Here is the next chapter! Enjoy :)
Lia didn't know what else to do, saying yes to the bully in school to save herself from further harrassment. Now the promise she made to Dre didn't seem to matter, she couldn't take it anymore. When Cheng heard her say those words "You win", he stood up with a smile on his face and walked towards her. "I knew you would make the right decision, I guess my visit with you earlier made a difference" he said as he reached his hand up to touch the marks on her neck, only for her to smack his hand away "Look I said you won, we can be friends, but I don't have to take any of your crap in exchange. I will not hang out with you and I will not sit with you in school, you ruined any kind of real friendship when you laid your hands on me" she snapped, backing away from him once more and crossing her arms.
Cheng smirked, almost laughed. "Oh Lia, you really don't pay attention do you? You made the decision to be friends, so we will take it slow; but we will be hanging out and you will sit with me at school. If you don't, we really aren't friends and you know what that means..."he said as he stalked closer to her. Lia had enough, shaking her head as tears started to form in her eyes "NO! I AM MY OWN PERSON AND I WILL NOT OBEY YOU!" she yelled before she started to walk back to the apartments. Cheng was a little stunned by her sudden volume of the voice, but that didn't stop him from going after her again.
Before Lia even had time to turn around to see if he was following her, he was already behind her and shoved her into the park bathroom, locking the door behind him. Lia was officially scared now, looking at him with such fear in her eyes as she backed away from him, obviously not getting far since they were in a small bathroom. "You think you can talk to your new friend like that? You think I am just doing this to get you under my control? Oh honey, that's just a part of it." he said as he shoved her again, this time she fell onto the floor but tried to scoot away from him. Cheng didn't allow her to move far, standing over her in straddle position and dropping to his knees; trapping her to the floor with his weight.
"Please Cheng...don't do this! PLEASE!" she begged as she tried to push him off of her, clawing at his chest and even punching him. Cheng was stronger though, grabbing her wrists and pinning them by her head. "Stop it Lia, I won't do anything to you. I just want you to understand something about being my friend. I want more than a friendship with you, I like you...a lot. Of course I will respect your personal space-" Lia interrupted "Oh like right now?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS CHENG?! GET OFF OF ME!" she yelled as tears rolled down her face, struggling under his weight, but she managing to get one of her hands free and punching him right in the face.
Cheng managed to stay on top of her, but his grip on her was no more. He spit out some blood from his mouth before looking back down at her "You know, for someone who is obviously weaker than me, you can sure throw a punch" he said before grabbing her wrists again but he just held them to his chest this time, instead of pinning them. "Now, listen to me Lia...and I'll let you up" he said to her, watching her struggle to get out of his grip again.
Dre got to the park, but didn't see Lia anywhere. This was the only place he could think of that she would go to be alone. When he got closer to the bathrooms, he walked up to the girls bathroom and went to the push it open, only to find that it was locked; so he knocked "Lia? You in there?" he asked through the door.
Cheng froze, immediately using his free hand to cover her mouth so she couldn't scream. Leaning down, he got close to her ear "Don't make me hurt you Lia" he threatened, his grip on her hands tightening. Lia could only muffle through his hand but she stayed quiet, in fear that Cheng would actually hurt her worse than he already has. He has ample opportunity right now to do anything he wanted with her and he would get away with it.
Dre didn't hear anything from the bathroom, so he just assumed it was some homeless person in the bathroom and left. He couldn't find Lia anywhere, so he thought maybe she already went home. He was still worried, especially with Cheng out there stalking her. He could only hope and pray that she is already at home and he won't have to worry about her for the night.
When Cheng heard Dre walk away, he took his hand off her mouth and stood up, putting his ear to the door. Lia immediately stood up, breathing heavily as tears streamed down her face. "Please just let me out of here Cheng...please..."she begged him, her voice breaking as she started to break down. Cheng looked back at her, leaning against the door and crossing his arms " Not until we have an official deal. We start off as friends, then maybe, if the time is right, we become more than that?" he asked her, seeing the look on her face but putting his hand up to stop her " I know that doesn't seem possible right now, which is why we will take things slow and you will see that I am not such a bad guy; when you're my friend of course" he said to her.
Lia's whole body was shaking, remembering what happened at home and why she came here to begin with. Looking down at the ground, she thought about what could happen from here on out, not looking up at Cheng until after a few minutes went by "Do we have a deal?" he asked her, crossing his arms again. Lia sighed heavily, her hand stroking the sore spot on her neck "yes..." she said timidly.
Cheng smiled, finally getting what he wanted. After a moment of silence, he relaxed and unlocked the door, opening it to leave but turning towards her "I'm sorry for scaring you. You'll see that you didn't make a mistake "he said before leaving the bathroom. Lia didn't waste any time locking the bathroom door and breaking down against the door. She remained in the bathroom, crying; for a while before she decided to head back home. Making sure Cheng was officially gone, she looked around the park before exiting the bathroom and walking home.
