Just like in The pictures that talk, I will ask of you, dear readers, to please refrain from any kind of insult thrown to characters. You might think your words as just that, words, but they can hurt. I am behind the character's choices, so before calling them stupid, a bitch, fucking dumb or anything like that, tell yourself if that's very necessary. I don't mind you guys being mad, complaining, that is fine. But insulting? Never. On that note, I hope you enjoy this story!

(EDITED) - I apologize to all the new readers who will probably experience a bumpy ride, as I will be slowly editing the chapters to make the experience smoother. This story was started a year ago and I improved a lot since then, you will definitely have a shock from the difference lmao.

Waking up, eating, getting dressed, going to school. It's the same old routine that keeps me going every day.

Boring, but you do what you gotta do.

"Y/N, hurry up or we're going to be late!" Rosé shouts from the entrance as she 'patiently' waits for me to get my bag and shoes.

I groan into my slice of bread and nod before running to my room, a messy nightmare. So many clothes everywhere, it's insane. How can anyone live like that?

Oh right, that would be me.

"Y/N!" she screams again and I swallow my bite quickly to shout back, her impatience making me nervous as I fumble through my room, feet almost tripping a few times on pieces of clothing. "I KNOW".

I grab my bag, fill it with my homework that's due this morning, one I somehow finished also this morning and then proceed to run to her side as she hands me my shoes.

I give her a bashful smile at the look on her face and start putting them on quickly while leaning all of my weight on her to avoid losing my balance and she sighs loudly, one arm holding me while the other hangs by her side, powerless in face of my slow pace.

"I swear, I don't get how you can be so last minute every single day. You've been here for two years already, you should be used to having to wake up early by now" she says with a caring frown as she helps me stand back straight, hands adjusting my bag's straps on my shoulders.

I shoot her an apologetic grimace and open the door before stepping out, her following right behind me with a shake of the head.

We luckily live not too far from our University so the road is easily done on foot, although my slow place is no secret to our friends and doesn't assure us an early arrival at the campus. It's not my fault, but I appreciate her sticking with me anyway, she must be the only reason I'm making it there in time every weeks.

Rosé pulls me by the hand in an attempt to make us walk faster because she sees the minutes passing by and we're really not going to make it there in time at this rhythm, my homework clearly the cause of this morning's chaos, certainly not me who could've done it yesterday instead.

"I don't know why I always stay with you when I could literally reach the school in seconds, it's like I'm your baby sitter or something" she whines, her whole body screaming A N X I E T Y and I grin, not feeling as bad about it as I probably should.

"I say the reason is quite obvious, it's because you love me, duh" I chirp proudly and she turns to me with a frown, mouth wanting nothing more than to counter that claim since I'm behind her current misery, but her eyes flash purple for a fraction of seconds before going back to normal, something that confirms what I already know and my heart swells with satisfaction at the sight as she huffs.

"You know me too well, it's making you turn cocky, young girl, but there's no time for that, hurry up! If we get late, I'm blaming it on you!" she screams before increasing our walking speed to one that is almost running and I start depending a little too much on the hand holding mine, my eyes turning horrified whenever her hold slips around my fingers.

She can't make me run willingly all by myself! This is an assured failure in the making!

Still, I can't deny its effectiveness when we soon enter the huge campus that is our educative space and when we reach one of the many buildings to push our way inside, we make it to our class at a record speed.

A record speed that necessitated me to nearly die from lack of breathing. I'm really not made for sports. Lucky for me, I can now take some time to breathe in and fill my poor lungs, I'll need the air if I want to survive this day.

Rosé lets go of me and opens the door with a loud bang, a noisy entrance that has the whole class startling and turning to us with surprised eyes and I feel like dying even more, although not for the same reason anymore.

"What the heck was that, Rosé?!" I whisper shout and she turns to me with embarrassed eyes, orange tint shining in her orbs.

"I didn't mean to be so loud, it was the relief in my body speaking, it's not my fault" she whispers back and we both turn to the angry looking teacher, if the scowl on his face is any indication to go by.

