need a favor,” he said and leaned closer. “I need a place to stay for tonight.”

“W-what…?” I stuttered.

“Yeah. It’s Friday, and I’m going out, but I can’t go home because my mom will flip her shit if she sees me drunk,” he explained. “So I’ll just crash at your place.”

“B-but… but… but… I…” I tried to come up with a good way to tell him oh hell no, but my mind had come to a screeching halt and refused to help me out of this. “That’s not a good… idea…”

“Of course it is,” Deon said and smirked. “It’s settled then.”

“But–”

His smirk vanished, and he leaned a little closer to me. “Aren’t you supposed to do everything I tell you to do? I am, after all, keeping your ass safe.”

“Y-yeah… B-but… It’s…” I muttered, feeling defeated.

“So, how about you just say yes?” Deon continued and leaned even closer to me.

I grit my teeth together and nodded. “Yes…”

“Good. Give me your number. I’ll text you when I’m coming,” he said, his smile returning, but it didn’t look like a friendly one.

I sighed and turned away from him. I froze again, but this time I even forgot to breathe.

It was Beau. He was staring at us at the other side of the cafeteria. When our eyes met, he wrinkled his nose in disgust and turned to talk to his friend. I still stared at him, my need to go talk to him rising, but then I shivered and looked down at my plate. He still hated me… It was so obvious, but…

Why did he help me the other day if he hated me so much…?

The rest of the day was a blur to me. After seeing Beau watching us with that angry look in his eyes, I couldn’t stop thinking about him even for a second. I saw him everywhere. I heard his voice all around me. I knew I’d never be able to get over him, and being forced to see him every day didn’t help with that at all.

I was glad when school finally ended that day, because it meant I didn’t have to see Beau in the next two days. I’d also pretty much forgotten my promise to Deon… Until I walked him to his car and gave him his bag after he sat behind the wheel.

“See you later,” he said with an ominous grin, and slammed the door shut.

My stomach dropped when I realized what he meant by that.

I was going to be in so much trouble… I really, really wished he’d find another place to stay. I didn’t mind following him around at school because I was getting used to not having any new bruises, but how on earth was I going to sneak him into my room without Dad or Allen noticing it? Especially if he was drunk! I’d seen plenty of drunk people whenever my dad dragged his drinking buddies to our home, and none of them were able to even breathe without waking up the whole neighborhood!

I let out a deep sigh and started heading home, keeping my eyes open and listening to every sound around me, as always. I was afraid Sean and his friends would follow me and use the opportunity to beat the crap out of me since Deon wasn’t around. No one seemed to follow me, but I still couldn’t relax until much later, when I walked around the corner of the convenience store in our neighborhood and saw my home looming up ahead. I was stupid enough to think I was safe and let my guard down.