10 So, This Is How I Die...

"Hah...!!!"

Goldie gasps in shock, her eyes widening in panic.

Escaping from Ryan, Jasmine had grabbed her by the jacket to stop her, and now, Goldie's jacket had come off on her right side, leaving her brand-new developing wings, dangerously out in the open, only protected by the light fabric of her thin, white, stylish little top with a slanted neckline.

And suddenly, as if to make matters worse, a gust of wind makes her growth twitch out in the open… Twice!

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'Oh no!'

Goldie dies of dread as she feels the movement. Surely, with her back exposed like this… without a jacket shielding it, that twitching would certainly be visible.

The timing is so gruesome! Occurring when Jasmine is standing right behind Goldie, pulling on Goldie's jacket and staring daggers at her backside.

Just one look would be enough for her to clearly see that something is grossly wrong with Goldie's back!

Instantly, Goldie turns around to gaze at Jasmine's face with great apprehension.

'Did she notice?...

…

Seeming to notice something shift under Goldie's clothes on the top right area of her back, Jasmine's eyes dart her attention to peer over with confusion wondering if she had just imagined it, or if something moved just now on Goldie's back.

'Wha-?... Did something just move?…'

Either something massive was crawling discreetly under Goldie's top, or Goldie had developed a deformed, alien growth on her back that had a mind of its own!...

OR… her mind was playing tricks on her.

Jasmine's curious gaze darts to the area. It seemed normal. Unmoving.

'Must be my imagination but…'

Jasmine's questioning gaze is just zooming in on the spot that seemed to have a slight movement for a second check, just to fulfil her curiosity when Goldie suddenly turns around.

Her stupid face instantly draws away Jasmine's attention from the 'imaginary' movement, which was impossible, back to her foolish friend, foolishly running away from Ryan.

'How could she?'

Jasmine's brain, reminded of all that ridiculous, senseless running just now, immediately ignores what she just 'imagined' which could not possibly be there, and focuses itself on scolding her silly friend whom she is very upset with at the moment.

"What is wrong with you?! Why are you running away?", Jasmine rants at her, upset with her escaping at the sight of Ryan.

'Thank goodness!...'

Goldie heaves a heavy sigh of relief within herself.

'She didn't notice the twitching.'

Indeed, even though Jasmine had seen a bit of movement underneath Goldie's exposed top for a split second, she thought she had only imagined it because…

How could that be possible?

Thank goodness indeed! It would have been a huge problem if Jasmine saw it. She was too witty and too curious. It would be hard to find a logical explanation.

What would Goldie say?, 'Jasmine, I'm not human"?

'Hxll no!', reasons Goldie with a shiver. 

'Thank you, God!', she makes a silent prayer, floating into heaven with a heart full of joy and unconsciously ignoring Jasmine's annoyed ranting for all but two seconds until she suddenly hears her name called in an angry tone.

"Goldie!", calls Jasmine, upset.

The call draws her back down to crash on earth into Jasmine's merciless scolding.

Goldie looks over at her friend's face and that's when she notices the angry gaze Jasmine is directing at her. She had really upset her this time.

"What is your problem, girl?", questions Jasmine, finally letting go of Goldie's jacket.

"...What would Ryan think, seeing us dash away like that right when he was coming towards us?", she asks, reasonably.

"Ahh…", muses Goldie with understanding as it occurs to her that Ryan might think they were avoiding him or something.

'Dxmmm…'

She messed up.

"...Sorry, I panicked."

Goldie instantly apologises sheepishly, with a sullen, genuinely remorseful expression.

"I… I didn't think of that. I was too scared-", she tries to explain her foolish decision to run away.

Jasmine responds with a sassy look, placing a hand on her hip as she stares blankly at Goldie.

'That's her reason for acting so crazy?... She was scared? 

Really?', she questions within herself in abject wonder.

"Girl, you have the bravery of a chicken, you know that? Scampering away like that was so unladylike.", says Jasmine to Goldie.

Indeed. Goldie had the bravery of a chicken. But maybe that was because she WAS one?...

"I know…", whines Goldie, realising how embarrassing they must have looked running off like fools.

"I'm sorry… I got really spooked. I wasn't thinking…"

"Yeah, you wasn't-", responds Jasmine with sass.

"He looked like he wanted something too. Let's go back, talk to him and find out what he wants.", Jasmine suggests.

It was one of the rare times ever that Ryan was approaching a group of girls of his own volition. 

"He must have wanted something. Only God knows what it is…", reasons Jasmine.

'What?!... Go back?!', Goldie begins to panic again at the thought of going back to face Ryan. Especially after running off like a fool.

"No… I… I can't. Please don't make me…", says Goldie with pleading puppy dog eyes.

The girl was chicken.

It was a curious situation because she could normally talk with everyone very easily. But when it came to Ryan, she couldn't even imagine coming so close as to be face to face with him, speak little of talk with him.

All she could do was stare in adoration from the distance.

'Poor little Goldie…'

"Hah…", Jasmine sighs, exhausted.

Looking at Goldie right now, she looked so pitiful with her large puppy dog eyes. 

If she was this scared, then it was better to just let her go.

"Fine.", Jasmine responds, giving up. 

She brandishes a tired, "what can I do with you?", smile at her friend whom she loved so much. 

