Chapter 2: She's Freaking Ugly

[Lexxeignne]

I did a half-run towards the garage. Sh*t! I'm going to be late! Why did I wake up so late? Ugh! I quickly jump on my motorbike and start the engine. Then I press the horn to signal the guard. He immediately opened the gate when he saw me approaching.

I drive fast the moment I’m outside. I groaned when I realized I forgot to eat my breakfast. Damn it! I also forgot my lunch box. Oh well, I’ll just eat later in the school cafeteria. I sighed as I finally arrived at school and looked at the big letter emboss above the gate.

*St. Augustine Academy*

I looked for a parking space, and I found one beside a motorbike, too. The guards asked for my ID when I reached the gate and I just showed them my entrance pass since I haven’t gotten my ID yet. I quickly walked inside the big campus while checking the time and cursed under my breath when I saw the time. It’s now 6:55 am, and I still have to find my classroom. Sh*t, it's only 5 minutes left.

I walked through the corridor, trying to find the room for my first subject. Luckily, I bump into a teacher in the hallway. I didn’t ask my fellow students for directions because there’s a possibility they would mislead me. The teacher smiled and gave me the direction of where my room was.

"Thank you, ma'am!" She just smiled, and at the same time, the bell rang. I quickly searched my classroom. I followed the directions she pointed. Go straight, turn right, then climb the stairs, turn left, and find room number 14.

"Room 11... 12... 13... and... here it is! Room 14!" I exclaimed when I finally reached the room. I look at the time and... No way! I'm 3 minutes late! I knocked on the closed door and seconds later, it busted open and a frowning human being appeared in front of me. Oh no! The teacher looks so strict. It made him look so strict with his bald head.

"You're 3 minutes late! Give me a valid reason to not give you detention," he said in his teacher's tone.

My brows furrowed, and I cleared my throat. "Yes, I know I’m 3 minutes late because I had a hard time looking for this room, and obviously, I'm a transferee. Is it a valid reason, Mister?" I said, and his jaw dropped. Since he had no intention of letting me in, I entered voluntarily and faced my classmates, who were gaping at me. Soon, they burst out into laughter.

"Damn! I thought she was pretty because she was so confident talking to Mr. Cruz! Bwahahaha!" They laughed at the same time, throwing harsh words at me. I just looked at them with brows furrowed together.

"She's freaking ugly... hahaha,"

"Yeah! Is there anyone else like her in this school? Hahaha, ew!"

"Class, be quiet!" The teacher yelled. Then the room suddenly fell silent.

"Okay, please introduce yourself, miss transferee. And I'm sorry for my behavior. I was just trying to intimidate you, especially latecomers to my class." he said and whispered his last sentence to me, which made me grin secretly. I’m almost convinced he’s a strict teacher. This teacher is not bad, after all.

"Hi, I'm Lexxeignne Morales, Lex for short. And I'm 19 years old." I said and when I looked at my classmates, they were suppressing their laughter.

"Okay, that's all?" I just looked at the teacher with no emotion. He cleared his throat. "Okay, I'm Mr. John Cruz, your Physics teacher. You may take your seats now, Ms. Morales." After saying that, I looked for a vacant seat in the back row. I sat next to a girl who also wore eyeglasses, but she didn't look like a nerd.

Mr. Cruz started discussing. And boy, it’s so boring. Well, it’s because I already know what he was discussing. Since I already know the topic, my mind wandered somewhere. I sighed in relief when the bell rang. The first class is over and it's now recess time for just 15 minutes. I got up and was about to leave the room when a few of my classmates blocked the door. I stopped and looked at them with a poker face.

"Get out of my way kids," I told them and they raised their eyebrows.

"Kids? Did you call us kids? Hahaha, did you guys hear that?" They laughed.

"Why? Aren't you? What you're doing right now is for kids’ behavior. So can you move away now?" I said with brows furrowed together, which annoyed them. I’m really pissed right now.

"How dare you?!" said the clown-looking girl. Her make-up was too thick. She was about to slap me, but I stopped her hand midway.

"Yes, I dare you. And please... don't ever lay your filthy hands on me. You will regret what will happen next." I said sarcastically and let go of her hand, then left the room and went to the cafeteria in a foul mood.

My stomach grumbled the moment I arrived in the cafeteria. I directly walked towards the counter and ordered. Afterward, I look for a vacant table. As I settled down and munched my food, someone suddenly stood in front of me. I looked up and saw my seatmate.

"Uhm, hi? Can I share a table with you?" she said, a little tense, and I nodded because my mouth was still full. She sat down and opened her chocolate cake bar, then ate with poise. A typical rich girl.

"Ahem, I'm Samantha Aguilar. Lexxeignne Morales, right?" She started a conversation.

I drank water first before answering. "Yes. Ahm, nice to meet you! So, I'll go first. It's nearly time." I said and stood up.

