One Step at a Time

Updating on Valentine's day cause I have no life… Just kidding more like because I'm single and this just so happened to be written up by today :D hope you peeps out there like it!

Italics = thoughts notes, texts, flashbacks etc.

Chapter 7

Leaf sat at the front of her and towards the door in her history class, trying hard to isolate herself from her cohort whilst being worried about her secret being leaked into the school population. It was a worrying thought to her; her secret was on the verge of being made the next big gossip around school, the thing that people would tease her about – and not even in that friendly way that she would use to secretly love. It would be full on abuse, she knew it already.

She was worried that they would make fun of her like how the haters back at her old school did. The ones who she'd go to the school paper committee or science club with, the ones who believe in careers and ambition over love and relationships. Leaf had a feeling that that's what most of the students here believed in.

The class was made worse when Leaf's isolation tactic backfired. Gary took the seat next to hers. He gave her a daunting smile that sent shivers running up and down her spine before he sat down in a typical slacker fashion: his blazer jacket carelessly slung over the edge of his seat, one arm hanging casuallyfrom his seat while the other rested on the desk and his legs out stretched, creating a tripping hazard for the late comers to the class. The look he gave Leaf had scared the wits out of her but she tried to hide it as best as she could.

Leaf tried to look for another seat. The class was mostly full and the only other spare seat was at the back where Gary would presumably normally sit when he wasn't trying to torment another victim. The seat was surrounded by Gary's friends. Leaf could recognise the green haired boy from a few days ago. It was only now that Leaf realised that he was probably the one who caused the injuries to that poor May girl that she had heard all about. (according to her memory, his name's Drew.) In front of the spare seat was a blonde who tried to steal Leaf's journal on her first day: Olivia. Neither of the seats were looking good but if Leaf had to choose, this one was the preferred one: near the door and withi the teacher's line of vision if Gary tried anything.

The teacher shut the door once all the students had arrived and settled into their seats and started the writing on the board behind him.

Leaf attempted to focus on what the teacher was writing and saying but she couldn't concentrate. Her eyes kept darting over to her tormentor on her right. He was doing something and Leaf could tell that whatever it was, it sure wasn't what he was supposed to be doing.

Gary looked up from what he was doing and gave the scared girl a menacing grin. He tore the sheet of paper that he had been writing on out of his notepad and folded it up then tossed it onto Leaf's desk.

The girl had been watching him the whole time, suspicious of every move he made and when the paper he previously held landed on her desk, Leaf couldn't move quick enough to unfold the piece of paper and read its contents.

Maybe Olivia would like to know.

Leaf felt her blood drain from her body. She suddenly felt worse than she did before. Much worse. She felt her heart rate accelerate in fear. Her head turned to look at Gary whose eyes were on the teacher and the board but a smirk played on his lips. He was holding another piece of paper smugly, similar to the one he gave her. Her dilated pupils were fixated on the roughly folded piece of paper and without warning or thinking; Leaf lunged forward in her seat trying desperately to grab a hold on the sheet. She didn't care that she had caught the attention of the class, what mattered to her was that she got the sheet before anyone else could read its contents.

Gary had Leaf focused in his peripheral vision and the teacher in his main field of vision. He yanked his arm out of the way every time he sensed Leaf making a move to try to grab the sheet. It was only a matter of the time before the teacher caught onto the noise and when he did… Gary left his arm where it was on the desk.

Leaf's eyes widened when she realised she had a firm grasp on the sheet but it didn't take long for her to realise that the teacher had his eyes on her.

"Miss Green, we do not tolerate note passing in this class." The teacher said as he snatched the sheet out of Leaf's hands and stashed it in his drawer. "You can have it back at the end of class."

A victorious smirk spread across Gary's lips as the teacher resumed teaching.

Leaf felt nervous.

Xxxxxx

Class was almost over. Gary hadn't given Leaf much hassle since the note got confiscated, minus the few stares that would make her shuffle uncomfortably in her seat.

Most of the class had already started to pack their things away in preparation to dash out the door and off to their next class. Leaf just wanted to retrieve the note and run home, though it was unlikely she'd be able to get past the receptionist - her first attemt had already failed. She had already stopped her first attempt to get out of the building earlier on in the day.

Leaf quickly shoved her books into her bag, not caring about the pieces of paper that were getting crumpled in the process. Her nerves now were partly due to the fact that Gary was watching her again. She didn't need to look to know that his eyes were burning into her.

