Roc POV
I frown as I push through the crowd of people standing in my way. Up ahead I can see my girlfriend, (Y/N), talking with some guy wearing a leather jacket and red checkered pants with a ridiculously huge afro. Shoving the last person out of my way, I walk up to her and wrap my arms around her waist in a protective way.
“Hey, baby,” I say never taking my eyes off of the guy. “Who’s this?”I ask pulling her closer to my body.
“Oh, this is my math tutor, Princeton,” she explains with a smile. “We were just talking about the pep rally.”
I frown as I watch him nervously place his hands in his pockets. Already, I decide that I don’t like him.
“I haven’t seen you around,” I note. “Are you new?”
“N-No,” he stuttered as he nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I-I just d-don’t hang out with too m-many people so - “
“Look man, I got to go,” I quickly cut off what he’s saying. “Baby, c’mon let’s leave.”
(Y/N) rolled her eyes as she turned to leave. “Whatever, Roc,” she replied walking away from the two of us. “You better be buying me dinner tonight since you forgot yesterday.”
“You know I always take care of you, (Y/N),” I call out. Once she’s far enough away where she can’t hear my conversation, I grab Princeton by the collar and pull him in so that we’re eye to eye. “Listen, fag, I don’t want you hanging with my girl, aiight? You can tutor her and shit, but if I see you talking to her in the hallways, I will fuck you up.”
“U-Um, It isn’t l-like that,” he began to stutter, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “I know s-she’s d-dating you, and I-I wouldn’t even t-think about - “
“Just stay away from her,” I growled throwing him onto the ground. “‘Cause next time I won’t go so easy on your punk looking ass.”
When I walked back to the car, I saw (Y/N) sitting in the passenger seat with her arms folded across chest looking as angry as ever. Groaning loudly, I opened the driver’s door and sat down trying my hardest to not acknowledge her.
“What’s wrong with you?” (Y/N) yelled throwing her hands in the air. “What’s up with you all of a sudden getting so damn possessive? Princeton is my fucking math tutor, and I can’t even talk about when I’m gonna meet up with him without you getting all mad.”
I sighed. “Baby, I wasn’t mad.”
“Yeah, right, Roc,” she said sarcastically. “You know what? Just take me home; I can’t even stand to look at you.”
“(Y/N), don’t be like that. Look, we can still have a good time tonight,” I plead.
“I want to go home.”
Grinding my teeth together angrily, I drove to her house. When I stopped the car in her driveway, I looked over expecting a good-bye kiss, but she just rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car.
“God damn it!” I yelled slamming my fist into the steering wheel. “I’m gonna whoop that kid’s ass when I see him.”
Prince POV
I walked down the hallway with my head down focusing on making it to my locker safely. I struggled to carry my textbooks and my saxophone case, and when I saw my locker, I began to walk a little faster. When I finally reached it, I quickly threw it open and tossed all my stuff inside.
“Hey, Prince,” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw (Y/N) standing by my locker. She gave me a quick smile, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw her dimples. “I’ve been looking for you all day.”
“Y-You have?” I asked. “Why?” Immediately, I wanted to slap myself. Who cares if she’s been looking for you? She’s the hottest girl in the whole school for Christ’s sake!
“I need help with the Calculus homework,” she pouts a little bit, and I bite my lip to make sure I’m not dreaming. “It’s ridiculously hard.”
“Oh,” I scratch my head as I lean against my locker. “Yeah, I’ll help you out. Is tonight at my house, okay? I’d help you right after school, but the pep rally practice and all.”
“Oh yeah,” she sent me another beautiful smile, and I nearly melted. “I forgot you’re the mascot. Haha. I guess I’ll see you there.” She turned to leave, and she was halfway down the hall she turned back around to give me another smile.
I started to smile mentally congratulating myself on successfully talking to (Y/N). Shoot, I even got three smiles from her. As I turned around to walk to the English room, I felt something slam into the side of my head. Groaning, I look over not surprised to see a football lying on the ground next to me. I began to pick it up when a body slammed me back into the lockers.
