CRUSH
1031 Words
CHAPTER FIVE — CRUSH
After the car cliff incident, Aria finally decided that Serene and Maya were allowed to stay.
It was then that she noticed something strange.
There were actually three bedrooms, not two.
Aria stared at the doors before sighing.
“Fine. Maya, you can have my room.”
Maya's eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
Aria pointed toward the other room.
“Serene, you can have the guest room.”
“What about you?” Serene asked.
“I'll manage.”
Neither of them had brought anything from home, so Aria had to give them some of her clothes.
A few minutes later, the three girls were dressed and ready for school.
Serene walked into the living room and stared at the modern furniture.
“Human school is cool, though,” she confessed.
Aria rolled her eyes.
“You haven't even seen the school yet.”
They soon arrived at school.
As they walked through the entrance, Aria spotted Pearl.
“Hi, Pearl!”
Pearl turned around.
Aria stopped walking.
The fat girl from yesterday was gone.
The girl standing in front of her looked completely different.
She looked confident.
Beautiful.
And, most importantly, she looked like someone who had finally discovered herself.
“Hi,” Pearl replied shyly, her cheeks turning pink.
People had been staring at her strangely ever since she left home.
She wasn't used to the attention.
Maya looked at her with admiration.
“Wow. You're pretty.”
“Thanks,” Pearl said, smiling.
She looked at the two girls standing beside Aria.
“Who are your new friends, Aria?”
There was a tiny hint of jealousy in her voice.
After all, Pearl had always been Aria's only friend.
Aria opened her mouth to answer.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“They're your new friends?”
“We're her sisters,” Maya suddenly informed her.
“What?!” Aria and Pearl screamed at the same time.
Maya blinked innocently.
“What?”
“You have sisters?!” Pearl exclaimed.
“I do. Yes, I do.”
Aria quickly pointed toward the blonde girl.
“This is Serene.”
Serene smiled.
She had a strange, almost magical beauty.
Blonde hair.
Blue eyes.
She looked like she had stepped straight out of a fairytale.
“And this is Maya.”
Maya waved.
Her red hair fell over her shoulders, contrasting sharply with her dark eyes.
Before Pearl could ask another question, the school bell rang.
RING!
“Class,” Aria said.
The girls separated and headed toward their lockers.
Aria was about to follow when—
WHACK!
“Ouch!”
A football hit her shoulder.
Aria turned around.
Ethan.
The school's football star.
He was athletic, confident, and surrounded by his friends.
He walked toward her with a smirk.
“Oops, Four Eyes. Send it back.”
Aria glared at him.
Ethan had done this before.
He always found a way to annoy her.
Serene and Maya had already disappeared toward their lockers, completely unaware of what was happening.
“Just don't react,” Aria whispered to herself.
Pearl stepped forward.
“I'll give it back to him.”
“Don't worry. I've got this.”
Aria picked up the ball.
She turned around and threw it straight back.
“Stop annoying people, playboy.”
Ethan caught the ball.
His friends immediately started laughing.
“Annoying you, Four Eyes?” Ethan asked. “My hand only slipped.”
“You're such a liar.”
“If you leave this school, there'll be so much peace.”
His friends gasped.
One of them slapped Ethan on the shoulder.
“Ouch!”
Ethan looked back at Aria.
“Really? Because I can't wait for you to leave too.”
He paused.
“Such a waste.”
Aria's smile disappeared.
Those words hurt more than she wanted to admit.
A waste.
Maybe he was right.
Her mother had disappeared without telling her anything about her origin.
She didn't know who she really was.
She didn't know where she came from.
And now she was stuck with two mysterious girls who claimed to be her sisters.
Maybe she really was a waste.
Suddenly—
Grrrrr.
Aria looked at Pearl.
“Are you okay?”
Pearl placed a hand over her stomach.
“I don't think so.”
“Maybe you should go to the nurse.”
“Thanks. You should go to class. You're already late.”
Pearl tried to smile.
But something was wrong.
She felt dizzy.
Her steps became unsteady as she walked away.
“Pearl?”
She didn't answer.
She kept walking.
That was when David appeared.
David was one of the boys who had always bullied Pearl because of her weight.
He stepped in front of her.
“Hi.”
Pearl froze.
“Leave me alone.”
David stared at her.
Then his eyes widened.
“Pearl?”
He looked her up and down.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
It was really her.
The same Pearl.
But completely different.
Pearl turned away.
She didn't want to talk to him.
She walked faster.
David followed.
“Pearl, wait.”
“Leave me alone!”
He reached for her.
Pearl slapped his hand away.
“Don't touch me.”
David reached for her again.
Pearl panicked.
She wished she had listened to Aria.
She wished Aria had followed her.
Instead, Pearl ran.
She hurried into the janitor's room and shut the door behind her.
David followed.
He opened the door.
“Pearl, what are you—”
He reached toward her.
Pearl instinctively grabbed his hand.
And then something strange happened.
David froze.
His expression changed.
“What...?”
Pearl stared at his arm.
Something was happening to him.
His body was changing.
David suddenly looked different.
He became noticeably heavier.
Pearl's eyes widened.
She immediately released his hand.
The change stopped.
Silence filled the room.
David stared at himself.
Pearl stared at him.
Neither of them could speak.
Pearl slowly looked down at her own hands.
Her heart began pounding.
“What did I just do?”
She had no idea.
But somewhere deep inside her, she already knew one thing.
Something had changed.
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