One thing about Olivia Jean was that if something catches her attention, there is no doubt for her to hold it as much as she can no matter what until she gets sick of it. That trait of hers could sometimes be a flaw or strength; a flaw because people could end up crying blood as a result to her selfish persistence, while it could also be a strength because she could save a person’s life with her power. Olivia was a powerful person, after all.
Exactly seven days ago, she was just excited about going back to school finally as a superior; even though she did not have to necessarily wait until she was in her senior year to feel superior among other students. Hours later, her interest quickly diverted to a little black fluff ball that always wanders around the back of Tulip High. Though she was valid for that since the kitten was objectively adorable with its black fur and shining yellow eyes.
“That’s right, Ethan! You’re finally learning, for fuck’s sake!” James shouted and clapped as he ran backwards right after the new member of the school’s basketball team had his first shot.
“He’s hot,” Lana said as she stared at the sophomore with dreamy eyes.
“I thought you’re interested in older guys?” Mia turned to her with an eyebrow raised.
“Older, younger—sexy is sexy.” She slightly raised her hands with her nails out like she was announcing a philosophical quote.
Olivia let out a silent groan as she roamed her eyes around the gymnasium that did not have a bit of change over the past months. The teacher of their last class got diarrhea just five minutes before the class was supposed to start, resulting to the cancellation of class. A student could intentionally add dairy products in their teacher’s lunch in secret knowing that he was lactose intolerant, but that could not be true unless concrete evidence is shown.
Theodore used the puppy eyes to beg Olivia to come watch him practice basketball with his teammates. No one wanted to go home early so she had no choice but to say yes—and here she was, sitting on the bleachers with her three friends.
Half an hour had already passed and Olivia felt like she could die on the spot if she does not get out of that suffocating place where she could only hear their shoes squeak on the floor and the girls talk about how they want to suck off the new team member. The first thing that came to mind to recover from boredom was Dork, her new little friend.
The blonde then stood up which made the three girls next to her turn to her with questioning eyes.
“I’m bored. I’m leaving,” Olivia simply said as she took her handbag and turned to the basketball court to call on her best friend, “Theo, I’m leaving!”
“What? Why?” All kinds of curse words could be heard in the gymnasium because of the way Theodore abruptly dropped the ball to the floor when he was supposed to shoot it to the ring already as he then casually walked toward the bleachers where the girls were.
“I’m bored.”
“Do you want us to come with you? Wanna go to the mall? Shopping?” Ashleigh asked. Olivia thought she looked pathetic because of how she almost sounded desperate.
“No. I wanna have fun alone today.” The blonde then walked toward the exit without looking back.
Theodore could not think of anything to say as he just heaved a sigh while watching her take steps farther from him. His sad moment was interrupted as a ball came flying toward his shoulder, making him snap back to reality as he turned to his teammates with a glare. “Fuck you!”
***
Like what she planned on doing, the blonde was standing out the backdoor as she looked around in search of a certain black creature while holding a can of tuna. People almost never go to the back of the school so no one, not even Theodore, knew that it was the place where Olivia always went to whenever there were no classes since last week.
“Dorky! Come out, I miss you!” she called while running her thumb over the top of the can as she looked around.
Dorky came from “dork”—which came from “dark”—which was the kitten’s fur.
A crackling sound made her stop walking as she looked down to find a plastic wrapper with a face of a gray cat on the ground. As if she could catch the person who had possibly brought the sachet of cat wet food, the blonde walked away from the entrance just to look around. For some reason, she knew that it was the same person in a black hoodie from seven days ago.
Olivia tried calling for her fluffy friend a few more times until she eventually gave up. Dorky could have still been full anyway.
As soon as she arrived home, the blonde let out a heavy sigh as if she was exhausted from walking back home—she did not. Like what she always does every day, she was about to head straight to the staircase to go to spend the rest of her time in her bedroom when she heard an unexpected voice.
“Olivia.” The owner of the said name turned to the living room with a frown briefly appearing on her forehead.
Though she was confused, Olivia still walked in the living room with a questioning look on her face as she stared at the middle-aged man who was seated on the single-seat couch with a laptop on his lap as if he was an intruder in her house. She was valid for being confused though since everyone in the mansion knew that he rarely comes home early.
“Dad. You’re home early?” It accidentally came out as a question due to her puzzlement.
“What the hell is this?” A frown was the first thing Olivia saw on her father’s face when he turned to her from the screen of his laptop. It had been his normal look since his 30s.
The older man almost threw the laptop as he placed it on the coffee table across him, facing the screen to her. The blonde still had no idea what was going on until she leaned in to take a look at the screen. It was a list of her credit card’s purchase history. For the past week, all purchases were done in the same pet store.
