2. The one who came to her rescue

ASTRID

Damien made a video of it and that video was now all over the school site.

How could he do that to me? He said he loved me, last night had been so passionate so how could it possibly have been a bet?

“Mmhhhmmm…”

My fingernails dug into my flesh as my own moans filled my ears. My cheeks burned with embarrassment and my throat ached so bad that I couldn’t even cry out loud even though I desperately wanted to. Hot tears slid down my cheeks as the headmistress's harsh gaze remained on me.

“Turn that thing off.” She snapped and her assistant scurried over to the projector that was playing the video from last night that had somehow circulated through the entire school and turned it off.

“Get your things and get off the school premises right now. As from this moment onwards, you’re no longer a student of Danville High.” The headmistress added and my entire world came crashing down right in front of me.

Was it not bad enough that I had been used and played for a fool in front of the whole school by the boy I had loved and willingly given my virginity to? Was it not bad enough that a video of it was going around the whole school and I had been labeled a slut?

My body shook uncontrollably as the tears streamed down my face.

“No!” I cried out as I crumbled to my knees in front of her desk, “please… I don’t have anywhere else to go. This is the only place I can…”

“You should have thought of that before you made a sex tape.”

“I had no idea he made the video. It was… it was…” I stumbled over my own words as the sobs shook my entire body.

There was nothing else for me out there. The scholarship to attend Danville High was what had saved me from my step-father who did nothing but drink himself to stupor and gamble every single day. I couldn’t go back to that life with him.

“Guards! Throw this slut out of here! Danville High is not for rotten lowlives like you.” She added with an irritated tone as she stared at me in disgust.

The mistress was Adriana’s mom so I knew she couldn’t care less about me since she hated me just as much as her daughter did plus it was well known that she wanted her daughter to end up with the Alpha Prince.

“Did you really think that someone like Damien would want to end up with a wretched, pathetic creature like you?” She scoffed out loud, “you never should have come here, mingling with these kids must have messed with your head and deceived you into thinking you’re one of them.”

“You’re nothing like them, Astrid, you belong in the slumps and that’s exactly where you’re going to.” She added without an ounce of sympathy.

I clung onto her desk and pleaded as hard as I could. I even offered to take up more chores in the school but she turned a deaf ear to all my pleas.

The moment the guards dragged me out the door, someone stepped up to them and a chill raced down my spine when I saw Adriana glaring down at me with so much hatred in her eyes.

“I’ll gladly show her out.” She added with a chilling smile as he reached out and grabbed a fistful of my hair.

I had screamed so hard that I could no longer scream as Adriana dragged me across the floor by the hair, towards the gates.

Everyone watched with amusement as if they were simply enjoying a show while I bit down on my lip so hard that the metallic taste of blood soon burst in my mouth.

The tears were now rolling down my cheeks effortlessly and I didn’t have any control whatsoever over it. As soon the large doors that led into the school swung open, Adriana pushed me down the stairs.

My head slammed against the hard floor as I rolled down the stairs to the body. My shoulder, knees, elbows and every other part of my body ached badly by the time I crumbled to a heap at the bottom.

“That’s what happens to lowlives that don’t know their place.” She hissed.

“Should have known she was a slut.” One of the students beside Adriana added as she tossed something at me.

Something hard hit me on the head before some sort of liquid spilt down my face. I gasped in shock when I touched it and realized it was an egg.

I barely had time to recover before all manner of things were thrown at me. From every single corner, my body was being hit with stones, sticks, eggs, and every other thing they could get their hands on.

My body already ached from rolling down the stairs like that but this was even worse, the humiliation caused an even greater pain.

“Go back to the hole you crawled out of!” A student cursed.

“Look at her, pathetic.” Another spat.

“Go die somewhere else and not here!”

“What is it with omegas and not knowing their place?”

“Go be a whore somewhere else.”

I was curled up in front of the school in that biting cold, crying my eyes out, hoping that Damien would step out and wrap his protective arms around me but he never showed up.

How could everything have been a lie? Was the affection he showed me a game to him too?

How was it possible that he had faked every single second of it? Even though the sudden interest he showed in me now made sense, a part of me simply refused to accept it was all a lie, the pain of admitting it was just too much to bear.

To think I thought I had finally found someone that loved me, to think I thought he would always be there to defend me. Just a few days of showing up as my knight in shining armor and he already got me pinning for him to come to my rescue.

Maybe he was right, I really was pathetic, I sobbed.

“That’s enough!” A strange, firm voice suddenly interrupted the students' loud voices and to my surprise, I couldn’t feel anything hitting me anymore.

Curious, I slowly unwrapped my arms from my head and the first thing that came into view was a black pair of shoes.

I had to strain my neck a little bit to see who it was and the moment I did, my breath got stuck in my throat. His eyes were the deepest shade of blue I had ever seen and his shirt had a few buttons undone so there was a perfect view of the tattoo on his neck.

He was definitely young but who…

“Aren’t you cold?” His voice was even more intoxicating than his scent so when he spoke, it took a while before I could process what he had said.

“W-What?”

He didn’t respond, he simply stretched out his hand to help me up but I couldn’t take it. I just sat there on the ground, staring at his hand in surprise.

Who was he? I had never seen him here before.

“Who the fuck are you? Stay out of this or else the headmistress would make you regret it.” Adriana spoke up from her position at the top of the stairs, clearly pissed.

As if he had not heard a single word Adriana said, he reached down and grabbed my hand with a firm yet gentle grip and with one pull, he lifted me off the ground.

I was stunned.

No one ignores Adriana. Her family had close ties with the Alpha.

“Hey! Are you deaf? I said stay out of this.” Adriana stormed down the stairs towards us but the moment she reached out to touch him, he shot her a glare and to my surprise, she stepped back.

Adriana stepped back! She had never done that before.

“Touch me again and you’ll see a side of me you wish you never saw.” His tone was suddenly so harsh and intense as he glared at Adriana.

Holding onto me, he led me up the stairs and back into the school. I could feel everyone’s gaze on us as he headed for the dorm. It was obvious that he knew his way around and I was still shocked by the fact that he had just silenced Adriana.

No one, not even the headmistress could silence her. Who was he to do that? I wondered as I let him lead me through the hallways.

By the time I became aware of my surroundings again, he had just led me into the school clinic and before I could protest, he grabbed my arm and gently placed bandages over the bruises I had sustained when Adriana kicked me down the stairs.

I watched him suspiciously, this was exactly how it had started with Damien, just before he made me fall for him and proceeded to play me for a fool.

I snatched my hands away from him immediately.

“Who are you?” I asked, suspicious and curious.

“My name is Noah.”