Chapter 5 - Avelena

“Did you hear who’s back?” Katelyn whispered to one of her posse.

Figured she’d be one to start a rumor around. She had been since I’ve stepped into this place. And although she’s a great source for gossip in this school, being on the other end of her gossip was brutal.

Having been one to personally experience her game, I now preferred to avoid her at all costs. I mean, I wasn’t really on a brutal end with the rumor she spread around about me being a lesbian and secretly having a crush on Natalia, but knowing that she had that kind of power, the one that can really change how the student body would think about you, was scary.

Natalia had to deal with this rumor for quite some time and it didn’t take until we reached Junior high that they all finally believed Natalia and I were legit cousins.

The transition in between the remedy of that rumor was horrifying.

Could you imagine just wanting to be left alone, but everywhere you turn, there were people sneaking up on you telling you that it was okay to be lesbian even if I weren’t one in the first place. It got over to point when I questioned my own sexuality, and started searching symptoms about being one online.

It was terrible. I’ve never felt this harassed in my entire life, and it didn’t help that I was a new student, the new kid all the way from Asia. Everything was just a total shock to me from the very beginning, and it was all because of a false rumor made by this school’s very own Katelyn Jones.

The last two years was like that for me, until Natalia ran for Student Council President by the end of Junior high and put an end to those ridiculous rumors. It was only then that I could finally breathe and be myself again, but it was also the reason why Natalia stuck by me even when her duty didn’t permit her to.

“Sean Kristofer.” She whispered to her posse, but loud enough for everyone within a meter away from them to hear.

Gasps were heard from their side of the room as they all couldn’t believe what Katelyn just told them. For some reason, this guy peaked their interests.

“The Sean Kristofer? The all-star team captain from three years ago?” one of the girls, Kyra I think was her name, curiously asked as she twirled a piece of her hair and crossed her leg over to the other seductively.

“Mhmm. That one.” Katelyn confirmed her assumptions.

“Didn’t he run away before the last season even started? He’s the reason we didn’t win for the last three years!” Kyra rolled her eyes with disdain as she uncrossed her legs and put her attention to her perfectly manicured nails. “He’s a loser.” She added, forming an L with her index finger and her thumb.

“A hot loser.” Katelyn sighed dreamily as the girls, aside from Kyra, agreed to what she said.

Apparently, all these girls really cared about was this guy’s good physique. Talk about being shallow, they were the epitome of it.

Whoever this guy was, I already felt bad at the way they were talking about him.

“Class, take your seats and open your books to Chapter 24. We will be discussing the importance of thermodynamics today.”

Finally, the class was starting. Something actually worth listening into.

I thought to myself as I grabbed my physics book under my desk and started flipping the pages to the chapter. It didn’t take long for me to shake away that disturbing conversation I overheard as my attention became completely absorbed to the teacher’s lecture.

I was always this way since I was little. It’s one of the traits I liked about myself ever since I was young—the ability of highly focused concentration. It was the result of my parents being very uptight with me when it came to education.

They always expected me to be on the top of my game every time. There was no room for failure in my family, and that has been proven and tested by all my cousins who graduated university with top honors and worked with highly respected job titles.

I was the youngest out of all them, at least, I was on my father’s side, and as the last person of the family to graduate, the pressure put onto me was the greatest. I had a name to live up to. I had all my dad’s clan to impress and not let down. It was really not much of a big deal—that was total lie.

To be honest, I was always on the verge of panic and despair whenever there was an exam. Quizzes just kept me paranoid every time, especially a surprise pop quiz of only 10-items. I hated surprises like that. It just made me anxious all the time because I wasn’t prepared for them and I hated not being prepared.

It irked me even, because I knew that my intelligence didn’t come naturally like my cousins did. This would only mean failure, and my parents weren’t too keen on that word.

I had to study my butt off to achieve these results. Years of hard work and perseverance made me who I was today, and I was proud of myself for making it this far; however, sometimes, I couldn’t help but think if I could hold onto that streak for much longer.

I was getting tired.

The buzz off the accomplishments were dying too quickly as soon as I achieved them. My parents weren’t even acknowledging me even though I tried hard not to disappoint them each year.

As much as I kept doing this onto their favor, I could feel myself slowly slipping away.

But I didn’t know why I was feeling like this.

It was a really odd feeling. This feeling of being lost even when my future was served on a silver platter.

“Hey, Avee. You, okay?”

