"As long as I am here, no-one can hurt you."—Billie Eilish.

••

Blaze puts me to sit on my bunk bed while he briskly walks to the bathroom. My mind begins to replay the stomach-clenching predicament that had just taken place, and the hairs on my skin stand up chillingly.

Blaze would have certainly killed Mr. Jones; the poisonous look in his orbs told me that. They were lifeless and cold, holding no form of mercy or humanity.

Naturally, his eyes tend to possess this vacancy that always leaves me confused, but the blackness in them today shoved me in a state of apprehension. They were nothing like the usual, and it scared me.

Although Mr. Jones deserves to be beaten for what he had tried to do to me, I wouldn't want to see Blaze ruin himself like that. The thought of him murdering his lecturer and then being sent to prison for life is dreadfully frightening. I would never see him again, and I am not sure how I would feel about that considering how emotionally attached to him I am becoming. He would probably leave with a part of me.

God, I should stop this. I shouldn't get too fixated on him; I don't think it's safe. Plus, he had already told me his views on love. He has been pretty honest with me, so if I should get hurt in the end, I am the one to be blamed, right?

He returns with a damp rag and sits in front of me. His forehead is still crumpled in anger and his eyes still have the dark effect.

"Where did he touch you?"

I swallow. "Just my arms..."

He takes my hand in his and begins to wipe my arm down to my palm. I am not sure why he's doing that.

"Why are you—"

"I don't want his touch on you," he clarifies, his eyes lifting to meet mine. "I don't want to know that his touch is still on your skin. Do you understand?"

I nod my head as I begin to blush beyond my conscious control.

When he says things like that, it's hard not to fall deeply in love with him.

I sink my gaze as he continues. His touch is gentle as he trails the rag along my skin, and I wonder if he exercises this amount of consideration toward everyone. Before I can withhold the question, it falls from my lips.

"Do you care for everyone like this?"

His hands cease their actions as he keeps his head bent, and I try to analyze his blank expression but fail to. I can never tell what he's thinking, and that sucks. If I could, then I would be able to discover all the secrets and scars he's hiding away from me.

"No. I don't normally care for anyone... Ever."

He lifts his head and grips the side of my face, tilting it so he can see the bruise on my opposite cheek. He sighs and grabs the first aid kit from the bed next to him. "I told you to stay away from him."

"Yeah but... he overheard me saying bad stuff about him and said he needed to talk to me about it or else I would get banned from English."

Blaze looks at me as if my response sounded pretty stupid, and now that I think about it, it does sound silly.

"You wouldn't get banned that easily. What exactly did he hear you say?"

"That he's... boring."

Blaze hisses. "No one gets banned for something like that. He was just luring you into his disgusting plans. I think you took the carrot on the trap, Harmony."

I sigh, nodding my head sourly. "I can be really stupid sometimes, I guess."

"Don't say that. You're not stupid." He grabs a cotton ball from the kit. "You're just.... pure."

I point my attention to my fingers, then a thought comes to mind and I look up at him again.

"Uhm, by the way... how'd you find me?"

His chest rises in a breath and he parts his lips to speak when there is a loud knock on the dorm door.

"I'll get it." I stand to my feet and move toward it while Blaze is sifting through the first aid kit.

I open it to see two security officers standing there, and I tilt my head to the side in wonderment. "May I help you?"

"Is Blaze Xander in there?" One of the men with a bald spot enquires.

I narrow my eyes at the question. What do they want with Blaze? "What?"

They push past me rudely and enter the room while Blaze gets up from the bed, not seeming surprised by their appearances.

"We got a report that you have a knife in your possession?" The one with a weightier built says. "Please come with us for further investigation at the Chairman's office."

I gasp. "What?"

Blaze laughs, and it catches everyone off guard. It certainly isn't the time to be chuckling, but only Blaze Xander chortles in the most serious situations.

"Did that rapist tell you guys that?" He asks, nonchalantly jamming his hands into his pockets.

The men step forward, but I slither in their pathway, making them both roll their eyes in sync.

"What did he do? He didn't do anything, and furthermore, Mr. Jones attempted to sexually harass me."

"Do you have proof?" Chubby security asks, and I furrow my brows in disbelief.

"I do actually, look at my face. He slapped me!"

The guard with the missing strands of hair, who I am just now realizing is chewing gum, barely tilts his head and glance shortly at my face then roll his eyes to the back of his head.

"There is barely anything there. I have heard about kids like you who try to bring down a professor just because you failed a simple test. Mr. Jones has been working here for years and no one has ever filed such a report. Why would he touch you?" He vulgarly chews the gum while he looks me up and down. "What's so special about you?"

"Yow, hey, watch your fucking mouth," Blaze says stepping forward, but I sigh and rest my hand on his chest.

"It's okay."

The stout guard walks around me, bouncing my shoulder in the process as he grips Blaze's arm. "Come with us."

Blaze lets out a laugh, shaking his head. "This feels like I am being taken by the police. It's very fascinating, but nothing that I am not used to."

"What are you guys doing? Let him go now, Mr. Jones is the culprit here."

"Yeah yeah, focus on your studies, little girl," Bald-spot says as they pull Blaze with them toward the exit. He turns his face to wink at me with a smile, and I sigh. How can he smile in a situation like this?

"Stay on the bed, yeah?" He says.

His eyes hold a message and I realize that that statement sounded a lot like a 'code' of some sort. Is he hinting that something is on or under the bed?

The door closes behind them, and I walk over and shift my pillows aside. I see nothing there, and so I kneel and lift the quilt to peer under the bed. Instantly my eyes spot his knife tucked in a corner, and I smile a little.

