(Hey guys, I finally got to update after a long time without internet XD
And also, this chapter is quite shorter compared to the others because from now on, I think I'll update twice in a month to keep you from waiting.
Now anyway, let's get started 8D)
Morning.
Feliks, Natalia and Toris were walking through the school corridors, headed towards their classroom.
But something didn't really seem right in that particular day. People were looking at them, whispering with one another as of some intriguing matter came up as they passed by.
Baffled, Feliks blurted out as he raised an eyebrow, "What's with the people today?"
Natalia wondered as well but couldn't seem to know why.
"I don't know," Natalia responded in a calm tone, not making eye contact neither with Toris nor Feliks because of the awkward atmosphere that stormed up last night.
They resumed on passing through the corridors despite the people looking at them strangely and whispering to one another. But then, they were surely curious what caused such a crowd and commotion in the area before the school's message board.
"I'm gonna go check it out for a while," Natalia felt a hunch that it was what she expected and expected for the worst. She went right into the crowd, pushing the people aside to see what post on the message board caused such a commotion. People were laughing at her, some shocked, some pissed, and some even jealous. As she finally reached the end of the crowd, her eyes widened in shock to see what she wished didn't happen.
On the message board, was a picture from the previous day of Natalia embracing Natalia, which was hugely misunderstood by the masses as 'making out'.
Above the picture, there was a caption that said,
"New lovers Toris and Natalia!
Caught making out on the school rooftop!"
With this, she fell to her knees and widened her eyes in shock.
"N-No...it wasn't supposed to be l-like this..." she muttered to herself as she looked at the message board, trembling.
People surrounding her bombarded her with comments and reactions.
"Hey Natalia, did you like, kiss or anything?" Michelle asked, giggling.
"N-No I-"
"Natalia, why'd you make up with such a sore loser?"
"Really, we thought you had good taste but I guess we were wrong,"
"Congratulations on your new boyfriend~!"
"N-No...please...stop it..." she pleaded, she was beginning to snap and lose her sanity.
She grabbed at her hair with her eyes widened in shock as she trembled. Despite that, the crowd kept throwing at her insults, comments and reactions.
"It happened again.
Why?
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Why does this keep repeating over and over again?"
"Hey, I don't think Natalia there looks okay," Toris commented, having observed the commotion and people throwing all their negativity at her.
Toris dived into the crowd, people packed tight like sardines. Just as soon as he reached the end of the crowd, he saw Natalia on her knees, slowly losing her sanity.
Toris dashed towards her and grabbed her shoulders.
"Natalia, what happened?!" he asked loud enough that the surrounding people could hear them.
Instead of answering, Natalia pointed at the picture on the message board, with her outstretched arm shaking.
He looked up to see what it was and saw it- the photograph.
He took a gulp as soon as he saw it and tried to keep sane especially in a situation such as that.
"Hey Natalia, let's just get out of here," Toris insisted, grabbing her hand.
"Hey guys look, Toris wants to run away with her and make out again!" One of the guys in the crowd mocked.
And then everyone else laughed at them, some sneering at them in disgust.
"Just get away..." Natalia uttered in a low, depressing tone as a dark aura enveloped her.
"But Natalia, I-"
"JUST GET AWAY!"
She lost it.
She lost her sanity.
She wanted to let out those emotions.
Those feelings of fear, dread, and depression.
She thought those were all over.
But no.
She was wrong.
With this, the crowd scurried off, still throwing at her comments and reactions as they walked away.
Natalia was on her knees, banging her head repeatedly against the concrete wall.
"Why why why why why .
It's happening again it's happening again," she muttered to herself repeatedly, her face still frozen in that same expression as she found out what caused the commotion.
"Hey Natalia...if you need me...I'll be at the classroom..." Toris said to her, and hesitantly walked away with Feliks.
"Hey Toris, what happened to Natalia?" Feliks asked curiously as he walked alongside him.
"Things. It's best for her to be left alone. For now," he replied as he looked back at her.
