Being a smart girl comes with many perks; the main one is that you always have good grades at any test. And other really good is that you're the favorite of the teachers; you can do anything that you want, and the teachers won't say a word 'cause they will never suspect from you. Yeah, being smart sounds good, but as everything, it comes with many downsides. First of all; you tend to overthink everything; every decision, every choice, you tend to evaluate even the smallest detail. Another bad thing about smartness is that you must do everything right; every mistake, every error, every single accident you have is something people remark. It doesn't matter how good you are because you did a really small mistake that wasn't intentional. However, the main downside of being smart is the image people tend to have about you. They think you have to be good at everything; you must know it all and have the answer for everything.
In the hallways of Royal Woods High School, Luna Loud was running to reach her next class; she would have come earlier but she stayed in the library doing an important essay for her English class and she didn't notice she was late for the literature class until she saw her watch. Now she was heading to the second floor with a book on her hand and the clock against her, avoiding all the people and dodging the trash some boys were throwing at each other. Right now, she was approached the corner of the hallway to reach the stairs to the second floor; she thought on decrease the speed to reduce the centrifugal force of the turn, but she saw her watch again and realized she had only two minutes to reach the classroom, so instead of decrease, she increased the speed. Suddenly, two girls appeared from the corner, too busy talking to each other to notice that another girl was running in process of colliding with them. Luna saw everything in slow motion; she saw how the girls suddenly turned towards her and how they tried to cover so the hit would not be too hard, but Luna saw a free space she could use to impulse and conserve the speed next to the two girls, so when she was about to crash with them, she quickly jumped to her left, she landed her right foot in the wall, and then she used it to get impulse to keep running.
She saw her watch; she had one minute left to make it in time. Luckily for her, the classroom was at two halls from where she was, so all she had to do was avoid the students and she would make it in time. She saw the door at the farthest wall from the hallway, so she just had to run straight and she would be in the classroom, but what she didn't take into account was that there would be a chase against a nerd by the jocks in the school; poor boy was running for his life while five muscular morons were trying to catch him. Luna almost crash (again) with the jocks, but fortunately she managed to spin counterclockwise to reduce the impact to a slight push. The boy didn't notice that, so he and his friends kept running after the poor nerd. Luna almost trip to the floor, but she managed to regain composure and keep running. Right now she was in front of the door, panting and sweating a little bit, but nothing out of the ordinary. She saw her watch; she made it with thirty seconds extra, so she just dried the sweat on her forehead and calmed her drumming heartbeat to enter in the classroom.
"Miss Loud, I thought you wouldn't do it in time." Mr. Manson said. He was a tall slim man with early bald spots in his scalp and a full beard. The man was wearing a coat and denim pants.
"Sorry Mr. Manson, Miss Linda kept me busy with a long essay."
"Don't worry Miss Loud, come in and take a sit." Mr. Manson said as he stood up to clean the board. Like I said before, being smart comes with some perks; the teachers don't get angry if you take your time to go to class because they know her, and they know she has a lot of work that they let her.
The rest of the day was just as boring as always; literature was an easy class for Luna, not to mention the teacher just asked questions to the other students because he knew that Luna would respond everything fine so there was no need to ask her. What seemed like an eternity for the rocker girl ended when the bell rang, Luna picked her stuff and put them in her backpack to exit the classroom, but when she was about to leave, her teacher stopped her.
"Miss Loud, can you wait a minute?" Mr. Manson said.
"Yeah, sure." Luna answered as she sat in a near desk to wait for her classmates to leave the classroom. Once everyone went outside, Mr. Manson broke the silence.
"Miss Loud, you probably are wondering why I asked you to stay." The teacher said. "Well, the reason is that, I been talking with the members of the Literature club, and we like to invite you to join the club." Mr. Manson said as he gave Luna a pamphlet.
"Me? Part of the Literature Club?" Luna asked, not knowing what to say.
"Yeah. You're a really smart student, and we would appreciate if you decide to be part of our club." The teacher said.
Luna was looking at the pamphlet, reading and analyzing the information. At first thought Luna didn't dislike the idea since she was always good for that class. But yet, she was in many clubs already that consumed her time, and another club meant that she would barely have time to be around her house. She took the pamphlet into her backpack to give an answer.
"Let me think about it. I will have an answer by tomorrow."
"Alright Miss Loud. And please think of it; it would be a really good help for you if you want to be in a good university." Mr. Manson said as he looked at some important papers in her desk. Most of them looked like tests.
