"Vea! Get your butt down here!" I heard my mom shout from downstairs.

I lazily got up and stretched myself. She could honestly say ass instead of butt. As soon as I stood straight, my vision became blurry and black, my head aching. Ah, here we go for the so called almost-possessed-by-a-demon-but-failed disease. It is actually my lack of iron, but mom didn't know that because she'd yell at me for having an illness because of using my phone too much.

I heard her shout my name again, but this time, in a louder voice.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Coming!" I shouted back.

The moment I reached the kitchen, I saw my father reading a newspaper in a suit with my older brother getting ready to enter his college life. I sat on the counter and took a bite from the meal.

"Have a great first day hun," my mom said and kissed his cheeks. I playfully rolled my eyes at her motherly love.

My brother smiled. "Thanks. I'll be home by probably ten in the evening, so could you wait for me?"

"About that, we won't be here for three nights. Your father will have a business party to attend so could you please take care of the house?" Mom replied while washing the dishes.

"Three nights? I thought it's a week?" Dad asked, looking up from the newspaper.

"A week?" My brother and I exclaimed simultaneously. We weren't used to our parents being gone for too long.

"How should I know? It's your business, Travor. I was just guessing." Mom said while wiping both of her hands on her apron.

"Honey, it's our business."

"But mom," I whined. "Business parties only last a night."

"We're not gonna magically arrive here after the party from South Korea." Mom replied, removing her apron and fixing dad's tie.

"That's great, then. I'll indulge myself in video games." Johan said before stepping out of the door, waving goodbye.

I shouted a few moments after he went out, "Goodbye imbecile!"

My mom smacked my head with anger and frowned. "Don't say that to your brother."

I rolled my eyes. Like she isn't used to herself calling me names all the time.

"So, why South Korea?" I asked.

Mom grabbed her bag from the open island and dabbed some powder on her face. "What do you mean why? The party is obviously held in South Korea."

"What's the party for?"

"Business." Dad answered as-a-matter-of-factly as he stood up and walked upstairs.

"Is it true that they only eat spicy cabbages?"

Mom groaned and placed her make-up back in her bag. "You ask too many questions."

Soon enough, they went out of the house so they wouldn't be late for work, while I was hurrying myself to not get late for class.

I was the last one to leave the house and so I locked everything up as I got inside my service cab that was waiting outside the gate. I was greeted, as usual, by Johnson.

''Where would you like to go, miss Jovia?'' He leaned back to face me with a smile.

''For the fourth time, Johnson, Vea is fine with me. Please do drop me by the library. I have something to do,''

''Certainly.'' Then he began to drive.

It was time for me to play my own role. I wondered how long I was gonna keep this up. I didn't want people to hate me and I haven't experienced being hated... yet.

I stepped out the cab and asked Johnson to roll down the window then gave him the fare, but he declined. ''It's free,''

My eyes were widened a bit at his phrase and felt kinda guilty. ''Are you sure? You work too hard for our family.''

He chuckled. ''Don't worry about that, miss-" he paused for a moment as if he said a mistake. "-Vea. Your family is very generous so I don't see why I shouldn't be to you.''

Smiling, I placed the money back into my wallet and bid farewell.

As I turned around, in front of me was the biggest public library in the city. Couldn't be more blessed because it was just meters away from home and school. This was where I mostly spend my time, where I indulged myself into different vast worlds that connected to reality through a paper and an ink. It's like a vortex would appear out of nowhere when you open a page and it's just amazing.

Every time I tried to find a book that may be unfamiliar or rarely seen these days, it's just there sitting on the shelf, camouflaging itself. But once you find this book, it would suddenly shine and feel different from any other popular books. It would seem... magical.

I scanned my library pass at the counter and went to the C section, where they placed fictions. I touched an edgy book so I pulled it out to see what kind of book it was. Gulliver's Journey, it said. Sounds interesting. I read the ending and it seemed good to me, considering that the main character got what he wanted.

I've read too much heartbreaking books that I started having trust issues, so don't question.

I peeked through the shelf to see if there's anyone in the counter. I quickly but quietly sneaked out to the counter and checked out with the book.

I had to keep a low profile. I didn't like anyone knowing that I read books because they would think that I'm a nerd or a bookworm, and I hate being called by those names. I don't know why some or most of the people love being called by those, but for me it's just plain annoying. In my case, nerd was the most annoying.

After I opened the door, a tall figure suddenly bumped into me real hard and apologized. I couldn't see his face properly because he was blocking the sunlight that made him a silhouette. My other self just took control over my entire body and it was like a whole different me. I smiled sheepishly at his somewhat soft voice and immediately walked away.

