During lunch period, Leia told Siobe and Winter that she'd rather sit at a table by herself, which startled her two friends.
"Leia, it's okay if you sit with us. Stop acting like an outcast, okay?" Winter reprimanded her sternly as they walked their way to the cafeteria.
"What if the mean girls gang up on you two?" Leia asked with a tone of apprehension.
"Oh, I'm always here, ready to defend you guys!" Siobe exclaimed. "I'm not afraid of anything, not even with those three bitches you're talking about!" Hearing this made Leia smile a little.
At the lunch line, Leia separated from Siobe and Winter to buy something else, while they chose to buy the meal of the day, the "Galactic Meal". It was Leia's favorite, but today, she has no appetite for it. It seems nothing could cheer her up, more so that the next class will be the class of Professor Westenro. It used to make her feel giddy and happy at the thought of meeting him, but now, she felt like she wanted to run away.
If only I could cut classes, she thought, as she pressed a button to the food vendo. Out came a sandwich and a juice drink. Leia took it out, thinking, but if I do, my grades will be the one to suffer. So, I have no choice but to endure the taunts and gossips of my classmates.
She was deep in thought that she didn't notice someone fast approaching her. It was the person she was hiding from, Tanya Strider.
At the sight of Leia, Tanya thought this was a perfect moment to shame her again. She walked faster upon seeing Leia, who didn't notice her presence, and on purpose, bumped into her. Tanya happened to be bringing a bowl of soup along with her lunch tray, and the soup spilled all over Leia's uniform.
Leia gasped as the hot soup spilled on her, while she lost hold on the things she was bringing, and recognized the person who did it. Her eyes widened at the sight of Tanya in front of her. Her two sidekicks, Elaine and Antoinette, came up from behind her, smiling meanly.
"Oh... sorry..." Leia mumbled as she picked up her food, which fell on the floor.
Tanya loved the scared look on her face. "Now you spilled my soup!" she exclaimed, pretending to be angry. "Why don't you look where you're going next time?"
Leia just stood there, flabbergasted, and can't think of anything to say. She wanted to run away from her shadow, but the more she tried to do so, the more fate allow them to see each other in the most unlikely places.
"What are you looking there, huh?" Tanya asked her meanly as she raised an eyebrow at her. "Plan to tell me to your boyfriend, Professor Wes? Well, don't try to do so, for it's your fault for being so stupid!" Tanya started to laugh mockingly at her, along with her two cronies.
By that time, a crowd was starting to form around them. Leia was shamed again for the second time, and for the second time around, she didn't know what to do. It's like she was glued to that spot and couldn't get out.
"Look at her highness!" Tanya exclaimed to the crowd of people gathered around there. Leia could see a few girls whispering. "I can't believe she's so stupid!" She said in between laughs. "You're such a shame to the Organa family, Leia! Maybe because you're adopted, that's why!"
Leia felt like crying again. Of all things she hated the most, it was being insulted by somebody who barely knew her. And how the heck did Tanya know about her heritage? No one knew it at school except for her closest friends. Did one of them betray me? The thought of being betrayed by one of her friends was something she could never handle, more so the thought of it.
The people were now beginning to whisper, "Leia's adopted?"
Tanya answered, "In case you're wondering, I happen to learn about this on the Holo-Web, and that's right, Leia's adopted! She's not an Organa!" Her voice was audible enough to be heard through the entire canteen.
Leia froze in horror. How did she find out about it?
"Why are you so quiet there, Princess? It's true, isn't it? You're not a real princess after all! I bet your father never really loved you!"
"No one treats Leia that way!" A voice from behind her exclaimed. With one swift motion, Siobe entered the small circle and pounced upon Tanya. Leia backed up as the two girls started pulling each other's hair. The crowd cheered wildly as Siobe and Tanya fought with each other.
"Who the hell do you think you are, bitch?" Tanya asked angrily as she pulled Siobe's blonde hair and slapped her face. Siobe managed to come on top of her and pinned her to the ground.
She pulled a fistful of Tanya's hair strongly and said, "For your information, you're more of a bitch than me! And don't call Leia stupid! Bet you did that on purpose, right!" With that, she gave a strong hit on Tanya's forehead, which made her wince in pain.
"You're the stupid one!" Siobe exclaimed as she scratched her perpetuator's face.
"And it looks like as if Princess found someone who'll save her, huh?" Tanya said mockingly as she pounced on Siobe and tried to scratch her face. But she managed to defend herself and got over Tanya again.
"Stop it!" Leia exclaimed as Winter came to her aid, saying "Let's get out of here!"
"Why just stand there, Leia?" Siobe asked as she continued to fight with Tanya. "She insulted you! Go ahead and defend yourself!"
"Her highness is a scaredy cat, don't you know that?" Tanya asked, shouting.
"Even though she is one, she's better off than you!" Siobe shouted in return.
The fighting continued until a teacher came to intervene. Both girls stopped upon seeing a teacher stood in front of them. "What are you girls fighting about?"
"Ma'am, she started it!" Tanya pointed to Siobe.
"Well, she started everything, because she was insulting my friend!" Siobe pointed back at Tanya. Both girls glared nastily at each other.
"Go with me to the Principal's Office, right now!" the teacher said angrily. The two girls stood up, looking like a mess. The teacher looked at the crowd of students around them and said, "Go back to your places!"
