26 The conspiracy of the hyena

Oliver who couldn't resist himself from sharing his problem with his closest girls group started to share by clearing the heavy clouds, "Okay fine, then hear. You guys have guessed it right, actually, I am in a little bit a bad mood but it's not because of something related to me or any incident that took place with me. So, are you guys sure that you all still want to hear it out???"

"Of course, why not.", replied Aurora, Scarlet and Ophelia excitedly who was eager to know the story behind Oliver's such mood because somehow from Oliver's words they could clue it out that his bad mood had a somewhat connection with Nathan.

Looking at the sparkling curiosity and the excitement in their eyes to hear about the true story behind his mood, Oliver began to say, "My mood is off because of Nathan. Actually not because of but for Nathan as I somehow think that he is so unfortunate to have a such a bad luck to transfer to our school. Even though it's one of the best four schools in the city yet the one he was in before is the best one and the environment, rules, regulations and almost everything is so different there than ours. Don't mind my words but it is what I really feel towards his transferring here and I have my own reasons to say this."

The shadow of gloominess was overtaking Oliver's face more as he was completing and continuing his words. For Aurora and the rest of two, it was the first time to witness such a mixture of so many emotions that were describing the sorrows, the downfall and the dullness along with the hidden anger and agony drew on Oliver's face as he was such a positive person who used to smile brightly always no matter what. As a result, three of them decided to remain silent without any further questions so that he could burst out his emotions without any interruption while sharing his story.

Oliver added after a sigh, "Unlike other transfer students Nathan is so capable quiet and calm not a busy body at all and beside his behaviour, he got others attention easily because of his good looks but still everything was fine until the day before as the moment he proved his excellence in studies and others got to know that he is from XKG, he became the target of everyone where before he was only admired for his looks by others. It was clear that the last day the motive behind Nathan to be offered to solve those sums by Lucas was probably Lucas's set up to humiliate him by proving that he was just good looking and nothing more than that because Nathan somehow unknowingly became the rival of Lucas in the matter of looks but the things changed as Nathan turned out to be a good academic performer and then he also became a rival for Lucas in studies too. So, he again approached him today with other means. As you guys saw that devil Lucas took his seat next to him. After all who knows him better than you guys. So did you all really think that he was approaching Nathan with a good intention???"

"Of course not. Lucas can never wish good for anyone else except for himself.", sighed Aurora while taking a look at Oliver who was looking at them with eyes full of questions.

"Somehow we also felt that sharing the same bench was merely a plan of Lucas to approach Nathan with any hidden agenda. We had a talk about it too and were observing it from the beginning.", said Scarlet in a serious voice.

"As expected I was not the only one who could see through that Lucas. He indeed approached him with a hidden motive and tried his best to play dirty as usual.", said Oliver with a deep breath while trying his best not to lose the control over his mood by recalling about Lucas's slyness.

"But what method did he use over Nathan today??? Because so far we could see nothing but their getting along happily.", asked Aurora worriedly and at the same time confusedly who knew the nature of Lucas the better as she had been the victim to his dirty games the whole time.

"Actually at first look, it was just a normal approach of friendship but later things became to be seen clearly that he was there because he wanted to dig out details about Nathan and his previous school to pull out some stirrings to cause trouble for him.", Oliver kept saying while a line of frowns was developing between his brows gradually that was clearly declaring his being so furious from inside.

"But this wasn't the end as Lucas was trying his best to disturb him during the lessons along with Travis so that Nathan wouldn't be able to pay attention to those lessons properly.", the more Oliver was sharing about those incidents the much his mood was getting dull and hyper.

"But Lucas crossed his limits when he started to pull his dirty pranks on Nathan by humiliating him and making him feel low. He was pointing out that the reason for Nathan to transfer to our school was because of Nathan being too older to be in grade 10 as he had been continuously failing during his exams at XKG or he was a dropout who was not serious about studies and used to fall out a lot from his academics etc. and etc. That was not it, he was even saying that Nathan is much older and looks a lot mature than us. So, it was easy for him to be smarter than us too." Oliver completed his words while taking a look at them helplessly at the end as he himself was puzzled about how he should react to Lucas's slyness.

"What Nathan is older than us and looks mature than us??? Burh??? For real???", exclaimed Scarlet amusingly.

"It's true that Nathan has a well-built physics and he is so tall but he and Jacob look almost similar in the matters of physical appearance where Nathan is obviously much more handsome and pleasant to eyes than Jacob.", said Ophelia while picturizing Jacob and Nathan together.

