Nodt

Over the next month, I spent every waking moment with Lai. I even got the chance to model for her, however, it didn't last long. Having her stare at me caused my dick to fill and we had to take a break in the bedroom and even in the shower.

After our announcement on Facebook, many people commented. On mine, they asked me why I was dating her, and on hers, they called her mean things. Asking her why the hell she thought she deserved to be with me.

I knew she'd tried to hide that from me, but I'd kept checking. Lai had said it was fine and even acted like it didn't bother her. She just shrugged and said they would soon get over it. I was still worried.

At lunch and after school we made sure one of us, or her friends could be with her but during her lessons, she was on her own.

When she was with us she seemed fine, laughing and joking but there was something in her eyes. It was like the fire inside was slowly dying. Whenever I asked her if anything else was happening she'd wave me off and change the subject.

I'd finally had enough. I told Jun and Kit to take roll call and any notes for me. Her faculty wasn't that far so I decided to surprise her.

When I searched for her, several girls tried to stop me but I ignored them. Growing frustrated I started asking anyone I saw if they'd seen her. Most shook their heads or said they didn't know who I meant. It was getting late on and I was getting worried.

Finally, when I was at my wit's end, a young girl approached me. At first, I was going to shrug her off but she seemed different. She wasn't approaching me swaying her hips or batting her eyes at me. Instead, she looked worried, frightened even.

"P'Nodt," she called out and I nodded. "My name is Li, I'm in Lai's class."

"Have you seen her? I've been looking for her."

Li looked around as if she was scared someone would see us talking.

"Lai is in one of the gallery rooms, on the first floor ... Has she told you what's been happening?"

With a sinking feeling, I shook my head and she nodded.

"I thought not, I told her she should but she just said she could handle it."

"What's been happening?"

"Ever since you announced you were together, bad things have been happening. Girls would knock into her, causing her to either fall or drop what she was holding. When she's working, when the teacher isn't there, they would pretend to trip and paint would fly either on her or her work. Of course, her work would be ruined."

She looked around again as my fists clenched.

"I tried to get her to tell the teacher, especially after she got in trouble because she couldn't hand in a few of her assignments, thanks to them. She won't though. Right now, we're meant to be setting up for an exhibition. At first, the teacher wasn't going to allow her to showcase any of her work since she had missed so much, but she finally agreed to let her. But something has happened … Lai's in there now. It's really bad."

Li quickly scurried away and I raced to the first-floor rooms. It didn't take me long to find which room she was in. Lai knelt in the middle of an open room. It wasn't until I walked in I realised what was wrong.

Two pieces of art had a word splattered in bright red paint smudged across them. I could see they were the paintings Tine had posed for. The word read 'slut' across both of them.

"Lai?" I asked as I approached.

"Please take them down, P'Nodt," she whispered brokenly.

Quickly, I did as she asked. She stood as I made my way over. Slowly, she took them from me and walked out of the room. I followed her out of the building and around to the back. She threw the paintings in the bin and walked away.

"Wait, Lai!" I called out.

"I want to be alone," she called back and carried on walking. My heart broke, and I felt helpless. Instead of following her, I went back inside. I found the security desk and asked them to review the CCTV to see if we could find the culprits.

It wasn't hard to find them and, of course, I recognised them instantly. The security guard gave me a copy of the disk. Then I went to find the teacher.

"Excuse me," I asked a woman I thought I recognised from before. "Are you Chailai's teacher?"

She nodded but didn't look happy.

"Do you have a moment, I need to talk to you about her. It's very important."

She looked like she wanted to say no, I was afraid she would but instead she sighed and nodded. We went to her office and I showed her the disk.

"I had no idea!" she gasped. "Why didn't she tell me!"

"I didn't know either and I'm her boyfriend. She thinks she's used to being bullied so she decided to suffer alone. I think things like this have been happening since we announced we were together. Lai's missed deadlines right? Only that shouldn't have happened, I know for a fact she was ready days in advance."

"Yeah, I found it odd too. At first, I thought it was her boyfriend. I was even going to find you to say you should support her and not get in the way. The first time it happened I told her it was ok and that she could make it up but then it kept happening. I'd asked one of her classmates and she told me Lai had told her that since she got a boyfriend she had to spend all her time with him otherwise he would leave her."

"What!" I asked angrily. "I've never got in the way of her work. I would never dream of it. Lai is dedicated to her drawings and paintings so much so that she wouldn't let me distract her."

"That was what her friend said," the teacher looked annoyed at being questioned.

"Miss, she doesn't have any friends in her class. The girl in that video made sure of that. Instead, her friends are in Engineering, my department. That girl who wrote that on her paintings hates her. At first, it was just silly taunts and jibes but when I choose Lai over her it's gotten worse."

The teacher's raised eyebrows told me she wasn't quite believing me.

"I mean it. Lai is sweet, kind and a very responsible person. You should know that since you said you found it odd that she would miss assignments. Let me show you this," I said pulling out my phone.

I pulled up the comments she'd received after our announcement. I watched as the teacher's eyebrows rose higher and higher the more she read.

"Lai wouldn't ever complain about it, she's been bullied enough to think that it would only make it worse to tell someone. But I think it's gone too far now. Someone told me that, whenever you were out of the room, someone would spill paint on her or her work, meaning she had nothing to hand in. That girl has turned everyone against Lai, and it's affecting her education. We need to do something about this."

I held my breath as the teacher thought for a moment. I was worried she was going to refuse or say there was nothing she could do. Instead, she pulled the disk out and told me to follow her.

I had no idea where we were going but I hoped that it would resolve everything Lai was going through. We left the building and headed towards the administrative block. It was then that I knew where we were headed.

Quickly, I pulled out my phone and dialled Kit's number. It took him a minute to answer.

"Nodt? What is it, I had to say I needed the toilet just to answer. Jun is with me," he whispered.

"I need you to come to your Pa's office," I told him. "Something's happened to Lai."

"We'll be there."

"Oh and message Tine, Lai needs someone with her right now!"

"Ok, will do. We're on our way."

By the time we reached the Dean's office Kit and Jun were already there. The teacher gave us all a quizzical look.

"This is Kit, the Dean's son, and this is Jun. They are my friends and Lai's. Also, they know about the bullying too," I explained.

She nodded and raised her hand to knock. Once we were told to enter I took a deep breath and followed everyone in. The Dean greeted his son and smiled at us until he saw our faces.

"I guess you should all take a seat and tell me what brings you here."