“What about it?” Olivia coolly asked as she leaned back and turned to look at her father who looked angry—or maybe that was just his normal face.
“I let you shop all your stupid girl stuff as long as you study, but what’s this? You got a secret pet now? Didn’t I tell you no pets?” Anton said as he rested his elbows on his knees.
“I don’t have a secret pet. God.” The blonde let out a sigh of exasperation as she looked away. “You’re getting so pissed off as if I’m buying marijuana or something.”
“Are you talking back to me?” Anton scoffed.
“You asked me a question,” the blonde fearlessly replied with no hesitation.
Olivia slightly flinched when he stood up from his seat though she did her best to hide it as she crossed her arms across her chest and stared at the shiny white tiles. She did not know what her father was planning to do next, though one thing she was sure about was that he would not hit her. He never did even though he could be a jerk most of the time.
The blonde secretly glanced at him to see what he was doing as she watched him walk toward the kitchen. It felt unreal that their argument just ended there with Olivia having the last statement—or so she thought.
Anton returned with a shot glass in his hand. It was still four in the afternoon, and he was already about to drink whiskey. The thought of it made the blonde secretly roll her eyes. She hates her father and she hates him even more whenever he drinks.
He downed the alcoholic drink after standing across his daughter and suddenly threw the glass toward the corner of the room, making the latter jump in shock. The blonde widened her eyes as she turned to look at her father in surprise and confusion. It just happened so fast that Olivia started to wonder if she was even in the same room as him because of how she had no idea on what was actually going on at that moment.
“If it wasn’t for your mother, I wouldn’t have to get headaches over a brat like you. I work every day and you do nothing but mess around. You think life’s all fun? All about little stupid cats?” Anton spoke as he glared at his daughter before continuing, “No. One day, I will end up like your mother. You will end up like your mother. We will all end up like your mother.”
Olivia could not understand the connection of anything he was saying, but it was making her utterly annoyed because of the mention of her mother as if she was nothing. One of the traits her father had was talking bullshit, like literally, and it was what she hated the most. It was as if her father was a little child who only knew how to spit gibberish just to piss people off.
“Wow. All right. I’m sorry I didn’t get aborted then.” Olivia let out an angry laugh. “You’re so pathetic over some stupid credit card purchase history.”
Not wanting to extend the argument even more, Olivia stormed off the mansion without looking back even though she could clearly hear her father shouting at her to come back. She knew that she made it worse, which was why she also felt scared to stay there even longer. Anyway, their argument was bullshit. Her father was bullshit.
Olivia hated walking out from home since their mansion was literally enormous that one would need a vehicle to actually go out. Unfortunately, she did not have her driver’s license yet so she could not coolly leave the mansion in a car.
Just when her legs were beginning to throb from walking, the blonde was already far from the mansion as she spotted a convenience store from a distance. Ice cream was just what she needed from the exhaustion of walking and the dumb argument that she just had with her father.
The chimes rang as she stepped inside and the first thing that she saw was a girl slipping chocolate bars inside her army-green windbreaker.
The ice cream had been forgotten in just a second.In crime movies, the espionage agents spy on their suspects wherever they go to investigate any suspicious actions without getting caught—because if they do get caught, are they even a true spy?Olivia had never thought about what she really wanted to be in the future as she was still undecided on her future career. But with the way she was pulling off her fake ignorant act, she was once again qualified for another potential job.Dakota seemed to think that there were no eyes onto her by the way she did not seem tense while quietly slipping a whole cup of instant noodles in her jacket, which intrigued the blonde even more. Olivia had her body facing a shelf of candies—specifically right in front of strawberry-flavored candies which she disliked like what she told the poor boy from last week during lunch—while her eyes were constantly throwing secret glances to the direction of the shoplifter.What could comfort Olivia better than ice
Olivia is still alive.An article with a headline saying, “A 17-year-old female high school student who turned out to be Flyve City’s mayor was found stabbed to death in a dark alleyway”, was not going to be seen published on the front page of newspapers.As if nothing happened, Olivia was in her bedroom humming a pop song as she stepped out of the bathroom. Her father would want her to be asleep already at that hour, but she was not going to do what he wants.The smartphone that was charging on her dressing table vibrated as the blonde sat down on the chair by the table and turned the hair dryer on before opening her phone.Theodork: your three friends went out on a date with ethan after practice todayOlivia: expected. date? more like a gang bangTheodork: lol aren’t you friends with themOlivia: u really think i’m friends with those losers?Theodork: right. i thought so lolThe blonde started to dry her hair after deciding to not reply to Theodore’s last text message when her eyes
