Chapter Fourteen

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The moment our last period was over, I rushed outside and made myself invisible like I always do. I'd like to escape from NJ because he won't stop bugging me about joining the cheerleading group. See, after he found out what I was up to, he kept on throwing papers at me with the letter that says, "Hey, Ms. Cheerleader! Why don't you join the cheerleading group for real? I could be of help, you know?"

Thanks to that letter, we got scolded by our professor. That's why I felt relieved when I heard the bell rang, a signal that our last class was over and that we could finally go home.

I made sure that NJ was busy for me to be able to escape, going straight home.

In our school, running in the hallway is against the rule but I don't want NJ to catch me so I broke the rule and ran down the hallway.

While running, I stumbled and fell when I literally bumped into someone. It made my eyeglass fall down to the ground, the same time I fell my butt off.

"Ouch," I reacted as I tried to stand up and regain my composure.

"Oh, my. I'm sorry! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" I heard a gentle voice. It was a woman's voice. Maybe this is my exaggeration speaking, but this girl's voice is so gentle that I began imagining her singing a lullaby song to a toddler sleeping.

I've got very poor eyesight so I've got no choice but to look for my eyeglass by patting the floor. When I finally felt the eyeglass on my hand, I murmured, "Finally got 'ya"

I wore it and as soon as I did, my vision became clearer and I was surprised after seeing the girl who I bumped into. I couldn't help but to stare at her as I began standing up.

Am I looking in the mirror?

It feels like I am seeing my own reflection because she totally looked a lot like me!

"Hello? Are you okay? Are you mute?" She asked when I didn't speak. I snapped at that and shook my head sideways.

"O-oh, sorry. Yes, I'm fine" I answered.

"Are you my long lost twin?" She asked, joking. She doesn't seem to be surprised and I don't even know why. Maybe because she already heard about me or has seen me in photos. After all, I've got a rotten reputation in this school.

Our difference is the hair length. I've got curly hair that falls up to my shoulder while she has straight hair that falls up to her waist. We got the same hair color. Also, unlike me, she was so courageous to wear contact lenses. Or maybe I'm just assuming that she's wearing a contact lense? Because it is also not impossible that her crystal blue eyes are real and not a fake one.

"It feels like I'm looking at my reflection," I told her and she giggled.

"That's true," she answered. "I'm Quila, can you tell me your name?"

I was shocked.

I never expected that I'd meet Quila, the cheerleader I temporarily replaced for the cheerleading tournament.

So, this is Quila.

"I'm Beauty," I responded. "But beasty suits me better than Beauty, don't you think?"

She giggled and said, "That's not true! You are beautiful. Don't say that!"

I don't believe her.

"I don't believe you," I bluntly responded. "I don't feel beautiful at all."

"Well, that's your low self-esteem whispering. Don't listen to it," She responded then flashed a smile. "Do you want to walk together?"

Well this is unexpected. Why is she being so nice to a stranger? The first person who treated me nicely is Tom and second, NJ to my surprise. Third is Audrey and now Quila.

Why does my little word suddenly slowly begin expanding?

"Sure, if that's what you wanted." I answered and we bagan walking together.

We got similar looks but she still looked prettier than I am.

I am nowhere in the description pretty and beautiful! Not halfway there. In addition, she seems to have a good taste in "normal" fashion. The way I dress up is normal, at least to me. But in society, my sense of fashion is unacceptable.

She's wearing a red leather jacket with a white tube inside. She was wearing a leather skirt that falls 2-inches above the knee lenght and for the footwear, she's wearing a leather high-cut shoes, black in color.

She didn't fix her hair into a ponytail but she's wearing a hair pin on the right side. It seems like she's been trying to hide her bangs. I wonder if her bangs bothered her that's why she decided to clip it instead?

I didn't talk that much. She did the talking and jeez, she's really talkative! It's like she's a story book that has unlimited stories written in it. I would only speak whenever she's asking something.

"What club are you a member of?" She asked.

I'd like to answer, the lazy and don't care about anything club but I chose not to.

"I am not a member of any clubs," I said. "I am not into joining school clubs."