He's so sneaky.

••

"Take your feet down!"

I think this man lost his mind when he lost his hair. No-one tells me what to do.

My feet are unmoving from their comfortable position on the polished table while I reach over to take gum from a container on the Chairman's desk.

I remove the noisy wrapper and tuck the gum in my mouth, chewing it around while the security officer eyes me with absolute hostility. If I didn't know better, I'd think I fucked his girlfriend or something.

"Where's the Chairman? I honestly don't have all day and the canteen runs out of burgers at one in the afternoon."

His companion, a fleshy one with low cut hair steps through the glass door. "The Chairman's meeting has ended, he'll be here soon. Did you search his pockets?"

"No was just about to," Bald-spot answers as he moves closer to me.

He grips my arm, and I shoot him a deadly side-glare. "Hey, do not touch me. You don't wanna do that."

"When since Homewood takes in criminals?" Fat security comments. "This boy is a delinquint."

I laugh and shake my head. "The word is pronounced 'delinquent' and not 'delinquint.' Christ, how long have you been working at a University and not know that? You shouldn't have to be corrected by a 'delinquent' who seldom goes to class, Peter Griffin."

I watch as his face contorts in confusion at the animation reference, and bald-spot security walks over to him and whispers in his ear. "He means the cartoon; Family Guy. Peter Griffin is a fat guy in the cartoon."

I laugh and shake my head. These men are two frigging idiots.

"Stand up, you menace!" Peter Griffin grips my bicep and I pull it away.

"I said don't touch me. Next time you do that, it won't be nice."

I stand to my feet and the one with the missing hair sucks his teeth. "Back against the wall."

I glare at him silently. It's going to take more than an order to get me to do that.

The stout security guard steps forward and begins to tap my pockets as if to search me. I shove him off angrily and he stumbles back but gathers his composure quickly and gesture to his baton.

"Are you going to hit me with that?" I chuckle. "Give it your best shot but make sure that when you do, I die or become a damn vegetable because if I don't, I will be back for you."

Seeing the deep threat in my eyes, an unassertive look covers his and he slowly removes his palm from the black rod on his waist. My gaze falls to the action and I smirk.

"Fucking coward."

The glass door opens, and a strong trace of cologne circulates the air-conditioned room as it closes again. "What is going on here?"

One of the men gives out a sigh. "Mr. Xander, I am so happy you are here; this is the boy who has a—"

"Blaze?" The Chairman, who is also my uncle, narrows his eyes at me in wariness. I always try to avoid him at school because just like my dad, he thinks he can talk some emotions into me. Mr. Jones must know that he's dying twice for this.

"This is the guy we told you about." One of the security guards informs.

My uncle holds his forehead. "Get out you two. He's my nephew."

The two security sentinels exchange flabbergasted looks, and a smirk rises from the corner of my mouth. The expression on their faces is so hideous that I chuckle under my breath. Fools.

"I will deal with him," he continues. "You two go."

They reluctantly turn away to leave, and I smile broadly. "Hey, Peter Griffin?" The chubby guard looks at me. "Yeah, you should go read a book when you get off work later, yeah? The word is delinquent!"

"Blaze, stop it." My uncle grits his teeth, and the men shoot me hated glares, earning a slender middle finger from me.

It misses the eyes of my father's brother as he crashes into his chair with a tired sigh. "Sit down."

I release a breath of reluctance and flump down onto the seat, reclining lazily, but not putting my feet back up. I can't take the nagging that would come with it. This man holds the same personality and appearance as my dad, and I know how annoying they both can be about something as trivial as me putting my feet up for my comfort.

"Blaze. First, you attacked someone in the cafeteria and now you have a knife," he begins. "When will you stop? I thought you changed."

Changed? When did I ever promise these people that I'd change myself to please them?

I blow my cheeks out. "I don't have a knife."

"Don't lie, Blaze."

"You can search me."

He sighs. "I know you hid it somewhere."

"Search my dorm."

He holds his forehead for the hundredth time since he had discovered me in his office. Everyone knows I am hard work, yet they all still try to tame me. They really shouldn't waste their time.

"Get rid of it." He says.

I sit up in my chair. "What's the deal about a knife? Taking a knife away from me won't stop me from stabbing someone if I want to. This is a school; I can always use pencils and pens. Disarming me won't solve the issue, will it?"

"Mr. Jones is a lecturer!" He bellows. "You threatened to stab your lecturer. By right I should kick you out of the school, Blaze."

"Did the little rapist tell you why I almost killed him?"

"No, but Blaze—"

"He was trying to harass someone. Someone I care about!"

His expression softens immediately, and he looks a bit taken aback by my words. I am surprised myself; did I just say that? He knows that I normally don't care about anyone. I know that too. But Harmony is the exception to my twisted disorder.

I sigh. "You should fire him. Or I will kill him."

"Blaze."

"Fire him. That's all I ask if you don't want blood on your school grounds."

"I cannot do that," he insists. "Do you have proof?"

"He slapped her in the face! There is a mark on her cheek!"

"Yeah but that can't serve as enough evidence; it could be anyone else who did that, Blaze. I am not saying it's not him but that's a weak basis to work on. The staff room's CCTV has not been working for a while now, and it's not easy to accuse someone with a good record as he—"

"As I thought...the law sucks," I mumble. "And so does humanity. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Blaze—"

I get up from my chair, and he rakes his hand through his hair. "Blaze! Do not do anything stupid!"

I walk out and slam his door behind me. Oh, I won't. I am just paying Mr. Jones a nice visit. After all, I didn't get a chance to finish what I wanted to earlier.