The Bad Boy's Muse

I want to be your friend...

Grace's POV

I felt naked in the jean trousers Aunt Harriet forced me to put on today. Apart from wearing trousers during a horse ride (loose trousers), I never imagined I would one day be sporting one on. I trudged to my locker carefully, counting the numbers; they assigned me locker 24. I finally reached it and typed the combination that was written for me by the secretary. It opened as soon as I finished punching in the combination codes.

"Hey, new girl," someone called out and slammed the cover of the locker. I jerked in fright as I yelped in fear. 

Standing by the side of my locker were three girls.

"H-Hi" I stuttered, swallowing hard.

"So, you are the b***h from England? The girl who has her claws are clasped on Rohan?" the blond girl sneered at me.

"I don't understand" I looked at all of them, hating how uncomfortable they made me feel.

"Are you daft?" a brunette scoffed at me "Guys, it seems we are not speaking what she understands".

A peal of laughter ensued. I noticed subtly that the entire school was watching the drama with amusement. My face was already red with embarrassment.

"What is your name, b***h?" the blond girl asked, advanced towards me menacingly. 

"Grace" I blushed.

"Yeah! Grace," she smiled, "stay away from Rohan. In this school, there are certain things you do not understand and certain levels you must pass to get acceptance. You're a newcomer, a stranger and for you to gain our trust, you've got to follow a process. Stay away from Rohan," she whispered into my ears.

I nodded my head, wishing the ground would open now and swallow me as everyone was regarding me with sympathy. My heart was pounding so fast that I was afraid I was going to pass out. 

"We're done girls," the blond snapped her fingers, and the trio moved away from me.

I gulped in deep breaths, trying to steady my quivering lips; we're all American teenagers really violent?.