"Man, that useless Lucas is a shorty and have a babyface, does it have anything to do with Nathan or is it his fault??? Lucas is so dumb to have those kinds of childish thoughts. According to me, Nathan is perfect whether the looks or academics or behaviour than Lucas. About the matters of height and well-built physics then most of us in girls should all be called mature than age and doesn't fit to be in grade 10 and just forget about Chole being in grade 12 then because most of us have a good height almost near to those heights of the most of the boys in our grade.", said Scarlet while making faces by mocking Lucas's childishness.

"But the thing is that didn't Nathan say anything to him???", asked out Aurora curiously.

"Nathan that poor guy, he turns out to be generous like you, Aurora who chooses to keep silent even after so many things and incidents. Nathan just smiled to Lucas's words saying that Lucas was good at pulling legs but he didn't say anything more and Lucas along with Travis kept up with those nonsenses and their assumptions the whole time. Nathan even stopped me from replying to those two bastards.", Oliver said while burning in anger where his cute puppy face was changed into that of any scariest beast.

"But now the thing is that what if like Aurora's incident if that Lucas end up spreading out those fake rumours of Nathan's being a failure who dropped out from XKG because of his result and he is being older than us etc around the whole place???", Scarlet asked out in a serious voice by analysing the situation while tapping the edge of her chin with the tip of her index finger.

"It's possible after all, we all know that the rumours of me and him were totally baseless but still it caught everyone's attention because people just want a topic to talk and they don't bother to know the truth or reality behind those fake rumours.", said Aurora while thinking about the past where a clear line of worries was written on her face with a hidden seriousness.

"Aurora is right. Lucas can do anything like that just to make sure that his place and image is safe and sound.", said Ophelia in a voice full of irritation and hatred towards Lucas that were clearly expressed through her words.

"Moreover, I had to face the same things like those fake taunts of being older than Lucas and others just because I was good in studies and also I was almost as tall as him back then.", said Aurora with a sigh where there was a little amusement hidden in her expression along with slight regret.

"Yes, Aurora is right. Not only her, but Chole was also a victim of body shaming because of Lucas along with the tag of being older. And not only them I and Jade also got to hear those age tags of his because of our height where Julia, Lucy and Nora also got to hear those age tagging because of their looks even after their being a little shorter than us.", said Scarlet while chuckling mockingly at Lucas's past deeds.

"The starting of the day was a huge upsetting point for Nathan already because of those crazy fangirls. After all, as a boy from a total boys' school, it's hard for him to digest those things in the co-ed school and it will take some time for him to deal with the surroundings and adjust himself within here. But I am damn sure about one thing that Lucas also has seen the post about Nathan in the group. Whatever he is doing is because of the jealousy after seeing it as that post boosted a lot of fame for Nathan around the school overnight.", said Oliver while sighing listlessly by rubbing his temple.

"Fangirls and post??? What is there in that post???", asked three of them curiously who didn't have any single idea about the post that Oliver was pointing out in his words.

"As expected from the group of bookworms who are only into books. Take a look at this.", said Oliver while handing his phone to them by making an amusing face.

Then all of them read out the post while rubbing their temples worriedly but in the middle of the feeling of worries Aurora's words added a line of shock in the plates of rest of them which lighter their mood a bit, "By the way what site is this??? I have never seen it. Did our school really have such a page???"

"What are you for real??? No doubt you are a baby, a minor. This has been there for a long time." "As I thought to see the reaction of the topper who is only interested in studies." "That's why I have never seen Aurora being active in this page even after so many lovely posts about her.", Scarlet, Oliver and Ophelia exclaimed at Aurora's words where three of them carried out different versions of expressions like mockery, amusement and wondering.

"Okay just forget about me. Think about Nathan.", said Aurora while pointing back towards the post as their those expressions were too much for her to bear with.

"Yeah, such a blunder. He has to take so many heavy blows in a day.", said out Ophelia sadly.

"As far as we all know it's not impossible for Lucas to use this same method like this post to defame Nathan and those girls, don't they have any other work to do??? They are just wasting their time. They should use this time that they are investing on those stupid posts to study." said Aurora while sighing at the end by thinking about the grades of those juniors by dashing out.

"Not everyone is a bookworm like you.", exclaimed Scarlet rolling her eyes where Oliver slapped his forehead in regard for showing it to Aurora and Ophelia was looking at Aurora with puppy eyes as except for Aurora all of them were the followers of that gossiping group.

"But still Aurora is right because Lucas will definitely use this page to spread the rumours as it will be much easier to do so by using the forum as all most everyone in the school follows this page and it has this video and the pictures of Nathan too. So, let's keep a closer eye on the forum and also on Lucas." Said Scarlet while scrolling down the posts of the page and taking a look at those posts which were related to Nathan.

"The Lunch break is about to get over.", said Ophelia while staring at her wristwatch.

"Hope nothing will go wrong and we will able to help Nathan out.", said Scarlet while handing the phone back to Oliver.

