Off Campus

Keisha was livid.

There he sat, the smug bastard, smirking at her. He took a swig from his beer that hung loosely in one of his hands, the other one roughly groping the backside of the girl who clung desperately to him. The girl in question was too engrossed with planting sloppy kisses all over his neck to notice he was looking at someone else.

Breathing heavily, Keisha clenched her fists. That asshole!

Noticing her friend's distressed expression, Steph nudged her gently. "You okay, Keish?"

Keisha nodded distractedly; her spiteful gaze fixated on the boy. Following the direction of her friend's deathly glare, Steph's eyes landed on who she was glaring at and she gasped in horror.

Yanking Keisha to face her, Steph whisper-yelled. "Are you crazy, Keish? Do you want to get maimed?"

"That idiot can't do anything to me! I'm not afraid of him!"

"Don't be so loud in case he hears!" Steph shushed her friend, wondering if the younger girl was under the influence. "What's gotten into you?"

Keisha gave her friend a puzzled stare. "What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you, Steph?! Since when are you scared of egotistical weirdos? I thought you said you were going to smash his head in if you found him?"

"Found who?"

Keisha suddenly remembered that Steph had never actually seen the crazy psycho, and she pointed at him, much to her friend's dismay. "That's the asshole who flooded our room!"

Snatching her finger down, Steph's eyes widened at her friend's words. "Keisha, stop it! Don't point!"

"Why?" Keisha snarled angrily. Steph's behaviour was odd and she found it irritating. Why was she so scared of that cowardly bully?

"What do you mean why? Don't you know who that is?" Keisha shook her head, raising a prompting brow for her friend to continue. Steph ran her fingers through her hair anxiously, realizing the deep shit her friend was in.

"Keisha, that's Luka Haydes!"

"Who?" the freshman deadpanned. Face palming, Steph cursed under her breath.

"Holy shit, Keisha! He's the most feared guy on campus and literally the most popular too. How do you not know him?"

Keisha shrugged, earning a frustrated groan from her roomie. "They literally call him the Prince of Hell. Doesn't that ring a bell?"

"Kind of." Keisha had heard a few students gossiping about this 'Prince of Hell' person. Rumor had it that he was extremely handsome, hence the prince title. The hell part however, was because of his brute nature. He was something of a bad boy, an unrepentant delinquent whose dashing looks were his only positive trait.

"I can't believe this. Your crazy stalker was Luka Haydes!" Steph gulped down the rest of her beer, needing the alcohol to ease her worries. She'd heard about all the horrible things Luka had done to those stupid enough to cross him and as far as she could tell, flooding their room was child's play.

Keisha had slapped him, something that nobody had ever done. The acclaimed Prince was not going to let her off the hook so easily.

"Oh no!" Steph pulled her friend to her feet, dragging her away from the rest of the group. "Keish, you need to leave now!"

"No! I'm not going to let that jerk get away with this." Keisha yanked her arm out of her friend's grip. "Like I said before, I'm not afraid of him. I don't care if he's some wannabe bad boy."

Gripping her roommate's shoulders, Steph looked directly into her friend's eyes. "Listen to me, Keisha. This isn't a joke. That boy is fucking dangerous and you need to get as far away from him as possible! The flooding thing was just the tip of the iceberg. He's going to do so much worse!"

"Then let him!" Keisha shouted, suddenly feeling angry at her friend's cowardice.

Steph was one of the few people Keisha admired for her bravery and raw honesty. How could she let a maniacal bully intimidate her like this? Was she really ready to surrender to a tyrant, running away with her tail between her legs?

To Keisha, the bullies weren't the only villains. The true villains were the cowards who stood by and watched it happen. The people whose fear outweighed their sense of compassion, whose self-preservation mattered more than justice.

Their consciences were seared with hot iron, numbing them to the cries of the oppressed. They would rather look the other way, too lily-livered to witness the price of their silence. Their apathy left no room for empathy and the weak bore the burdens for it.

She bore the burdens for it.

Unfortunately, Steph was one of those people; the cowardly bystanders. And if high school taught her anything, it was that if a person couldn't stand up to injustice, then they were standing with it.

"You can cower in fear if that's what you want, Steph," Keisha spat, her voice laced with disgust. "But I'm not going to let a pathetic bully walk all over me. I'm disappointed in you, Steph, I thought you were better than this. I guess I thought wrong."

Keisha angrily stomped away, leaving her roommate dumbstruck. Returning back to where the rest of the group was, her eyes searched for Luka's familiar brown hair but he was nowhere to be found. Had he left the party?

She groaned in frustration at the thought. There was no way she was letting him leave without giving him a piece of her mind.

Leaving the severely wasted group, she made her way across the crowd of students toward where she had last seen Luka. Loud music blared from some cars' speakers and the drunk students danced wildly around the campfire, making it hard for Keisha to see where she was going. Struggling to navigate, Keisha felt suffocated as sweating bodies grinded all around her, invading her personal space.

A hand suddenly grabbed her waist from behind and pulled her against a hard body. She shrieked in surprise, pushing against the person.