~~

It was lunch break.

I groaned. ''I thought you trust me!''

She gave me a scary look which worked on occasions when I misbehaved in front of her. I never liked that. We were sitting outside the canteen by the garden and it was a nice view for a nice talk.

I quickly gave up and shook my head. ''Okay, silly. Off the record.''

Meet Sheena Jeisey, my best of friend. She sounds like an abusive and immature sister, but as an inexperienced-in-love friend, she gives pretty good advice about-almost everything. I mostly see her smile everyday, but when she gets mad, she literally cries. Sometimes she gets annoying but it's just my silly expression of how I love her. I can only feel like myself around her, like how I do around with my family.

Sheena started to gossip about how her ex-boyfriend, Roger, was insincere to her last week. He almost kissed a girl she knew and she had to stop them. I never liked her boyfriend anyways. He was sick in the mind and a selfish prick who only cared too much of his desires and own happiness.

''Anyway,'' she said, grabbing my hand. ''You're getting me honey chips.''

I sighed. Right. It was my turn treating her. "Waste of money," I mumbled.

"What was that?" She asked in a loud voice, her smile was worn sarcastically.

That earned my inward eyeroll and sarcastic smile. "I said, you're ugly!"

She clicked her tongue. "We both know that ain't it." This girl and her confidence.

I came back from one of the stalls to grab her honey chips before going back to our table. As we continued with our small talks, Sheena's eyes suddenly widened. Her eyes were in the direction behind me, so I assumed there was someone standing. Someone scary and someone I didn't wanna encounter.

Panic won over me. I widened my eyes and turned my head around. The figure that stood behind me wore a checkered polo shirt. I looked up and saw a familiar face. His face was blocking the light so something flashed back in my mind. Deja vu?

Have I seen this guy before?

He wasn't alone though. I checked behind him and there were a few more friends of him, they were impatiently waiting for something.

There was a long pause before Sheena spoke. ''Yes? How may we help you?''

''I'm sorry but this is our table.'' The guy blocking the light said in an innocent tone. His voice seemed familiar.

I looked back to Sheena with a questionable look and then examined the table. ''I don't see anything that proves the table is owned by someone.'' I said.

''Did you see a number sign before you got here?'' One of his friends in a black jacket stepped forward.

I looked at Sheena again and tried to recall, but both of us shook our head. ''I think you got the wrong table, mister-''

''Hey guys! Over here!'' All of us turned to where the voice came from, and a guy with glasses waved his entire arm to us.

I looked at the guy then he gave a glance to me and mouthed 'I'm sorry'.

I faced back to Sheena who was frowning like an idiot. Why would she be mad at them? They didn't harm her in any way. They just asked a question, that's all.

I tried to capture her attention just by eye dances. ''What's wrong?''

She shook her head and loosened the crease between her brows. ''I saw that coming.''

''I didn't.''

She sighed. ''I hate them. Those guys are super annoying. They intimidate everyone, even the school staff. Their kindness has hidden sarcasm behind it.''

I scratched my head and sighed. "And here I still wonder you are not with them."

I have seen Sheena went crazy in the hallway, once. It was embarrassing to stop and calm her down because everyone kept staring at us and giving us looks. This person she was crazy about was a freshman like us who had the rich and arrogant vibes. Her bad mood just reminded me of how scary she can be when she gets mad, like real mad.

Sheena shrugged. ''So you want me to be with them?''

"If you'll treat me a blackberry donut tomorrow, then I might reconsider signing you up to their group." I sipped my orange juice that was sitting in front of me for too long. It had gone warm and it slightly disgusted me. "You know those guys?"

"You don't?" She looked at me, surprised. "They are the bandits of this school."

"They look students to me."

"That's because they are students." She replied, taking a bite off of her honey chips. "I don't mean bandits like literally. They just wreck havoc everywhere in the school and piss everyone off."

"Sheena, it's safe to say they are the bad boys of Bellbridge Academy." I said.

She cringed upon hearing the word. "Ew, shut up."

I laughed at her expression. "When will you stop envisioning bad boys as hot and handsome and boyfriendable? They are bad like bandits."

"They are not bad boys. They are bandits." She warned.

I just shook my head at her statement, finding no other reason to argue with her small fantasy of men. Well, specifically bad boys.

We talked about a few stuffs like how our obsession with Michael Jackson almost faded until one store blasted the song 'Black Or White'. Some of the girls from our class later joined our seat and continued the gossips and some girly things. I just blended with the vibe and forgot the existence of the guys who were sitting behind us.

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Hi! I added so much in the chapter to make it more interesting.

Let me know your thoughts of this chapter! :))

xo, day