After changing into sweats and a sweater, Alex left the dormitory since he remembered Hunter saying dinner was in an hour. He had also said they would go together, but Hunter never returned to the dorm.
Alex headed for the cafeteria, and found a bunch of students seated at the tables. As he walked along the tables, there was none that appeared alone, and he made his way to the back and sat on a table by himself.
That was when a random girl came and sat with him. She was quiet, stared at him for a moment before saying, "I didn't have anywhere else to sit."
Alex shrugged his shoulders, turning away from her, "I'm not complaining."
She eyed him suspiciously before holding out her hand, "I'm Blake."
"Alex," he greeted politely.
"Are you new?"
"Yes I am."
"So am I," she said quietly, folding her arms, "and the girls here aren't too open."
"At least you don't already have two detentions to serve tomorrow."
She raised an eyebrow, "What for?"
"Accidentally going into the girl's dormitory. The worse part is, it was actually an accident."
She laughed, "Whose your roommate?"
"His name is Hunter."
"Hunter Silvers?" When he slowly nodded his head, she inhaled sharply, "I heard nothing good about him. Apparently he's the meanest guy at school. Bullies everyone that's different, beats them up. I feel sorry for you."
"He was nice to me in the dorm room."
"You just met him, but the girls I talked to around here. They said he's a nightmare—"
Suddenly, her face was slammed against the table and a few tables around fell quiet as Hunter stood behind the girl. He had overhead their conversation, and had asked his friend to slam her face against the table. It was the same girl that Alex had caught them having sex.
Hunter laughed, as Blake lifted her head and massages her forehead, glancing over her shoulder and her entire body falling numb when she met the piercing blue eyes of Hunter, who raised an eyebrow challengingly.
"I'm a what?" When Blake did not respond, and instead turned away from him without saying another word, Hunter chuckled, "That's what I thought, don't talk shit about businesses you have no idea about."
Nobody ever stood up to Hunter, who laughed at Blake's bruising forehead.
However, Alex had been around fights for years, and he stood from his seat, "That was uncalled for."
The entire cafeteria fell into a silence, and even Alex was surprised that it had. Hunter stared at him, squinted his eyes with his guys standing behind him, and Alex shuddered. Hunter was way taller than him, and if a fight was to break out, he knew he would for-sure get jumped.
But that didn't make it okay to slam a girl's face against the table.
Before Hunter could respond, the night advisor entered the cafeteria and told everyone to get seated, which caused Hunter to step away from their table after one last glare in Alex's direction.
"Hello residential students, welcome to Kingsville Academy, I go by Mrs. K. I do see a few familiar faces, but before your diner tonight, since it is the first night, I will have to list you all the set of rules here at the dorms." Mrs. K listed the guidelines, and when she finished, they were all set lose to grab a tray and get dinner.
Before Alex stood from his seat, Blake leaned over the table and whispered, "Thank you."
"Yea, no problem—"
"But you shouldn't have done that."
He raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"
She turned towards Hunter's table, who were eyeing them with glares, "That put a target on your back. They didn't get you now, but they eventually will."
Alex grabbed his diner and returned to his seat. When he was done, he stood from his chair, waved goodbye to Blake and headed back to his bedroom. Hunter had not yet returned, and he had decided that beginning with animosity between him and his roommate was childish. Hence why, he decided to apologize when Hunter got back.
He was not prepared for what Hunter had in store.
Hunter returned, but he was not alone. He pushed the door open and following behind him were about five guys as tall as him, and as scary. When he closed the door, he faced Alex who was seated on his bottom bunk. Hunter stood behind the pack with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette hanging at the corner of his lips.
"Get up," one of the guys said.
Alex listened, and faced Hunter who snickered, "We're going to knock you out."
Frightened, Alex instantly raised his hands, "Woah, please don't do—"
"Shut up," one of the other guys said, and glanced at Hunter who smirked.
When Hunter nodded his head, one of the guys slammed his fist against the corner of Alex's mouth, and as Alex tried to fight back, he felt another blow at the side of his head. He fell onto the ground, and they started kicking him, leaning forward to punch him, and he tightly held himself into a ball.
The punches were causing his head to his the floor harder than ever, and Hunter leaned forward, "Being taught early on prevents bad behaviour."
Alex felt the blows grow harder, and his arms were getting bruised by the hits.
"It'll stop you from stepping up to me in the future, since you now know who you're dealing with."
"Alright!" Alex exclaimed, "I get it, I'm sorry!"
The guys continued hitting him, until Hunter cocked his head to the side and said, "You guys can stop. I think he learned his lesson."
When they stopped, all breathing heavily, Alex turned his back onto the floor, feeling his entire face tingling from the punches and he was betting whether he had a concussion or not. Regardless, he had been jumped on the very first day, by his damn roommate.
That upset him more than it angered him.
Hunter chuckled and pulled the cigarette from his mouth, stepping around Alex to throw it out the window before making his way back to the front door, "Next time, you better stay out of my way."
Hunter left the room after that, and Alex stayed on the floor with his arms laid to either sides of him, watching the laughing guys walk out of his dorm room.