Chapter 21- I’m Not A Pervert!

I tiredly huffed as I ran down the stairs all the way out of the building. I looked around and found my red bag on the grass with all my textbooks and papers scattered around. I sighed and looked up to see a pair of boys snickering at me.

“Hey, ya better hurry back to class, Alexandra!”

“You’ll get a tardy!”

I grumbled at their mocking tones as I gathered all my belongings. Being a commoner sure is tough. Forget commoner, being the heroine is tough. How did Alexandra handle all this bullying? And here I thought Middle school was a nightmare.

“Alex, you got everything!?”

I looked back up and smiled to see my white-haired friend. “Yeah, I got it! Nothing’s broken!”

“That’s good! Sorry, I couldn’t get your stuff back, but I made sure to give those boys a piece of my mind!”

I grinned, “That’s what I like to hear!”

It sucked that we couldn’t save my stuff from being thrown out the window, but at least we were able to save Reiré’s. Boys are just plain rude. I thought they were gentlemen? I shouldn’t expect so much. Boys will always be snobs, yet, why are they such cute snobs!?

“I’ll let the teacher know why you’re late, but you should still hurry back!” I heard Reiré shout.

“Thanks!” I replied back.

I got everything back in my bag. I’m just missing my erasers… Standing up, I looked around the grassy area to see if I could spot my pink erasers. Oh, there they are! They seem to have bounced over to the paved ground. I walked over and kneeled down to pick them up.

“Huh? Why are you out here, pervert? Don’t tell me you’re skipping?”

I felt my nerve snapped when suddenly being called a pervert. Just who would call me a pervert?! Upset, I whipped my head around to shout, “I’m not a pervert!”

“Oh my, is that any way to greet a noble?”

“Ah…” I was overcome with dread as those blue eyes glared at me like a beast. I quickly cleared my throat and stood up. I bowed to the blonde and said, “Good afternoon, Lady Viola. I didn’t know it was you.”

Viola smirked, “Well look at how polite you are. Such an action won’t fool me, pervert.”

“What happened a few days ago really was an accident.”

She huffed, “Accident or not, I still don’t forgive you.”

I whimpered, “But I’ve already apologized so many times.”

“Lady Viola, have you finished your sketches?”

I perked up at the familiar soft tone. I saw Charlotte walking over with a few papers in hand and a pencil. “Char-I mean Lady Charlotte…”

“Oh, if it isn’t Alexandra. Greetings. How are you doing on this fine afternoon?”

“I’m doing wonderful. Some of my items were dropped from the window so I had to come and retrieve them.”

“Is that why you’re out here? I for sure thought you were skipping,” said Viola.

I tried not to scowl. “I could say the same for you, Lady Viola. In fact, why are the two of you not in class?”

“We are,” replied Viola. “We’re out here per teacher’s instructions.” She turned and pointed in the distance where I could see a few students sitting on the grass. They all look to be drawing.

“What class are you in?”

“Lady Viola and I are attending Art class currently,” answered Charlotte.

“Ah, that makes more sense as to why you’re out here. Can I see some of your drawings?”

“Oh! You must see Lady Viola’s skills. She’s truly amazing at drawing!” claimed Charlotte.

Viola suddenly blushed as she held the pieces of paper close to her. “D-Don’t speak such nonsense. I’m not that good, I’m only average. I think you are much better Lady Charlotte.”

“Hmmm?” I peaked over Viola’s shoulders to see her perspective drawing. It was very beautiful, you could say that it looked almost like a photograph, but in black and white. “That’s so beautiful. It looked exactly like the academy’s right-wing building!”

Viola abruptly jumped away from me like a scared cat. “Who said you can peek at them!?”

“But they’re so good!” I commented. “I genuinely think that! I don’t have a talent for drawing so that's really impressive, Lady Viola.”

Charlotte nodded in agreement. “They are indeed lovely, Lady Viola. Even Alexandra praises you.”

“I don’t need praises from a pervert!” shouted Viola.

I sighed, “Just what do I have to do to get you to forgive me?”

Viola glared at me with challenging eyes. “Why don’t you let me get someone to whip you? Then you’ll be forgiven.”

“But I don’t want to be whipped.” Seriously? What’s with her and whipping? Don’t tell me she’s a sadist? I bet she and Reiré would make a great pair.

As I was going to retort, something shined in my eyes. I looked down and found a necklace on the ground near Viola. Did she drop it? Curious, I bent down and picked it up. It was some kind of pendant with a sun design. It looked really familiar to me. I wonder where I’ve seen it before. “Lady Viola, is this your pendant? I think you dropped it. It’s very pretty. Does the design mean anything?”