“Huh? What?” I unconsciously blurted out as I snapped out of my deep thoughts.

There in front of me was Natalia waiting for me with her bag hooked on her right arm.

“It’s lunch time. Want to grab something from the cafeteria before heading to the MT hangout?” she asked me as her thumb pointed towards the direction of the door.

“It’s fine. I’m okay. I got my lunch already packed right here.” I said patting my lunch bag hooked at the side of my desk.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there in a few minutes then? I’ll buy myself some food first.”

“Sure.”

Natalia didn’t wait for me to pack up my things as she rushed out of the door. She’d probably take a while because of the long line to buy some food in the cafeteria. It was just so Natalia to forget her lunch bag at home.

I shook my head at the thought of her forgetfulness.

As soon as I packed my books back into my locker and took some materials I needed for art class, I headed towards our usual lunch spot, which is the abandoned garden at the back of the school—the one with the huge maple tree standing in the middle.

Natalia and I actually discovered this sweet spot during our sophomore year, when I was in the heat of the rumors that Katelyn Jones started. We had to hide from the people who chose to keep bullying me with the rumor, and then we stumbled upon this place. Since then, it has been our safe haven.

No one went here anymore because there was nothing to see. No chairs to even sit on or a shade to go under when it rained, but we thought it was perfect.

I unfolded the picnic blanket tucked inside my backpack and placed it gently on the ground just beside the tree, straightening the creases on the side to cover more ground area.

As soon as I was done, I plopped onto it and began unzipping my lunch bag, a bit excited to eat after a long day listening to long lectures in all of my classes. However, as soon as I could even take a bite, a voice interrupted me.

“Hey, Ko!”

Adrian came over panting as he ran toward me. When he reached to where I was, his hand hung on his knees as he bent forward trying to catch his breath. I wondered how he knew where I was and looked at him like he had grown two heads.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked as he was gasping for breath.

“How’d you find me?” I asked him, a little annoyed by his presence.

“I—” he paused for a bit to inhale some air before he continued, “I was calling you when I saw you in the hallway, but you didn’t hear me, I guess. So, I ran after you.”

“Uh…okay.” I said, trailing off a bit at the end of my sentence as I was still a bit confused why he followed me all the way to here. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact.” He said smiling at me as he wiped his sweat off his eyebrows. “May I sit here?”

Without waiting for my response, he began to remove his shoes and sat down crossed leg in front of me on the picnic blanket. I had to push my food aside and cover it back up to make some space for his legs to fit in.

“So…what do you need me for?”

“Straight to the point now, eh, Miss Ko?” he smirked at me playfully while I glared at him for making that sarcastic remark.

He was the one who interrupted me while I was eating, and I was not a happy person when I get interrupted in between meals.

“Here.” He said as he grabbed a small brown envelope from his back pocket and handed it over to me. “Keenan said to give it to you this morning. He said it was for something important.”

My eyes widened as I realized what he just said. It must have been the 2R pictures I asked him to take for me. When I opened the envelope to inspect the photos inside, I immediately counted them. There were only five copies of my profile in there. Keenan said he’d give me a 5+1 package.

Suspiciously eyeing Adrian, I closed the envelope and asked him, “You didn’t perhaps get one of my profiles, did you?”

“What? No! Was that what it … was?” Adrian exclaimed abruptly; a bit flustered at what I accused him of.

“Hand it over, Troy.”

I put out my hand in front of him as I raised my right eyebrow and frowned at him, accenting my slight irritation at his reaction.

What was wrong with this boy?

“I’m waiting.” I said, moving my hand nearer to him, with my palm exposed wider to emphasize that he needed to give me my photo back.

Adrian gulped and slowly reached for his pocket. I thought he was going to give it to me afterwards; however, he slapped my hand instead and made a run for it.

“Hey! That’s stealing, Troy! Get back here!” I yelled as he stuck his tongue out and gave me a raspberry while he ran towards the direction of the school.

I scoffed at his reaction and tried to run after him to get back at his childish insult, forcing my dead legs to wake up from having sat too long on the ground, but with his athletic built, I knew that I wasn’t getting anywhere near him at this rate.

Giving up on chasing after him, I stopped trying to push myself when I saw him get inside the building. It was no use. He wouldn’t even give it back to me when I asked nicely.

In my head, I thought to myself, “I take back what I thought about him being a good memory. He’s just a downright jerk.”