TODAY is the last day of the first week of school. It wasn’t that much but, it felt nice knowing that I could have some free time during the weekends. The passed few days gone very well than I expected. No problems and communication to any my classmates. As long as I stay low key, they wouldn’t mind me.
“So, one of my friends told me that what if we change our hairstyle? Like some Hollywood actors or whatsoever,” Nathan stated, almost making me choke on my own food.
We are currently at the Cafeteria, eating lunch together like what we always do. I’m very thankful to my bestfriend because he always finds some time to join me during our breaks. Even though he have some new friends, he still didn’t abandon me. Though sometimes, I felt surprised to the words coming from his mouth.
“Where the heck on Earth did you get that worst idea? From your friends? Nathan, you don’t need to change anything just to fit in...”
“I’m not doing it to fit in, Nat. We just wanted to try.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. But I like the style of your hair right now. It looks fine. And besides, Aunt Jessica wouldn’t allow you to do something to it...”
He rolled his eyes on me before he continued eating his food. I did the same when I remember that we have an assignment in Biology. I still haven’t make it yet and our classes will start in just a few hours. I didn’t know what to do so it’s better to ask for Nathan’s help rather than let our teacher humiliate me in front of the whole class.
“Uhm... Nathan?” I called him.
“What?” he asked curiously, looking up to met my gaze.
“Would you help me in my assignment?” I asked sheepishly.
“Why would I?” Now he’s mocking me.
“Because... Duh, you’re my nerd bestfriend, right?” He chuckled.
“Fine, fine. I’m just kidding you know. In what subject?”
“Biology.”
“Easy.”
I shook my head while smiling to myself. Having him with me is very great, for as he promised before, he always got my back. Though I didn’t want to depend myself onto him. I’m just asking for his help when I couldn’t do it anymore.
“Done,” he stated, after a few minutes of answering some questions.
I looked at him unbelievably, then back to my notebook. I couldn’t believe it. He finished it in almost no time. The answers are complete and were very easy to understand.
“Please don’t be too amused, Nat.”
I laughed, before hugging him as a form of gratitude. When I finally released him, I saw how his cheeks flushed bright red.
“You look like a tomato.”
“Whatever. Just thank me and get over it,” he stated, trying to act cold.
“Oh, thank you very much, Mr. Cold Man.”
He laughed at my response. Before he could even say anything, the bell rings and we all stood up along with the other students to immediately get to our classes. Nathan waved his goodbye towards me, and I waved back as well.
Out of adrenaline, I rushed through the hallways, not bothering to look closely on my way. I’m afraid to be late and of course, I’m excited to pass my assignment in Biology. Thanks to Nathan, I have something to look forward to.
I felt pain as something hit my right shoulder... Something or someone. When I looked behind me, it was Tyler Smith. He just smirked at me, not bothering to apologized for his “accidental” doings.
I glare at him, lost in my own mind as I tried to give him the scariest glare of the year. I just came back to my senses when I bumped into someone, someone unfortunate enough to came across my path.
“Ouch!” she complained.
All of her books and folders are now scattered by the floor. I quickly kneel down to help her pick her stuffs up.
“I’m very sorry! I didn’t see you... It’s my fault,” I explained.
Rule number twelve was, “Learn to apologize.” It wouldn’t hurt us saying the word “sorry” or whatsoever.
“It’s okay... I’m fine.” She smiled at me.
Looking at this gorgeous lady makes me feel bad and ashamed of my face. But then I remembered my rule number two, leading me to gain my confidence back as I secretly whispered that I love myself.
“How about you, are you alright?” she asked, a worried expression plastered upon her angelic face.
“Yeah. I’m really sorry for bumping into you...”
“Please stop apologizing. I’m completely fine. And by the way, my name is Freeda. What’s yours?”
She offers her hand to me and I gladly accepted it. We shook hands and smiled to each other. She was the one who took the first step so I think it’s just fine to tell her my name as well.
“Natalia.”
“Nathalia? With H?”
“Nope. Without H.” She chuckled at my response.
