Her breakthrough

Standing alongside her and protecting her

Class started and Anastasia could barely focus. Even though she kept her eyes on the board, she could feel Raven stare at her. She tried to keep her mind on the math teacher but she couldn't help blushing.

She turned to face him and their eyes locked.

Anastasia immediately froze, butterflies buzzing in the bottom of her belly. Her face immediately became red.

Raven smiles widely at her and Anastasia returns the smile.

She motioned to the board and whispered, "You should focus on the class."

Raven leaned towards her and whispered, "I'm trying, but your beauty clouds my mind not allowing me to focus."

Anastasia blushed even more and nudged him playfully. She turned to the board smiling.

At lunch , they went to the cafeteria together. They were eating when Marina and her friends arrived.

Anastasia immediately spotted Marina and she thought, 'Has her luck run out so fast?.'

Marine stood in between Anastasia and Raven's chair , looking at them both.

"It seems the outcast has finally found a boy." Marina scorned. Anastasia inhaled deeply wondering if Raven would ever talk to her again after lunch.

Marina faced Raven and asked, "And who might you be, handsome young man that clearly doesn't know his class?"

"I'm Raven, and I know my class. And if I'm right, we're both juniors." Raven told her , with a look of disgust on his face.

He could see her boobs about to snap out of her very short top which was more like a tube. He wondered how she was even allowed into school.

"Oh, but darling, if you knew your class, you wouldn't be talking to this thing of a being." Marina retorted, pointing at Anastasia.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, this thing of a being you're referring to is way more beautiful than you. And I assume that's why you're picking on her . Because you know you can never meet her class."

At this point, everyone in the cafeteria was quiet observing the conversation at Anastasia's table.

Marina scoffed, not believing her ears. "Why would you even think I would want to be in the same class as this b***h?"

Raven hummed, nodding his head, "Ohh, now I understand. You're comfortable being in the low class that you are and do not want to move to a higher class."

"Well that's okay. Not everyone likes being at the top. Some like staying at the bottom." Raven added.

Everyone cheered at Raven's response, making Marina boil with anger.

"You do not know who you're messing with." Marina told him threateningly.

"And pray tell, who are you?" Raven asked.

"Let me guess, a spoiled rich b***h who thinks the world would fall at her feet because of a fake body." Raven spat.

Marina close to tears immediately raised her hands to slap him but Raven caught her hand half way.

Raven stood up high over her, therefore intimidating her and said, "I'll say this once and only once. Don't you ever show your face in front of me and don't you ever show your face in front of my future girlfriend. If you do, you will deeply regret being able to see."

He released her hand and sat down back. He faced Anastasia who had a blank expression on her face and he wondered if he had done too much.

"I'm sorry but when you said 'my future girlfriend', who do you mean?" Rosa, Marina's friend asked.

Raven looked at Rosa before reaching out for Anastasia's hand. He raised her hand ensuring everyone could see.

"Anastasia. I'm going to win her heart and she's going to be my future girlfriend." Raven proudly said.

Anastasia was so close to tears. She was extremely happy . She wasn't sure if her happiness was because Raven stood up for her or because he publicly said he was going to be her boyfriend.

She wanted to run home to her father's arms and tell him all about today.

This wasn't what she had thought would happen. She was so sure Raven was going to get affected by her stigma but she didn't know he would fight it off.

Marina turned and stumped away angrily. Her two friends followed her immediately, walking fast so as to keep up with her pace.

Anastasia couldn't stop looking at Raven. Raven who looked at Marina leave, looked at Anastasia and he immediately became worried.

"Princess, what's wrong? Why does it seem like you're close to tears?

Anastasia was too stunned to speak. She kept staring at Raven, still shocked but happy.

"I..I" Anastasia kept trying to speak but she had no idea what to say.

In that moment, the tears she had been strongly holding back began to fall slowly down her face.

Raven immediately moved his chair beside her ignoring every other eyes in the cafeteria.

"Princess, what's wrong? Why are you crying?."

Anastasia covered her face with her hands, shaking her head repeatedly.

"No one has ever stood up for me when Marina bullied me. You did that..you stood up for me and you defended me." Anastasia told him as she cried.

Raven was stunned by that discovery. He wondered if she had no friends. But he knew he couldn't ask her that now. He made a mental note to ask her later.

