He reached over and yanked a kid up out of his seat at the end of the table, fist wrapped in the kid’s collar. “You fucking touch her again … any of you,” he said, slowly glancing at the others at the table, “and I will make you wish you’d never been born. Understood?” His voice was an angry warning without a hint of doubt or restraint.

“You can’t just threaten us,” spat Brooke, seated at the table with the boy who’d tripped me.

The guy let go of his target, slowly turning to Brooke. “Are you going to stop me, Brooke?” he asked in an eerily quiet voice. “Maybe ask your daddy, the politician, to go after me? Or maybe James here, whose dad sits in front of a news camera every night at six. Maybe he’ll have his daddy report me on the news? The thing is, Brooke, I don’t give a shit about that stuff. I don’t care who your parents are or what they do for a living, but I do know that I’ve always come out of a fight on top. So, if you want to take it outside and settle things the traditional way, I’m more than happy. Otherwise, leave. Her. The. Fuck. Alone.” Not waiting for a response, he ushered me toward the table where I normally sat before dropping his backpack on the bench. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

I had no idea what was going on, but I was more than happy to accept his help. I sat at the table trying to ignore all the stares and prying eyes while I waited for the stranger to come back. When he did, he put a single tray down between us piled with pizza and two apples. Normally, we were only allowed one slice at a time, but clearly, the rules didn’t apply to him.

“Eat,” he said before taking a large bite of pizza.

I picked up a slice but paused before taking a bite. “I’m a little embarrassed. You stuck your neck out for me, and I don’t even know your name.”

“Michael,” he said while chewing, then smirked as his eyes lit with amusement. “Guy looked like he was gonna piss himself.”

I couldn’t help the relieved laughter that bubbled up from deep inside me. “You’re pretty intimidating. I’m surprised I haven’t noticed you around here. You don’t exactly blend in.”

“I just started at the semester break. You may not have noticed me, but I’ve seen how they’ve been treating you lately. You piss in someone’s cornflakes?”

“It might be easier to take if I had done something—at least then I’d know it was my own fault—but no. Brooke started it, and I seem to have become everyone’s favorite pastime.”

“It started when the guy you were always with moved away, right?” He asked the question casually, unaware of the stab of pain his words caused.

My gaze dropped to the table, and I lowered the pizza, suddenly uninterested in eating. “Yeah, that was Nico.”