Man Up

Riley placed his assignments on his table, waiting for the class president to get to his table.

Zipping up his bag, he heard a heavy thud on the table beside him, he looked up to see just who placed their bag on the table right next to him.

"Who are you?"

The person was a complete stranger to him. He knew everyone in his class by faces, but this face happened to be a new one. Seeing her smile at him gave him the chills, he was used to being kept at arm's length, so seeing someone smile at him gave him chills, since the only ones who smiled at him at school were those who bullied him.

"Hi" she waved at him "you must be the Riley everyone's talking of, right?"

He was left dumbfounded, hearing her say she had heard about him. Everyone who heard about him made sure to keep their distance, so just why was she trying to start a conversation with him.

Seeing him not reply, she stretched her right hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Natasha, nice to meet you."

Riley took a good look at her face, but her face looked too innocent and cute for one to consider her a bully. She definitely was just being naive.

"I believe you know you must stay away from me?"

Riley would love to have a friend , but staying close to him would end her in trouble, and he didn't want anyone else to be in a tough position because of him.

"Hmm," she placed her fingers on her chin. "that's what everyone's been saying."

"Then I would advice you to do that now."

Seeing her looking confused, he didn't need anyone telling him that she was just too innocent.

"If you are doing this to become popular, then you are very well welcome to be my friend. But if you are just naive, I would advice you to keep your distance."

Still seeing her with a confused look, he himself became confused. Was she just stupid or did she not understand all what he just said.

'This is the best I can do for you girl. Choose wisely if you love your life.' he thought to himself.

Natasha took a deep breath and sat by him. She placed her right hand on the table and rested her chin on the back of her palm. Now the smile and the confused look were gone from her face, all that remained was a serious face.

"I see why you have no friends."

This earned her a questioning look from Riley.

"You really do not know how to talk nicely."

Riley scoffed hearing her say that. He really would love to speak nicely with others, but just where did speaking nicely land him in.

"I'm actually not interested in being popular, if possible, I would like to keep a low profile. And trust me, I am not naive.

Riley just kept looking at her in amazement, her expression made it obvious she really was not naive, she just didn't give a damn about the rumors circulating among students.

"Oh!" she said as she suddenly remembered something.

"We do have something in common. You get bullied, so you hate bullies, while I hate them just because they are bullies."

Riley could not help but laugh. About the bullies, she sure was right about that, he really did hate them all, but hating them was not the solution.

" Hating them does not change the fact that you would get bullied if you befriend me."

She looked at him, smiled and gave him a look of 'you really don't know me'.

"Then I would have you watch me kick their asses if they try messing with us."

They both laugh for some seconds. When they were done laughing, they both had a happy smile on their faces.

"Are we friends now?"

"Hmm." he said nodding his head in the positive "We are, as long as you are ready to kick some ass."

"'chuckles' Bring it on." she said as she banged her fists together.

*****

"Can you believe it!"

"She must be plain stupid."

"I'm actually surprised as to why she would befriend a weirdo."

"I specifically gave her lots of advice and I made sure to emphasize that she must never have anything to do with him."

"I heard that some of her classmates became friends with her when she joined, but now, they all are keeping their distances."

"She really must be after being popular."

"I'm sure she would end up leaving him once she's gotten what she wants from him."

Riley and Natasha stepped into the cafeteria, and the once noisy place went silent.

"Shh, they are here." said a girl who was waiting in line.

As they walked in, they felt as though all eyes were on them. Everyone looked in their direction, some shook their heads in pity, some hissed and uttered abusive words, some mimicked the TST girls by banging their fists on the table, while some just ignored them and continued with whatever they were doing. A minute after their entrance, the whole place was back to being noisy, except for the fact that they stopped speaking about them loudly, all those who kept on speaking about them did it in a whisper.

"Whoa! I didn't expect you to be this popular. The whole school knows you." she said and elbowed him playfully.

