***Helloooo... How y'all doing? Don't forget to read Hades' Apprentice... Have a brilliant day/night****

            ****ANNIE****

  I saw her jump in the nearest class upon spotting me walking down the hall. Ever since the outburst, Daisy had avoided me. Either out of guilt, or to be true to herself. Maybe she was never my best friend from the begining.

Acting like I didn't care, I walked past the door she was probably hiding behind.
      She could take all the time that she wanted. If she cared for me even the least, she would confront and apologize to me.

I made my way to the west, wanting to spend some time to myself in the gym and maul over what my life had grown into. I had been going there for a few days ever since Jack and I...
   The thought of it made me blush to myself like the lovestruck teenager I was.

        When I walked in the large room, the first thing I heard was someone calling for help from the equipment room right across the gymnasium. His voice was muffled a little due to the locked door, but I could still hear his plea.

I threw my bag to the side and ran over there, breaths restricted to avoid fear sinking in my chest. Whoever was in there was probably just locked in by bullies or something like that.

    Without asking or thinking, I pushed the doorknob down and pulled the frame. It opened up and I took the chance to dash in. But the second I ran inside, someone laughed from the outside before banging shut the door. They knocked. "Have fun you two." The person on the other side said.

They must have been hiding under the benches for me not to spot them. Fuck those little snakes. "You'll pay for this you idiots!" I screamed kicking the door after realizing it was locked.

  Have fun you two!

I swirled around to search for the other victim. Thankfully, there was still sunlight flowing through the window positioned almost close to the ceiling. Why the fuck did they put it that high? I was sure nobody was planning on stealing balls and ropes.

    "Show yourself!" I ordered with my back plastered on the door.
I was not about to risk my neck by moving from there. Whoever was hiding in here could have been some kind of psycho or...

   "Paul?" My jaw fell as the male stepped from the other aisle looking like he had spent the last thirty minutes being beaten up.

His white t-shirt was tattered and bloody. His feet had no shoes and his left eye has a fist bruise around it.

   Nausea struck to the sight of the bloody clothes. I gagged, but managed to turn around to shield my eyes. "What the hell happened to you?"

    "I'm so sorry Annie. I had no idea that they used me to lure you here."

  My brows scrunched.
"What are you talking about?"

"They beat me up and then left me in here. The door can only be unlocked from the outside. They asked me to call for help when I heard the other door open. I had no idea it would be-"

    "Enough. We can talk about them when we leave this place... How wounded are you on a scale of one to ten?"

  "Er...maybe like a five or something."

"Deep cuts?"

"No. Why?"

"I can help you clean up. But-but-"

   "But what Annie?"

I swallowed. Was this betraying Jack? He didn't like Paul one single bit, and here I was, about to ask him to...

  "You'll have to take off that bloody shirt."

I heard Paul chuckle. "Is that all?"

"Fuck you Paul," I murmured very quietly. "No, I need you to have the first grab the first aid box from the shelf and open it.

There were a few movements and sounds before Paul spoke up again. "Done."

   "Has the bleeding stopped?"
I wasn't sure if I could tolerate a lot of blood but I could try and be patient with just a bit. After all, I was working on building my blood tolerance.

    "Yes Annie. You can come over here now."
I must have been mistaken, but his tone had a slight shift. It sounded almost the same as when Jack called me to himself so I could get a spanking.

For thirty seconds, I inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming my anxiety.

  Finally, I mustered the courage to face him.
And there he stood, shirtless, his hair on one side of his face while his eyes burrowed into mine unsettlingly. I grew a little shy seeing him this way. Did I have a kink for violence? Eew!

   There were a few light cuts along his ribs and purple bruises on his abdomen. Why would fellow students hurt him this bad? Could it be that Jack was behind this?

At least his wrists had healed.

   Turned out that he was such a trouble magnet.

"Do you think someone will come to res- grr!" Paul growled when I started cleaning his cuts.

       "My driver will notice." I assured, making small talk to distract him.

As I went on with my aid, I caught Paul staring at me several times. There was no pain in his gray eyes as I expected...just, blankness.

  "Does he treat you well?"

His question caught me unprepared.

  All the same, I remained silent and ignored it. But he grasped my wrist, "Annie. Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talk-"

   "Seems you don't need my help." I snorted starting to move away from him. But Paul wasn't ready to let go of my hand. He instead tugged. Since I was in a squat position, I did not have much ground to resist his pull.

The first aid box was knocked aside as his other hand wrapped itself on my back while he fell back. The balls in the mesh sack acted as a pillow, which we sank in.

    "Jack's not right for you." Paul whispered.

"Fucking let go of me!" I hissed wriggling.

"Not till you tell me what you see in him that I don't have."

I huffed, surprised by his question. How could he possibly compare himself to Jack?

    "Firstly, he never hurts me. And if he does, he hurts me in a way that excites me."

"Stop praising him!" Paul barked tightening his hold. His eyes were so hard to the anger I could feel through his body. "You said you'd be my girlfriend."

  "I'm eighteen Paul. I'm not afraid of anyone now. I love Jack and no one else."

His jaw clenched.

I had stopped fighting him, what is the worst that he could do? Rape me? No, Paul was many things but not an assaulter.

    "What if he lies to you and breaks your heart?"

His breaths were full of fury.
  
"What lie could possibly make my heart break?"

      Paul didn't answer. He simply...kissed me. I fought to break free, but his right hand was pushing the back of my head towards himself, making sure our lips remained locked.

In a tiny part of my mind, it grew the urge to kiss back. My hands relaxed, and my muscles let go of the tension.
While I did not follow the naughty urge, I certainly allowed Paul to continue kissing me. There were a lot of mixed feelings surging inside my chest, like why was I no longer trying to break free? Or why was I not kissing back if a small part of me actually liked Paul?

   He retreated and we both sucked in deep breaths to quell the burning in our lungs.

      "I like you Annie. So damn much. And the thought of you being with someone like Jack disgusts me." Paul whispered running his fingers through my hair.

This little action snapped me back to my normal self. Even if I did like Paul, I actually loved Jack. And he didn't deserve this kind of betrayal.

Without a second thought, I snatched myself off of him before he knew it.

   And when I was standing tall next to his lying frame, I yelled, "Jack is the perfect guy that I'd ignore every other for. You included."