The next morning I woke up an hour before the alarm went off, which made me sigh in annoyance. It was the second night in a row that I only got a few hours of sleep. I really should stop hanging around somewhere until the early hours. I silently longed for the day when I could finally sleep in again. After tossing and turning a few times in order to doze off for another half hour – but it just didn't work, I decided to give up the fight and already struggled to get out of bed. But even the long, hot shower couldn't improve my mood. "Jolien, get up!" I heard my father bang on the door. Of course he didn't expect me to get up on time. I used to be late every day because I just didn't want to get up – that too had changed in the meantime. Of course, I was also late for the Academy last week, which in turn had nothing to do with the fact that I had to drive Amelie to kindergarten. It was Silia's turn this week, which to me meant I would most likely get to the Academy on time a lot of times that week. I opened the door to my room with a flourish and my father looked at me in surprise. "You're already awake!" "I'm even finished." I replied weakly and turned around once. ,, I'm surprised. Then I guess there's only one fight left for me today!" He pointed to the closed door, behind which Amelie was definitely still asleep. She hated getting up early as much as I did, unless she woke up by herself - then the rest of the family had to get up immediately so she wasn't the only person awake. Children! Lost in thought, I awkwardly stuffed the textbooks I needed for the day into my bag, along with the pad and two loose pens. I had never been an organized student, had never neatly arranged the tasks of the various subjects with a table of contents in colorful folders - no, I collected everything from all over my pad until it was full. And then I started over with a new block. Which regularly brought me a warning look from Silia, because she was the order itself. As always, we were like fire and water. I tucked my phone into the pocket of the school uniform I still hated and adjusted my high ponytail again. As I stepped out of my room door, I heard Amelie crying loudly: "I... don't... want to get up!" A smile involuntarily crossed my lips, but it disappeared immediately when Silia stepped out of her room. She greeted me with a scowl and I commented on her silly demeanor by rolling my eyes, but since she was already walking past me, she no longer noticed. Too bad actually! I sat down in the chair furthest from Silia, simply not wanting to start another argument with her. Her eyes kept darting aggressively from the newspaper she pretended to be reading, even though she hadn't even turned the page in five minutes. I knew something was nagging her tongue, but she probably didn't feel like discussing the matter with me early in the morning. Another twenty minutes later, our father came down the stairs with Amelie in tow. His forehead was wet with sweat and Amelie looked up at him with tears in her eyes. With an exhausted sigh he pushed it towards Silia and said: 'I have to go to work now. I'm going to work late again today." He addressed me directly. "It doesn't mean you can go back into the night." I nodded and sipped my coffee, which I even brewed first today. This also rarely happened. I watched my father fill his large thermos with the steaming liquid. "Thanks for making the coffee.", he gave Amelie a kiss on the head and waved goodbye to Silia and me briefly and disappeared through the kitchen door. I heard the soft click of the front door as he pulled her shut behind him. Silia was breathing heavily and started making Amelie some bread while I silently watched the liquid in my cup. "Do you notice it now?" I suddenly heard Silia ask. I looked up and saw tears in her emerald green eyes. "What do you mean?" "Don't you see how our family is falling apart?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Everyone deals with grief differently." I heard her snort, but she spared herself and me an answer. "There you are, Jolien!" Bekka greeted me after I pulled my car into the Academy parking lot, parked in one of the few available parking spaces, and rushed over to where she, Brandon, and Gray were waiting impatiently at the corner . "I'm on time!", I noticed with a look at Gray's silver wristwatch, which I held under Bekka's nose. "Just about right!", she replied and pulled me by the sleeve through the crowd of students who moving so slowly towards the entrance of the Academy. "We still have 10 minutes, Bekka!", Brandon got ahead of me, who now threw his cigarette onto the asphalt to crush it there with his foot. "You smoke?", I stated in surprise. "Before work and after sex!" he replied with a grin and winked at me. "So very often.", Gray interfered in the conversation and I was sure that he wasn't talking about the work here. "You're embarrassing!" Bekka now contributed her part to the conversation. I suppressed a laugh so as not to stab her in the back. "Oh, Bekka-lein. Don't be so uptight!", Gray said and elbowed her gently in the side. "Don't tease her!" I said quickly, pushing Gray forward a few feet from behind by the shoulders. So we crossed the foyer to our classroom, when a clearing of our throats brought us out of the silly laughter. I saw Malio leaning against the wall. He fixed Gray with a scowl. "Malio.", Gray greeted him indifferently and then turned to Brandon. "Come on Brandon, we have art history now" "See you later, girls!", Brandon said goodbye briefly and the two disappeared into one of the other rooms. Bekka appeared at my side and gently tugged my arm, but instead of walking her into the room where we're now having a double lesson (I don't even know, maybe history?), I turned to Malio. "Did you want to say something?" I didn't mean to sound harsh. Actually, I