SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I've had so many tests these past few weeks as well as my driving theory test!

The chapter gets better as you go on! I promise

ALINA'S POV

I chuckled to myself as I looked down at my phone. I was currently finding a good picture of Raphael, the teenage mutant ninja turtle to put as Raphael's profile picture.

I think it suits him perfectly!

He definitely gives off ninja vibes, you know with the mafia and all.

What else was I supposed to put as his profile picture?

Just before he left last night, I asked him to put his number in, filled with confidence. I was proud of myself for asking him.

He and his family didn't leave until gone 11pm, as we were all having such a good time. I could tell my family really liked Raphael, and I was very pleased with that.

I think we have another dinner panned soon, and I can't wait for it.

I really wanted us to be friends.

I realised that I completely misjudged him on our first encounter.

He wasn't rude or snobby like I originally thought. He is funny and smart and stylish and...... I'm getting off track.

He must of been having a bad day when we first met, because he's never acted like that with me again.

I even want him to sign my cast now as I truly do consider him a friend.

We were messaging each other throughout the night. I am currently very tired, but it was definitely worth it!

Raphael feels the same about the mafia business as I do.

Only the guilty should he harmed, never the innocent and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

It's nice to know and have someone the same age as you in the same situation. Well, apart from Adrian obviously.

I'm trying to multitask by setting the picture for Raphael as well as talk to Reese as we are walking to lunch from history.

Adrian isn't with us as he is already in the canteen, as he wanted to get my food for me.

He's so sweet.

I was just replying to Raphael, who, with his new profile picture was asking where we were going to be sitting for lunch because he wanted to join us.

I was delighted with this as I could introduce him properly to my friends and we had more time to chat.

I felt as though we could talk about things for hours.

I don't get to reply to him as my phone was snatched from my hand suddenly.

I turn around straight away to confront who took it.

"Who's making your face light up like that, babe?" Reese asks me with a questioning look on his face.

I'm silent as I try and get my head around what's just happened. Did he truly just take my phone out of my hands?

"Hey, come on Reese, give it back" I ask him nicely and calmly.

I see his smile drop from his face as he looks at my phone, and I swallow nervously.

I haven't done anything wrong, have I?

"RAPHAEL! you're texting Raphael!?" He basically screamed at me.

All of that confidence i built up these past few days, disappeared from me straight away as I shrunk back, away from him.

Reese stormed closer to me until my back hit the wall of the hallway.

He cornered me in as he put his hands on the wall on either side of his head.

"Why are you texting Raphael, Alina? That's basically like cheating on me! Are you cheating on me!?" He asks in an outraged, angry voice.

I flinched back in response as I shut my eyes.

This is triggering some bad memories for me and I'm really hoping I don't get a flashback right now.

I just want to get out of here.

I try to move forward out of the little corner I'm trapped in, but Reese pushes me back to the wall.

"Are you cheating on me Alina!?" He almost screamed at me.

"N..No, Raphael is my friend, just like you!" I tell him trying to hold myself together.

Reese stared at me with fury in his eyes and I realise then and there that I have said something wrong.

I don't know exactly what though.

What I said was true, wasn't it?

"Friends!? WE ARE NOT FRIENDS, ALINA!" He screamed at me.

"We're...not?" I asked him confused and scared.

I swear we were, that's why he wanted to get to know me better!

"We're dating Alina! I thought you knew that!" He told me with a look in his eyes.

"No we're not. You never asked me out!" I pointed out to him, arguing that I'm correct.

I'm not wrong on many occasions and I take pride in that.

"Yes, I did! I did in class about a week ago!" He argued.

"You wanted to get to know me better, not date me!" I told him.

He stared at me silently.

Tears started forming in his eyes as he stared at me.

Oh no, no, no, no I can't deal with tears.

I look away as I can guarantee I will start feeling sorry for him even though I shouldn't.

That's just me!

"So, you just let me believe we were something? Why would you not tell me?" Reese continued with tears running down his face.

"Because you never asked me! There was no clarification!" I repeated to him again slowly, just so he understood.

I was really hoping he would stop as the hallway was starting to fill up with students.

Where did they come from!? Why did they have to spawn here, now!!?

"Ok, fine. Alina, will you please be my girlfriend!? Pretty please?" He asked me with a smile as a crowd started to form.

The same smile that I found pretty and perfect when I first met him.

Not again!

Peer pressure is definitely my weakness. It's a really scary thing.

Don't you dare blame me, with that many people's eyes in my direction, and whispers about me, I said yes.

Plus, what would he have done if I didn't say yes? I'm not sure, and that scares me.

I regret it, but I'm too scared and embarrassed to take it back.

I stare at him as he looks at me like I'm the most beautiful thing on this planet.

I start doubting myself. Had I just imagined what had happened a couple of minutes prior?

Maybe he'll turn out to be like Raphael, today might have just been a bad day.

Everyone has some of those.

It was odd behaviour from him, as I hadn't seen him act like that before.

I'm sure I can give him the benefit of the doubt, right?

Wrong. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

"Well if it isn't the little boyfriend thief!" I hear a familiar voice coming from behind me as I walk down the hallway, coming from the bathroom.

I turn around to see Lucia with her squad attached to her sides.

I swear they never leave her side, it's as if they're stitched to each other.

