Friendship (part 1)

2.8 - Friendship

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Ah… Fridays.

The final day of the weekdays. The day where school only lasts until the sun is above our heads, when usually it would last until 3 PM.

However, despite the short amount of time, it is always the nastiest day of the week.

Great battles… always happens on a Friday.

Last Friday, a scissors landed on my forehead and opened a wound. I beat up multiple girls who were holding me in the bathroom, and the boy I really-really liked confessed to me right after rejecting another girl's confession. It was the most hectic day of the entire last week.

And this week… is going to be just the same.

Coming to school, I have high expectations. I didn't go on a demon hunt yesterday with Nico because we had business to attend to with someone. After the long talk yesterday, I have expectations that today will be a day just as memorable as last week.

And it will involve all the girls of class A.

In the morning, right before going to school, I chatted with Alica if she is still sure about executing the plan. She and I exchanged phone numbers so we can contact each other easily, which I'm not fully content with, but I have to since it was Nico's request.

And she replied that she was ready. In that case, there is no need to falter.

Class A… is going to be very chaotic today.

Arriving in the school, I still don't really see anything out of the ordinary. The entire plan will some way or another cause havoc in the school, but it looks like now is still not the time yet. It's still very early.

I continued my walk to my classroom, and as I walked past class A, I gave the inside of the class a quick glance. Nico is here, but I don't see Alica anywhere. There's plenty of girls that have already arrived, but she will need to wait until every single person has arrived.

If either Miranda or Calvin arrived late, then the whole plan might go to bust. I just hope Alica doesn't falter or change her mind.

I kept on walking until my classroom, and I sat down on my chair. After putting down my bag on the desk, I set out again to class A. I walked past Emil who just arrived, and we both said very short greetings to one another before I left her in the classroom.

After greeting Emil, I was reminded of what the headmaster said yesterday, but I still haven't given it a lot of thought. To accept myself and start with the positives before making a friend. But, I still couldn't do that, especially not to Emil.

I… haven't accepted myself.

And certainly, I still don't find what the positives are from befriending me.

It's surprisingly difficult finding out what is good about yourself. People often say that finding out other's weaknesses is much easier than finding our own weaknesses. But, the same can also be applied to our strengths. Unless I see it for myself, I just can't tell what exactly are my strengths.

Then again, there's someone like Alica who is just stacked with positives. Looks, money, personality. Yet, she still got ostracized by her entire classmates.

Maybe it's better to not have friends, after all…?

I arrived in front of class A while thinking about those things. I leaned my back against the wall by the window, and I let the cold morning air breezes past my body. I kept my eyes on the door to the classroom, but I noticed how nice this spot I'm leaning on really was.

The wind is quite strong this early morning. It's probably because it's about to rain some time soon, which would explain why the wind is so strong. It's also surprisingly nice to have your long untied hair being pushed around by the breezy wind. The coldness of the air pushing the hair around feels so nice.

Ah, here comes Alica.

I turned my gaze towards the person climbing up the stairs, but it looks like she has gone through a lot. Her eyes looked dead, and her gaze was so sharp unlike anything I've ever seen out of her.

Did she… sleep last night?

I lifted my hand at her to wave, but she didn't even bother replying. But after seeing her eyes just now, I realized the state she is currently in.

It's not that she lacks sleep. She is just focused.

She ignored me and kept on walking straight to where the door of her classroom is. She stopped right outside the door, and she began studying what the classroom is like.

I can hear the rowdiness of the classroom gradually disappearing. It looks like the students realized that Alica had arrived in the classroom, but she didn't enter right away. Nothing really happened for a while since Alica just stood there on the door, being completely silent.

After a while, she walked in. I kept an eye out the class window about the things happening in the classroom, and it looked like she walked straight towards a group of girls at the front side of the seats. Two of the group are the two individuals I remember very well.

Calvin and Miranda are present. Alica can execute her plan just fine.

Inside the classroom, Alica kept on walking until she reached where Calvin and Miranda were. She stopped not too far from the group's position, and every single student in the class kept an eye on her.

"Well, well, well. Do you have something to say, flower girl?"

Calvin asked coldly to Alica, and Alica turned her eyes towards Calvin. Her eyes turned teary, and she began opening her mouth.

"Calvin… everyone. I… want to apologize--"

"You think apologizing is going to solve anything!? This is why we all turned away from you! You are still stuck on solving things through talking!"

"I.…just don't want this to continue. I want us to go back to how it used to…"

Alica said apologetically, but none of the girls are feeling sorry for her. While everyone else outside the classroom felt like they just wanted to hug Alica and feel sorry for her, none of the girls within the room are accepting her feelings.

If anything, they are only wearing smiles.

"Sorry, girl. But, we're done following you. In the first place, you yourself caused this to happen. You can only blame yourself for what is happening."

