Art is by: on !!(Also, thank you guys so much for almost 2k reads and all of the positive feedback on this little fic! It's growing so fast and so many people are enjoying it I just wanna say thank you lol

I woke up again to the sound of my mother's yelling voice.

"Get up, (Y/N)! You have to go to school!" She called up the stairs, banging on the wall to get my attention. "You're gonna be late again!"

"Yes! Okay! I hear you!" My tone was annoyed and spiteful. I got dressed quickly in a black skirt and light blue shirt. All of the other girls were wearing skirts, so I didn't want to stand out any more than I already had.

Running downstairs, I swiped at the bowl of cereal that my mother surprisingly prepared for me and inhaled it in a hurry. "Thank you, Mom!" I yelled, slamming my chair into the table and swinging my bag over my shoulder.

~

The little girl in red named Playtime was waiting for me again with her spindly jump rope. "Hi!" She called out to me with a wave of her tiny hand, the flowy blouse whipping in the wind.

I gave a small wave back and crossed over to the odd school. "I can't play with you. I'm sorry." I wasn't going to be late again. "Maybe after school?" I asked, glancing nervously at the time on my phone.

7:59 AM.

"But please, (Y/N)," the girl whined, looking up at me with a sad expression. "Let's play!"

It wasn't too late, school wouldn't start for another 5 minutes. I had a feeling I wouldn't get out of this situation without playing either.

"Okay, okay, just one time. And then I have to get to class," I explained, seeing her enigmatic smile reappear. She cheered in delight and swung the jumprope at me and counted.

We got to five and she praised me, pulling the jump rope back. "Wow! That's great! Let's play again... sometime soon..." Her voice trailed off as she turned away and skipped into the distance like she did the day before.

She was extremely creepy and slightly annoying, but I felt bad for her. There didn't seem to be any other children for her to talk to or play with, or even her parents.

I walked into the school and looked around the small group of people crowded in the lobby.

I picked Reese out of the crowd and ran over to her and the people I sat with at lunch.

"(Y/N)!" Reese turned to me and pulled on her backpack straps. "How'd it go? The hideout thing! Did'ya find anything interesting?"

The other kids turned to me and nodded, ready to listen to my story.

"Did the Principal find you?" Kira asked.

"Did you hear them talking?" Her sister added.

"What about Baldi?" Luke chimed in.

"Hold on guys, let me tell you," I held my hands up in a fake surrender. "I can't say it loud though."

They all swallowed and nodded, eager to hear what I had to say.

"So I hid in the janitor's closet... and I heard Baldi and the Principal talking. The Principal was scolding him about not hitting me hard enough."

Their eyes widened and they looked at each other in surprise, exchanging small interjections.

I proceeded to summarize the experience, leaving out the hand holding and hugging and such.

"You were right," Reese yelled, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Alice. "He isn't a..."

Her sentence trailed and she looked above me. Her mouth immediately closed and she stared in fear, the other kids following her lead.

My heart jumped and I swung around, seeing Baldi with his ruler in his hand and a dim expression, standing over me. He didn't seem to be looking at me at all, just the others. "There aren't secrets in this school." He slapped the ruler loudly as a loud crack split through the room.

All of my friends went running, but I didn't.

They weren't doing anything wrong, I was. So I needed to own up. But I had a gut feeling he wouldn't do anything, even with the rest of the school watching.

I looked up at him and he registered my nervousness and regret.

"(Y/N)," he said quietly. "Don't talk about what happened last night. It's bad for the both of us." His tone softened and he scanned the room with his eyes, ushering me over to the corner where my friends and I were before.

"The camera can't see here," he smiled and bent down a little to get down to my level. "Just try not to. And did you bring the ice pack back?" His voice lowered to a whisper as his emerald eyes pierced into mine.

"No. I dropped it when I was going home and I didn't realise."

He sighed loudly and looked to the side. "That's fine. I deleted the security footage, no one knows an ice pack left this building."

A smile spread across my face and he pat me on the head.

"See you in class." He got up and walked away, the ruler still in his hands. He looked around and saw everyone staring. His demeanor changed and he slapped the ruler again, peering one boy in the eyes in particular.

A hefty boy in an orange and blue shirt and brown scraggly hair stood with arms crossed and laughed.

"Hah! Mr. Baldi likes-" he started, before being hushed by a sharp snapping sound.

Baldi stood in front of him with the ruler in the air, the boy curled up with a hand in the air to defend himself from a beating. Baldi's hand shook and he held the ruler still, getting up in the bully's face.

I don't like the idea of Baldi hitting the kids, but this kid seems like he needs it. I told myself, almost liking the over-protectiveness.

He looked back at me as if to get approval and I just shifted, chewing on my finger with an indifferent look. He took my silence as an okay.

Another ear-piercing crack, but this time accompanied by a few clanks on the tile floor.

My eyes widened as I watched the ruler split through the air onto the side of the kid's head, so hard the ruler shattered into two. My heart raced as everyone collectively gulped and stepped back towards the wall.

No no no, not like that, I screamed to myself. Just a slap on the arm or something! Jesus Christ...

The kid made no noise and just gripped the side of his head, giving a dirty glare to his teacher gone attacker. There wasn't any blood. He must have a hard head. His seeming uninjured state gave me a sense of relief.

"Don't talk about me or (Y/N) again, or there will be another one." Baldi growled, stepping back from the injured kid.

The bell rung and everyone scattered to their classes.

~

Math was first again today, and I didn't have to walk very far to get there. I took my seat in the back corner near Reese again and tapped my fingers on the desk.

Reese was twiddling her thumbs, actually not saying a word, just exchanging worried glances with me. Baldi ran through the same procedure as yesterday, but had me answer all of the questions for some reason.

Luckily, I got all of them right. He told me to get my prize after class, and I was suspicious as to what it was. No one questioned though, for their own safety.

The bell rung sooner than expected, and I trudged up to the front of the classroom to him.

"So, my prize," I said nervously. I was put off because of him hitting that bully looking kid for seemingly nothing.

"I know you saw me do that this morning, I had to." He whispered, ignoring the subject. "Was it okay?"

I shook my head and looked at him questioningly. "W-What? Okay? You could've given him a concussion!" I exclaimed.

"So it was too much," he concluded, looking away in slight embarrassment. "I just want to..." he looked back at me. "Protect you."

My cheeks turned pink and I gave a slight smile. It was almost impossible to stay mad at him. He broke a ruler over a kid's head for me. I'd have to further tell him to chill out later. But at the moment I was filled with a twisted excitement at his extents to protect me, well, us.

His hands cupped my cheeks and he gently pulled my head to look at him, and both of our faces flushed immediately.

"But your prize." He said with a small laugh.

I saw him lean in to kiss my forehead, causing me to giggle.

Shaking my head, I pulled him down and leaned in, lightly kissing him.

"I'm glad I got the questions right." I said with a smirk, swinging my backpack over my shoulder again, waving to him.

Baldi stood there, clearly frazzled and a bit surprised. Despite that, he laughed and waved back to me.

He was cute.

~

Uh so more fluff~ <3 hope you guys liked this chapter, It's getting harder and harder to write without plunging straight into the smut :.) but I will continue to take my time. Bye!!