《Calixon - Machiavellian/Satirical Romance》 Chapter 1: First Day Of Fakeness C H A P T E R 1 F I R S T D A Y O F F A K E N E S S Author: Raven Orthodox My name''s Alexis Frostfyre, and allow me to introduce myself to this grand place of Arkskye city. If I could describe myself in three words, I''d say I''m a MAC: Manipulative Authoritative. Calculative. I wanted a fresh start, so I moved into Arkskye city, and also Arkskye University to study, which was an elite school suited only for the exceptionally brilliant and powerful students through means of wealth, intelligence, and status. "Perfect!" I said to my mother on the phone, tying the straps of my heels. Today''s going to be the perfect runway ever. A rush of ego bloomed inside me, but most definitely not butterflies. "You are wicked, Alexis. And you know it." She whispered, to which I replied, "I know." with a sudden burst of pride. I looked in the mirror to see my exotic face: a vainglorious set of cat eyes, a perfectly shaped dark blonde eyebrows, and platinum hair. I may not be as wealthy as a queen, but I was born divine. We said each other our goodbyes, and she told me to take my baby dragon Austin to my dorm since this school allows pets in our rooms and the large campus fields with collar chains. Well, he was a cute eight months old, white husky. "Oh, toaster," I said to myself, grabbing two hot bread slices and sandwiched it with scrambled eggs. I put it into a plastic wrap and packed it into my bag, with a water bottle, yogurt, bananas, and my multivitamins. It was the first week of August, and it''s the first day of school; My special first day of school as one of the newcomers in the academy. It''s almost one of every girl''s dreams. But now, it''s my turn. After taking a cab from my place to the university''s parking lot, I opened the car door and put a first high-heeled step to the school''s sweeping, marble-glazed grounds. Next step, I shooed the driver away from me since I already paid him, and so I can bring about my grand entrance. I''m a fearless goddess, and they''ll get to know it soon enough. I''ve been practicing different styles of walking, and I''m using a seductive-superior strut. My clothes not too revealing but enticingly inviting. Give it a bit of a sly and fox-like demeanor, to show a complex blend of grace and danger altogether. With this, I can outnumber several Instagram models in the school. And soon enough, this queen shall slay. "Girl, you did it!" somebody teased from afar. "Now that''s a queen. . ." An anonymous girl''s voice commented. Plenty of young rich kids were already talking about me being new and most importantly, whispering about what was my social media accounts. But nobody dared to ask me out, either they were stunned or just scared. But I was hoping for both. It''s still hard for me to navigate everywhere despite acquiring a personalized map since I hadn''t had any private visits on this campus. And since I already applied and took my ACT and SAT practice test online, I realized that it''s not necessary to take tests for university admission anymore, according to the latest news. I got myself in the nearest girl''s bathroom and opened up my bag. My stepfather gave me six grand to pay for my fee here (although my non-traditional scholarship subtracted a large amount of tuition). Despite calculating, I still didn''t think that this would cover up all the academic terms, so I needed lots of cash to finish this year. I got out and reached the one-story cafeteria to buy some milk to start up my day and save my lunch for later. The cafe was inviting enough, looking like Bloomsbury from Dubai or Emporio Armani from Paris, France. Only with a touch-up of modern artistry and double the size. But anyway, since class starts at nine, I could appreciate the gold-plated exterior and classic atmosphere which doesn''t give the impression of a cafe at all. The scent of blue-bloods and velvety cushions and sofa chairs, I hate to admit the bulging wealth, but I crossed my arms and looked at my glossy fingernails, bored and waiting for my line. "Goodness me, how long are these twenty-plus students be done ordering?" I asked myself. "Hey, miss." A dude''s voice called. I looked on my behind and saw two rich-looking black men smiling in playful demeanor. Looking so buff and bejeweled with cool trinkets and flashy silver chains. Those handsome men. Are jewelry even allowed here? "What do you want?" I asked. The guy with the most amazing dreadlocks I''ve ever seen stepped closer. "See this, miss?" He holds a card, grinning with deep interest. "It can get you a yearly VIP pass for first-class foods in the cafeteria with immediate service, you get every five hundred bucks worth of tray every day and. . . without waiting on your twenty-somethin'' line." I chuckled as I stepped myself closer to him. "And what''s your deal, mister?" "You. We want you to be our grand booth model next month. You are captivating, but we figured you already know that." "No." I disagreed as I looked bored at my fingernails. Again. "No?" He said. Confused. "I just wante-" "No, I want more than what you''re offering." I looked around. Outside the cafe had twenty plus tables, here only consists of fifteen. And on the other side around the campus'' building was another different cafeteria. "The tables were all used. I need a vacant seat and a group of friends." "Not a problem at all, I''ll take care of it." The other guy smiled and proceeded to look for a seat. "Good, you take care of that," I said, snatching Dreadlock guy''s VIP card as I walked past the people who groaned as if I had a thousand buck they wished they had. If they''re so wealthy, why not bring their snacks. But I guess this card was not just for the rich but for someone undoubtedly an asset to the school. "I need just a small milk drink, an apple, and chocolate chip cookies."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I swept through everyone as I quickly grabbed the gold tray of my order, holding my purse firmly, on the other hand, to keep it safe, but doing it all with style. My two guys were already waving at me to a VIP table with several snobbish, high-class students, gorgeous-looking with head held up high. They were whispering mean crap about me, something like, "This new girl is a bummer.", "True." and "That dope hair is faker than my mum''s lip fillers." A ginger girl gossiped. Seriously? That ginger-haired sweetheart being a savage. How dare she! As I placed my tray beside Dreadlocks guy, I put my "fake" Kerrigan Touche bag on my lap. I searched for my hair mist conditioner and sprayed a bit at the back of my head to give my hair a noticeable shine. "So. . . are you gonna introduce to me these losers or nah?" Dreadlocks, shocked at my remark, firstly explained his name was Rhaegal and his friend, Jace. He pointed out the girls looking like the more arrogant and snobbish version of Victoria''s Secret''s models. And the nails, the what? She had shattered glass nails that looked like diamonds! Or was it? "Loving my nails, aren''t you sweetie?" The ginger flaunted her nails, her aura felt like a goddess showcasing her luxury and her inner Athena. "I bet your dad''s annual income can''t match with these nails'' expense." Rhaegal laughed shyly, a bit embarrassed but that''s fine, he continued to sway the conversation to another topic so I wouldn''t shy away "-and this beautiful ginger girl was-" "Anyways," I raised a hand to interrupt, with a genuine-seeming smile. "- allow me to introduce myself. I am Alexis Frost-" "Well, sorry, sissy," It was ginger girl''s turn to interrupt. She flexed her pearly whites which looked like the work of Damon braces, yet she continued "- but my name is Cheryl Orlando, my friends here are not that much interested in you and-" "Alexis Frostfyre." I smiled. "Alexis. Frostfyre." I repeated. My tone soft and unoffended and unemotional, creating a cold-burn effect on her remark. "That name sucked. I had a better one that your mom could ever wish for naming you. Hmm, how about, Alexis Trashfyre?" Another Gucci-adorned socialite, which Rhaegal introduced as Diana, made a powerfully-crafted shade and earning a good laugh from the guys on the table. "I mean she''s hot, yeah, but a strip-dump like her won''t reach your level, Diana." A guy said, making a mentally-delayed gesture on comparing me to her. "As if I don''t already know that." Diana munched her pizza. "Hey, Rhaegal. Tell us why she''s too skinny you even dared to invited her to our seat. Even her last name is a bummer." Rhaegal wanted to say something, yet I immediately interrupted, "What''s wrong with my name?" "Not just your name darling, the rest of your status in the School Profile tells us you''re a hapless scholar-sucking misfortune. You''re too poor and too low to be here, darling. How much more on getting a free seat to the one and only Champions." "The Champions? What is that? Some feeble-minded, retarded squad that you and your group came up within a matter of minutes?" "Yes and no. This squad title doesn''t even match your low-class family name, sissy. I bet your deadbeat intelligence is an IQ measurement of a negative seventy-five." "This low-class family name you have snarled about contains more brain cells than the rest of your generation''s ancestry could ever wish for. . . sissy! From New Jersey to the capital of California, my clan has rocked straight A''s in college and excelled in the workforce." My eyes scowled at hers more intense than her hair removal lasers. My handbag made a sharp clicking sound as I closed its lid. "And one more thing, have you any idea how cool my name actually is? No, you don''t, ''cause it''s cooler than the most expensive hospital your dad could ever find for your birthing place, and you know it." I opened my milk drink and gulped from the straw, delicious. One guy with the brown hair and blue eyes talked nonsense directly on my face between the table, telling me that he was Diana''s boyfriend, telling me that he was offended. That I, a lowlife, doesn''t even deserve a chance in the academy. Much so to an elite academy like the beloved made-for-the-upper-class Arkskye University. Snap! Snap! "Excuse me, miss, is there a problem?" A waitress asked me. "Nothing, miss." I calmly said to her, hoping to ease the tension I delightfully created. "Why don''t you ask that man why he was so furious that the rest of the diners stopped eating and watched." The waitress still wouldn''t budge from staring at me. She believed I''m the highest threat around here. "I think something''s clearly wrong. What have you done to our special guests?" "Special guests?" "You have no idea who you''re messing with, ugly." She marked her words on me. "So tell me. Are you saying I have no idea that I''m messing with the most powerful and richest group calling themselves ''The Champions''?" "Yes, woman." This waitress was fierce! "That ugly hair of yours makes you more of a wicked hag than Ariana Grande''s cheap hair extensions." How dare she makes such a degrading statement for a freaking waitress. And how dare she messed with Ari? "Hey, that''s not how you treat a customer." Jace fought back for me, although it''s clear the rest of the guys were unable to control their laughter. They''re laughing at me, not laughing with me. Rhaegal cleared his throat. "Okay, ladies, that''s quite enough." I made an index point to halt him so I can finish this waitress once and for all. "It''s fine Rhaegal, just let me do my thing." "You shouldn''t be so invasive with people''s boundaries, and it seems to me that these people weren''t that interested in you. If a customer had qualms from another customer, I suggest you find another seat or just leave.Woman." Her passive-aggressive emphasis on her last word boiled my blood from the deepest underwater volcano ever! "Don''t call me ''woman''with that annoying Prima Donna tone on your throat. I don''t have a problem with aging, you know, or the fact you''re a waitress. But you thought you''re younger than me, although it''s clear I''m more beautiful than you." I gave a sophisticated ruby-ringed middle finger upon Diana and the rest who were trying to stop me from the fight.Freakin''dirtbag! Anorexic lowlife!Those words hurt like pricks of the spindle, but I still wasn''t finished with this waitress-slash-interrogator. "You are breaking the line miss. I could report you to the office and call the manager to kick you out. Something is quite not right around here, and it truly seemed like you''re the