"Where are you going, shawty?" the boy's words were slurred, and he reeked of alcohol. Disgusted, Keisha stomped on his foot as hard as she could. He yelped in pain, letting go of her to nurse his ailing foot and she tried to run away.

However, the boy quickly dragged her back by her arm, squishing her back against his body. "That wasn't very nice, shawty! I see you're a naughty girl."

His breath was absolutely awful, and Keisha nearly gagged at the odour. "Let go of me!"

"Don't be like that!" the boy turned her around so that she was facing him. His eyes shone as they settled on her lips, and he leaned in closer. "Let's just have a little fun!"

Horrified, Keisha screamed as he leaned in to kiss her, her hand involuntarily punching him in the jaw. He groaned at the painful contact, but he didn't let her go. Instead, he forcefully pulled her closer and yanked her hair so that her face was exposed to him. Keisha gasped in horror as she realized what was about to happen.

"No! Leave me alone!"

He leaned in to close the distance between them and Keisha felt her body go stiff with fear.

Oh God, no!

Suddenly, the boy was yanked away from her and was flung to the ground, his body sprawled out unnaturally.

"She said leave her alone, you stupid cunt!"

Keisha had never been so happy to see Mr. Samuel, and she quickly rushed to hide behind him. His face held a menacing frown as he glared at the boy who still lay on the floor, muttering incomprehensible nonsense. Slowly getting up, the boy scowled at Keisha, who unconsciously gripped the dean's bicep in fear.

"So, this is your boyfriend, huh? You crazy bitch! Is he better than me?"

"Shut up, Ethan!" Mr. Samuel thundered, causing the boy to flinch. "Get out of my sight before I fucking break every bone in your body!"

It felt strange to hear Mr. Samuel swear, and Keisha felt chills run down her spine. A dangerous aura radiated off him as he clenched his fist, and she could feel his hard muscles flex beneath her grip.

Begrudgingly, Ethan obliged and slowly sauntered away, disappearing into the crowd.

Turning to his student, Mr. Samuel look worriedly at her. "Are you okay, Keisha? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Sir. Thanks to you."

Realizing she was still holding his arm, she quickly pulled away, flustered. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"It's alright, Keisha. I'm glad you're safe," he offered her a soft smile. "Also, you can drop the 'Sir'. We're not in school so you can call me Samuel."

Her heart did a somersault at his words, surprised that he wanted her to call him by his name. "Are you sure, Sir? Isn't that inappropriate?"

"It's fine, Keisha. We're off-campus. Plus, calling me 'Sir' makes me feel old."

They both snickered, and Keisha nervously agreed. "Alright, Sir- I mean Samuel."

His name felt natural as it rolled off her tongue, her cheeks growing warm at the thought of being on a first-name basis with him. "So, Samuel, I didn't know you'd be at this party. I thought it was for students only?"

"It is. I'm just here to chaperone and prevent any accidents."

"Only you?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm the only admin who isn't a 'vibe-kill' or at least that's what the student council president says."

Keisha chuckled, shrugging casually. "I suppose he isn't entirely wrong. You must be really bored, though."

"Not really. I'm not allowed to drink but it's actually quite funny seeing all the students drunk. Gives me something to blackmail them with," they both chuckled at that, Samuel giving her a cheeky grin. "Plus, I can't possibly be bored when I'm hanging out with you. It's nice to not be the only sober one."

She flushed at that, looking away to hide her cheeks. "W-what? But I'm boring!"

"Not to me. I think you're a very interesting person, Keisha."

Keisha's cheeks couldn't possibly blush any harder than the way they were right now and she felt like a fool for not being able to keep her composure. Was he doing this on purpose? Did he derive pleasure from teasing her like this?

Or was he flirting?

Shaking her head at the thought, Keisha looked up at the dean, taking in his appearance. It would be too easy to mistake him for a student because of his youthful looks. He wasn't in his usual semi-formal school attire, instead wearing a thin t-shirt that did little to hide his ripped physique and denim jeans. His hair was styled messily, having a windswept look to match his casual aesthetic.

Overall, Samuel looked sexy as hell.

Shocked by her crude thoughts, Keisha cleared her throat awkwardly. She'd been distracted from her original plan to find Luka, and now it was time to get back on track. She bowed to Samuel, seeking permission to leave.

"Sorry, Sir- I mean Samuel, I have to go now."

"Really? Bored of me already?"

"No, it's not like that. I just need to meet up with someone- it's urgent."

Samuel nodded in acknowledgement, offering her his signature smile. "Alright, I suppose I should let you go. Be careful, and have fun."

She nodded emphatically, and took her leave. Her eyes darted around the crowded scene, focused on locating their delinquent target. Scanning through the throngs of intoxicated young adults, her gaze landed on him.

He stood smirking at her as he leaned against a tree on the outskirts of the clearance, almost blending in to the dark forest behind him and Keisha had a feeling he'd been waiting for her to find him.

Twirling a cigarette between his fingers, he got off from against the tree and casually walked toward the pitch-black forest. With his free hand he motioned for her to follow him, disappearing into the darkness of the woods.

Clenching her fists, Keisha growled angrily. "Showtime asshole."