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Rayver POV

I bid goodbye to the driver that brought me to school. Though at first, he was reluctant in having an actual conversation, we soon became pretty close for the times he's been taking me to and from wherever.

At first, he said it was because I was his 'employer'. So I told him that it wasn't me, but my- I mean, Mr Luciano.

What is wrong with me?

For a while, my mouth and mind are near to calling him a fatherly-figure-name. Am I going too quick?

Ha! Imagine if one day you slip put and call him 'dad' or 'father'. I will enjoy the horror on his face!

As I entered the school, a weird and suffocating aura immediately engulfed me.

If this was a cartoon or... In an anime, people would have purple ooze seeping from their skin.

Everyone looked quite fearful and kept on glancing behind their backs now and then.

I don't understand.

Its Friday! Everyone loves Fridays!

At least in my old school...

So yeah, it had been three days since the whole incident. Ever since then, Regina had been giving me the cold shoulder.

Not that she didn't before; only with added glares.

I continued down the hallways, looking wearily at everybody else. Once I reached my locker, I found my friends were already there.

I didn't bother telling them about what happened. I didn't want to worry them.

Liar. You just didn't want them to think you're such a wimp that you couldn't even get back to your house safely and independently.

Fine, I admit that that was the real reason. Even though we've been close already, we're not as close as best friends.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" I greeted them, getting greetings from all except Fiona.

I thought she was ignoring me again, but I noticed that she was holding a notebook and pen. She was writing something.

I decided against asking her what she was writing since I respect her privacy.

"Is it just me, or is it a little tense today?"

"Oh, it is. It's not usually like this on Fridays though." Miley answered me, but she didn't mind glancing at me, just at her phone.

"Why, though?" I asked again.

This time, Jordan said, "Probably because of how the Queen was acting the whole week."

"I still don't understand... What has Regina's mood got anything to do with everybody's mood?"

Suddenly, all of them looked over at me, even Fiona stopped writing. Some random students even stopped to stare.

I looked around anxiously with wide eyes, "What? What did I say?"

"Did... Did you just call... The Queen by her name?!" Fiona asked incredulously.

I looked around again, luckily, the random students that had stopped and frozen were already beginning to disperse.

But unluckily, they were talking to themselves while sneaking glances at me. Ugh, what wrong did I do?!

You were born. That's what you did wrong.

" Um... Yeah..? It's her name, isn't it..?" I questioned uncertainly.

Wow, never would have guessed.

These voices are getting annoying.

Thanks.

Thanks.

"Exactly! You don't call the Queen by her name! Haven't you noticed that everyone only calls her by her title?!" I believe that that's the longest Fiona had ever spoken to me.

As if hearing my thoughts, she abruptly turned her gaze back to her notebook.

Just to make things even weirder, Miley nudged Fiona with her elbow, her face filled with a wide, mischievous grin.

It's actually nice to see that smile not directed to me. Before, whenever someone grinned like that, I would wish to run for the hills.

I said this before, I'll say it again: stop living in the past!

But--

Nuh-uh. Nope. Nada. Shud'up. I want no more thoughts of that!

Fine... I'll try.

Worth a shot.

The bell soon rang, so we all dispersed into our classrooms.

On my and Miley's way to the first period, we came across a crowd in the middle of the hallway. Looks like they didn't even hear the bell ring.

"Let's go check it out!" Miley said, looking quite excited. I shook my head, but she ignored me and pulled my arm over.

And of course, me being my weak self, got pulled over to the crowd.

Even though I didn't want to watch it, a part of me was ordering me to go see. And strangely enough, both voices were not even giving any response.

Then all of a sudden, somebody pushed me, causing my glasses to fall to the ground. I kneeled and began patting the ground in hopes to find it.

But then, the sound of my worst nightmares reached my ears.

A crushing of glass.

In all my years, ever since I was in my last year of middle school, I had those glasses. Yeah, they were cheap, worn out, and in the breach of saying goodbye to this world, but I needed them.

Luckily and strangely enough, no one in my old school -or... Life, in general-, bothered my glasses.

Maybe it was because I was practically blind without them, and if I couldn't see anything, I wouldn't be able to do their homework.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if any of them will pass the tes--

It is not the damn time to think about your past bullies' grades, you know.

Why do you always cuss?!

Another crack brought me back to reality, and finally, my hands brushed over the broken frames of what used to be my glasses.

I hastily tried to put them up on my nose, and fortunately, -more like unfortunately-, one of the lenses were still intact.

Broken, yes; but it looks like it could still be used, unlike the left lens which was shattered beyond conception.

But when I glanced forward, I realized that I was right in front of the mob. Now that I'm near, I could see that people were crowded around the fight, but still a few meters away from them.

I looked at the person below who was getting plummeted. Jeez, he looks young. A freshman or sophomore at the most.

Then suddenly, a punch to his face got me out of staring at him. I turned my gaze to where the fist came from.

My eyes widened as I saw her, her Violet-red eyes held more red than Violet.

I would say I'm not surprised, but I still am.

She hadn't seen me, heck, I don't think that even if she did, she would care.

