Chapter 33

We took our books from our lockers to prepare for the next class. On the way to the classroom, I swept my gaze around. Since the farthest back of the school has more open spaces, unused buildings, and old pavements that are planted with more trees, it is more rustic than any other places. Several students loiter around in this area.

From their builds, most of them are seniors who's standing boastful as if they're the boss of this school. I even caught some of them smoking in conspicuous corners. Looking at them, I didn't know if they're having a clandestine meeting or preparing for an ambush. It is the second thing that bothers me. Our building seems near the place where the delinquents like to hang out.

"What are you looking at?" Dave gently held the back my of head and turned it towards him. Our eyes met and I blink at him.

"Don't look."

"Why?"

It was Jun who answered me. "Oh, I've heard about it. They say that we shouldn't look straight at them."

I asked again, "Why?"

"Because it would bring us trouble."

"Hm? Why would they bring us trouble? Who are they?" Eugene said it loudly as if he found it absurd and swept his confident gaze.

But Kenneth immediately pressed his head against his armpit. "Just do it. Why are you always looking for a fight, huh?"

We passed them silently but when I went up the stairs, I glanced back. Because I found someone familiar. It was so identical from my memory that it piqued my interest. Isn't that Von's friend?

When I was stepping in the door, Dave suddenly stopped. I was about to complain because I bumped on his back, but seeing his annoyed expression, I shut my mouth. He then turned around and I followed his sight. There, stood the girls who's been following us. Dave became more popular among the girls. He was stalked and watched everyday.

"Oh my he looks this way."

Dave didn't give attention to them anymore. I remembered that for a few days, he's been friendly towards his 'fans'. He told me that he was told to act like that by his manager. But Dave stopped doing it since they would always request for his signature or photo. He found it tiring and bothersome.

Dave looked at me with concern. I know what he was about to do but I only shrugged at him and immediately strode towards my seat. Can't you see your fans throwing daggers at me?

I remembered the day when our homeroom professor arranged our seating arrangement. I was so lucky to find my seat still next to the window. In front of me was a boy who propped his face as if everything around him was boring. But I learned eventually that his posture was just an appearance when I saw how he was able to covertly use his phone. I also saw a white earphone wire poking out of his jacket.

Next to him, there's also a boy who has crossword puzzles from the newspaper in front of him. He was hiding it using the textbooks. But the person who was the weirdest is my seatmate. She was motionless with her chin sitting on her palm when she suddenly slapped her face a few times. She looked at me and giggled after seeing the shock on my face. And with her painted nails, she wrote down on a piece of paper.

"David is so handsome."

I don't know what to say. I realized that she was looking at Dave who is two seats diagonally far away in the back. I really have weird classmates, but I went along with her.

"Yeah."

"My heart! I think I'm having a heart attack."

I was at loss for words before making a reply again.

"LOL. Me too."

Thinking back, I looked at the vacant seat next to me. Since it's still a free time, she is not here.

"Is there nothing we can do to help him?" Belle approached me.

"Pretend to be his girlfriend to make the girls give up on him?" Jun advise and glided next to my seat. Seeing it, Belle shouted, stomping her feet.

"Hey! I was supposed to sit here!"

I tapped the desk on my chair. A pleased expression passed on her face and I furtively glance at the front checking if there's still no teachers around.

"Your ideas are always crazy." Eugene spoke.

I heard his voice at my back. Since the seating arrangement is alphabetical, our seats are close. If not because my seat is the last one at the end of the row, we would be sitting side by side.

"Then can you think of another idea?"

"He became an actor so he should expect it."

"But my idea is exciting! Ah, I mean fabulous. Don't you want to try helping him Dani?" Jun asked me smoothly and I answered back without a pause.

"No thanks."

If I did, would it make my face appear in the news or internet?

"Then how about being my girlfriend?"

"No."

"Ah, so direct and straight. But I wanna date! Everyone else is going to college and dating well." Jun grumbled.

He pulled a textbook under the desk of my 'very enthusiastic' seatmate and directly put down his whole face into it. He then continued to whine.

"I'm begging you,"

"Girlfriend! Am I unattractive?"

I gaze down at him. I wanted to ask if he minded staining other's textbook with his oily face, however, I gave up after seeing his flawless skin. We got a glimpse of our professor and my classmates ran to their seats as fast as the lightning. My seatmate, Audrey, sat beside me with a flushed face. I thought that it's because she ran too fast to reach her seat. But hearing her words, I changed my mind.

"Oh my god, I can't believe Jun Kaizer sat on my seat. He even laid his face on my textbook. I would definitely save this as a family heirloom!"

My description of her in my head changed from 'very enthusiastic' to 'slightly mad'. Audrey turned at me as if she's waiting for me to say something. Since I can't say to her what's on my head just now, I decided to ask something I'm curious about.

"Hey, is Austin your relative?"

"Oh, you knew my brother? He's my twin! He's one of the rising actors recently."

Austin is one of Dave's friend in entertainment circle. When I saw Audrey, his face came on my mind naturally. They also have the same vibe. I looked at Dave. Does he know that she's Austin's sister? The world is really small.

I stared in front thinking that. Then my professor appeared at my sight. This is the first time I saw him. He set his stern eyes to the whole class and ordered my classmate in front to introduce himself. Oh, here we go again...

This is the last thing that bothers me. We've been doing introduction every class. It was supposed to be okay but most of the introduction would end up suddenly like this...

"Oh you're surname is Winston? Are you related to the Winston Group?"

"Yes, sir. the current CEO is my father..."

"Oh, the company became more successful since your father....."

Why did I even bother myself to get a book from my locker? I stared at the book in front of me. I didn't dare to listen anymore and started to flip it's pages. When it's my turn, I simply stated my name and the teacher didn't ask about my family name. It was clear that he never heard it. He said something instead,

"Let's see, Dani Ferret. I know you. You're the Valedictorian last year from Trinity High, right?"

Some of my classmates who didn't attend my high school, looked at me with shock and amazement as I nodded. After the class, I expected that there would be a rumor about me but I didn't think it would still be about my background. They gossiped on how they can't see anything about me in social media, how my skin tone was too fair as if I'm hailed from a foreign land and any other absurd ideas. I couldn't believe that the rumors about me being the daughter of some Mafia would follow me even in college. And since this is a school who overly value rankings and intelligence, the students are also expecting me to have a face-off with Lee, the one who passed the entrance exam with the highest scores. He is also our classmate but until now, we never caught a glimpse of his face. Because of that, he became mysterious in the eyes of the students.

When the rumors about me quieted down, then rumors about students seeing ghost spread throughout our year. They said they saw a person in the bathroom, library, and hallways before disappearing without a trace. According to them, it would just usually stand in the corner somewhere while staring at the others and then disappear. It was not only one or two students who saw it, so they exchanged stories and started to speculate things. Listening to them, I forgot that I shouldn't underestimate the minds of the young. The past few days were quite lively. I listened to those ludicrous stories without knowing what was waiting for me after that.