Pride

Melissa still wants to rip Louis’s head off when she spots him from across the schoolyard the next day, but she’s calmed down enough to not actually try it. She’s been mulling over what happened yesterday the whole of last night, and she’s come to the conclusion Louis only acted the way he did because he doesn’t know any better. There are probably only a few people who would say no to a proposal when it was given by Louis Tomlinson.

Louis’s father and mother are both bankers and are filthy rich. Even the fortune of rest of the guys of the F4 come nowhere near that of Louis. And the riches of these guys are nothing to sniff at. It’s the reason why they run the school. They are far richer than any of the other students in this damn school and they pay the salaries of all the teachers. They own the school, all but in legal terms.

So, that’s why Louis thought Melissa would except his offer because if even rich students are so eager to be friends with him, why won’t a poor, charity case like Melissa won’t be as well?
Once again, anger makes her chest burn. Her hands are balled into fists, her nails digging into the soft skin of her hand. She really wants to punch something. If she can’t hit his face, she would gladly use a wall instead.

Across the yard, Zayn walks up to Louis and he tells him something. The sight of the dark-haired boy makes the tightness in her chest disappears. Slowly, her hand unclenches.

With a thudding heart, her feet start to move in the direction of the four boys. She can’t keep her eyes away from Zayn as she makes her way across the schoolyard.

He looks especially amazing today. He’s dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans. Like all the F4 he’s not wearing his uniform. His hair is styled in a quiff, making his cheekbones even more pronounced. His lips are a bubblegum pink and look very kissable.

It feels like it’s someone else when Melissa opens her mouth. It’s not her who has almost reached Zayn and opens her mouth to wish him a good morning. She only gets out the first syllable before a girl pushes her aside, apparently not liking that the poor girl tries to talk to one of the F4.

“Back off,” she hisses in Melissa’s ear and to emphasis, even more, how much she doesn’t like Melissa, she jabs her side.

If Melissa wasn’t so embarrassed, she would’ve called the girl out for hurting her but instead, she retreats behind the large wall of girls who are watching the F4. She can feel the girl’s glare in her neck as she retreats.

She just hopes Zayn hasn’t seen her make a fool of herself.

Luckily, for her, Zayn didn’t. But Louis did.

“Louis, what you’re grinning at?” Harry asks as he and his mates walk into the school. “Did you see a really fit bird? It’s about time you fancied one. They’ve been a virgin long enough.”

Harry is expecting Louis to yell at him, like every time he mentions sex, but this time, his friend stays silent. Instead, he keeps smiling.

“Alright, Lou. You’re freaking me out,” Liam remarks. “What the hell is going on in that head of yours? What you’re smiling at?”

Louis’s smile turns into a grin. “I think Melissa has a crush on me. The poor girl has a crush on me.”
—

Like every morning, people are whispering as they eye Melissa as she walks by. The insults she can hear muttered by her fellow students don’t make her steps falter even though they hurt. She acts like she can’t hear them, ignores the people not worthy of her attention
What she can’t ignore, though is the text she can see written on the white board when she walks into the classroom. The letters are big, vicious, for everybody to see. The message they represent is a lie, blatant lie, but of course, everybody is going to believe what’s been written down.

Melissa knows she should have seen this coming. Isn’t the biggest insult to a girl being called a slut? Of course, they’re going to call her that, it’s just another way for them to make her quit school. But why the hell would they also write that she’s had abortions? It’s as close as you can get calling someone a murderer without actually doing so.

Every student in the classroom is watching her, waiting for her to react. They’re probably hoping she’s going to cry and she almost gives them the satisfaction, tears have gathered in the corners of her eyes.

But then anger coiling in her stomach drives away the tears almost immediately. She isn’t going to cry. They’ll never see her cry.

No, she’s going to tell the F4 just what she thinks of them.

Her skirt swishes as Melissa abruptly turns around. Hands balled into fists and glaring at anyone who dares to get in her way, she walks out of the classroom.

People jump out of her way as they see her storming down the corridor. Which is good. Very good. They should all fear her. All of them should be too afraid to mess with her.

It doesn’t take Melissa much time to find the F4. They’re sitting on the ground in one of the hallways, a crowd of girls is watching them and they giggle whenever one of the guys flatters them with a look.

Melissa would love to yell at the girls, tell them how stupid they’re being and that the boys won’t ever care about them because all they care about is themselves. But no, she’s going to focus all her anger on the boys.

“How dare you write all those lies about me,” she shouts at the F4 even before she’s reached them. Their conversation halts and all of their heads snap up to look at a seething Melissa.
“It’s low, even for you. You guys make me sick. How dare you call me a slut. I’m a virgin, for god’s sake.”

Melissa has said her piece, she’s said all she wanted to say to the arseholes. She’s not going to waste any more time on them. She casts one last glance at Zayn, who looks amused, and then she walks away, leaving a stunned F4 behind.

Louis is the first to say anything when Melissa has left. “I told you she has a crush on me.” There’s a grin on his face. “She told me she’s a virgin because she wants me to know she’s saved herself for me.”

Harry shakes his head and lays it in his hands. “You really are hopeless, Louis.”

When Melissa returns to the classroom, three girls are standing in front of the whiteboard and they’re whipping away the lies written in green marker.

“I can’t believe someone could write something that awful,” one of them says while she shakes her head. She’s the tallest of the three and has long red hair. “Such horrible lies.”

The girl to her right turns around and looks at a baffled Melissa with sad brown eyes. She flutters towards Melissa and grabs her hand. Her grip is warm and firm. “I’m so sorry people are giving you such a hard time. You don’t deserve any of it. People should praise you for standing up to the F4, not punish you for it.”

Melissa would’ve liked to ask her where she and her friends were when the other students bullied her if they really feel pity for her, but that would make her a hypocrite. She didn’t stand up to the F4 either before her friend got involved. All the years before, she had stood by while the F4 ruined the lives of people they didn’t like. Melissa is guilty of not lifting a finger just as much as these girls.

The teacher chooses that moment to walk into the classroom. Everybody hurriedly gets to their seats as he makes his way towards his desk. There is no message on the whiteboard behind him as he sits down.

Melissa sits down at her desk as well and much to her surprise the three girls sits down at the ones next to hers. They smile at her.

“Hey, we’re going to a club tonight,” the redhead tells Melissa as the teacher prepares himself to start the lesson. “We would love for you to come along. It’s casual, so you don’t have to worry about not having the right clothes to wear. We would really love it if you could come.”

Maybe it’s because it’s nice to have a friend at the school after the last one abandoned her, or maybe it’s because she can never say no to people who are nice to her. Whatever the reason is, Melissa tells the girls she’ll go with them.

Notes

I had uploaded the sixth chapter as the fifth chapter and so on by accident. I have now uploaded the right chapter. I advice you, my dear readers, to read the fifth chapter as things that happened in it are rather important.

Now, about this chapter. What do you guys think about it? Should MMelissa trust the three girls?