Leave now. She wouldn't want you to interfere. I'd bet that if you do, the next fist will be headed in the direction of your jaw.

It made sense, but a certain emotion deep in me told me that I should interfere. I should stop her.

With 50/50 vision, I slowly walked up to her, ignoring the calls of Miley and other students.

I crept up to her, she was still oblivious to my presence. Should I be thankful for that?

Gathering up some courage that suddenly came into me, I acted before my heart would go back to its cowardly state.

I put my hand softly on her forearm just when she was about to land another punch.

To everyone's shock, including mine, she stopped. She froze with her fist just a few inches from the kid's face.

She slowly turned her eyes to mine, still not moving an inch, just like me.

"Stop, Regina. Please..." I said pleadingly, my voice low that only the both of us could hear.

And right before my very eyes, the dark red in her eyes slowly molted back to its usual state.

I read this somewhere before...

{A/N: I'mma putting this here for ya'll.}

She stared at me, so I stared right back.

After a few tense and silent seconds, her other hand that held the poor student's collar let go abruptly, causing him to fall to the floor. Surprisingly, he was still conscious.

Regina then continued to look at me, while there was me, who had regained my composure of being a scared little wimp.

I snatched my hand back from her arm like it burned me, just like how her gaze on me was now: burning.

She then stood from being crouched to the floor. I followed her movements, avoiding any possible eye contact.

I'm a split second, she turned on her heels and headed to what looked like the way to the back door. At least that's what I'm guessing.

There was silence as I stared at the way she went, then suddenly, the shrill sound of the bell resounded, making me jump out of my skin.

It was only then that I realized that there was still a crowd around. Luckily, they began moving away at the sound of the bell.

But the bad part was that everyone was talking amongst themselves. I could already see a whole lot of gossip and rumours coming soon.

Miley then grabbed my arm and led me to the second period that we still had together.

"What was that, Rayver?!" She exclaimed, earning weird looks from people passing by us.

"I-I just stopped her. That wasn't a big deal..." I tried explaining, but she wouldn't have it.

"Are you kidding me?! Not a big deal?! No one, and I mean no one, had ever dared to stop the Queen when she's attacking and lived to tell the tale!" Before she could add more, we had arrived at our class.

This class, weirdly enough, had our seats by alphabetical order of our surnames, which meant that I and Miley were far from each other, she being Spencer, and I was Cruise. A few seats from me, though, was Jordan. His last name was Black.

Miley gave me a look that had her eyes squinting suspiciously at me, while I was staring weirdly at her, wondering what in the world that look meant.

Boys are idiots...

Hey! You're one too, you know.

Oh, am I?

Now that I pay more attention to it... Your voice sounds much like a female's.

A familiar female's.

Huh, guess I'm getting nearer and nearer to finding out who that voice belongs to.

Meanwhile, the other voice sounds like a guy's. Probably a whole lot younger than I am now.

"Alright, all of you shut up now and take away all your books and notebooks. Pop quiz." Groans resounded in the room. Including mine.

Ugh. I forgot we still had class.

~~

"That's it. Tell."

A bang of a tray made me flinch in surprise and look up at where it came from.

Miley Spencer.

She was looking -more like glaring, actually- at me, making me frown in confusion. I looked around our table and saw that the others were looking at her with a similar expression.

"Tell what?" I questioned.

She wagged a finger in front of my face, "Don't play coy. What was that earlier with the Queen?"

Hearing what she said, the other two looked like they were hit with a realization, then turned to me also.

"Yeah, I've been hearing it everywhere! Rumours are flying to and fro in the whole school." Jordan said.

I scratched the back of my neck. "Nothing, really. I swear, guys. It was nothing."

"I don't believe you." Miley and Jordan said at the same time. Fiona, on the other hand, was silent as most of the time. She was, however, holding a notebook and pen. Again.

Suddenly, Miley squealed, making some students glance at her with a weird look, but ignored it after a few seconds.

"I totally know what happened!" Seeing our silence, she continued, "You guys know in the romance books, ㅡlike, Wattpad for exampleㅡ when the bad boy is beating someone up, but the protagonist girl would stop him because they're meant to be, I think that that's exactly what happened. Just gender-swapped!"

I am cringing so bad.

I am cringing so bad.

I am cringing so bad.

"What?! No!" I said, sputtering out the food in my mouth in the process of speaking.

"Now that I think about it... I agree with ya, Miles." Jordan said, high-fiving Miley right after.

"G-guys, I swear to everything, nothing is--" I got cut off by a loud screeching of a chair, we all looked at where it came from, and saw it was Fiona.

She hurriedly took her notebook and pen, and stuffed them in her bag, then basically sprinted out of the cafeteria.

We were quiet for a bit, staring at the cafeteria doors she went through, before Jordan broke it, saying, "I'll go after her."

When he left, I turned to Miley and asked, "What was that all about?"

She simply shook her head with a disappointed sigh, and said, "Boys are so stupid."

~~

[2170]

{A/N: Hey Cagna!

You know what, I'm not even going to say anything.

Here's my apology gift: Rayver

From Me To You,
Z}