"Wait! Let’s go together!" she said and stood up quickly, leaving her unfinished food. She followed and walked with me. I am in no mood for a conversation and I guess she noticed. When we entered the room for our second subject. The bullies who blocked me earlier were glaring daggers at me. Tsk. I don’t care! I walked towards the back row and sat down near the window. Samantha sat beside me. The teacher is not yet around, so the room looks like a marketplace because it’s too noisy, which made me groan in annoyance.

“Ahm, Lex! Let's have lunch together later, okay? Please?” Samantha said with a puppy look. Aww, she looks adorable.

"Uhm, ok," I answered shortly.

She smiled widely. "Yes! Thank you! Finally, I have someone to eat with!" she said with excitement. My forehead creased.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any friends here yet, so I don't have someone to eat with me during recess and lunch," she said sadly. "Can we be friends, Lex? Please?" she said with a puppy look again. Damn! What did she think of herself? A puppy? I stared at her while she was still making cute faces. Fine, I don't have a friend either.

"Okay..." I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yay! I finally got a friend!" She said while grinning. I just smiled at her.

"Good morning, Class!" I turned my gaze to the front, and our math teacher was already at her desk.

"Good morning, Ms. Dela Cerna!" My classmates greeted our teacher.

Then Ms. Dela Cerna called me to introduce myself again, which I reluctantly followed. Afterward, she immediately wrote something on the board and started the discussion. It's all about statistics. The mean, median, and mode. Tsk. It’s an easy topic.

After the discussion, Ms. Dela Cerna gave us a short quiz. After 10 minutes, I stood up to submit my quiz paper. She looked so surprised. Maybe she didn't expect someone to pass so soon. I went back to my seat and sighed. Then I felt Sam kicked me so I looked at her questioningly. She just smiled and I noticed that the class was over and Ms. Dela Cerna was saying something, but I didn’t hear it.

"Ok, class. See you next meeting! Class dismissed!" After saying that, Ms. Dela Cerna left the room. And my classmates started making noise.

"Come on, Lex! It’s lunchtime! Let's go to the cafeteria!" she said. We stood up, and I put on my small backpack. Then I left the room in a hurry.

When we arrived at the cafeteria, it’s crowded and so noisy.

"Waahhh! He's really handsome!" girls screamed like they saw an idol. Tsk. Their voices piss me off.

"Excuse me," I said to the one who blocked the way. After feeling like an eternity in the queue, it’s finally my turn to order. Seriously, why did the number of people suddenly increase? After Sam and I ordered, we looked for a table while carrying our food.

On my way, suddenly someone tripped me over, causing the food to spill over into a guy. The students at the table gasped in shock and suddenly, the entire cafeteria fell silent.

My forehead creased. What happened? Tsk. Slowly, the guy who had spilled my food turned around angrily. He looks like an angry gorilla. Wait, I remember him. He's the guy on the motorbike when I went to the mall last Saturday. Hah! What a small world!

"It’s you again! Look what you did?! Sh*t! Do you know how much this shirt cost? Tsk." He spat while pointing at his stained shirt. Seriously? Is he really asking me the price of his shirt? I smirk.

"Yes, I do. It's worth 40 dollars." I said with a smirk, and the students laughed.

"What?! You don't have any idea how much this costs, do you? It's worth 200 dollars! And you'll have to pay for this! You ugly creature!" he retorts. Hah! What a jerk! Is he really bragging about the cost of his shirt? Let's see if you can still speak.

I smirked. "Well, I saw that shirt in the mall and it really cost 40 dollars. Want some proof?" I said with a sarcastic grin. He turned pale and got angry again. Did he really think he could outsmart me? Dream on, boy.

"What?! You're unbelievable!"

"Yes, I am. If I were you, I'd go change my clothes now because you stink!" Hahaha! He is funny. His reaction? It's priceless. Hahaha, he even sniffed his shirt. And guess what? Pft! His expression turned sour. The crowd laughed, and with an annoyed expression, he turned to me.

"We're not done yet, stupid, ugly creature!" he said and walk away in defeat. Tsk. I'm always ready, jerk.

Laughter filled the entire cafeteria. I turned my gaze to the girl who tripped me over. Her face turned pale.

"W-what?!" she stuttered.

"You did that on purpose, did you?" I asked using my authority voice. Suddenly, the noise stopped.

"S-so what if I did? You're so ugly! That's why I tripped you!" I looked at her with disgust.

"That's it? You’re so childish. What's your name?" I ask.

"I'm Amor Dela Vega." She said proudly. Hah! A Dela Vega? Let's see if you can still smile proudly. Does she think she can bully me that easily?

“Do you know the sayings, ‘Do not judge the book by its cover?’” I said nonchalantly.

"Of course! What do you think of me, stupid?! Stupid b*tch!" she retorts. I shook my head in disbelief. I'm done with that stinky mouth of this girl.