one who started it." My smile remained calm and poised looking at her, a smile that hinted my passive-aggressive tone and gave her a quick reality check. "Nothing is wrong, miss. Now here''s what you''re going to do, I want you to serve those people who are still waiting on the line who actually needed your help, don''t you think? Why waste your precious time on some petty tantrum this guy started, huh?" I shooed her away, but with a fair amount of etiquette, even if just a bit. She went away, and it''s pretty clear she''s reporting me to the cafe''s manager. Moving on, the other girls are seething with lava heads in my direction. While Dreadlock, or should I say, Rhaegal, proceeded to calm them down. "Take it easy, guys. She''s chill, and she''s new. She''s going to be our booth model this September." "What!" A fair-skinned girl with a dragon tattoo on her neck exclaimed. "I thought that role was supposed to be for Diana." Diana, turning from Frozen''s Elsa to Moana''s Te Ka real quick, the table shook the foods over the moment she slammed it with her fist of hammer. "That role was mine!" "Diana, I am sorry, but you rejected that offer the third time today. And not even a pretty face like yours could change my mind." "Fine!" Diana grabbed her purse and started to stand up to walk away. "I''m gonna tell the Dean about this." "Not so fast, babe. I still want you here" Diana''s boyfriend demand. Diana responded quietly like a tamed puppy, yet fuming hushed words, going back to her seat as if her dad just scolded her to sit the hell down. "Alexis, right?" The boyfriend guy suddenly turned to me. His menacing brows a bit furrowed, like questioning my very existence. "Tell you what, your dumb airhead doesn''t seem to understand the whole situation. You don''t even belong here, so why don''t you go running back to your cobblestone base your mom could only afford to call home." "Hey!" Jace defended, toning him down a bit. "Ah, ha ha ha." I chuckled as I looked tired as hell, with my astonishing glossy nails. I gestured my index to prove a point. "Look, mister. I''ve met fools like you who think like you own planet Earth with the tip of your fingernails. But with all due respect, you might wanna stop spitting at my food as you did on your girl''s mouth." "What the hell did you just say?" The boyfriend screamed, seizing all attention in the cafeteria. "What the hell did you just freaking say!" My legs stood up with boundless grace, quickly grabbing my belongings from this wretched seat. Jace, Rhaegal, and the other guys were already holding him down. I re-strapped my heels firmly and stood up again, with a pageant-winning smile as I did a one-time, hand-comb on my gorgeous hair. I said a fearless ''goodbye'' to the audience as I clicked my heels out the cafe, "It''s all just spectacle, my people. Don''t worry about it. It''s Alexis Frostfyre, by the way. And you may follow me on Twitter or Instagram however you like." "Enjoy your day, Frostfyre, savor it. But wait till Calixon burns your ass on fire!" Chapter 2: The Handsome Devil (Part I) C H A P T E R 2 T H E H A N D S O M E D E V I L ( Part I ) Author: Raven Orthodox Outside the cafe, I saw muscled football players running in the 120-yard fields. Astonished and amazed, it was bewildering for me to realize how beautiful the scenery was. I wasn''t even talking about the boys, but the Saucer Magnolia and Dogwood trees complimenting outside the field. The players, however, were glistening with sweat. Making them shine under the heat as they were shirtless after practice. It was beautiful to look at, but don''t kid yourself. These hot men could make any girl sit on their laps from the first whistle. Back at Kraznys High School, athletes rule the campus like lords, so we the rest, feel inferior in comparison. But not on my case, since I always make sure that I am beyond their worth, not under them as if I am another the side-chick slave. I''ve even dated a few of them, and in reality, they are so hard to tame. But I am fortunate enough they keep me pleased with gifts and sugary confectioneries. Girls should lure boys, not chase them. I''m the new bad guy in Arkskye University. But still, I need protection from the even-more bad guys by having at least one of these football players as a temporary boyfriend for provisional protection. I walked from the hallway to the dormitory building; It''s a residential quarter for students here. I tell you, almost all amazingly well-dressed girls didn''t seem too prideful, unlike me. Some of them even cared to say hello to me, which I returned the favor. "Alexis Frostfyre, please," I said to the Front Desk Receptionist name-tagged as Carla to give me a key for my room. I grabbed a small hand mirror to see if the lip gloss I put might have smudged. "You know what, Carla, I''m having a bad hair day. Assuming that Diana''s boy toy put on a tantrum, which I guess you already know who these dunderheads are, they are getting the best of me." I chatted as she was looking for my files and search for my dormitory key. "Well, you might be the best gossiper in town darling, I must-" "Well, of course, I am," I bring out my best smile at her. "You must mean I''m the evil Wicked Witch of the West in my situation, but fear not, you are right." I sprinkled myself some Belladonna X perfume, just a spritz on my neck to smoothen the quality of my day. "They thought they thought could wield me, ha! I would never apologize for being so dramatic." With all the roller-coaster thrill, I sighed in desperation. Damned heels and sweltering weather, these feet are getting sore already. But I didn''t give the impression of being tired or exhausted. I wouldn''t want anyone to see me weaker than Diana''s cry-me-a-river boyfriend. Well, I was tired and exhausted, but it''s the first day of school, and it''s a must to deliver a glorious impression! "Ow!" A large man with hard, broad shoulders bumped on me. "Hey, watch where you''re going." "You deserve it." He told me as he simply walks by, not even saying sorry. Excuse me? Does he think he can simply get away with that? No! "Hey, crackhead," I yelled to the six-footer guy with the blessed body like that of a Greek god. Gee, why is everyone looking like from every Wattpad story my stepsister Raven have always read? "Yes, babe?" He joked. As he turned around, I realize he''s just another footballer, only with the sculpted and gifted of all faces. I''ve had quite enough model-looking boyfriends and wild hunks I dumped and rejected so far, so I am just immune to this nonsense. "So. . ." I stepped coldly towards him. "Allow me to assume the worst in you. You may already have a thousand fans or maybe even millions, to which I don''t give a damn even if you vomit your own time waiving the crowd. Yet here you are who had the nerve to call me baby and bump me in the shoulder and tell me I deserve it." "Yes."Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "And you think you have all the followers in the world and unknowing of the big ego inside your head that you think you could simply bump me. It wasn''t even an accident, I can tell. See the difference? My instincts have more sense than your senseless ego." "Yes." "I bet you must have the most active sex drive that you''d get to flirt all the girls on campus, maybe even boys too." He studied me for a bit and then smiled with a frown. "Uhm. . . not really. Girls, yes, almost. But you, baby, must be an exception, I wonder how that thick juicy bundle would taste like." He winked and looked over my bountiful rear, sounding like he was joking. Yet he''s objectifying rather than complimenting. "See?" I flushed, but I hide the inner rage impulsing within me. I am a teeny tiny bit shaking, and I think he noticed. But if that''s what it is, then it''s only fair since I did make a personal judgment on him. So now we''re even. But that doesn''t mean it''s only fair because he''s good-looking. No, never. "Hmm. . ." He studied me for a second, "-you''re adorable." "Yeah-uh, thanks a lot, perv." "Alexis Frostfyre? Your keys are ready. Fourth floor, room number twelve." Carla, the receptionist, had ended our little fight to my fortunate luck. "Ha!" I chuckled with angst, but not that loud, or else that would cause an even more awkward attention and situation. "I''ll be on my way now, straight to my palace." "So, Alexis Frostfyre, huh?" He challenged me. "What are you, the ice-blooded transferee on campus?" He made a smile, a slight grin as if he could do any damage by making fun of my full name just like Diana and the rest did at the cafe. "Whatever, loser." "Now you listen to me, baby. You are talking in front of the most notorious and richest sports player in camp." Duh! "Ha. Ha. Ha. Funny guy. Now take my advice: cut that ego at the ends of your tail and stay dead." I scoffed and executed a classic hair flip, turning away from him like the diva that I am. As I took my bag and the dormitory key, he looked at me like a boy confused solving a math problem. No, I didn''t think he likes the sight of me, I think he''s studying me as if I was complex pain in his butt that needed thawing or else I could ultimately damage his star-sized pride. "I''ll see you again, hottie. You''re a wildfire." He winked as I simply ignored him and walked away. Calm yourself, Alexis, he''s just another guy who possibly just wants what''s between your legs. He''s not even worth it. You understand? "I know you''re playing hard to get Lexi. Sooner or later, you''re going to come right back into my arms," He barked, but those words didn''t affect me that much. I raised my middle finger and didn''t look back. Some people''s jaws are agape, shocked as they see me standing up for my own. But it just pains me to see poor souls getting taken advantaged of and bullied by people who seem superior to them. That''s why I always stood up against disrespect by disrespecting them back! To be honest, I am way out of his league. But I had to say something poison to dissolve that arrogance imbuing up inside him. Otherwise, people like him, and even people below him, would just take my worth as a woman for granted, so better him intoxicated than me. I reached the fourth floor and room number twelve. Opening the door with my dorm key, I see the elegantly carved post of me and my roommate''s name. ''Dominica Vixen'' was tagged on it. I knocked on the door first, so she could prepare herself when I enter. As you can see, she was doing deep squats with work out clothes. Her beautiful dark skin glossy of sweat like those hot idols on the field. "Allow me to enter this domain." I smiled as she looked up to me, shocked. "Dominica, right?" "That''s right." Dominica stopped her squats and stood up to meet me. She gave me a genuine soft smile, "And you must be Alexis." With immediate ease, I shook her hands despite the sweat. I wanted to share a strong bond and partnership as years would pass by. She could be a potential best friend. I took long feminine steps over the counter and searched for something in my bag. "Well, I guess you must be hungry." And finally, I found my DIY sandwich. "Aha!" I grabbed a knife to slice it. "This one''s yours." "Thanks, sis. I could eat a man right now." She took a bite and stopped herself to savor my snack. "Delicious. Anyways, I like your school profile quote in the school halls. You quoted: ''I am Queen, I slay'' and I like you even more now." "Ah, ha-ha. Obviously yes. You see, queens like us always slay." I winked as I uncovered myself from the small black coat I wore during my diva walk. "Where''s the bathroom? I need to pee." "Right over there." She pointed. "Thanks, love." "Uhm, one more thing. I uh," Dominica stopped mid-sentence, as if hesitant to blurt out something. It''s something that would mean the death of me, clearly so. "Yes, Dominica?" "You might not know this, but," She kept her poise and took one deep breath. "You are a target." "What?"I tossed my hair to the back of my shoulder. Confusion and fear had drawn on my brows. "I mean the Champions. The Champions are the rich snobs in Arkskye, you must know. They party like hell, make other people feel economically worse compared to them. And they''d start flexing their cash guns on Instagram stories as if money is the last thing they needed, it''s annoying. "And now they are against you the moment you stepped in. I just saw it on Twitter and Arkbook, which is the school''s social media." "Oh." I touched my lip, an unconscious gesture of my nervousness. "It''s fine, I know. I just