Kofi looked at Jessica, and the profound exhaustion he felt solidified into a cold, hard disinterest.
’Her business? The business of beating a girl half to death and leaving her on the floor? Is that what she calls it?’
"You’re right," he said, his voice so devoid of emotion it was almost a whisper. "It has nothing to do with ."
He turned to walk away.
Jessica’s jaw dropped. She was not prepared for this. She was prepared for an argunt, for fear, for a fight. She was not prepared to be dismissed like a piece of lint on a sweater.
"Hey! I’m not done talking to you!"
He stopped but didn’t turn around. "But I’m done listening to you."
This was too much for Nina. She stepped forward, planting herself between Kofi and Jessica, her arms still crossed, a dangerous, sweet smile on her face.
"I think what he’s trying to say," she said, her voice dripping with a mock-politeness that was far more insulting than any yell, "is that you’re boring him. And honestly? too."
Jessica’s face, a carefully constructed mask of popular-girl confidence, began to crack. She glared at Nina, her eyes narrowing.
"Stay out of this, Shoka. This has nothing to do with you, either. I thought you were done slumming it with the freaks."
’Ah, there it is. The insult. How predictable.’ Nina’s smile didn’t waver.
"Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were having a eting of the ’I’m a Terrible Person’ club. Is that why you’re here? To defend your title as president?"
One of Jessica’s friends let out a small gasp.
Jessica’s face flushed a blotchy, ugly red. "You think you’re so tough now that you have a new charity case to follow you around? You have no idea what you’re getting into. You don’t know anything about Thea."
She scoffed, a nasty, dismissive sound that was her signature move.
"You don’t know her like I do. Thea has always been like this, a little black hole of misery that sucks everyone in. She’s probably loving all this attention, playing the victim so you’ll feel sorry for her."
’Playing the victim? The girl who had scurvy? The one who was practically a skeleton in a hospital bed? This person is living in a different reality.’
Nina took a sharp breath, her body tensing as she prepared to launch a verbal assault that would have likely broken several things that go against her being.
"You have no idea what you’re talking about," she started, her voice dangerously sweet.
But Kofi put a hand on her arm, a quiet, firm gesture that stopped her completely. Nina looked at him, surprised, and saw the look in his eyes.
This was his fight now.
He took a small step forward, closing the distance between him and Jessica. He did not raise his voice. He did not look angry. He just looked at her, his gaze flat and empty.
"Why don’t you repeat that to my face, i dare you." He got even closer to his face, he was showing her that this was not so joke she could just spit out anyti she wants.
"I know we live in a shitty town where bad things happen to people and the law does nothing."
His voice was quiet, almost conversational, but it carried a weight that made the air feel heavy.
"I get it, this school is its own little kingdom with its own ssed up rules, and you can beat up a fourteen-year-old girl in the middle of the hallway while people just watch, and nobody, not a single teacher, does a thing about it."
He tilted his head just a little, a small, chilling movent that made Jessica’s breath catch in her throat.
"So it made wonder."
His gaze was flat, direct, and completely devoid of the nervous energy she was used to seeing in boys.
"If this is a place with no rules, a place where you can hurt soone without any consequences, what do you think would happen if I did the sa thing to you?"
Jessica’s face went pale. The color drained from her cheeks, leaving behind a splotchy, panicked canvas. She tried to take a step back, but her feet felt like they were glued to the ground. Her two friends had already taken a few small, shuffling steps away from her.
’What the hell? Who is this guy?’ Nina’s own bravado vanished, replaced by a cold, thrilling kind of fear. This wasn’t the boy she knew. This was sothing else entirely.
"What if I decided you were my ’business’?" He continued, his voice never rising, which was sohow more terrifying than if he had been yelling. "What if I followed you? What if I found out where you lived, and waited for a mont when you were all alone?"
He took another small step, and Jessica flinched.
"How would you like being on the receiving end of that kind of attention? Being made to feel small, and helpless, and completely alone? Would you still think it was just a ga then?"
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a barely audible, terrifying whisper that was ant only for her.
"Stay away from her. This is your only warning."
He didn’t wait for an answer. He just straightened up, turned his back on her as if she were nothing, and started walking toward the school entrance. He put a hand on Nina’s back, a silent signal to follow him.
Nina, montarily stunned, quickly fell into step beside him, leaving Jessica and her two friends standing there, completely broken and silent in the morning sun.
Nina was completely silent as they walked through the school gates, her mind trying to process what had just happened.
’What was that? He didn’t even raise his voice. He just... beca soone else. That wasn’t the awkward, broody guy I know. That was...’
She risked a glance at him. He was just walking, his expression completely neutral, like he hadn’t just ntally disassembled the school’s queen bee.
’That was so scary.’
He felt her looking at him, he could feel the tense atmosphere between them, it was nothing like the easy way they usually joked around.
He let out a quiet sigh.
"Did I scare you?"
She flinched, a small, sudden movent. She imdiately tried to play it off, adjusting the strap of her bag.
’Yes. A lot. You were terrifying.’
"No, of course not. You were just... very direct. It was cool, seeing you stand up to her like that."
He stopped walking and turned to face her. The neutral look was gone, and she could see a genuine regret in his eyes.
’He sees right through .’
"I’m sorry. I didn’t an to. I just... I sotis lose myself when I get angry."
Nina’s own lie died on her lips as she looked at him, really looked at him, and she could see the deep exhaustion there, the weight he was carrying.
’He looks so tired.’
"It’s just this town," he continued, his gaze drifting away from her and toward the other students who were completely oblivious to their little drama. "I’m so tired of it. I know how it works, I know why people can get away with things, and I know why nobody steps in when sothing bad is happening right in front of them, but knowing the reason doesn’t make it any less... annoying."
His voice was quiet, a low rumble of frustration that felt more real and honest than the cold anger he’d shown Jessica.
"It just pisses off." He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "And sotis, I can’t keep it in."
She looked at him again.
’He’s not making excuses. He’s just... telling how he feels.’
Her own fear from a mont ago was gone, replaced by a steadying concern.
"It’s okay," she said, her voice soft. "I get it."
She took a small step closer, closing the distance between them.
"I was a little surprised, that’s all. I’ve just never seen you like that before."
’I don’t want her to be afraid of .’ That was the single, most important thought in his head right now.
"I don’t like being like that," he said, his gaze dropping to the floor for a second before eting hers again. "It just... happens. When I see stuff like what happened to Thea, and then I see soone like Jessica acting like it’s a joke... It feels like my brain just short-circuits."
’Short-circuits. Yeah, I know that feeling.’ she thought back to her life with Selma and Becky, the constant pressure, the fake smiles.
"I know what you an. Living in that world with Jessica and the others... it’s all a ga to them. People’s feelings, their lives, it’s all just points they can score to make themselves feel important."
She looked at him, and her expression was completely serious.
’He saw it. He saw how ugly it all is, and he’s not pretending it’s okay. That’s why he’s different.’
He felt a weight lift from his chest.
"Yeah. Exactly."
’She really gets , I like that a lot.’
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