Waking Up As The Bullied Nerd

CHAPTER 8

I watched enough TV shows way back to be fooled that high school was about hanging out with friends, romance, and very minimal schoolwork. But those shows were all a lie.

However, living as Olivia Grace made me realize a few things that opened my eyes to how high school works these days: It's a war zone of stress, studying, hunger, and most of all, people looking down on you because you’re an easy target. I only came to realize this, the reason why Olivia was being bullied by some kids at this school. She’s part of the top and out of all them, Olivia was the easiest one to drag down.

But there was one thing they forgot to consider, I’m not some pushover they could do whatever they want. The one they were dealing with wasn't the same timid and quiet person. She was someone who grew up in the lowest and scummiest part of life.

I establish my own rules while dealing with these teenagers.

Return what they give you.

A few days into school, I'm very aware of the hostility directed toward me. Obviously, it hurts their pride that someone like me was able to snag a spot on the honor list. It feels like I don't know my place. That's why they're working together to drag me down.

I woke up a little late since I was reading the books that were together with me inside Olivia's room. I made an effort to study but failed miserably. I tried, okay? Now, I'm rushing like crazy getting ready for school. It's an ordeal for me, but I have to do it anyway. I didn't even wake up that early when I was studying.

When I arrived a room away from my classroom, I noticed that the back door was shut, unlike yesterday. I thought it could happen sometimes and left it as it is. Everyone was scattering around, talking and having friendly conversations since the teacher wasn't around.

I would have dismissed it as normal. However, I noticed something up the front door and a bunch of girls in front, while the seats w.

A side of my lips curled up and a smirk naturally formed on my lips. That's cute.

I started walking again and opened the door. The faces of the students hanging at the front had mischievous expressions. Because something was coming down.

I, Lilian, who was born with amazing senses and incredible timing, felt something was coming down on my head. I quickly took a step back and accurately punched the falling object forward. Which, to my surprise, was a bucket filled with dirty water.

A few drops landed on my hand. The stench was awful and I couldn’t take the idea of letting that smell stay in my hands. Instead of entering the classroom, I went to the nearest bathroom first to wash my hands. I never glanced at where the bucket flew and left the room without care.

Her classmates were left in shock. They were processing what happened. In front of them were a few girls who were known to be quite mean to Olivia, drenched and smelling like sweaty socks. The bucket that Olivia punched flew right into them and the water spilled, causing them to get soaked.

They planned to dump dirty water on Olivia. It was that simple, but why did the ones who planned it be the ones drenched and smelly? A few who witnessed the scene laughed while the people who got wet had burning rage in their eyes.

Show them you’re not easy prey.

I was at the cafeteria, about to eat lunch although I had a grand plan of quietly eating inside my classroom. That was the plan but this school strictly implements that meals should be taken at the cafeteria and not inside the classroom.

Salome and Felipe own and manage a restaurant in the city which had their hands full in that. There was a lot of work, so they had to wake up early and leave to get a good start. I offered to help them with a lot of things, but they were worried that it would be too much of a burden for me.

Besides that, I needed recuperation because I recovered from a car accident.

They were nice enough to cook my breakfast for me but didn’t have enough time in their hands to cook me lunch. Since they were busy with their business, I had no other choice but to cook it myself. And the results were alright since I discovered I had a talent for creating disasters inside the kitchen.

I could have skipped lunch. It wasn't like I hadn't eaten two meals every day in the past. But there was something that was making me eat lunch and that was Salome worrying about my thin arms.

When I walked into the crowded hall, a few eyes were directed at me, some ignored my presence. It must be because I started to act differently from what the people in the school could remember.

I lined up and picked up a tray. While waiting in the queue, I looked around and found a vacant seat that was in a corner. I couldn't be more satisfied. After getting my food and paying, I quickly walked to the spot I was eyeing.

Let's eat quickly and leave.

But eating quickly didn't go as planned. My way was blocked by two people who obviously had no plans of letting me through anytime soon. He was practically throwing glares at me as if he was going to devour me whole.

"Excuse me—"

Spat!

Before I could excuse myself, the tray I was carrying had spit on it.

The people who saw what happened either laughed or felt disgusted. The guy who spat on my food had a triumphant smile on his face. I bowed my head, trying to keep my cool about this. But the more I try to convince myself that it was okay, the pettier I feel.

How about I spit on your ugly face, b#stard?

He was about to walk past me, but before he could go I grabbed the hem of his uniform. It made him stop in his tracks and turned around. I was still holding the tray he spat on, not putting it down on the nearest table.

I raised my head again, enough for him to see the entirety of my face. The sides of my lips curved up and I flashed the sweetest smile I could muster.