"Oliver, please do us a favour. Don't tell Nathan that you shared this matter with us." Said Aurora with a gentle smile.

"Sure but may I know why???", asked Oliver curiously with a smile.

"I don't want him to feel awkward. After all, he is not that much familiar with us. Maybe he won't like it when we, outsiders poke their noses into his business. And about our being interested in this matter is only because I know how it feels to be the target of something that I haven't ever done. So, none of us wants someone else to go through the same thing as I had to endure once.", said Aurora again with a smile where a clear glimpse of grief and untold sorrow was hidden behind her words.

"Don't worry. Let's see what happened next.", said Scarlet while pulling Aurora's cheek as she didn't want to see her wearing a long face.

"Hey, Nathan is coming. Look there.", said Ophelia while pointing towards Nathan who just took the turn to the corridor from the staircases.

"Okay, then we will go now. Fix your mood and smile, Oliver. We all will help your friend.", said Aurora with a smile by taking an immediate glimpse of Nathan heading there.

"Thank you, Aurora. Thank you, guys. See you on the bus, Ophelia.", said Oliver happily. Somehow he no longer had that heavy mood of his as because of Aurora and her friends his mood was lightened to some extent.

Aurora and Scarlet were about to enter the classroom when Ophelia said out from the behind in a begging voice by behaving like a helpless bunny, "Hey, I want to go to the restroom. Please go with me, guys. I don't want to go alone."

"You are so troublesome.", said Scarlet while pinching her cheek.

"It's okay. Let's go.", said Aurora while patting Ophelia's head who was just bullied by a fox for being a too innocent bunny.

As a result, three of them headed to the restroom instead of entering the classroom. So, while walking to the restroom through the corridor there was a point where they had to cross their way with Nathan who was heading to towards the classroom and when the three of them passed by next to him, Aurora and Nathan who took a look at each other secretly exchanged a smile while hiding from the gazes of everyone surrounding them.

The secret looks at one another and the sweet smile that was only meant for each other by avoiding the sight of others were the signs of an unknown development of some interesting untold bond of their hearts that was blooming without even letting themselves realize the sweetness of it.

Nathan who was fond of reading the hidden words in Aurora's eyes could see that unlike other days where the most of the time her eyes were filled with the curiosity or happiness that time her eyes were diving in a strange kind of melancholy that put Nathan at a state of confusion to wonder the reason behind her being upset or whether he had failed in reading her eyes.

To find the answers for his question and also to get hold of any clue about Aurora's mood Nathan who had already noticed the gathering of Aurora and her friends with Oliver the moment he entered the corridor headed to Oliver.

But no matter how much he tried he couldn't take out any information from Oliver about what kind of conversation he had with aurora and the rest of her friends or why Aurora was in a bit upset mood. Because no matter what Oliver was so loyal to Aurora and his girls' gang and as Aurora asked him personally to keep it as a secret, Oliver didn't want to spill any single drop of it.

The classes began and all of them gathered to the classroom again. Meanwhile Aurora and Scarlet along with Ophelia shared the whole situation with the rest of them before the lessons began and all of them started to count down the time while keeping a closer watch on the forum in between their classes by avoiding the eyes of teachers and also they somehow managed to keep a tight watch on Nathan which later resulted in the views of his being mentally harassed by Lucas and Travis continuously as Oliver described but they could do nothing but only to watch him suffer.

Meanwhile during the duty times of Aurora, with the help of teachers, she tried her best to call upon Nathan to complete some tasks behalf of her or to lend a helping hand to her in some class works so that Nathan could avoid his contact with Lucas a bit less even though neither Aurora nor Nathan talked directly with each other during those encounters and the only thing they did was exchanging smiles with one another time to time.

At a certain point, Nathan himself was confused about what was going on as he couldn't find a good reason for Aurora to be paired up with him to accomplish the group tasks instead of Lucas as Aurora was dragging him out of his seat to complete those tasks with her again and again without any sign of objection but somehow those things made him happy from inside by thinking about the fact that Aurora didn't care about Lucas as it was in those rumours.

At the end of the day while walking their homes together until the school gate from where they got separated usually all of them continuously kept checking the forum and so far nothing was there as they were fearing. So all of them separated from one another to head towards their own home routes with a sigh of relief.

As usual, Chole headed to her father, Ophelia headed to the bus where Oliver also got in there from another direction as he always used to head out with Nathan to walk him out while having a nice chat and then used to catch up with Ophelia in the school bus, and Aurora headed to her way of the home by taking the farewell from others who were heading to another direction.

But the table of the game started to turn when a sudden twist gave a peekaboo in the form of notification by making their phone ringing out suddenly, "Ting… Ting… Ting…"