"Leave me alone, or you'll regret it!" I tell her with my confidence that has now returned, really not wanting to deal with her today.

"You want me to leave the pathetic, useless, ugly girl who stole my man, alone? I don't think so!" She tells me angrily.

Well I'm obviously not ugly if her man wanted me, am I?

The other comments did tug on my heart strings a little. They always do. I'm pretty sure she know that those words affect me even though I try to not let them.

"Why did you steal Reese off me, you bitch?" She asked me.

"I didn't steal anyone or anything. He asked me out himself!" I told her.

"Well, why did you say yes when you knew he was mine!?" She all but screamed at me.

"I didn't know you guys were even a thing!" I told her.

I didn't want to start anything and get in trouble, but I was prepared, just in case.

"So first, you try and show off in maths and now take you've taken what's mine!? I guess I'm going to have to show you another lesson, seeing as you just can't learn!" She told me with a smirk on her face.

I'm pretty sure she the one who needs extra lessons. Specifically in math. I won't point that out to her though.

"Too bad you have some little injuries from last time. We didn't even go that hard last time, you weakling. I guess, it makes life easier for us today though." she laughs at me with her posse as they smirk at my crutches and boot.

If only she knew where I truly got these injuries from, and what I've gone through.

I see her start coming towards me and I take my crutches and lean them on the wall next to me straight away.

I need momentum just like Romeo said. Though I need to get my balance first, which is fairly harder than I thought it would be.

I make sure to put my thumb outside of my fist as I clench them together down by my sides, as I don't want her to see what I'm planning.

She was so caught up in the moment that she hadn't realised that I looked calm and collected.

I'm sure all she saw was red.

Hold hard, and release.

Hold hard, and release.

Hold hard, and release.

I repeat the vital steps that Romeo taught me in my head for the whole time she was coming towards me.

Which wasn't a lot of time as she was quite quick.

I'm pretty sure I saw steam coming out of her ears.

I really wanted to back away but I stood my ground.

I needed to face my fears. Otherwise things won't ever get better for me.

Just as she was within 2 metres of me, I brought my fists up to my face, whilst putting my weight through both of my feet.

I put one foot in front of the other, getting some momentum just before I was about to swing.

The pain in my foot wasn't too bad. I could do this!

I saw Lucia bring up her fists and I knew I had to act quickly.

I held hard, and released in just the right time for my fist to connect with Lucia's face.

She fell straight to the floor clutching her face, as I heard shocked gasps from behind her.

Her minions who were all frozen in time for a second staring at us, rushed over to her aid looking at me with pure shock.

Some of them even had fearful expressions.

I smiled to myself.

That felt good! I was proud of myself.

I had defended myself for the first time in my life!

My hand was not broken, meaning I did it with great technique. Romeo is definitely going to be proud of me!

My attention was then moved from my success to Lucia who stayed crumpled on the floor.

What took me a moment to notice was the red liquid seeping from her nose onto the pristine white tile beneath her.

She stared up at me with fearful expression, tears rolling down her face.

I picked up my crutches from the wall to hobble forward to make sure she had learnt her lesson, when I stopped suddenly in my tracks.

One of her friends were cradling her arm, which I think she hurt when she fell.

Shit.

What have I done?

Our eyes locked and I realised that she looked like something I had seen before.

She looked like me, when I looked in the mirror after getting hit by Emma and Jason.

The fear in her eyes mirrored mine which I had only around a month ago.

The fear I had all throughout my life.

This is the opposite of what I want.

I don't want anyone to fear me the way I feared Emma and Jason.

I didn't want to be a monster.

Does this make me a monster?

Is that what being apart of a mafia family does to you?

I was supposed to be the good guy. I was supposed to help people, not hurt them.

I didn't mind kicking the guy in the basement in the balls, but Lucia is different.

Lucia is my age, a child!

Just as I was about to open my mouth to say something, I saw Lucia attempt to push her minions off her before stumbling back down to the floor, crumpling into a ball.

"You crazy ass, psycho, bitch!" She screamed at me as her friends tried to comfort her, but none of them advanced towards me.

My mouth goes dry as I try and respond to that.

I'm not a psycho, right?

"You've broken my fucking arm!" She screamed at me, tears flooding down her face.

No!

I didn't do that! No way.

I'm no better than Jason and Emma.

Sympathy and worry floods my body as I know the pain of a broken arm.

"What the hell is going on here!?"

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RAPHAEL'S POV

I kept waiting for Alina's message to come but it never did.

I've been waiting all day at this point.

I just wanted to talk to her. I get she may have been busy at lunch so she couldn't have replied to me then, about where she was sitting.

But, as I go onto her contact, I can see that she's read the message.

Why hasn't she replied?

Everything was going great between us!

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A/N- some of you may be annoyed that Alina hasn't finished Lucia off, but you have to remember she is only 14. She's innocent and very kind hearted as she always sees the best in people. She doesn't like hurting people. Her confidence and dealing with self defence will continue to come, don't worry. I have it all planned out, but it takes time for confidence and acceptance to come! Also this allows me to do some more family chapters, as Alina needs it!

The next chapter will be the family comforting Alina. Please stay tuned!

More cutesy chapter will come as well, don't worry!

Also sorry for the late updates! This chapter isn't great, so sorry about that!

Also, opinions on Reese!?