thought it was an assassination-type of a target. You got me there." I wanted to laugh but failed nevertheless. "Exactly, they will try to destroy you. And will fulfill it in a way that you''ll feel like you''re going to give your life up. It''s just an animal food chain concept they''ve built. "But this is a social construct, so they will squander your lifestyle, your education, your reputation, everything for which they can get away with." "Hmm, that''s threatening. But it''s nothing to worry about, sister." I assured her. "I just want you to be careful." "Yes, of course. I felt like I started it since these so-called Champions, first off, blubbered mean things on me, you know. They deserved what triggered them. But anyways just wish me luck, I will handle this." I said as I blew her a kiss, which she caught it. "Okay, I am glad. Now take your bath and be ready on the battlefield." She joked and chuckled. But it doesn''t sound like a joke to me. Chapter 2: The Handsome Devil (Part II) C H A P T E R 2 T H E H A N D S O M E D E V I L ( Part II ) Author: Raven Orthodox After getting my textbooks two hours later from the library and selecting free expensive school supplies in the School Asset Building, I walk towards Lion''s Den, which mom instructed me was my assigned academic building. It was also a nickname for school building number one, by the way. The other buildings are Eagle''s Haven (number two) and Serpent''s Fangs (number three). Luckily, the guard was still asleep, and the door gate was open. So I entered. "Uh, excuse me? Why aren''t you wearing your badge?" A professor spoke to me. He was professor Montgomery, I''ve read about him on online, which I suppose is an Algebra and Precalculus teacher. "What badge, professor? Where can I get it?" I asked and then realized he was wearing a pure gold lion-carved badge. Badges everywhere, even students passing by, had small ones. And yes, I realized it, but I was told I can only get the badge after entering an assigned building. "I don''t seem to believe you''re one of the lions." He said as he sorted something on his phone, "What''s your name?" I told him my name, and he typed it to search which building room am I. The school did not even inform me when I signed up for this university. "Serpent''s Fangs." I didn''t get a chance to visit it last summer because I''ve been working my butt off for low-salary jobs. "Serpent''s Fangs? So that''s my official building number." "Yes. And you see, students from the other buildings can pay a visit here freely. The problem is, most students here can become territorial and defensive even. The only student with the biggest gut can visit Lion''s den. So if you don''t mind, you should watch your step, got it?" I made a low chuckle and thought of a joke. "Ha-ha, professor. Are you saying this building has a group of lions?" The professor was triggered. "Is that a mock, lowlife? Have you any idea the name Alexis is a current target here? Lucky for you, most people still haven''t noticed you, or else they''ve already put their claws on your behind." "Defending myself from the mean girls'' gossip isn''t a crime, professor. But if that multiplies my enemies on campus, then I''ll serve them my best counterattack dish. "And I know those mean brain-dead girls like Diana belonged to Lion''s Den. But if she tries one move against me, she and your Lion''s Den members will have a taste from a Slytherin''s fangs." "Hmm, not so. I don''t think you could last here, now I need you to step out of this structure, and off you go with the limbless reptiles." "Fine, fine, fine." I walked out of the building as the professor was seething in agitation and seemed to never stop eyeing on my back until I would leave. "Ow!" "Ouch, watch your step, lady." Said a familiar voice. "Raven?" I wondered. I took a closer look at her facial features, astonishingly bright emerald eyes and the thickest, darkest, and shiniest black hair. "Raven, it is you!"Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Alexis! What the hell are you doing on Arkskye?" She looked shocked as she immediately hugged me. " How I missed you when you left New York." "Me too, you didn''t even call me you recently registered here." "We don''t care about what schools we attend. I mean a sixteen-years-old girl like me and seventeen one like you are exceptional enough to graduate high school early." She laughed. "Anyways, how are you doing here? You already get used to it? I bet half the people here are confused and didn''t know a crap about what to do in a university, but that''s just what I heard." "I haven''t seen you in while. And just so you know I''m a bad trend right now." "Are you kidding me?" I broke from her one-minute hug. "Seriously, you haven''t checked your phone yet? People were raging about me getting destroyed and thrown to the lion''s claws as soon as freaking possible. I am their target at the moment. I am at war on the first day of school, and Dominica was my only real ally aside from you who just stepped out the van!" "What? That''s unacceptable. You should be popular, not notoriously popular like back on our crap high school." She leaned closer and fixed my hair bit, "You''re going to be a pain the ass, step-sister. I will have to care for you now more than ever." "Take care of me? No, you already cared for me a little too much, I''ve learned all the lessons you''ve taught me, I can handle this myself now." "I see, but we''re still too young to be in this awful position. You''ll need my help when things get rough. Just stay on this bench, and I''ll get you something." She patted me on the head like I''m her Chihuahua or something, and then left to buy me a quick snack. "Not just rough. Ugh, I felt so lost." Sitting on the bench, I sighed to myself in desperation for a quick relief from all of this. "Did somebody say rough?" What in the world? The same guy who bumped on my shoulder is giving me a stern, cold look, "I''ve been thinking a lot about you, Lexi." "Since when, sucker? Since the last two hours when we had just met?" I rolled my eyes at him and averted my gaze to the cheerleaders and the rhythmic, music-for-a-cause band. Standing 6''5 feet, he was crossing his arms, and now here he is standing in front me for I was just sitting around here waiting for my sister to bring me a snack. When in actuality, he can just be the snack I wouldn''t hesitate to bite. As a yummy substitute. . . Just kidding. Hell, no! He was taller than most boys. Those two biceps that looked like buff guns hugged perfectly on his gray shirt. He towered over me now. "I know what you did to my sister. That was not cool, Lexi." "Your sister? Do you mean the ginger girl? Ha, she deserved it, okay?" I said with a smug. "And I''m not even sorry if I offended her." "No, I meant Diana." My lips shut the moment I heard her name. "Diana?" "You took the position of Diana being the booth model. You pissed off my best friend, Jake. And then you made a worst-case scenario in the cafeteria. I am impressed." I shrugged and combed my hair, looking away as if he was annoying the very life out of me. "That sounds just about right, bonehead." "You also pissed off my favorite teacher, Professor Dickens Montgomery. And you threatened Diana and the Lions about your Slytherin fangs, isn''t that right, Lexi?" I stood up in immediate effect while stalking closer to him. With a sudden rush of confidence, looking up at him even with my heels could not get me to level his height. "Yes, and I am not sorry for my actions." Our eyes locked for a moment, and I can feel people are watching our show. He looked at my lips, and then on my eyes. He breathed slow, "A little advice for you, Lexi. You and I are enemies against each other, you understand? Hurt my boys and my sister, and I''ll bring you down. Slowly, ''till you would beg for it, ''till your knees would hurt from kneeling, begging us all for it to stop." He made a smile that only handsome devils can make. I can pretty much tell that he loves this game so much because he probably wins every time he threatens people. If he likes to challenge me, then I must make myself seem even more challenging. Even stronger. And prove myself as Arkskye''s most wicked sweetheart. "Game on." "Game on, wild card." He grips my shoulder tightly, reminding me how strong he was in all mirrors. I feel like trembling in fear, but my pride refused and just wouldn''t budge on showing it. He released me as soon as he sensed my wavering and trembling shoulders. Being done with it, his soft chuckles unnerved me as he turns to walk away. His bad-guy walk contained that devilish aura like all the bad guys you see and read in slasher/horror and crime fiction. He was a character which came to life, after all. Raven''s oh-so glossy jet black hair blocked my view as she saw him leave. "Hmm, you know it''s not easy to deal with ''terrorizers'' like that guy. And if I were you, I''d be like calling the cops. Like. . . right now." "He was threatening me." "What? You''re crossing a line!" "What are you talking about, who the hell does he think he is?" She made a slow head turn shushed me out with a finger. "Girl, you just destroyed the webs of your dreams by crossing with that man, a monster that is Calixon Reaver Dayne. He was soft with you for now, but never again. Now tell me, was it all even worth it in pissing off an egotistic beast? Clearly not!" Chapter 3: I Am Queen, I Slay C H A P T E R 3 I A M Q U E E N I S L A Y Author: Raven Orthodox Checking on my phone, numerous people were already following me on Facebook and Instagram. I quickly installed Arkbook and easily made an account linking it to my social media. Arkskye had over more than 49,000 student population. Almost as populated as the University of Minnesota. Arkbook only requires your student ID number, and after that, you are connected to all the forty-nine thousand students privately without teacher interference. Everything you post will be seen, and so the most popularly up-voted will be the most viewed. If I had to post something, there''s a good chance people will follow me and my other social media links. If they do follow me, then I would have an army to support me against the Champions and any other powerful rich-as-hell squads. I wonder who they would be. Most guys sent love messages as usual, but some girls are warning me for a seeming social discord and what was about to come: Kenny Cartman: Good luck, girl. I hope you won''t lose your life into this mess. Alyssa Leanne Montefalcon: Be damned, sister. If they hit you first, you should have never hit them back. Celestine Kerrigan: The Champions influence a ripple effect, they can create an army out of their followers. "I should probably heed these advices." I spoke to myself. I turned my phone off. I''ve had enough of this tense drama for the day, and besides, this girl will come back tomorrow even stronger. "Oh, look who''s here. A puppy." I squat down to pet a cute German Shepherd in the sitting area on a student''s lounge. "Are you lost, boy, where''s your owner?" I stroked him softly on the head. "Hey, that''s my dog. Stay away from it!" Someone called out. The woman waved a pearl-studded hand to swat me away like the plague. Her adorable canine wiggled its tail on me and it broke my heart witnessing a ball of cuteness was straying away from me, thanks to that overdramatic owner. "Dammit, that dog was cute." I gave out an exasperated sigh. Sometimes, one bad day could make me feel as if half of the people wanted me dead. And speaking of the people, the other half of them doesn''t even know I existed, but whatever this ridiculous drama is, I''m not going to get emotionally or physically (or even psychologically) affected by it. I sense that they wanted to burn me slow and get crisped on this hell-damned campus, but I am not giving them that satisfaction. Nope! "Oh, look who''s here. The crumb dirtbag of Arkskye. . ." The ginger-haired girl, Cheryl Orlando, spoke up, surprising me from my deep thought. She, with the so-called Champions being here, strutting their stride as if the younger version of Victoria''s Secret models. Their Balenciagas are screaming for clothing quality. I know, right? It was if they existed to make people like me - a poor girl in a rich school - to feel so below in comparison. But in all honesty, I am very immune to their poison. "What''s your deal?" I crossed my arms, puckering my luscious, pink lips to ensure that mine is bigger than theirs. "Now, now, you''re standing in front of an infanta