Trigger warning... Bullying...

Third persons pov
"Wow the new kid is such a wuss" said Adam, "Yea, he's not even fighting back," said Brandon. Steven sat on the kids chest and repeatedly started to punch his face. The group of teenage jocks continued to kick and punch the new kid, all because of one glance.

Phillipa's pov
I just finished my last club for the day and started to walk down the empty hall towards the exit of the school. I was about 5 meters away from the boy's locker room when a bunch of the jocks came out of the door.

I saw Steven but didn't call on him wanting a little space, I sat on one of the benches waiting for the group to leave the school premises so I could too.

Just as I was getting up to leave, a very beaten up boy walked out of the locker room. He wasn't limping but it looked like his arm was broken, and his face was dripping blood.

I walked up to him "Excuse me?" I asked, he turned around slowly but didn't lift his head, I heard his voice. It was soft and bearly audible, "Yea?" even though it was one word his voice cracked.

His hood was up so I couldn't see much of his face, "Are you ok?" I asked, he nodded and started to back away from me. "Wait! Where are you going? sit down... I can help you" I said, starting to get concerned for him.

"That's what they said..." he whispered to himself but I heard it, I reached over to touch his shoulder. As soon as I made contact he harshly pushed my hand away and whimpered "Please stop... D-don't hurt me".

My heart broke, I've never seen somebody in this much pain, "I'm not gonna hurt you, please I just want to help you... Trust me?" I heard him let out a strangled sigh.

He lifted his, from what I assume 'not broken' arm and pushed his hood back, it revealed his hair that was drenched in blood.

I frowned, he lifted his head slowly and looked me in the eye, his face covered in blood but I could still recognize him, he had the same eyes that melted me in math class earlier, it's the new kid...

I put my hand out for him to hold it so I could lead him to the girl's locker room. He slowly place his shaking hand onto mine, I wrapped my fingers around his soft hand to stop it from shaking.

It worked, I slowly lead him to the locker room, once we reach I pushed and held the door so he could walk in. I told him to sit on the bench so I could take a look at his bruises.

I had volleyball practice today, so I had a spare rag in my bag. I wet the rag, walked over to him and knelt, I gently started to wipe the blood off his face. Every time I wipe more of the blood off it reveals even more cuts.

"Why are you helping me?" he mumbled as he looked me in the eye, normally eye contact did nothing to me, even with Steve. But this new guy, damn, his eyes can turn me to soup.

"Why not? Would you rather me just think you don't exist?" I asked back, he looked down at his arm and said "Well, I wouldn't be surprised, after all everybody just didn't bother I was there.".

He thinks he wasn't noticed? I noticed him as soon as he walked into math class. He was very happy, there was a sparkle in his eye, he had an adorable smile on. I was also weirdly attracted to the way he dressed, the hoodie and jeans, so normal yet it suited him perfectly, his cute multicolored vans, and then his book bag that had a bunch of Broadway shows embroidered in.

"What do you mean? Nobody talked to you?" I asked genuinely surprised because he seemed like such a sweet soul. "Nope, nobody even spared a glance..." silence.

"... I guess that's what I get for being like this" he sighed, I immediately asked back "Being like what?", "A theatre kid. The jocks, they wouldn't stop making fun of my shoes and made sure I got blood all over my bag... They don't like the way I am..." I felt like punching all of those stupid jocks. They did this to a bunch of kids but usually, it's just the kids that show interest in the jocks boyfriends or girlfriends.

But this kid doesn't like me, he's new, "Well, I'm really sorry they did that, but trust me it's not because of your theatre ways" he chuckled at that, and oh help me God, cause his laugh is so darn adorable.

"I like Broadway too..." that seemed to perk him up a bit, he smiled his sweet smile as he looked me in the eyes and into soup I became. "I love it, to be honest, it's been a passion of mine since I was three" I smiled as I continued.

He showed me his bag that was kind of soaked in blood, "My mom made this for me last year, it has every show we've been to together. I wouldn't have cared if they did this last year but it just hurts now." I frowned, I was very confused "Wait why?". I was still cleaning his face and hair, but I stopped and slowly moved my hand away when he answered me.