"Oh, you were so hungry that you drooled over my food," I said with a puzzled expression with a chirpy voice. I could see the confusion on their faces. I could tell he wasn’t expecting the way I acted. No one would actually think I’ll smile this whole thing, really.

"Are you out of—"

"I'll give you this," I cut him off before he could finish what he was about to say. I had one hand hold up the tray and threw the whole thing straight to his face, without any remorse or hesitation.

Splank!

Cling clank!

The tray I was holding was now on the ground, but the food that was there was scattered all over his face and body. The whole cafeteria fell silent.

Peter, who had his face covered with food, slowly reads what happened to him.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" He wanted to rush at me and grab my collar. He was barely restraining himself since there were a lot of eyes looking at him.

"Why are you mad? I thought you liked what I did," I asked him innocently, which left him speechless.

"Are you out of your mind?! How could I like getting food on my face?!!" He shouted at me. His arms were held by Vince, restraining him from doing anything to me since there were a lot of people.

The sides of my mouth were still grinning all the way. However, I answered him by looking him straight in the eye with a dagger stare.

"I gave up my lunch for you since you looked like you were hungry. The fault lies in you failing to receive what I gave you nicely."

I'll eat on the way back.

Provoking me won't do you any good.

It was time for the Physical Education subject. And we had to play dodgeball. Of course, being an outcast had more disadvantages than one thinks it has, but being left out wasn't that bad at all. The good thing about it was I didn't have to act all friendly with people younger than me.

I was on the dodging side. The shirt I was wearing was white, with maroon track pants that had STECA stitched on them with golden threads. My hair, which I left untied, was in a knot today.

I wasn’t enthusiastic about the whole situation at all.

I know where this is going.

"Okay, be good everyone. I'll go out for a bit. Be sure to play nicely and be a good sport. Class president, take charge while I’m gone," the PE teacher says, before leaving his students inside the covered gymnasium.

The classmates that were hostile to me were practically laughing at me. Their eyes shone brightly as if they gave me bad vibes. But who cares?

"You're dead" Someone whispered while passing by my side.

I ignored their cute threats and got to position with the other kids. But they avoided me as if I was carrying some plague that’d kill them. Before I knew it, I was left alone standing at one side of the gym.

Seven. The number of kids that were in front of me was seven. Each holding a ball and eyeing me pathetically. It wasn't like the sight made my knees tremble or made me stammer. The whole thing simply made me bored.

I was tired of everything this school had. Cunning teenagers and pain in the neck lectures. And now, tiresome PE classes. If I had to choose between going into debt again or being at this school, I would gladly be working indiscriminately for another number of years.

"Start!" Someone shouted out of nowhere and followed by a whistle.

Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

A series of balls flew in my direction. My arms, legs, and even my stomach were already hit by the aggressive balls, but the throwing wouldn't stop. It was obvious. They were bullying me.

I was about to raise my hands in surrender, but a ball came towards me and—

Blag! Bonk!

"Who says it was over?"

A classmate of mine blurted out confidently. My face stung because of the hit. I think I was having a nosebleed too since I saw blood on my palms. This crossed the line.

"Hey, b#stard! what do you think you're doing!?" I asked, removing my hand that was covering my face. I was pissed. I never would have thought that these kids would go and do something below the belt.

"What a bad sport you are." I couldn't continue what I was about to say.

"I'm guessing your parents were the only people you played with—oh wait, you don't have one pfft....." and everyone who heard what he said laughed as well.

Should I feel insulted? No.

Why? Because it was true in my case as well. Feeling offended never passed through my mind. From my perspective, I saw this as a children's fight.

But. I was feeling a little petty.

"I guess this orphan outranked a spoiled brat that would definitely cry at his mommy whenever the test results are out." I didn't have to guess. It was so obvious how to trigger him.

The guy was holding another ball in his hand. His face had a dark expression plastered on it. Seems like I hit the spot.

He raised his hand that was holding the ball and threw it in my direction with a lot of force. I had a choice to simply dodge it, but they got on my nerves. Besides, I never back down when someone wants to provoke me.

The ball flew harshly and trailed its way to my face, but its destination was obstructed by a sudden hand that got in between the ball and my face.

It's been a while since I played dodgeball.

I looked at the guy who threw the ball at me. His face had amazement all over it, looking at how skillfully I caught the moving ball. A sweet smile was later drawn onto my small face, which startled the ones looking at me.

"Guess it's my turn to do the hitting."

The ball that was in my hand was thrown upward. I took two steps back, raised a leg, and then—

Baam!

The ball was perfectly kicked before it completely went down. It was spinning at an oddly fast rate and was moving toward the crowd that was throwing balls at me. Everything that happened felt like slow motion to them. And the one who hit my face was the one who was also hit in the face by the ball I kicked.