royale. Why aren''t you kneeling?" Her arrogant gaze looked up and down on my figure. "Have you realized already that losers like you remain low and cannot and will never be able to stand a chance to equal to girls like us?" Another rich girl with blonde hair said. "I''m Akita, by the way. Nice to meet you, honey." Diana pushed herself off from ginger and blonde girl, "You ruined everything from me! Have you any idea this is going to reach my father''s attention? Oh no. . . imagine the aftermath on the look of your face when you realize this is going to get real catastrophic." "What? I didn''t do anything that bad." I cocked an eyebrow, a little shocked yet not surprised at her stupid face making an angry entrance. As I sighed again, I delivered my hands with proper grace to explain them my side. "First off, you did the criticizing part on me, and I just did an unapologetic shade. That''s all, Diana. Don''t make such a big deal to it. Damn. . ." I reasoned her out, hoping to ease her down. I should lower my pride for now, or else, she''d take a dangerous leap and destroy my fate big time, and I couldn''t have that, no. She yelled, "You imbecile! You don''t know what you''re saying!" She looked around her, as if to seek someone else to swing the sword and cut off my head. "Where''s Michael? Get over here, Mikey, now!" She gave a second to call a boy, or should I say, her personal pet-slave? I''m not even so sure about that part. But she''s super-duper angry right now, that''s for sure. "Take a look at this, lowlife. You might want to know what the consequences are from who you''re dealing with." "Oh, yeah? And what''s that?" "Have you ever seen something like this, dumb blonde?" She had me look at her phone to see a post with a pic of my beautiful self captured in the cafeteria. They took a stolen shot of me, and her squad, yet they cannot even manage to make me look ugly. How quaint. "What''s up with that, does my gorgeousness dim your shine?" I smirked, wiggling my crossed arms to mock her more. But then, I realized, to my dismay, that this was a very bad move. I knew I shouldn''t have provoked her, but it felt really good to watch her go berserk. "No! I''m saying you are damned in hell, Frostfyre. We will gladly hire students to take your bag smudged and stunk to the trash, squander your grades, publicly shame you and report you for false accusation. Whatever you need, darling!" She screeched, making a gum-bare grin that totally signified her certification for psychopathy. My blood churned and seethed, as if lava surged the very circulation of my veins. I tried to act poised and ultra professional, despite negotiating with this dumb lioness. But does she really thought that just because I shamed their lame, rich-kids pretend group, they could assume that they could easily toy me as a pushover? And destroy my social life by illegally destroying my reputation as a student? Can she? Let''s see. "You think I''m falling for it?" I quipped at her, while I gave each and every one of her squads a show of my raised middle fingers. I turned my head back at her, emotionless and unafraid. "Think again, honey. I''m not that easy to break." When the other girls'' annoying, generic, boring laughs lower down, Diana calmed herself to say something that would mean the grave of me. "Fine. Don''t believe. But heed my warning when I say this. I will send everyone messages that you have HIV. Yeah, ha-ha! That''s right, and I don''t care if you do have it or not. But my people here will listen to what I have to say. And for a fact, my followers will run that story so fast and spread my message faster than Covid-19 itself. Get it? Honey?"Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "That''s unfair!" I defended. How could she? A false HIV rumor? Is she going nuts since the first day we met? That social discrimination was over the top. This woman is cray-cray crazy! "Oh, yes, it is fair. Do you have any ounce of sympathy and actualization to realize how much suffering you have caused us from that stupid scene you made? It''s shameful!" Diana called out Cheryl Orlando (ginger girl). "Cheryl, tell her the only option to free herself from my chain." Cheryl''s smile widened as she tried to memorize some sort of like a cult-ish phrase. "You, Alexis, must abide by our rules. You only have to do two things for us. First: kneel to the ground and kiss all our feet." "What?" "Second, apologize to everyone by posting a sincere apology that you made a "big" mistake, and thinking how foolish and disgusting you were thinking, and that you worship the Champions from now on. And we have to record you on video when you do the kneeling part." What they just informed me was a gateway to hell. I''m not ever going to lose my reputation on the first day of school. "Listen, doll-face. You may be born with a dollar sign tattooed on your genes or may be gifted with a Louis Vuitton at the age of 12, or maybe even below that age, but that doesn''t make you feel like a star." I delivered her a real-talk blow. "You''re a desperate deadbeat ''It'' girl, and a retarded one at that. You and your jerk of a brother don''t even deserve the riches you have right now. You get that?" "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, let the waves of pain carry you off! As if I would succumb on your weak lines. You can shoot me mean kinds of stuff, even at my Lucifer-spawn brother, but we have the upper hand now. So I say, do your duty and follow what we set you out to do. So do it today, or we''ll post your HIV-positive rumor. You only have until sunset to do that." Diana laughed as she gestured her girls to the left to leave with tears of hysteria on their faces, making me look like the clown of the town in the end of the story. I breathed with slow ease as I marched myself onward with a hidden dread agitating my insides. As I wandered, a bunch of nineteen-year-old kids giggled as they saw the embarrassing commotion. My legs were like noodles walking in uneasiness, yet, I overcame myself on keeping my befalling stance together. "Don''t let them see you in pain, you''re better than this." I soothed myself. I''ve already built strong walls inside my heart, so dramas like these cannot easily break me down to a spiral drain of tears. What they just did was like setting me up on a time bomb. With each passing second, I felt closer to the death of my reputation. Thirty-two minutes later. After all the whirlwind of cataclysm, my feet were dragging me with sonic speed to the nearest school library. I''ve been meaning to receive all my borrowed books here as fast as I could since I would be most definitely late for class after thirty minutes now. Flipping my silky, shiny bangs on my forehead, I entered Serpent''s Fangs (building number 3). I grabbed a spiraled snake badge to pin it on my clothes. Most people are negatively shooting me unpleasant looks with their stoic hostile faces. Sweet gorgeous Mongolian girls welcomed me in Serpent''s Fangs. "Welcome, miss Alexis.'' "Thanks, babes, you''re both a fortune." I blew a kiss. I put my textbooks on my locker rooms. Whistling with a nonsense tune, I checked my subject schedule, and it was English Lit with poetry and non-fiction subcategory. Next was Chemistry beta and Organic Biology. I entered the class almost late, and I suppose it''s because we were given free two-hours vacant periods to help ourselves in dormitory renovation. I hadn''t even renovated in complete shape, so I thought tomorrow will do. "Good day, professor." "Good day, lowlife." A lame guy uttered. And just with that sentence, it made a ripple until everybody on sight chuckled. How cliche. "Silence, silence!" The professor yelled. "You should all learn to treat our girls with respect." "Thanks, professor." I said, for which he approved and smiled. I walked with sheer confidence, I am pouring out female energy as I walked to the guy who told me lowlife and spoke to his seatmate. "You''re in my seat. Get out." The other guy simply walks out and finds another seat as I serve my bag down, and sat beside the guy who told me ''lowlife'' looking like one of Scott Pilgrim''s girlfriend''s evil ex-boyfriends. "What''s your name, darling?" I told him. He was a bit scared yet felt the need to possess the right amount of confidence to act like a man and speak up to me. "Geralt." "So, Geralt." I looked at his eyes. Mystery and mischief run through my eyes. "Tell me, and look into my eyes." For a moment, he looked, and that slightly shivering look hinted fear and lust combined in a confusion of feelings. He looked away. "Does my presence threaten you?" "Nothing about you threaten-" "You''re nothing but a second rate, trying hard, jester. You suck, and I am really, really hoping you''d try to keep that in mind." After English, I called Raven and wished to meet her in one of the two-person benches. It had a retractable umbrella, so I could open up a shade. I watched the school gardeners redecorating and cutting Goldspire Ginko trees into such eye-catching, plume-flourished shapes. Arrayed outside Serpent Fang''s entrance, they gave it a yellowish, welcoming appeal. Raven said she''ll be here in a minute. In her defense, she had to finish her mini burger first and run as fast as she could from Eagle''s Haven to the Serpent Fangs'' area. One of the two football coaches snapped his fingers, "Hi there, Alexis." "Hello there, coaches. Looking fine as hell, aren''t we?" I didn''t even know them, yet those sneakers and thick thighs are rocking them on. "Alexis!" Raven panted and fanned herself with her small hand. "Phew! I found out about the Frostfyre versus Champions hashtag." She took a deep breath and wiped her sweat and turned her attention to the coaches." Wow, are you two dating? You both look hot." I chuckled as the coaches chuckled in the distance as they walked away. "Seriously, Raven? You sound way more mature than you look." I looked at the sweats on her face, and goodness me! "Jesus, girl, you gotta stop running. Look what happened to your mascara." I gave her a makeup remover so she could redo her light application at a nearby girls'' restroom. "Let''s not concern ourselves about makeup right now. And checking out those coaches doesn''t help, because there''s a lot of things coming at you." "Ugh, yes. And I needed to counter-attack Diana. I''ve lost all my cards in the game, you know, and I don''t know what the hell I should do, or what I should be doing first. I couldn''t even focus on my subjects, and it''s hard to keep them under control once in a while. I could tell it''s not just from those dumb blondes, but also because of that tall jerk becoming a bully just because I made his friends cry a river." "What did Diana do?" "She made an unwavering threat on blackmailing me to being HIV positive. "Are they serious? Really? A freaking disease?" "It''s sick, I know. These Champions girls think they''re so powerful enough to overthrow a Frostfyre-" "And an Orthodox too, let''s not forget about that, honey." "And they thought they have all the upper hand and advantage. I don''t want to give up and let these crabs laugh at me like I''m lower than their stance. I hate false HIV rumors, It''s just so sick and unacceptable, even if I do get the disease I deserve my own right of privacy." "Give me your phone." Raven Orthodox ordered. I immediately fished out my smartphone and unlocked it. "What are you doing?" "We are doing a reverse attack, honey." She tapped on Arkbook and typed as quickly as she could without making any errors that could ruin the influence of the post: Alexis Frostfyre: The legendary, untouchable Diana Dayne and Calixon Reaver Dayne are two of the most A-M-A-Z-I-N-G people I know. These two multimillionaire power siblings secretly had (whispers in gossip) HIV. I mean, yeah. . . it''s just so sad to say that Diana''s mouth slipped from confessing me about it. She did tell me that they both suffered a great deal. Yet, most importantly, they did tell me that I should take the honor of publicly telling them about their illness rather than them confessing it. And it is, for us and for everyone to realize, that we should be respectful. . . I mean, hospitable even, that people like them should be handled well. I am Alexis, and this is my first Arkbook post. Much love. (inserted: Heart emoticon, Blessed emoticon) "Raven, what in the world?" I almost shrieked. "You don''t understand. The term HIV is not an easy word to spill like spilling tea, how dare you!" "Eh, I figured a comedic-satirical post would