For the first time of the year, Mr. Louis wasn't at school. Instead of the old weirdo that usually mumbled to himself and telling me that I was working too hard, it was a lady with bright orange hair. It wasn't like Mel's, it was terribly dyed and fried probably since the sixties. But that didn't stop the scowl that was on her face then again, she wasn't that bad because she didn't give us any work.

"Hey, buddy." Thorin wiggled his eyebrow after turning back to face me.

"Yo comrade." My hand was slightly raised in hello to him before going to back to the piece of blank paper on my desk. It was calling my eyes to be doodled on because there was nothing else for me to do.

"Since Mr. Louis isn't here, you want to go walk in the hallways?"

"Is this part three of the meeting?" I raised my face to him, slightly smiling.

"You could say that." He winked, pushing himself up from the desk and strolled in front of the old lady. She blinked a few times at him as he talked, staring at each little movement he did with her glossy old eyes. Thorin pointed towards me, making her look at me then back at him. Altogether, she nodded and he had a goofy smile when walking away from the substitute.

"Well?" I asked, looking up.

"Grab your stuff, we're getting out of here." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "We have to go work on that project in our other class."

Leaving class is a bad thing and Thorin was also a bad thing. Two bad things didn't make a right but then again, we didn't have any work so that made leaving class right. One bad and one right wasn't the best but then again, nothing was. But I had to make the moral math just to make sure that I wasn't going to do anything terrible.

My bag and phone instantly went into one hand while the other pushed me out of my seat. I tried to make sure I wasn't too fast so I didn't look like some crazy person who had just taken a million caffeine pills but anything was better than sitting at the desk for the next hour. But Thorin was pretty much at the same speed as me as he hungrily took the pencil from his desk and buried it in his pocket. The other kids watched us as we somewhat rushed to get out of there, watching as we quickly went to the door.

Thorin's arm was hanging over my shoulder when I took one last look at the kids that were looking at him. They squinted their eyes at us, and instantly I regretted this decision. I didn't want them to think that I was paying Thorin or something to hang out with me. Plus his hand draping over me didn't help.

I shrugged, forcing his arm to fall off from me and to his side. He furrowed his eyebrows but released the tension in his forehead when looking down the hallway. "So where do you want to go?" I asked.

"Hm.." He rubbed his chin. "Out. With you."

He wiggled his eyebrow mischievously. "Thorin we are not going to leave this school." My words came out sternly. "There is no way that my ass is going to get in trouble."

"That's what I meant." He mumbled, playing with his hair.

We continued down one of the upstairs hallways. Again, Thorin had to slow down while my legs sped up so we could at least be somewhat equal to each other. "So did you work everything out with your mum?" He looked down at me while I looked at the tiles in front of me. They were dirty but they probably better than the concerned look on his face.

"Nah, I haven't talked to her."

"Dude, it's been like three days."

"I know, she works quite a bit so I usually don't see her that often." I coughed. "But don't worry, I'm going to talk to her, things are just a little awkward right now."

"If you need a place to stay, you can stay with me." He nudged my arm, trying to act cool.

"Thorin," I looked up to him. "You've sat on my bed, you know how comfortable it is. I'm not going to leave my baby." I crinkled my nose.

He didn't look at me and only kept his eyes down the hall that was soon to be filled with us. "Well, I did more than that."

"Thorin, I'm going to kill you." I grumbled.

"Do it." He stopped, placing a hand on my shoulder and stopping me. There was a small smirk on his face.

Did this boy want to fight? I was willing to fight. Sleep had not been accessible to me for some time now and I was ready to destroy anything in my path. Even though my bed was indeed comfy, hell, it was like sleeping on a cloud, it didn't matter. Sleep would not come to me and I would end up watching videos on the internet with cute cats or think about how my mom was an information holding witch.

Killing Thorin would be easy.

"Are you serious? Because I am willing to kill and hide your body."

"Try me." He lowered his face closer to me like how he did when we were in the car during part two of our meeting.

Okay, I actually liked having Thorin around and I did indeed not have what it took to kill someone. I was really tired but not to the point where I could take on a guy who was at least ten feet taller than me. But that didn't mean that I wasn't willing to give him some sort of small pain.

His guard was down by the way he was leaning in and smirking. He didn't realize that was just bringing the side of his torso closer to me and my hand. Quickly, my hand went to his side, pinching the hard skin that was on it. Pinching, his smirk quickly faded as he squealed, jumping back into the lockers that were behind him.

"Ow! What the hell was that?"

"Hey, you told me to try and kill you. That was my attempt." I said blatantly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You do know what this means, Flora?" His knuckles cracked loudly.

"That I know how to hurt you?" I began to walk away. Not very quickly but enough to make sure there was some space you know, just in case I was going to have to run for my life. Thorin had begun to walk again too and quickly breaking up the gap that I wanted to keep because I wanted to keep my life.

