|3|

•Charlotte•

The sound of a plate falling and breaking against the floor echoed in the house. Instantly I was out of my bed and running down the stairs. 

Dad's room door was wide open as I ran downstairs and into the living room. Nobody was there. I walked towards the kitchen to see him standing with a half a plate in his hand and the other piece shattered on the ground. 

"Are you okay?" I asked him as I pushed my feet into a pair of slippers and walked towards him. 

He nodded. "I wanted to make breakfast." 

He was always up earlier than me, and I couldn't do anything about it. He woke up at random times and I was a light sleeper so I struggled to sleep at night, in case he needed my help. Today I was late though. Extremely late for school as well. I could hear my phone ringing upstairs, 

"I'll make you something." I said to him as I walked over the broken glass on the floor. He wasn't wearing any shoes. I took my slippers off and bent down to put them near his feet. "Wear these and walk around the glass." I told him as he slid his feet into the slippers. 

Dad nodded and walked besides the wall and towards the door. "Should I just wait in the living room?" He asked me and I nodded with a smile on my face. He nodded back at me just as I heard a knock on the front door. Mary had come late. The time was well past half eight and I had missed my first class. 

I walked with dad out of the kitchen, careful of the shattered glass. Dad walked into the living room, making himself comfortable on his chair as I opened the door. 

Mary apologised immediately as she walked into the house. "Drew called me and I got carried away with him on the phone." She explained as I closed the door behind her. 

Drew was her son that was in the army. Mary had mentioned he would be arriving soon. 

"It's okay, I'm not going to school today." I told her, watching a frown find a place on her face. 

When I arrived home yesterday, I ran upstairs quickly and pressed a hot cloth to my rib. It was bruised up and it hurt but the pain would be numb soon and that was all that mattered. I had walked back downstairs and lied to Mary who assumed I had gone to my usual job. 

Joe let me work at his Diner on the weekends when he needed me. He would pay me but it was also a lie for Mary who asked where I was working. She had gone to Joe's Diner one day and hadn't found me there. Mandy, one of the employees at the Diner, had rang me. I had finished the fight as quickly as I could and ran to the back door of the diner. She never suspected anything after that. 

"Go to school, Charlotte. You can't be missing any more classes." Mary shook her head at me, knowing I had missed a lot of last year. 

"I'm already late and I can stay here to help dad today." I told her and she rolled her eyes and walked me towards the stairs. 

"Go get ready. Everything will be fine." 

"You promise?" I asked softly. 

I was so afraid I would go to school and in a few hours, dad would forget about me again. I didn't want to feel that. 

She smiled at me. "I promise." 

I nodded, running upstairs to my room. I needed to get changed quickly. Checking my phone, I found calls from Lizzie and texts wondering why I wasn't here. 

She had told me yesterday that she wouldn't be able to pick me up because her mom was using the car today. She was going to walk it to school and it was closer to her than it was to me. 

Pulling out a pair of jeans and a light shirt, I walked quickly to the bathroom. I was extremely late but if I was quick enough, I could get there for my second class. 

Quickly getting dressed and making myself presentable enough to say no I was not running late, I grabbed my school bag and ran downstairs. 

"Dad! I'm going to school!" I called out as I pulled my bag up my shoulder and pushed my feet into my black boots. I zipped them up as I heard him shout an okay and Mary call from the kitchen. 

She opened the kitchen door and I smiled as she threw me an apple. "Enjoy!" She grinned at me and I laughed as I ran out of the house. 

It was a little cold as I pulled my jacket closer to myself and ran through the streets. It was crazy to see, and I knew that but I needed to keep a perfect attendance. 

I was never planning to go to college. I didn't know what I would even apply for and college would cost me a lot rather than a public school. I didn't have a plan for the future. 

A couple of street boys whistled at me and laughed as they watched me run through the streets. I pulled my bag up my shoulder, ignoring the cars driving past me as I ran on the pavement. The school was about ten minutes away from me in a car. Half an hour away by walking and if I carried on running, I would be there in 20 minutes. 

I ran faster, going left and right using the shortcuts to the school until I neared the building. Taking a minute to calm my heart down, I let out a sigh before walking into the empty parking lot. I couldn't see a student in sight, and I knew they were all in class, waiting eagerly for the second bell to end. I walked into the school and headed towards my locker, knowing I had at least ten minutes before the bell went. 

Opening my locker in the silent hallways, I stuffed my maths and English books in my bag before closing the locker and running up the stairs. We weren't allowed to use the elevators in school unless you had a disability which required it. 

I pushed open the doors to the top floor and ran straight into someone. 

"Fuck." A deep voice muttered as he tried to hold onto me, making sure I didn't fall back on my ass. 

Ramon Vitali was staring at me. 

His dark eyes seemed to glare at me for running into him as he stared at me. He was beautiful and sexy, and the school loved him. I could see why with his perfect brown hair that was flicked back, and his deep voice with a hint of an italian accent. He was a mystery every girl wanted to solve. 

Not me. 

 I pulled myself away from him, and picked up my bag that had fallen onto the floor. 

"You might want to apologise for bumping into him." I heard another voice say and I lifted my bag up my shoulder as I noticed his friends. 

Josh, Axel and Calvin. The supermodels of the school had decided to show up today. They were all tall and older than me. I didn't live under a rock to know who they were. 

The bad boys of the school. Ramon Vitali was the one the teachers did not mind if he skipped class. If he got a detention, he easily got out of it. He was the oldest senior in the school, having to retake the year for a reason that was unknown to the students except the teachers. Ramon was 19 years old and from the dreamy talks I had heard from Lizzie, he was soon to be 20. 