do. And don''t you look at me like that. Have you forgotten that Diana managed to make some nasty, unacceptable blackmail against you? Do you want her to use the HIV term on you instead, huh? We''re reversing the possible gossip here." Her eyes still glued to her phone before turning it off and facing me right up. I nodded, "I know, but this is a total disrespect to all people who are, in fact, positive." "Diana, in the first place, was the one who disrespected the term by using it against you like outing you out as a lesbian without your freaking permission. But you''re not a lesbian, and that just makes pretty much unfair!" "Okay, you might be right about that too. I just meant that we just need to be more careful right now. I''ve analyzed the social play by just an hour and I would rather-" "Listen to me, sister. You started this game. You might as well have started this war, and even if you didn''t, you triggered the retarded Champions. So if you want my advice, do not ever let them feel as if they control you. I posted this to intentionally force them to taste their own poison, and I can very much say that they deserve what''s coming to them." I looked at my Arkbook app and saw five reactions already. And to my surprised frozen self, I could see that Calixon was one of them. Reacting with an angry emoticon. I made the fastest self-reflection and realized how bomb this was. Raven looked at me. We stared at each other for a moment, telepathic and psychic, as if we made an "aha!" moment once more. This just felt like the good times when laid our vengeance and foresee our victory on executing the biggest revenge against our enemies. I clicked on my profile and edited the featured bio: "Strike me back, and I strike even harder. I am Queen, I slay." Chapter 4: The Champions Wrath C H A P T E R 4 T H E C H A M P I O N '' S W R A T H Author: Raven Orthodox Since the day after, I find it shocking that neither Diana nor the rest of her girl group had reacted. They haven''t even reached to bully me once more. On another note, my hands are ready to shake Raven''s head up so badly right now. Including Cal on that HIV-positive post is a trip to the X-treme. So extreme that it made me choke on my glass of water and ran straight to my laptop just to have it edited again, excluding him from the rumor. Yet to no avail, the damage was done; he knew it already. But couldn''t you see the silver lining? if she hadn''t posted it, if I never obliged by their rules, they would be the ones to post the rumor about me having been HIV-positive. And that will never end well for my sake. Better them than us. Currently, it had over thirteen thousand reacts. The most used reaction was Sad, Ha-ha, and Angry, and it''s top-listed as number two in the trend section, next to a hot lesbian scandal. Anyways, I was putting up natural makeup as I helped Dominica curl her hair. "Do you know about Vulture?" "Hmm. Seems familiar. Although I do know an ex-best friend named just like her, the only person named like a bird was my sister." "Vulture was her name." "That girl," I answered. "-who the hell does she think she is?" "Is she a friend?" "Yeah, but not the type you''d want as a friend. She''s an ex-best friend. ''The'' ex best friend, the one I just mentioned." Dominica smiled. She gave me a bit of her chocolate stick as she said, "Diana is smart, she''s always got connections, so the sweet pea might have used your ex-best friend to track our room number. She even visited me a few hours ago when you took a bath, said she just wants to congratulate you. And believe me, I have no idea as to why." The fact that this she-turd had the balls to come here on the fourth flour, room number two, and reached greeted me and Dominica already made my guts tightened in severe anguish. "Vulture was a nasty one of a best friend. I cut ties with her the moment she drugged me to sleep and made out with my boyfriend. In my own bed. How could she?" "Seriously!" Dominic exclaimed after I''m done with her hair. She stood up and drank a dormitory-served mojito. "Contact me if she dares stood your way, I''m gonna end her for sure." "Ha-ha, now now. I''ll stop crying, so let''s just get ready." She buttoned my long-sleeve uniform t-shirt that was intricately tailored to almost fit my body. I also covered it with a dark cardigan It''s recommended to have a signature color to wear according to our school symbol. We could wear any amazing outfits on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, while it''s a must to wear uniforms on Wednesday and Thursday, which is still okay because the uniform clothing brand was rocking it too. It was made from fine wool as if it''s a classic teen suit once every week. Unlike other schools, you could even accessorize it yourself, be it headpieces, personalized badge, anything you''d want. As we stepped out of the dormitory, we kissed each others'' cheeks before we go our separate ways. "Call me if you need anything." "Not a problem," I said. This was an act of kindness on Domi''s part, but I didn''t want her involved in this mess. Raven and I are enough to absorb whatever society will bring down upon us, be it inflamed arrows or a never-ending rain of daggers, why the heck not? "Alexis." A guy emerged on my sight, hindering me from my deep thoughts as I walked to the campus fields. I asked him what was going on as I uncover my umbrella for UV protection since I hadn''t put sunscreen as of today. "The Student Newspaper just released a publication," He said in a hurried panting voice. "It was so not cool on your part." "Why on earth would I care about the academy''s newspapers?" My legs moved faster. I indicated him to hurry up trekking so we could see what''s going on in the large crowd. People already made ridiculous faces directly at me. Hush negative whispers, and inaudible gossips about God-knows-what they are talking about. "Well, you should care, ''cause everyone knew about your feud with Vulture Spencer. She''s delivering a nasty speech against you just about now, and the Writers Club has published a rumor about you and your boyfriend." "That doesn''t worry me, it''s fine. I expected this. And let me guess, the old hag has joined the Champions, am I correct?" "It''s a probable guess, I suppose," He said. "Well, I can only thank you for informing me. And with all the shenanigans that happened, I need you to go back to your class now," With him gone, I finally reached the big crowd. I sidetracked everyone as I pushed and pressed them away from my path so I could budge in. "Out of the way, meatheads. Get out of the way." "... Lexi was unaware and dumb enough to not realize that I was banging her boyfriend. Ha! Yeah, I mean, she''s gorgeous, yes, but that alone doesn''t make your guy stick to one." Vulture continued a speech, everyone was laughing. She was standing in an open podium, and I was, sure enough, this is the best idea that Diana could ever pull. Seriously? "Oh, here she is. Hi there, having a good time, aren''t we? Care to join for tea, Lexi?" She mocked and pointed at me so the crowd could look at my figure. They roared in absolute mass-frenzy laughter, making me the joke of the town once more. "Tell you what, we were just saying how bad you actually were in dealing with relationships. Seriously, just so sad to know you''ve been with a cheater for months and all your love wasted away. Seriously? Why is everyone in favor of her? The cheater? Everyone here is driving me nuts! But I guess they already hated me so far that they even praised a cheater instead of the pariah. Well, that''s fine if almost everyone around here too dumb to sympathize the one who got cheated. I gave her my coldest Frostfyre look. Devoid of emotion except the raging anger brewing up inside me. She knew this look, the one that would unleash hell on earth. She just chuckled it away and continued her boring speech. But even from far away, I could sense her eyes on the slightest hesitation from the fear she tried to hide.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I pushed everyone out of the way and left to go to my first period. A guy imitated sucking a hot dog to piss me off from the relationship, my knees clashed on his groin "Ungh!" He grunted in pain. But at least it was the shoes that hit him, not my heels, or else that would mean another kind of pain. "That vulture lied, I never sucked my lover''s penis, she did. I haven''t even sucked one before, I''m a literal virgin, you dork. " I defended myself as I walked out of the crowd. "Whoa, man, you got that one coming," A guy said to his friend. And of course, he was overwhelmed by my strength in spirit, but I was still very much wary if he dared come back to make a fight, because other than my footwear, I am very much ready to show him the berserk of my fists. So I left without harm. Sixteen minutes had passed. On the walls of the hallway, there were posters of me and my cowardly cheat of a boyfriend. Photo-shopped, it was all over the place as if we were on a honeymoon under the stars. There are other socially-discriminated posters about other poor teens, they are probably just innocents who are bullied at a disadvantage, I''m not sure. But it really pains me to look at these sexually explicit photos. Had they done something so wrong that made a people print a visual for sabotage ? Like... cheating? But I am not sure about that. But what I am sure about is getting all these posters torn and crumpled. These hands were fast enough to tear every damned image-manipulated posters in every wall. Straight to trash, every one of them was thrown, but I bet there are other ones on the other floors. I looked at my poster, which is a little less scandalous and awkward teen angst of us. Yes, I find it cute, I mean who wouldn''t be when we looked too head-over-heels at each other, and those pimples and zits and bad makeup covering my face made it look realistic. It was a fun year back then, and I''m not even ashamed if I had acne. Although, any 18-year-old would think we were just a laughing stock ready to happen. Entering the class, I was surprised everyone was quiet. There were a few derisive snickers and annoying ridicule from the guys, but I simply ignored it. It hurt at first, yet learning when to stop charging and attacking with a probable aimless direction is pretty much a virtue. I must also know when is the right time for the perfect strike, and I''m sure it''s not inside a Physics room with 200 students. I opened the six-hundred-sixty-one-pages book, Introductory Physics. We were told to study lesson one-point-one to one-point-seven and to answer the given questions on the board. I encircled the points in the book''s content, from Introductory Physics History and Philosophies to Spring and Mass in Static Force Equilibrium. When I found out that I had to study all these hundred pages, I held myself intact when I realized how hot my skin got, feeling so wary that I''ll get sweaty in this air-conditioned lecture hall. So instead of hyperventilating and being so dramatic, I copied the text on the board with my sheet of paper and answer the basic questions, but that was right after I hopelessly made the sign of the cross and hoped that I could survive this catastrophic year, despite all the first-day disasters. "Alright, this session''s over. Get out." The professor said after I''m done reading thirty-five minutes later. I got up and finished writing notes and listening throughout the discussion. I took snapshots of it and fact-checked several times on my textbooks since I could only hear our professor''s voice, not what he wrote. My seat was too far away. I left the room with my books and fixed my hair a bit. "Hmm, less hair fall than usual." I was glad my scalp prevailed healthy thanks to my coconut and castor oil, which worked wonders for me. Checking on my phone, Raven texted me seven minutes ago: Raven Orthodox: You''ve got be in the cafe right now. They''re giving free Cookies n'' Cream smoothies today! And we need to discuss how you should be top of the Serpent''s Fangs. Raven Orthodox: And also about the Champions'' bad blood against you, I have another plan to overthrow them out. Alexis Frostfyre: You saved me a seat? Raven Orthodox: Yas! Alexis Frostfyre: You''re a gold rush. Thanks, sis. Yes! I made a victory fist. Although my other hand was handling my bag and my books, I screamed inside my head and walked to my locker. "Ugh! how long is this going to open?" I muttered as the lock on my locker refused to open. I pulled it with