There in the corridor, Natalia was still banging her head against the wall, thinking about her life.
"Hah. I'm finally done.
I lost it.
Why am I like this?
Why is my life like this?
Won't things at least get better for once?"
She stood up shakily, slowly calming down, hesitating whether to head to the classroom or not. Surely, she would become the laughingstock of the class. Or worse, the whole school. She picked up her bad from the floor and hung it over her right shoulder. Reluctantly, she walked towards their classroom and after a few slow steps, she arrived before the classroom entrance.
"Should I come in or not?
If I do, I'll be laughed at.
If I don't, I'll surely miss class."
She stepped into the classroom and expected for the worst.
As she stepped in she noticed people following her with their eyes glued on her. People who used to look up to her, just sneered at her. Some, laughing and wanting to spread the word.
"I can't stand it.
Why is everyone looking at me?
Did I do something wrong?
What?"
An anxious expression was carved all over her face, it's as if her dignity was stripped away from her. People quickly drifting away and suddenly jumping to conclusions. With this, she realized how horrible society is.
She walked slowly towards her seat, bowing her head, trying to create for herself a barrier that would shield her from people's negative comments. She then passed by Roxanne's seat. Just as she was about to walk away, Roxanne grasped her hand and whispered, "Having fun with your boyfriend, Natalia~?" she laughed sarcastically, looking straight at Natalia's eyes.
Natalia just stood there, her eyes meeting Roxanne's, motionless.
Roxanne finally let go of her hand and smirked. With that, Natalia headed quickly towards her seat.
She sat down, humiliated. She put her bag on the floor and hoped for the best for the rest of the day.
10 minutes.
It was almost time for English class..
She reached for her book, which was in a compartment under her desk. And when she pulled it out, she was surprised to see its cover covered all over with scribbles.
"Whore."
"Slut."
"Scene-stealer."
"Bitch."
To her shock, she froze and dropped her book. Toris, who was sit right next beside her, felt even more worried for her. He wouldn't want Natalia to experience what he went through.
"Natalia...are you okay..?" he checked on her as he placed his hand on her shoulder, worried.
There was no response.
She just sat there, unresponsive. She knew she was beginning to relive her experiences of living hell before.
"Leave me alone..." she muttered, bowing her head in dismay.
"But-!"
"Leave me alone, I said!" Natalia shrieked, brushing his hand off of her shoulder. This caught the attention of the class
"Ooh look~ They're having a lover's quarrel~" Mia remarked as she grinned.
And soon, the whole class followed.
"Need some love advice, Natalia?"
"Woo! Lover's quarrel!"
Hearing all those, Natalia got up from her seat and ran off the classroom and towards the locker area.
She sat down on the tiles, resting her back against the big, red locker.
There, she began to sob as she hugged her knees to her chest.
"Why...why does this always happen to me...?"
"Just as I thought when the madness would end...Why?"
"Maybe I'm just not meant for this world anymore. I'm an outcast..." she muttered to herself as she smiled sarcastically, tears soaking her eyes wet.
"I hate my life.
For six I have endured this pain.
I just can't take this anymore.
Haven't I suffered enough?"
Shakily, she got hold of a pair of scissors from her pocket.
She looked at the pair of blades, observing every inch and ever edge, imagining how it feels like to have the blades pierce through her skin.
She placed a single blade of the scissors on her wrist, ready to make a single, deep slit on her wrist.
"I shouldn't do this.
No I should.
My life is just not worth living anyway.
Natalia, don't. It hurts.
Stop it."
Conflicted ideas popped up in her mind, each one opposing the other, hesitating whether to cut or not.
"Let it go, Natalia.
Cut already.
There's no way to relieve your pain than this."
"Hah right. I should just die..." she said to herself as she looked at the blade on her wrist, her eyes flowing with tears.
It was the end.
Or was it?
"Oh God, where could she have ran off to?
Damn, I hope she's okay...
I think I should go check on her.
