He wasn't hard to miss, standing tall outside of the school the next morning when she arrived. He was just standing there with his arms across his chest, looking kind of mean, but a smile quickly appeared on his face when he saw her.
"Morning," he said.
He turned around and walked by her side into the school. She couldn't believe it. Had he actually been waiting for her to arrive? It seemed like it. For the first time in a long time she walked through the hallway of the school without anyone saying something nasty to her. She kept her head down as always though but he didn't seem to notice. He just walked next to her, both of them silent, like he was her personal bodybuard escorting her to where she needed to be.
She got through the day without any problems and it was nice to get a break from all the torment. He stayed by her side the entire day. They shared the breaks on a bench outside, just talking about random things. He was easy to talk to and she liked his company. She got many looks from everyone, especially Emma and her gang, but right now she felt untouchable. She knew she had to keep her guards up still though. She knew what Emma was capable of doing. But this one day of peace no one could take away from her.
"Any plans today?" He asked as the last period was finally over and they were about to leave school.
"No," she answered.
She never had any plans. She had no one to hang out with.
"I'm going to visit my friends. Wanna come along?" He asked.
"That sounds nice," she answered.
"Seth and Dean are twins and they can be a bit crazy but you'll like them," he said as they were walking side by side.
"Will I be able to tell them apart?" She asked.
"Oh yeah, not a problem. They look nothing alike," he answered.
"And what are they like?" She asked.
"At some points they're so similar while at other points they're miles apart. They're both very good with the ladies and none of them take any shit from anybody. Dean is the most outspoken and doesn't always think things through while Seth has a better way of getting the overview in any situation," he answered.
She chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds.
"Will they like me?" She asked quietly.
"Without a doubt. I told them about you yesterday and they would like to meet you," he answered.
He was right. She liked them. She sat on the bed next to Roman and the talk had flown easily within the 30 minutes she had been there so far. She could see what Roman meant about them being a bit crazy but so far she liked them.
"So Roman told us about your situation in school. That ain't right," Dean said.
She tensed up, not completely comfortable with talking about it. Roman sent her an apologizing look.
"No, it can be hard," she said.
"Good thing our boy here came along to protect you then," Dean said with a grin.
"Why did you?" She asked and looked at Roman again.
"I didn't like what I saw yesterday," he answered.
"No, that's not what I meant. We've only got three months left. Why did you transfer this late in the year?" She asked.
He blushed and let out a nervous laugh while scratching the back of his head. She had no idea he could actually seem nervous about anything.
"Are you gonna tell her?" Dean asked.
Roman just shot Dean a look but that didn't stop Dean.
"Roman was caught having sex in the bathrom. He got kicked out," Dean said.
"Shut up, Dean. That's his story to tell," Seth said.
She looked at Roman again. That wasn't what she had expected to hear at all. Granted, of course this guy would have sex and probably lots of it. He was a walking god to look at and he could probably have anyone he wanted. But in a bathroom in school? That surprised her.
"Well... it just sort of happened," he said and chuckled.
"How does something like that just sort of happen?" She asked.
"My girlfriend... or ex girlfriend... and I had broken up and she wanted to talk some things though before we went our seperate ways. We didn't get much talking done as you can imagine by now. It was just one of those things that happen. Like a goodbye and thank you thing," he answered.
She nodded. As crazy as it sounded, she could accept that reason.
"What about you?" Seth asked.
She looked over at him, not sure what he wanted to know.
"What's your story? Were you always bullied?" He asked.
"No, it didn't start till about a year ago. I was actually kind of popular before that," she answered.
"What happened?" Seth asked.
"I dated Johnny Fandango," she answered.
"Johnny? That annoying guy sitting next to me?" Roman asked.
"Yeah," she answered and looked down.
"So what happened? You didn't wanna have sex with him so he spread a rumour about you being a slut or something like that?" Dean asked.
Seth kicked his brother for being so up front.
"No, we had sex plenty of times. Emma just decided she wanted him and she can be really cruel. Next thing I knew I was single and at the bottom of the food chain," she answered.
They all just looked at her and she felt a bit ashamed by her story. Dean got up from his chair and threw himself on his back next to her in bed.
"So, you're not a virgin. Was this Johnny guy any good?" He asked.
"Dean!" Seth raised his voice.
"I don't know. I don't have anyone to compare him with," she answered.
"But did he make you feel good?" Dean asked.
"Not really," she admitted.
"And why not?" Dean pressed on.
She sighed. This guy wasn't gonna back off so she might as well just get the conversation over with.
"I've read books and watched porn like everyone else. Sex isn't like that. Johnny wasn't into foreplay and sex itself barely takes two minutes and I don't understand why the women in the movies scream that loud. Clearly they're not getting anything out of it," she said.
All three guys burst into laughter. She wondered what she had said that was so funny.
"Two minutes? Only two minutes? And no foreplay? Oh honey, you've clearly been with a selfish, no good man who had no idea how to please a woman," Seth said through his laughter.
She looked down and waited for their laughter to die down. She had no idea why she suddenly felt so embarrassed but she did. Dean rolled over on his stomach and lifted his head to look at her.
"You've missed out big time, sweety. The things I could show you..." He said as he let one finger run up her thigh.
Roman grabbed Dean's hand and shot him a piercing look. Dean grinned at his friend before turning his head to look at his brother.
"Not a chance, Seth. Roman called dibs on this one," he said.
"I already knew that," Seth said.
Her entire face went red and she looked down again to hide it. She didn't dare to look at Roman after hearing that. If she had looked, she would have seen he had no idea where to look either. Dean retracted to his original seat again and both brothers just looked at them in bed with smiles on their faces.
"Shut up!" Roman mouthed as he noticed the way they looked at him.
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do," Seth said, ending their conversation about sex just a quickly as it had started.
She looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
"Give me your phone," he said and held out his hand.
She took out her phone and handed it to him. He typed in something and shortly after both his and Dean's phones beeped.
"There, now we all got each other's numbers. If you ever wanna hang out or something, give us a call," he said and handed her phone back to her.
She was just about to put it away again when Roman took it from her.
"You don't have my number either," he said.