"Ah! I’m glad you knew. So, please tell your father, Ms. Dela Vega, that starting today I will pull out all my investments from your company. Oh! For your info! Half of the shares are mine. So, good luck! Bye! " I said and smirked. Everyone gasped, and then the entire cafeteria fell silent.

"P-please... don't do that! I'm sorry, Miss..." she said and suddenly knelt in front of me, which made everyone gasp. Woah, I didn’t expect her to kneel.

"Please... I'm begging you! I promise I won't do it again! Just don’t take all of your investment. Huhuhu, please! My dad will scold me!" She said with tears welled up in her eyes. I'm not as bad as she thinks.

"Okay, but in one condition," I said. She looked at me.

"What condition? Please, I'll do everything!" She begged, and I gasped.

I let out a sigh and helped her stand up, which surprised her. "Just don't do that to others again and if I saw you bullied someone on this premise. I won't think twice and you know what will happen." I said and walked away out of the cafeteria. I have lost my appetite. I felt Sam followed me.

"Sam, don’t follow me. You should eat." I told her as I walked out with a dim expression. I’m really pissed.

"I've lost my appetite too. Let's just go to our next subject," she said, and we walked silently. I guess she’s pissed at what happened, too.

We are the only ones in the room. Maybe our classmates are still in the cafeteria. I just sat down at the desk.

"You know Lex, I really admired you earlier because of your courage! The attitude of today's youth is really terrible. Aki is really a jerk! He's not even from the high school department! I don’t understand that idiot sometimes. He really made an effort to come here! Hmmm, that idiot is annoying." She ranted, really pissed off. Aki? Aki is the name of that idiot?

After a while, my classmates entered one by one until the room filled up. They are oddly quiet. I raised my head as I felt them looking at me. When they noticed I was looking, they looked away. Tsk. No one even made a noise. That’s way more than I like. I hope they always behave like this.

The teacher came at the moment the bell rang. She quickly started her discussion after taking attendance. One word to describe this afternoon's class is boring. I silently groaned.

The afternoon classes passed by with boring discussions. I’m so bored. I wish I had just brought a book so I could read something.

*kriinnnggg*

Finally! Time to go home! I quickly got up and put on my backpack. Sam stood up as well while stretching. We left the room together. Our classmates looked at us as we exited. As we walked into the hallway, we were also being stared at.

"Sam, why are they looking at us?" I asked Sam as we continued walking.

"Well, maybe that's because of what happened earlier in the cafeteria." Sam shrugged her shoulders.

"Tsk."

"Well, well, well… look who's here?" a group of mean girls stopped us on the way down the stairs.

I continued to descend the stairs, and Sam reluctantly followed. They noticed that I didn’t stop going down the stairs. But the girl suddenly grabbed my arm the moment I reached the last step of the stairs. I looked at her blankly. I noticed that students surrounded us. Ah, they want a show. Tsk. This b*tch!

I glared daggers at them.

"Oh, I'm scared?! Hahaha, you wish!" the girl said. I give her a boring look.

"What's your problem? Can you see that I'm in a hurry? Please, my time is precious, and it's a waste of time talking to your nonsense." I said and freed myself from her grasp, then I looked at her and her group nonchalantly.

"You b*tch! How dare you!" the girl was about to slap me when I grabbed her hand instead and twisted it. She cried out in pain. Looking at these clown-looking groups pissed me off.

"What's your problem? I did nothing for you to treat me like this!” I said with an annoyed expression. “Stay right there!" I added when another girl tried to come closer to me.

"Ugh! You are stupid! We just got revenge for Aki! For the humiliation you did to him in the cafeteria!" the girl said while writhing in pain. I tightened my grasp and she screamed in pain. Then I quickly let go of her sweaty hand in disgust.

"He deserves that for insulting me," I said with an annoyed expression and left the crowd.

"Lex! Wait!" Sam calls me. I didn't look back because I knew she was following.

When we arrived at the parking lot, I went to where my motorbike was parked.

"Cool! You also ride a motorbike! And we park next to each other! We're really meant to meet this day!" she said cheerfully. I just smiled.

Maybe. Who would have thought that we would be next to each other in the classroom and our motorbike parked next to each other, too?

We have already started our motorbike. And put on the helmet.

"See you tomorrow, Lex! Bye!"

"Yeah! See you too, Sam! Bye!"

We waved at each other and pressed the horn, then we left school at the same time. I noticed we drove the same way. Her house was just a few blocks away from the mansion.

When I got home, I immediately parked my motorbike and went inside. I immediately sat down on the sofa in my room. What a tough day I had! On the first day, I already got into trouble just because I look ugly and it really pisses me off. Maybe I won’t wear my disguised look anymore.

I went to my walk-in closet and got dressed. Then I sat in front of my dresser table. I removed and cleaned everything on my face, even the fake braces, and combed my messy hair. I looked in the mirror. Maybe it's time for me to face the truth—I mean, everyone. Maybe two years of hiding is enough. And I also miss my pretty bare face.