7 ??I was starting to hate him??

LEIA

I thought my nerves would've settled down by the second day, but I felt the same nervous flutter in the pits of my belly. A sixth sense told me today wouldn't be a good day but I ignored that thought since it occurred to me almost every day.

Hurriedly dropping off Labeeb––my step-brother––to the junior school, I parked my mini next to a drool-worthy matte black Aston Martin, trying hard not to stare at it with wide eyes.

I was still staring at the car when its door went flying open and out stepped a certain brown-eyed devil in all his glory. I took in the crisp white and blue shirt that clung to Zayn's massive shoulders and stretched tightly over his broad chest. He was clad in expensive-looking slacks that I was sure weren't part of the school uniform.

Hoor's words rang in my ears––'student council' and 'king'––and my mood immediately soured. Guys like him should have a brain the size of a peanut, then why was he elected as head boy?

I grunted in frustration and waited for him to leave so that I could get out of my car. As far as I knew, he was bent over on the seat and was collecting something from the dashboard. I stopped looking after that and busied myself with playing the snake game in my oldest model of Nokia.

I was furiously pressing the unworking keys when my door was thrown open. Startled, I whipped my head to the right and gritted my teeth when I saw who it was.

Hand still holding my door open, Zayn looked at my ocean blue mini in distaste.

"Nice car," He commented, laying the sarcasm on thick. I had to grip my Nokia tightly to prevent myself from hurling the damned thing at him. I imagined the sound it would make when it collided with that chiselled jaw and felt a little better. Except for the chiselled jaw part. Couldn't he have had a round face with a double chin or something? "Perfect for you."

I huffed, refusing to be offended. My adoptive parents had worked so hard to get me a car. I would never be embarrassed. Even if the whole school had shiny, big cars that their drivers dropped them off from.

"Excuse me, were you talking to me? I thought I was just a trashy scholarship student that people like you wouldn't even look at." Yeah. I remembered that comment from yesterday. Kinda hard to forget when your former best friend says something like that.

"I was just walking by when my eyes fell on . . ." He eyes my car, a nasty expression on his face. "This . . . thing."

I clutched my phone to my chest and stepped out of the car, narrowly escaping Zayn's large frame.

"Good for you," I muttered and held the handle of the door he hadn't removed his hand from. When I tried to push it closed, he tightened his grip on it, eyes holding mine in all their dark intensity. I settled my gaze on the door again. "If you would please remove your thing from my car. I have important classes to attend. Unlike other people."

His hand didn't move an inch and to make things worse, his foot came to rest on the inside of my car, legs spread wide in that universal male way.

"I'm calling security," I warned him and he smirked.

"You mean that guy?" He pointed to Khan, the old guard that everyone knew and loved. "What will he do? Tell the student council members?" He barked out one victorious and humourless laugh. "Well, guess what, Lee? You're pretty much helpless against me. And as long as you're in my school, you have to follow my rules. Am I understood?"

I made a mock expression he couldn't see because of the veil covering my face. I really needed to stop thinking people could see my face when I was wearing all this. "It's a shame, really, that I don't understand English. I soooo wish I knew what you were saying in that beautiful language."

His jaw ticked. "Don't try to be a smartass in front of me. I'll make your life hell if you keep up that behaviour."

I scoffed. "I'd rather live in misery than let you tell me what to do. And Zayn, you would know how much I hate empty threats." I made a shooing gesture. "Now go annoy someone else."

I turned to leave but his hand gripped my elbow. It all happened so fast, I wasn't even sure if it was real or not. My palm had somehow smacked his face and now his right cheek was the colour of a tomato.

My breath rate was ragged. "Don't you dare touch me again."

He stared at my hand and then my face as if he couldn't believe what I had just done.

"Or what?" He had the nerve to grit out.

I shook my head at him, moving inches away from this strange guy. "When did you become like this?"

Maybe it was the shock of me hitting him or maybe it was something else, because the eyes that had gone permanently cold now shone with raw emotion.

"The day you left me," His voice was so, so low, it was almost a whisper. "The day I saw my mom die and waited for you in the hospital. When your mother called Dad and asked for money just when I had lowered mom into the grave."

Tears blurred my vision and I blinked past them, hoping he didn't notice the shudders raking through my body.

"I'm sorry," I choked out. "I should've called. I was . . . I had my reasons, Zayn."

His lip curled at one side into a humourless smile, eyes stone-cold and expression hardened.