all my strength until it gave up and opened itself. A familiar fear crept into my eyes when a big can of black tar accidentally poured out. Drizzling black liquid down the surface, I stomped my feet in anger. "I should''ve known better." I kept myself together from creating an outburst. There''s no need to question why this tar is even inside my locker in the first place, this is just an old revenge trick. Luckily it didn''t ruin my outfit of the day, because it only made a leak, but a gushy leak nevertheless, "Haha, you got burned." A girl exclaimed. "I bet Diana''s henchmen did that." "What?" I looked at her. "She has slaves spying here in Serpent''s Fangs?" "Uh-huh. And If I were you, I''d pay a few bucks on securing my locker." That bombshell is literally raining daggers on my path. If I never expected this tar prank, then I should expect more tricks from her. I left my empty locker opened, and I promised to never lock or open it again. For over ten minutes, I reached the cafe with my lip gloss popping. Plenty of people were already fixing their unapologetic gaze on me, some douchebags decided to take snaps on me walking. My presence impact is compelling them from their mockery against me. Now they''re seeing me as someone they hate to love, not love to hate. This wasn''t a karaoke bar, but after the sweet girl was done reciting some well-versed poetry, another one tried to sing. It felt good to hear as I walked towards Raven because she was waving and beckoning at me like the siren that she was. "Girl, you''re winning it." I laughed, "I know, right?" I put my bags on the table and texted Dominica to join us, telling her that we''re on seat number sixteen on Belladonna X-Fort cafe. "Anyways, do you know Dominica?" "Yeah, we were literally friends, that girl''s father was like an emperor in Jamaica. Why do you ask? Wait, are you telling me she''s your roommate?" "Yeah, a snake and an eagle living in the same dorm, you know what I mean?" Raven chuckled as she sipped on her Cookies n'' Cream smoothie. "Oh, here comes the waiter." The waiter named Stevens placed a tray of a small ice cream cup, chicken drumsticks, two yogurts, two Fanta sodas, and a healthy salad bowl. "What is it with you on your junk and non-junk orders?" Raven rolled her eyes, " Oh please, don''t mind it. Perhaps you should thank my contradictory orders by now. Hey, wait. That''s Dominica. Dominica! Over here, girl." "I sense I''m with the stepsisters today." Dominica smiled, placing herself a seat on our table and opened a yogurt. "I was busy with the Calculus, but I''m very good at it. Any tea to spill? Mathematics is seriously stressing the life of me." "Well, apart from the tar they pulled on my locker, Diana must have used Vulture to-" "Wait, how did they get to be in your building? Diana was in Lion''s Den." "I know, but had slaves who are spies there, they have new tricks to pull against me soon enough, I ought to be more careful. Vulture even made a retarded speech on me and my boyfriend to assassinate my reputation." "My goodness." Dominica cried out. "Are these people insane?" "I think me and my sister were insane, we pulled the HIV rumors in the first place." "Nu-uh, they started it first when they threatened you to be one of their slaves. That is way too sick." Raven defended. Dominica sipped on Raven''s smoothie and said, "True that." "Hmm, sounds about right, when I tried to-" "Oh geez, looks like these girls got company." The deliberate, repulsive, pretend-schoolgirl voice of Diana had entered the conversation. How did she- "How did y''all find us here?" Dominica asked everyone, there were at least four of them. I could not say they were pretending to be rich because they really are. I think me and Raven were the only ones who are fakes. And it made me laugh so hard each time I think about it. Oh goodness, we were trying so hard fitting in, and nobody even noticed. Yet! "Find you here? You were blabbering like wild animals. A serpent like her shouldn''t hang out with eagles you two." Diana threw shade out in the open. "Girls!" She ordered for ambush. Three of her friends splattered their drinks on us. They missed Dominica, leaving Raven splashed greatly. I was soaked in juice too, yet it only messed and soaked my cardigan since it wasn''t too much liquid. "Jesus Christ, help me." Raven made the sign of the cross. Dominica stood up the table and slapped the first girl from the three. Raven charged at the two other girls. "Ah! Sasquatch!" "Diana, do something! Ow, get off!" "Stop pulling me!" "Hey!" I yelled. Diana turned to look at me just as I splashed her face with my Fanta soda and Cookies n'' Cream on her ornate gold coat with swift alacrity, leaving her bare chest cold from the ice and smoothie. "Argh!" She screamed as if in dying in the most painful death sentence. I stalked toward her and slapped her annoying face with the back of my hand. "Take that," I let out. "You filthy lioness." "Hurry up, girls," I told Dominica and my sister as I pushed Diana''s squad away from us. "What the hell is your problem!" "You moron." They muttered and grunted in pain as butts made a thud on contact to the ground. Ooh. . . that must hurt. Raven''s black tight dress was definitely soaked, revealing her sexy baby bra, which earned hungry looks from others. I uncovered my cardigan and covered her just as I give the middle finger on the people who catcalled. Dominica hurried up in enthusiasm as she carried my bag and sipped Raven''s smoothie as we walked to the exit. "Best day ever!" "We''re not done with you, Alexis! You''re about to taste the Champions'' wrath!" Chapter 5: A Lion Snake Hybrid C H A P T E R 5 A L I O N S N A K E H Y B R I D Author: Raven Orthodox It had been a silent week since the Belladonna X -Fort cafeteria incident. I was wondering why Diana stopped seeing me, and what was Vulture''s next character assassination would be. And worst of all, I hadn''t seen Cal for like eternity. They''re seriously plotting for my destruction. My enemies are still into hiding and I wonder what if: One, they teamed up together to execute my downfall. Two, they didn''t team up yet each one of them had a surprise attack. Three, maybe they just forgot about me and they''re breaking it even and moved on. Girl, calm down. "There you are." Raven touched my back. "You know, Dominica''s gone for three days since her dad has a very important errand for her to do. But she left a big present for you." "Yes, I''ve heard. I wasn''t even with her when she left, but we called last night. I was bringing my dog Austin from mom outside campus, that''s why. My ex-boyfriend even called on the telephone, wanting a comeback from L.A, what a bummer." "Come here, Austin." Raven whistled and made a come-to-me-doggy noise. "Ah ha ha ha! Aw. . . who''s a good boy? Who''s a good boy! You are!" "Stop shouting," I said. "You''re doing that loud fifteen-year-old screech like the banshee that you are." She cuddled Austin on the bed as she scrolled on her phone. "Don''t worry, only you and mom can hear me like that. But I know when to stop when others are nearby."She laughed, "Oh hey, Austin, don''t go. Come back, please. . ." Austin left her when I prepared him a bowl of dog food. "I wonder what''s Dominica got something for me." "It''s beside the door. And trust me, I did not open it." It was a huge shiny red box. "She really knows how to make everything mystical." Raven turned off her phone, "Did she said anything about it when you two called?" "Yes, I remembered. She said that. . . uh, I can only open the gift when something bad is going to happen, if I could recall. Besides, how bad is this going to get? It seemed as if their anger had calmed down and Diana may have had called it a truce? "Although, Diana said she''s not done with her wrath yet. She called it the Champions'' Wrath, remember? It''s already a week since I splashed her some Fanta Soda and a Cookies n'' Cream smoothie." Raven moaned. "Hmm, what''s that smell? Coming from outside?" We both smelled the aroma of something like a yummy hot melted chocolate. "Yeah, must be from the outside." I walked with my heels to the front door and opened a big bouquet of morning glories and roses. "What in the world?" Raven sped up to grab the cookies, with freshly melted chocolate on top. Almost like they bought it immediately from a store or they ordered at the school''s mini Candy N'' Snacks bar. "Oh here''s a letter." Raven collected a piece of red paper."It''s for Miss Alexis Frosty. With love!" We brought it inside and closed the door. "Here you go," Raven handed me the letter. "Purely handwritten in the most fashionable cursive way. Hmm. . . " I complimented the flawless cut and paper choice. "Dear Lexi, it''s me, Vulture. I brought you a good riddance surprise gift. You thought it''s from a guy? Phew! In your dreams, darling. If I am honest, Diana and I had secretly plotted on reporting you since Wednesday. But no matter how curious you are about what''s gonna happen, I just want you to go to class immediately this morning and see the consequences you have made for yourself. Love, Vulture. (with an inserted wink emoticon)." "What in tar-nation! Simple bully fights usually don''t get reported to the office, and they''re doing it now." Raven gnarled. "Well, as for me, I think our enemies are multiplied by now." My voice trailed off, saying it in a way that felt like our lives are totally screwed. Raven pulled up her lip gloss and opened a small silver-studded box, full of onyx rings and necklaces. She even had a choker adorned with tiny sparkling diamonds. "Now," She put on her necklace and wore her rings on her expensively-done nails. "We are not going to class without a style. And although I''m fine with fake and cheap jewelry, my boyfriend is rich as hell, so I can''t just waste these babies." "I don''t have to wear expensive ones. I just need to match my garments and blend my colors for accessories according to my hair. I''ve had cheaper ones and it still rocks." I smiled at her as I did my outfit with a finishing perfume touch-up. "Okay, we''re all set. Let''s go to battle." Raven caught hold of my hand and led the way out of the door. "But first off, I still need to get my sorority I.D. verified." Outside, we talked about how I should be top of the class and how she would try to run for president. "No way! You''re sixteen, girl. And running for such a high-ranked position in the student body council and working in a public office is just a no-go." "But it''s too cool to get your name in bold letters. Student Body President - Raven Orthodox." "I know you''re exceptional, sister, you are. You''ve learned about five languages, and maybe more. You''ve mastered the social sciences. You''ve mastered Biology, Physics, and even Precalculus and Multivariable Calculus, as you say. But are you sure you still want to delve into a political mess, although you are a pre-med?" "Right, fine. I''ll think about it." We reached to the Delta Gamma Eagle sorority house. Something I love about a sorority is their lawn. Though the setup of well-tended tulips and prune-cut evergreen and topiary trees aligned in circular shapes, it looked, "Amazing as always!" Raven complimented.