Waking Up As The Bullied Nerd

CHAPTER 7

I'm Olivia Grace now.

It amazes me how small the world is to have our paths crossed again in the most unlikely way possible.

It’s nice to see him doing well and living a normal life. He looked healthy enough and that’s all that mattered, really. Do I hate him? No, I don’t. I am upset. And even when I was still Lilian John, he disappeared from my life. It was as if I didn't matter. We only spent a short time together, about two months, but those months were some of the most memorable ones in my life.

And then, like that, he left without a word for me as if it didn’t mean anything.

The warmth I felt faded away as the truth sunk in. Now, I found myself sitting in the back seat of the classroom, far away from the only person I knew in this unfamiliar place. I guess he’ll never know it’s me.

Yeah, this wasn't seven years ago, and we're far from Hessen. We're strangers now.

I felt a sting in my chest, but I ignored it. If I wanted to live as Olivia Grace, I had to get my act. Olivia Grace is not someone from Hessen who spent two months with him in some out of business dojo. She was someone else—I am someone else.

The teacher began the class as announced. All the students seemed attentive, listening and taking notes on everything important. As for me, I didn't know what to do. I took out a pen and notebook, but I had no clue what they were talking about or what I should be doing at all.

The first subject I had today was a part of science that I'm not very knowledgeable of. We were discussing some organic chemicals, and all a sudden, the teacher started drawing some hexagons on the board. Although the subject itself was difficult, I did manage to understand a little bit of what the teacher was talking about. If the teacher was not good at teaching things, I might have strayed away for the first few minutes. But I ended up getting lost after half an hour.

The rest of the day went by like that. In summary of what I experienced today, the classes were pure torture.

I couldn't help but wonder, was school ever this hard? Did I become a complete i***t without knowing it? Who even started Calculus?! What even is Calculus?

There was this strange discussion about war in one of the classes, even though everything seems to be completely peaceful around here. It was quite confusing.

I’m tired.

By the end of the day, I was hungry and mentally exhausted. The last class had ended a while ago, but there were still a few students left in the classroom. I rested my head on the table, feeling completely drained. It felt like my brain was wrung dry because it had no functional brain cells. High school had definitely caught me off guard.

My head was hurting from all the new information I had been exposed to. Well, I can't say I learned much. It gave me a bad case of headaches. I wanted to sleep in class, but I had to maintain the image of an honor student. I forced myself to take down notes for Olivia when we switched back. Most of them were unreadable, but at least I tried.

If I were in high school as well, I would barely get a passing grade because nothing makes sense to me. During Physics class, we have to analyze the forces acting on a rolling ball.

Why do we have to analyze a ball for f#cking sake? A ball rolls because it’s round!

I can't understand anything in any subject I’ve been through at all. It's only my first day of class, but everything that's happening feels like torture. Maybe I made the right decision to stop going to school.

I hate math, science, and history. I f#Cking hates everything.

Oh, and don't even get me started on gravity and air resistance. Our physics class has become so complicated because those things exist. I hate physics too, now.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to just... Well, I don't even want to think about it.

My random thoughts are interrupted when someone kicks my table. My head, which already hurts, throbs even more because of what this unidentified spawn of the devil did. It was already hurting more than I could bear but someone had to get on my nerves.

This jerk wants to push my buttons.

I lifted my head and saw a group of students who looked familiar to me. I felt like I’ve seen them before but I have no idea where and when. The one who kicked my table is the b#stard who had his foot near my table.

"Hey, cheater~ Come with us for a sec," he said in a singsong voice and pulled my arm in a harsh manner, causing my bag to fall from the table. I picked it up in a swift manner and hooked it up on my shoulder.

I stared at the guy who was pulling my shoulders, feeling a mix of confusion and annoyance. My mouth opened up, and I couldn't help but ask, "Who are you again?"

He smiled and tightened his grip on my arm. "I'm Peter, and now come with me for a while because we have some reminiscing to do," he spoke while gritting his teeth. Did I touch a sensitive nerve?

Before I knew it, I was being dragged out of the classroom by this group of unidentified teenagers whose faces I could barely remember. My bag was hanging on my shoulders, so I let the guy drag me along.

I could use a break anyway.

As I was being dragged, I recalled the imaginary list I had made to survive high school as Olivia Grace. There were only three things I had prepared a day before starting school.

One, I had to act like Olivia.

Two, I had to keep a low profile.

And lastly, I had to stay out of trouble.

I was particularly worried about the first one. How could I act like Olivia when I’m the dumbest person here? It felt bad enough to degrade my own intelligence like this. However, it was the only way to describe my brain capacity—or lack thereof.

Thinking that the other two things on my list would be a breeze, I had given my full focus on fulfilling the first item—being Olivia very well. But little did I know that the situation would arise where even the third thing on my list would be shaken. The second one was doomed from the start, even before I stepped foot inside the campus.

And now, the current situation I find myself in is this:

I'm being dragged while students passing through the corridors stare at us. Well, what did I expect when I allowed myself to be dragged away by a scumbag like this? I wanted it to be over, so I decided to go along with it.

Before I knew it, we were at the back of the building. Without any further notice, Peter slammed my body against the wall.

Ouch.

This guy who named himself Peter shoved his face close to mine. I could see how he was holding the urge to do anything to me. In the first place, what did I even do to him? My head was lowered, so the four students couldn't see my reaction. But they seemed confident that I was feeling fearful.

"You acted all cocky because you can't remember us? Do you think the teachers will help you? They're cowards, you little b#tch."