"To your seats, now. Consider yourselves lucky, class is starting just now so I won't say anything useless, you know the drill" he says and we don't wait for him to repeat himself because we're indeed very lucky.

We both hurry to our seats at the back of the room, tables that are side by side and I let my bag drop under my desk with a sigh while she does the same next to me.

We ignore the annoyed eyes we get from being let off so easily when clearly, we were a tiny bit late after all and concentrate on the teacher as he starts speaking about the homework that we were given, one I'm only too glad to have done because I wouldn't want to anger the man even more.

Literature is either boring or interesting, depending on the subject of the day, but no matter what, I do my best to learn as much as possible, as I do with every classes.

Rosé takes notes of everything he says with an alluring speed, her handwriting so beautiful and I look down at mine to see a very regular font that has allowed me to read my notes back well so far.

It'll never look fancy, but it gets the job done.

We go through our homework together and to my relief, I end up having done pretty well, something that my final notes will surely thank me for. The teacher takes them back after we finish correcting ourselves and then jumps on another subject.

After a few minutes of the man trying to focus as he arranges something on the screen before us, the door opens suddenly and we all turn to see who just bothered his class, the murderous look in his eyes not boding well for the newcomer, but seeing how it's a face we've never seen before, it's very clear that this student is new and that might just save his life.

A paper probably stating the reason of his late arrival in one hand, bag in the other, his deep brown eyes stare at the teacher with such a serious and unbothered look that even the old man doesn't dare stay mad for long.

The old man clears his throat and turns to us with a hand in front of his mouth, eyes speaking more than words could and the few snickers that are shared between students don't go unnoticed.

"I had completely forgotten but today, as you can see, we have a new student joining our ranks. Please welcome him, don't be assholes in my class and just let me teach my stuff. You... whatever your name is, just sit down at a free desk".

The student doesn't say anything but does as told, his feet taking him to the free desk on the front row by the window, his back straight and proud as he walks, eyes not meeting anyone, as if we're all insignificant to him.

I can see the way everyone is staring at him with amazed eyes, guys clearly turning bothered when they notice how the girls start nearly drooling at the sight of the handsome guy whose back is the only thing I see now that he's seated.

I keep my eyes on his back for a short while, mind filled with curiosity about who he could be before the chitchat of the teacher starts again, mostly bickering as he asks the students to focus back on the class so he can teach us and make it through the list of things he wanted to go over with us.

I try to concentrate on my notes, but when Rosé starts complaining to me about how everyone won't stop whispering about the new student, my own focus gets thrown right out of the window.

After all, she hates when people speak at the same time as the teacher, her sensitive hearing making it hard for her to focus on what he's saying. I can see her eyes becoming a light tint of red and I wrap my hand around hers to calm her down, not much I can do about the matter.

She sighs but relaxes slightly with a tight smile for me, her eyes going back to a clear brown before she resumes taking her notes as best as she can do considering the noise echoing in the room.

As I look back at the teacher, now completely lost as to where we are in the matter, my notes all messy and disorganized, I notice the new guy just as he turns back to glare at the loud students with obvious annoyance, the green to his orbs dark and honestly quite terrifying.

I make note of avoiding his gaze as I don't want to become prey of his intimidating glare and the chitchat thankfully dies down soon enough, the only voice we can now hear being the teacher's rambling as he repeats the same sentence for the third time, but differently.

I look at my notes with desperation. I'm going to have to analyze and rewrite them later and it's going to be such a hassle.

But then again, I might sleep instead, so it won't get done.

When the class finally comes to an end, I grab my bag before following Rosé out of the quickly emptying room, mind hardly believing that we made it through after all that happened.

As we reach the doorway, I can't help but turn back to look around the room, wanting to see the intriguing man one last time, but to my strange disappointment, he's nowhere to be seen. He must have been pretty annoyed with the others around him and ran away as soon as he could.

