She just wanted to get to the classroom before anyone had a chance to say anything, her hair was especially unruly today and she decided to pull her hood up over her thin black hoodie to conceal some of the mayhem that was underneath. Though she could feel eyes on her from the moment she stepped foot onto the campus. She wore her favorite leggings that had upside down crosses decorating the black material in a way to comfort herself, but yes, it was painstakingly warm outside and she was covered from head to toe in all black, and that was enough for anyone and nearly everyone to make a comment. The whispers, the snickers, the pointing, the disapproving looks, the side glances. She caught every single one of them, why couldn't they just ignore her. No matter how much she had aged, or where she went, it was always the same. Any time anyone was in a social setting, it was like a platform for scrutiny. And it was destroying her all over again.

She gasps as she feels the hood of her jacket being tugged off with a quick snap and turns to face the grinning side glance of a set of mismatched eyes framed by a pair of square glasses. She quickly pulls her hands free of her pockets and clasps them over her hair that she was sure was now standing up with the conundrum that was humidity versus curly hair. TJ rolls his eyes and pulls off his beanie handing it to her. She looks to the offered hat in question and then back up to meet his eyes.

"Why don't you take that thing off and wear this instead, it'll contain your hair and I won't have to worry about you getting heatstroke." He sighs out in that droll that he was infamous for, his tone of voice contradicted the care that was behind the statement.

Cyren snatches the beanie from his hand and stuffs it on her head quickly. She unzips her hoodie and shrugs it off, draping it over her arm. TJ glances to the long sleeved shirt she was wearing underneath with two white stripes around the elbows and then to her leggings with a furrowed brow.

"Good thing I came along, I imagine you would have passed out in a few more minutes being all wrapped up like that." TJ comments and begins to walk ahead, causing her to nearly jog to catch up.

He takes her hoodie from her with a zip of the fabric in a flash that she hadn't expected and slings it over his shoulder then offers his elbow out to her.

"Teej...no. Thank you though. But someone will say something..." She whispers becoming extremely conscious of the eyes now falling on them as they even walked alongside each other.

"So? What are they going to say?" TJ counters and instead drapes his arm over her shoulders protectively and also giving her a slight squeeze in a proper informal greeting.

Her emerald eyes immediately drop to the ground to watch their steps, feeling the heat from the incoming taunts and whispers that would be muttered as they passed by. She didn't want to be an embarrassment to TJ, and it was something that she had feared from the beginning. That he would hear it and come to believe those whispers, that he would turn away from her one day finally seeing her for what she was, or what they said rather.

"Wow, that's incredibly kind of him to-" Cyren clamps her eyes shut as she hears the first set of whispers begin.

TJ feels her tense up underneath his arm and protectively pulls her in closer to his side, also having heard it. He had heard everything that anyone had to say about her behind her back. And it sickened him that humans could be so judgmental and cruel when they didn't even know a person. How in a split second they could conjure up some baseless opinion solely formed from just a single glance. It was idiotic to even make an assumption from just a look. And of course, he knew that they were all wrong, they didn't know her, and they didn't know him, and them together, collectively, didn't know any of these people casting their glares and sneers their way.

"Didn't you hear about her from high school, she had some mental breakdown over her friend 'betraying' her?" Another whisper like a dagger struck through Cyren instantly.

"How pathetic, but I guess that's what you get for being weird."

"She's always been like that, she has no excuse. I even heard that she was stalking this guy that refused her and she wouldn't let it go."

TJ tilts his head towards the pair of girls whispering off to the side as they walk by. He hadn't heard this story, but he already knew that there was something wrong with it, that it was false, just by the way he already knew how Cyren was, she wasn't one to pursue others.

"She's using pity to get him, there's no way-"

"Excuse me." TJ turns suddenly, having had a enough and leaving Cyren's side to step up to the two girls that had been whispering just loud enough for them to hear, and he knew that they were doing it on purpose.

"No, TJ, please. Can we just go?" Cyren whispers in a panic reaching out and grabbing his wrist in a desperate attempt to stop him.

He allows her to grab his wrist, but doesn't budge from her efforts in the slightest as he cocks his head in a way that shadows his one darker eye.

"You seem to have a problem with my friend. Which immediately means that I have a problem with you. There seems to be some form of misunderstanding in which, is indeed, just that, a misunderstanding but also completely unattractive. It's fine to be jealous of someone because they don't have to paint themselves up to be some Barbie doll replicas, to hide how truly ugly you are, but I would really appreciate it if you could shut your fucking mouth. And mind your own fucking business." TJ calmly states in a voice that would sound polite and endearing, as if he were spreading the word of God, but the poison that oozed from his words was enough to make the two girls go pale and yet glare at him at the same time, lost in the moment of their own confusion. "That's not a request." He adds in before turning back to Cyren and resuming their previous position, beginning to lead her off towards the math building.

Cyren looks up to him from his side in disbelief and also in slight bafflement, not knowing that he could be capable of being bluntly callous towards anyone, and he had just done it, on a whim, for her sake. He glances down to her with a raised eyebrow as if he was challenging her to question him from over the brim of his glasses. He sniffles and looks ahead to adjust the frames on the bridge of his nose again and reaches out to open the door for her to walk through, following in behind her.

That was the end of the whispers, she had noticed that nobody had even uttered a single word as they passed by with TJ behind her. She didn't dare to look back at him either, in fear that because she had tried to stop him, that he was upset with her. But what she didn't see was the shaded glare that TJ wore all the way to the classroom, which radiated pure hatred and disinterest for anyone standing by. He had had enough, he knew she didn't deserve the maltreatment she was receiving. And he wasn't going to let it go anymore.