3. Shut Up, World!

Finally lunchbreak. Julius is reading his notes, and he can't help but notice the students are beginning to crowd around the new girl.

"Hey, Liddell, so you've been abroad a lot, huh? What countries have you been into?"

Alice frowns and tries to avoid staring anyone's eyes. "Some countries in Asia and Africa...we move a lot, I just..." she shrugs awkwardly.

"Whoa, I've never left England...But you're originally from here, right? Why did you move a lot?"

Alice twiddles her fingers. "Um, well, how do I say it..."

"Hey, guys, can't you see you're giving her a hard time?" some girls laugh. "Take it easy, don't be too shy, okay? We should hang out sometimes!"

Julius scoffs. That kind of situation reminds him of himself back in elementary grade. It's pretty obvious that those guys are just spouting balderdash. No one gets genuinely interested about a person. Everyone only care about themselves, and everyone thinks that their-selves are the most interesting one.

When the crowd leaves, Julius is once again surprised because Alice sighs in relief.

"God damn, I thought that'd never end..." she says to herself and pulls out a box filled with lunch. Julius raises his eyebrows; he rarely seen such a thing in real-life he only knows that Japanese sometimes take boxed lunch to school.

Alice realizes that Julius is staring, and glances at her lunchbox. She then glances at Julius, who is taken aback.

"Uh, do you want some?" she asks bluntly. "You don't have to stare at my lunchbox so intensely, my food won't ever teleport to your mouth that way."

"Oh, uh, no, I was just..." Julius clears his throat and returns to his book. "Just, nevermind..."

"Good," Alice sighs. "I'm so hungry, I won't be full if I have to share, but if you really want some, it's really okay. I'll probably come down to the cafe and buy something..." she pauses with a frown. "Damn, that's too troublesome. I'm too lazy for that. I'll just deal with the hunger."

Julius' eyebrows twitch. He's surprised to know that this new girl, Alice Liddell, is not shy at all. She's just lazy and blunt, not good at small unnecessary chit-chat.

He definitely doesn't want to get mixed up with lazy people anymore.

~.X.~

'What did I just say...' Julius mentally groans as the next English class is already assigning them a group project, and he's ultimately partnered with Alice Liddell. He can see the other students are giving pitying stares to the new student, who's oblivious to it.

Just when Julius begins to think of how to ask the teacher to have a different assignment, Alice boldly pulls her chair and approaches Julius.

"So, we're going to have a presentation about one of the classic literature...! I don't know about you, and you'll probably think this is boring, but I love classic lit, man..." she says with excitement in her eyes. "I mean, most teenagers here probably don't read stuff like Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night Dream, Sense and Sensibility or well, can't blame them, 'cause it's boring for people generally...though you look like you like to read, Monrey,"

Julius is really taken aback that he gets quite speechless as he lets the girl rambles. He clears his throat. "Uh, well, I don't read classic literature, but I can if I have to..."

Well, if his parents even find a single school-unrelated-book, they'd burn it.

Alice smiles wryly. "Don't push yourself, though. Classic lits aren't for everyone. How about I write a resume about one and you edit it? Though, we have to find a way to make it interesting..." she sighs. "And I hate presentations...I hate standing in front of people...man, this is too troublesome. Can we just dub the presentation?"

Being a nearly-closet introvert, Julius sometimes goes on weeks without talking to anyone. When he does talk to someone, it'd be short. Now he's actually having a conversation with someone. Someone is actually talking to him more than fifteen minutes? This is really shocking for him, and he can't help but notice how his classmates are staring at them, surprised, despite they can't really hear what they are talking about.

"I...think I'd read it on my own..." Julius scowls. "I don't like not knowing things in the project. You should stop taking everything your own way, that's selfish."

"Yeah, I need to be more considerate," Alice nods in agreement, and Julius twitches.

'I was expecting you to say that I'm rude and leave me the hell alone.'

"So what is going to be our book?" Alice asks again.

Julius glares at her. No, he doesn't want to do anything with anybody...he doesn't want her to try and be buddy-buddy like—Can't she just act shy to him, like how she does with everyone else?

'Don't. I don't like this.' He grumbled in his mind and finally decides to say it out loud. "Look, I don't want to do it with you—I'm going to work on it myself. Leave me alone."

Alice looks surprised. "But...this is a group project...Shouldn't we work on it together...?"

Usually it's never like this. Whoever he's partnered with will leave him to work alone. They never asked for a part in the project. They only want him to add their name on the paper. After that, they'd act like they had nothing to do with him.

But now, this new girl is eagerly asking for a part, discussing the project with him...despite he doesn't know anything about it. He doesn't need this. She'll just act like they had nothing to do with each other when it's over...It's better if they had nothing to do with each other at all.

"No," he shakes his head, saying this straight to her face. "You'll just get in my way." He harshly adds. The girl looks startled for a moment, and frowns at him.

Alice finally nods. "Okay, I don't understand, but...if you need any help, just ask," she sighs and pulls her chair and sits back in her earlier spot.

Julius sighs in relief and rubs his temple.

"No way, he refuses to work as a group...?" he can hear them whispering again.

"That Liddell girl is so unlucky...she even tries to talk to him..."

'Can't the world please, shut the hell up?'