I should at least repay her for her help,"
Toris thought, despite the whole class mocking them and calling them names. Without hesitation, he sprung right up from his seat and briskly headed outside to look for her. He searched the corridor but there was still no sign of her.
He searched further and finally came upon Natalia in the locker area sobbing, about to cut her wrist. Of course he didn't want Natalia to do that.
He knew it was time to repay her.
He ran towards her fast enough to stop her in time.
Toris grabbed her right arm, which was gripping on to the scissors, and pinned it against the locker door behind her.
This startled her, but then looked away, still sobbing as if her world would fall apart.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" he exclaimed, as he looked straight at her.
For a while, there was an air of silence enveloping the both of them.
Remorse and despair filling up the very air they breathe.
Toris felt rather pissed, yet worried for her at the same time.
He switched his gaze at her right hand, which was loosely gripping the cold steel blades.
He grabbed them from her hand and threw it far into the corridor, making a clanging metal sound as it landed on the tiles.
"You also threw that cutter away, right? Now I'm doing the same..."
"No...that wasn't necessary..." Natalia uttered out in weak, frail voice, her sobs slowly fading away.
"No. It is. You yourself even told me not to end my life, so you should do as you said, right?" he explained, slowly letting go of her hand as she began to breathe at a normal pace.
"Right..." Natalia looked at him, and amid the tears, a smile slowly forming on her lips.
Toris stood before her and and outstretched his arm.
"Here. Let me help you up," he kindly offered.
Natalia took his hand as she wiped her tears away. As she finally stood upright, she gave Toris a sudden embrace.
"Spasibo," she said gratefully as she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his back.
"No, it was nothing really..." he said as he smiled nervously.
And slowly, Natalia let him break free from that embrace.
Natalia folded her arms behind her back and asked, "So..does this mean I have to go back to class...?" she shook slightly, anxious.
"Yeah.."
"I see..."
"But don't worry, I'll take all their bad remarks for you," he happily insisted.
"But...is that really okay with you...? I mean, it's hard to bear all their negativity towards you and I'd feel bad for you..." Natalia remarked as she looked away. She knew she couldn't deny this kind offer of his. But then she'd feel bad for him.
"I'm not taking no for an answer," he smiled.
"F-Fine. Okay then," she replied, with a thought of hesitation in her mind.
"This is bad.
This is very bad.
He might even end up killing himself because of me.
Damn, why did I even accept?"
"We have a deal, then?"he added as he outstretched his hand.
"Yeah..." she did the same as well.
They shook each other's hands and signed a deal.
"Anyway let's head back to class."
"Sure."
Natalia walked alongside with him reluctantly through the corridor and headed straight to the classroom.
There, they arrived before the entrance.
Natalia stood there, reluctant to go in as she pursed her lips.
"Do you think you'll be okay once you head inside?" Toris asked.
"Of course," she replied blankly without showing any expression.
Without hesitation, she briskly walked inside towards her seat without making eye contact with anybody, disregarding their criticisms. She sat down and immediately got her English book off the floor and cracked it open, reading a random page to distract herself from everyone else.
Toris walked in at a normal pace and headed straight to his seat despite his classmates making fun of him.
He didn't mind them, anyway. He looked at his right to check at Natalia.
"Oh well. Nothing wrong here," he thought
He tilted his head back to its original position, got his hard-bound notebook and a black ball-pointed pen.
It was time for English class.
As soon as their English teacher walked in, Natalia put down her book while everyone else stood up and greeted their teacher.
"Good morning class!" the teacher said as he slammed the bundled-up papers against the center desk.
"We're going to have a pop quiz today. Well, to those who didn't listen to my discussion yesterday, good luck."
As soon as she heard this, Natalia reached for the compartment under her desk to find her pen.
She leaned in to take a peek and see if the pen was there.
"Not here."
She grabbed her bag on the floor and placed it on her lap.
There, she dug through the contents to find that important writing material.
"Not here either," she muttered, slightly curling her eyebrow.
