"Sofia ! You're here" Olivia jumped into my arms. "Hey" I giggled embracing her. It was lunch.
"Blake's been looking for you since the first class" Olivia glanced at me, worriedly. "Is he ok?" I asked her,
remembering what had happened. "For the most part, yeah" she admitted after rubbing the back of her neck
stressfully.
"Oh shit, here they come" Olivia muttered nervously. I saw Ryder and Blake along with the rest of the
football team. They owned the school which I hated; Everyone followed and loved the football team.
I saw the guys turn their attention to me and Olivia. Ryder strutted over to me and Olivia. I saw Blake's face.
He had a huge bruise on his face fromwhere Ace had punched him.
"Olivia, go wait over there" Ryder growled at her. "No she's my fri- NOW" Ryder shouted aggressively,
scaring me and Olivia. I've witnessed Ryder be very controlling over Olivia before so this wasn't new.
People were staring at us in the halls because of the commotion.
"Ryder what the fuck?" I questioned himangrily. "Your boy toy messed up Blake's face, now he can't play in
the finals next week" Ryder spat at me, practically squaring up to me.
"I'msorry but that wasn't my fault" I slowly backed away fromhimcautiously. "Blake tried to stand up for
you and your boy toy hit him, how is it not your fault? " Ryder growled, backing me against the lockers .
"Ryder, if you don't back up, I will hurt you" I warned him, not breaking my confidence.
My fight or flight instinct had kicked in and I was choosing to fight. I'musually always flight around my father
or people who remind me of himbut I knew that Ryder wasn't trained in fighting and probably wouldn't even
know how to throw a proper punch.
"Ryder stop it!" Olivia shrieked at himas the football teamwatched on. "Man, you're taking this too far"
Blake pulled Ryder back. "Let her go!" Olivia snarled at Ryder, trying to pull himback fromme. Ryder
shoved Olivia, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground before turning his attention to me. "Fuck you!" I
slapped Ryder across his face. No one touches my bestfriend.
Ryder slowly brought his head back towards me before giving me an evil look. "Fucking bitch" Ryder
snapped swinging at me. I ducked and slipped under his arm, sprinting down the hall as fast as I could. I
change my mind, I should've taken flight.
Ryder chased after me. He caught up to me and grabbed my wrist . I tried to keep running but he forced me
back to him. He grabbed my hair and punched me across the face. My head had turned to the side due to the
force of the punch; I could tell he tried to hold back. I mean.... I did hit himfirst.
I felt the blood trickle out of my mouth and onto the floor. I slowly looked Ryder in the eyes. He hadn't
released his grip on my hair but I could still reach him. I grabbed his throat with my hands suddenly and
squeezed as hard as I could.
"Sofia ! Sofia calmdown!" Someone shouted, lifting me off my feet and pulling me away fromthe fight. My
hair was all over my face and some was even in my mouth.
I turned to see Ace. He grabbed my face gently with both of his hands. "What are you- then he saw the blood dripping frommy face. I saw the football guys holding Ryder back, some scolding himfor fighting a girl. I
glanced back at Ace, to see only rage in his eyes.
He couldn't hide the anger on his face. "Did he hit you!" He shouted furiously at me, not able to hide his
emotions. "The one you pulled me off of" I muttered, wiping the blood frommy lip onto my sleeve.
I saw Ace sprint over to the guys and tackle half of themto the ground without hesitation. He instantly got
back up and grabbed Ryder by the neck. Ryder's legs struggled to reach the ground, his tiptoes only touching
the ground. I was shocked at how strong Ace was; I shouldn't be since he trains probably everyday but I
couldn't help it.
"If you ever, lay a finger on her again, I'll kill you without a second thought" Ace spat between his clenched
jaw.
"Boys boys boys...." We heard teachers yell at the crowds of people gathered around. They had only come
now?; I could've used themlike 5 minutes ago. But the teachers didn't scare Ace and he hadn't let go of
Ryder.
"See your friend over there, that's what one of my punches did to his face. I wonder what you'll look like
after 60?" Ace spat cheekily into Ryder's ear. Olivia was still on the floor in shock.
Ryder tried desperately to brake Ace's grip as he struggled for air. "Ace" I walked up to himtimidly, sort of
afraid that he would hurt me. He didn't hear me. "Ace" I muttered, catching his attention. "Can we go?" I
begged himwith my pleading eyes and blood dripping frommy mouth.
"This isn't over" Ace snarled at Ryder, dropping him. Ryder gasped for air on the ground as we walked
away.
The teachers had broken up the circle and sent everybody to class but there was a few of us left. Ace
approached one of the teachers and spoke to her before coming back over to me. "We're good to leave" he
announced before leading me outside.
Ace took off his tux coat and unbuttoned his shirt when we were out of the school. He handed me the shirt
and held it under my chin to catch the blood as we walked to the car.
He had a crease in between his eyebrows fromanger as he stared at the blood on his white shirt. "Are you
okay?" Ace questioned me after calming down slightly. I nodded in response because it hurt to talk. He began
taking off his shirt due to the blood and handed me it. "Let that catch the blood" he said calmly as he watched
the expression on my face change.
We got into the car. Ace's white shirt now had blood all over it. "I'msorry about the shirt" I struggled to say.
"It's only a shirt" he responded quickly, starting the car before looking at me. "If you want to continue going
to school, I'mgoing to have to come, it's too dangerous for you to go alone" he spoke confidently. I nodded
approvingly as I looked back down at the shirt.
Ace drove us back to his house. "I'll stitch you up and then I'll take you to see your brothers" Ace uttered as
he drove, his full concentration on the road. "Don't you have someone to drive for you?" I questioned, trying to change the conversation but most of it sounded like a blubber. "Yeah but I don't like using them" Aceadmitted. "Why not?" I asked again. "It seems ignorant, I have arms and legs, I can do it myself, getting
someone else to do it is just being lazy" he rambled but I was more focused on his body at this point.
I had completely ignored the fact that he was shirtless up until now. I watched how his bare chest slowly
raised as he took in a breath, I stared at his abs that were carved by gods and his broad muscly shoulders that
flexed as he turned the wheel. I stared at his veiny arms that led up to his bicep. God, he was attractive.