Chapter 11

AUTHOR

Thanks for waiting nerds! Enjoy!

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Ginny used to be a self-entitled drama queen. But now she's more like a drama magnet, trying to find a way to dethrone herself from all such nonsense. But drama just can't resist sticking to her, even though she's trying to stay away from it every goddamn time. It's as if drama has a radar, and Ginny is its favourite target. How unfortunate—very unfortunate indeed. Ugh, she couldn't help but groan. Is this what karma feels like? Because it feels like it is.

Her attempts at trying to live a drama-free life are like attempting to eat a doughnut without your lips sticking on it—which is pretty much impossible! As much as possible, she'd do just about anything to escape from such nonsense. Unfortunately, it has been chasing her like a persistent salesperson at the mall, trying to trick her into buying luxurious stuff as if it were trying to revive the dormant shopaholic devil sleeping within her, which is not happening. Nuh-uh.

Everything that had happened in the past few weeks resulted in a lot of drama. And at the centre of those unexpected matters was, well, guess who? Obviously, it's none other than the campus princess, Persephone Campbell.

Y'know it would be easy if Ginny would just revert to her old "queen of drama" self, but since she's a changed woman now, she's trying to live with her newly found principle that every person deserves kindness, except possibly that person who designed jeans with fake pockets—he's beyond redemption! He's clearly never carried a thing in his life! Talk about capitalism at its finest.

Moving on. Even though Persephone wouldn't stop pestering her, she was never violent or forceful. All she ever did was charm and seduce her with that stupid, gorgeous face of hers. As if that's going to work. Nope! Not gonna happen. Well, truth be told, she does have a soft spot for beautiful things, but that was the old Ginny, an impulsive shopaholic with little self-control. She's different now. Well, aside from her newly found obsession with collecting different sets of Hermès twillies for Prof. Beak, that's an exception. 

And just like any other day, Ginny found herself entangled in yet another dramatic situation. However, this time, she was the one who started it.

She knew she couldn't avoid Persephone forever. That's why she had been vocal about her feelings to stop the latter's relentless wooing. But it didn't work because the girl didn't take 'no' for an answer. So she thought of another plan, and that was to play Cupid at the school carnival. Persephone Campbell and Ariel James should kiss together in the kissing booth.

That was the plan.

"Why are you trying to set me up with other people?" Persephone asked coldly yet calmly. But Ginny can feel how pissed she is right now.

Ginny feigns ignorance and lets out a nervous laugh. Her aloof demeanour became more pronounced as they stood in the dimly lit parking lot near the vibrant carnival. The colourful lights and distant laughter created a surreal contrast to their tense exchange. Persephone dragged her here to confront her, which she dislikes a lot. But it was inevitable, and she just had to get on with it. Everything needs to end now.

♦

Before the confrontation…

Ginny went on a two-hour drive to Penwith to visit her folks but immediately regretted it when she was greeted by her older siblings, Augustus and Guinevere. The two are mischievous fraternal twins, who tend to smother her with profound affection. And by "smother," it means that the moment she set foot inside, Gus and Eve pounced on her like overexcited puppies meeting their favourite chew toy.

This was supposed to be a relaxing break from all the drama she had experienced at school, mainly because of Persephone. Some people might say Ginny is an idiot for rejecting Persephone's advances, or that she's in denial about the cat-and-mouse chase going on between them. She's absolutely not. She knows exactly what Persephone is doing and is okay if the latter feels a certain affection for her. That's fine. She understands it, but she will never acknowledge it, simply because she doesn't know what to do with it.

She's overwhelmed. That's the word that sums up what she's feeling towards Persephone. That's why she needed a break from all of it and probably sought advice from someone about it too—like her papà. But then she found out from the twins that he and Uncle Giovanni went to the Bahamas to fish and probably wouldn't be back for a week. Talk about timing.

She also wouldn't ask for advice from her mother, not after the disastrous mayoral election she had ruined, which had made her an absolute celebrity for a week for those who didn't know. Back when she was a child, she and her mom were very close. Now, a lot of things have changed, and Ginny is still wondering what happened. She hadn't been around lately. She understands that this is her mom's dream—helping people, making the world a better place, or some sort of bullock like that. What she finds perplexing is her mother's willingness to sacrifice quality time with her own family in favour of spending it with others.

When her parents divorced, she didn't even flinch. She knew it was coming. She just felt bad for her papà. Even though he appeared to be a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, he was hurting inside. But after their divorce, they're still living with each other, which is baffling. Ginny thought that might be because they've been accustomed to living with each other for years, so it just feels natural to them. Sigh. She will never really understand adult problems.

Also, she'd rather attempt to teach Prof. Beak quantum physics than consider involving the twins in this matter. Don't get her wrong; she loves her siblings dearly, but they can be very overdramatic with things—especially with people who want to court her. So, the plan was to keep Persephone incognito and never let the twins find out about her. But making that idea happen was about as likely as finding a unicorn at a donkey convention, thanks to her nosy yet blameless best friend, Natalie Porter.

"You did what?" Ginny asked, her voice a mix of disbelief and dread.

"I told the twins about Persephone!" Natalie announced excitedly as she was setting the bowl of organic food for Prof. Beak. "I don't understand why you haven't told them about her courting you." She chuckled as she ruffled the fluff of feathers on his head and continued talking. "They said they're going to the carnival tomorrow and told me not to tell that to you. I think they wanted to surprise you."

Ginny just arrived at the dorm house an hour ago, and she already had a pile of problems to deal with. This could be more dramatic than a high school prom proposal gone wrong. Natalie couldn't see how mortified Ginny's face was right now since she had her back on her, but when she looked back, her brows furrowed in concern.

"What's wrong?"

Ginny slumped into a nearby chair, burying her face in her hands. "This is a nightmare, Nat. You have no idea how over-the-top the twins can be when it comes to these sorts of things."

"It can't be that bad, right?" Natalie frowned, her enthusiasm deflating. "I just thought they'd be excited for you. I mean, Persephone is amazing! I think they'll like her."

"Nat, how many times do I have to tell you that Persephone and I are not dating? So stop being so excited about it." Ginny tries to massage her temple to lessen her stress.

"Oops! My bad." She let out a sheepish chuckle. "They're not gonna do something bad to Persephone, right?"

Ginny let out a resigned sigh. "You don't know the twins like I do. They can turn a simple 'hello' into a full-blown Shakespearean tragedy." She exaggerated, "They'll probably gonna challenge her to a fencing duel, I dunno."

Natalie let out an amused snort. "A fencing duel? That sounds archaic."

"Right! Now, y'know the reason why I don't go to the same school as they do." Ginny couldn't help but let out another sigh. She was waiting for Natalie's response but found her engaged on her phone while smiling mischievously.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm texting Persephone if she knows how to play fencing; I said you asked." She grinned devilishly.

Ginny tried to snatch her phone but failed. "Too late! I already sent it!" Natalie exclaimed while laughing.

"Ugh! I hate you!" Ginny just groaned and glanced at the now-contented Prof. Beak, who seemed blissfully unaware of the impending chaos. 

Natalie's phone beeped immediately after she sent the message. Ginny is curious about Persephone's response, but she'll never show any signs of interest, especially if Natalie's there judging her every move.

"Huh," Natalie said, her eyes dancing with mischief as she read Persephone's response, "It seems like you don't need to worry about Ms. Knight in Shining Armour." She showed the message to Ginny, who unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

To be continued…