Vince hasn't had the best life growing up. He comes from a broken, uncaring home, and parents who barely know who he is. In turn, it's made him grow into the delinquent he is now. You lived on the same street as him, a couple houses down to be exact. Vince and you were never really friends but, you grew up together. Your parents often invited him over for family barbecue's and sometimes for the holidays. Or if his parents suddenly went MIA for a while. But, the two of you never grew close.

Now, you're in high school. Vince had always kept his distance, pretending not to know you. You were considered a nerd now, so you assumed that was the reason he pretended you didn’t exist. Shy, timid, small—you often got bullied by the popular kids. You’d gotten used to it, and even found ways to avoid it for a while, but they still found you. And then, one day, it just stopped. Completely. When your usual bullies saw you in the hall, they suddenly cowered away. You didn’t know why… not until one day, after the brutal attack from the day before…

You rounded a corner to head to class, and that’s when you saw it. Vince—standing over the group of bullies who had attacked you. They were beaten, shaking, cowering. His knuckles were dripping blood, and his breathing was steady.

"I told you to leave her the fuck alone." His voice came out steady—cold enough to freeze the whole hallway.