Pride

When Melissa and Ashley meet up the next day, the older girl doesn’t broach the subject of the teacher or the F4 for that matter because she wants to talk about fun things. So instead, they talk about what they want to study after they have graduated.

“I think I want to be a copper,” Melissa tells her friend, her bag flinging back and forth. There is an excited smile on her face. “Stand up for the weak and hunt the scum of the street down, that kind of thing.”

“You’re probably going to beat them on the head if they try to run away from you,” Ashley jokes because she knows her friend. “I think you don’t have the temperament to be a cop, you’re too passionate. Maybe you should be a superhero instead.”

Melissa taps the tip of her chin as she pretends to think about the brunette’s suggestion. The wind is playing with her brown locks and sweeps them every which way. There are going to be a lot of knots at the end of the day.

“I think I could be a superhero. There are not many female ones, the world needs more of them.” Melissa nods her head, her face serious for a moment. “It’s not as if I need any special powers because Batman didn’t have any.”

“Do you have a costume, then?” Ashley continues with the joke because it’s just so much fun.

“No, but I have another two years to come by one. I need to finish school before I start hunting criminals.” Melissa looks at Ashley with a smile she doesn’t see on her face often. Most of the time she looks sad or frustrated. “But what do you want to be?”

“I think I want to be a teacher.” Ashley blushes as she shares this information with her friend because she knows how cliché her answer is. “I love working with children and I love sharing what I know as well. I can combine those two by teaching.”

“That’s great,” Melissa exclaims, with more enthusiasm than Ashley thinks is deserves. “I think you would be a great teacher. You’re a sweetheart, no student would even think about interrupting your lessons.”

“Don’t you think the opposite would happen? If you’re a sweetheart, you’re weak and if there’s anything students aim at is weakness.”

Melissa is suddenly at her friend’s side and loops her arm around her friend. Her lips are no longer curled upwards with joy, but with reassurance instead.

“No negative thinking, you,” the older girl admonishes the younger. She pokes her forehead softly enough that it doesn’t hurt. “You’re going to be a great teacher and the students will love you.”

The rest of the walk to the school, both of the girls remain in a cheerful mood and this lasts even when the classes have started. There is no sign of the F4, so Marissa is able to not think about them.

Unfortunately, this changes at the end of the day. Melissa should have known Louis and his minions couldn’t be at school without causing some trouble, most of the time something that would have other students expelled.

Melissa is on cleaning duty like she has on every Tuesday. Ashley has gone home because she cleans the classrooms on Fridays.

She and two classmates have just filled the trash cans to the brim, which means they’ll need to empty them into the trash container. The teacher doesn’t like it when the trashcans are so full there can’t be any more trash added.

Melissa takes one of the bins in her hands and walks out of the classroom. Her two fellow students do the same. The container isn’t inside the school, they need to leave the building to empty the bins.

But to get outside, they have to walk through a large part of the school first and Melissa hates it. No, it’s not because she’s lazy – far from it, she loves bodily exercise – it’s because there’s a chance she might come across F4, no not bump into them because she knows better than to risk something like that happening.

The first few meters, luck seems to be on Melissa’s side, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of either Louis, Liam, Zayn or Harry, but then she rounds a corner.

A pitiful sight fills Melissa s field of vision, filling her with dread and rage. She’s mad, but she isn’t sure it’s because something like that is happening again or because no one does anything about it.

The F4 are standing in the hallway with a trembling figure at their feet. When Marissa and her classmates walk closer they can see it’s Stan, a second-year student. She knows him, she has seen him walk the hallways and she always thought he was cute, if not a bit stuck-up. Maybe she should have seen this coming.

Stan is clutching a trash can in his right hand and is mumbling apologies. He looks at the feet in front of him with big fearful eyes, as if he’s afraid it will get acquainted with his nose at any moment. Everybody standing around knows there is no question about it that happening.

Louis doesn’t look happy, an emotion that appears to be etched permanently on his face as he has never looked happy, and the disgust in his eyes tells everybody that he sees Stan as nothing more than a troublesome insect that it would like to squash until all his fluids are pouring out.

A lot of girls think Louis is fit; his sun-kissed skin toned body, and sharp, blue eyes a deadly mix for most of them. Most of them would do anything to get noticed by him because he has the looks and he has the money. They seem to forget he has a terrible temper and a rotten personality.

No, Melissa really doesn’t see the appeal. He may be handsome but the way he treats other people repeals her. Why couldn’t he be more like his friend, Zayn?