“Give that back!” She instantly took the pendant from my hand and stuffed it into her pocket.

I pouted, “You don’t have to be so hostile.”

Lady Charlotte giggled, “No need to be embarrassed, Lady Viola. That pendant means that you’re a follower of Celestia. That sun crest is a symbol of our goddess. Lady Viola is quite a religious person.”

“Oh! I think my mother had a pendant too,” I voiced.

“Not surprising, many people have it,” claimed Viola.

“I also have one, but I don’t really carry it around,” informed Charlotte.

I hummed, “I don’t see a lot of people wearing it.”

“Nobles don’t usually wear it out in the open and not a lot of commoners can’t afford a pendant, so they have the crest stitched on a handkerchief,” explained Viola. “While it's a symbol of Celestia, it’s also used as a protection charm to keep you safe.”

“Eh… Maybe I should stitch the crest onto my handkerchief too. I could use some protection from my bullies.”

“By the way, Alexandra. Are you fine with not getting back to class?” Charlotte asked.

“Ah!” I forgot about Math class! “It’s great seeing you, Lady Viola and Lady Charlotte, but I must get going.” I quickly turned on my feet, but before I entered the building, I glanced back and shouted, “Lady Viola, I forgot to say, I think you’d make a great artist! Please keep drawing!”

“My career choice isn’t yours to make!”

I couldn't help but giggle at her reactions. When she’s not calling me a pervert, she’s actually kind of cute. We could have been good friends if she wasn’t so hung up on the fact that I groped her. It’s not like I did it on purpose anyway. And whatever I say and do, she won’t forgive me. I don’t really know what else I can do, so I guess I’ll just give up on trying to make amends with her.

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I smiled as I stood in the doorway with a stack of papers.

“Are those the papers Prince Leonhardt had left for me, Alexandra?”

“Yep,” I answered. “He also asked me to help you out, Lord Quéntin.”

The dark-haired boy smiled, “I see. Thank you. You can place the papers on my desk.

I did as told and placed half the stack on his desk. “I’ll work on the other half.”

“Please do.”

I took my stack and sat down by the coffee table. I was the class president for my grade during middle school, so doing some of the student council work wasn’t all that hard. I will say that being part of the student council involved a lot more paperwork than being class president. I’m not complaining, since I’m the one that agreed to help.

Leo came to me after lunch asking for assistance in organizing the student council room. Leo will be busy so Quéntin had to take over some of his work. He hoped that I could help out while he had his meeting with a teacher about his scores. Now, why would he ask me out of all people? Well, I offered to help one time and I did such a good job that I suddenly became his default backup in case he needed more helpers.

Raphael was supposed to assist as well today, but he seemed to be more busy flirting with girls than doing his duties. If he keeps this up, he might be kicked out of the student council. In the game, he’s always walking on a tightrope with Leo’s patience. I don’t want to see the plot derailing so I’m doing as much as I can to help Raphael because I know this isn't his fault. I just hope Reiré finds a way to bring him back before Leo starts taking action. Pleasing a Crowned Prince was a lot harder than I expected.

“Lord Quéntin? There are some papers on the finances of the academy. The art room needs some new supplies and the committee thought that some new textbooks are in order.”

I looked up from the papers to see Viola walking in through the door. We made eye contact and her expression suddenly turned cold.

“Oh, the pervert is also here.”

“Just how many times do you want me to say sorry!?” I suddenly cried out.

She ignored me. “Where would you like me to place these documents, Lord Quéntin?”

“You can place them on my desk. I’ll look it over and discuss it with Prince Leonhardt later,” replied Quéntin.

“Of course.” Viola smiled and placed the papers on his desk. She turned around and when she saw my face, she immediately frowned.

I felt pretty insulted. “Am I that displeasing to look at!?” I’m the heroine for goddamn sake! Shouldn’t I be making people smile!?

“Ah, my apologies. It was involuntary,” she monotoned.

I grumbled, “You don’t sound apologetic.”

“Oi! Quéntin!”

Suddenly a spiky-haired boy with brown eyes walked into the room. I’ve seen him around Quéntin a lot whenever Leo invites me to the student council room. They seemed very close despite their status differences.

Quéntin sighed, “Hayden, I’m busy.”

“But you promised to help me spar today, did you forget?”

“Something came up and I have to finish looking through these documents,” he explained.

“Ah, come on, Quéntin. I thought you said you never break your promises? Don’t you dare use your status against me now,” Hayden sternly voiced.