I shakily punched in the combination again; opening it, I pasted my timetable on the door of the locker and handpicked the books of all the subject I had today. Next, I placed an extra jacket and my lunch pack into the locker and closed it. I needed to locate the Chemistry lab since it was the first subject we had this morning. 

~~~

Forty minutes later, perspiring as though I had been in a hot room, I finally located the lab. Angry, irritated and frustrated, I pushed opened the lab door and walked in.

"Excuse me, Miss," a voice called out from behind me. 

I rolled my eyes in exasperation as I turned towards the direction of the voice.

"Are you in this class?" he asked.

I nodded my head in agreement.

"So, why are you coming now? You're ...." he trailed off peering at a leather wristwatch strapped on his wrist "fifty minutes late. This class will end in the next couple of minutes".

"My apologies, Sir, I was searching for the location of this class," I tilted my head in sympathy.

"Didn't get the school map from the Dean?" he asked again.

"I did, sir," I shrugged, "but it was so difficult to understand and I wasn't able to locate it on time".

"Are you the new student from England?" the teacher eyed me in awe.

"Yes, sir." I wondered what was the big deal about where I had come from.

"Okay. Since the lesson is almost over, you can collect the notes from some people who were present from the beginning of the class and see what we did," the teacher suggested.

"Thank you, sir." I nodded my appreciation and perched on an empty seat in the front role. 

The rest of the lesson was so alien to me, as I was struggling so hard to understand.

The bell rang for a change of class. I peered into the timetable I had copied out. The next class was languages and since I was already fluent in French, German and Italian. I decided I was going to learn Spanish.

"Hey." someone tapped me on the shoulders.

I turned my neck to see who it was. A tall boy putting on glasses smiled at me.

"My name is Steve Miller but people call me 'Steve the Nerd," he smiled charmingly at me, extending a hand towards me.

"My name is Gr-" I started saying. 

"Grace from England, the girl that speaks so weird," he interrupted me with a smile.

"You mean I have an accent?" I continued enjoying the banter.

"Yeah! you sure do Gracey but not to worry. I am sure you think we have an accent too, but soon you shall be like us too," Steve nudged me with his elbows.

I grinned back, loving the way he was treating me. Perhaps not all American students are devils after all.

Behind him, I spotted Rohan looking steadfastly at me. My heart skipped a bit, making me lower my gaze. 

"So, I know this is your first time in a proper school. I can be your eyes, your ears, and your legs for you." Steve smiled, pushing his glasses back to the bridge of his nose.

"I will be so delighted. You cannot imagine how stressful it is for me to search for these classes. I can never get used to this." I shrugged.

"Okay..." Steve crossed his arms and regarded me "we need to work on your communication skill. You could have said, It's so frustrating to find these lecture hall; it's way shorter and quicker to understand".

"Oh! It's so frustrating to find these lecture halls," I repeated, feeling strange at how the words were rolling out heavily from my tongue.

"Uhmm... much better" Steve winked at me.

"So, when do we go to the next class?" I asked him.

"Say instead, when is the next class?" Steve corrected subtly.

I repeated after him, finding the whole situation hilarious.

"So, although we are in the same class, which is called a sophomore year, we don't have similar classes," Steve was explaining.

I furrowed my brow in confusion, trying to understand what he was saying. 

"Okay, I'll slow down. Let's go to the language class. Since you'd be going for the French classes, and I Spanish; when it is time for languages lesson, we both go to different classes. That is what I mean," he explained.

"Okay, I understand. So I am going to Spanish class now. Could you please walk me there?" I asked, turning on my charm.

"I'd rather you say, can you take me there?" he arched his brow.

"Uhmm... listen, Steve, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but I feel you should take it easy with the way you correct how I speak. I am sure with time, I will get used to it." I sighed.

"Oh! Touché, I am sorry" Steve raised his hand in surrender.

We started walking side by side to the door while Rohan was standing at the door. My heart resumed its pounding as I got closer to the door. Rohan was staring straight at me, eyes unblinking. 

"Grace?" he raised a brow in my direction as we got to the door.

"Yes?" I responded gruffly.

"Can we talk?" he stared warily at Steve, who obviously had no intention of leaving my side.

"I am sorry, but you can't speak with her," Steve chipped in, crossing his arms in defiance.

"And why is that?" Rohan glared at Steve, who returned the favour "Besides, who made you her mouthpiece?".

"This isn't about who made me her mouthpiece I am protecting her from you. This morning Belle and her group harassed her and it's all your fault. They asked her to stay away from you. Right, Grace?" Steve asked me.

"Yea! I am sorry but I intend to do what they asked cos I wouldn't want to be in trouble of any kind," I added, lowering my gaze.

"So, you will allow your peers to dictate to you how to live your life?" Rohan asked quietly.

"No, this isn't about someone dictating my path or life" I shifted uncomfortably, hating how truthful he sounded.

"Then what is it?" he retorted.

"It means I am not ready to stick my neck into matters that do not concern me," I answered.

"Tell him, Sis" Steve hooted.

"Yesterday, you asked me to be your friend and today you're telling me you wouldn't be friends again. Things don't work that way." Rohan gave me a tight-lipped smile.

"I know but If I had known yesterday that today, they will threaten me to stay away from you, I would have stayed away from the very first day," I complained.

"Those girls are all bark, but no bite. They've threatened virtually every girl in this school to stay away from certain people, but I am disappointed because you are a lady and ladies are very confident people who do not just back out from a fight," Rohan sneered.

"Well, is this fight going to be worth my while?" I narrowed my eyes.

"If you want it to be. I can talk to the girls without mentioning names because I want us to be friends, really," Rohan muttered, regarding me.

Beside me, Steve gasped in shock, fanning himself with his hand "You best accept honey. Rohan has made no friend since he arrived here. I think he must think you pretty special," Steve piped in.

"Whose side are you on exactly?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You, Princess, but I think you should accept this friendship with Rohan," he plodded.

"I guess so " I shrugged, smiling at Rohan, who still regarded me with a sombre expression.

"Alright, I will go talk to them now. See you later in class." he walked ahead of us, leaving me and Steve behind.

I wondered what he was going to tell those girls...