wanted to apologize to him for not responding to his messages last night. He raised an eyebrow defiantly. "Bekka, leave us alone!" He said immediately. When she made no move to leave, he tilted his head slightly to look past me, straight into her eyes. "Now!" I was irritated by the twinkle he added at the end and the pink that formed on Bekka's cheeks afterward as she stammered something that sounded like an "okay." "What's wrong with you, Jolien?" he turned back to me when Bekka left us. Another question that really annoyed me. Did people actually expect to get a decent answer to that? "What do you want Malio?" I repeated my question without answering his. A smile touched his lips. It made him look good. Dangerously good. "I thought I made it clear to you how this was going!" He pushed off the wall gracefully, and as he took a step toward me, my heart gave a betrayal. His icy blue eyes narrowed dangerously as he stopped a few inches from me, leaned in, and whispered, "Now if you apologize for that, I'll overlook it." I pushed away his hand, whose fingers had started running up and down the collar of my blazer. At the same time, I pushed aside the thought of apologizing to him. "What should I apologize for? For hanging up? Malio, that's ridiculous!" He laughed devastatingly and tucked a blond strand of hair that had come loose from my braid behind my ear. When his hand briefly brushed my face, intentional or not, my whole body tingled and I stupidly gasped, like I always did when he touched me. I just couldn't help myself. "Don't mess with me." Malio said menacingly and I heard myself snort. I knew that I was provoking him even more. The twinkle in his eyes told me it was working. "You piss me off, Jolien!" Now a triumphant smile curled my lips. "I don't mean that in a good way," he said menacingly. "Well, what do you want to do about it?" I asked provocatively, as if I had already forgotten who was actually standing in front of me and what he was capable of. I felt untouchable because I thought Malio liked me. What a stupid mistake. Excuse me. It was one word. If only I had said so... "Chesterfield, Dakaria's a week's detention for you two for still standing in the hallway despite the bell ringing!" Damned! The ringing! I hadn't even noticed. I stared at Professor Sheltes, the history teacher, who now crossed his arms and stood next to us. Malio's mouth twitched up, so that crooked grin, which I found so sexy, put on his face. "Oops!" he said, mock surprised. "Detention?" I looked at Professor Sheltes, confused. I didn't even know there was such a thing as detention at this school. "You heard me right, your closed season is over," Professor Sheltes said coldly, pointing through the open door, inside which all pairs of students' eyes were fixed on us. "And now I would like to start my lesson ." I trotted awkwardly after Malio and in the back row I buried my face behind a pile of books that I now have all set out on my desk. Malio and I didn't exchange another word for the entire double period, which I didn't complain about either. He was probably mad because I still didn't apologize to him - and I was mad at him for the detention now! Wonderful! Now I had to spend even more time with Malio the whole week. I stole a glance at him, which he noticed immediately and smiled mischievously. "Will you apologize now?" That he still had to harp on about it? Like a total diva! I rolled my eyes in annoyance, knowing that it bothered and aroused him in equal measure. Playing with fire - which I provoked even further by leaning towards him, casually brushing his arm and whispering softly in his ear: "I won't apologize for anything like that!" I noticed how Malio gritted his teeth and clenched his outstretched hand, which had been lying still on the tabletop, into a fist. "You're going too far - way too far!" He jumped up on the ring that announced the end of class, motioned for a couple of guys to follow him, and swept out of the room. I rushed over to Bekka, who was talking animatedly to a blond girl who was in the same classes as me but with whom I hadn't exchanged a word until now. "I'll get in touch with you about the work!", I overheard a snippet of conversation as I stood behind Bekka so as not to be too intrusive. The blond girl said goodbye and Bekka turned to me. ,,Sorry. That was Trish, we're in a photography class together." "No problem. Can we go eat something now? I'm dying of hunger!" I said and at that moment my stomach growled loudly as if in confirmation. "I can't believe you have to do detention!" Bekka said halfway. "Neither do I." She answered grumpily. "How does it actually work? Do I still have to stay here after school and write some sentences on my pad?" Bekka looked at me in surprise, then giggled under her hand. "You're not in first grade anymore, Jolien. I've never had detention, so my experience is based solely on Brandon's reports." "Go ahead, then!" I said, already suspecting the worst. "Well, Brandon had to clean the whole area or clear out the basement once. But it could also be that you are used for something in the city. The Academy works with a number of people and institutes. The church, for example." Bekka added before I could ask which people and institutes we were talking about here. "Great!" I said, annoyed. ,, Well, at least it is very unlikely that you will be assigned with Malio. Then you must be really unlucky." I suspected bad things, because luck had obviously not been on my side lately, although I had firmly assumed that until recently. "Bekka go!", A tall, stocky, blond boy roughly pushed himself between us. I recognized him immediately. Malio's friend. "What do you want?" I asked confused and tried to push past him, but he stopped me by putting his hand, which was as huge as a paw, on my arm. Bekka hesitated, but then left