Chapter 1

Harmony

I was trying to prevent myself from shaking while I was staring at my laptop. I don’t know what to feel about a post on Friendbook related to me. While I was trying to calm down, I continued to stare at a photo posted with a mocking caption.

It was me, standing on a stage while in the midst of holding back my tears. The caption says, "Wow, look at your dumb rich girl stuttering through a debate. Is that all you can do? "

The photo was taken back in my elementary school while we were having a debate contest. I was selected as one of the speakers by my classmates, but by force because no one volunteered to be a speaker besides the two geniuses of our class.

Knowing me, I’m shy in front of many people and I always get mental blocks every time I have to argue about something.

It’s not that I’m not smart. I’m just really afraid that people will laugh or I may think that my answer is right, but it may be wrong. Sometimes I know that I’m really right, but I’m not confident enough to speak up for myself.

Now I’m in eleventh grade, some people are still mocking me by calling me a pretty face with no brain. Well, some things just never change. People can be cruel and can judge you because they don’t know you personally.

I took a deep breath to relax.

"Why can't people just mind their own businesses and not notice every wrong single thing that I do?" I stood up, laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

I stared at the ceiling for so long that I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep. I looked at the clock to see what the time was and suddenly sat in shock because it was already five pm.

Damn it, I still have a lot of homework to do. I should get up now and do all of it before dinner so that I can do anything that I want later.

I spent my time working on my homework until the maid called me to eat dinner.

"You’re going to be fine here by yourself, right?" my mother asked while eating.

My mother and father are always busy going to different places and countries because of our business. They have a lot of conferences, board meetings, and such. Now, they’re going overseas again and I don’t know how long it will be before they come back again. Tonight was their flight and all their baggage was in the living room.

"Yes, I can definitely handle myself." I smiled at them. Trying not to show a glimpse of gloom.

I’m an only daughter and it’s nothing new to me to be left alone in these big walls. Not entirely, but it always felt empty for me to move around a big house without them.

"Call the butler whenever you need something." my father said. I nodded and continued to eat.

"Can I call the two of you too?" I asked thoughtlessly. My father put down his spoon and stared at me with a blank expression on his face.

"You know our schedule. We won’t be able to pick up your call. " He coldly answered.

"Fernando." My mother interfered.

"It’s okay mom, I just asked." I smiled sweetly at her, but she just stared at me worrying.

My father is a cold person. He never turned his attention to me after I turned seven or eight. Nah, I can’t even remember the last time that we spent time together, like watching movies or eating food outside.

Did it even happen? Maybe I was just creating scenarios in my head to comfort my own mind to think that my father ever treated me that way as his daughter.

"We’ll go now. Take care of yourself, okay?" Standing near the van, my mom patted my shoulder while my father was already inside.

"You too." My eyes were tearing up as she walked away.

She turned to me again as she was about to open the door and said, "Call me."

I watched the van disappear from my sight before heading back inside the house. Before I could open the front door, I saw my dog, Misha, running towards me.

"Oh Misha, why are you out here?" I petted her and allowed her to go inside the house with me.

Well, at least I have my dog.

It’s almost 9 o’clock and our house is completely silent. It’s like a deafening silence where you can even hear your own breathing. The butler and maids are already resting in their quarters.

I climbed the stairs toward the second floor to my room and sat on the stool in front of my vanity mirror. I stared at my reflection for minutes, long enough for me to notice that I was so pale. Normally, I have rosy skin. But maybe I’m just tired or burnt out because of doing my homework and se0uolnding my parents off.

A tear fell on my cheeks. Suddenly, I broke down and started clutching my knees. I need to pull myself together. I’m independent, I can handle this.

The moment I calmed down; I went to the kitchen to get some water to drink. I can’t really sleep at night. I rarely complete eight hours of sleep. That’s why I always go to school spacing out.

"Miss Harmony?" A woman’s voice suddenly spoke behind me. I turned around to see that it was Lora, one of our maids.

