Lia

No, I wouldn't.

Blake's words keep ringing through my head like a broken record. He wants to hold my hand? Why?

Blake takes out our stuff for the next class from his locker and I just stand beside him. He doesn't give me my books, instead holding them himself. He did this shit yesterday, too, carrying my books everywhere. Does he think I'm weak or something? He better not.

As we head towards our next class, which we actually have together again – like I said, I have a lot of classes with 'the Trio' – we are joined by Tyler and William. We all greet each other, but Blake still doesn't let my hand go even to shake his friends' hands, which earns him questioning looks from both of them, soon turning to teasing smirks as they look at our entwined hands.

"Not a word." I warn them when I see they're about to comment. They're most likely going to tease Blake or worse, me. I get a feeling that they get a kick out of making fun of this whole dating shit. That's all they've been doing lately – tease us.

Tyler turns away, barely holding in his laughter. He's the one that's been teasing me the most. I wouldn't mind it if he wasn't so loud about it, especially with people around. I mean, seriously? Singing the "sitting in a tree" song in the middle of a busy hallway is a little too much. I hate crowds to begin with, so of course I got uncomfortable.

The guys seem to have decided that they are going to test my patience today as well. Blake sits next to me in every class he has with me, keeping a hold of my hand; Tyler and William stay close if they have the same class. I feel crowded to say the least, and their constant whispering during lectures is extremely distracting. I barely manage to take proper notes, the lack of my right hand not helping. I am so getting my left-hand writing perfected with the amount of practice I get. I can write with my left hand, yes, but I don't do it very often, so I'm a little slower than I would be with my right. But Blake will not give me my hand back! Damn him.

Oh my God, the bitch is here. I think as I see Victoria enter the room. Great! The dick is here, too! I rejoice – note the sarcasm – seeing Declan sit in front of me. William and Tyler decided to sit behind us this time. Shit! Fortunately, Victoria does not sit anywhere close to us, probably because of Blake's hard glare directed her way.

I write down my notes as fast as I can, but Declan just keeps bothering me by throwing notes at my desk and turning around to look at me every few minutes. I feel Blake's hand tighten on mine every time the fucker does that, so by now I almost don't have any feeling in my fingers, Blake's tight grip cutting off my blood circulation. He seems to hate Declan almost as much as me. And everyone that hates Declan is automatically my friend.

But after a while Blake can't take it and explodes.

"Stop fucking staring at her, you damn motherfucker! You want your eyes gone?!" He yells into Declan's face when he turns towards me again. The teacher, Ms Wells, does not take interruptions lightly, so I'm not surprised when she storms to our table with an angry expression.

"MR KNIGHT!!! I DO NOT ACCEPT SUCH FOUL LANGUAGE IN MY CLASS!!! DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!" I sigh in relief at that. It could end much worse. She's known to suspend students over the smallest shit.

Blake, being the idiot he is, seems ready to argue, and I'm sure Ms Wells notices it too, giving him a challenging look. I squeeze his hand as hard as I can – he still hasn't let go! – and his gaze snaps back to me. I shake my head at him sternly, telling him quietly to drop it. When I see the undecided look on his face, I squeeze his hand again and pull him back to his seat.

"Thank you, Ms Clarke." Ms Wells says once she sees I got Blake under control.

"No problem, Ms Wells." I reply with a small smile, making sure to keep a tight hold on Blake's hand, so he doesn't do anything stupid.

While Ms Wells continues with the lecture, I lean into Blake's side.

"Calm down for fuck's sake or she'll suspend you. That dickhead is not worth it." I whisper into his ear, feeling him relax slightly. He leaves a discreet kiss on my temple.

"Thank you, baby."

"Don't call me a baby. I'm 16." I joke, which works, as he breathes out a silent laughter, calming down completely.

"It's a term of endearment, Lia." He explains, letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders instead, pulling me to him.

"I know, I'm not that dense." I pinch his side in return. "Now let me go, I have to take notes. For the both of us." I lean away from him. Thankfully, Ms Wells has not noticed our little exchange.

