The Vampire Mate

Chapter 11

School, Monday and no breakfast.

Everybody three most favourite things... if they're insane and/or mentally disturbed. Oh but it can't get any worse, can it? Wrong! My first lesson maths. Maths! First thing in the morning! How is this not child abuse, like really it's 2017 people some things need to change?

Oh but that's not even the worst part... Damien Young has not ignored me or blanked me or properly insulted me and meant it. Damien Young is as bipolar as our 'friendship'. Alex, on the other hand, has been as nice as always and our friendship hasn't declined a single bit.

This school is still weird, no change there. The longer I've been here the more I'm realising the large groups of people that don't mix in with others. Sure, like any other school there are the small friendship groups but these small friendship groups join other friendship groups and form a huge gang which in turn would gang up on another large up and in the midst of it all, Damien seems to be the one hated by every single person in this school except his brother.

As I open the door of my locker, a note falls out. It sits on the floor for a while before I cautiously pick it up. This has got to be an insult from Damien, it's been far too long.

My blood runs cold when I realise who the Italian message is from. The words didn't exactly make sense but no doubt it came from Gary.

"Non si fidano della balumina."

Do not trust the leech...

I look to my right knowing that's where Gary's locker was, and it turns out he was standing right next to me this whole time.

"Care to explain?" I ask holding up the note for him.

"I'm telling you now you would be much safer if you ran away from Damien." His voice was low and his gaze threatening with a slight hint of insanity. There was clearly something this boy didn't like about Damien but maybe this is my chance to find out what exactly that is.

"Why? Why should I run? Why should I not trust him? You aren't being very clear."

"Damien Young is not what you think he is. You know he is different: his eyes, his skin. Face it Juliet, you have been poking danger and now you only have a short time to get away from it."

"And what exactly is he?" I ask slowly playing with the small piece of paper in my hands.

"You're a smart girl, Juliet. Figura fuori." He walks off and pulls the hood of his hoodie up.

I slam my locker shut when I hear the first bell and groan. I hate maths so much and using a loud ringing noise to demand me to go to the subject just makes me like it less. Like no offence to Mr Young but damn maths is poop. If it wasn't for Damien being my only competition in the tests, I would probably skip classes. I usually get better scores than him by one mark and when Mr Young announces that I beat him the look on Damien's face is priceless. But sadly, I have to try on the tests to see it because pulling out my phone and taking a picture of him would get it taken off me.

***

"Hey, new girl!" I'm hollered at by one of the many packs of boys in this school. This pack happened to stop me from getting my food. I ignore the tall guy that shouted and push past the rest of the pack to get to the already long line but, instead, my arm gained a hand from him grabbing me. "Please don't walk away from me, you'll hurt my feelings" he pouts down at me which resurrects a laugh from the group of guys surrounding us. I roll my eyes and mentally wish for the ground to swallow him.

"I'll hurt more than your feelings if you don't let go of my arm," I threaten through my teeth which causes his whole body to stiffen up and tighten his grip on me.

"You shouldn't talk to me like that little girl." He growls closer to my face. By now I can smell the potent garlic in his breath which makes my tired, achy eyes burn.

"I'm nearly your height and I'm not even wearing heels" He puts his free hand on my other arm and his hold feels like a dam has been put through my arm and it's stopping the circulation of blood.

"Robbie stop," one of his friends finally pipes up.

"Why? We need to show this new blood how to treat people with respect."

"You know if you don't stop this now, you'll infuriate Damien." His friend was a bit more cautious this time. Damien this, Damien that I don't even need him I'm doing fine, kind of, and I can't go five minutes without someone mentioning his name around me. We don't even like each other!

"Let the sucker come, let's see what he will do when I do this." Robbie proudly says whilst picking me up and practically crushing me in between his strong arms. I kick my legs to try and hit him. I manage to hit him a few times but it's pointless since I hurt my feet more than I hurt him.

Don't scream, don't scream, don't scream. Robbie's hand glides from my arm to my throat where his strength increases, and the pain grows more excruciating. The restriction of air makes me let out a small, and barely audible, screech which I had been trying to keep in. I drop to the ground with a loud bang and the bruises that were probably already forming were now on fire. Why do I have to bruise like a peach?

When I look up, I realise the bang was not from me falling but from Damien pushing Robbie into the wall by his neck and leaving a gaping hole where his big head hit. Where did he even come from? I'm pretty sure his last class was on the other side of the school.

"Ahh and here comes the mate" Robbie's smugness has not decreased in the slightest, even after the bang on the head.

"You want to teach her about respect? Well, maybe you should have the respect to keep your hands off every girl you see," Damien spat, his eyes looking like raging fire. His veins were throbbing through his arms and I could clearly see some densely defined muscles under his shirt.

Alex runs up to Damien and tries to pry him from the currently bashed, bruising and bloody Robbie. Damien was not going to budge. Alex whispers something to him and from what I heard it was "whole pack". I had no idea what he was talking about but that was not helping Damien calm down if anything it made him angrier. Damien lifted his arm to throw another punch at Robbie's face and that's when I realised the rest of Robbie's friends, and more, were currently behind Damien planning his death. That last punch would probably be a perfect chance for them to jump on him. A sudden feeling of protectiveness courses through me and I begin to panic.

Where on Earth are these teachers?

I very painfully try to stand and I hurriedly limp in between Damien and Robbie. When I put my hand on Damien's lifted bicep his eyes look down to me and they seem to calm slightly. I put my other hand on his chest and whisper quietly, "please stop." His eyes turn to their beautiful blue and his punching arm lowers. He takes in how I'm standing with my hurting knee and must notice the bruising on my arms as his eyes soon take their red colour and I'm pulled to the side by Alex.

A loud thud and crack echoes throughout the dinner hall and I watch as Damien punches Robbie in the jaw and makes it incredibly out of place. His punches don't stop, and I'm forced to scream his name. Nothing. It's like he is in his own little world and punching is his only way back to his version of sanity.

"Juliet come on, let's get you out of here," Alex tells me whilst pulling my arm slightly. I pull my arm back from his grip and focus on Damien again. I try to scream his name one last time, but a large lump of guilt, regret and fear build up in my throat. Damien was clearly capable of hurting someone in the most inhumanely way, maybe what Gary said was true.

"Alright break it up you two" The PE teacher runs in and successfully pulls Damien off. I get a good look at Robbie's face, but I am unable to peel my eyes away. His face was red and swollen and every inch of it covered in a different coloured bruise. He had a cavernous cut above his top lip and from my guess, the constantly pouring blood from it was splattered across his whole face. Both eyes looked barely visible from his highly swollen forehead/cheeks, but his face was wet. Whether that was from sweat or tears I had no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was a mixture of both. Mr Young had come down too with his first aid kit, but it was probably far too late for that. He looked over at Damien then to Alex and me.

"Alex, take Damien into the Drama classroom I'll talk to him there," He directs at Alex as they both walk away. I gulp slightly dreading what will happen to Damien.

"Robbie your jaw fractured and dislocated, your nose is broken, your lip has popped and that's all I can see at the moment," Andrew tells him, placing multiple ice packs on his face. "We will need to get you to a hospital immediately, there's a good chance you have an internal injury." The PE teacher joined Andrew's side and I heard him whisper: "Send him to room OP12W." Maybe I didn't hear that properly. Surely, they must be sending him to a real hospital, right? With the state he is in he could probably die without medical attention and if he had enough medical knowledge to know what happened to his face without needing an x-ray then surely he would know that.

I notice Garry at the other side of the hall looking at me. I furrow my eyebrows at him confused but he only smiles and walks away.

Maybe Damien isn't the only leech in this school.