"That's a shame," She answered. "If that's the case, why don't you try joining our club? Cheerleading Dance Squad."

"W-well, I am not into dancing," I lied. "Sorry but I'm turning down your offer."

"Really? That's a shame," She said. When we got outside the grounds, we parted ways but before doing that, she gave me her number so I gave mine too.

"If you changed your mind, you can contact me anytime, okay?" She said with a smile. "You don't have to worry about joining because everyone in the group is friendly and nice. We don't bite."

"Sure, thanks" I simply answered.

"Oh, I know! We will be having cheerleading practice. You can watch. Maybe it'll change your mind. We lost and I wasn't able to join our cheerleading tournament so we've decided to practice," She stated, suddenly sounding sad. "Something happened that's why I wasn't able to arrive on time."

"Oh, I see," I answered. "I'm sorry to hear about that and hey, there's still a next time. You can make it up to them." I answered, trying to cheer her up but everyone knows that I'm pretty bad at that.

Shut up, don't judge me!

"Thank you and I hope so too." She responded.

After our conversation wherein she's the talker and being me, a listener, we finally parted ways and went back home.

As I got home, I went straight to my bedroom, shut the door and locked it. I've decided to update the novel I've been working on.

Before writing, I changed into a piece of clothing that is very comfy. I threw my clothes on the floor as I changed my clothes and afterwards, I went to my table where my laptop was located.

As I opened my ongoing novel, I tried writing the next chapter but I couldn't think of a good scene for the next chapter. As a result, I kept on staring at an empty paper on my screen. Instead of staring at my blank screen and getting my eyes hurt for staring at it for too long, I've decided to close my laptop. Maybe ideas will come running inside my mind later.

I was about to tuck myself into bed when I heard my doorknob making a noise. My first instinct says that is NJ, barging again. Before he was able to open the door, I rushed and held the door knob. I could feel on my hand as I grip it tightly that he's still trying to open my door.

"Hey, open the door will ya?" He said from the other side of the door and just as I thought, it's NJ.

"Why would I do that?" I responded, my hands were still holding the doorknob. "This is my room and I'd like to sleep in peace!"

It's like we're playing tug-of-war, except we've been trying to pull a doorknob and not a rope.

"It's too early to sleep!" He said. "Come on, open the door and let me hang out with you."

"NO! YOU let me sleep," I responded. "I'm exhausted for the day and you know why."

"Open this, or I'll break your door!" He threatened.

"Do that, and I'm going to break your nose!" I threatened back.

Oh, look at that. Aren't we like kids?

"Come on! Just open the door!" He demanded. This guy sure never knows how to give up, doesn't he?

I started feeling my arms and hands in pain. And as I tried to keep my door closed by holding the door as tight as I could, I began feeling more and more exhausted and weak. It made me let go of the door knob and drop myself to my knees.

And now, he was able to barge in and as he was able to open the door, he looked at me with a smug face.

"I win!" He said.

"Is that something to brag about?" I responded as I began standing up. "What do you want from me?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I want to hang out with you?" He said with a shrug. He scanned around my room and I could see the disgust and disappointment. I'm pretty sure it's because he saw how messy my room is.

Before he got the chance to rant, I said. "What now? You don't like the sight? That's great! You can leave now."

"I am not going to leave," He said. "Get up! We'll do some cleaning here."

Now, I'm standing on my feet and as I placed a hand on my hip, I said, "And who are you to command me? This is my room, remember?"

"Good question. Maybe your cleaning mentor?" He answered. "Where's your cleaning stuff?"

"No! I am not cleaning! I'm tired. I'll do it tomorrow!" I said.

He looked at me suspiciously and said, "Are you really going to clean tomorrow?"

"Yes, I will. Can you just leave me alone?" I said, exasperated by the situation.

For a while, he stared at me silently and I could read in his face that he doesn't believe me and that he'll still force me to clean my room.

"Ugh, fine! Fine! I'll clean," I said. "Let's start cleaning so we can get over this."

"Great!" He said. "Come on, give me your cleaning stuff. You can start piling up the clothes you threw. Don't forget to segregate the dirty from the clean clothes, alright?"

