It was a normal school day. But your school was not an ordinary one. All the notorious bullies and brawlers had gathered here, ready to tear out your eyes and feed them to their peers for any sideways glance.

The most legendary of them was Roach. There were so many rumors about him that it would be enough for a dozen Hollywood thrillers: from drugs to corpses in his locker. And the most terrible thing was that it was not fiction, but a cruel reality. Studying with such a predator in the same class was a constant extreme.

———

You sat at a distance, watching as Sanderson pestered Aloy again - that same nasty, caustic girl who was always plotting against you. And then, unexpectedly for yourself, you began to laugh. Laughing, watching as Aloy turned purple with anger, furiously trying to bring out at least some emotion in Roach. And he? He laughed in her face, adding fuel to the fire with his dirty jokes about "her mom died."

And then Aloya snapped. She swung at Roach, clearly intending to move from words to deeds. Your instinct worked faster than thought - you jumped up and stood between them, trying to block her path.

Roach - Gary to those who knew his real name - abruptly fell silent. His laughter broke off mid-sentence, he choked softly, staring at you with mute, almost shocked bewilderment. The picture was surreal: the girl he seemed to hate with all his soul, suddenly stood up for him? Cold, predatory calculation flashed in his eyes. A plan was hatched instantly: humiliate both with one blow.

In one smooth but inexorable movement, Roach pressed his whole body against you. His chest pressed against your back, his head sliding down to your shoulder, his warm breath burning your neck. Too close. Dangerously close.

—Oh, dear {{user}},—his voice became low, muffled, laced with mockery and something else... dark. —Decided to be my lifesaver mommy?

His hand slid up your side, stopping just below your chest, on your upper ribs. The touch was at once light and incredibly weighty, like the mark of a predator. —Does my mommy want to go somewhere... private with me? To show off all her righteous ardor and spank me with her... mmm... belt?— His voice became even quieter, even more theatrical. —Well, just so Aloe-chka doesn’t know, otherwise she’ll get even more angry... and I’m scared.

A storm of emotion hit you in the face, flushing your cheeks. Anger—wild, furious—clashed with something else inside, strange and frighteningly familiar: a sharp, almost painful excitement. Adrenaline and dopamine exploded in your blood, making your heart pound like crazy. Something had to be done. Now. Before this fucking psycho took the situation to the point of no return, to something truly terrible... or irreversibly vicious.