“Nice to meet you, Natalia without H. So, I’ll get going now. See you around!”
I nodded at her before she vanished into my sight. I smiled, thinking that maybe making new friends wasn’t that hard as I expected. I was about to go to my classes when I saw something laying on the floor. It was a bracelet, and I only know one person that could own this charm. It was Freeda’s!
Afraid that I might get late, I quickly picked it up and slide it into my pocket. I ran towards our classroom, thinking how am I suppose to give this back to her.
Our classes started and I got an A+ grade on my assignment in Biology. But that wasn’t the thing that’s keep on bothering me. It was Freeda’s bracelet. I have to give it back to her as soon as possible.
After hours of discussions, all of our afternoon classes were finally ended. I can feel the weekend vibes lurking around the school campus. I roam around the hallways, looking for the girl that I met earlier. Nathan wasn’t still here so I’ve got some free time to search for Freeda.
Few minutes had passed, and finally, I saw her. Our eyes met as she stepped out of their classroom, and surprisingly, she smiled at me. That smile was a heart melting one coming from a gorgeous student like her. How lucky I am to be a normie witnessing her mesmerizing smile.
When I came back to my senses, my hands got inside of my pocket to get her bracelet. When I finally grabbed a hold of it, I looked up, seeing her still standing in their door way. I was about to walk towards her direction when someone put his arm around Freeda’s shoulders, making me chicken out because of his terrible glare.
“So, where do we meet later?” Tyler asked to Freeda.
“You choose. I’m fine anywhere.”
Those statements had driven me crazy, thinking that a bad boy likes someone as good and angelic as Freeda. I gulped, trying to process in my mind what did I just saw. When it finally sinks in, I decided one thing. Maybe I’ll just give this bracelet back to it’s owner on Monday or in any other day next week.
Today’s experience brought me some realizations. And that is what makes my manual’s rule number thirteen, “Learn how to wait patiently. There’s always a next time.”
FOR some reasons, I didn’t enjoy weekends like how I supposed to be. Maybe it’s because of the fact that I wanted to give this bracelet back to Freeda, hoping that I could make friends with her or something. But it wasn’t that easy, right after knowing that Tyler is following her around like some creepy stalker. “Hey, Nat! Did you even understand what I’m saying?” I came back to my senses, my mind suddenly focus onto the reality when I heard Nathan snaps his fingers. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” “I thought you wanted to watch some movies over my house later?” “Uhm... Maybe next time, Nat. I need to do something.” “And what exactly is that something, huh?” “Nothing...” He stared at me, causing me to become uncomfortable. That look in his eyes is urging me to tell him the truth. “What I mean is... School works, Nathan.” “Really? But our teachers doesn’t
JINX. I don’t know if that’s the proper word to describe my day... Or my whole life, maybe. Today is supposed to be the day I’ve been waiting for. It’s Freeda’s birthday, and she wanted me to come. Mom already let me go, just because I lied. I told her that I need to go there for a school project. And maybe that was the reason why I’m on my bed right now, laying with an aching head. Karma strikes that fast and bad. Now I got to add another rule on my manual, and that is, “Never lie to your Mom.” After denying my bestfriend, lying to my Mom, and wanting to be popular instead of being a goodie-goodie student, I can now conclude that I’m a sick person. And yes, that statement is both metaphorical and literal. I’m sick, literally. “Nat? Why aren’t you waking up? Are you going to school or what?” I heard my Mom shouted from the other side of the door. “Mom... I’m not feeling well...” I tried
IT’S been two days since I got this stupid fever. And ever since that day, I haven’t gone to school. Mom wanted to bring me to the hospital on my second day but I begged her not to. That’s why yesterday and the other day, Aunt Jessica came here to check me up. Luckily, she didn’t pursue Mom to bring me to the hospital. I don’t like going to school but I feel like I’ve missed a lot about it. I wanted to tell Aunt Jessica that I like to see Nathan, but every time that I tried to, I remember the last day that I saw him. He looked furious, and I don’t want him to visit me here looking mad. I feel guilty, not having a chance to apologize to my bestfriend. Also, I’m wondering what happened to Freeda’s birthday party. Did she tried to find me? Did she got worried when I haven’t gone to school? Or does she even care? I can’t help but to think about it. Maybe she’s mad at me becau
