Chapter 15
Jessica’s family wasn’t anything extraordinary, but her cousin was a different story. His family was our school’s biggest shareholder, so no one dared challenge him. Because of that, no one dared mess with Jessica either.
I had just been shoved into the lake yet again when Jessica showed up.
With her cousin right behind her, they kicked the chubby guy who had been holding me down. It was like they had lifted a heavy shadow that had been weighing down on my life.
“Where’s this fat mutt from? Was your father planning to raise an animal instead of a son? Get lost already!”
Jessica was clearly a girl, but her words were as powerful as any man’s.
I wiped the dirty water off my face and looked up at her, squinting my eyes to see through the light shining right behind her. The sunlight filtering in through the ornate windows cast a glow around her, making it almost seem like she was radiating light.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked.
I shook my head, wiped the water from my face, and picked up a milk carton that had fallen to the floor.
Thank you,” I muttered quietly.
I gripped the milk carton tightly in my hand. People always said that someone like me was bound to be dirty. They even feared sitting next to me while eating, worried they would catch something
Jessica stood with her hands in her pockets and bent down just slightly.
“What’s your name?”
“Sebastian.”
“Sebastian Grant, the one who’s always first in class?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, straightening up. “I’ll have my cousin look out for you from now on. Just focus on your studies.”
At the time, I wondered if maybe my parents were watching over me somehow. Perhaps they had sent someone to protect me when I needed it most.
And jessica really did have her cousin look out for me. From then on, no one dared to mess with me.
Little by little, I straightened my back, lifting my head that had always been bowed low, and walked through the school with my eyes forward.
At least my life wasn’t buried in the muck anymore.
I lived like a normal person. I laughed, I smiled, I got angry.
The sleeping pills, the knives, the ropes I used to hide away those things never appeared again.
No one would have guessed that Jessica, a delicate, seemingly fragile girl, would become my guardian in my darkest years.
