ARE YOU A BULLY?

Ding dong, the bell rang, it was time for lunch. I unhurriedly packed my things and headed over to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was a little crowded but I had no problem spotting the table my friends were at. I walked over to them and sat down.

"Hey", I greeted.

"Hey", Steph replied me looking up from her phone while Grace mumbled a reply without looking up from her book. I shook my head and didn't take it to heart. Grace wasn't your typical book worm. Whenever she read a book she found interesting she would always pay all her attention. She's the type to get easily distracted so she mostly liked to read in really quiet places. But in an event where she wasn't reading in a quiet place she would really focus. Which was so different from me because I didn't really like reading in quiet places, especially when I'm reading for exams. My mind would easily wander off so I always preferred to read in not so noisy places.

"So you guys haven't had anything yet?", I asked.

"Nope", Steph replied putting her phone down, "We were waiting for you", she explained.

"Oh", I mumbled.

I looked around the canteen and asked, "What's all the excitement about?"

"You are kidding right?", Steph asked me in disbelief.

"What do you mean?", I asked her confused.

She looked at me weirdly, even Grace had put her book down and was looking at me the same way.

"What?", I asked them again.

"You mean you haven't heard of the new guy?", Grace asked me.

"New guy?", I asked a little confused.

"Woah",Steph exclaimed.

"Really? Even I have heard of him", Grace replied before shaking her head.

"Ok this is it. There's is a new hot transfer student in school. And everyone is naturally excited", Steph narrated. And then it clicked in my head.

"Oh, you mean Lucas?", I asked. Not just Steph but even Grace whipped up their heads to look at me in surprise.

"You already know his name?", Grace asked.

"Woah! Indeed my friend is the best. You already know his name. Don't tell me you already have your sights on him?", Steph asked curiously.

"What do you mean have my sights on him? He was in my English class and he introduced himself as Lucas that's all", I replied.

"Oh really? And you remembered his name?", she asked teasingly

"Of course. Have you forgotten I have a photographic memory. That's why my grades are better than yours, you know?", I said, sarcasm laced my voice.

"Oh, ok that was cruel and unnecessary. You are hurting me right now you know?", she said feigning a hurt look. I laughed and shook my head.

"Anyways, how is he? Is he as hot as the rumors are saying?", she asked excitedly.

"Hmm", I started as I thought back to the boy I saw in class. Indeed he was very hot. He had a sharp jawline, smooth face, well sculpted facial features, he was tall and his muscles and biceps were well proportioned.

"Yeah I guess...", I replied.

"What do you mean you guess?", she asked disappointedly.

I laughed when I saw the look on her face.

"I don't really know, ok?", I said.

She immediately put on a sad look. I laughed once again. Suddenly there were screams in the canteen, I turned to look for the source of the commotion, and there he was the new transfer student standing there like a Greek god. He didn't have to do anything and all the girls in the canteen were already swooning over him. I didn't know what they found interesting about him, he looked very cocky. I quickly turned away, uninterested.

"Tee, look there he is", Steph said completely star struck. I looked at her and shook my head.

"Hm.. yeah", I replied casually.

"Oh? You are not interested in him?", she asked me confused.

"Why would I be?", I asked back.

"Well, he's really hot, you know"

"Oh please I've seen my fair share of hot guys and guys hotter than him. To be honest he looks a bit cocky"

"Oh really?", Steph asked with a sarcastic look on her face.

"And how would you know?", Grace asked.

I glanced towards the direction of the new boy and shook my head,

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get something to eat, ok?"

"Hm, ok", Steph replied dropping the subject, thankfully.

"Well what do you guys want?", I asked them.

"I'll have a hamburger and some fries with water", Grace replied.

"Just water? Why?", Steph asked.

Grace looked up from her book before replying,

"Do you know how much carbs and gas a soda contains? I already had one yesterday so I can't have another today"

"Woah. Ok, ok, alright, Miss Dietician", Steph teased while Grace just rolled her eyes.

"Well I'll have same thing with her but.... with a soda", she said.

"Ok, I'll be right back", I said and walked off.

I headed towards the counter. There was a line in front of the counter but I naturally skipped it and went straight to the front. No one said a word as it was already a norm, no one would dare say a word not even those who were uncomfortable with it. It wasn't my doing though. It was Sky's influence. At first I felt a bit bad but he insisted and now I guess I'd just gotten used to it. I smiled at the boy who stood at the front of the line and said a simple 'Sorry, please excuse me' and he immediately made way for me. I thanked him and stood in front of him. I didn't necessarily need to do this but I felt better that way.

I was getting ready to order when a voice suddenly said,

"Don't you think it's rude to cut in line?" I was surprised and turned to see who it was that actually dared to say that. It was the new boy, Lucas, looking at me with a grin on his face.

'Oh how much that grin irritated me'.

"Excuse me?"

"I said don't you think it's rude for you to cut the line like that?" I stared at him dumbfounded. No one had ever questioned me like that.

I quickly composed myself and smiled at him before replying,

"Well I did ask for his permission"

"Did you?", he asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yes", I replied as I made to turn away.

"But that's still rude, don't you think?", he continued. I turned to him again already getting irritated.

"He is not the only one on the line, is he? What about everyone else that has been waiting on the line?" I stared at him in surprise.

He walked closer to me and said,

"Don't you doing this makes you a bully?"

"What?!", I asked him furiously and surprised.

'Did he just call me a bully?'

"You heard me", he said.

I looked at him and took a deep breath trying to calm myself down.

Trying my best to fake a smile, I replied him,

"I already said I asked for his permission, so why are you calling me names? If you feel it's rude, then I apologize", trying to seem like the bigger person and make him feel embarrassed.

I looked at him, a feeling of triumph in me.

'Surely, he wouldn't continue', I thought to myself, but to my surprise he started laughing. I stared it him in surprise. When he finished he looked at me and smiled,

"How pretentious", he said.

"What?", I blinked in disbelief.

By now everyone was already looking at us and mostly at him with surprise.

"What did you just call me?", I asked.

I could feel all the anger I had tried my very best to suppress rising.

He smiled, walked closer to me and said in a voice that was like a whisper,

"I said what a pretentious bitch you are", while looking straight into my eyes.

I stared back at him in disbelief, surprise and anger.

'How dare he?!'

I tried my very best to suppress the rage building inside of me.

He snickered and I almost lost it when,

"What's going on here?", a voice asked.

I looked up to find Romeo walking towards us. He walked to my side and slipped his hands around my waist. He glanced at me and asked,

"Is this guy giving you trouble?"

"No", I shook my head.

"It's fine"

"Yeah, bro we were clearly only just talking", I heard the new boy say in a snarky tone. I glanced at him, this boy really had guts.

"Who the hell are you?", Romeo asked him after scrutinizing him for a while.

"No one, Romeo. It doesn't matter. Let's just go", I quickly said and made to drag Romeo away before the situation escalated.

Lucas slowly got up, still holding his cheek. His gaze moved from me to Romeo then back to me again. He stared at me intently.

"Ok", Romeo nodded in agreement as we made to leave.

As we walked away, I couldn't help but turn back to look at him, and I don't know if it was just my imagination but I was sure I saw a hint of sadness in his eyes.