"That's right. You can't even do anything on your own! It's because of you that we got into that trap! If it wasn't for your crazy obsession of superiority, you would just ignore that girl from class D!"

Other girls from the group answered, and gradually it became a mockery.

I can only hear some of it from outside the classroom, but it was quite rowdy. Even now, some passersby are stopping in front of the classroom to watch the scene rolling since it was so loud.

A fight is happening inside class A? Hell yeah! That's the second time this month!

I was simply listening from the outside, but I'm also watching the situation carefully. The crowd has started to form, and I quickly texted Nico about the situation outside.

I looked inside the classroom again, and it looks like Nico has seen my message. He turned to me outside the window and behind groups of students. I know that he can see me despite being blocked by so many tall guys, so he knows that I'm here.

Now, to finish the rest of the script.

"Are you ready, Aunt Linda?"

I asked with a low voice, and the wind around me turned colder.

'Oh yeah… ready to go all day.'

I grinned hearing her answer, and I turned my attention back to the classroom. From the looks of it, the mockery has turned much harsher and it is now entering a more violent section.

PLAK!!

A slap can be heard loudly inside the classroom. Every single person is already watching the scene unfold, yet not a single soul is stopping it. It almost like everyone wanted it to happen.

Alica was slapped by Calvin, right on her face. The slap was not really that amazing nor strong, but it was enough to deal an emotional damage towards Alica.

Because… there is not a single person coming to help her.

"I'm getting sick of you… All this time, I might have been able to endure it since we were so young. But now, I can see very clearly what kind of a person you are.

You are just a marionette. You only want to control people, and I won't let you continue the same thing as you were doing before. So stay away!!"

Wow. Calvin really let out a guttural voice on that shout.

I'm sure this must all be painful for Alica, since her best friend is doing all these things to her. But, she has already prepared herself since yesterday for what is about to come. Painful as it is, I know Alica is ready enough to hold her emotions back.

Or… so I thought.

"Hikk!!..."

Everyone's eyes turned wide as they saw the prettiest girl cry. Everyone inside or outside the classroom, all turned wild at the sight of a beautiful girl crying from a broken heart.

Even I got surprised by her tears...

I thought… she was strong enough to hold it back. Turns out it was much harder than I imagined, because she is crying heavily right now.

Seeing Alica cry, I thought for sure the plan might fail. But, I held back my wish to make a move now and simply watch. Let's put some hope on Alica for now. Hopefully, she can still think straight despite all those tears.

Besides, I can still rely on Nico.

All the students inside the classroom began to react. One by one, some students stood up and rushed to Alica. They arrived in front of Alica, defending her from Calvin by standing in front of her.

Those people were none other than Nico and his friends. There were some other students who also cared, and they too stood in front of Alica.

"This has gone too far, Calvin. Apologize to her."

Nico said coldly to Calvin, but Calvin is only giggling seeing Nico.

"What's this? I thought you already have a girlfriend, Nick?"

"It's not about if I have a girlfriend or not. I can't allow seeing my classmate get slapped like that."

Oh, Nico, you player. You already have me, and yet you are protecting another lady?

But, I already know that this is all part of the script. Nico was meant to come forward and defended Alica openly. But, something was still going unplanned.

Alica is supposed to tell Nico to go away and leave her be, but she is still being silent. It looks like the crying has made her lose control of the entire plan. This is bad.

"We might have to go outside the plan, here…"

I mumbled, and Aunt Linda nodded next to me.

'It's always so exciting seeing high school drama…'

I turned my annoyed gaze to her, and she only giggled seeing my reaction.

Meanwhile, things became even hotter as all the girls who were with Calvin stood up and faced Nico. This has become a two way battle between Nico's army of guys and Calvin's army of girls. The guys have every intention of stopping Alica being harmed, and Calvin has all the intentions to wake the boys up from being charmed by Alica.

"Wake up, dumbasses! Alica is only using you as her stepping stone! You think she would care for the likes of you that much!? Maybe Nick, but not all of you guys!"

Calvin said, and her words do have an impact. Some of the boys began to look confused, and things might turn badly if this continued. Fortunately, Nico always knows what to say in this situation.

"It's not about liking her, and it's not about being her stepping stone. She is a fellow human like us. Our classmate. Our class president, which you all voted for!"

"And look where she led us! To your cursed girlfriend--"

"Calvin!"

From behind, a shout was heard.

Calvin turned around and found Miranda's extremely scared face. Calvin became very confused as to why Miranda looked so worried, but then another voice was heard behind her.

"Hey... What did you say?"

Suddenly, the air turned colder. Calvin turned her gaze back to Nico and realized the state of the classroom is currently in.

Tables and chairs started to float, and the air has turned much colder. The hairs on their bodies stood from how intense the air had become, and the girls remembered this feeling very clearly.

This is exactly what they experienced when they were in the bathroom with me.

Somewhere in the classroom… a ghost is around.