"No." He chuckled, walking faster which made me walk faster. "That's not it at all."

"Oh, okay." I smiled while picking up my speed.

"Flora, you can not out walk me."

"Me? Out walking you? Now, why would I do that?" I gave him a nervous laugh all while racing down a deserted hallway that thankfully no one was in. "It's not like you're going to kill me or anything."

"....Oh, no honey. I'm not going to kill you." The words came out bitter sweet with poison that dripped off from each syllable. His hands firmly grabbed at my waist, pulling me back and towards him. I tensed when my sides were gripped, feeling every curve and possible bump that my oversized shirt covered.

"Thorin, have mercy." A small whimper came out of my mouth when I felt his chest on the back of my head.

"You do realize what's going to happen now, don't you?"

I gulped and tried to wiggle myself away from him. "Thorin, have mercy!" His hands didn't budge even though I pulled on the tight suckers. They didn't budge as they began to move along my waist, pinching at the skin. "Thorin! I'll give you a hundred dollars!" Okay, I may have been giving him false promises but I was desperate at that moment.

The nerves in my sides jumped up as they were slightly pinched, wiggling underneath in my skin and making me move like a fish out of water. My body didn't have control, causing me to flap my arms and laugh. Of course, my laugh had to consist the sounds of a dying whale, seagull and a pissed off cat. The tiles became blurry with the tears that always came with my laughter but I did notice them move away from me as the coolness of a locker was pressed against the back of my arms.

"Aww, Flora. Your laugh is so cute." He said through his gritted teeth.

"I'll laugh if you stop tickling me!" I gasped for air and bending over, trying to keep my chub to myself.

"Hey!" A large voice boomed through the hallway. It wasn't Thorin's and it definitely wasn't mine.

We weren't alone in the hallway anymore.

Thorin's hands stopped their evil doing but didn't leave. Instead, they stayed in their position as I straightened up in fear. Not in fear that I looked like a giant ball, I already looked like that but I'm talking about the fear of it may have been a teacher. Was it, though? No.

It was J something.

Jace I think.

"Hello." Thorin said confidently.

"What are you doing with her?" Jace pointed at me while walking fast. It kind of reminded me of one of those 'angry dad' walks that you would see in a bad teen movie. But it was actually happening and he was a pretty quick walker like Thorin.

"Trying to kill her." He gave me a squeeze while saying that, making me push excess air out of my nose. I'll admit it, it was kind of funny seeing the fuming look on Jace's face while Thorin was acting all calm. It just made Jace even angrier.

"No, he's not." I sighed, pushing Thorin's hands off of me. "We're just messing around."

"Flora, are you okay?"

"She was before you came along, mate." Thorin lowered his voice.

I ignored the goosebumps that lingered on my skin and swallowed the lump in my throat. I was actually beginning to get used to because my spidey senses always lit up because of the danger Thorin brought. Stepping up, a tiny bit of courage surged up into me and at an actual good time too.

"It's okay Jace, I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all." I chuckled. "I don't need a bodyguard."

"Well," An arm slid itself onto my shoulder, allowing the hand that was attached to it hang freely. "she doesn't need a second one."

"I don't need one, ever."

Jace looked up at Thorin then at me and then back at Thorin before shaking his head. "We'll see about that." Like he was in the military, he swiftly turned around and marched down the hallway to spy on the next person that he saw.

Thorin and I looked at each other, furrowing our brows with confused frowns.

*****

"Flora."

"You know," I said, right before putting a carrot into my mouth. "I kind of miss it when you didn't know my name. You say it a lot." The loud crunch of the carrot finished my sentence.

"Well, I like the way it rolls off of my tongue." He winked, biting into the pizza that would have made me gain five pounds. Two pounds just for looking at it. But not Thorin, he was still skinny and stupid and made me angry.

My eyes rolled, nearly sucking themselves into my skull. Maybe they should have. The nerds at the end of the table didn't know I existed and if they did, they would have thought I was a huge potato that just sat at their table. Now, each time Thorin and I sat down or talked, they looked at us. The feeling of my nerves jumbled up never failed whenever they looked at me. It made me feel almost sick.

"If that Jace kid ever tries to mess with you, I want you to come directly to me." He pointed his pizza at me.

"Why is everyone trying to be my bodyguard?" I snorted. "It's not like I'm some fragile piece of glass."

"Flora, you fall all of the time." Mel, who should have been in class, dropped into our conversation. "You're kind of clumsy."

"I haven't fallen in a solid day, I'm on a streak." Another carrot went into my mouth though my nose was crinkled.

The cousins looked at each other as Mel hovered near Thorin's side. Silence was between them until laughter erupted and made me want to force them to fall. It wasn't even my fault, someone or someone always gets in my way and my feet can't handle it and makes me fall. If anything, I was not in the wrong but the universe was.