"I'll do Mr. Manson. Well, see you tomorrow." Luna said as she waved her hand and left the classroom.
"Have a nice day, Miss Loud." Mr. Manson said without take away his eyes from his papers.
Luna was acting this whole time in front of the teacher, because as soon as she exited the classroom she began to feel as the anxiety took over her body. She felt desperation and her hands were trembling. She knew how to calm that feeling inside her that was eating her alive, but to do it she needed to get out of the school.
Luckily for her the school was over and she could get out of there without any problem; she crossed the doors that lead to the outside and walked down the sidewalk. The sun was hot and the sky was really clear with not even a single cloud in sight. Luna wondered why she had to pass through all that; every teacher asked her if she wanted to join to a club, and they told her that it would help her when the day she goes to college comes. That made her really mad, because she didn't even knew if she wanted to go to college, her dream was become a rockstar; she dreamed with being a worldwide recognized rockstar along with her band, but of course that didn't matter for anyone because of that your studies are more important bullshit. Her parents were really supportive with her dream, but they said that she had to have good grades in school in exchange. That was the only reason she was good, but what she didn't know was that she unleashed a curse.
Her parents noticed that she did really good that they made her take some extracurricular activities like Tennis and Volleyball. Luna tried to tell them that she didn't want any of those, that all she wanted to do was play music and be good at school, but her parents didn't listen to her. It was not that they do that with bad intentions; after all, they just want the best for their daughter, and that's what bothers Luna the most, because she can't blame anyone for that. She decided to take those extra classes to please her parents; after all they supported her with her dream of become a musician since she decided that it was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. And who knows, maybe she would end up liking it too, but sooner than later she realized it was farther from the truth. With time, she realized that every adult wanted her to be the best in everything. She was the best in the class, the captain of the volleyball and tennis team and she had a band; her parents and teachers saw what that girl was capable of, so they decided to push her as hard as they could so that way she would become the best volleyball tennis player and musician that have ever been, but as you might guess, perfection is impossible.
Why her parents put so much pressure on her? They never did that to Lisa, and she was the smartest person they would ever know in her life, but why just her? Luna was not the only smart in the house; Lincoln had the best grades in his class but she didn't see their parents harassing him with tons of extra classes. She sometimes envied Leni; her parents were nice with her because… she wasn't the smartest person (not to say other thing), she wouldn't have to know what is like to have a lot of people that actually expect a lot from you.
Luna tried not to think in her problems as she approached the place; she tried to think in tomorrow, because tomorrow she would play with her band in a very exclusive place that only certain persons have ever heard of it. The girl started to feel like she was about to have a migraine, but luckily for her she arrived to the places she wanted to be since the beginning of the day.
When she woke up from her thoughts she realized where she was. The place was behind an abandoned building near the school; it was a tall big tree with a lot of branches strong enough to hold her. It was the perfect place for her because the foliage of the tree was so thick people outside would barely find out that there's someone up there.
The girl quickly ran towards the three, climbing with help of a half-demolished wall that had some blocks she could use as steps to get a better grip from a strong branch. Once there, she sat in the strongest branch she found and then she opened her backpack; from it she took out a small metallic box with the words ALTOIDS in the lid, she took out the lid, and from inside the box she grabbed a cigarette. She put the little white tube between her lips, and with a lighter that was inside the metallic box she lit it. She took a drag from it; the feeling of the smoke filling her lungs, the nicotine in her blood and the flavor of the tobacco had an instant effect on the girl, who exhaled the smoke with a relief gesture on her face. Suddenly all the problems she was having were put aside to make way to the sensation of relaxation and looseness in her body. She took another drag from the cigarette to taste again that bitter flavor she liked so much; that flavor that made her forget about her problems in home and school. That flavor that without its help she would have given up time ago. Her lungs started to feel the excess of CO2, which made her release the puff of smoke, and with it, vanishing her problems.
"Fuck 'em all." Luna said, losing her mind in the cloud of smoke around her.
Hello guys.
Well, writing "Lucy's Vengeance Game" I wrote a line where Luan and Luna were arguing because Luan found something in Luna's nighstand, and luna told her to mind her own business. That gave me the idea of write a story about what happened there, and after some time writing I came up with this.
Thank you for read this story,I really hope you enjoyed it, and if you like it feel free to fav, follow and review.