She reached into the pocket of her skirt to search.
"Not here either."
"Damn it's gone. Maybe Toris has an extra pen."
"Psst. Toris," she called out.
This caught his attention and faced her.
"Yeah what is it?" he asked calmly.
"Do you happen to have an extra pen?" she whispered, so as not to let the teacher think they were being inattentive.
"I'm sorry, I don't," he smiled nervously.
"I could let you use mine so you could answer-"
"No, that wouldn't be necessary, thank you," she declined for she know it would obviously affect his grades.
She rotated her body back to its original position and thought of what to do.
She couldn't borrow from anyone else.
They made fun of her.
She couldn't borrow from Feliks, either.
He was seated way too far from her.
"Ah damn it," she groaned.
Suddenly, she felt a finger poking her shoulder.
She turned to see who it was and saw a blonde-haired girl with curly pigtails, her violet eyes creeping out of the back of Natalia's chair.
It was Maddie.
(WOO FEM!CANADA HERE GAIZ)
"Umm...you can borrow my pen if you like...I have a spare one though.." she suggested, smiling shyly.
"R-Really? You're not making fun of me or anything?" Natalia widened her eyes in surprise, unsure.
"Well...why would I?" she smiled at her softly.
Natalia blushed slightly at this response. Everybody wasn't so bad after all.
"Umm...I'd really want to continue talking...but the pop quiz is about to start. Teacher's already handing out the quiz papers," she said nervously.
Natalia got the pen from Maddie's hand and sighed in relief. Their teacher handed out the quiz papers, each having 25 items to answer about Elizabethan literature.
"Shit I forgot to study," Roxanne said to herself she looked at the quiz paper as if it's some sort of unknown language. She pursed her lips for she knows this is going to be a hard one.
"Okay class, timer starts now. You have 30 minutes to finish," their English teacher announced as he looked at his silver wristwatch.
~TIMESKIP~
"Okay, 30 minutes is over. Finished or not, submit your papers."
The class then started submitted their work to the center desk one by one.
"Oh God. Time's already out and I'm still stuck at the 7th item out of 25," she muttered to herself as she looked tensely at her unfinished work, pressing the tip of her forcefully against the paper.
In the whole class, she was the only one left still answering the quiz paper.
"You do know that I said time is up, right, Miss Forrest?" the teacher made himself clear.
"Y-Yes sir..." she dropped the pen on her desk, got her paper and headed to the center desk and gave the quiz paper to him.
"You do know you're not going to pass highschool at this rate, do you?"
"Y-Yes sir."
She headed back to her seat, disappointed with herself.
"Dad IS right.
I AM useless.
Maybe if I wasn't in the way,
Mom wouldn't have died.
I hate myself."
She folded her arms on her desk, and resting her head face-down against her arm and pretended to be asleep.
Seeing Roxanne like this and thinking she was crying, Mia patted her back and asked, "Roxanne, you okay?"
"Yeah...I'm just tired and sleepy because of all that stuff yesterday though..." she replied in a muffled tone.
"I see..." Mia knew this wasn't the time to talk about what happened. She'd just wait for the right opportunity and do everything in her power to help Roxanne.
"So...how was the quiz?" Toris asked Natalia.
"Well it was okay..." Natalia replied calmly.
"You?"
"So-so," he replied as he scratched his head.
"How about you, Maddie?" Natalia rotated her body to talk to her as she gripped the back of the chair.
"Well...I could say it's fine...I guess...?" Maddie replied as she smiled shyly.
"W-Wait Natalia, someone was sitting behind you the whole time?!" Toris was shocked to see someone was sitting behind her the whole time. He realized that just now.
"Oh of course. I can see her very well," Natalia explained.
"No...it's okay, really...People don't notice me that much..." she told them shyly as she scratched her cheek.
"Well...don't you have any friends?" Toris asked.
"No..." Maddie responded with a lonely tone in her face.
"Well...you can always become friends with us if you like..."
