Chapter Three; Part Two

"So can I continue now or are you gonna keep goofing off?" Jinny asked me, crossing her arms.

I thought long and hard about that one trust me. "Hmmmmmm... You may continue. For now..." I chuckled evilly and she flicked my forehead. "Ack!"

"Anyways..." She rolled her eyes. "Nothing eventful really happened those two years of high school, so I'll skip to my last year, when I met him." I laid on the ground beside her, looking up at her as she spoke. "I hadn't changed at all. I still didn't talk to people unless spoken too, kicked anyone's ass who tried to mess with me, and not to toot my own horn, but I think I was pretty hot back then." She snickered. "Okay that last part was a joke."

"Not like it isn't true though..." I thought to myself and averted my eyes to keep myself from blushing. She continued to tell her story and my imagination ran wild, imagining every event she told me.

7 years earlier- Jinny's P.O.V.

I walked through the halls of the school, giving off an intimidating aura which caused every student to move out of my way. Well, most people anyway. Some guy walked up to me, trying to act all tough. "Soooo, you're the famous tough girl: Jinny Ashani." He had a smug grin on his face. Just looking at him made me wanna punch his lights out. But I waited, already knowing he was gonna try something. "You're quite the looker too huh? What do you say to being my girl?"

"Get lost." I said bluntly, walking past him, causing a bit of stifled laughter from the ones watching.

"Y-You dare talk to me like that you bitch?!" He grabbed my shoulder roughly and I turned around instantly, swiping my leg at his head and kicking him in the cheek. The force was so tremendous it threw him off his feet and sent him through the air a couple feet, landing on his back with a thud and a loud grunt.

"Don't touch me," was all I said before I turned back and continued walking. I really hoped I had knocked some of his teeth out. I continued walking to class when someone bumped into me as they ran around the corner. I was fine, but whoever it was fell over and dropped all of their belongings.

"Agh! Ugh..." I stared down at the young man who had bumped into me and he quickly sat up. "S-Sorry! Are you o-" He stopped mid-sentence as he saw my legs. I was wearing fishnet stockings along with my usual gym shoes, so I assumed he was staring at my thighs. Thank god I was wearing shorts or I would've kicked him in the face too, even if it wasn't his fault. He looked up at me, finishing his statement. "-kaayyy..?"

I gave him a blank stare, expecting him to get scared of me, but he just began gathering his things. "Well, you seem fine. You're pretty strong huh?" He giggled. Usually I would've just went on my way, but it was partially my fault as well. So, I knelt down and started helping him.

"Yeah. I'm just fine. And I am strong. Would you like to find out just how-"

He looked up at me and smiled, cutting me off mid-sentence. "Good! I'd feel awful if I hurt such a cute girl." He chuckled.

"...Cute? Not hot or sexy..? Not only is he not afraid of me, he also has the balls to call me cute." I thought to myself, narrowing my eyes at him. "Look, if this is a clever way to ask me out, I'm not int-"

"Oh no no no! I-I was just saying. Sorry, I have a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself sometimes..." He chuckled nervously, a bit of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"This guy really had the balls to cut me off again..." I clenched my fist, deciding it'd be best to leave before I knocked the guy's lights out. We both stood up simultaneously and I handed him the rest of his things roughly. "I'm going now." I walked past him.

"O-Oh, well thanks!" I heard him shout but didn't look back. I felt his eyes on me until I disappeared behind the corner though.

"He must be new, otherwise he wouldn't act that way around me." I know what I thought to myself was true because when I walked into my class, everyone shut up for a moment and spoke to each other in hushed voices, even when I took my seat. Not to mention all the seats around mine were open. I sat in the very back corner, by the window on the left. I sighed and stared out the window, as I usually did, while waiting for class to start.

The day went on as usual. Despite the rumors of me being a delinquent and never doing my work, I was actually a very diligent student. I did all my work, turned everything in on time, paid close attention in class, and was one of the top students in all my classes. People were just afraid of me because of the reputation I had built up. I ate on the roof for lunch, having to pick the lock of course since the roof was off limits. It was away from everyone else and very peaceful though, not to mention the amazing view, so that's one of the few school rules I broke.