As we make our way to our next class, Rosé talks about how she wishes she could choose who she wants to hear and put everyone else on mute so she can focus better and I nod at her words, not really listening as I wonder about the new guy. Why do I keep thinking about him?

A clearing of throat gets my attention and I look up to see Rosé staring at me with a raised eyebrow. Busted.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks but I shrug before looking forward to see we're already nearing our destination, one that has my nerves picking up, hands turning sweaty as I hold my bag's strap tighter on my shoulder.

"It's nothing, let's go" I let out and she nods, this time opening the door much more softly, something I'm grateful for because I hate getting the attention on me. We reach our usual desks at the back, a necessity with me because I hate sitting at the front only to find someone already sitting on the usually empty seat next to ours.

As we sit down, his gaze is fixed on the book in front of him, apparently not caring that we're to be his neighbors, but I shrug it off, it's not like it really matters.

"Damn, how many new students are we getting today? Should I be scared that we're getting invaded?" Rosé wonders out loud and I huff softly, eyes noticing a little smirk stretching the quiet man's lips but it fades away just as fast and he raises his eyes at that moment, which has me looking away quickly out of panic.

I'm not going to let myself get caught staring at him, oh heck no.

I feel the side of my face burn for a moment before it stops and I sigh out of relief. Thank goodness, that was bad for my heart.

The teacher soon arrives and when he closes the door, his eyes falling on us severe and taunting, I can already tell that the class is going to start strong today, which is absolutely terrible.

I'm not good at maths and the teacher knows it, so every time he says some fancy words, I can see him staring at me with a smirk.

I don't like him.

As I thought, today is about new mathematics stuff that I yet again don't understand, as usual. After introducing everything to us, he starts writing problems on the board at the front of the class and I feel my hands profusely sweat at what I know is coming my way. He's going to humiliate me again, isn't he?

He turns back to us with a proud smile, but his eyes are arrogant and that gives me a very bad feeling.

"Alright, to see if everyone understands, I'm going to have two students walk forward to solve the problems for me. Any volunteers?" he asks and right away, I see his gaze hover over me, haughty.

I look around the room, my heart thumping uncomfortably in my chest when I see everyone looking away from him.

Obviously, no one wants to go, of course.

The teacher is famous for being mean to students he considers stupid after all, I'm not the only one in that position, I was just unlucky enough to have the worst grade among all of the students and now, that seems to have captured all of his attention.

"Y/N" he calls out and I feel my heart drop.

Rosé rests a hand on my shoulder in support and I give her a nervous smile before standing up to reach the front of the class with shaky legs.

"And you, new student".

I hear the sound of a chair scraping on the floor with a screeching noise followed by steps reaching my side as I hold the pen tightly in one hand, eyes staring at the many numbers and symbols that don't make any sense to me.

"How the heck am I supposed to solve this if I don't understand any of it" I mumble while the man besides me is already getting started and solving his side quickly, something that only serves to make me feel even worse about my lacking knowledge.

I can hear the class awe at his obvious intelligence while I stand here like an idiot, the contrast is mind-blowing.

"Well, Y/N? Is this somehow too much for you again? Even the new student could do this easily, yet you can't? I fear you might not pass my class this year if you keep being so impressively dumb" the teacher croons, clearly happy about my stupidity, words that make me feel even more out of place as I fidget from one foot to the other.

I sigh anxiously, my heartbeat ready to burst out of my chest and the pen almost slips out of my hold too many times without me even using it.

I really don't understand what's in front of me. This is going to drive me crazy.

I feel the new student come closer to me, his body heat making me feel highly out of my comfort zone and I take a few steps aside to give him the space he needs, eyes taking in as he completes my side of the board with the same speed he used for his and after one satisfied exhale, he puts the pen down and goes back to his desk.

"To your seat, Y/N" the teacher says with a frown and I look down as I do just that, not ready to look at the few lime colored eyes that stare at me. This is so humiliating, it's not my fault if I'm bad at maths, no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't work for me.