He was a perfection to everyone in this school, but I stayed away from them. Josh waited for me to answer, a smirk on his face as he ran his creepy gaze over my body. 

"If he apologises first." I smiled at Josh sweetly. Axel chuckled under his breath. 

"What did you just say?" Ramon's voice was deep and low as if he didn't need to shout to get your attention. He took a step towards me and I didn't move back. 

I stared at him. "Don't tell me you're deaf as well as blind." 

He stared at me. I met his stare, knowing they were not going to allow me to walk away peacefully. 

"See something you like, Amore?" His italian accent was strong, as he smirked at me. 

I pointed to his mouth. "You have a little drool on your mouth." 

Axel laughed behind him, as Calvin smiled. Josh smirked at me though. "I think I have a little drool somewhere else. Want to take a look at it?" Josh asked, taking a few steps towards me. He was standing in front of me, smirking down at me as I looked up at him. They were all taller than me. 

Ramon punched Josh on his arm. "Back off." He pulled Josh away from my personal space. I was thankful for it, or Josh would have been on the ground, holding his dick and screaming in pain if he hadn't moved away in a few seconds. He saved his friend. How sweet.

"Lovely meeting you all. I hope to never see you again." I smiled at them all, making sure Josh knew I said the last part at him.

I walked around Ramon who smirked to himself as if he was surprised someone had answered him back. He was feared through the school, no one daring to talk back to him. I had never spoken to any of them, even when we had classes together last year, I never paid attention to them. To anyone. 

I walked past them all and towards my English class as the bell rang through the hallways. People left their classes as I waited for them to leave mine.

Lizzie was going to have a meltdown, I knew it. 

***

"So.."I started the conversation off as we sat on our usual bench. "Would you freak out if I told you I bumped into Ramon?" 

Lizzie choked on the water she was drinking and coughed. "I'm dying." She wheezed, coughing loudly. "Say it again." 

"I ran into Ramon today when I was late in the morning." 

"Ranon Vitali?" She whispered as if she was in shock. I nodded. "Nobody has seen that sexy male all summer and you just bumped into him. Did you jump his bones? Or lean up on your tiptoes to kiss him? Tell me you at least strutted away like a model so they could see your perfect ass." A grin was plastered on her face as she waited for me to give her the details. 

"Actually he was a little cocky thinking I would want to stare at him, so I just told hi-"

"I wouldn't blame him. If I had bumped into him, you wouldn't see me for a whole week. Did you see Calvin though? Is he hotter?" She asked excitedly, completely ignoring her food. "They say he's the quiet one and the mysterious one. What if he falls for me, Char?" Her eyes widened. "My high school sweetheart fantasy is going to come true!" 

"How do you know that?" I asked as I opened the plastic triangle sandwich box. I pulled out my cheese sandwich and handed her a slice as well. 

"You know he is my crush. I have been in love with him since the day he smiled at me." She sighed dreamily. 

I chuckled as I took a bite out of my sandwich. She started talking again and gushing about Calvin. 

"Charlotte." Lizzie hissed my name and I stopped eating as she moved towards me. She leaned closer to me and whispered into my ear. "Maybe you can turn into the lightning devil and kidnap Calvin. I can come and save him and he'll notice me then." She pulled back as I burst out laughing at her. 

Lizzie was the only person I told everything to. I had come crying to her house after my first fight. I told her I wanted to do it because we needed the money and it helped keep my mind at peace. She took care of me and ever since that day, she has always known. 

"You can't just go up and say hi?" I asked her and she rolled her eyes at me. 

"If it was that easy, he would already be in love with me." She huffed. "I really think you should do it. I can be his saviour and he will fall in love with me." She sighed, her voice a little high on love. 

"How about this?" I said to her, getting her full attention. "You stand in the girl's bathroom and when he's walking past, I'll kick him in the back of his legs and push him in. I'll wait outside while you can have sex with him." I grinned at her as she rolled her eyes at me and my plan. 

"My anxiety would make me slam the door in his face." 

"But saving him won't?" I chuckled at her. 

She shook her head as she picked up her sandwich. "I'll be having my lover moment then. I'm going to push my anxiety out of the window and then I will save him and go home and cry about how that made me feel." She smiled at me, telling me to agree with her. 

"Fine. I'll follow him home today and I'll jump him. I'll hit him in the head and he'll drop to the ground. Shall I drag his body away or pretend to fight you? Will you be there to kiss his boo boo away?" I burst out laughing as she glared at me. 

"Shut up." She mumbled, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment. "How about I tell Ramon you fancy him?" She smirked at me. 

"I don't." I shrugged my shoulders at her as I finished my sandwich. 

"He doesn't need to know that. You can be high school sweethearts as well and we can have a joint wedding." She grinned at me as I chuckled. 

"Lizzie, let's not get ahead with the ideas." She pouted at me as I stretched my hand out. "Show me your maths work. Let me check it." 

Immediately Lizzie nodded as she pulled out her maths booklet. The same booklet we were supposed to give in today after lunch. "I did all the questions but I don't really understand question five." She told me as I opened the book. "You have to teach me that part again, I don't remember learning it in school." She laughed to herself and I nodded as I went through her paper. 

Whenever she needed my help, I would always be there. Always. 

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Can we just talk about how Ramon Vitali is such a nice and beautiful name?

His previous name was Ryder Gonzalez in 2015 but five years later his name has had a glow up.

Question- Favourite paperback book you have ever read?