RECAP: I may have a crush on Duncan and he may like me back some, but I'll do all I have to just to keep him from getting too close to me... No way I'm letting another Juvie boy close enough to me to break my heart.
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*ALMOST LUNCHTIME*

Duncan and I had the same class schedule; every class we had, we had together. It was going to be really hard for me to stay away from him at this rate since he's pretty much following me all over the place. Still, I have my ways of avoiding people; I've had every excuse in the book in my mind so I could keep away from him, and I figured I'd just go with excuse after excuse until I ran out of ideas...which would probably be a pretty long time. The only thing that could mess it up was if he saw through what I was doing and found ways to counter that so he could be near me еще often. I sighed deeply; "I guess you'll have to come up with something new everyday, won't you, Daniels?" I asked myself, getting a little frustrated.

Suddenly, I bumped into someone, dropping some of the notebooks I was carrying; I got on my knees and picked them up before hearing a rough voice say "You gonna say excuse me?" I looked up to see a guy named Aaron James standing before me with a black leather куртка over the school's uniform рубашка and black jeans with chains hanging off of them. Aaron was a звезда quarterback and the tough guy of Oakland Preparatory Academy; he was almost jumped by the entire varsity football team on his 1st день as a freshman, but he beat all of them up, and was immediately put on the JV football team after the coach found out. Now, he's in his junior year, and he's managed to live up to his reputation the entire way; everyone feared and respected him, so not only was he popular, but he was one of the people of the student body who ran this school with an iron fist.

I stood up with my notebooks in my arms; "I'm sorry...I didn't even know--" I started off before Aaron pushed me up against a locker. He glared at me with his hands firmly on my shoulders; "I'd be еще careful in the hallways if I were you..." he сказал(-а) coldly. I tried to say something else, but I saw he was raising his fist up; "...'cause if not, Ты could seriously end up getting hurt." I was really scared; "No...no, please, don't!" I сказал(-а) fearfully, closing my eyes and bracing myself for the pain that was about to come.

I shivered a little bit, but then noticed the перфоратор, удар, пунш still hadn't hit me. I slowly opened my eyes to see a hand blocking Aaron's fist, and his cold glare focused on someone else...someone who, when I turned to my left, realized was Duncan. He had a cold glare in his own eyes, and he twisted the black-haired boy's wrist a bit; "Didn't anyone ever tell Ты it's wrong to hit a woman?" he asked viciously as he pulled him away from me, forcing him to let me go. I watched as the Juvie boy twisted Aaron's arm behind his back and pressed him up against a locker, absolutely shocked the entire time; no one in the history of this school had the guts (or physical strength) to stop one of Aaron's punches like that. "Rikki, get out of here; I'll take care of him." Duncan сказал(-а) slamming him against the locker again, only to have me respond by shaking my head. "Duncan, I can't..." I сказал(-а) worriedly; "Just go." Duncan responded as he looked into my eyes, accidentally loosening the grip he had on Aaron's wrists as he did so.

Aaron tore his arm out of Duncan's hands, and grabbed my wrist; "You're not goin' anywhere; I'm not done with Ты just yet." he сказал(-а) as he tightened his grip on me. I winced from the pain of his tight grip on me, a tear rolling down the right side of my face even though I had tightly closed my eyes. I felt Aaron's hand tear away from me right after I started crying, and when it happened, I opened my eyes again to see that Duncan had the black-haired boy pinned to the ground; "Listen, Ты have no idea who the hell you're messing with; lay another hand on that girl, and I swear, I'll skin Ты alive and chop Ты into bits; Ты understand me?" he сказал(-а) as his rage started to take over him. Aaron, now scared out of his mind for the first time in a while, nodded nervously in response. Duncan clenched his fist tight; "Good..."

I could tell Duncan wasn't done just yet since he still had Aaron pinned down. He held his right fist up, and gave him a перфоратор, удар, пунш in the eye; he used his left hand to перфоратор, удар, пунш him in the nose, and he used his right hand again so he could перфоратор, удар, пунш him right in the jaw. When he finally got up, the boy had an eye as black as his hair, a really bad nose bleed and Остаться в живых 2 of his teeth; "That's what Ты get for messin' around with a girl I'm already close to." he сказал(-а) furiously. As Aaron left, sounding pissed as he mumbled to himself, Duncan calmed down, and looked back at me, a worried look now in his blue-green eyes; "Rikki, are Ты alright?" I smiled a bit and nodded; "I'm fine...you don't have to..." I started to say before my head was pressed against Duncan's chest. I blushed deeply as he held me close; "I know that I don't have to worry about you...but I do...I really don't want Ты to get hurt." he whispered.

I had a bright red blush going across my face, but I stayed in that position for a while, almost totally forgetting that I intended on avoiding him. I smiled to myself slightly, but then, I heard the колокол, колокольчик, белл ring; it was time for me to go to lunch. I moved away from Duncan, picked up the notebooks that I, again, dropped on the floor, and put them in my backpack; "Alright, I'll see Ты around, Duncan." I сказал(-а) before running off. I knew I probably made Duncan sad when I left, but I still had a promise to keep to myself, and even if it meant turning down the hottest guy I ever knew, I'd keep it. I swore off of bad boys forever, and I did it for a reason; I couldn't allow myself to have a broken сердце the same way...by the same kind of guy...especially not twice in a row. I let some tears fall down my face; "I like him...I like him a lot...but I can't let myself get hurt by another Juvie...not again." I whispered to myself as I kept running down the hall.

TO BE CONTINUED