He slowly removed her hands from her face and raised her face towards him.

"Of course I'll stand with you. No one should ever be bullied. It's wrong and shouldn't be accepted."

"Those girls have extremely low self esteem and so they find joy in things such as bullying." Raven continued.

"So just ignore them and never pay attention to them." He concluded.

Anastasia still had tears slowly falling down her face. She really wanted to kiss him but she didn't dare to push her luck.

Instead she slowly nodded wanting to cry again.

Raven wasn't sure if she would be comfortable with him hugging her but having been raised by a wonderful mother, he knew she would talk his ears off if she found out he didn't.

Raven slowly hugged her, giving her a chance to move backwards if she didn't want his hug.

Rather she leaned into his arms. She secretly inhaled his scent and wondered what perfume he was using.

His scent helped her calm down and after a while she asked him slowly.

"Can I hug you also?"

Raven felt bad for not asking for permission first , considering she did.

"Of course Anastasia, you absolutely can."

Anastasia hugged him tightly.

"Thank you Raven. Thank you so much for standing with me. It might seem like a normal thing to you but it's a whole lot for me."

Anastasia thanked him profusely. 'I mean even my own blood sister literally pretends to not know me despite us sleeping and waking in the same house.' Anastasia thought to herself while hugging Raven.

She finally pulled back.

Raven smiled at her and said, "Come on , let's finish our food princess."

Anastasia nodded like a baby being told what to do, staring at Raven like he was a god.

They finished their lunch and spent the rest of the day literally holding each other's hands.

"Are you sure you don't want me to escort you to your workplace?" Raven asked again.

Anastasia really wanted him to follow her but she didn't want to break all her defenses in one day.

What if he changes the next week and she suddenly realizes it was all an act..

"No, don't worry Raven. Thank you so much for today. I'll be fine from here."

She gently tucked her hair behind her ears with her fingers saying, "I mean I've been surviving all these days."

She decided she would talk to her dad first before anything.

"Okay then, if you say so. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow Anastasia."

Anastasia was about to agree before it occurred to her.

"But tomorrow is Saturday?" She asked, confused.

Raven scratched the back of his head sheepishly saying, "Yeah I know. To be honest Ana, I really like you. I'm not so sure I won't go crazy before Monday.. and the perfect antidote is seeing you."

Anastasia blushed really hard, bowing her head to cover her blush.

That was quickly cut short when Raven moved close to her and slowly raised her head.

'Is he going to kiss me?' Anastasia panicked.

"Don't hide your smile or blush princess. It's really beautiful." Raven told her gently.

At that moment it occurred to Raven. He was madly in love with Anastasia.

"Give me your phone." Anastasia told him without explanation.

Raven immediately gave her without any complaints adding, "You can confirm, I don't have any girl anywhere."

But Anastasia only blushed. She collected his phone and imputed her number.

She called it and her phone rang. She gave him back his phone.

"Ohh," Raven said sheepishly, scratching his head.

"I didn't think about that. I need to have your number to be able to reach you."

Anastasia laughed, nodding. "I'll give you a call tomorrow when I'm free." She added.

She hopped away waving. She couldn't wait to be done with her shift and tell her dad all about her day.

Once she was done at the restaurant, she hurries home wanting to tell her father all about her day.

But instead she met her sister waiting for her at the front porch.

She was folding her arms in a stance like she was going to war.

Anastasia inhaled deeply, wondering what was going on.

As she neared the porch, she heard her sister ask.

"Who's he?"

Anastasia stopped looking at her sister wondering what she meant.

"I don't quite understand.."

"Oh please spare me that. Who was the guy with you at dinner?" Rochelle clarified.

"Ohh. He's my classmate. Why?"

Rochelle roared, "Why was he talking to you? And why did he talk back at Marina?"

"Wow. Well maybe because not everyone is like you and Marina. Also I see no reason why he can't talk to me."

Rochelle laughed mockingly.

"You really think anyone should go through the disgrace of talking to you?" Rochelle spat.

Anastasia felt the pain of her sister's words deep in her heart.

"You know what, I'm done with this conversation."

Anastasia proceeded to enter the house but was immediately pushed back by her mother.

"And where do you think you're going, you low life?" Her mother spat.

Anastasia, shocked, wished her father would immediately show up.