Present Day
Ivan spit on the shoes of the football player pinning him against the wall. His cheek was swollen from the blow to the face he had taken, but the fire in his eyes was only growing. He clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists. "I said to take it back," he snarled out. His fist suddenly crashed into the other boy's jaw. "Take it back!" he roared.
The football player raised his fist to strike the other boy again, but someone behind him caught it. He turned around to look at whomever was holding his arm back. His eyes narrowed upon seeing it was none other than the quarterback, Alfred Jones.
"Leave him alone," the quarterback commanded. "You don't want to get caught fighting, do you? Coach will kick you off the team for sure if he finds out, and if you hit him again, I'll be the one who tells him. Now lay off and beat it."
"You don't scare me, Jones," the other guy growled, narrowing his eyes at the other boy. "You're just a snitch anyway. You, and that loser brother of yours. Do you think you own the school or something? Also, why do you care what happens to this guy? Do you even know him?"
"I thought you had a thing for Chun-Yan," Alfred commented. "Didn't you know that he's her best friend? They're kinda like a package deal, you know. If she finds out you did this, she'll hate you forever."
"Him having a thing for Chun-Yan?!" Ivan roared. "Give me a break! He was talking shit about her!" He tried to lunge at the football player, but Alfred blocked him. "Get out of the way, Alfred! This guy needs to be taught a lesson! He was bitching to all of his friends that Chun-Yan doesn't 'put out', and I need to shut that mouth of his for good!"
The quarterback turned to his fellow teammate, glaring. "Dude, what the fuck? Why would you ever say something like that about her? That's not right at all." He turned to his teammate and cracked his knuckles. "What do you say I let Ivan finish pummeling you and then deal with you myself?"
A wicked grin made its presence known on Ivan's face as Alfred stepped aside to let him through. "Let's see how much you'll be able to talk when I'm done with you," he growled, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "Her name will never leave your lips again after this, I can promise you that much."
Just as he was about to throw a punch, none other than Chun-Yan Wang rounded the corner and froze, taking in the scene that quickly unfolded before her. "Ivan!" she squeaked, running to his side. Her hand reached up and cupped his cheek, slowly turning his head to examine the bruise that was slowly forming on his face. "What happened to you? Who did this?" She immediately rounded upon the two football players, fire in her eyes. "Alright, which one of you was it?" she asked, her usual happy-go-lucky charm quickly forgotten at seeing the state of her best friend.
"Dude, Chun, I swear it wasn't me," Alfred quickly said. "I was trying to break up the fight. When I came here, John looked as if he were about to punch Ivan." He cast a devilish smirk in the other football player's direction as Chun-Yan's glare shifted over to him as well. "Ivan was just defending you in your absence."
Chun-Yan blinked her dark eyes in surprise. "Defending me?" She looked up at Ivan for an answer. "What were you defending me for, Ivan? What happened?"
Knowing he was screwed the moment she found out what he'd said, John made an attempt to sneak away while she was distracted, but Alfred caught him by the collar of his shirt. "Where do you think you're going, bro?" the blond asked him. "I don't think she's done speaking to you just yet. Give it a moment, okay? You should just hear her out, just like any decent man would."
"You went on a date with him on Saturday, right?" Ivan asked his friend, frowning when she confirmed it. "Well this guy right here was complaining to some of his buddies that you don't put out and that taking you out was a waste of time. I didn't like him saying that about you, so I called him out and this is what he did to me." He pointed to the bruise on his face. "You shouldn't go out with people like that if they're just going to do this shit to you afterwards. I don't like that."
She fought back the tears forming in her eyes as she looked over at John. "Y-You really said that?" she quietly asked, sniffling. Chun-Yan scrubbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "Why would you do something like that? You told me you didn't expect anything from me, and then you went on to complain about me to your friends. That's so messed up!" Her face was streaked with tears and makeup as she brought her arm back down to her side. "Why would you do that to me? What did I ever do to you?"
"I just…" John's voice trailed off as he tried to think of what to say to console her. It was true that he had said those things, but he more or less said them because that's what the guys in the locker room wanted to hear. But how could he even begin to explain something like that?