Now, usually, people will see this interaction as just a normal conversation between friends, but I see it differently. This is what I call bromance here! Yes! I’ve seen the cold shoulder Quéntin gives to Hayden, but he still worries for him and Hayden is the sweet sunshine that can make Quéntin smile like no tomorrow. Even though Hayden has no manners like me, Quéntin never once scolded him and he doesn’t even care if Hayden calls him so casually. If you don’t call that bromance, I don’t know what you call it. These two are cute, I ship it!

“Why are you staring at Lord Quéntin and Sir Hayden with such disrespectful eyes?” Viola asked.

“It’s called love, Viola! It’s called love!” I squealed.

Viola looked at me as if I’ve grown two heads. “You are strange and who told you to call me so informally?”

“Lady Viola, we have to help these two! Lord Quéntin, please leave everything to me and Lady Viola!”

“Excuse you, why are you speaking for me?”

Hayden smiled as bright as the sun that could rival Leo’s smile. “You guys serious? You hear that, Quéntin? They’ll take over for you!”

Quéntin makes a complicated face. “I don’t know… Alexandra isn’t part of the student council and Lady Viola is only part of the finance committee…”

Viola crossed her arms and nodded, “That’s right, I don’t have the authority to make-”

“We can totally do it! Prince Leo asked me to help, so I certainly have some qualifications in making the decisions for the academy. I was literally just doing that!” I held up some of the papers I was working on to prove my point.

Quéntin hummed, “That is true.”

Viola made a face of disbelief. “You can’t be serious, Lord Quéntin? You’re letting a commoner who’s also a pervert make decisions for our academy?”

“I’m not a pervert!” I shouted once more.

Hayden frowned and stood up to Viola. “And what’s wrong with her being a commoner? She's a student first before a commoner and so are you, Lady Viola. On academy grounds, we are all students first. Status comes second.”

Quéntin stood up from his desk and stepped in between Viola and Hayden. “Alright, let’s calm down. I don’t want a fight to break out here,” he said. “I do think Alexandra is capable of handling things in the student council. I’d honestly love to have her be secretary than Lord Raphael since lately he hasn’t been diligent. I don’t think you should be criticizing Alexandra based on her status, Lady Viola, since it’s true that Prince Leonhardt had asked her to come help with council business most of the time.”

Viola sighed, “Fine, whatever.”

Hayden smiled, “Then I’ll be stealing Quéntin from you guys.” He grabbed Quéntin by his arm and dragged him out.

“Wait! But I never said I’d stay to help. I still have other things to-!”

The door shut in Viola’s face as both boys left the room. Viola stood there frozen as I giggled.

Viola turned around and shouted, “This is no laughing matter! There’s no way I’d stay in a room with my assaulter!”

“Once again, I’m sorry!” I screamed. “I really am! Was slapping me not enough for you?”

Viola huffed, “Let’s just get this over with. What is it that needs to be done?”

“We just need to look over some paperwork. That pile of papers on Lord Quéntin’s desk needs to be read. I’m already working on the other half of the stack.”

“Alright.” Viola grabbed the papers from Quéntin’s desk and sat in the seat across from me.

I blinked. “You’re sitting across from me?”

“I can’t sit in Lord Quéntin’s seat or Prince Leonhardt’s and I do not want to sit next to you so the only solution is to sit here. Don’t tell me you have a problem with it?”

I only shrugged. “Nah, I have no problems with it.”

“Good, then let’s focus.” Viola looked back down at her papers and began reading.

I watched how Viola pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. When she isn’t complaining about me, she looks so mature. Her shimmering blonde hair could rival Leo’s and her icy blue eyes are towards the grey tone as well. If anything, I bet Viola would be what Leo would look like if he was born a girl. Compared to me, Viola would look great as a princess. She even has the curves for it. The world is so unfair… I thought Alexandra was the protagonist? Shouldn’t she have a nice hourglass-shaped body that’s stacked too? At least I’m taller now. I was always known as a midget in my grade…

I let my eyes roam down to those large mounds. I couldn’t help but frown. They were soft too…

“How long are you going to stare at me?”

“Huh?” I moved my eyes up to see Viola glaring at me with flushed cheeks. Huh? Why does she look embarrassed?

“If you keep on staring at me, I won’t hold back in slapping you silly like last time,” she threatened.

“Oh, sorry…” I quickly placed my eyes down at the papers in my hands. I didn’t even realize I was staring at her, or another way of saying, checking her out. I could feel my own cheeks grow warm. That was kind of embarrassing. I really need to pull myself together around these beautiful human beings. I already had enough with Reiré scolding me about it.