I struggled my way down the bus and came to a stop at the second set of doors. Leaning against the glass pane and gripping the metal bar, I sighed. It was raining. Again. Stuffing my pass into my pocket, I gripped my bag with my other hand and waited for the bus to start moving. I mentally ran through all the homework I needed to do before I could relax and realised with a sickening lurch that I had forgotten my French homework. Tap tap tap. Glancing behind me, I saw two guys knocking on the other side of the glass panel I was leaning on. I rolled my eyes and turned back around. Trying to forget about French, I concentrated on the sign posts that were flashing past outside the window. I heard more tapping. This time I turned around and glared at the two boys-who were grinning. One continued knocking, whilst the other waved at me. I tried to ignore them, but when they realised they were going to get no reaction out of me, they started banging violently on the glass. I turned around again, glaring at them. Licking their lips, they stood up and walked over to me.

“Hey, what’s your name? You should hang out with us. Have some fun.”

“Yeah,” the other one said. “How about we go back to my place? Or yours. Which stop do you get off at?” They crossed their arms and peered down at me, smirking. Oh my god. What am I going to do? If I ignore them, they’ll probably just follow me off the bus, but if I don’t get off, I’ll be stuck with them…Lost in my own thoughts, I started to panic.

“Why so quiet cutie? Cat got your tongue?” I opened my mouth, wishing I had something incredibly cutting and witty to say, but I didn’t, so I snapped it shut again. Suddenly, a warm hand came down on my shoulder. I looked up, expecting some other creep. A pair of dark blue eyes met mine, and they flashed with anger. Whaaa…? What was this guy doing? He had brown hair, and it fell over one of his eyes, making him seem even more menacing. My eyes roved across the rest of his body and I noticed that he wasn’t very...well, buff-for lack of a better term. He was, in fact, extremely lanky. But I think his height made up for that. He must’ve been bordering on 6’4.

“Hey, honey. There you are. I must’ve lost you when you got on,” Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome cast a glance at the two men and continued. “Are these guys bothering you?” I shook my head, having forgotten how to speak. Maybe it was the shock? It probably had something to do with the fact that his accent made me weak at the knees. He was English

“Are you her boyfriend or something?” One of the creeps asked, sounding pissed.

“Yes, actually. So I suggest you sod off before I kill you.”It was all I could do to keep my mouth from hitting the floor. Was Mr. TDH protecting me? I glanced up and saw the two guys walking off, hands in pockets, occasionally casting wary glances at my “boyfriend” until they sat down at the very back of the bus.

“Thanks,” I said, extremely shocked. I saw a ghost of a smile flicker across his face. “You know, you’re far too pretty for your own good.” He said matter-of-factly.

Just at that moment, the bus pulled to a stop.

“This is where I get off…” I said rather breathlessly. This time, TDH grinned. He leant down and kissed me on the cheek.