Orphanage {LeviHan}

Chapter 7: School

Levi's POV

"I said... leave me alone!" Hanji cries out near her locker. I perked up, hearing her panicked voice. From my little spot in the corner of the lunchroom, I sped-walked over to her. 

She had her brown bag in her hand, and her back was turned to the food lockers. Her glasses was cracked on the floor, but her hazel eyes were bold with courage. Her hair was messed up a bit, but she didn't loose any hope. I scowled towards the boy who was pushing against her... no one touches my Hanji...

"Leave me alone!" She cries again, and I quickly made my way towards her.

"Or what? You'll summon your little puppy?" He smirks towards her, looking towards me with his brown eyes. "Aw... he's here already. Ready to protect your master?"

With a heavy growl, I pushed the boy off and stood in front of Hanji protectively. "Leave her alone... or are you ignorant...?"

Everyone stopped in their tracks, staring out towards us. The crowd gasps softly when I said something. The boy was scowling towards me, shaking his fists furiously. "You... little... rat...!" When he pushed his fists against me, I tried to hold out... but it didn't see to work. My back was almost hitting Hanji... and I couldn't get him off of me. So then...

I punched him- right in the cheek. I pushed so hard, my knuckles were red and sore. I pulled back to look at them, and it looked like I broke the skin... and it was slowly bleeding. Then, there were terrible gasps echoing in the halls. 

"I-I hate you!" The boy screamed at me, punching me back. 

I tried to move him away from Hanji... and I didn't cry once. Not after his punches were landing near my eyes and on my lips. At one point, he punched me in the chest. I toppled over and I was pushed to the ground. From there, it was nothing but kicks. My hands were red and sore, but I still used them to hide my face. Through all the pain, I still looked up to Hanji to see if she was safe. She was... just afraid...

"What's going on here?!"  A deep, booming voice stopped all the commotion. A female voice was trying to push the students away. She was the same one who picked me off the ground. I struggled to open my eyes, and I saw one of my teachers holding me and the deeper male voice was the principal. He stared at the two of us, holding the boy with one hand. "Who started this fight?"

The boy then pointed at me with a selfish smirk. "He did! Levi did it! He punched me first!"

Ms. King looked towards me as I was in her arms. Worry and shook filled her eyes, "Did you... punch him first...?"

I looked away for a bit, looking towards Hanji as she began to tell the truth. "It was Joseph. He was bullying me and... Levi was protecting me. Joseph was pushing him and hurting the both of us... but yes, Levi did throw the punch, but it wasn't his fault, Ms. King! Please don't punish him!"

Principal Meyers sighed heavily. "You were the one who threw the first punch, Levi. Both of you will receive punishment. Detention after school for a week. But for you, Levi, you also have to write an apology letter to Joseph's parents."

"W-What about Levi?!" Hanji cries out, looking towards me with sadness in her eyes. "Doesn't he get the apology for being beaten up?"

"That's not how this school operates, Hanji. He's the one who started it with the punch." He tugs on Joseph, and Ms. King pulled me up from the ground. 

We marched slowly to the principal's office. Shamefully, I turned to see Hanji being left behind. Already, she was crying softly. I wish I could hold her in my arms and to dry her tears. But I couldn't. I remember crying myself to sleep when some people kept saying that getting into trouble would always decrease the chance of me getting adopted. Always comparing me to Hanji... that she was the better one... that she didn't need me. But she did need me...

I stopped bullies from getting to her.

It was just a few weeks later that... she was adopted. When school started without her... everyone began to make fun of me about it.

"Seems like the master left her puppy alone!"

Or things like...

"Looks like somebody wasn't a good bodyguard. Perhaps she left him for someone else? Maybe someone who wouldn't get into trouble using her name! He's nothing but a puppy dog!"

I don't know what broke me... but soon enough... I was breaking noses and busting my knuckles day after day to anyone who dared to give me a bad look. I didn't care anymore because... they didn't care. Nothing else to add on about my life in school after she left me. Everything was covered by a black curtain... a shadow over me... a dark cloud that loomed over me... that was my life for the next 10 years.