Talented Me! 38

Avina enjoyed Mom's stories. It allowed her to find out what the public thought about Wilona's act -calculate her star quality.

'I think Wilona is doing pretty well,' Avina said to 5025. 'There's still a few areas where people need to think better of her.'

5025 agreed. Wilona was slowly but surely making her way into the entertainment world. It was just a peek, but from the data gathered, there's positive feedback.

'All the more reason to start a StarTube channel!' 5025 encouraged. 'The more the public likes her, the easier it is to gain fans!'

Avina had been doing videos for the past few days. Her friends were supportive of it and often appeared inside the videos or helped film it. They were worried for her ankle at first but later knew that she had moderation and didn't worry much.

Avina practiced her martial arts showing viewers a couple of moves while treading lightly on her ankle. She showed the school garden and described each plant. Often, she made 5025 appear in the videos for an added cuteness. The only thing she had yet to do was upload it.

Avina was monitoring the reactions of the public. She did not want to create a channel if the reactions would be bad. In the meantime, she viewed these videos as vlogs. She liked to rewatch them at night and smile rethinking of that day.

'Then, I guess I'm making one right now,' Avina replied and stretched.

She grabbed her phone, entered the personal details, and successfully made an account. 'I think I'm going to name it "Wilona May".'

Overnight, the internet brewed another storm. People soon discovered her newly made account with several videos posted. One person told another, and soon it blew up. Everyone knew that the new star had a StarTube channel.

"Have you seen the channel? She's so cute!"

"Awesome! She even knows how to do martial arts! Teach me some, master!"

"Cat! She even has a cat. This whole time, I thought she was just saying that to be cute."

"Her friends are so funny! More videos please!"

Avina kept one eye on the channel and another on Adi. Her hands were busy watering the flowers while her feet were hobbling from one place to another. The days were getting better with people getting curious and talking to her. And best of yet, Adi was nowhere in sight.

'Why has she not been in school for so long?' Avina asked as she squinted at Adi's monitor.

Adi had been skipping school for quite some time. From the monitors, Avina noticed she was constantly in her room. She would repeatedly check her phone and every time it rang, she would frantically pounce on it like a mad beast.

If she wasn't preoccupied with her phone, she was having fits of rage against the maids and manservants. Yes, that's right, Adi was the rich to have maids and manservants. Vases and bowls were thrown on walls and shattering every hour. Her parents didn't know what to do and thought the best way to deal with it was to call a psychologist.

Avina cared not a single bit for Adi. Well, she pitied her, but not enough for her to help her. After all, Adi's actions never seemed sane to her. It was as if a lion was attacking a potential threat because they feared their authority to be challenged. If having a psychologist made her more humane, then she wished Adi had one sooner.

Wilona was just as human as Adi was, but Adi never treated her as one. Avina has many misgivings, but she would soon pay them all back to Adi.

'Do you think you can hack into her phone and check whose reply she's checking for?' 5025 managed to get those text messages before, so maybe it can do the same right now. Whoever Adi was trying to contact was going to be her next obstacle.

5025 did some speedy hacking and waited for the information to arrive. 'It might take a while. You should go to bed first.'

Avina checked the time and realized it was getting late. Her pen tapped on her notebook for a second before she rushed to get the last essay written. Afterward, she headed straight to bed.

"Wilona! Wake up!" Mom called out. "I have to go to work right now, but breakfast's on the table. Remember to change your bandages and buy some food for your friends later!"

Footsteps walked to the front before shuffling and then the sound of the door closing echoed in the house. Avina hazily blinked her eyes. Her sight blurred before focusing on the ceiling, and she moved to sit up.

'How's the info processing?' The whole night she was plagued by the constant questioning of who that person was. Everywhere she turned, she would see a shadow sabotaging something.

5025 went to check the progress bar. It barely reached 50%. 'Still processing.'

Avina groaned and then sighed. She was exhausted. Every day was schoolwork, videos, worrying about Adi, worrying about the reactions, and it was taking a toll on her. She powered through it, but it was still exhausted.