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The symbol on the house was an American eagle logo, with designated philanthropy: Service for the Visionaries. There was a small stand outside the gates managed by a woman in her forties. There were two Eagle guards too, and another two beyond the gates securing the pillar-distributed porch of the house. "Um, hello, Ma''am? I''ve already been recruited on Rush Week and I think this sorority house best fits me so...you know, I kind of belonged here." "Oh, I know you well, Raven Orthodox. Hand over your I.D., please." "Can we pay a visit inside?" She asked. "Nope." The lady disagreed as she returned Raven the I.D. back to her after verifying it. She dismissed her presence immediately as if she wasn''t even in her sight in the first place. "But why? I''m now verified, aren''t I?" "This isn''t the University of Georgia, miss. Even if you could go to the commons area inside or even the foyer or the back door porch, you''re still not allowed to tour yourself in without the Eagle''s leader unannounced." "Okay, then. So, Raven, you should probably calm your balloons down now, and let''s wait until the leader comes back." "Whatever, let''s get the hell outta here." After a few minutes walking back, she led me to the Serpent''s Fangs territory, even though she wasn''t invited here. "Vulture humiliated me, by the way. Seriously, she destroyed a great deal on my reputation." "Wait, what!" She grabbed my hand as our step slowed down. "Haven''t I knew about this? What did she do?" I explained what happened about the publication of me and my ex-boyfriend and Vulture being a hag, having made a speech about me. I despised saying it, and it felt so piercing. But I did, nevertheless. "That''s insane." She opened up her phone. "For the record, the Kardashians built an empire from a scandal. And your reputation, however, was overthrown from your best friend''s scandal, which isn''t even about you. How unfair could the world be!" "What are you doing on your phone?" "Checking Arkbook''s latest update. I thought maybe, I mean it when I say this, they even posted that hell-fire humiliation here." She leaned on me as she spoke. "And besides, you need to turn this over, sister. Find her weak spot, target on what makes her feel like the trash that she is, for goodness'' sake. I mean. . . why aren''t you even angry? You should be angry. Come on, bring me that spirit. Show me your anger-vation motivation, show me your vengeance!" I chuckled at her "Raven, relax! Ha-ha, I don''t have to possess fifty horsepower to arouse revenge." I rolled my eyes as I picked up a comb to brush my blonde locks. "Let''s lay low for now. And retreat." "Fine." "Do you know what happens if we keep engaging the attack?" "Yeah, you told me that already." "Our energies and resources go to waste, really fast. And we''re giving our enemies more time to retreat and recover, and finally, destroying us at our weakest point. We can''t have that." I looked at her. "Just calm down. Or else everything would turn to crap. Our weakness, being a Frostfyre and an Orthodox, is literally going mad, uncontrollable and undoubtedly destructive as we are lethal in nature." Raven''s eyes widened in deep fear. "I believed it so." "It runs in our family; my venomous fangs and your sharp talons." "Yeah," She rolled her eyes with obvious sarcasm. "-tell me about it." "Our madness is dangerous, Raven. We can''t let this frenzy delirium in our ancestry break free. Or else it would all be over. People around us gets hurt, our enemies shall taste the sting the same, but in the end, it''s all going to be our fault." Entering the building, we were lucky the Serpent guards let her in. "Hey, hey, hey! Your badge isn''t Serpent''s Fangs, you don''t belong here, you need to get a building pass to. . . What are you doing?" "Get the hell off me," Raven shoved off a student moderator out of the way as she urged me to hurry up. "Come on, walk those legs faster. The Dean''s office is just here on the first floor." "I''ll report you to the Dean as soon as I''m done with these papers." I laughed my butt off, "Yeah, duh. That''s exactly where we''re going, douche." I pushed off his shoulders as we got on our way. "What in the world is Raven Orthodox thinking, dozing around inside a different building, thinking as if hurrying in such a place like she literally own it. Who does she think she is?" A minor student whispered. And then another, "She''s Raven? Gosh, how stupid could a pretty girl not remember her school building." And another. "Did she just violated a moderator''s authority?" "I''m pretty than most of you all, okay? And most of you all are just dumb enough to ask me if I really got here in the first place to help my sister talk to the Dean, because I do." "Let''s just go, sis." I urged her, pushing her back slightly so she wouldn''t go too far as to deliver a powerful blow upon those crackheads right in their punch-able faces. We reached to the Dean''s Office. Raven''s carefree nature suddenly turned like a first class teenage warlord back She pushed open the door and gripped my hand with full force. She didn''t mean to hurt my arm but to give me a sisterhood strength, "Ow, Raven, you''re hurting me." "Oops, sorry!" "Excuse me?" A woman in navy-blue, militant, fitting dress asked. She was so elegant, fewer styles and accessories yet it stood out on her as if it outshone her modern exceptional office. "What are you doing here, young girl?" She referred to Raven, being a student from Eagle''s Haven. She stopped in her tracks from loss for words to explain, so I stepped forward beside her so our forces unite as one. "Madam, I don''t know how to say this, but a student from Lion''s Den had reported me about bullying and assault, was that right?" She stood up to step closer to us and agreed at my point. "Yes, yes, I knew that. I am Dean Scintilla of Serpent''s Fangs. And I was waiting for you to report back to me on my office. Here, now, I want you to know that Arkskye is not just any academy to be treated like a playground for bullies." "What are the consequences?" "Four weeks of janitorial cleaning inside the campus however Diana pleases." "What?" Raven laid shock to the core. "But Madam, that is too much for my sister to handle. I mean, four weeks is a bit too much, but with Diana''s commands?" "Yes, I can declare that. Diana has been the assaulted here, and you even outed them by posting an HIV positive revelation against her and her brother Cal, you should be-" "Please, Madam," I made a genuine-seeming smile to appeal to her favor. "You don''t realize that the entire situation is not heard from both sides. From my point of perspective, her friends were gossiping about me, and I only made an anti-bully move. The HIV thing was their idea in the first place, a tricky move to blackmail me, so it''s only fair if I -" "An anti-bully move? Is that even a word?" Raven snickered. "Whatever, Raven, it''s just a play on words." I silenced her, and then I smiled back to Dean, "Madam, I''m asking for forgiveness. And yes, respectfully speaking, I take full responsibility of what happened, although I honestly know they made the first move. So, I will take whatever punishment you or Diana deemed worthy." The Dean looked at me, almost as if she believed me, yet I knew there are other tricky students who tried to persuade her, yet to no avail. She doesn''t seem to be persuaded at such a short amount of time. She took out a specialty paper from her desk told me to sign it. She called the chief magistrate of the Serpent''s Fangs, even the Dean of Lion''s Den. "Well, I do believe that blackmail is a very big issue in our academy, and I suppose what you did was the right thing to do, which is reversing their verbal threat. " I nodded my head in agreement, "Yes, Madam, that'' is right." "But you still humiliated her in front of a large number of people in the cafe," She looked at me with a stern dedication, as if to lecture me on something I sinned in the name of the Lord. "Sorry, Madam. I am hoping it will not happen again. I promise." "Yes, Alexis, But what you did was still not okay. Even if they started the whole incident, you could have just reported the blackmail agenda to me and shut up about it. And even then, we have discussed everything, and how it will play out. The Arkskye students are required to play a responsible role in and out of campus. You should all be dedicated, reform-minded, and idealistic individuals who-" She turned on her back and kept going on and on about her speech about how important a credit-worthy, stainless, students in the academy is. I felt awkward since that''s exactly the opposite value I possess right now, so I looked at Raven, and her eyes rolled like it''s the most boring speech she had ever heard of. I just shrugged and crossed my arms, whispering. "Stop making those faces, or you''ll had me laughing on the floor." When Dean Scintilla was finished and sat back on her throne, I turned to agree to what everything she had said, "Yes, Madam, I understand. So how''s it handled then?" "I do believe that your own reason was unheard of and underrated. So I''ll lower your punishment this time, you''re a freshmen out of a big institution, of course." "What''s her punishment?" Raven pleaded to know, her eyes were so done to trying to know what is. "Well, I know this is going to be hard for you." Dean Scintilla made a declaration. "-but we have agreed that you will stay on Lion''s Den for a month and that is final." Chapter 6: A Cornered Cobra C H A P T E R 6 A C O R N E R E D C O B R A Author: Raven Orthodox A month? On Lion''s Den? Who do they think I am? A snake roast for Diana''s claws? "Tomorrow will be another grand opening entrance. You''re a cornered cobra now. Surrounded by a pride of lions." "I don''t know what to do, girl. What if they socially embarrass and count me as an outcast?" Her warmth enveloped me as she leaned to hug. We were sitting on the side of the bed, she rubbed my back and shushed me. "Relax, relax. And yes, of course, you most likely will be treated as an outcast, so get yourself a fact check and deal with it. But if that ever happens, I want you to believe in yourself that you''ll still going to conquer it, okay? And it''s not just that. . ." She picked up the locket tied on my neck and opened it. It was a symbol of ice and fire, which is pretty symbolic of my last name, Frostfyre. "If they turn raging hot against you, turn yourself into a glacial ice queen, be cold and turn off their fire. But if they do turn cold, you must recreate yourself as the hottest goddess of fire. Burn them all." I looked at her with funny disbelief, although I knew she was relatively smart, she''s speaking wisdom as if she''s had it memorized since we were five. "Well, I cannot fathom how great you are in words. You and your awesome metaphors." I laughed, and so did she, punching me in the boob. "Hey, you hit me on the boob!" Four minutes of dressing up, I broke into a fierce pose in front of the dragon-scaled mirror Dominica gifted me last week. My eyes were a mix of terror and anxiety. I could already see the future of me being dipped into the River of Styx as soon as I entered an unwanted territory. A territory full of lions, lioness, and their cubs. That was a metaphor, of course. Not actual lions. Leaving the nest, I made sure that my heels clack in every step after Raven pinned the Serpent''s Fang badge on my left chest. She had it redesigned in personal terms by the School Badge Faculty and made it look like a cobra with emerald fangs that shone at specific angles when I walk. She began, "Although I prefer rubies because red fits Serpent''s Fangs, these cuties symbolize your venom, your intoxication, and your spiteful aggression." "What do the Lions and Eagles wear?" I asked, wondering what Diana or even Raven''s kind of shiny objects are. "Gold for the Lions, and sapphire gemstones for the Eagles." "Pretty cool, I see. What do the Serpents wear, bright rubies?" "Yeah, duh, that is correct." Raven''s brows furrowed in deep focus on my dress. "Hmm. . . your badge stood out more since your breasts were growing. And give me some slacks, that power skirt is killing me." A loud boom and a starting course of pop music played through. Something was going on. As we headed out of the building, the announcer was already talking about individual superiority, the invisible hand of society, and all those exciting social science concepts. "It must be just some self-help speech nobody would wanna hear, but either way, you''ve got to go to the cat''s territory right now. You don''t want the Lions to see you as weak for being late." "Uh-huh, that''s true. Alright, we''re pulling out too much tension now." I wanted to roll my eyes at how socially panicky we became now because of our own revolt. "What about the red box?" "Of course, the red box. Your life is in ruins by now, and you already miss Dominica. But your life isn''t that much endangered, so maybe after class, you may open it-" "Yes, ''cause it''s too predictable, it''s gonna be the end of me after class." I did a second eye roll. Raven ran off beaming as she separated herself from me to another structure just a few distances. We said goodbye, and she warned me to always be on the watch for danger. I was walking in a cobblestone path, taking a good selfie from my phone and fix my silvery hair for just a bit while I walk into the entrance of Lion''s Den. There was a Lion guard standing on the porch, looking out to was verify my identity. "You can''t enter miss, you need a-." "Believe me, I''m banned from my school building temporarily. It''s just temporary and-" "Sorry, miss, we can''t have you here without a lion badge," He argued. He gestured the other Lion''s Den students to enter. Last time I entered, he fell asleep. Now that he''s awake, he''s blocking my way. Now I kind of wished that Aurora wasn''t the only one Maleficent cursed to sleep forever. "It''s temporary, mister. Is this badge," I gestured on the cobra badge on my chest. "-enough to get you to stop talking and let me enter instead?" I did a third eye-roll by now when I shifted my stance to go near him. "You see this?" I unpinned my cobra and displayed it to him. "This proves that I''m a former student from Serpent''s Fangs and our Dean switched me here, you''ve got to believe me." He shook his head in disagreement, and later on laughed at my failed attempt at pressuring him. He looked at my clothed chest and down my legs. "You''re very good at persuading me without even trying." What? Seriously? "Oh, so now we''re talking about dresses instead of getting a minor student to get to class and study?" Sarcasm poisoned my tongue, "Look, I get it. I totally get it that my dress was too fit and enthralling. So now, do you need me to apologize here in front of you? For dressing what I chose to dress?" I wasn''t even persuading him, I''m authenticating myself as a temporary student in this building. "As if I would believe you, girl." People beyond the gates were watching already. And so I yelled my scream of pain. "Shows over, so why won''t you just mind your own business!" "Stop shouting, lady." "I''m sorry, they''re kind of annoying." I pleaded him with the most hushed tone I could come up just as much as only he could hear it. "So please, I''m begging you." "No, I say." He made a grunt, looking at my eyes with a personal curious wink.