How to Tame Your School's Kingpin Chapter 2

Noah Sullivan. A guy who spent ten hours at school and slept for eight of them.

In the entire week since I'd transferred, I hadn't seen a single soul utter a word to him. Clearly, he was being ostracized.

If my logic held up, he had to be the softest pushover in the entire building.

"Hey. Desk-mate," I whispered, reaching out to give him a tentative poke. "I have a rather awkward favor to ask, and I really need you to say yes."

Noah didn't move. Not a single peep.

Silence meant consent.

I forged ahead on my own. "Just so you know... when I start bullying you in a minute, try not to make a sound, okay?"

Noah finally shifted. He slowly lifted his head, his eyes heavy with sleep. "Bullying who?"

Poor guy. Not only was he isolated, but his hearing was shot, too.

I enunciated every single syllable very clearly. "Bullying. You."

"You?" A slow, incredulous smile touched his lips. "You're going to bully me?"

I nodded with solemn earnestness. "Yes. But please understand, I have my reasons."

Noah seemed to finally wake up. He reached up, sliding a pair of thin silver-rimmed glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. Propping his chin in one hand, he tilted his head and looked at me with an amused glint in his eye.

"Go ahead. I'm listening. What are your reasons?"

I laid out my entire "Junk School Survival Guide" for him.

If I let people think I was an easy target, I'd inevitably become fodder for the local delinquents. Therefore, I needed to establish a fierce reputation right out of the gate.

Noah listened in silence, taking a long moment to digest my elaborate paranoid manifesto.

That was when I finally got a good look at him.

He had a high, straight nosebridge and impossibly thick, dark eyelashes. The sharp, predatory line of his eyes was softened just enough by the lenses to make him look refined and scholarly.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "So, after scanning the room for a week for the softest target... you landed on me?"

I gave him a resolute nod.

He leaned back in his chair, a lazy, reckless amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

"Fine. Let's see it then. How exactly do you plan to bully me?"