"Mr O'Connor...Mr O'Connor! Enoch O'Connor, I'm not going to ask you again."

Someone elbowed him and Enoch looked up into the scowling face of Mr Barron at the front of the classroom. "What, sir?" He asked dryly though he knew perfectly well what he was being asked for.

"Homework. I'll be impressed if you can turn in at least one assigned lot of homework this term, Enoch. What's the excuse this time? Let me guess, dog ate it? Wind blew it away?"

A few people snickered as the booming mathematics teacher never bothered to mince his words when it came to Enoch's inadequacy. That only made Enoch despise him more. He couldn't be the only student in the class to be doing so poorly, calling him out wasn't going to discourage Enoch's attitude.

"Frankly, sir, I just don't care ta do it." Enoch snapped back, holding Mr Barron's sarcastic expression with a cool glare of his own and again a handful of students erupted in snickers around him. No one particularly liked Mr Barron, and there was nothing funnier than somebody talking right back to him. It would be less funny when Enoch's parents heard about it again after all the fuss his father was making about making Enoch do his work.

"I promise you'll care a whole lot more when you get an F for the term, Enoch. Why you're even in this class is beyond me."

"With no due respect, I don't want to be."

By the time the bell rang, Enoch was in a foul mood which could only get worse. It felt like everyone stared ten times more than ever, that the whispers about him he never paid any mind to were suddenly magnified and he could have sworn he caught some of the lipsticked, catty girls with their skirts up too high cackle something about red heads when he passed.

When he sat down at the table in the cafeteria beside Olive, unintentionally close enough to brush arms every time one of them moved, everyone's eyes stared at him and he scowled back.

"What?"

"Okay, he totally didn't see either."

"See what?" His eyes shot to Olive beside him and her green eyes widened as she shook her head.

"I don't know, they were waiting to see if you knew."

Hugh pulled his phone out of his pocket and exchanged a glance with Fiona beside him.

"Okay because you get all pissy with me, it wasn't me and I wouldn't do it." With that he pushed the phone across the table to Enoch who picked it up and barely stopped himself from throwing Hugh's phone to the floor as he cursed.

There on the screen was a blurry, clearly zoomed in, but no less distinctive picture of the large decorative reindeer over the weekend, and in front of it himself and Olive in a very clear lip lock.

Enoch felt his face grow hot.

"What the 'ell is that?!"

Olive, who had leaned over to look, squeaked and turned a violent shade of pink while Enoch downright fumed, pushing Hugh's phone back to him while the other boy cringed slightly.

"Yeah that got spread around from someone then someone on the football team sent it to me, I swear I dunno who started it. I didn't even know you two actually went-ouch!"

"Really, Hugh?" Fiona shook her head, and had clearly stepped on his toes or kicked him under the table.

So Enoch hadn't been imagining it. People were muttering more, and he had heard Olive's name pop up in conjunction with his a few times but he didn't even remember seeing anyone from the school around by the time they'd gotten out of the movies. Unless.

He turned a furious glare past Olive, who was hiding her face in her hands in sheer embarrassment, and to Emma who shot it right back at him.

"Oh, don't you dare try and pin this on us, Enoch."

"Well...it could be worse? It could be something not true?"

Enoch ignored Hugh's attempt to defuse the situation. It was difficult enough for him to have asked Olive out in the first place, and admit, to her face that they weren't just friends anymore. He shouldn't have done it. As if they needed more fuel to the fire, and worse, it was dragging Olive under the bus too. He could tell just looking at the way she still wasn't even looking up from her hands that such public exposure of something that was supposed to be theirs, just a kiss, was humiliating her as much as it was infuriating him.

"Right." He ground out through his teeth and started to scan the cafeteria. He had a fair idea of who was responsible, or at least the head of the damn syndicate.

"Enoch, what are you doing?"

Was exactly was he going to do? Get himself in more trouble, probably. He was suddenly aware that he'd stood up. Even putting his own pride for possibly the first time ever, and quiet fear of ever letting some emotion out, and at serious risk of confirming whatever kind of relationship he was in, he wasn't letting anyone treat Olive like that. It was cruel and she was sensitive, anyone could see that by looking at her.

"Seriously, mate, don't start it."

"Why the 'ell not? I know 'oo probably done it." Enoch growled and glared at Hugh, daring the boy to stop him. "Someone did that ta Fiona, would ya sit quiet 'bout it?"

"Well yeah, 'cause Fi and I aren't really a secret anyway."

Enoch turned his glare on Fiona and then back to Hugh. "And when ya were just snoggin' behind the school unofficially?"

"...Okay are you still talking about us or have you been snogging behind the school?"

"No!"

"Stop it!" Olive had finally dropped her hands and Enoch looked down at her instead. She was still beet red and he could tell her eyes were watering slightly which sent another sharp pang of anger through his chest. "It doesn't matter, Enoch, please don't say anything about it. You can't change it now."