I could tell that this guy wanted to see the trembling face that had fear across it. Or hear scared whimpers. Or being so apologetic to them.

And yet. There was no trembling.

No whimpers.

No apologies.

"Haaa..." I sighed in a very bored tone. I had enough of these brats’ bullsh#ts. I was not raised to tolerate this kind of behavior.

This made them flinch for a second but recovered right away. Before Peter or any of his friends could say anything, I only said one thing.

"Aren't you the coward?" I spoke with my head raised, my eyes throwing daggers at them. "You're the one who dragged me to a secluded place to avoid people who would definitely fight back. You're bullying one girl, so why bring it back up?"

I'm a very impatient person by nature. I know I need to have patience, especially since I have to pretend to be someone who hates getting into trouble like Olivia.

Olivia was a kind and gentle girl, from what I've heard from the people I live with and how kindly the people in the neighborhood treat her. She was raised right, and I know it. If I were in this situation, I would have let them do whatever they wanted and followed their orders.

But I'm not like her and will never be.

I'm p#sad and annoyed as hell. Who do these kids think they are to push me around like this? So, I decided to add another item to my list.

Four, f#ck this list.

"This b#tch's attitude needs fixing," he muttered, reaching my ears. It was adorable of him to say that to a grown woman who had bad patience.

He raised his right fist, planning to hit me in the face, but instead, it collided with the stone wall behind me. My head jerked to the left, cleanly avoiding the punch Peter had attempted. And then, out of nowhere, the memory of a compliment I received from my previous boss flashed.

"Your pretty face doesn't match your talent at all! Every guy here is so embarrassed because you destroy them the moment the match starts. That's why they call you a demon with a pretty face."

Yeah, other than a loyal dog and that nickname in Hessen, I was called that too.

Before Peter could retract his hand from punching the solid wall, I raised my knee and kicked him in the gut. I saw him clutching his stomach in pain. Without giving him a second to recover, I went for his throat, applying pressure and not letting go. And before I knew it, he was on his knees, coughing.

To deliver the finishing blow, I karate-chopped him on the back of his neck, causing Peter to fall down and lose consciousness.

Let's break loose for a while.

These moves were different from my usual repertoire. I usually need a good punch in the face, but given the body I was in now, I needed to use extra techniques to make him faint.

Peter's three minions were still processing what happened. The confusion in their faces was evident—getting a snicker out from me. They were sure that Peter was leading the bullying. But in a sudden turn of events, it was Peter lying on the ground, not the girl they were targeting—Olivia.

One of that brat’s minions recovered from the shock. He rushed towards me, raising his fist to attack.

"You little b#tch!" he spat, his fist ready to strike.

As someone experienced in fighting, I knew how to handle a move driven by pure emotion. I noticed how unguarded his weak spots were, so I let him approach me with his burning rage.

His punch was accompanied by a wide swing, which I countered by grabbing his arm and striking his chin with my elbow. Unlike in my previous body, where such a move would make opponents faint, the guy was left dizzy. I seized the opportunity and delivered a strike to the back of his head. Causing him to faint and fall to the ground

The remaining minions stood there, speechless and frozen. The last guy standing was in a daze before he noticed I was approaching him. Like his friend, he ran with an attack driven by pure emotion.

I dodged his attack and aimed for the back of his head, making him lose consciousness. The only remaining person standing, the girl among them, was in a state of shock. Overwhelmed by fear, she closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, knowing that she was defenseless against someone who could take down three guys so easily.

I spared the girl. What would I get if I mess her up as well? I’m not some kid who gets offended by a little diss. Despite closing her eyes tightly in fear, the sensation of impending pain slowly faded away. She cautiously opened her eyes, only to find that Olivia was no longer in front of her. She turned around and saw Olivia picking up her bag, dusting it off to remove the dirt that had accumulated on it.

* * *

A guy who was passing by saw everything that happened. He was at one corner, dragging a bag of trash that his bossy friend told him to throw. He saw everything that happened. From the way, the guy slammed the girl's body into the wall to show how the girl defeated three guys all by herself. He, being so indifferent to everything and finding anything annoying on his classmates' faces.

Not to mention the girl was familiar. He was sure he remembered seeing her from somewhere. But, knowing his personality, he couldn't even remember the faces of his classmates.

"She was so cool," he whispered, mesmerized by the show he saw. Although he finds it annoying, he'll do his best in remembering who she is.

He came back to the classroom with his face low and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. He was deeply thinking about who the cool girl was and where he saw her. His thoughts were interrupted by a sweet voice calling out his name.

"Liaaam~ what took you so long?" His friend was sitting in front of his other friend who was looking outside without caring about other people's stares.

"Coreen, I saw something cool today." He immediately said to his bossy friend. Her pale blue eyes widened in surprise. She stares at him, a few strands of his dark brown hair out of the hood of his jacket.

She expected him to come back grumbling after throwing the trash. Coreen was a little concerned about her friend's health since he sits all day and sleeps.

He didn't even glance once at their classmate who came back to school after recovering from a car accident.

"Really? Can you tell me about it?” Coreen watched his adorable deep blue eyes flutter with excitement. It was the first time in a while that she saw acting like that. She couldn't help but smile.

But, her worried expression came back when she glanced at her other friend who was staring outside the window. No matter how many times she looked at the guy, his beauty still made her speechless. Others would find his lifeless eyes exquisite but to her, it made her feel something was wrong with him.

"Sage, you coming with us?" She asked, Sage’s stare following Olivia as she walked out the campus.

"Hm," Sage muttered, standing up and grabbing his bag. “Let’s go.”