The Duplicates: Our Lives, Our Fates

Chapter 4 - The Scar In Her Heart

Olivia went to grab a quick breakfast before hurrying towards the class. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief on arriving at the entrance of the class and seeing the rowdy class which indicated the absence of the professor, meaning that he probably hasn't arrived yet.

She paid no mind to the rest of the students since she wasn't familiar with any of them and went to take a seat in the middle row afterwards taking out her laptop with plans to go through the assignment given by the professor via email and also the course syllabus because she didn't want to appear dumb when class began.

Meanwhile the class buzzed with activity as some of the students had recognized her as the girl on the school forum. Some looked at her with curiosity, some with envy and jealousy(of course that was the girls) while others who wanted to befriend her on seeing her being engrossed on her laptop decided to wait until later.

'It was weird though', they thought to themselves. Obviously, the girl had a smile on her face when she came into the class but at the same time, there seemed to be an aura around her that practically screamed, 'Stay away, strangers!'

Olivia remained totally oblivious to the undercurrents going on and even if she knew, she wouldn't care since she wasn't interested in making friends, hanging out or anything. She just wanted to study hard, graduate and achieve her dream sooner…

She completely immersed herself in studying but just because she wanted to be left alone didn't mean that others planned to because few minutes into the time she sat down, she felt someone sit down beside her.

She didn't even look up, having no plans on get acquainted with whomever the person was but obviously the other party didn't have the same thoughts…

"Hi! I am Kayla. Nice to meet you", She heard the person beside her say. Initially, she planned to ignore her and act like she didn't know it was her she was talking to but then suddenly remembered what her mom had once said to her.

"Olivia, you have to remember that it's rude when someone greets you and you don't answer!"

She almost groaned out in frustration while thinking to herself, 'Just why do I have to remember that now!"

She could ignore whatever anyone else's had told her but It was almost carved into her bones to obey and follow whatever her mom had said, especially about manners and etiquette so yea.. No chance in pretending to ignore her seat's neighbour.

She covered up the hint of impatience and annoyance that flashed in her eyes with a polite smile and turned her head around towards her neighbour.

Her seat's neighbour was a auburn haired girl. Her hair done in curls were scattered over her shoulders lazily and framed her oval face perfectly. She had a beauty about her that was unlike Olivia's stunning and unforgettable looks or the glamorous and aggressive appearance of Zoe, neither like the cute adorableness of Chloe nor the gentle loveliness of Emma.

Instead her beauty was non-aggressive and the aura around her made people feel comfortable at first glance. Her irritable mood magically calmed down on staring into her warm forest green eyes but she began to be vigilant the next moment.

She didn't like how quickly she became relaxed around a stranger whom she clearly didn't know before today.

***

Kayla James stared at the stunning girl sitting next to her finding it quite funny when she saw her become relaxed and then in the next moment began looking at her with suspicion. She thought she was kinda cute, she resembled a porcupine trying to protect herself from enemies.

She almost laughed out loud at her own description and had no doubt that if she dares to tell the girl next to her her thoughts, she would definitely be ignored and maybe even mocked. Even she didn't know why she felt so attracted towards this girl who looked to be the same age as her but had a loneliness about her that shouldn't appear in someone around their age. She was sitting at the back when she saw her come in and yes, she was also part of the people who recognized her as the girl whose picture was posted on the school forum on the first day of college.

She remembered her amazement at her beauty when she saw the picture and wondered if she would ever get to see her in school but surprise, surprise! She really met her and in the same class at that!

Which meant they should be studying the same major...

But she could tell the girl was wearing a mask on her face, hiding her real emotions from prying eyes with a polite and sometimes bright smile. It was what made her so intrigued enough to come sit beside her just so she could know more about her.

Olivia stared the girl who looked at her with an intrigued and mirthful expression and felt the irritation surge back with a vengeance because she knew that expression. It was the expression she hated the most! The cause of her nightmare!

It was the expression the people who had once found out she was pretending to be okay always had on their faces. Her mom, her childhood friends, her junior high school best friend, the psychologist and also that person…

But except for her mom, the others just wanted to gain a sense of satisfaction and presence from her. Her childhood friends and junior high school best friend whom she had thought she knew well, had persuaded her to speak out freely promising to be her confidante but when she did, the whole school knew that her parents had divorced because her dad cheated...

She had no choice but to transfer to another school since she couldn't take the whole school looking at her with pity, sympathy and gloating. How could she have known that everyone was waiting to see a joke? They wanted to see the little princess pampered to the heavens by her father humiliated!

They hated and were jealous of her but she took them as her friends and confidants. How funny!

And the psychologist who always had a gossipy look in her eyes whenever her mom took her for consultation, it made her feel like instead of going for counselling, she was rather telling the whole world about her broken family and finally, that person... who she had met later in high school and thinking she had finally met someone who understood her apart from her mother, she had confided in him but what did he do? He told his friends everything and made her and her family the butt of their jokes.

She just never learned, does she? She never stopped trusting people, never learned that just because she treated people well didn't mean they had to do the same.

She had no choice but to transfer again to another high school where she met Zoe. But that was when she had learnt her lesson the hard way, she had learned to perfect her mask and became the bright and cheerful girl everyone once knew. Even her mother never found out she was pretending thinking she had let go of everything.

No one found out that she had trust issues.

They have no idea of the darkness and hatred she hid in her heart. But she wanted it that way because she needed no one! She wanted no saviour or anyone pretending to be one, she just wanted to be left alone in her own world.

She had no interest in knowing how this girl found out but it should have been because she had unintentionally let it slip when she was being watched when she first came into the class since it reminded her of her junior high days.

Coldness creeped into her eyes as she took one last glance at Kayla before turning back to the screen of her laptop totally disregarding her presence.