Alfred sighed and turned to Ivan. "Mind if I take him to the coach myself?" he asked, gaining a simple nod in return. He then turned to the other male present. "Let's go, John. You've got a lot of explaining to do."
Ivan watched as the two football players walked off in the direction of the locker rooms, Alfred more-or-less dragging John with him. He decided that despite being popular and all, the blond really was a good guy if he cared about Chun-Yan that much. He felt happy to know that his best friend had another strong ally like him.
"Why are boys so mean, Ivan?" she sighed, frowning up at him. "I just don't understand it. What do they gain from speaking so horribly about us girls like that?"
"They just think too hard with the wrong head," he replied, cupping her cheeks in his hands as he wiped away her mascara streaks with his thumbs. "I'm sorry that he did such a thing, Chun. It was completely uncalled for." Ivan pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back gently. "You don't owe him anything, Chun. Never ever think that you do. I won't tell you that boys will be boys, because that's not the case and we both know that. What he did was cruel, and you didn't deserve that."
"C-Can you take me to Mr. Williams's office?" she finally squeaked out, clutching his shirt tightly. "I want to talk to him, but who knows what boys heard that rumor?" Chun-Yan pulled away from Ivan, eyes wide. "What if that rumor spreads towards the middle school?" she worried. "I don't want my little brother to hear something like that! What would Leon think?"
Ivan fought back the smile that threatened to play on his lips. It was just like Chun-Yan to worry about her brother hearing some baseless rumor, but he knew her fear behind it. After all, she wasn't allowed to go on dates, and if her father somehow got wind of it, there would be hell to pay. He had to make sure that word of it didn't spread outside of the high school. And after walking Chun-Yan to the counselor's office, he decided to confront the source itself.
.
"Chun-Yan, what brings you to my office today?" Matthew Williams asked, gesturing for her to sit in one of the plush chairs across his desk from him. "You seem upset. What happened?"
She sat down in the chair and balled her hands into fists in her lap, glaring down at them. "M-Mr. Williams," she began, "someone said something terrible about me and then tried to beat up Ivan when he was confronted about it…" Her eyes overflowed with tears once again. "I don't know why people have to be so mean, Mr. Williams. If your brother hadn't stepped in, Ivan might've gotten even more hurt than he already is…"
"Al helped you?" Matthew asked, trying to hide the surprise in his voice. He never pegged his brother as the type to stick his neck out for someone else. "I'm glad to hear that. If you don't mind me asking, what was said about you?"
"This past weekend, I went out on a date with John Evans on the football team," she slowly replied, refusing to look up from her lap. "My father is against me dating anyone, so I had to lie about what I was doing. I had a lot of fun, and I thought John did too, but apparently I was wrong. This morning, in the locker room, I found out that he was complaining to the other boys on the football team about how I don't," her voice lowered significantly, "put out."
The counselor's eyes grew wide in shock. "Oh, my God," he muttered. "Chun-Yan, that's horrible. I'm so sorry that someone did something like that to you. That's so cruel. Are you okay? Do you want me to take this to the principal?"
"Word travels fast in high school," Chun-Yan stated. "I don't want this getting out, Mr. Williams. If it makes it to the middle school and my brother hears it, he might tell my father, and that's the last thing I want…"
"I'll see what I can do," Matthew replied, sighing. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through something like that. If there's anything I can do as a person in authority, please let me know. John's behavior is completely unacceptable, and I won't let it go unnoticed."
"Alfred dragged him to the coach right before I came here."
"That won't do anything," the counselor scoffed. "That man does nothing more than give them a slap on the wrist and send them back. If you're alright with it, I'd rather take something like this to Headmaster Beilschmidt. Things like that won't be tolerated in this school, and I'm sorry that it happened to you. I want to try to prevent anything like this from happening in the future. Would you allow me to? I don't have to use your name or anything."
"Please," Chun-Yan said after a moment. "Please tell him. I don't know if I'd like my name used, though. If you could keep my identity a secret, then I have no problems with you talking to him about it." Her mouth pulled into a frown. "The last thing I would want is him contacting my father over this, whether it's for my benefit or not."
