Chapter 39

My friends were on their feet, ready to intervene on my behalf. I wasn't going to let them do that. I needed to take care of this by myself.

"Get the fuck up!" Jason shouted as he shoved my head. "I ain't done with you!"

My eyes were locked on Jason as I grit my teeth. I ignored the pain in my face and calmly rose to my feet, standing before him once again. I groaned quietly, gently rubbing my cheek and stretching my jaw out in all directions.

"I forgot how easy you were to hit," he remarked with a laugh. Then, my hand fell away from my face and I shot him a confident smirk.

"You're not going to do that twice," I coolly said.

"Oh yeah?" he wondered aloud as he arrogantly grinned at me. "You really think that, huh, bitch?"

His grin quickly faded when he stepped forward slightly and went to strike me with his fist again. Just as he did, I beat his oncoming punch with the blink of an eye. Everything went completely silent and I found myself standing before his inanimate body, his fist mere inches away from my face. He had really thrown his balance into the strike and I knew that it would've definitely hurt worse than the first one. However, it also presented a perfect opportunity to one-up him.

I took a brief look around, noticing just how many eyeballs were staring at me. I didn't like this set-up. Way too many people were about to witness me outsmart him. But I couldn't let this jackass get the better of me. I needed to send him a message that messing with me was not an option anymore, and neither was his treatment of my friend Nora. If I had to use my new power to do so then so be it.

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily to steady my shaky nerves. When I opened them again, I began to calmly plan out my next move. I leaned the weight of my body onto one foot and tilted myself just enough to the side to stay out of his line of attack. I hoped that my plan would turn out successfully. There was only one way to find out.

Once I was ready to face the consequences of my actions, I blinked once again and immediately felt his fist breeze by my cheek.

"Whoa!" one of his friends exclaimed at the same time I heard Nora gasp.

"The fuck?" Jason exclaimed in disbelief. The cafeteria erupted into loud murmuring. Everyone else watching on was equally in shock.

"Oh shit, he missed," I heard someone say.

"He was so fast!" someone else exclaimed. "Like a ninja or some shit!"

Before Jason could follow up, I shoved his chest hard. He grunted and stumbled back a few steps. I shot him an expression of spite as he looked at me in confusion. Despite how tough I looked, I was as scared as I'd ever been.

"Don't try that again," I said as I narrowed my eyes. "I promise it's not going to be pretty."

"Holy shit!" an onlooker exclaimed. "That kid is crazy!"

Jason chest began to heave in anger. "You little bitch!" he shouted as he quickly marched up to me. "I'm gonna–"

He was cut off abruptly when I stopped time again. Jason's hands were extended toward me, likely to shove me right back. My heart was racing a mile a minute. I decided to take a brief moment to catch my breath. I stepped away from Jason and turned around, clenching my fists several times.

I was still shaking with nervousness as I turned to face him once more. Jason had terrorized me unmercifully when I was younger and as a result it made me extremely bitter and fearful towards him. I wondered for a moment if I could use my power to unfreeze just him and then show him my newfound strength as I wail on him. A cruel smile spread across my lips as I envisioned him bloodied, pleading for mercy while I refuse to listen to him and continue kicking him while he's down. I could then just take his head and drive it into the floor over and over and—

No. I wasn't going to be like him. The entire point of this was to stand my ground and assert myself, not to be a barbarian. After all, wasn't I a lover and not a fighter?

I shook my head to get the violent images out of my mind. I then pursed my lips and began to look at the situation more analytically. Again, he had unknowingly leaned his body weight toward me all in the attempt to get as much power as he could out of his strikes. I knew I could use that to my advantage... but how? I stepped to the side and studied his posture for a moment. I then humped and smirked happily as I came up with the simple counter-attack—just trip him.

However, I wanted more punch to it than just comically sticking my leg out in front of him. I was going go with a risky, yet extremely rewarding idea. If it worked, it'd cause him a little pain and one hell of an embarrassment.

I positioned myself just to the side of him once again, putting my weight on my inner leg while I reared the other leg back. I exhaled sharply, keeping my aim on his tibia. I really hoped I was good enough at timing so as not to shatter my own tibia in the process.

In one extremely quick motion, I kicked forward and blinked my eyes, hearing the chatter of countless voices just as I kicked his legs out from under him. He shouted in surprise and then uttered a ridiculously pathetic moan as he landed hard on his chest.

"Oh!" came the raucous cheers from the cafeteria as Jason groaned in pain.

"Holy damn...," Frank remarked in disbelief. Nora looked on with eyes as wide as the glasses she wore.

I calmly stepped away and watched him as numerous students cheered and went wild all around me.

"Hey, man!" someone exclaimed in a shrill voice behind me. "That was fucking great!!"

I didn't care for the praise. I only kept my eyes on Jason with an intensely serious look on my face. He groaned loudly as he slowly lifted himself onto his forearms. One of his friends laughed as he walked over to him.

"You okay?" he asked. Jason groaned again, slowly getting to his feet and rubbing his chest for a moment. The two of us stared intensely at each other. I prepared for the very real possibility that he was going to come after me again, though I was really hoping he didn't.

"I swear to God," he said as he began to walk away while keeping his eyes locked on me, "this shit's not over. I'm gonna fuck you up for this."

He then walked away with his two friends by his side, his shoulders tense with anger, barging out of the cafeteria.

By then, most of the other students had already gone back to eating and talking to their friends. I closed my eyes and rubbed the back of my neck, sighing heavily in relief. I was really thankful that was over.