"Really? You mean that?" her face brightened up in delight.
"Of course!"
"Thank you so much, both of you!" she exclaimed in a cheerful, delighted tone.
Toris and Natalia both smiled.
"You're welcome," the both said at the same time.
"Okay class, tomorrow I'll hand in the quiz results. See y'all tomorrow," their teacher announced as he held the bundled-up quiz papers with both hands.
"Goodbye class."
"Goodbye sir," the class responded.
"So Maddie...wanna hang out sometime with me, Natalia and Feliks?" Toris added.
"Of course!" Maddie exclaimed happily, her violet eyes sparkling with delight.
Somebody finally noticed her.
Normally, people would just pass by her as if she didn't exist at all.
For long, she was lonely and didn't have a friend in the world.
But now, for the first time since forever, she actually had friends.
And with that, she was happy.
"Anyway, let's talk again at snacks break, okay~?" Maddie added, as she was aware that Biology class was next.
"Okay," Natalia rotated her body back to its original position, facing front.
"I think she was just like me from before.
Alone, lonely, and without a friend in the world.
It's as if she's invisible.
This girl must feel sad.
But I wonder if we made her happy though,"
Natalia thought, recalling her lonely past self.
~TIMESKIP~
Snacks break.
Feliks stood up from his seat and ran towards Toris's and Natalia's place.
"Hey guys! Like totes, what's up~?" Feliks remarked cheerfully as he waved his arm at them.
"Hey there..." Natalia said, looking at him calmly.
"So what was up with you a while ago?" Feliks asked, wrapping his arm around Natalia's shoulders and kneeled down.
"No..it's nothing really...just me going out of control..." she replied as she eventually bit her lip.
"It's actually about that picture that was posted on the message board though..." Toris blurted out in a surprisingly calm manner.
"Umm..that was causing the commotion earlier I think..." Maddie said in her usual shy demeanor.
"Oh? And who might you be?" Feliks asked, for he had never seen her before.
"I'm Maddie Williams..." she replied with a smile.
"Oh well nice to meet you! I'm Feliks!" he said confidently as he outstretched his arm.
"Nice to meet you too!" she took his hand and shook it. They then let go of each other's hands and then looked at Natalia.
"So Natalia...is there...something we can do for you about that post on the message board...?" Maddie asked.
"No...I don't want to trouble you, so..." Natalia muttered, not finishing her sentence. Feliks unwrapped his arm off of Natalia's shoulders and exclaimed in a determined tone, "Let's get rid of that post for sure!"
"Now let's go!" Feliks ran off towards the school's message board energetically.
"W-Wait for me!" Maddie exclaimed as she went after him.
"They didn't have to do that," Natalia said as she looked at them running off.
"It's fine. Let them be. Besides, what they're doing is for your own good," Toris explained with a smile.
"But I really don't want them to get in trouble because of me though..." Natalia said as she looked away, a worried expression imprinted on her face.
"Don't worry. Feliks has done many 'spy-jobs' in his entire life and always gets away with it," Toris smiled at her.
"Haha. I hope so," Natalia smiled with her focused on the floor.
For a short while, they just sat beside each other on their seats, not knowing what to talk about.
And out of the blue, Roxanne and Mia showed up in front of them.
"Oh well you look at that. It's the lovers left silent, not knowing what to say~" Roxanne said mockingly as she folded her arms in front of her.
Natalia didn't say anything.
She just sat there silently as she pursed her lips and clenched her fist.
"Look, just stop it okay? She didn't even do anything," Toris protested.
"Oh~ He's defending his lover. How sweet~" Mia said mockingly.
"How cute~" Roxanne poked Toris's cheek.
"W-Why..?" Natalia muttered, shaking slightly as she clenched her fist tightly.
"Why?" Roxanne repeated in a childish tone.
"Let me think," Roxanne said, as she poked her finger at her cheek.