“What the hell did I tell you about talking to my girl?” questioned Roc as he held me up by my neck. I stare wide-eyed at him as his two henchmen, Ray and Prod, began to make their way over to us.
“Aye, Roc,” Ray greeted his friend, “What are you doing messing with him?” He asked adjusting the black and red goggles on his head. “He ain’t worth your time.”
“I know that, Ray,” Roc said. “This lil’ punk ass nigga been messin’ around wit’ my girl. He thinks I’m too stupid notice.”
Prod raised an eyebrow as he looked back and forth between me and Roc. I swallowed nervously as I looked at him. “This Mexican fool,” he asked with a smirk. “Man, (Y/N) wouldn’t be caught dead with a nigga as wack as him. You just wastin’ your time.”
Roc took one last look at me before letting me go. I watched in fear as he turned around and left with Ray following along laughing at Roc’s anger. As I began to stand up, I noticed Prodigy looking at me curiously.
“If I were you, I’d leave Roc’s girl alone. He really likes her, and if he sees you with her, I won’t be able to save your ass again.”
____
Nervously twiddling with my thumbs, I watched (Y/N) as she scribbled down another answer in her math book. Her lips were pursed and her nose was crinkled in the cutest way, and I felt like reaching out and feeling her skin underneath my fingers. I watched as she raised her head to ask me another question, and I stammered out the answer.
“(Y/N), I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but why do you like Roc so much?” I asked. She raised her head to look at me, and I immediately bit my tongue. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No it’s fine,” she said shaking her head. “Honestly, I think I like him so much because he’s like a big cute teddy bear.” She saw the look of disbelief on my face, and she started to laugh. “He’s so sweet and kind and funny.”
“No offense, but are we talking about the same Roc?” I asked. “The big football player that always walks around the place looking angry?”
She laughed again. “He’s actually really nice. It’s just these last few months he’s been acting a bit like an asshole.” She paused for a moment. “I feel like he isn’t as into me as he once was. Everytime I want to just hang with him, he just ends up talking about this party he wanted to go to or how much he and Ray wanted to see that new zombie movie.”
I slid my hand across the table, so that my fingertips were resting on the back of her palm. My heart rate accelerated as I looked into her eyes, and I felt like we were the only two people in the world.
“You can do better than him, (Y/N).”
My eyes ghosted down to her lips, and before I knew it, we were kissing. I placed my hand on the back of her head while my other one gently caressed her hip. I could feel her fingers entangling themselves in my hair, and I gently nibbled on her bottom lip enjoying the sound of her gasping in pleasure.
Suddenly, (Y/N) pulled away from me. I searched her eyes for answers, but she was avoiding my gaze. I frowned as she scooted away from me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have done that. I think - I think I have to go.”
“(Y/N),” I muttered as she stood up. “(Y/N), you don’t have to go; it was my fault. I won’t do it again.”
She looked at me for a moment before gently kissing me on the cheek. “I’ll see you at the pep rally.”
After she had left, I dropped my head on the table. I couldn’t believe I had fucked things up that easily. What had I expected? She was dating Roc, the star of the damn football team! Why would she even risk what she had with him for a guy like me? I’m just some lanky, awkwardly dressed kid, that could barely say a sentence without stumbling over my words. I had no chance with her.
____
I stood awkwardly by the bottom of the bleachers awkwardly trying to dance to the pep rally music while the cheerleaders stood in the grass beside me doing cheers. I glanced over at the cheerleaders shocked to see (Y/N) staring at me. Nervously, I looked back to the football field watching the football team run up and down the field making the crowd go wild.
Roc turned to look at (Y/N) before frowning and staring at me. He had stopped running up and down the field and Prodigy took one long look at me before shaking his head. I gulped loudly trying to cover up my nerves by doing another awkward dance.
