The Wallflower's Revenge

AWR Chapter 7: The bully's preference

The next day, everyone was talking about what happened to Eveelia. I can't still help celebrating deep inside of me. At least, she will learn her part of not being a bully to us even for a couple of days.

"Gosh I'm worried about Eveelia."

"Why do you say so?"

"Well, after that incident, she took the matter seriously and became sick. That's what her mother said from one of her girl friends."

I swallowed. What? Sick? How? Is she really capable of acquiring one? I slowly distanced myself from my top-gossipping classmates.

I'm sure she'll be sick for a maximum of two days and she'll definitely be back here to be a bully to everyone. No wonder, nobody doesn't want to spend time to be friends or even the initiative to be friends with her. Sometimes, she comes towards our classmates. She would often threaten them with nonsense words.

I sighed as I sat back on my chair with Lea sitting next to me.

"Jimmy is not here. It will not hurt if I will sit next to you."

"Have you heard the gossip around?"

"I'm not ignorant, Ley."

"So?" I replied shortly. For sure, my best friend is expecting a reaction from me. I looked at her so intently that she grinned at me. "Good for her," she mouthed as a response while moving her eyes around the room making sure nobody is observing us too. We tried our best to keep our voices low so that we could only hear it ourselves.

We all know and are aware that Eveelia's eyes and ears could be everywhere even without her presence. She has a lot of friends who constantly update her with the happenings both inside and outside the school.

After three days of being absent, Lea went back to class like nothing happened. She even made a lively entrance that is not surprising to everyone anymore. She entered the room with her signature looks, a lot of blings around her body. Even her uniform is so skimpy and short that it’s not even suited for a teenager anymore.

"Hey, bitches! Missed me?" She smiled as she spread her arms wide acknowledging herself. She’s also holding a lollipop on her left hand.

"Miss your ass," Muttered Lea who frowned at the very sight of her. She giggled and I knew she heard what Lea said. She has the sharpest ear in the world. She could hear even a drop of coin a kilometer away. She has the best ear for a gossiper, I can say. I noticed that she's even pleased if everybody will hate her for who she is. 

"Whew girl, is it true that you got sick because you're scared?" One of her bffs burst out laughing because she couldn't help it. I can see her reaction flared up. She looked at her best friend with gritted teeth but she managed to compose herself and smiled again to everyone.

"Scared? Who's scared?" She answered in a confident way but she's looking at me directly. It's the iciest stare I've ever seen.

"You saw a white lady along the Q hallway, right?"

"I've never seen anything. Don't believe in gossip."

"Then why did you just scream like a madman last time? You were even absent for three days."

"Relax, honey. I was just on vacation. Don't worry, I will never be absent again next time. For the gossip, I will make sure someone will be held accountable for it." She couldn't take her eyes off me. I could hear Lea grunting beside me too.

----

 We're sitting under the tree beside the large football field of our school. We had a one-hour break for lunch. We're at least thankful that not Eveelia's tails were near in sight. We’re always feeling anxious every time she’s around with her friends. It’s as if she’s born to be a walking disaster whenever there’s someone being alone. She  would often bully the nerds who can’t fight back and just cry from one corner.

“She’s always beating someone who can’t fight back. I don’t know what to call Eveelia anymore.”

“Yeah. I saw one girl that couldn’t fight back so she just cried  so hard she peed from her skirt. Eveelia witnessed the whole scene and even laughed at it aloud.”

“She’s pure evil. I think she’s the only one in this world that could ever do such horrible things for students around here.”

“She even took pictures and videos to  forward to the girl just to blackmail her just in case the girl won’t do the things she wanted her to do.”

"She's damned crazy.”

“I know, right?”

“Well, this is the tea. I never expected that she'd still deny everything that happened to her." Lea said as she ate her sandwich.

"Do you think what we did was too much? You know, sometimes, I can’t help but to feel guilty for what we did."

"Okay," She faced me, frowning. "Let me return that question to you, do you think that any form of bullying that she's doing to most of our classmates including you and me is not too much, too?"

"But we're no different from her if we repay bad with bad,"

"When did my best friend become a saint?"

"No, silly." I can't help but giggle. Lea's reaction was funny and touching at the same time. I can feel that she's very sincere about caring for me, too.

