Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Amelia Forbes

I couldn’t help but feel really jumpy at school today. I ducked at the sight of every six feet male figure, feeling incredibly foolish when I realized it wasn’t Jason.

Okay. It wasn’t my fault. He had literally threatened me last night so. . .

I checked my timetable. We only had once class together today.

Not that it would prevent the threats from happening. But it’d be nice to not have to see him till later.

A tall, sandy haired figure came into view and I let out a small yelp and attempted to hide my head in my locker.

After a few uneventful moments, I carefully inched my head out just in time to see the sandy haired guy-who was definitely shorter than Jason and had a pair of glasses on-give me a strange wondering look as he walked past.

I restrained from slapping my forehead as that would only make me look worse, and confirm the fact that I had gone nuts.

Instead, I grabbed my books and fled to find an empty space to hide.

Yes, I’m scared of Jason.

It was hard not to be.

I had gotten to the base of the staircase leading to the back of the school when someone grabbed my arm from behind.

I let out a small scream and struggled to break free.

“Hey, hey, hey. Relax, Mel,” I heard someone say from behind me. I looked up to see Benson. “It’s just me.”

I have never felt such relief as I did in that moment.

I almost wanted to hug him for not being Jason. But well, that didn’t. . . make any sense.

Slowly, I began to relax and willed my heart rate to return back to normal.

Benson features contorted in to a frown as he watched me carefully, eyes narrowed.

I tried to fix my expression so he wouldn’t suspect it had anything to do with Jason.

“What is up with you, Mel?” He asked, still studying me.

I tried to come up with some reasonable explanation that wouldn’t give me away.

“Well, I, um, I feel a little, um, sick. . .?”

He glared at me suspiciously. “Sick? Since when?”

“Well, it was, um, yester-last night, I mean.”

I intertwined my fingers behind me cursing internally.

I’d never been a good liar. But the last thing I wanted was for Benson to worry about me. Surely, he had more important things to do than worry about a lost cause.

Benson folded his arms across his chest. “So, being sick makes you jump outta your skin when someone touches you?”

I tried to laugh.

“Well, you know me,” I said, hoping the giggle sounded believable.

“Cut the crap, Mel.” He rolled his eyes. “And don’t lie to me this time. Everyone knows you’re terrible at that.”

My shoulders slumped as I gave up. Ben was my best friend. It was no use lying.

As I recounted the events of the past few days, Benson listened with rapt attention.

When I told him I was partnered with Jason for the project, his mouth fell open.

“Oh. My. God. Jason as in Jason Davenport?” He asked, his mouth forming an ‘o’ in surprise.

“Yep.” I confirmed.

“Woah,” He said, looking just as mortified as I felt.

Suddenly frowning he said, ” I’m starting to think this school is out to get you.”

Despite myself I laughed out loud.

Ben glared at me for a few seconds and then joined in.

And then we spent the next few minutes snickering like idiots.

I felt a little weight lift off my chest and I realized I missed this.

I missed the laughing, happy me. I missed moments like this with Ben. It felt good to not feel like a burden for once.

For the first time in a long time tears pooled at the corner of my eye, but this time, they weren’t tears of sadness.

Benson pulled me into a hug, still laughing.

“Please be careful, okay?” He said. “Just. . . try to stay out of his way as best as you can.”

I nodded vigorously.

“Thanks, Ben,” I muttered, feeling eternally grateful.

For the first time since he started dating Katie Henshaw, I finally felt like we were on the road to becoming best friends again, and that thought made me feel warm and happy inside.

“Tell you what?” Benson said suddenly.Original content from NôvelDrama.Org.

“What?” I asked, laughing. His excitement was contagious.

“How about I come over this weekend? Like old times?”

“Sure,” I said. “You can get the snacks. I’ll get the drinks.”

“And. . . maybe I’ll let you beat me in cards,” I smirked.

“Let me beat you?” Benson cocked an eyebrow and laughed. “In your dreams, Mel,” He said in a singsong voice.

Giving me a pat on the back, he said, “Gotta go, Mel. I have a class soon.”

I’d almost forgotten I had classes too.

“Sure okay. See you later.”

I watched as he walked off, the smile never leaving my face.

For the first time in months, we’d had a conversation and he didn’t bring up Katie.

I smiled and walked back up the stairs to class, completely forgetting about Jason Davenport.