Avina pushed herself off the bed and cleaned herself. She reached to the kitchen table and munched on a piece of bread. Flipping through the notes, she popped the corner watching it curl up each time. A small shot of pain made her wince and drop the note.

Looking at her finger closer, a fine papercut appeared. Hidden in the sleeves of her skin, a light red shined through.

'I don't think I'll get used to blood soon,' Avina muttered. She reached to place her mouth on her finger and sucked. An irony taste flowed throughout and she struggled to stop herself from gagging.

Making it through, she closed her eyes and repeatedly comforted herself saying that this was okay. She was doing good. She had to face her fears soon, and it would benefit her in the long run to no longer be afraid of blood.

'Don't force yourself,' 5025 worriedly said. It knew that its Host didn't have a terrible fear of blood, but it didn't make it any less of a fear.

Avina looked at the little white cat next to her and smiled. Patting its head, "I'm okay. I will be okay. Plus, how can I bandage myself if I'm afraid of my own wounds. Let's quickly change my bandage and head to school."

Avina had gotten better at bandages. At the very least, she no longer had a ball for an ankle. Everytime she was done, she would tie it into a neat bow. Seeing her progress, Avina felt very proud.

'Look! Aren't I a professional!' Avina pointed to her foot.

5025 looked at the slightly better looking ankle and its host still sloppy method and an even sloppier bow. The book said that hosts must be complimented every once in a while to encourage growth. 'Very… unique.'

Avina pouted at 5025's lukewarm reaction. 'Fine, I get it. I'm not the best, but at least I'm not the worst.'

5025 didn't know how to reply to that. It didn't have another example to compare Avina's to. Avina was both the best and the worst in its systematic eyes.

Avina rolled her eyes and shook her head at 5025's lack of a reply. Fine, only she needed to know of her great prowess. No one will ever fully understand her. *sigh*

____

"Mornin', Wilona!" Daisy called out. She was with a group of people but said something and headed towards Avina.

"How's your leg so far?" Daisy asked while stretching her own leg and shaking it. "Healing?"

Avina stretched her leg and shook it, "Yep, it's healing fine."

Daisy smiled before frowning and moving back like she was in shock. "Who bandaged your ankle? It's horrible! Let me help you."

She pulled Wilona down to the side, and kneeled. With swift fingers, Avina's terrible bandages turned into medical grade acceptance.

"There! Proper bandaging allows wounds to heal better. Tell whoever helped you to practice more," Daisy scolded. It was awful! Just plain awful!

Avina kept her mouth shut for this one. She didn't want to say that *she* was the one who did it. That *she* was the one who made those terrible bandage decisions. And that *she* was the one who needed to practice more.

So the smart thing to do, of course, was to be quiet.

"There's no first period today, so we're all hanging out in the greenhouse," Daisy told her as she patted the dust off her knees. "Wanna come?"

"Sure!"

The two headed to the greenhouse. Avina wrapped her hands around Daisy's stabilizing herself along the way. It made little difference, but constantly not needing to worry about falling was better than nothing.

The morning breeze was delightful. The sun, which barely peaked its head a while ago, shined brightly behind the trees. A refreshing fragrance of morning dew and fresh air floated below her nose.

Everyone was already watering the plants or pulling a carrot out of the ground or doing something else. Daisy joined them, but because everyone was worried for Wilona's ankle, they made Wilona sit down and relax.

"Just relax," Ben said as he helped her sit down. "You don't want your foot to be agitated anymore."

So Avina sat down while watching everyone play around. Daisy had a smudge of dirt on her cheeks, and she looked like a tabby cat. Gina saw and laughed before wiping it off her cheeks.

Eli was, as usual, watering the plants diligently. Ben was, as usual, not watering the plants diligently but launching a surprise attack on Gina. In one swell swoop, Ben launched his muddy hands onto Gina's face. Gina was now the tabby cat!

Even if Avina didn't play with them, she still had a good laugh.

"So, are you enjoying yourself?" a voice called out.

Mr. Greene sat down next to Avina and watched the group have fun with her.

Avina looked at him, and felt it was finally time to get the answer out of him. Why was he so adamant on her joining the club?