“I love you, Juniper,” he whispers into my ear, and I shiver.
“I love you too, Cobi, night.”
“Sweet dreams.”
And I do, for the first night in a long while, I have sweet dreams.
“I’m nervous,” I admit to Jacobi as we head towards school, his hand firmly clasping mine.
He looks down at me, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “Don’t be.” It’s an order and I want to giggle. His eyes aren’t focused on me, because the moment we left the relative safety of his house, he’s been on the lookout for something turning up to hurt me.
The second we walk into school, it feels like the whole corridor goes quiet. People stand around watching us, their mouths agape. I see various emotions play on their faces, moving from surprise to jealousy to anger. It’s when we reach Taya the whispers start.
“So, decided to choose the whore over me?” She shakes her head, spearing Jacobi with a hard stare. “Big mistake, huge. You’ll see, Jacobi. Remember this moment because this is what will come back to haunt you when you lose everything you love,” she threatens him while her eyes move to me. A smirk appears before she walks away.
“What do you think she means” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he replies, but the muscle jumping in his jaw combined with the grip he has on my hand and the hard stare he’s sending in the direction Taya just left tell me he has an idea.
“Hey, Juni. Oh God, are you okay?” Emmie rushes up to me.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” I bite out, and her eyes widen. “You called my mum.”
Realisation washes through her gaze. “Oh, yeah I did. You were threatening to leave. What did you expect me to do?” she answers, eyeing Cobi warily.
“It’s okay, I forgive you.” I grin, and she rolls her eyes.
“So, you two are a thing now?” she questions.
“There was always us. We just had to admit it,” Jacobi grunts out, not looking at her.
I roll my eyes at Emmie, and she giggles back.
“We have different first classes,” I tell Cobi, and he turns to look at me, then searches the corridor.
“I’ll walk you to maths before going to my lesson.” His arm slides around my shoulders, and as we start to move towards my class, I wave a goodbye to Emmie.
“Hey, Cobi, Juni,” Lucas calls and comes jogging up to my side.
“Juniper,” Jacobi grunts.
“Huh?” Lucas queries.
Jacobi’s eyes pierce his friend. “You call her Juniper. I call her Juni,” he confirms, and Lucas looks at me with wide eyes. I can’t help but giggle.
“You know you can’t always be Mr Protective,” I tell Jacobi, tapping his chest with my hand as we walk.
His eyes dart down to me, a frown mars his face, and I bite my lip so I don’t laugh at how serious he looks. When we were at his home, he was so much more relaxed, but the moment we left, he became my personal bodyguard.
“Right, here’s my room. I’ll see you in spells class?” I ask, looking up into his beautiful face.
He shakes his head. “No, wait here. I’ll collect you, and we’ll walk to spells together.”
“Okay,” I whisper, and moving onto my tiptoes, I kiss his cheek. His face softens as his eyes move over my face, and I can see his love for me.
I walk inside and take a seat. Not happy I’m in front of Lance Drummond, who’s been a real prick lately. I don’t know why, but he obviously has a problem with me.
He kicks the back of my chair while we wait for the teacher to arrive. I ignore him the first time, and the second, but on the third kick, I turn around.
“What the hell is your problem?”
He shrugs, a sly smile dancing on his face. “When Ashdown is finished with you, can I have a go? I mean, I assume you’re not a virgin anymore, and honestly, if he’s dumped Taya for you, your pussy must be golden.” He laughs, and I’m about to get out of my seat to do God knows what when a body launches itself over the desk, knocking Lance to the floor.
I hear bones crack and see blood splatter, but I don’t truly understand what’s going on until Lucas starts grappling with the student beating on Lance. When Lucas finally manages to pull the attacker off, I realise it’s Jacobi. The rage in his eyes is like live fire.
“You broke my fucking nose!” Lance screams.
“Count yourself lucky, Lance,” Lucas grits out from between his teeth. “This school is filled with bitches and pussies. You got a problem, confront it head on. Don’t be a bitch and take it out on someone you believe is weaker than you.” I’ve never seen Lucas so angry. He spits on Lance as Cobi grabs my shaking hand.
“Jacobi, Lance, Lucas, I suggest you all find your way to Mrs Donovan’s office,” Mr Gamble orders as he enters the classroom, ten minutes late.
I manage to grab my bag as I’m dragged along with them.
“Juniper, you stay here. You still have class,” Mr Gamble instructs.
I open my mouth to speak, but Jacobi bears his teeth and growls at Mr Gamble, who gulps and shuts up.
Great, now to see what Mrs Donovan says.
The red mist of my anger is still flooding my body. I’m squeezing tight to Juniper’s hand because if I don’t, then I’ll probably kill Lance. How dare he talk to my girl that way! Punk.
Breathe.
A low growl still reverberates in my throat, but thankfully Lance keeps his mouth shut. Lucas is just as angry as I am at the comments, and I can see the heat of his ire, radiating off him like dragon’s smoke. Juniper is quiet, her eyes wide, as she wonders what is going to happen next.
Why the hell can’t we just get through one day without any issues?
Just one goddamn day.
When we enter Mrs Donovan’s office, she’s already standing with a look of thunder on her face.
“Mr Gamble has called through to me. Sit down all of you,” she orders. I pull a chair out for Juniper to sit on and stand behind it.
“I need a doctor,” Lance complains. “He’s broken my nose.”
Mrs Donovan narrows her eyes as she stares at Lance’s face. “It does look broken. Okay, go and see the nurse. She can sort it for now and take you to the hospital if needed. I’ll deal with what happened from your point of view afterwards.”
I turn around and glare at Lance as he leaves the room, threatening more retribution if he comes anywhere near Juniper.
“Jacobi, sit down,” Mrs Donovan instructs. I don’t move.
Juniper turns around to look up at me. “It’s all right. I’m not going to get hurt in here.”
I grunt and reluctantly pull a chair closer to Juniper and sit on it.
“Right, can someone please tell me what happened. Lance obviously has a broken nose, and various other wounds. Jacobi, you have blood on your hand and shirt. Am I to assume you’re the one who hit him?”
I still can’t speak. I’m so angry I can’t begin to try and sell my side of the story at the moment. I just want to get the hell out of this room and put a stop to Lance ever saying anything even remotely horrible to Juniper again. Why is my anger so intense?
Juniper reaches out and takes my hand, and it soothes me again, but only a little.