"Oh wait that's right. You fucking stole my popularity you attention-whore," she said, facing Natalia closer, fixing her gaze on her eyes. Natalia felt insulted. She took her clenched fist, ready to aim it at her face.
"Oh, some little resistance, eh?" Roxanne smirked.
"Agh, why can't I hit her?
Why isn't my arm moving?
Why is it just floating mid-air?"
Natalia thought as she locked on her target on Roxanne's face, glaring at her aggressively.
"Can't seem to do it, hm?" Roxanne grabbed Natalia's fist, bending her arm backwards and bringing Natalia along with it to the floor with Roxanne pinning her down.
"Hey, let her go!" Toris demanded as tried to pull Roxanne away by the waist.
"Don't fucking interfere!" Roxanne hit his stomach with her elbow, whose impact sent his head hitting the floor.
"So, honey..." Roxanne leaned in closer, pinning Natalia by her right arm to the floor.
"If you try to resist...
...You'll know what would happen," she whispered to her ear. With this, Natalia widened her eyes in uncertainty, not knowing what could happen next.
"Okay?" she smiled at her sarcastically.
Natalia nodded.
Roxanne leaned back upright to her original position, sitting Natalia's thighs with her legs apart. She stood back up and smirked at her for a final time.
"Until then, Natalia~" she waved her hand at Natalia and left for the cafeteria with Mia.
"Ugh..my head.." Toris groaned as he rubbed his head as he sat on the floor, with his left hand serving as support.
"Natalia are you okay?" he checked, worried of what happened just a little while ago.
There, Natalia was still lying on the floor motionless.
"Natalia?" he reached out to grab her shoulders.
"Hey, say something," he told as he shook her shoulders.
Still no response.
Just a blank look on her face with her eyes widened.
"Hey!" he made her sat upright as he grabbed her shoulders.
"Say something!"
Natalia hung her head from her shoulders, as if she was a lifeless mannequin.
Natalia blinked, showing signs of responses.
She blinked again and went back to her usual self, "I'm sorry. I snapped again," she shrugged.
"Oh thank God you're back," Toris sighed in relief.
"Anyway, you're gripping on my wound," Natalia said as she felt a sharp pain on her left shoulder.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Toris said as he let go of her shoulders, stood up and then helped her up.
"So are you okay now?"
"Yeah..." Natalia replied.
"Ooh, so this is what they were talking about," Feliks commented as she saw the photo on the message board.
"Well...nobody's around so let's take the post down then..." Maddie insisted.
"Let's just do it. And fast."
Maddie ripped the photo off of the message board while Feliks took down the tacks and removed the caption.
Carefully, they put those in their pockets and threw it in a nearby garbage bin.
"Okay let's go," Feliks said.
And they scurried off towards their classroom.
"Hey Toris, Natalia!" Maddie exclaimed as she waved her arm at them.
"What's up?" Natalia asked, as if nothing happened.
"Like totally, we took down that post off the message board!" Feliks blurted out.
"You did? Well...thanks...I guess..." Natalia replied.
"Hope your covers doesn't get blown though," Toris chuckled.
"Of course not! Nobody's even here in the classroom asides us!" Feliks said confidently.
"Anyway...let's get some snacks, shall we...?" Maddie insisted.
"Sure!"
~TIMESKIP~ (again)
Everyone was dismissed from the class.
Roxanne headed outside the classroom by herself, her bag hung from her left arm, since Mia had cheerleading practice.
She passed through the corridors, the locker area, and eventually the message board. She looked at the message board to see the post had disappeared.
"Oh, you like resisting, huh? Well I'll give you something to resist.
You attention-whore..." Roxanne smirked evilly, another plan brewing up in her mind.
-CHAPTER 4 END-
(Oh well gaiz, that was the end of it. Sorry for the multiple timeskips though. XD I ran out of creativity. Anyway gaiz, as you have noticed, Natalia keeps switching her mood from time to time, and seems overly anxious.
So...I was guessing she'd have some sort of mental disorder.
Any suggestions? 8D)