"Meet Ryan, girls," My mum smiled at us as she introduced a man who had brown hair that was combed back neatly showing off his cold, brown eyes that seemed to be glaring at us.

"Is he your new boyfriend?" Ivy asked mum, hiding her frown. I didn't blame her, after dad divorced mum and was put into jail for murder, she had been desperately looking for a replacement. We needed the money after all.

"Yes sweetie, we met a couple of months back," My mum's smile widened.

"That's great mum, nice to meet you Ryan," I held my hand out to Ryan and gave him a small smile. He didn't return it, but he did take my hand and shake it. His brown eyes sent shivers down my back and it felt like a bomb had exploded in my body, almost like my body was warning me that he's dangerous.

If only I took my body's warning and pushed him out of the house.

Mum would've still been alive.

— — —

The next day at school. Aaron and I crossed paths again. When I saw him, I remembered that man.

I remembered Ryan.

They really did look exactly the same. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to find out why they resembled each other so much. So, I walked up to Aaron when no one was around. He didn't run away. He just stood there, his eyes connecting with mine again.

"Do you know who Ryan Lewis is?" I asked him. Aaron's facial expression changed from his usual blank, poker face to terror-filled one.

He knew him.

He definitely knew him.

Aaron put his hands in his pocket, like he was trying to calm himself down then he bit his lip before he answered me.

"How do you know who he is?"

"I'm the one asking the question, so, answer my question."

"Yes, I do know him," Aaron breathed. I froze.

I knew he knew who Ryan. But, I still had hope that Aaron had no connection with him. That it was just a mere coincidence. I analysed Aaron's face again, hoping that there wasn't much of a difference. But, the resemblance was exactly the same.

The way his hair was gelled back.

The way his nose was structured.

The way his eyes were drawn on his face.

The way his face stayed straight.

All the same to that man.

I clenched my fist, blood rushing to it. I pulled my arm back, my fist still in a tight ball and I did what I told Jack I wouldn't do.

I punched him.

He showed no reaction, a small mark formed near his lip where I had punched him. His eyes stayed neutral as they looked at me.

Like him.

That expression. He had on the exact same expression as he watched my mum die. It haunted me in my dreams. How dare he show it again to me. How dare he?

I grabbed him by his collar and instead of pushing him up a locker, I brought him closer to me so that my eyes would haunt him instead.

"Tell me where the fuck he is?" I hissed, I could feel my hands trembling just at the memory of his face. His words.

"Dead. That old man's dead to me." Aaron responded. His eyes carrying the same amount of hatred I carried, but, that didn't stop my hate pouring out for Aaron. Instead, it just infuriated me even more. It made me hate him even more than I already had.

"Don't lie to me. Stop defending that... that... monster. He deserves to die."

"What did he do to you?"

"Tell me where he is Aaron. Tell me."

"I don't know, Smith,"

I kept silent. So did he. In the midst of the silence, the only way we communicated was through our eyes. But, even then, I couldn't tell what Aaron was thinking.

It had been like this from the beginning, only a couple of times have I actually sensed the fear in him. It was like he wanted to keep everyone away.

Well, it only made me want to break him even more so that that poker face of his would disappear and never return.

Yeah, break him. That's what I'll do.

Maybe then he'll tell me more about Ryan.

"You're just like him." I hissed at him as I let him go. I turned around but managed to blurt out the words, "A cruel, cold bastard."

When I tried to walk away, I felt something wrap around my wrist and then pull me back. Aaron turned me around so I was facing him and for the first time, I was terrified of the look on his face. He gripped onto my wrist as if it was his life support, his eyes glowed with anger. They sent shivers down my back but I couldn't pull away. My eyes were glued onto his eyes.

"What did you say?"

My body quivered at the tone of his voice and I was frozen on the spot. His grip around my wrist tightened and we stood like that for a couple of seconds without any words being passed through our lips.

I would say that he was glaring at me.

But, that wasn't it. He wasn't just glaring at me.

It was more than just a 'glare.'

His eyes were squinting and twitching, it was like he was fighting back tears. His chocolate eyes changed to a darker shade, It was like he was dying them black, the colour of darkness. The creases on his face that had been held up too long from his poker face had dropped and emotions were pouring out. Everywhere.

I could read Aaron.

I could read him.

He looked hurt, he felt anger, he was afraid. Afraid, hurt and angry of something.

And that something wasn't me.

Before I could muster the courage to at least mumble a word, someone broke the silence and the tone of the voice wasn't pleasant.

"What the fuck are you doing to her?" Jack came up behind me and pulled me back and into his arms, whilst trying his best to restrain himself from hurting Aaron in any way possible. Aaron easily let go of my wrist when Jack did that and I rubbed my wrist whilst looked down.

Away from Aaron's gaze.

I expected to hear Aaron's footsteps walking away from this scene. From Jack. From me. But, his feet stuck to the floor and he showed no sign of hesitation, even with my head looking down, I could imagine the look on his face. His usual poker face of course.

"I SAID WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?!" Jack shouted once again, holding onto me defensively, I could feel his entire face turning red from rage.

Aaron didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say.

"It's alright Jack," I placed my hand on Jack's chest, slightly pushing him away from Aaron and looked into his now cobalt blue eyes.

"No It's-"

"Jack." I glared at him, "Please, let's just go. I don't want to look at his eyes any longer,"

Jack glared once more at Aaron before he pulled me away towards the crowds of people past the hallway I was talking to Aaron in. I felt dizzy as I remembered Aaron's cold voice echoing, it played over the memory of Ryan, It was like a broken DVD, playing the same scene over and over again.

