| 07 |

| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

It takes me about three minutes to realize that while I've been diligently reading through a boring ass story about some horny motherfucker and a damsel in distress, Castle had fallen asleep.

His head rests back on the couch, with his dark pink lips – almost red – remain slightly open. His fingers slightly curl over the book on his lap. His dark lashes almost touch his cheek.

I gaze at him some more, taking in the smooth and milky complexion of his skin. My gaze wanders down. His stomach is flat, and I don't think there are any abs underneath his hoodie. His long legs are spread out, his knees touching the coffee table.

My gaze wanders back to his face.

"Castle?"

He doesn't move.

"Castle?"

I tilt my head at him.

Quietly standing up, I move to the kitchen. When I don't find Dad, I walk toward his room at the end of the hall.

Knocking on his door, I push it open and step in.

Dad pauses his chat on the phone with someone, sitting on his bed. He's smiling and when I enter his smile widens.

"Holly! You done already?" He asks me.

I realize dad hasn't come to check up on me since Castle arrived. Not even once.

That can only mean one thing.

He's talking to mom on the phone.

Of course. I nod to myself. Why would you remember having a daughter when you're talking to the love of your life?

"Nope not yet," I respond. "Is mom on the phone?"

He nods, happily. "Yup."

I move to take the phone from his hands, but he holds it far away from me.

"You spoke to her this morning." He narrows his eyes.

I roll my eyes.

In other cases, I wouldn't have backed down until I snatched the phone from him but now there was something else I had to say.

"Castle fell asleep," I say.

Dad raises his eyebrows.

"Should I wake him up or...?" I trail off.

Mom must've asked a question on the phone because Dad goes on talking about who's Castle and how he's tutoring me because I failed.

"Can you at least put her on speaker?" I ask Dad, eager to talk to Mom.

"Mom! Dad's being annoying!" I yell once Dad had his phone on speaker.

"As usual." She replies.

"it's not called being annoying." Dad shoots me a pointed look. "It's called being a responsible father."

"Yeah, yeah." I wave him off. "So what do I do about Castle?"

"Let him sleep," Mom says. "It's rude to wake a tired person."

"But doesn't he have to go home or something?" I ask.

"Your father will talk to his parents if any problem arises," Mom says. "Make sure he's comfortable."

My mom. The sweetest person alive. She'll do anything to help a stranger no matter how bad they might be.

I still remember the stroke dad got when she came home with a homeless man. She fed him, gave him Dad's old clothes and sent him away.

Since then Dad's been a little afraid about her. Not all people are decent and harmless and with mom picking up anyone off the street—Dad made her promise that she wouldn't do that anymore. Instead, they give to charity every month.

"Sure thing," I promise.

"Did you feed him?" Mom asks.

"Well I gave him food, but he didn't wanna eat."

"That's not good. Make sure to feed him the moment he wakes up."

"I'll even give him water."

"You people sound as if you're talking about a dog," Dad mutters.

"How does he look by the way?" Mom asks.

"Really cute." I grin.

Dad shoots me a warning look while Mom yells: "Ooo picture!"

"Okay!" I get off Dad's bed to snap a picture of Castle.

But Dad latches onto my wrist just as quickly.

"No." He gives me a warning look.

"Boo," Mom says through the phone. "I'll just come back as soon as I'm done here and see the boy for myself."

"Okay!" I cheer while Dad tries swatting my happy face.

"Now make sure you take care of that boy." Mom orders.

"On it." I salute before walking out of Dad's room and closing the door to give him his privacy.

With Dad talking to Mom, I don't think he'll come to check on me for a long time.

I strut into the living room to see Castle still sleeping in the same position. I loom over him, observing his face.

"Castle?" I try again.

For some reason, I didn't really wanna wake him up. He looked exhausted as fuck when he came (no innuendos intended).

When Castle makes no movement, I rush upstairs to my room and throw open my wardrobe. Rummaging through it, I find my extra blankets and rush downstairs again, making sure to not trip with the heavy load in my arms.

I reach the living room and dump the blanket on the floor. First, as stealthily as possible, I slide Castle's book from under his lap. His fingers twitch and I freeze.

When he shows no more movement, I slide the book again.

I almost cheer out when I've taken hold of the book. And when you're a cheerleader, controlling the volume of your voice is the biggest difficulty. I place the book on the coffee table.

I pick up the blanket and spread it over Castle, making sure it covers him from neck to toe.

Standing back, I observe my tutor.

His neck is gonna cramp if he sleeps in that position.

Grabbing a small cushion from the other couch, I get behind the couch Castle's sleeping on.

Okay, here it goes. I suck in a breath.

Very very very gently, I slide my hand underneath Castle's head.

His head feels heavy when I try lifting it but otherwise, it feels soft. I have the sudden desire to slide his hood down and rake my hand through his dark brown hair.

