Chapter 4 - Rachel
A few days later, Alex and Max returned to school. Their class was around 90% boys and 10% girls, and the girls were almost always picked on by the older boys. But Alex and Max were different. They defended them when anyone tried to insult them, making them popular with them. Later that day in English, the teacher had an announcement.
"We have a new girl joining our class today. Her name is Rachel Rose, and I expect you all to be kind to her today. That means you Tom." The teacher pointed at the gang at the back of the class. They merely snorted.
"Rachel, sit wherever you like." Rachel looked around for a place to sit, but no-one wanted her anywhere. Then she saw Alex and Max giving her the 'Come Here' gesture with their hands. She came over to them and sat down.
"Hi." Alex said to her. She blushed very slightly.
"You look quite cute. I like that." She said sweetly to Alex. He turned very red in the face.
"Well, I better introduce myself. My name's Alex Robin and my friend's name is Max Quintel. Our guardians know each other." Rachel turned to Max and shook his hand gently.
"Nice to meet you guys. At my other school, I got bullied constantly. It's nice to meet some nice kids for a change." Her smile was brighter than the sun. Both the boys couldn't resist a smile either.
LATER, AT THE END OF SCHOOL…
Just as Alex was about to meet Margaret to pick him up, he saw Rachel getting bullied by a couple of other kids.
"Look at her. She's a blond hair. BIMBO!" one of the boys yelled. Rachel was on the verge of tears, when Alex came up to them and stood up for her.
"What the hell do you think you're saying?" Alex demanded. The boys started laughing.
"I saw what you two were doing in English. Why go for HER, when you can wait a few years? You know why you don't have many friends Alex? Because YOU HAVE NO FAMILY!" Alex grew so mad with anger he gave the older boy a real punch in the face. He fell to the floor as a warm gush of blood streamed from his nose. The other three boys turned to Alex, grinning.
"You're gonna get such a pounding now mate." One of them said. Alex quickly turned to Rachel.
"You may want to look away here." He advised her. She turned away as she listened to the sounds of Alex's cry of pain, the wallop of punches and the others laughing at him. After 5 minutes, they left Alex's bruised, bloody body in the dust. Rachel ran up to him and started shaking him awake.
"That was so brave, what you just did." She said, starting to smile again. She helped Alex up and took him over to where Margaret was waiting. When she saw Alex, it wasn't pretty.
"Oh my god! What the hell happened?" she asked with a shocked look on her face. Rachel explained how Alex had defended her when some boys were insulting her, and how he took the pounding for her.
"Your brother's really brave." Rachel complimented. Margaret giggled and blushed slightly.
"Well, I guess I had better clean him up at home." She said. Alex smiled at Rachel through the blood and dirt.
"See you tomorrow, Rach." He said, and they each went their separate ways and went home.
Ooh! Love is in the air for Alex and new arrival Rachel. Will they pull through? Keep reading to find out!
