[Alex's POV - continuation of part 1]

"Weren't you watching earlier? I did resist. He simply pushed me away!" Otto yells angrily as she pokes a finger in my chest.

I stare back into her angry, deep blue eyes. I had expected her to ignore me further, but she'd reacted so fiercely. Did that mean she was actually a proud person? Then why hadn't she reacted this fiercely to Thomas?

"You like him, don't you?" I hear myself ask before my brain can catch up. Otto's eyes turn wide as saucers, which gives me all the answers I need.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" she yells angrily and starts stomping away again.

"Ok, now you've lost me. Why the hell are you angry with me?!" I retort in a calm and collected manner, but I can feel myself getting angry.

"Because you're annoying and nosy!" she shouts over her shoulder but doesn't stop stomping away.

"Oh! So you can tell me I'm annoying, but you can't stand up to that Thomas-guy? I thought you said he'd never hurt you? What was that earlier anyway? Is it a daily thing for you and him to corner each other in plain sight, for everyone to see? Well, I wish you would chose a more private location next time because I totally got the wrong idea here!" I yell angrily at her retreating form from where I'd stopped earlier. To my surprise, her angry strut slows to a halt and for the longest moment, she just stands there with balled fists.

"How can you say all the things out loud that I don't even dare to think about?" she asks ever so softly as she glances over her shoulder at me, but quickly looks away again when a tear escapes her.

I stand frozen to the ground. I suddenly feel as if someone poured a bucket of ice water over my head. Is she crying? I've never seen a girl cry before. Did I make her cry? The realisation itself feels even worse than seeing her being cornered by Thomas.

Otto huffs, clearly dissatisfied with my lack of reaction, and starts walking away again.

Before I realise what's happening, I hear myself yell "Wait!" and the next thing I know, I'm standing behind her and am holding on to her wrist.

Otto instantly panics.

"Let go!" she yells, as she tries to pull her wrist from my grasp, but I don't let go.

"I'm sorry, ok! I never meant to hurt you," I say loud enough so that I'm sure that she'll hear me.

She stops struggling, but her posture is still so stiff that it doesn't take a genius to realise that she isn't comfortable with the close proximity at all. I now understand what she told me earlier; "Weren't you watching earlier? I did resist. He simply pushed me away!"

If it is this easy to overpower her, even for me who has a similar height to her, I understand that she wouldn't stand a chance against a guy who is head and shoulders taller than her.

I suddenly realise that I am still holding on to her wrist and let go hurriedly. I mumble "Sorry" and take a step back.

An awkward silence follows.

I can feel her eyes on me, but I can't bring myself to meet her eyes. It takes a long time before I hear her mumble: "Apology accepted."

I look up at her in surprise. Apology accepted?

"Really?" I ask. She has her arms crossed over her chest in a closed-off pose, and is looking away from me now, but glances at me briefly and nods.

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"Thank God," I sigh in a breath of relief and run a hand through my hair. "At this point, I'm no better than that Thomas-guy."

"I wouldn't take it that far," Otto mumbles as she glances at me again. I raise a sceptical eyebrow at her.

"Well, you're a close second," she admits reluctantly as she avoids looking at me again. I can't help but huff laugh.

"At least I know where you're coming from," I say with a bitter smile. "I wouldn't trust myself either if I were you."

This time Otto raises a sceptical eyebrow at me.

"No, no, no, no! I'm not saying that I'm untrustworthy! I'm usually very level-headed and reliable. I'm just saying that that must be what you are thinking about me. Which is wrong," I try to defend myself but feel like I'm only making things worse.

I startle when I hear her giggle softly.

"Why are you laughing?" I ask in confusion.

"Sorry... I just thought your nervous rambling was cute," she says as she quickly holds a hand in front of her mouth and stops laughing.

"Are you mocking me?" I ask exasperatedly, even though I'm glad that she's laughing again. She shakes her head rapidly in reply.

"I don't know which is worse," I sigh. "Being thought of as 'no good' or being called 'cute' because I was trying to explain that I'm not 'no good'."

This time she laughs audibly.

Somehow, I feel like I should be offended by that fact that she's mocking me, but at the same time I can feel the corner of my mouth pulling up at the sight of her laughing.

"Look. I know you don't trust me, and we might not agree on how you handle Thomas, but know that you have a friend in me," I say. "If you ever get tired of fighting off Thomas on your own, know that I'm willing to help. Ok?"

Otto frowns but says nothing.

"It doesn't need to be anything world changing… It can be something as small as walking home together," I continue, but feel like I'm acting too pushy.

"Does that mean you actually live around here?" she asks. I look up at her in surprise. Something feels off about the way she asked it.

"Yes I do. I live in the third house of the last street. Why?"

She hesitates for a long time before she answers: "I kind of thought you were following me."

"If you mean 'following you' in the sense of walking behind you because we were going the same direction, then yeah, I was following you."

"Uhm… no… not like that," she says while her cheeks turn bright red with embarrassment. "Anyway. It doesn't matter what I thought, because I know it's not the case now."

"Aha," I say as I collect my thoughts. Did she think that I was following her with bad intentions? Like a stalker? Normally, I would have felt offended, but now that I know how easily girls are overpowered, I kinda see where she's coming from.

"For the record," I ask. "Do you actually live in this neighbourhood? Or were you just trying to get away from me?"

"I do live in this neighbourhood. This is my street, actually." Her blush flares up again as she answers my question. I chuckle and pat her on the shoulder.

"Well, anyway. I'm going home! See you at school tomorrow, I guess," I say as I start walking.

"Yes, bye!" she says as she raises her hand in greeting and we both leave for home.