Chapter 8: New friends

~June's POV~ RING! RING! RING!

The bell for the end of school had just rung. I got up out of my seat and headed toward the exit. Byakuya immediately tagged along.

It was the second grade, about two weeks after Byakuya and I met.

I was now used to his presence beside me. Ever since our bikes crashed, he's acted like we were BFFs or something. He would never leave my side. Honestly, it was getting on my nerves.

He ate lunch with me, he worked with me, he walked to and from school with me... I was rarely without Byakuya.

I've wanted to tell him to buzz off on several occasions, but for some reason, I never did. I gave him small hints, but I guess he never picked them up because he never left my side.

And it was the next day that I realized.

Twenty-four hours later, and it was another normal day. I had just exited the school, but for once, Byakuya wasn't with me.

This was unusual, but I just shrugged it off and started my walk home.

I was about to exit the school grounds when I was approached.

"Oh, well would you look who it is!"

"It's little lame June!"

I froze. I knew those voices. Those voices were the voices of my bullies, Yuu Suzuki and Kevin Tanaka.

They've bullied me since I was in kindergarten.

They surrounded me and trapped me against the trunk of a large tree.

"Aw! Look how scared little, wittle June is! Ha! What a scaredy-cat!" Yuu taunted.

"Exactly!" Kevin said. Then he turned to me. "Wow, June, you're so incredibly lame and stupid! And you're a WHIMP, too!"

Yuu chuckled. "Yeah! My little sister is tougher and smarter than YOU! HA!"

"How LAME!" The two boys said together before they cracked up. I cowered away.

Kevin suddenly leaned into me and practically slammed my body against the tree. I winced and cowered away even more in fear.

"Ha! LOSER!" Kevin said. Yuu cackled along with him. By now, tears were forming in my eyes.

"Pl-Please... Leave me alone..." I begged meekly. That just made the boys laugh even HARDER.

"How about we have some fun with this whimp?" Yuu suggested. Kevin smiled.

"Sounds good to me!" Kevin said. Then, he cracked his knuckles and gave me an intimidating look. "Beg for mercy, and we MIGHT let you leave without broken bones!"

I gulped.

"Please stop..." I said. Kevin pondered this for a moment before he laughed again.

"Yeah, on second thought, I changed my mind! It'd be so much more fun to beat you up instead!" Kevin said. Yuu nodded, agreeing.

Then, Kevin held his fist up to me, ready to strike. I winced, bracing for impact.

But, it never came. Why?

Because, suddenly someone was at my side and they shoved Kevin away from me.

It was Byakuya. And he looked MAD.

Then, he got between Kevin and I and shot both Kevin and Yuu a menacing glare.

"Leave her ALONE!" Byakuya shouted angrily. Kevin and Yuu just chuckled at this.

"Oh yeah?! What if we DON'T?!" Yuu said.

"Yeah! What are you gonna do about it, Togami?!" Kevin challenged. I gulped yet again.

Then, Byakuya took a step forward and got in Kevin's face.

"Well, keep bullying her and you'll FIND OUT!" Byakuya threatened.

Kevin and Yuu just glared at Byakuya in return. For several seconds, the three of them just had an intense stare-down.

Then, Byakuya did something I NEVER thought he'd do...

With a swift kick, he kicked both Yuu and Kevin in... Well... WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE, if you know what I mean...

The next few seconds were hilarious.

The second Byakuya's foot made contact with Kevin and Yuu's... YOU KNOW WHATS, Kevin and Yuu doubled over and let out high-pitched screams of pain.

I probably would've stayed standing where I was, watching both Kevin and Yuu clutching their groins if Byakuya hadn't grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

"Come on! Hurry!" He said before we ran off the school grounds. After we were clear from any danger, Byakuya and I collapsed in fits of exhaustion from all that running.

We panted for a couple of seconds before we just grew silent.

We stayed that way for about a second or two before we both burst out laughing.

We laughed so hard that we held our sides. I even noticed Byakuya had tears of laughter in his eyes, threatening to escape. I laughed even harder at that.

After we were both done having our laughing fit, we just stared at each other again in silence.

I spoke up. "I just want to say... Thank you. Thank you so much for what you did back there." I said. And I really meant it.

Byakuya smiled. "It was no problem at all. It was quite enjoyable, actually." He said. I snorted.

"Yeah, I bet IT WAS...!" I laughed.

Suddenly, Byakuya gave me a wide eyed look. "Wait a second, you're actually TALKING TO ME...! That's a relief! I thought you didn't like me...!" He said.

I stopped laughing.

I didn't like him... I actually thought he was annoying... I wanted to him to just go away and leave me alone forever... But, he just SAVED ME...

I turned to face Byakuya and gave him a serious look. "Byakuya, what you did back there... Was pretty AWESOME... No one's EVER stood up for me like that... No one's EVER fought for me like you just did... And... And I want to thank you." I said. Byakuya smiled kindly.

"Of course I stood up for you! Friends don't let friends get bullied! And we're friends, right?" Byakuya said.

I sat in silence for about five seconds before I gave Byakuya a sincere smile. "Yes, we are most definitely friends." I said. Byakuya smiled back.

Then, he suddenly grabbed me into a hug. I melted into the hug and hugged back. Hugging Byakuya felt so right, I had never had a friend before, and now I did.

From that day on, Byakuya and I were the best of friends.

~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke with a startling jolt.

I looked at my alarm clock to see that it was going off. The time read 8:30am.

Suddenly, Kyouko emerged from our dorm room's bathroom with her hair wet and a towel around her body. She gave me a look.

"June! What are you still doing in bed? You're fifteen minutes behind schedule! If you don't hurry you're going to be late for first period!" Kyouko said. After she said that, I immediately jumped out of bed and started getting ready as fast as possible.

"I... I overslept...!" I mumbled as I frantically dressed. "How come you didn't wake me up?!" I demanded to Kyouko as I pulled on my skirt of my Hope's Peak Academy uniform, the one I wore everyday to school.

Kyouko gave me another look. "Look, cous', I was too busy showering and getting ready myself. Just hurry up so we won't be late...!"

I rolled my eyes and continued putting on my uniform. Once I was done with that, I began brushing my hair.

The reason I overslept is probably because of the dream I had least night.

It was a weird one; it was one of my memories from when Byakuya and I were still friends.

I haven't dreamt about Byakuya since... Well... Since we were friends...!

I rolled my eyes to myself as I ran into the bathroom and began brushing my teeth.

Eh... It's not worth thinking about... It probably means nothing... Just nothing...