Zayn, who like always, is looking bored while his friends play around with their latest victim. Marissa has never seen him participate in any of their bullying.

Melissa eyes Zayn, who’s standing to the side of his friends. Her heart is beating irregularly because he’s so fit. He looks gorgeous with his jet-black hair, tan skin and long eyelashes. His build makes him look like one of those Greek statues she learns about in History. Melissa really doesn’t understand why he isn’t as popular with the girls as Louis.

Louis finally speaks up after Stan has said sorry for the thousandths time. His eyes flit between his shoe, that Melissa is now able to see has some dust on it, and Stan as the harsh words leave his mouth.

“If apologies solved everything, we wouldn’t need the police.” Louis snickers, his eyes are shining with menace. Liam Payne laughs loudly, he seems to enjoy this just as much as Louis is.

Louis kicks over a trash can standing next to him and Stan flinches. The sound resounds throughout the quiet hallway.

“Just blow away the dust that you got on my pants and shoes and maybe you won’t get a red tag.”

Stan looks extremely relieved and begins to blow the dust off of Louis’s pants hurriedly. There’s probably nothing the boy won’t do to prevent finding one of those accursed tags in his locker.

Louis only laughs as Stan humiliates himself in front of his fellow classmates. It’s psychological torture, is what it is. And there’s nothing anyone does because everybody fears they will be next. Melissa isn’t proud to admit she’s one of them.

When Stan is finished Louis walks away without giving the boy who is kneeling on the floor a second glance. Liam and Harry follow as they throw their arms across each other’s shoulders while they continue laughing.

Zayn, however, doesn’t follow them. Instead, he grabs the knocked-over trash can and puts it back in its place. It may be some kind of hidden apology or maybe he just really doesn’t like to leave a mess. The dark-haired boy is just so hard to figure out because he’s always so quiet.

When he suddenly looks up, his eyes locks with Melissa. He has such beautiful eyes, a mix between hazel and chocolate. They are her favorite of his features.

Marissa has always had a soft spot for the quiet member of the F4. It’s because he doesn’t seem to enjoy the bullying as much as the other three do.

Suddenly, Melissa realizes she’s staring and she blushes in embarrassment. Her hearts flutters in her chest like some wild, caged bird.

Zayn doesn’t react to the red on Melissa’s cheeks, he just turns around without saying anything and walks towards Harry, Liam, and Louis, who are waiting impatiently for him to catch up.

The rest of the day, Melissa’s head is in the clouds because Zayn has never looked her in the eyes before. She has stared at him more times than she can count, but he has never looked her way.

Natasha, of course, knows something has happened when she comes to work , a bakery that’s famous for its lemon pie, with a big grin on her face and eyes that she wouldn’t be surprised are shaped like hearts.

That’s why Melissa ends up telling her childhood friend about all that she knows about F4. And that’s quite a lot because they’re the celebrities of St. Bernard.

“They sound interesting,” is the redhead’s response after Marissa is finished.

They are currently standing behind the counter but because there aren’t any costumers at the moment, they can talk.

“Why do you think they’re interesting, Natasha?” Melissa shakes her head because she doesn’t understand why her friend could even think that.

“They’re just so high-class,” Natasha answers, a dreamy look in her eyes. “So exotic.”

“They’re everything but exotic.”

“What does F4 mean, by the way?” Apparently, Natasha has decided to ignore Melissa’s last remark.

“It stands for flower foursome.”

“I bet that’s because they’re as beautiful as flowers,” Natasha suggests with a chuckle. She looks like the little girl she used to be for a moment, all giddy and happy.

“They’re nothing like flowers.” Melissa can’t help but feel irritated by her friend’s naivety. “They’re dirty bastards.” She doesn’t add that one of them may be different. You could say Zayn Malik is most like a flower.

“You know, I feel sorry for St. Bernard.”

“Why?” Natasha surprises Melissa with this statement.

“When I got bullied you always stood up for me. St. Bernard will never see this sweet side of you.”

Melissa can feel the guilt returning full force. That was also what had been bothering her. She used to stand up to for every student that got picked on. It had felt as her responsibility. She used to be proud of herself when she still stood up for the weak. But now things are different. She can’t protect even one student from the whole school. She can’t take on all the students when not even the teacher would help her.

Guilt, it’s something she has to bear because she doesn’t have the strength to swim against the stream. She can’t win from the F4 and the school as well.

Don’t ever start a battle you can’t win.

Notes

Thoughts?