After lunch, I headed to my next class, leaving no trace that I was ever on the roof. When I entered my next class, I sat at my usual seat as always, which just so happened to be practically the same for all my classes, by my request as well as several other student requests to the teachers. "Hello class, today we have a new student. Come on in and introduce yourself." The teacher said as the class quieted down.

A young man entered afterward. "Hello everyone, my name is-" He paused as he saw me. "Oh how lucky. I'm glad we at least have one class together." He gave me a smile, which caused everyone to turn and look at me. I blinked a few times, remembering this was the guy I bumped into at the beginning of the day.

Everyone in class began muttering to each other in shock and even the teacher looked surprised. It took a bit of time for him to gather himself before speaking up. "Y-You personally know Miss Ashani?"

"Huh? Oh, nah, I just bumped into her this morning." That statement only shocked everyone even more, for obvious reasons, and they began whispering various things about me.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, looking out the window. "Tch..."

"Well, my name's Akiara Sora. Nice to meet you all, I guess." He smiled before suddenly taking the seat next to mine.

I looked at him, blinking a few times to make sure I was seeing things correctly, almost as surprised as everyone else. "Has he not heard of me by now..?" I thought to myself as I and everyone else stared at the newcomer. Several of the students began speaking to him one after another.

"A-Are you sure you wanna sit there dude?"

"You realize who that is right..?"

"I can't believe you don't have any bruises, did she not kick your ass?"

I noticed the smile on his face fade and his expression became serious. "I'm not gonna believe in any stupid rumors. I believe what I see and only what I see. Everyone deserves a chance and no one deserves to be isolated. So enough already. Yes I want to sit here, yes I know who this woman is, and no, she did not kick my ass."

Every one of the students went silent at his words and the teacher simply watched, a small smile forming on his face. He seemed a bit happy. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Akiara for some reason after he spoke those words. They really touched me, in a way no one's words ever had before. Even so, I turned my head away and scoffed again. "Whatever..." I muttered as I realized I had been holding my breath and my heart even skipped a beat. "What is this, a romance anime?" I scolded myself internally.

Akiara chuckled to himself, I'm guessing at my reaction. "So, can we start class now?" He looked to the teacher.

Our teacher slowly regained his composure and cleared his throat. "R-Right. Let's begin shall we?" Needless to say, hardly anyone seemed to be able to pay attention to class except the dense Akiara.

The school day soon ended, but to my surprise, I shared every single one of my classes after lunch with Akiara, and he sat next to me and surprised every other student in my classes the same as he did with the first, saying the same words every time. Each time he said those words and looked at me with that smile, I felt something inside me spark and/or burn. Whatever it was, it was warm, and it felt nice. Though I wasn't going to fall for this guy's tricks that easily. For all I knew he was no different than the rest.

People were staring at me and talking with each other as I walked out of the school building. Though I think that was mostly because Akiara was walking right at my side and chatting up a storm. I gave him brief responses to everything he asked and said, starting to get annoyed, but he was being nice, so I wasn't gonna beat him up or anything. As I continued walking home, he still hadn't left my side. "I don't remember telling you that you could follow me home."

"Huh? Oh, my place is this way too." He smiled nervously

"Oh..." I muttered, slightly embarrassed. I soon came to a stop and he did at the same time, turning to walk into the same apartment complex. "Okay, this isn't funny..." I growled a little.

"B-But I'm not joking! I-I seriously live here!" He held his hands up.

"You've got to be kidding me..." We walked inside, went up the same flight of stairs, walked onto the same floor. I could feel my blood starting to boil a bit and looked at him as he unlocked the door across from mine. He chuckled nervously under his breath as he opened the door, sweat trickling down his forehead. My eye twitched as I walked into my apartment and slammed the door shut, locking it. I couldn't believe he actually lived right across from me.