"I'll be sure to keep it anonymous," Matthew assured. "You seem to have calmed down some. Would you like a few more moments to center yourself before returning to class?"
She smiled with relief, looking in the mirror on his desk and fixing up her appearance. "You know, I think you just might be one of the only adults in this school who actually gets it, Mr. Williams. Thank you. You're a lot of help, and I appreciate you."
"Hearing those words makes me feel that I've done my job right, Chun-Yan," he simply replied.
.
"Hey Leon, you heard what they're saying about your sister, right?" Natalia Arlovskaya asked the boy who sat in front of her, poking his shoulder repeatedly. "I don't think it's right, and you should probably shut them up."
Leon Wang closed the book he was reading and swiveled in his seat to look back at Natalia. "What are they saying? Chun isn't the type to do anything suggestive, so it's probably just a baseless rumor anyway."
"They're saying she went on a date with one of the guys on the football team, gave him blue balls, and then just left," the girl replied. "From what I know about your sister, she really doesn't seem the type, you know? Chun-Yan always struck me as friendly, but not exactly flirty. Maybe it's just a big misunderstanding or something."
Leon turned back to face forward in his chair. "That's it?" he asked, almost disappointed that it wasn't something juicier. "It's definitely a misunderstanding. My sister isn't even allowed to date anyway. Don't read too much into it." He opened his book back up and stared down at the page, trying to force himself to read. Yet he couldn't help but wonder how gossip like that was considered even remotely important enough to leak into a completely different school.
"Students, please quiet down!" the teacher announced, walking into the classroom. "Today, we have a new student here with us. He just moved here last week, and I want you all to be kind to him, okay? Introduce yourself."
When Leon looked up, there was a boy with silvery-hair and a nervous smile on his face standing in front of the classroom. He was short and pale, but he looked as if he held himself well. And those violet eyes were so beautiful that the other boy couldn't look away. How fortunate to have such a beautiful person in his class.
"Hello," the boy said, voice thick with a Scandinavian accent, "my name is Emil Steilsson. I just moved here from Norway. I'm pleased to meet you all." His eyes pleaded up at the teacher to just let him go and sit down.
"Thank you, Emil," the teacher stated, nodding to him. "I'd like you to go and take a seat behind Natalia over there. Natalia, raise your hand, please, so he knows where to go."
Leon heard Natalia shift in her desk behind him and forced himself to drop his eyes back into his book, too nervous to look at Emil as he passed by. His heart was pounding in his chest as he heard the careful footsteps pass him, and he felt as if he were going to explode. He'd had crushes many times in his life, but never one like this. This was something beyond a crush. Could it be love at first sight, or was that far too cheesy? Either way, Leon had trouble focusing in class for the rest of the day, knowing that Emil was only two seats behind him.
.
Chun-Yan pulled her car into the pick-up lane at the middle school and patiently waited for Leon. She looked over at Ivan and sighed. "I really hope that my dad doesn't hear about that rumor at school today," she groaned. "He'll kill me!"
Ivan frowned at her choice of words, knowing that they weren't too far off the mark for someone like Yao Wang. "Maybe you'll get lucky and he won't even be home by the time you get there," he suggested.
"Hopefully," she sighed as Leon got into the back seat of the car.
After dropping Ivan off at his house, she drove herself and her brother home, noticing their father's car in the driveway. Her heart nearly stopped as she pulled her keys from the ignition. Hopefully he didn't know that she had gone on a date. If he knew, she didn't want to think about what he'd do.
She nervously stepped into the house, long after Leon had already entered. With a cautious deep breath, she closed the front door and was instantly intercepted by her father, fire in his eyes. Chun-Yan felt a hand around her throat as she was pinned to the wall by him. Knowing it was useless to struggle for air, she tried to relax her body, fighting down the urge to pry his hands off of her.
Yao's hand came down on his daughter's cheek, a loud slap echoing through the entryway of the house. His grip around her neck tightened as he growled out, "Did you think I wouldn't find out that you went out behind my back?"