Goldie was such an adorable baby sometimes.

"It's not like I'm trying to force you or anything. 

We'll wait till you're ready.", says Jasmine as she pats both her friend's cheeks cutely before walking ahead with an elegant, ladylike gait.

"Let's go in.", she says to Goldie as she walks by her, headed towards the stone stairs which formed the entrance to the magnificent main school building of Hugher High.

With Goldie's running, they had travelled swiftly down the wide, elegant, elaborately decorated path until they were nearly at the foot of the stairs already.

Goldie smiles. Her friend was so considerate, she had let her off.

Pleased, she follows immediately after Jasmine, coming to walk beside her with a smile on her face, both girls cat-walking steadily and with perfect composure as they continue on their way like they were not just stalking Ryan and gossiping about him.

Their discussion continues however in hushed tones as they walk on, with Jasmine lecturing Goldie out of concern for her.

"You have to be more confident, Goldie. At this rate, I fear that you would never confess your feelings."

If she was so scared as to run away from Ryan every time she saw him, how on earth would she confess her feelings to him?

"I'm just saying, now that you have the chance and he's still single, try to talk to him. 

Your face is conversation enough. You only need to grab his attention for a few moments, with a wave and a hi, and I'm pretty sure that after a couple of times, he would be the one starting the conversations.

If you are serious about your feelings for Ryan, you need to act fast. He's in high demand.

You have to start making your move before he gets taken!"

"No…", responds Goldie, shaking her head. 

"I can never tell him. I'll just wait for this silly crush to die off. It's better than being rejected!"

After witnessing Ryan so coldly reject that girl only minutes ago, Goldie had changed her mind about confessing her feelings.

She would not be able to handle Ryan's rejection, so it would just be better to keep her crush a deep dark secret till the day she dies!

"What?!", questions Jasmine, shocked at Goldie's drastic change of heart. 

"You're not going to at least try? You just need to try to say hi first and then let him get familiar with you and become friends, and then you confess.

You can't keep ogling at him from a distance at all the parties forever…"

…

Oh yeah. There's a story behind that.

Ever since Ryan joined Hugher High last year, he had remained the hot topic of everyone at the school. And everyone at least took out an excuse at one point or the other during the after-school welcome party which Leroy had thrown to welcome his friend, Ryan to Huger High to say hi, but never Goldie.

Goldie had been in attendance at the welcome party because she was one of the rich kids, and had been invited by hers and Jasmine's classmate, Leroy, to the party. But since Ryan was new and not assigned to her class, and was so hot, and so dashingly handsome, she had been too timid to try to approach him.

Why, you ask?

Earlier that day, Goldie had spotted Ryan for the very first time in the halls and had instantly fallen hard for him, developing a huge crush just by staring from a distance.

Imagine her shock to find later that day that Leroy's 'friend' who he was throwing a party to welcome was 'the hot guy in the halls from this morning!'

Goldie knew she 'like-liked' him right from the moment she had set her eyes on him. And because of that, unlike others who had nothing holding them back, she just couldn't bring herself to be calm and talk to him in actual words without panicking.

So she just stared at him from the distance all through the party, as she did in the halls.

And she had remained that way, ever since.

For some unknown reason, she just could not talk to Ryan. He made her feel a certain way she had never felt before. Mindless.

Yes, Ryan Muller made her lose her thoughts. He made the reasonable part of her brain shut down. 

And because the thinking part of her brain would always shut down whenever she saw Ryan Muller, she was somehow sure, that she would do something embarrassing by instinct if she tried to play it cool and talk to him because it was impossible to play down her feelings. They were too large and out of control.

But how could she explain this to Jasmine in a way she could understand?... when she herself did not fully understand why she felt so volatile and unpredictable whenever she saw Ryan.

Rather than thoroughly embarrass herself or get rejected and have her heart broken to a million pieces, she would rather just die in silence. Waiting out her inexplicable, troublesome feelings for Ryan until the day they died out.

"I've made up my mind, Jasmine.", says Goldie.

She was decided.

Reading her friend's adamant expression, Jasmine disapproves. For one obvious reason.

"Crushes don't disappear that easy.", says Jasmine.

"Then I will hide mine forever. It will remain a secret until it goes away.", responds Goldie, adamant.

"Haha!...", Jasmine chuckles lightly, making light of Goldie's determination.

"Girl… you're just scared to tell him you like him. 

There's No need to be afraid. He wouldn't reject you. I'm sure no one in this school would dare reject you. You're way too pretty!

Even though Ryan is cold and detached sometimes, I'm pretty sure even he would be delighted to know you like him. I mean, everyone needs a little bit of love, right… and you have a face that could never be denied, I mean-

You have to tell him."

Approaching the foot of the stairs, Goldie lifts her foot to start the climb when suddenly, Bradley, the tall and huge student-athlete who had greeted Ryan earlier, speeds past Goldie, accidentally butting into her with his heavy backpack in his haste, causing Goldie's foot to slip on the first step.

"No, I don't have ah!-", her sentence is abruptly cut short as she is heavily bumped into and misses her step, falling forward head first to a damning face-plant on the solid stone stairs.

Goldie shuts her eyes in the last second before impact by reflex when she sees the brutal stone edge of the stairs right before her face.

'So, this is how I die…'

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