|6|

•Charlotte•

"Can't live without your sidekick?" Ramon questioned as he raised an eyebrow at me and pulled his chair towards my desk. 

"I can't. I'll probably collapse without her." I sighed dramatically. 

He smirked. "I'll catch you."

"Fantastic. My death is guaranteed." I muttered. 

Ramon chuckled besides me as I felt the glare of Tiffany and her little minions. 

I wasn't going to let them mess my year up. Pushing my chair back a little, I lifted my bag up and pulled my notebook out. Placing it on the desk, I pulled out my pen and pushed the bag in between my feet and pulled my chair closer to the desk again. 

Ramon was quiet besides me, watching every single thing I did intently. I pulled the lid off my pen and opened my notebook. "We're going to make a cake." I said to him as I wrote the word Plan on top of the paper. 

He didn't say anything so I ignored him as well as I planned out my cake. 

A two tier gluten free and egg less chocolate cake. If I was pushing it, I wanted orange flavour frosting, with gold coloured roses and chocolate flakes sprinkled on the top. 

"I think I've seen you before." Ramon muttered to me as he leaned closer to my desk. 

I shook my head. "Yes. In school. " I dead panned as I drew a circle on the page, and tried to draw the cake. 

"No. Outside of school." He stated. 

"No chance." 

I knew I had never seen him outside in my life. Other than school, Ramon Vitali was completely nonexistent in my life. He lived in the rich area with his happy family while I lived in the fucked up area. We were complete opposites, and I knew he didn't visit the gym. He didn't know the lightning devil, he didn't know me. 

It was all some sort of game he probably did. 

I saw you outside of school. 

Where? I would ask. 

He would smirk at me and say in my room, on my bed.

I was not stupid. 

"You're really not afraid of me, are you?" Ramon asked, his voice was full of genuine curiosity. 

I turned to face him. "Have you done something to me that I should be afraid of you? Truthfully speaking, Ramon, I don't know you. You're a boy in my class and there are plenty of boys here. I'm not afraid of boys." I chuckled as he watched me try to draw a cake.

"They're all boys, amore. I'm not a boy." He leaned closer to the desk and pulled out the pen from my hand and took the notebook out of my hand. 

I glared at him as he leaned back on his chair and started writing something on the paper. 

"Don't mess it up." I said to him. 

"You're an intimidating woman. Maybe that is why no boy wants to talk to you. They're afraid of you." Ramon started talking, hiding the notebook from me. 

"Maybe I don't want to give them the attention they crave." 

Boys wanted sex. They wanted to fuck any girl that had a vagina, and that was all that mattered to them. They were not the relationship type. 

"What exactly do boys crave?" He raised an eyebrow without looking at me. 

"Sex." 

He chuckled with the pen in between his lips and stared at whatever he had drawn on the notebook. 

"Not everyone wants sex. You haven't met the right man." He placed the notebook in front of me. 

An artistic cake was drawn on the paper, exactly how I had envisioned it. Two layers with roses swirling around the cake. He had written every small detail down, arrows pointing to each part of the cake. 

"I didn't know you could draw." I said as he handed me the pen. I took it out of his hands, glancing over my shoulder to see Calvin and Lizzie talking softly and him pointing to the paper that she was drawing on. I smiled to myself as I faced forward. 

Maybe she did need this push. 

"What exactly do you know about me?" He chuckled and I shrugged my shoulders, as I darkened the outline of the cake. 

I didn't know a single thing about him, and neither did I care as I turned the page around to a clean sheet. 

"We'll have to meet after school to time ourselves. I want us to be able to finish this cake in an hour and a half." I started to say to him as I wrote the ingredients we would need and the ones I remembered from on top of my head. "You ha-"

"What will we be doing for the last 30 minutes then?" Ramon asked curiously as he leaned back on his chair. 

"Teaching you not to interrupt me." I smiled at him sweetly, and he chuckled as his chair nearly tipped over, but he balanced himself up. 

"You're brave." 

I was also not the shy nerd everyone assumed I was. Not giving a fuck about what people said about me, and concentrate on my life outside of school was the best thing I could ever do. I was not all bite, which was why I didn't care what I said to them. I had fought men twice their age, and beaten them, it would be simple beating up boys in my school. 

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" I questioned without looking up at him as I wrote down the ingredients. 

"It was a statement but if you want me to compliment you, just smile and I'll do whatever you want." He chuckled besides me as I placed the pen down on the notebook. 

I looked up at him. "Bold statement to make when you don't know me." 

"Who says I don't know you?" He smirked at me, as he rested his elbow on the desk and his chin on his palm as he stared. 

"I say." I chuckled softly to myself as I closed the notebook. 

"Charlotte Woods. The girl who doesn't give a fuck about who she's talking too." He said to me, and I turned to look at him again. 

