After lessons had ended, and students were out of their classes.

The hallways were filled with students, either headed to the cafeteria or checking on their lockers or simply hanging out.

"Hey Trevor!..... Wait for me!".

Trevor, who was headed to the cafeteria turned turned around to see who had called him. Never in his wildest dreams would he think that Claire, his crush would approach him again.

"Hi.....am Claire by the way, " said the red haired girl as she now stood in front of Trevor, with a vibrant smile on her face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Clair..." Trevor was so anxious and over joyed at the same time. Never the less, he did not let his emotions show and simply smiled back.

The girl he crushed on was finally taking to him.

He stretched out his hand and offered a handshake.

Clair looked at his hand, and laughed a bit. She was immediately apologetic when she realised she had just laughed and hadn't shaken Trevor's hand yet. Immediately, she tried to make her self serious and shook his hand but it was evident she was still holding in the laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Trevor asked. Although what she did was a kind of rude gesture, he wasn't angry at all. Infact, her laugh had sent butterflies down his throat all the way to his stomach. It was the most angelic laughter he had ever heard! She looked even prettier when she was happy!

For some reason, she looked vibrant today like something big had just happened in her life. Usually, she would be withdrawn and sad: Never talking to anyone.

"Oh its nothing. I just remembered what you did in class today," she said, a cheesy smile still plastered on her face.

"Oh.....that."Trevor scratched the back of his head awkwardly. It was apparent he was still embarrassed about the incident.

" Oh no, don't get me wrong. It was kinda funny and cute!"

Trevor felt like he was on cloud nine at the moment.

Before he could say thanks, Claire spoke again, "So Trevor, from now on we're friends! You were headed to the Cafeteria right? Let's go together," she offered.

Trevor had officially made his first friend in his new school! Hopefully, they would become more than just friends in the future!

The two went to the cafeteria together and lined up for their meals after which they headed to the seating area to pick a bench to sit on during their meals.

Unbeknownst to Trevor, there was a certain group of boys who had their eyes on them. They sat around a large bench that was filled with trays of expensive food. There were a couple of girls among them too.

They wore basketball attire consisting of a maroon vest with lage numbers on them and a pair of black shorts. The girls on the other hand wore cheer leader outfits.

When the both of them had walked in, it was the first thing they noticed cause they seemed to be the liveliest bunch in there. Trevor could only guess they were the most popular students in school, which was obvious since they were athletes. But he shrugged the matter! He had been among the popular kids in his previous school and that did not end up well. So currently, all he wanted was to stay low and live his life like a normal student without much attention being drawn to him.

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Claire on the other hand, frowned deeply whe she had seen them and walked with her head bowed down facing the ground; an action which Trevor hadn't noticed.

They were one of the major reasons she offered to go to the cafeteria with him. Of cause she wanted to make friends with him since she didn't have some. The other was to avoid getting humiliated and ashamed like all the other days she woukd eat at the cafeteria.

People would throw her cold stares. She would sit all alone on a secluded bench. Some would 'accidentally' spill drinks on her. The most "popular" students would always bully and humiliate her. And this happened every single time she went to the cafeteria, that's why she would remain in class whenever it was time for a break.

She would have done the same again but a couple of unfriendly figures payed a visit to her class so she had to escape and catch up with Trevor, the only person whom she had high hopes of becoming friends with. Her reputation in the school was down in tutters so no one except the new kid who didn't know anything about her could allow to become her friend.

Trevor led the way the entire time and she followed behind him with her head held low. Unfortunately, she was unable to see that Trevor had taken a path that prompted them to pass by the popular desk where another unfriendly figure awaited them.

Trevor had his eyes fixed on the empty bench he intended to eat his meal from, when suddenly, he felt something obstruct the motion of his foot and was sent off balance! In an attempt to minimize the damage he would get from the fall, he let go of his tray but it was already too late.

A faint thud was heard along with the loud clashing of the tray with the ground.

"Trevor!" Claire was startled and taken by surprise. One moment Trevor was walking ahead of her, and the other, he was on the ground, stomach flat.

"Oops! Baby hasn't learnt how to walk properly yet!" one of the boys in the basketball outfit remarked while standing up.

Claire ignored the boy and quickly rushed to Trevor's side to help him up admist all the laughter after placing her tray on a near by bench; "Are you okay?" She was genuinely worried for him.

"Oh, the Maxwell slut finally has a new boy to toy with!" the boy said looking down at both Claire and Trevor. He was tall like expected of most basket ball players.

"I don't have time for your nonsense Kevin," Claire replied in anger; almost yelling in the process.

Kevin was the captain of the basket ball team and had once had a crush on Claire. Sure she was in a class lower than his but that didn't stop him since she was one of the most popular girls in school. Sadly, Claire rejected all attempts he made on her. Claire was being pursued by a lot of suitors but she did not know how to reject them outrightly due to her kind nature. She did not want to make enemies just because of that. Kevin was the only one she rejected outrightly because he had put in a lot of effort and she did not want to waste his time on someone he would never get so she had to be straight forward with him. Little did she know that her kind nature would put her to the position she was currently in. This all happened a year ago but her reputation had gone down since then. Sure she was still popular, but not the kind of popularity one would like.

Before Kevin could come up with another insult, Claire rushed to the bench she had placed her tray and picked it up before leaving with Trevor to the bench he had intended for them to sit.

"Hey, am sorry you had to go through this," Claire apologized with a saddened expression. She hadn't expected this to happen to Trevor but rather to her.

"it's okay." Trevor rubbed his belly where it still hurt. He was still staring at Kevin intensely and thoughts of his head rolling on the ground surfaced on his mind which made him smile. However when he realized this, he immediately frowned and was kinda scared of himself. Since when have I had such thoughts? Is it something to do with puberty. The thoughts didn't settle well in his gut.

"Here, we can share my food." she said.

"Thanks....." said Trevor as he picked up an extra fork and dug in.

At first the whole thing was awkward. Claire was unsettled the whole time. The silence was killing her and she felt like she was losing another friend.

"About what Kevin said earlier, its not true. I'm not a slut. I hope you won't hate me," she said with her head held low.

Trevor could tell that she lacked self confidence.

"It's fine, I don't care what they say about you. You seem like a good person," he said the first thing that came to his mind subconsciously.

His words seemed to lighten up Claire's mood a little.

Seeing her smile again, Trevor felt his heart skip a beat once again.

*

Trevor had been given the punishment of removing all the gum from under all the benches in the cafeteria. Sure it sounded like an easy punishment but it wasn't.

The cafeteria had already been cleaned up when he got there. Now he had to start the gruesome gum removal.

He moved around bench by bench with a dustbin as he removed the gum.

It was already an hour but he had only done half of the work.

He was so frustrated that he even adopted the idea of escaping from his punishment and head back home.

Over time the idea indeed manifested and he had attempted to escape. Unfortunately, Mrs Benson spotted him. He had successfully marked his name in Mrs. Benson's bad book.

He continued his gruesome punishment, moving from table to table. Heaping the dustbin with gum.

During the whole thing, a shadowy figure had been watching him in some corner where no light reached. Its eyes were glowing intensely with a red hue that they could be seen as two red circles from out of the shadow.