Apology

Kier looked at me with an annoying grin and winked, which literally made me cringe. I was about to stand up to take his arm off of Mary's shoulder when Mary took it away from herself. "Get away from me, you creep!"

She pushed Kier away, making Kier take a step back and laugh. He's Elton's infamous bully who flirts with every girl he sees. He's also allegedly a sex predator, blackmailing girls to make them do whatever he wants.

Mary took the keys from me and glared at Kier before taking a step to leave. However, for some reason, Kier is not accepting that rejection. He grabbed Mary's wrist to stop her from leaving and the next thing he did shook the entire class. He kissed Mary in front of everyone that including me find it hard to process what had happened. It was only when a phone flew and hit Kier on his right upper forehead. I looked in the direction where it came from and saw Jyo standing there. He's glaring at Kier with his slanted eyes, but my attention went back to Kier when someone shouted.

"Kier's bleeding!"

Everything still hadn't sunk into me, but Jyo didn't even flinch about injuring Kier and went berserk, kicking his desk towards the front in an attempt to hit Kier again, making me and everyone close move away automatically.

"I guess I hit the right spot, Akabane," Kier said with a smirk when he stopped the desk from hitting him with his left foot.

In just a blink of an eye, the two began fistfighting, destroying everything around and had me panicking, unsure about what to do.

"Stop!" I shouted, but the two ignored me.

Kier found an open spot to attack and punched Jyo in the face. Jyo didn't let him make another attack, though, and kicked Kier behind his knee. He took the opportunity to whack his face when he was already kneeling on the floor, but just one punch after that, Mary intervened.

"Jyo, stop!" she shouted and held onto Jyo's arm.

The look of extreme anger on Jyo's face gradually vanished as he looked at his step-sister. His hard-clenched fist relaxed, and then the chaos stopped. But just as Jyo had calmed down, Kier's laughter echoed in all four corners of the room.

"I haven't seen such a caring step-brother until now. Oh, god, I'm moved,"

"Shut up, Roxas!" I yelled, catching everyone's attention. "If your parents couldn't give you the kind of attention you need, go on and whine to your uncle! Stop messing around, for fuck's sake!"

"What did you say?"

Kier stood up and grabbed my collar. He felt deeply insulted that I mentioned his uncle, the principal because everyone in Elton knew that he is his uncle's spoiled brat. He lifted his arm and threatened to hit me, but I only smiled at him while looking straight into his eyes.

"Go on and hit her," Jyo said as he stood three feet behind Kier. "But it wouldn't change the fact that you got beaten up."

"Shut up!" Kier said with gritted teeth when he let go of me and faced Jyo again. "I was just holding back," he added.

"Holding back, my ass." Jyo gave Kier a mocking smile before grabbing his step-sister's wrist and dragging her out of the room. Kier tried to follow them, but I stopped him.

"If you have that much time, you better spend them cleaning up the mess. Why waste time picking up fights you couldn't even win? You're so pathetic," I said before walking past him.

I walked out of the room to report what happened to Miss Stacey. I don't have the energy and will to tolerate them since the disciplinary committee would only hold me accountable if I did. But not too far along the hallway, I saw how Mary's palm met with Jyo's face.

"I told you to pretend as if we didn't know each other," Mary said, crying. "I don't need you. I can protect myself. Stop acting like we're blood relatives!"

After saying that, she wiped her tears and then left. Jyo didn't say anything, though. He just remained standing there until he could no longer see Mary. I almost jumped when he suddenly look over in my direction.

PRESENT

"J-Jyo," I hissed.

He seemed to recognize me, and soon, his grip on my collar loosened, and his tensed body relaxed. The look on his face is the same as six months ago. I can tell that this is about Mary.

Jyo let go of me and took a step back. He looked at the weak guy lying on the floor one more time before starting to walk away. Without thinking twice, I followed him and stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"I have to file a report about this," I said before dragging him. He didn't say anything and just followed me until we reached the empty SSC office.

I let go of his arm as soon as we got there, and just as I turned around to face him, Jyo pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around my body.

"Sorry, I couldn't handle it when guys talk like that about Mary," he whispered and tightened his hug.

I let out a deep sigh before hugging him back and saying, "It's always like this, you moron,"