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Sylvaine walked into the school, her head hanging down ignoring the stares and whispers around her. Silas joined her shortly after, wrapping an arm around her slumped shoulders, startling her. She looked up into his whiskey-colored eyes and her eyes filled with tears. The teen frowned before he pulled her into an empty classroom, shushing her gently.

“Oh, pretty girl, what happened?” Silas asked his girlfriend of 2 months, pulling her into his arms.

“He’s back. They all are, and I can’t take it. It hurts, Silas, I don’t want to feel like this anymore.” Sylvaine said, clutching onto the whiskey-eyed boy.

“When did he come back? Are they here for good? Why are they back?” He pulled away to look into her saddened chocolate brown eyes, searching them for answers.

“He showed up on my doorstep around eleven last night and tried to get me to listen to whatever explanation he could come up with for leaving me. I didn’t give him any response other than telling him I have a boyfriend now. I closed the door in his face then had to deal with Beatrice, who, if you don’t remember, is dating his younger brother, yelling at me for not forgiving him the way she forgave Ethan for leaving. It was a long night, and I don’t even know if I should be here at school today, but I couldn’t stay home and listen to Beatrice and Ethan go at it and be all sugary sweet with each other.” She dove back into his chest desperate to hide from the world and her problems.

Silas went to speak again but was interrupted by the door opening behind them. Two teenagers walked in, Jasper and Cassian, frowning as they gazed upon the scene in front of them.

“Who are you and why are you hugging my girlfriend?” Cassian asked, a hint of irritation seeping into his tone.

“I’m her boyfriend. You don’t get the right to call her your girlfriend after you disappeared on her, which I don’t get, by the way. Your sister stayed so why didn’t you?” Silas said, glaring at the green-eyed male.

“I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Our parents made us,” Cassian said.

“Well, just because you’re back doesn’t mean you can have her. She’s been doing just fine considering you left her without warning and I’m not going to let you mess that up,” Silas said before he pushed his way past the two boys, pulling Sylvaine with him into the hall.

Sylvaine took a deep breath, brushed the burning tears off her face and pressed herself against the warmth of Silas’ side. Relishing in the feel of him against her. She needed a moment to gather herself enough to attend class and Silas was determined to give it to her.

“Come on, baby, let’s go get you some water then we can head to class, okay?” Silas said, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead as they walked.

Sylvaine nodded and allowed the taller male to pull her to the vending machine that housed different drinks. She couldn’t get Cassian off her mind. Why did he think that just because he came back that he was entitled to her. He didn’t even come back for her; he came back because his parents missed the area. She was sure that if given the choice, he would’ve stayed away. Silas paid for her water and opened it, but before he could hand it to her, a hand snatched it from him.

“What the—dude, why did you do that?” Silas asked, glaring at Cassian who had followed them.

“Get away from my girlfriend. She doesn’t need you anymore now that I’m here,” Cassian said loudly, sneering at the couple.

Sylvaine flinched slightly at the raised volume. Why won’t he just leave me alone? I told him I’m taken. Why can’t he take the hint? It didn’t make sense to her. No means no, not keep trying.

“She’s not your girlfriend. She’s mine. Like I said before you lost the right to call her anything of yours the night you left her behind without so much as a text or a call, heck even a letter,” Silas said, snatching the water back before he handed it to Sylvaine.

“Say that again and you won’t like the outcome,” Cassian growled, getting into Silas’s face.

Sylvaine gulped down a bit of water, watching the two boys fight over her with wide eyes. Please, don’t fight. I don’t want to deal with this right now. I just want Cassian to leave me alone. The water cooled down her burning throat, refreshing her just a bit. It didn’t take away the feeling of fear creeping up on her though, fear that things would escalate to something worse. During the months that she had known Silas, she learned that he would never back down from a fight, especially regarding her, so she knew things would not be cooling down unless someone stopped them.

“You. Don’t. Have. The. Right—” Silas was cut off by a punch.

Sylvaine gasped, dropping her water bottle as she stumbled away from the fighting boys. Cassian threw another punch at Silas, but he dodged it and threw his own punch that caught Cassian on the jaw. Cassian stumbled back but quickly threw himself back into the fight. He pushed Silas to the floor and climbed on top of him, punching him over and over.

“Stop! Please, Cassian!” Sylvaine said, her tears now falling freely as she rushes to pull Cassian off her lover.

Cassian, blind with rage, pushed her off him, which caused her to slam into the lockers behind them, before he continued his assault on Silas who blocked every hit while getting in some of his own.

A sharp pain knocked the breath out of the chocolate-eyed teen. Tears fell down her cheeks as she gazed at the fight with blurred eyes. Her hand reached up to press against the back of her head, feeling a wet spot beginning to form in her curly brown hair. She whimpered softly, light sobs escaping her at the pain prancing through her head. They were like thundering footsteps racing through her mind, giving her a migraine.

“Hey, hey, hey. What in the world are you doing?” Jasper, Cassian’s brother, asked running over to break up the fight.

Jasper, being the bigger of the three teenage boys, roughly grabbed Cassian and pulled him off Silas. He put him in a rear naked choke with one arm, using the other to hold both of his arms behind his back. This successfully kept him from going back to the bloody panting boy on the floor. Silas stumbled to his feet, spitting blood on the ground while he glared at the emerald eyed teen.

Sylvaine whimpered again from her position against the lockers. Jasper’s loud voice had startled her and made her migraine worse. All three of the guys shot their gazes over to her and Silas rushed to her side, worry in his whiskey-colored eyes.

“Baby, what happened? Are you okay?” Silas asked her, pulling her into his arms and checked her head over for any serious damage. A wince left him at the sight of the blood on his hand after touching the back of her head.

“I tried to stop Cassian from hurting you… He pushed me away really hard, and I hit the lockers,” Sylvain said, leaning into his embrace. Her tears slowed their descent down her dark skin.

“I’m sorry, Syl, I didn’t mean to,” Cassian said, frowning down at her as Jasper slowly let his grip fall.

“It doesn’t matter that you didn’t mean to. You hurt her. You never should’ve touched her,” Silas said, sneering at the frowning teen.

“Okay, this is getting annoying. Syl, do you want Cassian back or no?” Jasper asked.

“No,” Sylvaine said instantly.

“Okay, then Cassian you need to leave her alone,” Jasper said to Cassian, who tried to refuse but his brother didn’t give him the chance.

“No. You need to listen when she says no. Leave. Her. Alone.” Jasper pushed the boy in the direction of the nurse’s office.

“Fine…” Cassian said and let his brother manhandle him, not looking back once.

Silas helped his girlfriend up and took her to the second nurse’s office. The two walked through the hallways feeling lighter than when they first entered them.

Sylvaine was free from Cassian and couldn’t be happier about it.

Persephone Lauture originates from a small town in Texas but spent most of their time with his mother and 2 brothers in New York. When he’s not spending his time reading and writing a multitude of fictional stories, you can find them holed up in their room singing many songs, recording songs with his older brother or spending time with their 1-year-old foster sister.