The students started to go separate ways but still looked on as the teacher lead Siobe and Tanya to the Principal's Office. "All right, tell me who started this," she told Siobe. Tanya already had lots of disciplinary cases filed against her, and the teacher chose to listen to Siobe's account of the fight, because Tanya was known to be a liar and a dishonest person among the teachers.
"She did, because she insulted Leia!" Siobe exclaimed angrily. Tanya was about to get back at her but the teacher came in between them, preventing them from doing so.
"It's you again, Ms. Strider?" The teacher asked furiously.
"But ma'am, Leia knocked me and I spill my soup on the floor, because she's so stupid!" Tanya replied, pretending to look innocent.
The teacher stewed for a while, and turned to look at Leia, who stood nearby along with Winter. "Ms. Organa, come with me." Without any word, she came and walked with them, while Winter bade them farewell.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"She insulted Leia and told the whole school that's she's adopted!" Siobe angrily narrated to the principal, Mr. Althor, who was intently listening to the entire story as Siobe told everything in front of the authorities.
Mr. Althor nodded and turned to Tanya. "You blurted out that Leia's adopted? How did you find out about it?"
"On the Holo-Web," Tanya replied in a low voice, now looking like she's so kind and innocent.
"Where in the Holo-Web did you find it? No one in this school knows about Leia's heritage except..."
"Ms. Strider, admit it," the female teacher told her, which turned out to be her adviser, Ms. Zena. "Did you tamper the school records?"
"But Ma'am Zena, I..."
"DID YOU?" She asked. Tanya sighed and said, "Yes. I opened the school records on the Holo-Web.
"You broke the password?"
"No!" she denied.
"But how did you managed to open it without knowing the password?"
"I...I..." Tanya stammered and then, she finally admitted it. "Yes. I used this device called the 'Code Breaker', which enables you to know secret passwords. I brought it from a smuggler the other day."
"You brought it for the purpose of putting Leia to shame, isn't it?" Ms. Zena asked angrily. Tanya just sat there without saying a word.
"Well, this solves it," Mr. Althor concluded. "Ms. Strider, I want that password breaker of yours confiscated the next day. As punishment, you spend a week in detention starting tomorrow. And as for you, Ms. Iwa," he added as he looked at Siobe, "Today you also spend the rest of the afternoon in detention, both of you and Ms. Strider. But with you, Ms. Iwa, only for this day, since it's your first offense."
"Should you kick Tanya out of the cheering squad, Mr. Althor?" Ms. Zena suddenly asked him.
"Hmmm... that's a good idea, since she has so many cases already." Mr. Althor said in agreement.
"But Ma'am, Mr. Althor, please don't!" Tanya pleaded desperately.
"Tanya, I thought of this since so many chances have been given to you and yet, you didn't mend your ways," Ms. Zena said sternly.
"But it's Leia's fault and..."
"Ms. Organa has nothing to do with this, Ms. Strider," Mr. Althor told her. "From now on, you're not part of the cheering squad anymore."
"It can't be... it can't be..." Tanya mumbled, and glared at Leia angrily, thinking, I hate you! How come you always get your way?
The bell rang. Mr. Althor said, "Dismissed. Ms. Iwa and Ms. Strider, go to the detention chamber after classes. Ms. Organa, stay here for a while. All of you, you may go." Ms. Zena, Tanya, and Siobe stood up and went out of the office. When they were gone, Mr. Althor asked Leia, "Are you okay?"
Leia, who was still in a daze, said, "I'm fine, sir."
"Was it Tanya who spilled the soup on you on purpose?"
She nodded, and kept her head low, for she was already in tears. "Even if the whole school knows that you're adopted, it won't make you less of a person. Don't cry about it. It's okay," he said soothingly.
Leia stood up and proceeded to go, but before that, the principal gave her an extra skirt, which he kept in case of emergencies, and told her to change to make up for the dirtied skirt she wore. She thanked him gratefully.
Before she returned to her classroom, she changed her skirt and had a good cry inside the toilet cubicle. As she cried inside, she thought before how being adopted made her feel special and loved by her parents. She recalled telling her grade one class, "I'm Leia Organa, and I grew in my mother's heart instead of in her tummy!" with a wide smile on her face.
But now, she felt so disgusted with herself. She doubted whether her father loved her truly, and felt a surge to know about her heritage, of which she never knew about. Who am I, really? She asked herself.
When she was done crying, Leia washed her face so that it won't be obvious that she cried, and returned to their classroom. She chanced upon Professor Westenro in the middle of his lecture. She felt the prying eyes of her classmates as she returned to her seat, and Professor Westenro just smiled sadly at her. She spent the rest of the day quietly, but deep inside, she felt fearful about what had happened.
Now that Tanya's out of the cheering squad, will she be meaner to me? I'm sure she will. How will I fight back? Leia wrote on the back of her notebook.
That afternoon, when Leia was about to board the tram to get home, Winter accompanied her just to make sure that she's okay. Both didn't stopped by the school rooftop to be with their other friends, as Leia didn't feel like doing so.
When both were at the palace gate, Winter gave her a hug and said, "Don't be sad about it, Lelila. Be brave, and remember that we love you."
She wiped her mist-filled eyes and said, as she hugged her back, "Thank you, Winter, for being there for me."
Later on, as Leia was about to do her assignments, a slip of paper fell from her notebook. She opened it, and found out that Winter secretly slipped a note inside. It said:
You have a light inside you that no one can take away. They can try, but they won't be able to take it away from you. You're a fighter, Leia, and I believe in you.
It made her smile, and realized that she has the power to stand up for herself.
I promise you, Winter, I'll make my light shine through.