STEPBROTHER: Bad Boy Blues (Taboo Romance) by Ora Wilde

preferred the silence.  He looked at me from time to time, though, just to check if I needed anything.  Whenever I saw him gazing, I just gave him a polite smile and he understood.  He would go back to jotting some notes, or maybe some doodles, on his notebook.
     
    A few minutes before first period started, however, my day took a turn for the worse.
     
    Chelsea went inside the classroom and she was with a familiar face... the face of the guy who I thought I loved... the face the guy who I thought loved me back.  She was with Darwin, and his arm was resting on her shoulder.  He was flashing a cocky smile... pretentious, ostentatious, cruel... and his dimple showed.
     
    That damn freaking dimple!
     
    He planted a kiss on Chelsea’s cheek and she smiled at him.  Chelsea proceeded to her seat.  As she passed by my chair, she waved and mouthed a hello.  Darwin, on the other hand, stood in front of the class until Chelsea was able to settle on her seat.
     
    Then he approached Wilfred.
     
    “Kid,” Darwin called him, “that’s my seat.”
     
    “Eh?” Wilfred replied, nonplussed.  “This?  Where I’m sitting?  This is your seat?”
     
    “That’s my seat,” Darwin repeated.  The smile he had a few seconds ago was completely gone and it was replaced by a terrifying glare.
     
    I saw Wilfred gulp.  He wasn’t really a brave kid.  Thin and feeble, he was the favorite target of bullies when we were younger.
     
    “I h-have always been in this seat, Sir,” Wilfred answered stutteringly.  “Since first year high, in fact.”
     
    “You don’t own that seat anymore,” Darwin menacingly said as he placed his foot at the side of the chair and drew his face close to Wilfred’s.  He eyed him in a hostile manner.
     
    The commotion they were making caused the entire class to turn their focus on them.
     
    “T-This is my seat,” Wilfred answered, putting up a courageous front.  “I have always sat beside Betty over there,” he continued as he pointed at me.
     
    “Bullshit!” Darwin yelled, his face was brimming with rage.  “If you don’t vacate that seat, I’m going to drag your scrawny little ass down the hallway and beat you up in the middle of the football field.”
     
    The tension escalated as silence filled the room.  Everyone was waiting for Wilfred’s next move.
     
    “I’m sorry, Sir,” Wilfred finally responded.  “But I’m not leaving this seat.”
     
    Then Darwin lost it.
     
    Darwin kicked the side of Wilfred’s chair so hard that it almost tumbled backwards if it didn’t bump into Henry O’Neal who was sitting behind him.  Henry immediately grabbed Wilfred’s scrawny body to prevent him from falling to the floor.
     
    But Darwin wasn’t through with him yet.  He approached him, his fists drawn on his sides, ready to take a swing at the sticklike boy who was obviously incapable of putting up a fight.
     
    I wasn’t able to take it anymore.
     
    “Darwin!” I screamed.  At the top of my lungs, I screamed.  “Stop!”
     
    He froze and looked at me.
     
    “Darwin... please stop,” I continued, mumbling my words that time, tears beginning to flow from my eyes.  “Just... please... stop.”
     
    He stared at me, but the anger has abandoned his eyes, replaced by an entirely different emotion, one that I have never seen from him, one that I never expected he would ever show.
     
    Shame.
     
    He dropped his hands and bowed his head.  He turned around to face the door, then started to walk towards the exit.
     
    “I need a fucking cigarette,” he uttered as he proceeded to leave the classroom.
     
    From behind me, I saw Chelsea stand up and run towards him, towards Darwin, towards her man.  She placed her arm around his waist and looked at him worryingly.  Together, they walked away from the room, away from my sight.
     
    “Darwin?” Wilfred asked when he finished putting the chair back to its proper position.  “I guess that was your stepbrother,