As soon as the bell rang, the students left. Gary took his time and sent Leaf one last smug look as he exited the room, leaving Leaf and the teacher behind. Leaf watched as the teacher opened his top drawer and pulled out the note that Leaf had been so desperate to get rid of.

He handed it to her with a stern warning. "Don't ever let me catch you passing notes in my class again or I will get you expelled. The school does not tolerate people like you."

Oh, really? What about the guy who dislocated my shoulder? Last time I checked he's still here making life difficult for me!

"Yes sir." Leaf said politely as she took the note and opened it up to read a message that she did NOT expect to see.

It was the second night in a row that Leaf had spent curled up in her bed with her duvet covering all of her except her face. She had her phone on hand, anticipating the texts that were inevitably going to arrive when Dawn realises that she wasn't going to show up at the park again because she wasn't in the mood to go. She wasn't in the mood to do anything.

Leaf clutched the note in her hands as she tried to remember what the teacher had said to her.

Don't ever let me catch you passing notes in my class again or I will get you expelled.

If getting expelled really was that easy then Leaf wouldn't have to worry, but the problem remained that she'd still live in the same town as the people from Pallet High. The rumours would spread round town and eventually into Pallet Academy and the people there might try to torment her too. Would Dawn do that? She seemed too nice too but then again, Leaf didn't know the girl all that well. And what about Misty? She seemed like the type who'd try hard to protect a friend but did she see Leaf as a friend after that one meeting?

Leaf sighed and let the lone tear slowly trickle down her cheek. Saying she was stressed was understating it.

Knock. Knock.

Leaf sat up, shoved the note under her duvet and quickly wiped her eyes just as the door cracked open. Karen popped her head in. "You're friends are here to see you again, Leafy." She said as she opened up the door even more to let Dawn and Misty into the room.

"Hey." Leaf greeted downwardly as Karen shut the door behind her as she left.

"We surprised you right, just popping up like that?" Dawn asked cheerfully as she bounced onto Leaf's bed and made herself comfortable like the day before.

"Yeah." Leaf replied, trying to sound like everything was okay even though the truth was she was feeling anything but.

"We sat in the park for a bit but we thought you might not show up again so we left early and headed here. I was going to text you first but I thought it'd be more fun if we just showed up like how we did."

"You surprised me all right." Leaf said monotonously.

"Are you okay, Leaf?" Misty asked, "You seem a bit down." Misty wanted to add that she noticed she looked even worse for wear than yesterday, if that was at all possible but refrained from doing so, after all they had just met.

"I'm fine." Leaf said as she shuffled over on her bed, making room for the fiery red head to sit down. "It's just been such a long day."

Misty nodded and sat down between Dawn and Leaf. She felt something as she sat down, something that felt like paper crinkling underneath her. The red head stood back up and removed the paper and read it.

So that's how much it means to you. The secret is much more important to you than I thought.

She looked at Leaf suspiciously afterwards.

"What's this?" Misty asked.

"That's mine!" Leaf said as she tried to snatch it back from Misty.

Misty moved her hand out the way, distancing the note from Leaf. "You're being picked on by those stuck up ba-"

"Let's see!" Dawn said as she snatched the note and read it.

"Which one of them is it that's doing this? Is it that Drew? I bet it's him." Misty asked angrily. Her hands had curled up into tight fists.

"I don't know who this Drew is and I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not being bullied." Leaf said.

"When we met yesterday I wondered what was wrong with your arm but now I get it. They did that to you!" Misty said piecing two and two together faster than Dawn.

"You don't know anything!" Leaf said as she tossed her blanket to one side and stood up. The brunette was about the same height as the fiery red head. Leaf glared at Misty as fiercely as she could, letting all of frustration show with one look.

"I've been in your place before. I know exactly what you're going through. The bullying starts off as mild taunts and threats but that's going to change fast. Whoever wrote this to you obviously knows something you don't want them to and said person is not going to let it slide so easily."

Dawn watched as her two friends argued. She didn't quite understand how she managed to overlook Leaf's sadness and why Misty was so keen on tagging along when she had mentioned meeting a girl their age that goes to Pallet High. But now that the answer was so clear to her, a few other things made sense to her too. Misty wasn't just doing this because she didn't want Leaf to get hurt anymore; she wanted to do what she couldn't for May.