Shit. Don’t look… Don’t look… Don’t look… Damn, he’s still staring. Maybe he isn’t staring at you! He could be staring at the kid beside you! But the kid beside you didn’t make out with his girlfriend… shit.
The football players all huddle up around Roc and begins to yell something at them while never taking his eyes off you. (Y/N), who seemed to know that something bad was going to happen, grabbed onto the arm of one of the cheerleaders next to her. The football team all got in position, and the students who were in the stands began screaming louder.
Roc began sprinting full speed towards me with the rest of the team following behind, and as I tried to turn to run, I felt several hands grab me and lift me into the air. I kicked my legs back and forth frantically and the crowd, who thought it was a part of the routine, began to go insane. They carried me out of the stadium and towards the locker rooms, and all I could think was that I was going to get my ass whooped.
Prince POV
I got thrown down onto the locker room floor, and the mask on my mascot outfit was ripped off within seconds leaving me face to face with Roc. Surrounding us in a tight circle (which was meant to prevent my escape) was the rest of the football team. I found Ray Ray and Prod standing almost directly behind Roc, and I cursed my luck.
“What happens now Roc?” A random voice, who I assumed to be a kid named Myles, called out from the hoard of players.
“Well,” Roc began giving me a smile, “we teach this lil’ nigga why it’s important to not mess around with someone else’s girl.”
Ray Ray eagerly cracks his knuckles and I developed a strong urge to rip one of his abnormally large braids out of his head. I looked towards Prod for assistance, but he seemed to be having an intense stare down with the shoelaces on his cleats.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop messin’ wit’ my girl?” Roc asked lifting me up on my feet. “What the hell made you think it was OK to start screwin’ around wit’ her?”
“I-I’m not s-screwing her,” I muttered. “I’m just tutoring her in Calculus.”
“If you were ‘just tutoring her’, then why the hell was she lookin’ at you like that during the pep rally?” Behind Roc, I could see Ray Ray starting to smirk while Prodigy just sadly shook his head. “You thought it would be a nice idea for you to try and steal my girlfriend. You thought you would look cool walkin’ around with a cheerleader by your side.”
I looked into Roc’s eyes and I could see the anger of a desperate man. His face was twisted into an ugly grimace, and I could see the caring side of Roc that (Y/N) was talking about. For the first time, I understood exactly what Prodigy mean when he said Roc cared about her.
“I wasn’t trying to take her from you,” I said looking at my feet. “I was just tutoring her. We’re just friends.”
“Just friends my ass,” he snorted. “That’s how everything starts out. I warned you earlier about what would happen.”
“Look, I’ll leave her - “
My words got cut off by a fist colliding with my nose. I stumbled backwards cradling my nose in one hand. I tried to say something else, but another punch to the face sent me stumbling backwards into the crowd of football players. I felt two of them hold me up as Roc approached me.
“Leave,” punch, “(Y/N),” punch “alone!” punch.
I slouched down in the players’ arms unable to even support my own weight. I coughed up some blood, frowning when I saw the red dots splatter onto my mascot uniform. Blinking confusedly, I looked up at Roc unable to even think clearly. I could feel the football players release my arms, and I collapsed on the floor. Roc’s cleat slammed into my stomach forcing the air out of my lungs. He kicked me again in the arm, and this time a strangled cry came out of my throat.
“God damn it, Roc, he’s done,” I could hear Prodigy yelling, but Roc kicked me again this time in the side of my head. “Roc, stop it.”
“Get out,” Roc’s voice echoed around the locker room, and a couple of the guys left, but when Prod and Ray were still standing in the room he burst, “I SAID LEAVE GOD DAMN IT!”
The two of them scrambled out of the locker room leaving the two of us alone. Roc stood there in silence before slouching down against the lockers. I watched him silently as his shoulders shook. Was he crying? He looked at me angrily, and I quickly averted my gaze, so I wouldn’t see his tears.
