Lucas looked at her, dumbfounded.
What the hell? All these days of chasing, and when I allow her, she is suddenly not coming?
"Whatever." He walked out, slamming the door behind him.
---
Getting back home, Silvia's brother was waiting for her with dinner. He was surprised to see Silvia act unusually upbeat compared to the past few weeks.
"Something good happened today?" James asked.
"Yes! The guy I talked about finally agreed to be my muse." A soft smile on her face of proud satisfaction as she sat down at the dining table.
"Seriously?" James said with a look of concern on his face.
I was hoping it would just fizzle out. The guy sounds like a jerk. I guess I will have to get this checked out soon.
He looked at his sister's face, smiling, then suddenly his eyes stared at her lips, which were cut, making her stare at her whole face more closely.
"Wait... what the hell is this?" James grabbed Silvia's face and rubbed her cheek with a towel.
"Oww, James. That hurts." Silvia had used makeup to cover the bruise from the slap.
"What happened? And why are you hiding this from me?" James' face was filled with anger to see that someone had harmed his sister.
Silvia just sat there and calmly explained to her brother what had happened. Slowly, with every passing second, he started to get more and more enraged.
"Did you even report it?" James asked, listening to the full story.
Silvia shook her head.
Irritated, James quickly took his phone out, taking pictures of her face from multiple angles.
"I will be coming to your university tomorrow to help you file this as a complaint. Seriously, if I don't come, you won't even do it, will you?"
Silvia shook her again, making him sigh.
While James was young, he had come to understand what type of sister he had and learnt to be mature in handling situations like this. Before going to sleep, he wrote out a detailed email to Student Support and the headteacher about the visit he was going to make the next day. He stated that the perpetrators would also be there.
---
The next day, Silvia could feel the eyes wandering and whispering more than ever.
Why is the number of people looking at me increasing every day? I was used to it before, but this is really getting out of hand.
She looked towards some people pointing and whispering, and they would turn away. Silvia sighed and continued with her normal schedule.
At lunch, Silvia caught Lucas's eye again and waved at him.
Lucas looked at Silvia and her cheek once again to see that everything was fine, ignored her, and walked away. He had not realised she had used makeup to cover her bruise.
After the lectures had finished, Silvia's brother texted her saying he was at the headteacher's office and she should make her way there.
I don't understand why we have to do this. It's not like they can take the slap back, nor will they let me slap them.
Silvia made her way obediently, following her brother's orders.
Finally, outside the office, the receptionist looked at Silvia in a weary manner, and she went in. Silvia knocked on the door, making her presence known before stepping into the room.
In the room was the headteacher, Clara, James and the girl who slapped her, Alice. As usual, Clara had her waterworks on as James sat there with his arms crossed, pissed.
"Miss Silvia, if you could sit down." The headteacher, Mr Brown, pointed towards the empty chair.
"Personally, Miss Silvia, I do not appreciate a younger sibling coming to waste my time, and I hope we can get this over with and you can apologise to Clara and stay away from Lucas."
Silvia was confused about what he was saying.
"I do not follow. Why should I apologise and why should I avoid Lucas?" With a straight face and a voice that showed no anger, Silvia stared at Mr Brown.
"I have heard things about you stalking Mr Lucas and that the whole commotion happened after you kept insisting on stalking him when the girls tried to stop you, leading to the altercation with you." Mr Brown sighed, not trying to elongate this situation.
"That girl clearly assaulted my sister. We are not apologising. If you don't sort this out, we will press charges." James banged the desk with full force.
"Let us not act like hoolegans. If you press charges against them, we would have to do the same with stalking and expulsion of you, too." Mr Brown replied, believing that was the final nail in the coffin, "There is no evidence that supports the fact that the girl slapped Miss Silvia for no reason."
James was pissed. It was true that even with a claim without a witness, this case was not going to move.
Suddenly, a few shouts and a bang, and Lucas bursts into the room again. Like deja vu, Silvia sees him walk in.
---
[ 10 mins ago ]
Lucas was getting into the pool as the other guys were getting out, and for the rest of the season, the others weren't as fixated as Lucas on keeping training.
One of his teammates walks in and starts to gossip.
"Did you hear that the girl who was stalking Lucas is apparently about to be expelled? Someone saw her walk into the headteacher's office with Clara. You know how Clara has been making shit hard for the silver girl."
The second Lucas heard this, he rushed out of the water and walked up to the guy.
"Are you sure it was Silvia?"
"Who else can have a face like hers, and it's basically her signature colour."
Lucas spares no time as he rushes in to hear nothing but a jacket and shoes. He grabbed a towel to scrub his hair and rushed into the headteacher's office.
The whole school was shocked to see one of their top athletes running around in his swimsuit out of the pool hall
Pictures were being taken, as well as gossip and pointing.
Fuck, this is seriously so embarrassing. Why am I going this far for a girl I am not supposed to care about?
"Mr Lucas, what are you doing?" Mr brown stared at Lucas, not understanding the situation.
Lucas was still dripping with a towel on his head, a thin jacket, and his swimming trunks.
Everyone's eyes were on him, eyeing his exposed body.
"I heard you were pushing high, Silvia. Why?" Lucas stood there, with the towel still scrubbing himself dry.
"Well, I have been informed about the stalking and harassment that has been going on, I mean, you should be happy that we are removing her from the university now." Mr Brown replied.
Lucas looked around the room, the two girls, Silvia and an unknown face, James.
Clearly, there is something fucked up here. I bet this crying bitch was up to it. Also, who the hell is this kid, glaring at me this whole time?
The stare James was giving Lucas was intense.
"I never reported this. How has she been stalking me?" Lucas fought back.
"But Mr Lucas, everyone is saying how she has been chasing you every time she sees you."
Lucas was irritated at this same back and forth again and again.
"No, I already said before to them yesterday when they slapped her that I already agreed to be Silvia's on whatever request she had given me. I am letting her follow me around. So let's stop playing whatever games this girl is putting you up to."
Mr Brown cleared his throat, seeing that Lucas had no desire to cause Silvia trouble and was protecting her instead. Whatever Clara had promised him did not matter anymore because Lucas was an olympian swimmer, and he was someone he did not want to piss off.
"I see. Well, it seems that Clara and Alice need to apologise, and this can all be over with." He said, leaning back onto his chair and straightening his tie.
"Who said that was enough?" James spoke up.
Silvia placed a hand on her brother's.
"No, sister, this is not enough. They physically assaulted you, and if this guy did not come to stop it, what else could have happened? Before, you were planning to expel my sister, but now the real perpetrators are just told to say sorry?"
"I will also back this up. I saw that girl slap Silvia." Lucas stepped into the tension, which rose, but Silvia just sat there staring at a spot on the table.
I guess James just wants to deal with it. I am bored already... how long is this going to take?
Silvia was unbothered by the commotion unfolding in front of her.
"Well then.. Clara and Alice will provide a written apology and will have any scholarship rights taken away with a 2-week suspension. Will this be fine?"
James nodded, not satisfied, but knew asking for more would be pushing it.
"This better be written down on their records in case someone is to bring this matter up by misinforming others," Lucas said, remembering how the two were using such manipulative words to bully Silvia the other day.
And just like that, with the presence of Lucas, the problem was solved quickly again.
He decided to come to help me again...
Silvia was thankful and happy that he sided with her instead of Clara again.