I'll just have to add that to my to-do list later on.

After his head is lifted quite up, I slide the cushion underneath and gently put his head back so that it's resting against the cushion.

A breath of relief escapes my mouth when he doesn't wake up. He must've been really tired.

I tidy up the place so that dad doesn't need to bother with it and finally retrieve to my room, not before glancing at Castle once more and switching off the living room lights.

I reach my room and just as I close my door, my phone pings with a text.

Sean: my place

Sean: now

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

I wake up to someone shaking my shoulder.

"Shit." Someone groans. "Holly, wake up."

I ignore the person, trying to go back to sleep.

"Holly, you weren't supposed to fall asleep here. Hurry before your dad comes to check on you."

My eyes creak open and a groan comes out of my mouth as I turn around to the owner of that voice.

My eyes meet Sean's.

I take my sweet time, adjusting to the morning light by blinking a couple of times.

My eyes catch the fresh new red and purple bruise on Sean's jaw.

My heart clenches for just a second.

Another groan comes out of my mouth when I move and feel sore in various places on my body.

"A lil' rough last night?" I ask.

He shrugs, not seeming apologetic.

I sit up on the bed and shudder when the cool wind hits my naked skin.

"Where are my clothes?" I ask.

Sean's eyes flick to the floor.

I get off the bed and retrieve my clothes, pulling them on.

I look at the time. Phew. Fifteen minutes until dad comes to wake me up.

I have enough time.

After pulling on my clothes, I take a look in the mirror to see if my appearance doesn't give away that I've been having sex all night.

Contented by my appearance, I turn towards Sean.

"See you." I reach down to wrap my arms around him in a hug. He doesn't hug me back but that's normal on his part.

After giving him a big squeeze, I make my escape through the window and into my room.

Just as I lay on my bed, pull the covers over my head, and will my body to remain still, the door to my room pulls open.

"Holly!" Dad calls out to me.

I hide my relieved sigh, not moving on the first call.

"Get up! Get up!" His voice calls out.

I stir on my bed, barely opening my eyes as I turn my head to face dad. "It's morning, already?"

"Yup. Also, guess what?"

"What?"

"Castle left."

That has me shooting off the bed into a sitting position. "What?" I stare in disbelief.

Dad nods.

"When?" I hurry to slide down the bed.

"Two hours ago."

"You didn't stop him for breakfast?"

"He didn't want to have breakfast. He seemed in a hurry. In fact, he looked quite terrified when he realized where he was." Dad says. "But I still handed him a sandwich to eat on his way."

I blow out a breath.

Terrified?

What was he terrified for?

"Alright." I nod at dad.

Dad seems to be in thought for a moment. "I'm kinda curious about him."

"Oh, I'm completely curious about him," I say.

"You promised." He shoots me a look.

"Yeah, yeah, I won't snoop."

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

"I think we should change the third step, don't you think?" Maddy asks.

I resist letting out the biggest sigh.

I'm this close to whirling around and snapping at that bitch to shut the fuck up! After all, there's a limit to how much patience a person can have.

"I think it goes perfectly with the flow." My tone is firm, not commanding, but just firm. Like captain-of-cheerleading team firm.

"I think it's a little wobbly." Maddy remarks.

I slowly turn around, raising an eyebrow in the process. I fix her with my cool gaze. "Wobbly?"

She nods. Her short black curls flinging about. "We should change it."

"You're saying..." I put my hands on my hips. "—that we should change a dance step that we've been practicing for four weeks—" I take a step closer towards her, "—just because—" another step, "—you—" another step, "—find it wobbly?" My face is so close to hers now that I could smell her lavender perfume.

There's hesitation in her eyes but she tries to hide as she straightens her back and tries to size me up. "Yes. It's too complicated."

"Is that an excuse for your inability to learn a dance step?" I raise an eyebrow, peering directly into her eyes.

If I'm not mistaken, she tries taking a step backward.

I wish she'd take a big enough step back from the cheerleading itself.

As a captain, I know that there are gonna be some people in your team that won't always cooperate with you. But Maddy literally makes me wanna strangle her sometimes.

She just doesn't agree with anything I do! She always wants things her way.

I snap my gaze away from her to the rest of the team. "Who else finds the third step complicated?"

No one raises a hand.

A smirk of satisfaction tugs the corner of my lips up.

"Guess it's your inability then." I look back at Maddy. "If you want I can make some free time to personally teach you the dance step."

She grits her teeth. "I'll learn it myself. Thank you."

I give her a nod before getting back into my position. "Let's take it from the beginning again!" I clap my hands, and everyone assembles back into their positions.

One hour later, I carry my sweat-coated body to the lockers to shower and change.

Riley appears beside me, zipping up the zipper on the side of her skirt.

"The bitch was a real bitch today." She crosses her arms.

"Tell me about it," I mutter, slamming my locker close and exiting the locker room with Riley.