The impact made him stagger and collapse from where he was standing. There was no bleeding since the ball only hit his cheek. I smirked at the shocked people before going to the bunch of balls that were thrown at me a moment ago.

When I was in grade and middle school, I was complimented a lot for having a solid kick. I was also the ace of the soccer club when I was in grade school and excelled in judo when I attended middle school.

Balls were flying toward where the bullies were standing. I aimed for their guts, arms, legs, and sometimes their faces. For the first time, I was genuinely enjoying what was happening.

After all the balls were kicked in their direction, the bullies were on the ground, crouching due to the pain caused by my kicking.

If these kids were to be hit by my kicks from my body, they would probably faint after one hit.

"Hey, you little b#tch! Do you think we'll let this pass?!" One of them threatened, but I was already wearing my bored look while squatting on the ground alone.

I was about to ignore his existence completely, but I remembered what he said to me.

"Ah, what a bad sport you are."

I made sure my voice was loud enough for everyone to hear what I was saying.

"Are you embarrassed because your teammates got overpowered by one girl?" I asked him with a voice filled with mockery and a smug look. This was my revenge. I got up and I stretched out my body to throw another ball and the people from the other side cowered in fear.

I smirked at the sight and started walking to where they were, closing the gap that was separating us. I don’t know what expression I had on my face but the way they were reacting told me it was enough to make them fear me.

I yanked the guy’s face who threw the ball at me, forcing his sight to meet mine. I pushed my face closer to him and I could see in his eyes he was too terrified to move. I moved my mouth close to his ears and whispered to him.

“Listen, you little piece of sh#t. If you ever get into my line of sight again, I’ll make sure to make your life a living hell,” his body got frozen stiff when my breath brushed his skin. “Haven’t you ever wondered why I came back from the dead and remembered nothing? I’m not your little Olivia Grace who wimps out because of misfits like you. I’m a monster who got kicked out of hell because Satan couldn’t handle me anymore.” I forcibly threw his body away from mine when I released him from my grasp. The whole place fell dead silent. If there was something.

"You—!!" The guy recovered in a moment and before he could say something, our PE teacher arrived and continued class while I left them there using the accident as an excuse.

All my childish actions were quite petty, but the results were satisfactory. It made half of the bullies stop, while the other half provoked me but were the ones who were defeated. Honestly, under the guise of protecting the body I was in, the real reason why I fought back would probably be the fact that my old nature was resurfacing due to other people's provocation.

It was refreshing. I very much enjoyed the chaos that was made due to all my actions. Olivia was known throughout STECA for being an honor student and for other reasons. But thanks to me, Olivia became famous for another thing. They even gave me a nickname.

"Be careful. You don't want to mess with her."

"I heard the rumor that she defeated Peter Roxas and his minions alone."

"I'm seeing her in a new light."

"Maybe getting hit by a car made her lose her sanity. Poor orphan."

"Shhh, you better not call her that. I heard those people who called her 'orphan' got their faces smashed!"

"You should be careful when she smiles sweetly at you. That's the moment when you messed up big time."

"So, she's that mad b#tch?"

Those were the rumors going around on the campus. Although I expected this to happen the moment I decided to break loose, I never expected those rumors to get exaggerated.

Besides, the rumor that I destroyed the students' faces who called me an orphan wasn't true. I simply stared at them blankly, but they panicked and got their faces smacked with a pole.

The last few days of being stared at and talked about made me uncomfortable. It was only natural to fight back when their bullying got out of hand. They were the ones at fault, not me.

This morning, instead of riding the bus, I decided to take Olivia's bike and use it to go to school. If I had known there was a bicycle present, I wouldn't have spent money that wasn't mine on bus fares. Although I was using the money for the owner's benefit, it still felt weird living a life where money simply came into my hands.

I arrived at school earlier than usual. I planned on doing this for the rest of the time I was staying inside that body.

The hallways were pretty quiet, and only a few stares were directed toward me as I walked. This made me feel relieved for some reason.

As I was walking, coincidentally or not, I bumped into someone. I had my guard up and waited for this person to play a childish stunt on me, but for the first time in a while, nothing happened.

Instead, there was a low mumble apologizing. I mumbled sorry as well and continued walking away. I felt disinterest in his voice, and I had never met someone with the same dead voice as he had. I looked up since the guy was tall and yawning like he hadn't slept all night.

I was about to continue going to my classroom, but a hand stopped me from walking. I looked up and saw the guy I had bumped into a few seconds ago, but this time he wasn’t yawning nor did he look tired. His face lit up while he stared at me with intrigue and fascination.

He was a handsome guy with his chiseled jawline accentuated by the air of confidence that emanated from him. His piercing blue eyes were like windows into a hidden depth, captivating and entrancing all who dared to meet his gaze. Lucky enough, before I could drown I was able to pull myself together.

"It's you!"