MONDAY. Mom finally decided to let me go to school again. I came with Nathan, and I haven’t seen Freeda yet until lunch. It’s becoming clear to me now what Nathan’s been talking about when he visited me at our house. I could still remember his same, exact words as I walked through the hallways of our school. “Groups are starting to form, Nat. And what I mean by that, literally. Everything is starting to change.” “Why?” I asked innocently I him. It’s only been a week so I highly doubt that it will happen that fast. “I don’t know. Freeda is now talking to some girls in our school. Popular girls, to be specific. And they are calling her queen or whatever...” “Then I’ll still talk to her.... But this time I wouldn’t deny you as my bestfriend anymore. I’ll tell her the truth.” “Well, that’s good to know. But I don’t think that you could still talk to her just like that. She was surrounded by different boys and girls who
NOW is Nathan’s turn to be absent. It was already been a week since Tyler threatened me about that thing that I did to his relationship with Freeda. We are now on our third week of school but thankfully, Tyler didn’t do anything to me about that certain thing... Yet. Maybe because I’m always having Nathan around but I still didn’t tell him about it, of course. If there is one thing that I learned about the events last week, that is on rule number seventeen of my manual which is to “never meddle in anyone’s life.” Well, that rule is more like minding my own business here at school. Back to the top, as I’ve said earlier, Nathan isn’t going to school for days now just like what I did before when I got sick. Because of that, I can’t help but to think that maybe, just maybe, I passed a fever into him. I should take it back if only I can. So I decided to visit him later af
PANIC rushed through me instantly when I saw Aunt Jessica’s reddish eyebags. Looks like she’s been crying all night long. I wanted to know why, but I decided to just shut my mouth up for my curiosity could bring me to another trap. I learned that from the rule number seventeen of my manual. “Nathan is in his room, Natalia. Just knock before you enter. You know how grumpy he could gets.” She faked a laughter, but I didn’t buy it. I just thrifty smiled at her instead. As I made my way upstairs towards Nathan’s room, I saw their family picture on the floor with a broken glass frame. I instantly picked it up, before I decided to hang it again by the wall. When I reached the front door of Nathan’s room, I knocked several times, hoping he would answer. But he didn’t. So I decided to ignored Aunt Jessica’s advice and opened the door without anymore words. I barged i
BEING bullied isn’t always as easy as everyone thinks about it. If they thought that I could just ignored it, well, they’re wrong. Not because it was our school bad boy, I should be glad because he’s paying attention to me. No, I would never be thankful for being the apple of Tyler’s eye. “Hey, normie girl!” I was surprised when somebody suddenly clung into my arm. It was Becca, looking happy for apparently no reason. Nathan is still absent so I was left with no choice but to talk to her just to prevent myself for having a spoiled saliva in my mouth. “Hey, Becca...” I tried to add a little bit enthusiasm in my voice, but it sounded like fake. “Looking good. Where’s your nerd bestfriend, any way?” she asked. My mind was half debating if I should tell her the reason why. But I know that Nathan will be mad at me if ever. That topic w
NOW I’m starting to get pissed by the fact that Nathan is still not going to school. I haven’t seen his face for a while but thankfully, Becca is here to fill in the emptiness that Nathan is causing to my system right now. “You know what, I really love Physical Education. How about you, Natalia?” Becca randomly asked. I sighed, remembering that we need to get our school uniforms for P.E. later on. I was traumatized by going in that same locker area because that is where bad things happened to me. But Becca assured me that she’s going to come with me later on to get her uniform as well to avoid anything that could happen to me because of Tyler’s never ending revenge. “Come on, cheer up, girl. I love volleyball.” “And I hate sports.” “Don’t worry. That’s why I’m here. I’ll get the ball before it hits your face.” We laughed in unison, th