Chapter 1: Pathetic Rumors

Weeks after that incident with that girl, his arm still aches from time to time. The feeling of getting payback or at the very least an apology made him even more groggy than he usually was, enabling him to concentrate on his grades more than thinking about irrelevant thoughts. He's known as the school's most popular male, always smiling at everyone that passed by, helping teachers with their stuff, and more of those typical charming, good boy stuff. That's what everyone thought he was. He despised profuse attention, always being more acknowledged than anyone else, and biased school staff. Everyone thinks that they fully know him, from his past to present, only looking at what he was on the outside, rather on what he truly feels. They're all fools. The only one who only knew half of his true nature was his closest best friend.

Even though he was the most popular, academically, he was stuck being second. Let it be the exams, or the final ranking, he had a perpetual rank of second. The valedictorian never attended class, the school allowed her to self-study in the library, which is the reason no one barely goes in there aside from janitors or when it's very crucial. Some students who's seen her face spread rumors about her scary appearance, and one time a student got a point higher than her once in an exam, and that's when she showed up wearing a hoodie so frankly, no one saw her face. Apparently, he moved schools after a few weeks, and that's when the most ludicrous of gossips spread. Due to her dark, and cryptic disposition, they deemed that she is capable of threatening him to move away or even bribe.

And so, the obtuse legend of a sociopathic girl, lingering in the grounds of the school library continues.

They even warned him not to study too much, or else he'll surpass her, making him her next target. Unfortunate for them, he's not stupid.

He marched up the steep hill leading to school, feeling his thighs burn and harden. Another reason why he loathed the start of his day. He was forced to walk to school, since his driver got assigned to be the personal body guard of his snooty sister, because she tired out her own bodyguard by a whole day at the mall, carrying butt tons of shopping bags without taking a second break. Now because of her selfishness, he has to walk a few miles to school without the stress of being sweaty and tardy. Which seems impossible at this moment.

Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead all the way down to her neck, some building up in his chest, creating a damp spot of his inner shirt. He was just grateful that his armpits aren't as sweaty as the rest of his body. Exasperated, he distracted himself from his worn out legs to the large cherry blossom trees that sat in an array row on the each sides of the precipitous road, its blooming petals in synch with the breeze, gracefully landing on the concrete ground in an adorn manner.

He gave a breathy exhaled, and for a second, the pain in his legs became numb and slowly seeped out. For him, it felt like a stroll in the park, all it took was a positive insight and good vibes.

"Yo, Aru!"

He turned to the voice. A brown haired boy grinned up at him with a happy-go-lucky expression.

"Hey," he responded flatly, receiving a chuckle from the brunet as he latched Samaru's shoulder, giving a slight push forward and continued walking to school.

"Where's your fancy car?" He asked, his gaze rotating around their surroundings.

"Mako, you remember my sister, right?" Samaru asked begrudgingly, not wanting to press the point further, but knowing his buddy, he'll never stop pestering him until he dies.

He nodded and looked at him with grin. "The girl version of you?"

Samaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes and nodded. Hopefully, he won't ask anymore questions. If it's regarding his sister, Mako will understand.

Mako kept bragging about his new gaming console all the way to school, while Samaru withstood his pointless prattling, refraining to say something stuck-up or smug. The two approached the lofty school grounds, students swiveled their heads to Samaru, looking up at him in admiration. Mako puffed his chest out, waving to the cheering girls pridefully as Samaru rolled his eyes, giving a strained smile and waved to all those whom he passed by. As they trudged to the main building, students backed up, creating an empty path for them to pass, while men tried to quell the fangirls' squeals and constant thrashing just to break the restraining line they made for them to experience sense of authority. No matter how much pleasure and respect he gets, he didn't like this kind of treatment.

He never did.

All he wanted was company that can be equal to his intelligence, or at least someone introverted. Or maybe, someone he could feel normal at their presence. That he didn't have to act fake anymore. It's not that he's picky with having friends, not that he doesn't trust Mako. It's just that, he can be a total famewhore from time to time.....to time.

The two separated for the next class, the crowd following Samaru as always. He sat on his desk while others that wasn't included in that class, turned to a restless that mobbed outside, jostling through people just to get a glance of him through the window. The ones who were in the same class as him stood up from their seats and walked in front of him, bombarding him questions regarding about the feeling of being prioritized by the whole school. Of course, he would absolutely love to ignore them, but that would mean his reputation will be forever stained.

He faked a smile. "I'm afraid I can't answer all your questions right now. The class is starting and I wouldn't want any of you to miss out on anything." He said, feigning charisma. The girls reddened and went back to their seats.

Once the teacher came in, class started and the teacher called on Samaru to demonstrate, solve for the answer, or do practical examples such as: speak English out loud. It'll be too long if I wrote all of what happened with the young lad, so I'll skip to the part where the story really begins. Yes, this is the author, and I can do what I want.