"Of course, and they also know that they should stay away from me."

"Cheer up man." she said when she noticed his sad face.

"The fact that you have no friends now does not mean you would have any friends in the future." she said and gave him a gentle pat at his back.

"Hmm."

Riley said nodding his head along. But after taking in what she said, he had a confused look on his face.

"Wait," he said and stopped walking, he turned to face Natasha. "Did you just say, the fact that I have no friends now, does not mean I would have any in the future?"

"Yes, you heard me clearly."

Now this was only making him more confused. Did she make a mistake or did she mean exactly what she said.

"Do you really mean to say, I still would have no friends in the future?" he asked, looking confused, was she trying to cheer him up, or rub it in his face that he had no friend.

"Yes, exactly, you would have no friend if you keep on being a sissy. You have to man up, otherwise, people will use and dump you all your lifetime.

Riley stood there confused. He just didn't get what she was aiming at. Seeing her proceed to drop some food on her plate, he rushed after her.

Having taken what she wanted, she left without paying. Riley shook his head and hurriedly brought out his card to pay for hers' and his'. He joined her at the empty table, making sure to sit right next to her.

"Natasha."

"Hmm." she replied with a fully stuffed mouth.

"Were you trying to make me angry?"

Although he looked serious, or rather he tried to look serious, all she could see was a cute smiling face. She hurriedly chewed what was in her mouth and gulped some water, before replying him.

"Was? Of course not. I AM TRYING TO MAKE YOU ANGRY."

Now he was back to being confused. Did she befriend him to comfort him or was it to stir up anger in him.

"You should look in a mirror." she said as she picked up her drink, then took a sip. "Just now, I am very sure you thought you looked so serious, but trust me, all I could see was a very cute face. A cute bunny, is that what they call it. Just why won't you get bullied."

She takes a pause, stuffed her mouth with food and washed it down with water. Riley on the other hand was yet to touch his food. If she was trying to make him angry, she definitely was doing a good job, it just was not so evident yet.

" Come to think of it, why did they start bullying you?" she asked, even though it was obvious she knew the answer.

"You should stop right there."

Now, he really did look angry. This was a topic of discussion he hated the most. He was doing his possible best to forget it, but everyone seemed to love bringing it up.

"Stop? Seriously. This is exactly why they won't stop bullying you. Do you seriously think if you forget about it, the bullying would stop, of course not, you've got to face it."

"I just asked you to stop." he got up and banged the table, making a mess of the table cause of the cups which fell, pouring out their contents on the table.

His voice got louder every moment he spoke, he was completely pissed off. But she was yet to stop, she wasn't even planning to, cause she just started. Out of annoyance, she also got up and gave the table a bang, causing the whole cafe to be silent.

"Why didn't you ask him to stop? You fell in love with an idiot, who was not brave enough to declare he was already in a relationship. He made you fall deeper in love with him, and out of nowhere came his girlfriend who accused you of being a cheap slut, she beat you up and all he did was stand aside and watch you suffer. He came back to visit you at the hospital, to tell you how much he loved you, asked you to forgive him, said he was gonna break up with her to be with you. And foolish you fell for that. You forgave the idiot, and beared all of these sufferings. Are you really this stupid? "

Riley stood there, mouth agape, students began to murmur. No one ever heard this side of the story. Now that they all thought of it, no one ever heard Riley's side of the story. Everyone just had to believe the story the TST girls passed along. If no one ever heard of it, how then did a new comer hear of it. Was she not just some new comer, maybe she had always been Riley's friend out of school, then she decided to join his school to protect him.

This story was hard to believe, but some didn't even give it a second thought. Just why would Everett break up with the Governor's cherished daughter just to be with a business man's son. It made completely no sense to them. Some students stood up to pass this new story around the school.

Riley and Natasha stood still, staring daggers at themselves. Natasha shook her head with a disappointed look and sat to resume eating.

Bang

"What did you say?"