I sit on my chair, let Rosé welcome me with a soft side hug to cheer me up and when I look at her face, it's to see a small sad smile. Not feeling it in me to smile just yet, I turn to the man next to me and notice the pale blue to his orbs as he stares at the teacher, a light frown to his brows.

Does he feel bad for me? Is that why he helped me?

I again avoid his gaze when I see him about to look at me and wipe my hands on my clothes, hating the fact that I sweat so much when I'm nervous, something that mostly happens when I'm in this class.

The rest of the remaining hour proceeds with a few more insults thrown my way by the teacher and I can see Rosé about to snap a few times, surely she would rip the teacher in half if she could and honestly?

I wouldn't stop her.

"Alright, class is almost over. Tomorrow, we're doing a small test on what we've learned today so everyone should study, those who can learn anyway. The few who can't get anything in their brain, don't bother, just keep failing this class, I don't care".

I bite on my bottom lip and get my stuff in my bag, ready to run out of here as soon as the bell rings because there's no way I'm giving him the time to call me over after class. The sooner I can flee, the better I'll feel.

As soon as I hear it resound in the whole building, I hurry up to my feet and run to the door, not even waiting for Rosé, but to my despair, the people blocking the path as they try to get out at the same time forces me stay in here for longer than I can afford.

"Y/N, come see me for a moment".

I feel my soul drop. Damn it.

I slowly turn from my spot to see the teacher staring at me, seated at his desk and when our eyes meet, he motions for me to come over.

I let out a defeated sigh and turn to see Rosé stopping next to me with unhappy eyes, knowing as well as I do that him calling me is to talk about my lack of maths brain cells.

She offers to stay behind with me but I shake my head and tell her to join the girls and to tell them that I'll be there soon, that it won't take too long. She hesitates but eventually nods, an encouraging nod before she walks out of the room, by doing so leaving me alone with the teacher.

"Hurry, I don't have all day" he says and I rush over before stopping in front of him, the desk luckily separating the two of us. I don't want a repeat of last time. Please don't let this be a repeat of last time.

But nothing seems to be going my way in this class.

He stands up from his chair and walks around his desk before standing still next to me, lets his hand slide on the exposed skin of my arm before he's grabbing my waist harshly and pulling me to him, his over-applied perfume not missing much to make me choke on it.

I wince, disgust spreading through my whole body, but there's nothing I can do. If I fight back, it gets worse.

"Y/N, my dear Y/N. Dumb one day, dumb always, is that your favorite mantra? Because the way you're failing my class, you're also going to fail the whole year and you won't be graduating. In that sense, did you think about my last offer?" he whispers in my ear, the feeling of his breath on it giving life to shivers down my spine as I feel bile raise in my throat.

"My answer remains the same, I refuse" I murmur weakly, my only wish for now to get away from him, far away.

He hums and tightens his hold on me, pulls me closer to him and I whimper, my reflex to move away only earning me a tighter grip that hurts. His smell is overwhelming, so toxic that I can feel my nostrils burn each times I inhale.

"I guess you don't understand your situation very well right now... I'm being nice and offering you a way of graduating, to be finally done with this place, but I guess it's not enough for you. Kids these days always want more, hm?".

I try to step back from him but his hands won't let me move, his body heat repulsing, everything about him making my soul scream to step away.

"I'm going to ask you one last time. Sleep with me for the remainder of the year, and you won't even need to study this class. I'll let you pass with high marks".

I feel like throwing up, my heart beating way too fast in my chest, in my throat, my whole body shaking in his grip. He's not giving up, why is he not giving up?

The sound of a door slamming open causes the teacher to quickly step away from me, the latter pretending like he didn't just use my grades to threaten me sexually, although his face can't hide his annoyance and I let out a sigh of relief at the newfound space around me.

But even with this freedom, I remain where I am and immobile, knowing that if I try to move away right now without waiting for him to give me permission, next time will be worse and I don't want to find out just how much worse this can get.