"Jade, your mother is dead," his words brought me back to reality. I looked up at him and under the night sky with thunder, lightning and rain. His cold eyes from the first day bore into mine. His face remained emotionless, through his white leather jacket, I could picture the red heart he dyed black. I cradled my mother in my arms and cried. Praying for a miracle. Miracle's are real, so I prayed. I prayed to god or whoever controlled fate, I prayed to them pleading for a miracle.

But nothing happened.

"This is all your fault!" I shouted up at him, "it's all your fault!"

He didn't say anything, all he did was remain still with the umbrella covering both my mother and me.

"Why didn't you call an ambulance earlier!? Why'd you even send her out!? It's all your fault! You... You cruel bastard!" I screamed. I screamed and shouted so loud until they just turned into loud, painful sobs that I couldn't control. The ambulance arrived at the scene, but they were late. Far too late.

"I'm sorry Jade."

Those were his last words to me before he disappeared without a trace.

Why did his last words have to be an apology?

Why couldn't he just tell me that he hated us?

I refuse to accept that those were his last words. I refuse to believe it.

— — —

Jack didn't question me about what had happened with Aaron.

In fact, there was no need to. As soon as he managed to pull me away from Aaron, a mob of people had come rushing up to me, throwing at me questions that I knew Jack had wanted to ask me as well.

"What did Aaron do to you?"

"Did he cause that mark on your wrist?"

"Oh em gee, he hurt you?!"

"Why didn't you fight back?"

"Is this because you accidently threw an apple at him?"

"What happened back there, Jade?"

But, even though Jack too wanted to find out the answers himself, he knew that it would be best to leave me alone instead of being questioned all at once.

"Leave her alone, it's only the morning," Jack sighed, then muttered under his breath, "Stupid school reporters."

"We heard that," a girl called Melanie glared at him. Jack just shrugged and pulled me away from them. We made our way to our lesson in silence.

It felt strange.

Jack's rarely quiet when he's with me. So when he finally broke the silence, I felt glad even If I didn't feel like answering it.

"So, care to explain what happened back there with him," He told me, his eyes facing forward.

"Well... I punched him."

Jack paused, taking in the information that I had told him.

"You, Jade Leah Smith, the girl who refused to touch an ant because you were afraid you'd hurt it, punched Aaron Phillips?" Jack rose his eyebrow at me. I nodded at him, scowling that he brought that back.

"I did throw an apple at him, I don't see the big deal."

"You punched him. You punched him. I thought you told me you'd never punch him."

"I didn't say I'd never punch him. I just told you I won't punch him."

"But you did,"

"It's because... you know that feeling... when you get so mad and... ugh, I don't know how to explain it, it's just that I was so pissed and-"

"Yeah, yeah I get it. I'm just surprised. I mean, I never actually expected you to punch him. Yeah, you pushed him but, this time, you punched him. You punched him."

"I get it, Jack, stop saying that or someone will hear,"

"Ok, ok, but you punched him." He repeated, making me facepalm myself. I shouldn't have told him.

— — —

By lunch, rumours had already spread about Aaron hurting me. No one found out about me punching him, no one questioned the bruise on his face. They didn't care about that because someone actually witnessed him hurt me. When his hand had gripped onto my wrist tightly a small bruise had formed and it caught the attention of many people.

"How come no one's questioning the bruise on his face?" I asked Jack quietly, many people were sitting with us at lunch and I didn't like it. I hate hanging around with so many people. It's an invasion of privacy, clearly they didn't understand that, though.

"Guys, what's the rumour going around about Aaron having those bruises on his face nearly every day?" Jack asked the group. They all stopped chatting and answered it as if they had rehearsed it.

"You don't know?"

"Everyday he comes to school with bruises on his face."

"He tries to cover them up with makeup but fails every time."

"He never takes his blazer off because he has bruises on his arms as well apparently,"

"He get's those bruises because he street fights,"

"He's also part of a gang,"

"Wait, how do you know?" I asked them. I mean, I've seen the bruise on his face before that he had covered with makeup but I never heard the rumours or thought too much about it.

"Someone saw him wearing a hoodie and coming out from a mob of people with blood on his cheek, he was helping an older man out so I'm guessing that man's part of his gang,"

I thought about everything they told me. Aaron was part of a gang?! He participated in street fights?!

That explains why he showed no reaction when I punched him. It obviously didn't hurt him, he probably had been punched ten times harder before. His cold gaze gave off a murderous aura.

But why did he seem scared of Jack?

He was scared of something. Something that angered and hurt him as well.

But, what was it?

Finally, I finished this chapter. With all my course work and homework since Thursday, I barely had time to write. Hopefully, after Tuesday I'll have more time to write and finish this story before the end of next week it's only meant to be under 10 chapters, i'm entering it in for a competition so I hope my course work doesn't disrupt my flow of time. I haven't even had enough time to write my other story which is sad because I love writing.

{I hate GCSE'S and school}

What do you think of this chapter? You've gotten to know a little bit about who "Him" is and I'd like to know your thoughts about what you think could've happened.

What do you think of the rumours about Aaron? I mean someone saw him with blood on his face. And the bruises on his face... maybe they're from football since he plays football or maybe they are from street fighting or maybe something else. I mean, rumour's arn't always true.

Comment your thoughts and don't forget to vote ★ if you enoyed it (＾ω＾)7 [Salute!]