“I love (Y/N) with all my heart,” he said. “She’s my first love, my first kiss, my first everything.” His voice began to shake and he screamed in frustration. “I would die before I let her walk away from me. She’s mylife and nobody especially not a damn punk like you is going to take her from me.”
Roc gave me one last hate-filled glance before storming out of the locker room. I lay there for another half an hour before slowly pulling myself off the ground. Every part of my body hurt, and I wanted to do nothing except die.
Roc POV
“What did you do to him?” (Y/N) yelled as she slammed the door shut to my bedroom. I narrowed my eyes questioningly. “Roc, what the fuck did you do to him?”
“Who the hell are we talking about?” I asked.
“We’re talking about Princeton,” she yelled. “I saw him earlier today so that he could tutor and he had bruises all over his face!”
“What did he say happened?” I folded my arms across my chest.
(Y/N) folded her arms across her chest as well. “He said that he got in a bike riding accident.”
“Then you should take his word for it,” I said rolling my eyes. “If the nigga said he crashed his fucking bike, then maybe he crashed his fucking bike.”
“Roc, don’t you downplay this!” she screamed. “I want to know exactly why the hell you and your little gang of friends beat him up. He has enough problems without you messin’ with him!”
She walked over to me, so that she was standing right in front me, and I stood up. “Do you want to know what happened?” I yelled. “After the pep rally, me and my boys took him to the locker room to have a little chat, and yeah, I whooped his ass. But don’t tell me he didn’t deserve it because he most definitely did if he thought he could mess around withmy girl!”
“And what makes you think I would want to be your girl anymore?”
I froze when I heard her yell those words. I could feel my heart breaking in half as I stared at her. The thought of losing her had been tormenting this last month, and now that she was yelling at me, I couldn’t handle it. Immediately, I reached out to grab her arm, but she flinched away from me.
“Baby,” I whispered. “Baby, don’t do this.” I tried to hold her, but she pulled away. The longer I looked at the anger in her face the more heartbroken I became. “(Y/N), baby, please don’t do this. Stay with me.”
“Roc, you know I love you,” she said allowing me to pull her in for a hug. “But I can’t do this anymore, babe.”
“(Y/N), please,” I could feel the tears run down my face. I struggled to breathe, and I clung to her tightly. “I need you. I’m sorry, honey, I’m so fucking sorry. But baby, don’t - god, I’m begging you - don’t leave.”
“Roc,” she murmured.
“I know you think what I did was stupid and irrational, and maybe it was, but I did it because I love you. I couldn’t stand to see you with that Princeton kid, and I thought that I was losing you to him, and I reacted the only way I knew how. I didn’t think about how it would hurt you; I just didn’t want you to leave.” I could feel my body shaking. “Damn, baby, I’m sorry. Don’t leave…”
She went still in my arms, and I held on even tighter as my tears blurred my vision. I struggled to breathe as I attempted to hold onto the moment of her staying in my arms. Inhaling deeply, I could smell her Sweet Pea scented lotion, and I felt more tears fall as I imagined someone else holding her the way I was.
“It’s just… I think about you and how you hate fish and books and romance movies, and how you love anything sweet and how you cry watching Titanic and how when you think you always wrinkle your nose and… I can’t handle the thought of someone else being there for you like how I’m supposed to be. It drives me insane to even think about someone holding your hand. Baby, I love you so much that it fucking drives me insane. I gave my all to you, and I wasn’t about to let some kid just take that.”
Her arms wrapped around me, and I felt myself relax into her embrace. I closed my eyes just focusing on being with her.
“(Y/N),” I whispered pulling her onto the bed with me. “Just stay here. We don’t have to do anything, baby, just let me hold you. Let me get one last night with you.”
“Roc,” she whispered. “I’m here for you. I’ll always be here; you never have to worry about me leaving. OK, baby.”
(Y/N) buried her face in my chest, and I immediately wrapped my arms around her. “Promise me that you won’t leave.”
“I’m never gonna leave you, Roc.”
