18 You know me better

As soon as she opened her eyes, the white ceiling and thin curtains on the sides welcomed her. Addison rubbed her eyes and stayed still for a while. Then her blurry eyes became clearer, recognizing the figure sitting beside her bed.

As soon as the view became plain, her cheeks also turned red. She lifted the blanket and covered half of her face. She didn't know what to say. Saying thank you out of nowhere upon waking up is a bit awkward. Besides, this guy who helped is not an ordinary student. He's the popular and famous--

The door widely open. "Addiiie!!!" Shaun dashed to the other side of her bed and hugged her tight. "Addie, what happened? Geez!" he blurted out, still panting.

"M-Master S-Shaun, I'm f-fine," the frail girl mumbled under his embrace.

Shaun clicked his tongue, "You're not fine at all…" he scanned Addison from head to toe and saw her school uniform. "Look at yourself! Geez!" he blurted out again in frustration.

"You're overreacting things"

After hearing that voice, Shaun spun around and looked who's behind him. "Gaahh!!!" He almost jumped up like a cat with its hair lifted all over the body. "The heck are you doing here, Liam!?" he exclaimed, pulling Addison more. "Did you bully my dear Addie?!" he snorted.

The girl tugged Shaun's sleeves. "He saved me and brought me here." She said with her thin and small voice.

William expected this. Shaun will not be happy to see him, but he still watched Addison until she woke up. He stood up and pointed at the books on the table. "Your things are all there.." he turned around. "I'm going now," he put on his headphones and exited the school clinic.

Shaun finally released the girl from his embrace. "Geez! I told you to call me when you need help" he slumped himself to the cushion chair next to the bed. "Who did this to you?" he asked.

It left Addison hesitant for a second before she averted her gaze. "It's n-nothing," she whispered, clenching the blanket. "I accidentally spilled some chocolate drink on my books," she reasoned.

"Do you really think I would believe you? Addison, you're allergic to chocolates"

It stunned the girl, hearing her name. She became more stiff. Shaun was right. She's indeed allergic to chocolates, even if she wanted some. Reasoning out of the blue was wrong for her. She can't lie, but she didn't want to talk about it either. Shaun and her have known each other since they were young.

"You don't have to know, I'm n-not a kid anymore," Addison wanted to slap those words to Shaun, but she knew that the male would just brush it off and continue to treat her as a baby sister.

"Are they threatening you? Who gave them the willpower to threaten my innocent dear Addie?,"

Addison clenched her jaw. 'I'm not innocent, you know that,' she thought.

As the silence went on, Addison felt her chest tightening. It's not that she's expecting something from the male. She just didn't want to be treated like a kid. Shaun had no siblings, so it's normal for him to give her all the affection as her big brother. Addison didn't like it, but had no choice. Even though Shaun already knew the truth and what happened in the past, he remained like this.

The bell rang.

"Oh! I have the next class…" Shaun lifted his hand and checked his wristwatch. "Do you want me to accompany you home before I go?"

Addison shook her head. "I'm fine," she replied, smiling.

***

CLASS OF 3RD YEAR A…

"Charlotte!!"

Four girls dashed into her as she stepped foot into their classroom. She just came back from the student council office. One of them pulled her arms and dragged her onto their desk. "Did the meeting take too long?" one of them with blonde hair asked.

Charlotte took her seat and smiled. "Not really. Were you guys waiting for me?" she made an awkward smile.

"Humph!" the one sitting beside the blonde girl snorted. "We thought that the student council vice president gave you another load of work. That girl really isn't good"

Charlotte became more stiff. She surely knew that they were talking about Lilith. "Is that so? Hehe" Then she suddenly remembered what Shaun said. "Guys!" her amethyst eyes beamed. "Do you want to join the art class?"

Maybe if she pursues them as her friends, she can also join and enjoy it. But instead of getting a YES, the girls laughed. "Arts?!" the blonde girl popped the gum in her mouth. "Are you joking? Charlotte, arts are boring."

"Yes!" the girl on her right side added. "It will just get our nails dirty," she snorted, checking her new manicure and cute fingers. "Oh, by the way!" The girl pulled out her phone and showed it to Charlotte. "We saw your new cosmetic commercial!!"

Dumbfounded, Charlotte took the phone and watched her own commercial. "Y-Yeah, that's the product I've been talking about last week," she replied.

"I knew it! I like your lipstick color there!"

"Your blushes are so cute, I want to try it too!!"

"When will you give us the newest product?"

"Ehh?" Charlotte blinked her eyes with a puzzled face.

The blonde girl slapped her arms slightly. "Come on, you're our friend..you should give us samples..you know that we love cosmetics ehh," then she pouted.

Charlotte got a little tense, so she waved her hands in the air. "Yeah, yeah, I will bring it tomorrow…" she answered.

The four girls jumped and exclaimed how happy they were. Although Charlotte remained silent in her seat. She didn't want them to doubt her friendship. She's a celebrity and famous, so she needed to blend with other students by making friends.

After jumping their hearts out, the blonde girl came closer to her and clung onto her shoulders. "As expected from our dear friend, Charlotte."

"Oh! Let's go to karaoke after school. I saw Charlotte have a VIP card from there!"

"Really?!! Let's have some fun!!"

"Will you let us, Charlotte?!!"

It surprised her again; she didn't even use that card and rarely went out, so how did they know about it? Instead of asking, Charlotte nodded her head. "Sure!" with a smile