me with a, "Sorry, I don't want any trouble." I was reluctant to be shoved into a nearby room. "What do you want!" I repeated my question, now a lot more irritated. "Shut up and don't make such a fuss here!" He said quietly and I heard an Eastern European accent. When I refused to go into the room he'd stopped in front of, he shoved me in with a violent jerk and locked the door behind us with a soft click. I spun around and glared at him angrily. What was the shit? I threw out a few swear words at him that would surely make Silia throw up her hands. "Pretty dirty words from such an innocent mouth." I suddenly heard Malio's voice behind me. I spun around in horror to find him leaning against a table in the center of a small room that turned out to be an old storeroom. Here and there were remains of wallpaper, buckets, brooms and a few chairs were stacked against the wall. "What's this about?" I asked angrily and noticed how Chantal slowly stepped out of the penumbra and stood next to Malio. Her gaze wandered longingly over his face. "You owe me an apology and I'm going to get it." He said coldly and I still didn't understand what this posse was supposed to do. "You still have a choice, say it now and everything will be fine," he continued, while Chantal snorted annoyed and looked at me contemptuously. It was clear to see that she didn't think much of me. "And if not? will you force me then With the help of those two?", I pointed to Chantal and the guy who was still standing behind me and thus blocking the way to the door. Which was completely unnecessary since he had locked the door anyway. "No one will lay hands on you. You'll say it all by yourself." Malio pushed himself off the table, pushed him against the wall with a single casual movement and pulled a chair into the middle of the room. "Last chance, princess, say it voluntarily or I'll force you." There was something menacing in his voice, but also something else. Anticipation. He knew I wouldn't apologize and the thought of breaking my resolve already made him excited. ,, Your time is over." Well, now I was curious. There was nothing that swayed my resolve. Nothing! "Chantal, would you like to be fucked by me? Now and here?" I heard Malio say without taking my eyes off me. I felt myself freeze and all emotion drained from my face, only to be filled with a single emotion. Jealousy. A smile crossed his face when I seemed to react exactly as he expected. "Hold her tight!" He said suddenly and I felt strong hands wrap around my shoulders. "Don't hurt her or I'll kill you Ivan!" he added menacingly and I felt the grip loosen but was still strong enough to hold me in place. "Chantal, are you up for it?" I glanced at the brown-haired girl, whom I suddenly hated to the core. The feeling coursing through my veins now was a thousand times worse than it had been at the party. A disgusting grin crossed her face. "You finally want me again!" I watched as Malio sat down in the chair and patted his lap. A familiar picture. Chantal astride his lap again. He slowly slipped her blazer off her shoulders while she began sucking on his neck. Was he serious? Malio kept his eyes on me as he ripped her white shirt in one yank, snapping the buttons in all directions. As if in slow motion, he too began kissing her neck. His cold ice blue eyes met mine as Chantal moaned and threw her head back. ,, Malio please. I'm so wet." She breathed and I felt myself take a step forward automatically, tightening the grip on my shoulders again. "What should I do?" Malio said loudly as he pulled away from her neck again. "Fuck me, Malio." I heard her murmur longingly into his neck. "Louder Chantal!" "Fuck me!" I looked away. My heart threatened to explode on the spot. Seconds later, Ivan pushed my face back. Made me watch everything. Malio pulled the torn Blue from Chantal's body while his lips slowly moved back to her neck. He grabbed her thigh roughly, making her moan loudly. "Please Malio!" She whimpered. I heard how much she wanted him. Every fiber in her body craved for him as much as every fiber in my body craved to smack her. His hand moved closer and closer to her middle and I felt hot tears trickle down my cheeks as I realized he meant business. He would take her here and now and let me watch. And suddenly it dawned on me that there was something shattering my resolve. I was just noticing Chantal about to place her lips on Malios and at the same time shove her hand down his pants as I tearfully cried out the words he wanted so badly to hear. " I AM SORRY!" The next moment, he roughly pushed Chantal to the side, who fell to the ground in complete surprise. "Don't ever try to kiss me again, Chantal!" he said menacingly, looking down at Chantal like she was nothing. "Ivan, take Chantal and go!" The grip on my shoulders went away and I fell to the ground crying. "It'll be soon!" I heard Malio's voice, but I buried my face in my hands, completely overwhelmed by the emotions raging inside me. I heard footsteps, Chantal's soft whimpering, more footsteps and the door. The sudden touch of arms wrapping around me and then pulling me back to my feet made me wince. "Why?" I choked out in a tearful voice after he put his thumb under my chin, forcing me to get dressed as well so he could really savor his triumph. "If you provoke me like that again, I'll make you watch other things, Jolien!" he said coldly, his eyes twinkling menacingly. My tears ran down his hand, but he showed not an ounce of pity, not a second. "If you want to play, then be ready to lose your bet!" "My bet?" The veil of tears almost completely blocked my view. ,, You know the answer!" He knew I had feelings for him and he had coldly exploited them to get what he wanted. I felt untouchable because I thought Malio liked me - when in fact I made myself vulnerable because I liked him.