"Why don't we just file some false complaint and eliminate her from the team?" Riley asks.

Oh, I've thought about that. A lot. Every single cheer practice.

But that wouldn't be right. 

I mean most of them on the team wish for the most horrible things for me.

A little too horrible.

'I wish her dad dies and she realizes how pathetic she is without her daddy's money.'

'Sean's little bitch. I'm so waiting for the humiliation she'll go through when Sean realizes how bored he is of her'.

'I bet she fucks the principal too that's how she gets out of trouble all the time.'

If Riley hadn't been there listening in on everything, I would have never known my own team bitches about me behind my back.

The only reason for that is that they're jealous. Everyone wants to be the captain of the cheerleading team. Everyone wants to date the captain of the football team. Everyone wants a rich dad who can snap his fingers and get you anything you want.

What they don't realize is, I got my current position fair and square. Years of hard work, childhood dreams, repeated failures and never-ending determination got me where I am today.

What they don't realize is, it's not easy "dating" the captain of the football team. Sean and I may have our casual fucks, but that doesn't mean a thing to either of us. Sean is not open for relationships and to be honest, he quite exactly doesn't match my type of guy.

Sure he's hella hot with muscles like granite and flashes the sexiest smirks that make you wanna capture it and remember it while coming. But he's also the most distant, insensitive, son of a bitch you'll ever meet.

Good thing we're childhood friends or else I would've bitch-slapped that jerk's face long ago.

What they also don't realize is, my success has nothing to do with my "daddy's money".

My dad taught me well and good on how to stand up on my feet, how to achieve my dreams, how to make the best use of my talents and face the most difficult challenges.

The only reason I get out of trouble is that I'm simply not the one to blame for anything. That's all.

Returning back to Riley's question, I shake my head. "Too easy."

"Ah." She nods, grinning. "Take her down the hard way, huh?"

"Something like that." I chuckle.

I almost stop dead in my tracks when my eyes land on a familiar hooded head, not so far from me.

Castle glides through the crowd. He stands out in his own way, yet he seems like the most invisible person.

My eyes can't help but follow him, watching the way his tall yet lean body moves. The way his arms are casually stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie, how his face displays annoyance, boredom, and a hint of exhaustion. His big round glasses make him look even more appealing.

There's a way in which Castle walks. It's as if he doesn't care about his surroundings. Like he's in his own world, not bothering to spare a glance at anyone.

I wonder if he has friends or something.

In my distraction of staring at Castle, I don't see the person in front of me and bump into him.

The contact has me stumbling back until Riley has me steady with a hand on my arm.

I look up to see a broad back turning around to reveal Sean.

"Hey." I smile up at him.

He raises an eyebrow. "You turned blind or something overnight?"

"Just distracted." I wave a hand.

"Of what?"

"Oh, you know? The usual; myself."

He shakes his head, slinging an arm over my shoulder, bringing me closer to his side. I look ahead to see four of his football teammates.

One of them notices Riley and shoots her a wink. Riley tilts her head suggestively at him.

I blow out a low whistle. "Looks like you did find another whore." I comment.

"Your wish was my command after all." She smiles.

"Yo, why weren't you there?" Another one of Sean's teammates questions me.

Now I didn't wanna sound lame by saying something like 'my dad didn't allow' or 'I was studying'.

"I had other things going on," I said, instead.

Sean snorts and Riley hides a smile.

A conversation picks up and for a while, we just stand talking.

"Hey, hey, hey, look at him." One of the teammates, Joshua, grabs our attention, gesturing with his head to look in a certain direction.

We all look.

My smile drops a little when I realize who's he gesturing towards.

Castle.

"Isn't he the one we messed with last week?" Another guy, Justin, grins.

"The week before that too," Joshua says. "Remember how we locked his skinny ass in the cafeteria fridge and later they found him half-unconscious."

My mouth slightly gapes open.

I had heard the school found a boy locked in the cafeteria fridge. He might've been locked in there for who knows how long that when they took him out, he might as well have been dead. They said it took almost two hours to warm him up and bring him back to consciousness.

I didn't know the boy was Castle...

"Why did you lock him up?" The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Justin smirks at me. "Guy was being too much of a smartass. Because of a sudden game, Joshua and I didn't have time to do this stupid assignment. So we told that bitch over there to do it for us. The next day, the teacher calls us and makes us read our assignment out loud in class."

"Oh wait, I remember that," Riley says. "It was something like 'I'm a fucking baby who doesn't know to write an essay about my own mother and I still cry for my mommy's boob'."

I have about 0.2 seconds to muffle the laughter that almost shoots out my mouth. Goddamn, Castle actually did that?

"Yup. That's the one." Joshua rubs a hand on his jaw, looking pissed. "Someone had to teach that motherfucker a lesson."