"Yes, Lora?" I asked, slightly startled.

"You look tired. Are you okay?" She worriedly asked.

Do I really look so tired to the point that she noticed?

"Oh, do I? must be. But I’m fine. " I tried to sound lively and cheerful, but my voice wouldn’t cooperate. It must be because of the crying. My nose is stuffy and I can’t talk without sounding like I have a cold.

"You should rest and must always take care of your health."

I drank another glass of water.

"Thank you for your concern." I smiled at her and said, "I’m about to sleep too. You should also rest."

"Have a good night’s sleep, ma’am."

I returned to my room and tried to sleep.

I took a deep breath before heading inside the classroom. I was greeted by the gaze of my classmates as I entered the room. Some are secretly laughing while others are just smirking. Though there are also those people who don’t care about their surroundings and keep on talking with their own circle of friends.

Violet Hayes is one of those people. She’s one of those people who made fun of me back when we were still elementary students. But she's been far worse before. Right now, she doesn’t seem to care. You can say that we grew up together, but not really together in terms of personal attachment, but rather in terms of school, since we went to the same schools ever since pre-school.

Imagine those years of torture.

I sat in my chair and put my head on my arms on the table. Our professor for our first subject is not here yet, and my classmates are very loud, like there’s a swarm of bees buzzing around. I ignored all of them and quietly stared at my knees.

Looking at my knees, I noticed that there were patches of reddish violet spots near my knee. I tried to press it, but the skin color didn't change or at least became white. It’s really odd. The spots are the size of a five-peso coin. I checked my knees and saw bruises.

Was it already here yesterday? Was it because of clutching my knees too hard?

My attention was also caught by the spots on my wrist as my eyes landed on them while I was touching my skin.

As well as here?

I’m not really that allergic to anything. Maybe seafood?

But as far as I remember, I haven’t consumed any seafood in the past two weeks. So where did it come from?

"Good morning class." I suddenly looked up to see that the professor was already here and looking at me directly. She must have misunderstood and thought that I was sleeping.

"See? That’s why she’s so dumb. She always sleeps in our classes. " I heard a voice whispering somewhere inside the room.

"Maybe she’s a partygoer, don’t you think so?"

How absurd.

I avoided the professor’s gaze and looked straight ahead, acting like I couldn’t hear their voices.

"Yeah, that could be the reason. Maybe she sneaks out at night to go to a bar. "

Nah, if only they knew how strict my parents are. I don’t even have the time to try that kind of stuff.

"Class, quiet please." She said, trying to get the attention of everyone. As if she noticed that her students weren’t paying attention in front. 

"We have a new student and she will be joining us today." She turned in the direction of the door and motioned for someone to come in.

A girl with round glasses came in while her head was bowed down, as if she was trying to hide her face from everyone. She stood in front as if she didn’t know what to do. The professor seemed to notice.

"Kindly introduce yourself, miss." Professor Olivia Robertson instructed.

"U-uhm, I’m Page C-Crawford. Nice to meet you all. " She stuttered as she introduced herself to everyone.

Those kinds of people will be put in a hard situation in this kind of class where people are always mocking your movements. Looking at her, she’s kind of an easy to bully type of person and wouldn’t put up much of a fight.

If she has to sit next to me, she's going to have a worse time.

"I assumed it would be some kind of new face. Unfortunately, it turned out to be another rotten loser." A boy in the row behind me whispered to his seatmate.

I have no idea who all of these people are. All I know is that I came here to study every day. The routine is always the same.

"Be quiet, someone might overhear you."

"Does it matter? I don't give a damn." He said bluntly.

It looked like Page heard them because I was staring at her the whole time that these boys behind me were talking about her. She looked kind of uncomfortable.

"You may sit beside the girl sitting near the window."

She thanked the professor before she walked to the seat beside me.