"You know what? That's wrong with you. I even had this impression on you when we first met."

"Tell me," I answered her.

"You're too introverted that you don't want others to even say "hi" to you."

"I don't know," I sighed. "Please don't get me wrong. I don't want to disturb people."

"Wow, since when did making friends be a disturbance?"

"Whenever I feel like making friends on my own, I could feel the pressure that's always building up on me.

"Is making new friends a 'disturbance' for you? Gosh, you're even weirder than I thought." I just laughed as an answer.

"Alright, back to the topic. What shall we do with Eveelia?" I said as I looked at her. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. She then blinked and looked at me as if an idea just hit her.

"Gosh, girl. I guess she's acting crazy but let's just be aware that Eveelia's surname is "hell". I'm sure she's brewing something we never knew of."

----

School is almost over for that day. I bit Lea goodbye as dad's car stopped in front of us. I waved Lea goodbye as the car went past her.

"I've seen Lea once, with you last time."

"Not a big deal, dad."

"And now, I'm seeing you both together again. Is she your best friend in school?"

"N-No, dad. She only happens to walk along with me whenever I will wait for you on that spot." I avoided his gaze. I knew that he was looking at me to observe my answers. This is what I hated about my dad. If he knows that I'm having friends in school, he'll communicate with that friend and monitor all my possible movements in school. I will be choked to death because of his being so strict.

"You know what you're not good at, Leylah?" He sounded serious.

I glanced at the rear mirror and our eyes met. He was the one who avoided my gaze first because he was driving.

"Lying," He added as I slowly swallowed. Because of what he said, I'd prefer to keep my mouth shut. I'd rather be quiet than to use whatever words that will come out of my mouth. Sometimes, my dad is taking it against me, too.

"Dad, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Like what I've been saying, there's nothing to worry about." I smiled a bit and I could see a relieved expression coming from my dad.

"I just didn't want my daughter to get into any kind of trouble."

"Dad, if I will get into trouble someday, I will never ever drag your name into the trouble I will be in. I promise." I even raised my hand to show a promise sign. 

----

"Wow, I guess non-confiscation of your mobile phone is a positive sign that your dad trusts you."

"For now," I cut Lea right away. I could hear her giggle on the other hand. 

"Wow, my dad is never like that. He's already grumpy and old but he's letting me live my life."

"Are you jealous of mine? We can switch if you want,"

"Ley, you're too sentimental. I'm just saying. Fathers usually have different approaches when it comes to discipline but one thing's for sure, it's for our best."

I can't help but clear my throat on what Lea mentioned. For my best? Even if I'm not happy about it? I guess Lea is just speaking based on experience but for me, it's always been more of a torture rather than him, thinking  about that "best" for me. It is becoming toxic most of the time.

"I can't say much but yeah?" I can't help but be sarcastic that Lea was stunned on the other line. I can feel it.

"Alright, alright. You sounded more stressed already. I should hang up now. Goodbye, Ley." Before I even gave a reply, she hung up the phone right away and all I heard was the beeping tone on the other line. I know I am friends with Lea but she still can't understand me. That's a fact. I hope she can see what's happening and what kind of father I have that she doesn't have.

----

It's another day at the North Carolina District Highway police station. As usual, Carson arrived thirty minutes earlier than usual and did all the routines. From mountings to meetings and endless paperworks, he got them all.

"Sir, have a big day, huh?"

"I have to, for my family." Carson smiled a bit when his fellow police officer greeted him.

He kept working until he reached the usual time when their shift finally came to an end that day. Like everybody else, he's also in a hurry to rush into the parking lot for him to go home right away. 

He was walking towards his car when a car impatiently beeped from the left where his car was parked. He turned around.

"Hey, shut it, will you? You're causing a disturbance here." The car's window from the driver's seat slowly went down.

"Hey Carson! Remember me?" The woman chuckled, and gave him a shocked expression. He blinked many times until he learned her name at last.

"Nova?"

"The one and only!"

"It's nice to see you after how many years!"

"Yeah, I missed you so much Nova! Let's talk somewhere, perhaps, lunch?

"That sounds like a great idea! Let's go!"