With what she had been doing for the past week, Olivia was definitely ready to meet Dakota again with her improved thievery skills. Sure, she was clueless about the other things that Dakota does in a daily basis but she was ready to take risks—or so she thought.Since Olivia was a senior, it was easier for her to steal things from anyone. Erasers, ballpoint pens, keychains, and other random things from different people in school were peacefully staying in Olivia’s bedroom like a collection—a collection of stolen objects.On Thursday last week, Olivia stole her history teacher’s favorite red gel pen because she was annoyed by the way she gives plenty of homework within a day as if she is afraid of not meeting her students the next day. She was not sure whether it was a good idea or not though because she ended up having the whole class listen to her drama for 20 minutes before dismissing class early—just because she lost her favorite gel pen. “It’s not just a pen. It’s the reason of my
Tulip High was one of the schools that had four restrooms in total inside the campus: one for female students, one for male students, one for female faculty, and one for male faculty. Years ago, when Tulip High was still one year old since it was built, two of the big issues in the campus was bribery and teacher-student sexual relationships. There weren’t plenty of students enrolled in that high school yet at that time so there were plenty of chances for students and teachers to be alone together in restrooms. One of the teachers involved in bribery was caught after a student snitched, then another teacher involved in a same-sex sexual relationship turned out to be a wife and a mother of three children.Because of those issues, the president of Tulip High then decided to separate restrooms for students and teachers in order to avoid those issues from happening again even though they were unlikely to happen now that they became public.Unfortunately, though, there were still disadvanta
Saying something that is completely untrue in order to manipulate a person to be in favor with one would never be justifiable no matter what the reason is. Even by simply telling a person that one is wealthy for the other person to like one more is immoral. Lies of commission are what they would be called, and Olivia was good at using those.Ever since Olivia shared her story about having a miserable life in order to gain the attention and sympathy of Dakota, the latter changed—just a little bit. Dakota used to make it obvious that she did not want Olivia being around but now she was trying her best to hide it in case she hurts Olivia again. As if Dakota had always cared about hurting people’s feelings.The following days after that day when Olivia started telling lies about her life to Dakota were becoming entertaining for Olivia as she actually got to meet the latter every day. She went from visiting the convenience store after school every day with hope to meet Dakota again at leas
Purse? Check. Courteous smile? Check. Prepared Questions? Check.All that’s left to do was step inside and begin her mission.The blonde wore a smile on her face that was ready to feed lies as she stepped inside the grocery that was bigger than the small grocery that she and Dakota went to three days ago. People were in their usual lives as they roamed around the store with shopping baskets and carts without caring about the other people around. The employees were busy either assisting the buyers or rearranging the items in aisles that people purposely disarrange for literally no reason.Dakota told Olivia that she needed food for dinner so they were going to steal just a few. Olivia’s role was basically to distract anyone from catching Dakota while the latter does her thing, but that only lasted for a while.The blonde looked around until her eyes landed on the girl with red highlights who was walking around aisles with her hands buried deep in her pockets, waiting for the perfect ti
Like a completely different person, Olivia went to Mobi Street as if she was not just around there stealing jelly beans half an hour ago.“Hi.” She gave them a smile as soon as they saw her.Unlike earlier in which she had no makeup and was wearing a blue flannel shirt, a pair of gray baggy sweatpants, and dirty white sneakers—Olivia had a transformation over a short time. She suddenly had a cold because of the chilly weather of the last two weeks so she wore a surgical mask that was colored pink to match her fashion. She wore an off-shoulder long sleeved pink dress that was above the knee. Gold flat sandals. Different kinds of rings in each hand except the one Dakota gave since that belonged to her other self. Light makeup with an emphasis on the eyeliner along with gray contact lens that were lighter than her natural gray eyes. Lastly, a pink beret.She was definitely not the same person who was stealing in a grocery store with Dakota Soul earlier.“Hey! You came!” Theodore greeted
They did not meet up again until Thursday. And Dakota was not alone. Instead, she was with a girl and a boy who seemed to be their age. It did not feel nice for Olivia since she and Dakota were supposed to just be alone together, plus they were literally strangers to her—well, except the girl. The very same girl whom she happened to have eye contact with in the arcade. The blonde felt the same nervousness she felt when she used to care about debate contests before her mother died since she wanted her name to be announced as the winner every time and her mother was always there to watch her. Olivia stared at the raven’s face across her while trying hard to hide the nervousness from being obvious on her facial expression. Lia looked relaxed compared to her though she was not smiling as she stared back in silence. She was intimidating—or perhaps Olivia only felt intimidated by her because of the possibility that she might recognize her from the arcade three days ago. Lia lifted her h