I threw one of the few remaining veggies of my lunch at Thorin, making the plant bounce off of his head. Mel received one too, nailing her right in her left eye. "Ow!" Her hand went to her face though she was close to poking her eye out with one of her sharp looking nails. "You fall a lot but you have a good aim." She retorted.

"Well, I'm going to my locker. Without falling." My middle finger was raised while gathering my stuff. "Have fun, assholes." A chuckle came out of me, even as I walked a few steps before stepping on something wet. Like I've said many times, the universe hates me and forced my leg to slightly slip outward.

"That's it, I'm coming with you." Thorin sighed and rubbing his forehead. "Mel, get back to class. You shouldn't be skipping."

"Speak for yourself." She snorted while crinkling her face. "I saw you guys skipping earlier."

"No, you didn't." Even his own middle finger went up to her.

"Thorin, you don't have to come." I heaved while walking away from him and weaving through the kids that decided it was okay to stand in the middle of the way while eating. They couldn't take their greasy food and stand in the corners or at least directly in the middle of the common's.

"Yes I do, I have to make sure you don't fall." His broad shoulders bumped and banged against some of the people that were stupid enough to not see him and move out of the way. Of course, he remained stable while following me.

It became easier to breathe when exiting the ocean of people and into the hallway that we weren't allowed to be in until after lunch. "Thorin, stop acting like you care. You just want to catch me and pinch me again."

"Well, kind of, but also to make sure that you don't get hurt." He caught up with me and smiled dumbly at me. "Just in case."

"In case of what? No one is here?"

"Besides him." He whispered.

Okay, I spoke too soon. A kid with shaggy red hair kept his head low when quickly walker. His arms swung drastically and instantly, I got a bad vibe from him. I've seen the kid before but he didn't have the same lunch as Thorin as I. He should have been upstairs along with second lunch kids.

More kids fled the hallway when the bell signaled them that lunch time was over. It wasn't too many kids but it was a fair amount. The shaggy kid didn't mind them if he even saw them through his thick hair. But he did keep his body in a straight line when walking towards us, right at me.

"Flora, right?" The kid stopped in front of me. I nodded, squeezing the books that were in my arms tight. Instantly, I hated how he knew my name.

"Who's to ask?" Thorin chimed in.

"Stupid bitch." His voice became rough.

A pair of hands, the creepy kid's hands, went to my collar bone and proceeded to push me. Papers and books flew the moment my back landed on the dirty floor. Instantly pain pulsed through my body, especially my back as the last of my carbon dioxide left my lungs and out into the world. Eyes were on me, especially creepy kid's puke green ones. Well, they were on me for a few seconds before he decided to try and run away from us.

I watched as Thorin caught the kid by the collar of his shirt and pulled him to the ground near me. His fist tensed, forcing the veins in Thorin's arm to pop before making contact with the kid's face. Blood instantly came from his nose, dripping in the space that was between us. More people surrounded us and watched as Thorin pounded the kid's face.

He stopped and allowed the crook to breathe. "I want you to apologize to her, right now." I was eyed once again by the puke green eyes but that was it. He remained silent. "Come on kid, say sorry to her and maybe you'll leave here with your jaw intact."

Did he say sorry?

No.

Thorin didn't like that and continued to punch the bloody kid. No one did anything to stop him, not even the big jocks that stood directly behind Thorin. They just watched as some kid was getting the shit beat out of him.

"Thorin." I groaned, getting up from the floor and onto my feet. "Stop."

"Not until he apologizes." He huffed.

Now, I'm all for revenge. I prefer it, especially when it's served cold. But Thorin was taking it too far when the kid was obviously knocked out. "Thorin, stop."

"Not-" I pulled on him. He slightly jumped, stopping the beating and turned his head to the side.

"Just stop." His body fully turned around to face me. Even though there were at least a hundred people around us, he pushed me into him. His arms were tightly around me even when a male teacher came up to him and began to pull on him.

"Thorin Graham, to the principal's office this instant." The teacher kept pulling on his shirt but Thorin didn't budge until I patted his back and let him go.

His head was held high when the teacher latched himself on to his arm and walked him out of the hallway. People quickly began to move away from the crime scene aka the creepy kid. Okay, it wasn't an actual crime scene. A crime did happen but no one was dead, the kid was still breathing even though some of the teachers that surrounded him acted like he wasn't. But no one said anything and walked away like nothing happened.

Except for Jace who was standing there, arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

I'm sorry for not updating for a while but I hope this long chapter made it up to you guys ;D?

Comment; oooh, what do you think is going to happen to Thorin now?

Vote; with each vote, the more stitches that creepy kid is gonna need.

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Thanks for reading!