I stop myself from raising my eyebrows.

"Wanna put on a show again?" Justin smirks at Joshua.

An equally smug and devious smirk curls on Joshua's face. "You know it."

"Are you sure you want to waste your time on him again?" I make sure my voice is laced with boredom instead of slight anger.

"It's not wasting time if you're showing a fucker where his place is." Justin cracks his knuckles.

Before I know it, Joshua and Justin are making their way over to Castle.

I look around to see if anyone is going to stop them.

No one.

Castle is busy going through his locker, not aware of the oncoming danger his way.

I look up at Sean and he catches my eye.

Something must've been there on my face because he looks back at Joshua and Justin with a small frown.

Sean walks behind them at his own pace, pulling me along with him.

Castle is sorting through something in his lockers when Justin reaches him and smacks the back of his head. The smack must've been hard because Castle's head jerks forward, almost colliding with the metal shelf of the locker.

He catches himself just in time by placing a big palm on the locker door beside him. He turns around, nothing betrays his face as he blankly sets his gaze on Justin.

Joshua nods in greeting, a wide grin on his face. "How ya holdin' up?"

Castle remains silent, his face blank as ever.

"Let's see what you got in there." Joshua steps up towards Castle and shoves him out of the way to get a look at his locker.

Castle stumbles but doesn't trip. I wait for him to say something.

Confusion draws over me when he remains silent.  

Why isn't he saying anything?

For the next two minutes, Joshua and Justin take out every single thing from Castle's locker before throwing it over their shoulder.

Justin takes out a pair of glasses from the locker. "Ooo look what we got here."

He puts on the glasses. "Look at me! I'm Castle, mommy's little bitch!"

They laugh.

My eyes dart from Castle to Justin and Joshua. I'm still waiting for Castle to do something. For someone who made the bold move of writing that fake assignment, I would've expected him to snap or yell at them by now. 

A small crowd begins to form around us and all of them enjoy and laugh as Justin and Joshua make fun of everything contained in Castle's locker.

Castle still doesn't show any expression except for his tight-locked jaw.

Justin takes out the glasses from his face and before I know it, he drops them on the ground before lifting his foot and slamming it on the glasses. The glass crunches beneath his feet and I feel my irritation sparking.

When Justin lifts his feet, all that remains underneath are broken pieces of glass.

Castle doesn't even glance at his loss, gazing at Justin.

Joshua finds a stack of papers. "Is this your homework?" He doesn't wait for an answer before ripping the pages in half and then ripping them some more before flinging the pieces of paper at Castle.

Castle closes his eyes as the pieces of paper fly around him.

Why the fuck isn't he doing anything?

Joshua and Justin don't seem to stop there. They proceed to take out everything from Castle's locker.

I can't stand it anymore.

"I think that's enough." I step forward.

"Yo, Holly look at this." Justin reaches forward and shoves Castle. "Look, he doesn't even react."

"I said stop." I grab Justin's arm before he shoves Castle again.

"Why are you being such a mood kill?" Joshua frowns at me.

"I don't think your coach will like it very much if he finds out that you're bullying someone." The warning in my tone is unmistakable. 

I glance at Castle, but he doesn't meet my eyes. Why the fuck isn't he doing anything?

"Oh come on. We're not injuring him." Joshua shrugs. "It's just playful fun." 

"Playful fun?" I raise my eyebrows before giving him a pointed look. "Leave."  

"Boo, Holly." Justin choruses. He gets closer to my ear, yelling. "Boo!" 

I raise my fist to punch him to which he laughs and jerks back.  

Sean sighs. "I think that's enough, boys."

"But we were just getting started." Joshua grins at Sean.

Sean keeps his gaze cool but firm. "I said, enough. Let's go. We got practice in fifteen minutes."

Joshua and Justin give a look as if they're kids and their mom just said, 'It's time to go home'. 

Fucking assholes. 

They pass Castle while walking away. Without warning, Joshua's hand strikes out and he lands a punch on Castle's gut.

"Hey!" I yell. 

Castle doubles over from the impact but he doesn't make a sound, biting his lip.

I step forward to punch Joshua but he sees the look on my face and breaks out into a run, laughing. 

What is he? A fucking kid? I swear to God, once I get my hands on him. 

I turn around to look at Castle.

He stands silently, gazing down at his losses. He closes his eyes and looks up at the ceiling, letting out a silent sigh.

He must've felt my gaze because he opens his eyes and looks at me.

I don't know what emotion is on my face, but I hope it's anger and questions. 

I open my mouth to ask why the hell did he not say anything, he didn't even react, but before I can, he shakes his head, turning around and walking in the opposite direction.  

★・・・・・・★

Castle getting bullied was kind of my favourite part in this chapter...but that's only because of the way Holly's going to react ;)

Have you people ever been bullied?

Words: 3,800

Date of publishing: 3rd March 2023