When she got home, Sherry was watching tv with Dre "Hey Lia, where were you? You had us worried", Sherry asked as she analyzed Lia's body language. "Sorry, I just went for a walk" she said as she went into her room, shutting the door. Dre didn't waste any time going into her room without knocking, shutting the door behind him. Lia jumped a bit, seeing Dre's face, she knew that he knew...
"Cheng got to you didn't he?" he asked her. Lia didn't have to answer, only sat on her bed and looked away from him "I'm sorry Dre...but he and I are friends now." she said to him quietly, but he managed to hear her. He couldn't believe it, gripping his braids and pacing around "Are you serious Lia? Don't you know what kind of reputation he has?! He got to you and now you're friends with him against your will. I'm not stupid, I see those bruises on your neck" he said as he clenched his fists, angry that this bully would lay his hands on his cousin. "This won't happen, I'll fix this, don't worry ok?" he said as he left her room and left the apartment, once again ignoring his mother.
Dre walked around until he saw a group of boys that he knew was Cheng's friends. They were all hanging out in front of a house, thinking that might belong to one of them. When they saw Dre walk up, they all stood up, ready to fight "where is he?" he asked, making them laugh a bit "He's not here. Got a message for him?" Liang asked, walking up to him. Dre tensed and balled him his fists "Yes. Tell him I accept the rematch" he said before turning around and walking away...
The next day..
Lia knew today was going to be one of those days, but different since Cheng won't be bullying her, just hanging around her like yesterday never happened. Looking in the mirror, the bruises on her neck got a lot darker; rolling her eyes in annoyance since she now had to wear makeup on her neck to hide it from her Aunt. She got dressed in a long sleeve dark blue shirt and some hip hugger blue jeans, letting her hair down and putting some concealer on her neck. Though this wasn't the first time she had to hide bruises, grabbing one of her light scarfs and wrapping it around her neck.
Dre was sitting at the breakfast table when she came out of her room, giving her a look that he was really aggravated but concerned. Lia was nervous enough about today, she just decided to skip breakfast and started to walk towards the door " Lia you don't want breakfast? Its gonna be a long day" Sherry said, looking at Lia with that look in her eye like she knew something. Lia stopped and turned to look at her, giving her a fake smile "I'm sorry Aunt Sherry, I'm just not hungry. I'll see you later" she said as she left the apartment. Dre also put his fork down and started to leave, but his mother stopped him " Dre! What is going on with her? Is something going on?" she asked, crossing her arms. Dre shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his backpack. "Its just some people at school giving her a hard time is all, nothing out of the norm. I'll see you later mom, love you" he said as he left the apartment.
Catching up to Lia, Dre walked next to her and sighed heavily. Lia didn't want to beat around the bush, she wanted to know how Dre was going to fix this "So, what are you going to do to fix this?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow. Dre didn't answer her, just kept looking forward. This annoyed her, she hated being ignored "Hello? I'm talking to you!" she said as she shoved him.
"Don't worry about it, this is between he and I now ok?" he snapped, putting his hands in his pockets and quickening his pace.
When they got to school, Lia looked around, hoping not to see Cheng right away. "If I could hide in the girls bathroom all day, I would" she said to Dre in a nervous tone. Dre raised an eyebrow in response, looking around them as they entered the school yard.
Cheng was with his friends, who had already told him the message Dre gave them last night. At first he was excited, then he thought of what point was the fight if he didn't get everything he wanted. Seeing the Parkers come into the school yard, he ushered his friends to follow him as he walked up to Dre and Lia. Lia didn't look him in the eye, just simply looked at the ground and crossed her arms "What? No hello? That's not how friends treat each other " Cheng joked as he went to approach Lia but Dre got in front of him. "Leave her alone Cheng, I gave your little minions the message to give to you. I'll fight you again if that's what you really want, just leave my cousin alone" Dre said to him, making him smirk and laugh a bit. "You think it will be that easy to get rid of me? You're sadly mistaken", Cheng said as he looked at Lia once more.
Confused, Dre crossed his arms and looked at Cheng as if he was talking nonsense. "What do you mean?" he asked. Cheng smirked again, shaking his head "I decided I don't want a rematch just yet. You see, your cousin and I made a deal, and I want to enjoy that deal for as long as I desire to" he explained, looking back down at Dre. Shaking his head, Dre wasn't having any of it "No, I don't care what kind of deal you two made, its not going to happen! Now I'll have that rematch with you and you leave her alone, no matter what!" he yelled before taking Lia's arm and pulling her with him as he walked away.
Cheng watched them walk away, smiling evil like as he watched Lia. Putting his hands in his pockets, he turned back to his friends and nodded " I think its time to officially welcome Lia into our group, what do you think?" he asked. They all nodded and smiled, already thinking of how they would do that, since they don't really have a way to welcome someone who didn't know Kung Fu into their group...
I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS RATHER DELAYED CHAPTER! FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FOLLOWING MY FOREIGN LOVE STORY, I FINALLY HAVE A GREAT IDEA THAT I THINK YOU ALL WILL LOVE. CURRENTLY WORKING ON IT!