Enoch stared down at her, holding her pleading gaze with his hard stare. He did not agree. His own reputation was down the drain, and the self-control that used to be so in check about laughing, bullying people with nothing better to do than laugh that other's expense, went out the window as soon as she was at stake.

But slowly he sat down, casting one final glare around the cafeteria and then he saw the table in the back corner of the room on which Bentham and his cronies sat. Enoch's hand clenched into a fist and it took all of the self -control he had left to sit back down and leave it.

For now.

xxxXxxx

Nobody said anything more about it until Biology, not to their face anyway, when Mr Clark left them to their work for a few minutes. Enoch was still sulking, slouched over the lab bench on his stool and glaring out the window while Olive next to him completed the diagram.

"Enoch, this would be a lot faster if you'd help..."

"I don't really care right now." Enoch grumbled right back, not so much as looking at her until something hit him right in the back of the head.

They both turned around, Alex White and Jack Bentham both, to Enoch's intense dislike, shared the class and occupied the bench right behind theirs.

"Enoch..." He glanced sideways at Olive who was looking at him with nothing short of concern on her face. But this time, he ignored her.

"Take it down, Bentham." Enoch growled to which the blonde boy feigned innocence, poorly, and raised his eyebrows at Enoch.

"Oh? That? Even if I wanted to, it wasn't me that started it. Why do you even care so much? Isn't it showing you can get a girl?" Jack's eyes went to Olive and a horrible smirk spread over his face. "...Standards though, really, Olive?"

"By all means, antagonise me in a room wiv a lotta sharp objects." Enoch snapped, "Lay the 'ell off 'er."

"Oh but I'm not trying to get to Olive. She's just...let's say collateral damage ta get ta you, freak. It's so easy now."

"Ya problem's wiv me, drag 'er into it and yeh'll see first 'and what bein' embalmed is like."

Bentham's eyebrows shot up and he let out a bark like laugh that turned every other eye in the room that wasn't already on them.

"Threats? Someone's antsy. Not getting' any yet, huh?

"Don't be disgustin' ya piece o-" Enoch might have actually hurled a microscope at his head, his fingers had actually twitched towards it, had the door not opened at that exact moment and the class went silent as a single unit in the way only a misbehaving class could when the teacher returned.

Mr Clark looked around at the classroom suspiciously, almost every head was down at their own work, and if it weren't for Enoch's fingers drumming tensely on the benchtop and Jack Bentham's cocky grin, there would have been no indication at all that anyone had started a scene.

xxxXxxx

Olive didn't wait for him as she usually would. She rushed out of the class the moment the bell rung, holding her things to her chest and obviously upset.

There was snickering behind him when he watched her disappear through the crowd in the direction of her locker and he knew it was at their expense again. But he ignored it and shouldered his way in the opposite direction.

Olive was already getting on the bus by the time Enoch even reached the bus stop. Anger was still burning with a vengeance inside him and he wanted nothing more than to shut Bentham up for good now. He glanced down at Olive, sitting beside Emma as usual as he past her seat and met her eyes for a second before he took his own spot and blocked the spot beside him with his bag.

Olive didn't look at him again as the bus pulled away from the curb but Enoch kept his blue eyes fixed on the side of her head, willing her to turn around and look at him again. She did after a moment, when he saw Emma nudge her and point over at him and damn it all, he was actually glad Emma had done it.

Olive met his eyes and Enoch's chest constricted slightly at the redness there. She'd been crying.

Slowly, purposefully, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and reached over to move his bag off the seat beside him and onto the floor. A wordless invitation which Olive immediately caught on to. The sadness in her eyes was replaced momentarily with surprised and without much encouragement, she said something to Emma and stood up.

It felt oddly comfortable for him as Olive slipped into the empty place beside him and tucked her bag at her feet. She smiled at him, a little one that didn't reach her eyes for once and Enoch sighed.

"I'm sorry ya gotta be in the middle of it. Ain't fair for ya." He kept his voice low. The last thing he wanted was to be overheard. "If it 'elps, I was damn close ta dissecting 'is organs next."

Olive wrinkled her nose slightly but she did smile a little wider. "That's...morbid, Enoch. It's not your fault. It was just bad enough already, I wish you hadn't said anything."

"If I 'adn't, it woulda been worse anyway." He muttered and turned his gaze out the window for a moment before shrugging. "They don't know nofin'. It don't 'urt me, I don't care until it 'urts you."

"We could have left it alone it would have gone away..."

"Still ain't standin' for attackin' you. Argue all ya want. It ain't okay for 'im ta do that."

Enoch turned his gaze around the bus. No one was really paying them any attention. Emma had her nose in a book instead, much to his relief and they were right at the back. Slowly and very hesitantly, Enoch moved his hand. Olive was looking at her lap now and he kept his eyes fixed on her face for any sign that she was noticing as he reached over and took one of her slightly shaking hands to give it a gentle squeeze.

"Do I look like I could 'andle a cryin' girl?"

His fingers rested on her hand and Olive's face shot up to his. However upset she had been it melted away to be replaced with surprise as Enoch shrugged his shoulders.

"They don' know nofin'."