Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Chapter 47 – Jasmine

Jasmine

I walked from office to office checking out Hardin’s academic performance. I was already familiar with most of the teachers in the school. My perfect grades and brilliant performance had me on their good list. Revealing scores to students before publishing wasn’t allowed, but after ceaseless pestering I was able to get a peek at the score sheet.

Some of the results had already been posted, and Hardin was doing very well in all his subjects. Nadia had also informed me that he was doing very well in lacrosse practice, and I was happy for him.

After the incident at the field, I hadn’t stepped foot back into their training ground. Nadia was the one who was keeping an eye on Hardin for me, and her reports were filled with positive results. Things weren’t as perfect like this at home, but I was satisfied with the improvement in school.

It wasn’t exactly the best day, but I was happy about one thing at least. Hardin was beginning to pick up pace in his academics, His grades weren’t exactly the best, but he was doing relatively better than he was before.

I headed back to class and settled before the next lecture could begin. It ended rather quickly, probably because I barely paid attention to the teacher. I was too busy with my thoughts and Hardin’s development.

It was time for recess, and I sat with Nadia at the cafeteria. She was probably the only person I was close to in school, aside Lorenzo. Nadia was explaining how hectic her day was, but my attention was completely stolen by the figure that sat some metres opposite me.

Hardin sat with his friends at the extreme of the cafeteria, and I drowned my eyes with his beauty and being. As if realizing that someone was watching him, Hardin had turned swiftly, and we had locked eye contact.

I felt my heart skip a bit, but I didn’t tear away from the ongoing staring contest. As usual I couldn’t read what his eyes said, but I wasn’t willing to succumb to the fear of Hardin that had been nurtured within me.

I had won this time around, Hardin had stared away first, and Nadia had called me back to reality the next second.

“Girl are you okay? You look so lost.” Nadia remarked. She had probably asked me something, but I was too space out to remember what it was.

“I’m fine, got a bit distracted” I explained. “What was it again?” I requested for her to repeat her question.

“I was asking about Lorenzo, haven’t seen him in school all day. Is everything okay with him?” Nadia repeated. Now that she spoke of Lorenzo, and I too just realized I hadn’t seen him all day.

I was too occupied with Hardin’s performance that I had completely forgotten about Lorenzo’s existence. I was definitely a terrible friend for that.

“Haven’t seen him all day too. I’ll give him a call after School. Lorenzo’s not a child. If anything’s wrong, I’m pretty sure he can handle himself.”

I was confident in Lorenzo, plus I didn’t want to assume the worst.

“And Hardin, saw you two glaring at each other. Is everything okay?” Nadia’s question had me choking on the soda I was sipping. She immediately offered me water to ease my self, but I declined her help. I was fine, her question had only caught me off guard.

“We’re totally fine. You know siblings drama.” I laughed everything off, before changing the topic.

“How was art class today?” I inquired.

“Girl weren’t you listening to a thing I said? I can’t spend another day in art class with Mr Stark failing every project I submit” Nadia complained and I laughed. I knew deep down that Nadia wasn’t exactly the best at art. But she was passionate, and I would never say anything to demotivate her.

“You keep doing your best, he’s going to recognize your talent very soon” I encouraged.

The bell for end of recess rang out loud, and soon everybody was filing out of the cafeteria, including Nadia and myself. We had only one more class before the end of the day.

I stared backwards one more time to check if Hardin was still there, but he was gone. I had no idea what time he might have left, so I didn’t bother myself too much. I had spent time talking with Nadia, so it was very much possible he had left within that period of time. He was probably in class at the moment.NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.

I reached class, but he wasn’t there. Hardin always knew how to get my attention focused on only him. However this time, I wasn’t going to waste my thoughts on him. I was actually going to listen in class today instead of thinking about him.

It was barely an hour class, and it wasn’t long before the bell for end of school went off. I met up with Nadia, and we headed towards the field to discuss for a bit. It would take at least twenty more minutes before the bus arrived, we normally spent that time gossiping about our day.

“Any news about Lorenzo?” Nadia reminded. I had completely forgotten about Lorenzo once again thanks to Hardin. I pulled out my phone from my bag to call him, only to see he had texted me ten minutes ago. My phone was always on silent during classes, and I hadn’t received the notification.

“Can you wait for me after school? I’d like to take you somewhere.” His message read. It was odd, Lorenzo hadn’t been in school all day, and now he wanted me to wait for him after school. He probably wanted to explain himself, so I didn’t really bother myself with his reasons for texting.

“Is that Lorenzo? Are you guys going home together?” Nadia’s voice was a bit loud, and I figured the people around had heard her. I turned around to get a glimpse of our audience, and just behind us stood the figure of Hardin. His eyes had flashed towards my direction after Nadia had concluded her question. I could guess he had heard everything she said.

His stare was domineering and condescending, and I had immediately torn away from his gaze. I had given in to my fear of him once more. I turned around to check if he was still standing behind us, but he had disappeared like always.

“Shhhh,” I gestured to Nadia immediately. I didn’t want the people around thinking that I had something going on with Lorenzo. I didn’t like getting attention directed towards me. I and Lorenzo were just friends, and I preferred that our relationship remained the way it was.

“He only said that I should wait for him after school,” I informed the curious Nadia. I had removed the part where Lorenzo said he had something to show me. I didn’t want to put the wrong idea into Nadia’s mind. She would probably act up and spill something without knowing. And it wouldn’t be long before the entire school would be feeding on her rumors.

The bus arrived moments later, and I had asked Nadia to leave without me. I didn’t want to keep her waiting because of me. The next bus would take another whole twenty minutes, and I didn’t want her staying, only for I and Lorenzo to drive away.

“See you tomorrow then.” Nadia bade her goodbyes before leaving.

I took a glance at my wrist watch, and at Lorenzo’s message.

He better gets here fast, I thought.

I had barely concluded my thoughts when his figure walked up to me.

“Lorenzo, where have you been?” I asked immediately he got close enough to hear me.

“Had something to take care of, couldn’t make it to school today”. He explained briefly with a smile.

“Hope everything’s okay with you?” I probed.

He did look fine, even better than most days. But not all problems could be identified through physical appearance.

“I’m fine. Shall we get going?” He gestured, and I nodded.

“Where exactly are we going to? And what is it you want to show me?” I was curious, but typical Lorenzo wouldn’t want to ruin his surprise. I kind of trusted him, so I followed him without any more questions.

“It’s okay, you’ll see when we get there” He assured me with an even broader smile. I returned the smile before entering the vehicle. It was Lorenzo, I mean what could he possibly do that I wouldn’t be familiar with.

We drove out of the school premises, and had been on the road for ten minutes now. A few of the streets we passed earlier were familiar, but soon I was beginning to lose familiarity of my environment. I didn’t say anything, and as if reading my thoughts, Lorenzo had pulled up by the side of the road, and stared intently at me.

Slowly, his hands reached for my cheeks.

I remained calm for the meantime, but pushed him away the moment noticed his lips drawing closer to me.

“What the hell? What are you trying to do Lorenzo?!”