The noise of the class was nonexistent to me as he raised an eyebrow at me. "Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" I asked. 

"Are you?" 

I knew Ramon's family was powerful. He was rich, and his family could buy out this whole school and kick me out of it just for getting in a little debate with him. Did I care? A big part of me said no. 

"I'm not afraid of you." I said to him and he chuckled as he pulled the notebook closer to himself. 

"Good." He opened it and scribbled down a number and an address. "I'm assuming we would need to meet up. We can do it at my place tomorrow." He pushed the notebook back to me. The weekend. 

I nodded to him. "I'll bring the ingredients." 

Ramon smirked, his grey eyes darkened a little,  as he ran his thumb on his bottom lip softly. "Ingredients? What will that be?" 

I looked at him confused. "The ingredients for a cake. Flour-" 

Ramon chuckled, shaking his head to himself as I looked at him confused. He stood up. "See you on sunday, Amore." With that being said, he walked away from me. Mr Collins didn't say a word as the bell rang and everyone started getting up. I turned to see Calvin picking up Lizzie's bag and holding it out for her. She smiled and thanked him as he walked away. 

"Ready to spill the details?" I asked her as I stood up and stuffed the notebook in my bag. 

"I need a minute to pass out." She rested her head against my shoulder and held onto my arm as we walked out of the class. "I think more than a minute." She mumbled as we headed to our next class. 

***

I was walking it home today. Lizzie was busy after school and I didn't have a car. It was something I wanted to buy for myself so I could travel far without having to ask Lizzie to take me everywhere. 

Walking on the muddy sidewalk, and trying not to let the fallen leaves stick to the bottom of my boots, I turned right. I heard a horn behind me and I turned around to see a red Mini drive past me, spraying all the dirty water on me. 

"Oops." Tiffany popped her head out of the car as I stood there, with muddy water covering every inch of my body. 

"I am going to kill you." I hissed at her, walking towards her car. 

She drove a little forward and all I could see was red. I was going to strangle her and shove her fake tits and nails up her ass. 

"If you can catch me." She laughed with her minions as she drove faster, spraying more dirty water on me. 

A few boys laughed at me as I stood there. I was going to kill her on Monday. I was going to rip apart her extensions. 

I was seething as I walked home, the cold air making me shiver a little. It was going to be a cold night today. I walked up the stairs to the house and opened it with my keys. 

I pushed open the door and walked inside to see dad lifting the metal bat up to me and hitting me on my arm as I raised my arms up. I held in a scream as the bat connected with my arm. 

"Who are you?" He shouted at me and lifted the bat again as I slammed the door shut behind myself. The pain in my arm was nonexistent compared to what I was feeling. 

"Steve!" Mary called out to him from the kitchen and he turned around to look at her. I grabbed the bat out of his hands and he took a step back. 

"It's me, Charlotte. Your daughter." I said to him as I threw the bat on the floor. "Say my name." I told him as I took a step towards him. 

"Charlotte." He said and smiled softly. "I'm so sorry darling. Did I hurt you?" He reached out to hold my arm and I shook my head. 

"I'm okay."I lied to him. "How about we go to the park today with Lizzie?" I smiled at him and he nodded as Mary walked towards us with a plate full of food. 

"Is Lizzie staying the night?" Mary asked as dad walked to the living room with his food. She walked towards me as I rested against the wall. "What happened?" She asked,  noticing my dirty clothes. 

"Tiffany happened." I muttered as I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket. My arm was completely red and Mary sighed. 

"Come on. I'll get you some ice for that. You know he didn't mean it." She walked with me to the kitchen as I nodded. 

"I know." I answered her as we entered the kitchen. 

Dad never wanted to hurt me. I knew that but there were times he forgot who I was. It started this year. I had hid the bat from him but he would always find it.  He would forget who I was, and try to hurt me thinking I was breaking into the house. I never blamed him because when I told him who I was, he would immediately apologise and try to take care of me. 

I never blamed him for anything. 

Mary gave me an ice pack and I placed it against my arm. Instantly the burning cooling down as she smiled at me. 

"I'll get you some food." Mary said as I heard dad choking in the living room. I ran into the room to see him holding his throat. 

"Breathe." I said to him as Mary ran inside, telling me to make him stand up. With all my strength, I lifted dad up as she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. He threw out a piece of chicken as I held onto him. Dad had tears running down his face, his eyes red as I sighed in relief. 

He was okay. 

"Steve, I told you small bites." Mary shook her head at him as she helped him sit down. 

I needed to get him to the hospital. For someone to come and look after him and help him with his treatment because these pills weren't helping a lot. I needed money. 

Tonight. I was going to wait for Lizzie to come and then I was going to go and earn money the only fast way I knew. 

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Editing is painful. Can we also talk about the cover of this book? I made it (:

I'm being aesthetic- something I've never been in my life and I like it.

Question- favourite topping on pizza?