Okay, she's kind of unfortunate and somehow, I remembered that there was no other vacant seat except for the seat beside me. No one really likes to sit here.

The moment she sat, she looked at me, fixed her glasses falling on her nose bridge, and shyly smiled. I stared at her for a moment before awkwardly looking away.

Socializing with other people is very hard for me. Never ever.

I sighed as I listened to Professor Robertson lecturing in front of us. My eyes wandered around the room, seeing some of my classmates secretly using their gadgets.

Someone caught me staring at her while she was using her gadget. She glared at me and raised her eyebrows, as if asking what I was looking at. Pretending not to see her, I continued to listen to the discussion.

"That’s all class, goodbye."

After the professor left, the people started to buzz again. Looking outside the window, someone poked me gently. I turned to her.

"Hey." She called, "Uhm, hi seatmate. May I know your name? " She asked while smiling innocently.

Seconds passed before I answered, "It’s much better if you don’t know my name."

Her smile vanished, and for a minute I saw sadness in her eyes. I felt guilty. I know it sounds mean, but it’s probably the best decision.

I’d rather be alone than be with people and cause them trouble.

After that, we continued the next classes without minding each other’s presence.

Lunch came and I was fixing my stuffs when Vivian and her three other friends approached my direction. Knowing their intentions, I didn’t pay much attention to them.

"Hi Page, the newbie. Wanna join us for lunch? "

Hearing those words made me stop doing what I was doing for a moment.

Changing targets, huh?

I stood up and walked to the back door. But before I could leave, I just stood there beside the door, listening to what they were going to say.

"You know, Page, you shouldn’t hang out with people like her. She’s a rich girl who always makes her way with money. " I heard Vivian speak.

What I nice way to destroy my name to other people.

"Yeah, she’s a total freak who uses money to pass every year and her family bribes the school to do something about her grades and exam scores." Wilona added.

I rolled my eyes. Jeez, if they want people to believe them, they should do better.

"A-ah, I have to go s-somewhere." Page said shakily. She’s getting too uncomfortable.

It seems like she wants to run away from them but she was cornered by the four of them.

"Oooh, really? Don’t you want to come with us? We’re famous and you can be famous too when you stick with us. " Vivian said in a sweet but sarcastic tone.

Famous your face. You just wanted her to be your slave to follow you around.

"Or maybe she wants to join Harmony. Aren’t you? " Mia said in a threatening way.

I peeked from the side of the door to see what’s going on. They were facing the other direction so they didn’t see me. Page was still sitting on her seat staring at her hands. I can barely see her because Vivian, Wilona, Mia, and Blanche.

“Aren’t you going to answer?” Mia impatiently said.

“Let her be.” Vivian said, smiling. “She’ll get what she deserves along with that loser, Harmony.”

“Come on guys, I’m hungry.” Blanche said, complaining while touching her tummy.

“Okay, let’s go girls.” said Vivian.

When they were about to turn around, I immediately ran towards the end of the corridor to head to the cafeteria.

I saw it coming. I know that they always pick on the weak that’s why Page was likely a target. I don’t have any plans to help her though. I don’t know.

After buying foods, I went to the garden to eat there. As much as possible, I’d like to avoid Vivian’s group so that I can eat my meal peacefully. It’s no good to be around them.

My favorite spot was always empty and like always, I sat there and ate my food quietly. While biting the burger, I noticed the window of our classroom on the fifth floor, the side where my seat is.

There was a hand throwing a notebook away in the window. The notebook fell on the ground. I wanted to check whose book it is so as soon as I ate all the food, I walked over there and picked the notebook up but when I was about to open the first page to see what’s inside, a hand grabbed it away from me.

I turned to see who it was and saw Page trying to catch her breath. She looked like she ran from the fifth floor to get to the ground. She was clutching to the notebook as if there was something so important inside it.

Maybe it was her diary? Or maybe it was something else dearly to her.

Watching her walk away, she seems out of herself. But what’s wrong?