The bell emitted a shrill noise as the teacher gave out a sigh of relief, dismissing students. No one even dared to stand before Samaru does, so they waited for a few seconds, resisting the urge to bolt out the door and scurry to the cafeteria to pacify their grumbling stomachs. Samaru found amusement to this, and stays in the classroom purposely. Ten minutes have been removed from their recess break, and yet, none of the students have left. With cognizance, he'd been able to notice others' itchiness, their gazes' locked on the window, watching students pass by, some halting to take a quick glance of Samaru before walking away blushing.

He feigned to do something important and pretended to scan through his notes, the side of his lips twitching. He heard slight grumbles coming from the others, some becoming restless and drummed their fingers in their desks. He would raise an eyebrow, and successfully silenced. He never thought he could gain entertainment in being the center of importance.

"I'm not yet famished, maybe I would stay in the classroom for a little while longer." He whispered to himself, as if noting something to his brain furtively, but accidentally blurted out. He heard slight whining, thinking if waiting for him is even worth it.
Satisfied, he stood up from his seat and walked to the exit, passing by faces suddenly lighting up. Once he reached outside, students stampeded to the exit and ran to the cafeteria, fifteen minutes subtracted from forty minutes of break.

Just then, he saw his usually dumb and clamorous friend, still stupid, but less loud as he sulked on the corners of his class's window pane.

"Mako." Samaru called out, watching his head perk up excitedly as he rushed over to Samaru. He purposely dropped his body to the ground as his body skidded over to his feet, hugging it almost making him trip.

"You're quite enigmatic today." Samaru remarked, trying to shake of his arms wrapped around his legs as he wailed.

"Samaruuu! I need help!" He wailed, grovelling at Samaru's feet as students passed by like this was a normal occurrence. A particular someone, pleading something from Samaru. Yep, definitely normal.

"Why?"

Mako stood up and brushed off dirt that stained his uniform and went back to pleading.

"I forgot to do my assignment in math!" He cried.

"So? You never do your assignments." Samaru remarked coldly.

"Exactly! And Ms. Yuriko said that if I didn't do my assignments, she'll fail me in math! What do I do!? No good college is going to accept a student with a failed subject! If I don't find a good college, I won't have a job, and if I won't have a job, I won't get married, if I won't get married, I won't get la-"

"Okay, okay, just shut up." Samaru silenced his babbling, and tried to calm his inner serial killer. "What does this have to do with me? You want me to do your homework."

"Oh no, I'll do it." He said bashfully.

Samaru grew irked. "Then are you just trying to act cute or what?" The blonde seethed. He then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He won't argue with someone stupid. That would mean he's stooping down his level. "You know what? I'm hungry, fend for yourself." Samaru walked away, reaching into his pocket, the feeling of leather touched his fingers as he sighed in relief. He was dubious about Mako, his ulterior motives might be to grovel under him, enough to reach his wallet and buy food for himself. That never actually happened, but Mako did many attempts to do so.

"No, wait!" Mako yelled after him. Samaru groaned.

"Now, what?"

Mako fidgeted. "Well, I can't finish my homework without a source. Its not like I can just make answers up."

Samaru raised an eyebrow vexingly. He only has a quarter of lunch time left, and the lack of consuming food is making him grumpy. There was a brief silence for awhile, Samaru snapped.

"JUST GET TO THE POINT!" Samaru yelled from the bottom of his lungs, lashing all his anger towards the cowering Mako.

"O-okay, okay. I need you to go to the library and help me find a book about arithmetics."

"Why do you have to ask me? You dare waste my precious lunch time!" He said, even though it was his fault for staying in the classroom just to tease his fans.

Mako flinched. "I-it's not that I'm directing you away from your lunch," he tittered. "It's just that....you're not afraid of the notorious valedictorian."

Samaru frowned at the way he jumped to conclusions. "How can you say that she's notorious? Have you even met her?"

"No, man." Mako neared his face, raising a hand to the sides of his mouth for a whisper. "I've seen her." He said it as of it was a big deal. Well, for three years studying in this school, he hasn't seen her appearance as well, also assuming that she's been here since first year. Even though he hasn't seen her, unlike a few of their students, that doesn't give him or anyone else the right to judge a person by her appearance and attitude, since he also knows the feeling of being treated that way, but completely the opposite. Maybe she's just masking her true nature, because of what everyone else expects from teenagers these days. He despises everyone that admires him because of what they expect him to be, and once their expectations were not met, they'll turn him down. Just like what happened in has elementary years.

"She's so scary, Aru! One time, I saw her wearing a hoodie that didn't properly hide her face, and just staring into her eyes makes you feel like you're staring at death itself." Mako quivered at the memory, although he only saw a glimpse of her eye for 2.5 seconds, he still got easily scared, the latter of the rumours.

"Fine, I'll go. Just please stop talking." Samaru said, feeling anger fume through his ears, asking him the topic of math and marched his way to the library, which is located a few levels up. Once he got to the same floor as the library, students gave him a perplexed look as he continued the route to the library.

To be continued...