Just wait, be patient, you can do this.

"Can I help you?" the teacher asks to the person who just made a dramatic entrance, but nothing is said. All I can hear is the sound of feet walking closer until they stop behind me.

The presence causes a warmth to spread through me, a strength that pushes away the negativity that the teacher had given me and I start relaxing, finally allowed to breath in clean air. This presence feels so comforting and for some reason, part of me wants to believe that this might be the same student who helped me earlier.

"I need her help, I don't know where to find the cafeteria and everyone else is gone" I hear a smooth and soft voice say and the chills I experience in reaction to it are so different from the ones I got earlier.

Those are sweet tingles running across my skin like a warm caress.

The teacher frowns, definitely searching his brain to find an excuse to keep me for a bit longer, but he eventually sighs and nods. "Alright. Y/N, you may be excused. We will continue this conversation another time".

I freeze in time, eyes wide as I process what just happened.

I can't believe it, he let me go so easily! I need to thank whoever it is that just saved my life.

I turn around to see the student already leaving towards the door and recognize his back instantly, he's the new smart student and that causes a doubt to crawl into my mind. Does he really need my help?

When I see him waiting for me, his eyes not letting go of the teacher, his orbs alight with a slight burning bite to them, I hurry to follow him out of the room and once he closes the door behind us, we start walking through the corridors leading to the cafeteria with him walking slightly ahead of me in silence.

He turns at all the right places, walks through the maze that this place can be with too much ease considering that he's a new student.

"You didn't really need my help, right?" I blurt out all of a sudden and he sighs.

Maybe I shouldn't have asked, he does look like someone who doesn't like talking and as expected, he remains silent but he does slow down a little so we can walk side by side and I smile at the small attention, one that shows he doesn't really dislike me.

"Still, thank you. You got me out of a very nasty situation, I really owe you" I continue, needing to thank him in person while I can before I lose the timing.

He hums and once we enter the huge room filled with tables and chatter, he turns left, ultimately leaving me behind without a word or glance.

I stare at his back as he reaches a table filled with four other men, ones who all seem new. There is a face I recognize as the one from my literature class, I guess they all know each other. It would make sense since they all arrived at the same time.

Knowing that keeping my attention on his group won't lead me anywhere, I look around the vast cafeteria until I spot Rosé waving at me from one of our usual tables and then start making my way to her, the other girls nowhere in sight.

As I walk, I feel many pairs of eyes on me, the weight that they carry heavy against my skin, most of them probably wondering why I arrived with the new man side by side when they can barely catch his attention themselves, everyone already obsessed with them.

I sit next to Rosé, bag settled in front of me on the table.

"Where are the girls?" I ask her while getting my lunchbox out with a small grunt, the promise of a lunch helping push to the back of my mind what just happened with the teacher.

"Getting food, they should be back soon. How was it? He didn't insult you again right? Didn't hurt you?" she then proceeds to ask, worried pale blue eyes looking me over to spot any bruises but I push her hand away gently and smile to her before getting my food out of the box.

"I'm fine. The new student actually stepped in and helped me out. I don't know why he did that, why he was even there, but I really am grateful for it, the teacher's perfume is an atrocious thing".

She turns back to stare at the table where the five men are seated with curious eyes. "Really? I heard that they don't speak with anyone outside of their group. They don't meet anyone's eyes unless needed and besides being incredibly smart, they're hot as fuck".

I nod, that sounds about right. The man didn't say anything earlier, but he was far from being mean and cold, his presence soothed me. Deep inside, he must be someone nice and warm, there has to be a reason why they don't talk to others.

"Anyway, help me please, I really don't want to fail tomorrow's test, I don't know what to do" I plead with a whine, the pressure of what's awaiting us already making a headache form, as if I needed that on top of everything else.

Rosé turns to me with tired eyes and sighs.

"Later when we get home, I'm too hungry to even think about maths right now".

I pout and take a bite of my sandwich. "Fine".