"I'm sure you did." He sounded so . . . doubtful. It was as though he didn't believe me one bit. It made my heart clench painfully.

I quickly closed the door and locked my car, turning to leave.

"And Lee," He spoke as though I didn't have my back turned to him. I paused. "You know I never make empty threats. Just like I don't break promises."

The last one was a jab and I swallowed, hurrying to get into the building.

I didn't think I could survive another minute, much less a whole year.

I was so done.

. . .

It started at break time. When I went to my locker to grab my lunchbox, I saw that my locker was unlocked. The only thing I had in there was my lunchbox and it lay open on the floor on my right. The nuggets I'd fried in the morning were scattered all over the floor. I gritted my teeth, bent down and started putting them back in their case.

I hated myself for feeling sad. I hated that I was so weak, I couldn't even take something as small as this.

This is just the beginning, Leia, I told myself because somehow thinking about the worst always made what was happening right then easier.

I heard a chuckle from the distance and lashed my head back, eyes filled with unwanted tears.

It was Anas.

My eyes fell on the two figures right next to him. Anas was the only one laughing. Zeeshan looked bored and Zayn . . . Heck if I could read his expression. When our eyes met, I could've sworn he looked unhappy but not even a second later he turned his head to the right, where a large crowd was gathered, wearing a bemused expression.

I finished putting the nuggets back in my lunchbox and got up from the kneeling position I was in.

"Trouble in paradise?" Anas got in my way, eyes devoid of amusement. I didn't get his sudden change in mood. Yesterday he was practically falling all over me and today he was treating me like I was his enemy no. 1. Could Zayn have something to do with that?

I gritted my teeth. "Get the hell out of my face."

He raised his eyebrows and looked back at his friends as if to say 'who the hell does she think she is'. Zeeshan marched forward but Zayn stood his ground, only leaning against the pillar with his arms crossed and watching all this play out.

Zeeshan suddenly grabbed my face, squeezing my cheekbones painfully with his thumb. I clawed at his hand, desperately trying to remove it. He got close, much, much close until his cigarette-laden breath fanned my face.

"That's what happens to little hypocrites like you," His eyes gleamed maliciously as he watched me tremble before him. I was so weak and I wanted to kill myself at that moment. "You've already messed up one life, what will make you stop, huh?"

Confusion was too subtle of a word to describe what I felt right then. "What are you talking about?" My voice wasn't just hoarse, I sounded dead.

His eyes searched mine for one unfortunate second before he released my face and let out a sarcastic laugh. "I knew I hated you the minute I saw you. God, how ridiculous you look in that ratty black clothing. But this? Your personality takes the award."

I clenched my hands by my side and willed my body to stop shaking so much. I knew I should've left because all the signs were there. I wasn't breathing properly and my nose felt like it was frozen from the inside. My head and eyes were heavy. Soon I would . . .

I didn't understand how I suddenly started speaking again. "Are you saying all that because you don't really have an answer? It proves what a bully you are. Now, get out of my way."

I hadn't even walked two steps when a hand wrapped around my arm. I knew it was a man because the hand was large. I could also guess who that was.

"Uh uh, not so soon, sweetness," Zayn whispered loudly in my ear. My heart stuttered at the nickname. Was he going to ruin my good childhood memories by using that? My chin wobbled, but I kept a straight face. I'd be damned if I let him see what effect his words had on me. It was like piercing a blade too far deep in my chest. "Won't you like to have a good, solid look inside your locker?"

I paused and then shook my head, trying to get my arm out of his grasp. But his hold was that of steel and I knew I was stuck.

Unless . . .

I thought my knee was swiftly going you-know-where but then Zayn had his other hand on it. I hissed in pain when he squeezed it tightly.

Zayn leaned into me, his front pressed to my back. "If you were anyone else, you know what I would've done?" He applied pressure to the underside of my knee, turning it to the right side painfully. "I would've broken their leg and shoved it down their throat so quickly, they wouldn't even have realised when they were alive and when they stopped breathing."

I gulped, trying hard not to even move a single muscle.

"For you, though," He continued. "I'll make a special amendment." His hand crept up from my knee to my waist, turning me around in one single movement. His gloomy eyes locked with mine. "How about doing what your mother did for my Dad? I'll even give you a rupee for––"

"Shut your mouth," I ground out, tears blurring my vision. I angrily wiped at them, looking Zayn square in the eye. "Quit talking about my mother. It's not like your Dad is any better than she was."