"Shut up! Don't boss me around!" I said as I glared at him. He just laughed, seems amused. What a clean freak.

"Don't worry about anything. I'll help you out. Let me do the wiping on your windows and table." He volunteered.

"I thought you'd like to hang out with me?" I said.

"Can't we hang out as we clean?" He suggested.

"Hanging out is supposed to feel relaxing." I said.

"Hanging out, for me, is being with someone you chose to hang out with whatever the situation may be." He gave his opinion.

"Even though it's tiring?" I asked as I began walking towards my clothes, lying down on the floor.

"Well, yeah," He answered. "Come to think of it. As we help each other clean, we can talk about lots of stuff too. It's not really a bad idea, don't you think?"

He's got a point but if you were to ask me, I'd rather hang out without doing anything tiring. "Nah. You're just a clean freak."

He grabbed the towel and a cleaning spray and began wiping off the dirt. Of course, comments are always there.

"Is this really a room? I'm beginning to think that this is a warehouse that was not used for a very long time."

"Talk about exaggeration," I answered as I continued separating my used and new clothes. "I just didn't have enough time to clean."

"Really?" He answered, unconvinced. "When did you last clean your room?"

I thought about it for a while. Now that he mentioned it ...

"As far as I recall, it was 5 months ago." I said.

"What?! Are you freaking serious?!" He reacted. "No wonder your window got very thick dirt."

"Shut up! Mind your own business," I said. "You're the one who offered to help clean and now you're complaining? Give me a break!"

"Really, you should learn and practice cleaning. Why don't you try nicer clothes too?" He suggested.

"Stop commanding me!" I demanded. "And hey, nobody's perfect. Not everyone can clean like you and wear perfect attire."

"Oh, the lame old excuse," He said. "So is that why you've decided to stay as is? As a person who isn't trying to change their old ways?"

He's right about that. Sure, nobody's perfect but it is definitely not a good excuse to not become a better person. If you think about it, people using that excuse are people who's not willing to change.

"Fine, fine. I'll try to change," I said. Because of this guy, I started thinking of changing into a better person and not giving a shitty excuse like nobody's perfect.

"Great! Let's start with cleaning and its maintenance once cleaned," He said. "Then next up is the way you think and dress up."

"Didn't I tell you that you have no right to command me?" I said. "Remember, we're helping each other and helping each other means give and take. See, if you're just commanding me, I don't think that's helping. That's simply bossing someone around. Don't you think that personality of yours has to be changed too? Please do not forget that you are not my superior and that I never asked for your help." I ranted.

"You're right," He agreed. "I am very sorry that I keep on bossing you around."

I just gave him a sigh.

"Hey, I just thought of an idea," He said. "How about we change each other's old ways to become a better person? Because you know, sometimes, we fail to notice our bad deeds."

"I'm surprised that you'd be willing to accept comments from me that need to be changed," I said. "'Cause according to my knowledge, people that are smarter than me always think that they are right all the time. It sucks."

"Hey, not everyone's the same," He said. "Don't you think you're judging too much?"

"What made you say that?" I asked.

"For starters, you generalized every person smarter than you. Secondly, you don't even know me at all." He pointed out.

"Thank you very much for pointing that out." I answered.

We then changed the topic into joining the cheerleading dance squad. Oh no, here we go again.

"Come on! Just try and join. I'd like you to cheer for our team." He said.

"Sorry but a no is a no. I only dance for fun, okay?" I said. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was a text message from Quila.

FROM: Quila

Hey, twinny! Wanna come and watch our practice?

Twinny?

Right. Maybe because we looked a lot.

For a person whom she just met, she already got a name for me. At least it's not an insulting name like I tend to hear. I am not used to it.

"Who's that?" I heard NJ asked.

"Remember the one I temporarily replaced?" I started. "It's her. Quila. She's inviting me to watch their cheerleading practice."

"That's perfect! Why don't you go? I can come with you." He volunteered.

"You really like sticking around me, don't you?" I said.

"Why not? Admit it! You're having fun, buddy." He said. Talk about being overly-confident. I must say that he's right.

"I'll think about it. Then I'll reach out to you when I've come to a final decision." I said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

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