The moment Misty was kicked out of Pallet High was the day that she knew May would in serious trouble. When she had left, contact with May had ceased. May was fighting against a school full of rich delinquents alone. There was no way she would win. But now with Leaf, Misty knew the consequent steps. They knew something of hers; a secret. They were going to blackmail her with it, slowly break her down mentally until she screamed the secret out herself.

Misty knew this process all too well.

"Listen to me Leaf, they know something that you clearly don't want them to know." Leaf continued to glare at Misty as she spoke. "They're not going to forget about it. What you need to do is-"

"I just need to bargain with Gary-"

"Nononononono!" Misty said hastily, Leaf's expression softened. "Do not do that! Gary's the type of guy who plans his next move out. He knows that's what you'll do next, judging by the note." Misty said as she eyes the note in Leaf's hands. "What you need to do is to not go see Gary about it. Trust me."

Leaf gave Misty a wary look.

Dawn looked at Misty suspiciously. "Why do you know what this Gary guy is like? Who is he anyway?"

"Let's just say I've had a few encounters with him before." Misty said, avoiding giving more detail than necessary.

Xxxxxx

The first two periods of the day passed excruciatingly slowly. Leaf had tried to follow Misty's advice and to ignore Gary, do NOT try to negotiate with him. A move like that could land Leaf's secret in even more jeopardy and more jeopardy was not what Leaf needed in her life.

Though Leaf couldn't hide those suspicious glances she casted to the back of the classroom where Gary sat. Every time she turned round Gary would be in conversation with one of the boys from his gang, spreading curiosity into every inch of Leaf's body. Was he sharing her secret with them? She did hear them laugh quite a few times. Were they mocking her?

By the end of second period, Leaf found the tension of not knowing unbearable. She just had to know who he has told the secret to. Leaf tried to follow Gary to wherever he was heading to (presumably to the empty bike shed where all the shady students go) but stopped herself on many occasions. Misty had specifically told her NOT to go to him but to stay in one place, the safe place, the library, at the back where the couches were hidden away. It was apparently the safest place to be since most of the students never went that far into the library.

The large floor to ceiling windows provided a good view of the outside of the school, including the opening arch to the bike shed. Leaf could keep an eye on Gary from here but it was also likely that she would be spotted too. Unless Leaf sat on the couch, she would be exposed for everyone outside to spot her. According to Misty, that's a dangerous move.

Leaf sat down on the couch and picked a random book off the shelf and started to read it. The words in the book were uncomprehendable and the sentences were long, tedious to read and just would not compute in her head. She looked up and leaned over towards the window after every few sentences, trying to keep an eye on whether Gary was still in the bike shed and how the people who went in there with him were. Did they look like they'd found out something that would spread round the school like a fire? Leaf hoped not but that was for her to judge when they did finally flee the shelter.

Leaf sat and read some more of the book. What was she reading anyway? She flipped the book over and read the cover. Laws of Kanto: Volume 1. No wonder why it was so difficult to understand. Leaf had been too occupied to realise what she had picked up.

The bell eventually rang quietly. Leaf picked up her bag and headed out of the library, giving the librarian a curt nod as she let the door drop behind her and headed off to her third period history class.

Most of the class had already taken their respective seats when Leaf had arrived. She scanned the class for the boy that she had been desperately trying to stop herself approaching today but he wasn't there. Leaf took her seat in the corner from yesterday and unpacked her books and her pens when the chair next to hers scraped back loudly and she instantly froze, knowing exactly who it was.

He sat back in his seat and let his legs stretch forward, not bothering to unpack until the last moment, as per usual.

Leaf tried to take Misty's advice and take no notice of Gary. She kept her head level and her eyes glued to the timeline of past wars directly in front of her. It was all she could do to stop herself from asking about her secret.

Gary started tapping his fingers on the table rhythmically as if he was contemplating something.

The gently drumming was making Leaf nervous. Don't give in!

With his other hand, Gary ran a careless hand through his hair.

Leaf shifted in her seat. Do NOT give in, Leaf! She could practically hear Misty say it. Even though she had only met the girl a few days ago, she gathered quite quickly what kind of tone the redhead would use in her situation.

Gary crossed one foot over his other at the ankle, creating the full image of a carefree teen.

I can't do it!

Leaf turned to Gary and looked him straight in the eyes.

Gary smirked. She played right into his hands.

xxxxxx

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I just want to say thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! It totally made the run up to my birthday exciting like!

Remember to type a quick review and press send! Thanks!

Happy Valentine's Day :) if your single... Welcome to the club!

Silver-hedgehog