A sinister smile crept up his lips. "At least, he gave her money, right? Because at the end of the day, it's only . . ." He rubbed his thumb over two of his fingers. "Money that matters. What do you guys say?" He looked at his two equally gorgeous, equally filthy friends.

They smirked. Anas staggered over to where my locker was and threw it open. I didn't have to look for long to see what was in there. There was cash––a lot of cash––and other . . . rubbery things. I remembered those. I'd seen them at that dark place mummy had taken me to after my father had thrown us out. I recalled how that turned out and my breathing became heavy. I was frightened.

And when I was frightened . . . I got panic attacks and nosebleeds.

Which explained the metallic smell in the air and the liquid I felt running down my nose. But that wasn't what I was paying attention to. Heck, I couldn't pay attention to anything.

I felt the ground beneath me swaying and somehow my brain went to the one night I didn't want to recall.

Mummy and Dad were fighting. Except this time, it was worse. I heard a screeching scream from mummy and ran downstairs. I shouldn't have. Because I heard things that made me lose not only my mind, but both my parents as well.

"It's him, isn't it?" Daddy roared, pointing a finger to his back, where . . . Zayn and his Dad lived. "Answer me, Aminah!"

Mummy trembled from where she sat on the floor. The floor my father had thrown her on. "I don't know what you're talking about. Please calm down, Liman. You'll wake Leia––"

"Is she even mine?"

My whole world stopped. Mummy had stilled. "What the hell is wrong with you? Obviously, she is yours." Dad looked murderously angry, as though he hadn't even heard her. I wasn't understanding anything that was going on. "You said my past didn't matter anymore. You said that . . . right before we got married. But every single day since then, it has mattered."

"Of course, it freaking matters!" Dad bellowed. "Every time I see a man, I have to wonder if you've . . ." He trailed off, a disgusted look passing over his face.

Mummy huffed a laugh. She laughed maniacally, standing up. "If I've what? You wonder if they were also a bunch of wild boys wanting some fun?" Her eyes glistened. "I think you forget that I left all that years ago. After I was pregnant with Leia and you proposed, I left it all. Why can't you forget it and—"

"Are you sure you left it?" Dad asked. His voice was so hoarse. So angry, yet defeated. Sad. "Because I saw you today. Coming out of his house."

I could read the fear in Mummy's eyes. I knew Dad could too.

His hands clenched. "Get out."

"What?"

"Get out of my house and take your daughter with you too."

I couldn't believe my ears. What was Dad saying? Mummy's eyes landed on me standing—

"Leia!" It was like someone slapped cold water all over my face. "Shit, man. I don't think she's even . . . Wait. Leia? Can you hear us?"

It took me a moment to gather myself. I tried to focus on something—just as the doctor had told me to.

I had a cushion under my head and two hands cupped my face. Someone was calling my name and I knew if I could just start feeling my body again, I would be okay.

So, I tried wiggling my toes. I tried thinking about the hands on my face. They were . . . huge. And the tender way someone was brushing his fingers over—

And that's all it took to bring me back to life. My vision wasn't blurred anymore and I stopped feeling like I was air.

I zeroed in on the concerned pair of eyes right above me. Someone's face was inches away from mine and . . . I recognized the warm, dark eyes.

I blinked.

And Zayn practically threw me off of him. Wait wait wait . . . off of him?

My cheeks burned with heat.

I had my head on his lap—the dark stain of my blood on his pants was evidence enough. And he was the one who had his hands on me. Who was concerned about me.

"She okay now?" Anas asked as Zayn stood up. All 6 foot 3 inches of him.

I felt like an ant.

"Don't know, don't care," Zayn grumbled, sauntering off.

Wow. Double standards much?

"Dude's crazy," Zeeshan commented, watching him leave.

"Yeah, but crazy about what?" He smirked. "Or should I say who?"

I ignored him and looked around, noticing that everyone had left. These three must've ordered them to leave . . .

My mind returned to what had happened before I . . . got a little sidetracked. Zayn was watching me get bullied and he didn't say a word. Heck, he was taking part in it.

I hated him then. I didn't think I'd ever hate someone as much as I hated him for just standing there watching these guys abuse me. What people did didn't hurt as much as his indifference toward me.

But it also made me stronger. I knew I had to fight my battles on my own. There was no one—absolutely no one—who would get in the way to save me.

As much as that scared me, I also knew it would be good for me. I'd always known I'll have to fight on my own one day.

I just couldn't believe that day was here so soon.

I hoped the confidence and strength I had gathered over the years would pay off.

Because I would fight back.