Olivia: Accomplice

Olivia ran as fast as she could with no particular direction in mind.

She kept running, running, and running until her unathletic body gave up on her, and she was forced to stop.

'𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?!' Olivia panicked internally. '𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦?!

But all these questions seemed unimportant at the moment because she felt like she was 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Her chest was burning like fire while her knees felt like jelly. She was sweating like hell, even if she just ran for about 10 minutes or less.

"Haaaaaah!" She let out a loud exhale, bending down and resting her palms on her knees. She breathed heavily as she tried to inhale as much oxygen as her flaring nostrils could take.

'𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢.' She thought to herself. '𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦, 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦--'

Speaking of the alternate-universe version of herself, Olivia suddenly felt guilt and shame for what she did.

She actually slapped him!

Like, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 hard!

It made Olivia angry to see someone else be subjected to such horrible treatment by a bully (even if that 'someone else' was a bully herself in Olivia's universe). Her body moved on its own, and she couldn't help but slap him.

Olivia shook her head.

No, she 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 help it, but she just decided to let her emotions go off track.

Her mother used to say Olivia had better judgment between her and Azure. Olivia felt like she disappointed her mother from the grave.

'𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦,' She paused, still trying to catch her breath even if a good three minutes had passed. '𝘐𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘪𝘴...?'

Then, another realization struck her.

Her sister, Azure... What would happen to her now that she's in this dimension?

Azure is incapable of cooking, cleaning, laundering, and other basic house chores. Her sister would literally 𝘥𝘪𝘦 without her.

To make things worse, Azure was a minor! The social services might take her away since she didn't have any guardian around. Even though Auntie Suzy was their legal guardian, she lived in another house and usually left them to their own devices.

"Oh no..." Olivia thought. "I need to get back to my universe."

But how?

When she finally caught her breath after ten minutes, she dizzily stood straight and leaned on the nearest wall. She looked around and realized she was in front of the school cafeteria. 

For some reason, a weird, nagging curiosity filled her, telling her to go inside.

So she did.

It wasn't because she was hungry or anything like that, but she genuinely just wanted to know if the cafeteria food in the Opposite World was, well, the complete 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 of the one in her universe. 

The food in her version of Huxley Cafeteria was ridiculously delicious, but one meal cost a month's worth of allowance sent by her father.

Speaking of father, Olivia wondered if Oliver had the same family background as she was. Because if he didn't, that would explain his horrible attitude. 

But of course, it might not be because of his upbringing but his own will to be a bully. Olivia shouldn't solely blame his (or perhaps, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳) parents for Oliver's personality.

Anyway, when she entered, Olivia was greeted by the familiar delicious aroma wafting in the air. Judging from the smell, their food didn't seem inedible like other cafeterias around the country.

Then again, this is Huxley.

They only serve the best.

'𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴...' Olivia thought as joined the queue along with the other students. 

Her hand slipped inside the pocket of her skirt and tried to fish her wallet, only to grab nothing but pens, pencils, and erasers. 

'𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦?' She thought frantically while searching for her wallet inside her small pockets.

"Sh*t, bruh." A loud, boorish voice swore behind her, so loud that the collective murmuring of the students eating in the cafeteria seemed like a tiny voice compared to it. "Captain Twyne's gonna seriously beat our a**es for running away!"

Upon hearing her last name being mentioned, Olivia automatically turned around. The first thing she saw was a giant, followed by another, and another, and another.

All of them were wearing Huxley's varsity jackets. It didn't take a genius to guess that they were the top of the food chain, the elites of Huxley, even in this alternate universe: The basketball team.

She looked up and was met by a pair of arrogant brown eyes belonging to the first giant. She blinked, and the giant blinked back at her.

Then, the giant blinked a couple more times as if trying to recognize her. Suddenly, a blush crept on his cheeks, and he looked away.

Olivia had a lingering sense that she recognized the person in her universe, but she couldn't quite pinpoint who he represented.

"Hey, uhm," The guy cleared his throat, still avoiding eye contact. "Do you want something from the counter?"

Olivia felt her brown eyes widen, and she blanked out for a second.

"Excuse me?" She exclaimed when she finally found her voice. 

The guy finally looked at her, and the blush on his cheeks intensified.

"You looked like you lost your wallet. I saw you've been looking for it for a whole minute now." He explained. "I could get you something if you'd like."

"Oh, no," Olivia shook her head. "I don't want to be treated free food by someone I just met."

"You've only met me now?" He raised an eyebrow at her, sounding quite smug. "That's surprising. I'm quite popular here. I know 𝘐 haven't seen you here before. Are you a new student?"

Olivia nodded on instinct. She wasn't the type to lie, but she genuinely felt she shouldn't share with anyone that she was a dimension traveler.

Even if they offered her free food. 

"Amanda!" An impatient voice shouted behind them. "You're stalling the line. Quit your flirting already!"

"It's Amada, you a**." 'Amada' shouted back. "And I-I-I'm not flirting!"

Amada turned his attention back to her, offering a sly grin.

"I'm Maverick Amada. Nice to meet you."

On normal occasions, Olivia would've turned into a bumbling mess at the teasing accusation that she was flirting with someone. But if that 'someone' happened to be one of the accomplices who threw her off the well...

Not so much.

In fact, not at all.