But Declan has.

And he looks furious.

I have to set him straight before he actually follows through with his threats.

"Man, your dad is going to skin you alive." William says as we sit at lunch. I munch on my pizza while I listen to the guys. Today it actually looks edible.

"I know. But I just got so pissed! He kept turning around and giving her those nasty notes all the time!!!" Blake exclaims, getting angry. I hand him his drink.

"Drink this and cool down. If you disturb my meal, I will smash your face on the table. No one messes with my food, boyfriend or not." He seems reluctant at first, but once he sees I'm serious, he complies. "Good boy." I praise him with a grin, stroking his hair.

"I'm not a dog." He growls, annoyed.

"Then don't bitch about unimportant stuff." I say before getting back to my pizza.

I hear a bunch of "oooh's" and "wow's" from around the table. I ignore them, as always. They can say whatever they want, I don't care.

"Are you going to stay in detention today?" I ask Blake once the guys get quiet enough for me to be heard.

"I don't know." He sighs.

"Do you have practice?"

"No, it's tomorrow. We've only got gym scheduled for today, but the coach lets me skip, since I can just go over the routine at my gym at home." I nod in understanding.

"Then why not go today and get it over with, so it doesn't hang over your head?" I suggest, half expecting Blake to get angry again.

"Will you stay with me?" He smirks, winking at me.

"Why should I? I didn't get detention." I'm confused.

"But it's partly your fault that I did." He grins.

"How is that my fault?" Now I'm really confused and I'm pretty sure it shows on my face.

"That fucker kept looking at you, and that's why I'm in trouble now. Not to mention, my dad will chew me out for this." Oh, yeah. Jared looked quite stern when I met him.

"Okay, fine, I'll go with you. To keep you company." I sigh. Everyone at the table turns to me shocked, looking at me as if I just told them I'm Jesus.

"You would stay in detention with Blake, just to keep him company?" Nathan asks with wide eyes. He's the one that I talked to the most among the team.

"I don't really have anything else to do." I shrug, not understanding their surprise. It's just an hour more at school.

"You're awesome! Do you have a twin by any chance?" Damien asks.

"No, I don't."

"Shame. I would love to have such a girlfriend by my side. You're one lucky son of a bitch, man." He turns from me to Blake.

"He's not a dog." I mock Blake's tone from earlier, getting laughs from the guys.

"She's good. Better watch out or someone will snatch her away." Nathan laughs.

"She's mine. I won't let her go." Blake proudly states, leaving a firm kiss on my temple. I don't even react to that, he's just going to keep doing this anyway.

After I'm done with my last class, I head towards Blake's locker where my stuff is. I leave my books inside, keeping my notes with me, since I need to organize them. As I'm packing my notebook into my backpack by the window, I see Blake come up, also finished with his last class for the day. He looks worse than when I left him when I went to my lecture. He seems stressed out.

Since the advanced course is the only one staying so late, apart from the sports teams, the hallway is mostly empty, and whoever is still here is getting ready to leave, so I don't have to worry about others seeing Blake like this.

Blake goes to his locker, throwing his stuff inside haphazardly, and if it weren't for the awful state he's in, I would berate him for messing up my arrangement. But I don't. Instead, I stay by the window, behind him, waiting for him to get ready to go to detention. I was serious when I said I would come with him.

He slams his locker door with way more force than needed, and now I'm sure that something's wrong with him, but I decide not to ask.

He wordlessly comes up to me, and wraps his arms around my waist as he crushes me into his chest, putting his head on my shoulder. I don't know what got him so stressed out, but I can tell he needs some support right now, so, ignoring my hate of being touched, I wrap my arms around Blake's neck, hugging him close to me. He tightens his hold on me in response to my unexpected gesture.

"Will you come with me?" He asks after few minutes.

"I already said I would."

"Not detention. I want you to come with me to my house. My dad called, and he's pretty pissed off. I need you with me." His voice cracks a few times during his explanation.

"Okay. I'll come."