"Oh right. She died a few days after this bag was completed..." I felt really bad now, like I was the reason for him to go through all of this.

"I- I'm sorry, I-" he cut me off, "No, it's ok, it's not your fault" he sadly smiled, I replicated the same. "What's that?" I asked pointing toward the unfinished patch on the bag, it was some pretty sloppy work.

He smiled fondly as he looked at it, and that made me smile "That is the one I'm embroidering in, it's a musical I'm writing, she always had my back and helped me when I was stuck, so I wanted to put this on the bag, but I cant embroider if my life depended on it".

I chuckled and said "I can help you with that, but only if you show me the musical" he laughed but agreed "Deal.".

"So do you know who did this to you?" I asked as I started to clean the cuts, he nodded, winced a little and started to name them. "Adam, Brandon, Steven, Jack, Paul and Timothy" I was shocked, how does he know their names by heart, like he's been here for years, when I first joined I couldn't even remember the teacher's name.

"How do you remember?" I said slowly as I realized that he said, Steven. "Nobody talked to me, which gave me the chance to listen and observe..." hah this guy couldn't get better, right?

I smiled at him and told him I'd take care of those dumb dimwits, I finished cleaning up how much I could, I even made a sling from his jacket for his arm.

We made our way out of the school in a comfortable silence, which gave me time to think about why Steven would hurt the new kid. There was no reason to hurt him this much, so why would he, again they only hurt people that liked their SO's, but the new kid didn't even know me or anybody for that matter. Speaking of him, I haven't asked for his name yet, "Wait what's your name?" I asked.

He looked up from his shoes and said "My name is Lin-Manuel, but my family and friends call me Lin" smiling cutely. "I'm Phillipa but everyone calls me Pippa" I smiled back, we just looked at each other for a few seconds and then looked away.

"So Lin, how are you getting home?" I asked, "I'm walking, it's just like a 20-minute walk." he said shrugging. "Uhm no, I will drop you home, you are not walking home in that state, plus I have a car so, just tell me where you live," I said back.

He chuckled and looked at me "Ok, ok you can drop me", "Boy, you think I was asking you? Hah dream on" he looked at me a little scared but then we both laughed it off.

"Hey Uhm... You remember who hit you the most?" I asked, wanting to know who caused this to happen. "Steven, he sat on my chest and gave me plastic surgery," he said trying to make the situation a bit lighter.

I chuckled, we both were now on our way to his house. We talked about random stuff that was almost completely related to theatre. Once we reached his house he looked at me with a grateful expression and said "Thank you so much, Pippa, it meant a lot that you helped me back there, I hope we can talk more".

I grinned at him and said "You're welcome, Of course, we can talk more, like it's not even a question" he smiled at me, we exchanged numbers and he got out of the car but before he closed the door I said "By the way, I love your shoes" he laughed at that. We said our goodbyes and I was on my way home.

Third persons pov
~~~~flashback to math class~~~~

Pippa and Steven were seated together for math, the class was going to start but then the new kid, aka Lin walked in. For whatever reason Pippa couldn't stop staring at him, he had to introduced himself but Pippa didn't hear anything she was just dazed.

The teacher let him take a seat somewhere in the back since there were no other seats available. The only problem was that Pippa spared one glance at the boy who had multicolored sneakers on.

She made sure Steven was occupied before she did it, but that didn't stop him from seeing her look at Lin the way she did. Steven didn't like the look one bit and he knew how to handle it.

Lin might've been innocent but Pippa wasn't, that one glance got him bruised and a broken nose and arm. All Steven thought was "there is no way I'm letting a loser like that steel my girlfriend". But what he doesn't know is, that only brought them closer.

A/n ok I was working on this chapter yesterday, I hope you like it. I wish I would've written a longer chapter for the Grofflin chap but I didn't and I'm sorry, I'll try again for the grofflin fans.

Anyway, the new book is almost out, I just need to add some stuff and I will put up the first chapter soon.

And like always g' morning or g' night wherever you are...
Byeee🥰❤️🎵