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "I know you''re just doing this so you could talk further with me." "You filthy creep, don''t you realize you''re pretty much perverted for a Lion guard?" I said, reiterated and frustrated with a sturdy-strong voice. "Call Dean Scintilla of Serpent''s Fangs for all I care. Hell, call your Dean, even. Call all three Deans if it freaking pleases you. Now we could finally settle this faster and end your obscene flirting-with-a-student demeanor." His droopy eyes widening, he hushed me up in shameful alarm. "Quiet, be quiet!" he whispered. "You just embarrassed me in front of the seniors, kid. You happy now?" "Gonna let me enter now?" I said with a mad pout on my lips. I played my badge for a moment to tease his sullen anger simmering down. "Jesus Christ," he groaned and opened the door gate. "Fine, fine. But get this right, flower girl, if you get suspended again for another shenanigan you''re about to drag, that''s on you." I covered my lips with my palm to conceal the happiness I felt from winning against a perverted guard. Well, Alexis, you know they''ve got it coming. And of course, as my heels entered the very halls, I was already getting hateful looks. Another Lion guards were opening the double doors, letting me enter. Head held high and focused on finding my locker number, more people were eyeing me now. My anxiety and nervousness began to rise when I remembered that Diana and the rest of the Champions could be here at any moment. "Oh, hello, Alexis." A big shadow loomed. "What do you want?" I replied back to a well-built, athletic chap as I looked over my locker number. I''ve been counting so many times ''till I get to locker number 69. "Ah, there you are." "I''ve heard everything about you, beauty. Curse my Ferrari, Alexis, but I got to tell you the truth that almost all of my friends in the Lion Gates House have been fancying about you, Alexis F-R-O-S-T-Y." He played with the toy strings on his phone and scrolled through his boring feed. "And FYI, Lion Gates is number one of the three sorority houses in Lion''s Den. Better than all of the sorority clubs you and the Eagles have." "Whatever," My fingers throbbed from forcing a key to open the locker, "Whoops, it''s the wrong key." The dorm key, the car keys, front door key, etc., I''m confused with this multiple keys, and this guy just made nerd jokes and started cackling at me for carrying a load of stuff with me, so I pressed these books onto his chest without hesitation so he could hold it while I''m still opening the damned locker. "Freaking keys." Next time, I''ll color-code this and memorize its purposes. "Easy, easy. You''ve got to hurry up, I don''t want to be seen by my peers carrying girl stuff." He teased, or so I hope. I couldn''t stand men who had issues with their own masculine traits and dissing out girls'' material friends. "Hi, Alexis!" A couple of girls recognized me. "Oh, hello, my angels." I waved like a sophisticated queen and then turned back to my locker. I thought quick for a moment as I put the books into the locker from the stack he was carrying. I was thinking about what would happen if I didn''t have friends here because Diana would, of course, kill the people who made contact with me as soon as she finds out. So if this guy is that much interested in me, then we''ll see how it goes. Maybe I could plan a friendly date with this guy. Although I won''t need to sleep with him, I just have to be best friends with him, which will definitely look like we''re on a date. After closing it with a lock, I smiled at him, and looked over his shoulder, people were already talking and looking at me like whispering ghosts. "Hey!" A husky, deep voice entered our conversation, with his cushy and thick woody scent of sandalwood aroma airing the atmosphere. Earthy masculine thus a blend of spicy musk. "Oh, hey, Cal." The guy recognized him. "Being leader of the pack, although we''re not wolves, why so gloomy all of a sudden?" "Ignore him," I told him, gripping my Health/Medicine and Trigonometry books a little too hard. I thought of a more killer verbal attack. "He was a douche, last time I saw him." Calixon''s extra-large arm pulled my shoulder to force me to have a face-to-face with him. I questioned myself what genes does this man have? "Last time I saw you, you weren''t sorry for beating up my sister. And as I said, I am impressed." He looked at me with disappointment in his radiant blues. "But you''ve reached too far, baby. That shit you made was the total deal-breaker." I explained to him about the part where Diana Dayne was so jealous of my booth modeling, and she tried to blackmail me by HIV in the first place. "So that was that. Diana should taste the very point of her own claws." "Hmm," He mimicked on crossing his own arms and stroke his chin in understanding my side. "Actually, the HIV thing was very fatal, but luckily, only idiots believed your story and almost no one, and I mean no one, will believe your story after we had proof of our health status." "I see, good for you." "Good for me, yes, because your failed attempt at striking us down really sucked." "Oh. . ." The guy behind me made a shocking-yet-annoying remark. "You got burned, woman." "You poor, poor thing." Cal smirked and made a retarded ''tsk'' noise. "Are you even trying to fit in by causing a scene to up your status in the game? You''re just a Bambi waiting to get eaten." "Look at her all pissed." The guy behind me laughed and started making animal noises and went off to sing like a retarded cretin. Why was he suddenly going from liking me to hating all of a sudden? And I didn''t even know his name. He started singing some cringe-worthy crap."A coat of gold, a coat of red, a lion still has claws." "Shut up, incel." I silenced his Game of Thrones melody. "The only time I ever noticed you were because you''re a player, but you''re just as boring and trying hard as the others. Flaunting your sexy cars as if it shows your true wealth, huh? Really typical and bland." "Shut up, woman. You don''t even belong here. You''re just another python slave my friends could toy with." He said and made a smile with Cal. "No wonder you''re a Serpent, you''re too skinny as hell." Calixon looked at the fancy green fangs of my badge, "What''s this?" He tried to touch it, but I slapped him the moment he almost reached for it. "The Lionsguard was the last straw, don''t you dare touch me." "What''s going on?" somebody asked. I realized it was none other than the nosy Diana Dayne, and the moment she noticed my platinum hair, she knew it was me. She smiled, lipstick-smeared. Plenty of keen observers and joiners are leaning close to the scenario, some snickering in a hostile charade, some chattering about whether or not my bag was fake. Well, it is fake, yes. But letting these fools see right through it, that wasn''t what I expected. Nobody ever noticed my fake branded bags weren''t genuine since time immemorial. "It''s not fake." I lied out and made a one-sentence explanation of how original my bag''s brand actually is. Oh, the irony. "Lexi, please, just stop it, yeah? Even those trash you''re wearing right now doesn''t even suit you." Cal stated. "It''s not trash." Diana and the girls were talking the same, yet with prolonged babbles, and meaningless utters, earning mirth and scorn from their peers. "You don''t fit in on our world, sweetheart. Not even on yours, the Serpent''s Fangs, I say." The moment my vision seems to be spinning in confusion as if I was thirteen once more and all the way discriminated by my weak, stick-like body and damaged frizz hair, my stomach ached, and I realized I felt sick on my nerves. I''m a cornered cobra surrounded by a pride of lions. "God save me," I muttered and quickly turn to a free direction as I walked with shame. "What''s the matter, sweetheart? You scared by a bunch of cubs?" Diana called. Everyone''s inaudible voices were exponentially getting louder and even more sensitive to the ears. Catchphrases like ''lowlife'' ''pretend it-girl'' ''royal loser'' ''anorexic witch'' ''ugly duckling'' were taking me back to my previous high school life. People were looking at me already as my weakening heels still managing to quicken a step. From that visible weakness, they knew I was now getting the outcast treatment. It felt too nostalgic from the past. I knew this would happen, and I knew what would happen next. Treating me with total disrespect. Treating me like the trash that I am. Treating me as if my level was a negative number. As the roars grew louder, teasing me, degrading me, badgering me, my heart shrunk weaker and ever more frightened, going back to the depths of that locked sunken fear of the previous bullying. I looked for my schedule and quickened my way following up a route as I entered Trigonometry class, panting in dread and couldn''t stop the spinning wheel running in my mind. With determined luck to fake a good posture, only a few noticed my haze and feeble feet as I sat down with my books still gripped tight with my chest. Everyone was focused on the discusson instead of looking at me for now. "Thank Jesus, I am finally free from their claws." My eyes watered against my will while checking on my phone "And goodness. . . I am torn." Raven''s unexpected message appeared on the screen, recalling an important reminder that this battle is not yet done. Raven Cawthorne: If anything happens, Dominica''s present is just on the other side of your dorm''s door. Don''t forget! "If anything could help me level up my revenge on the battlefield. . ." A big star of hope beamed up to my mind. "it''s Dominica''s gift!" Chapter 7: Eagle Reinforcement (Part I) C H A P T E R 7 E A G L E R E I N F O R C E M E N T ( Part I ) Author: Raven Orthodox "Diamonds are a girl''s best friend, just as you said, so thanks for these." I checked out the ring Dominica gifted me. "I''ve become the outcast monster just recently." "All monsters are humans. But don''t get caught off guard, ''cause that includes the both of us."Dominica lectured me on a quote on the phone. I smiled as I forked a slice of Canadian bacon, savoring the fresh-cooked meat. "Yeah, ha-ha. What a terrifying revelation; I must have heard it from a horror show." "What''s happened to you now? A friend told me you''ve been switching sides right from then on." She changed the topic, and I was reorganizing my thoughts, and I must only come up with the shortest explanation to cover up all the disaster that just happened today. "Hiss, hiss. The Lion''s Den''s freak!" Vulture shouted. What a bummer. I served my middle finger at her to leverage an insult, and proceeded to engage back to Dominica. Everywhere I look, I see eyes pointing at me like prowling predators ready to pounce and bite. "If you were here, you could literally see to whom they were pointing those malevolent eyes are." I made a hint that people here hated me. I wasn''t even at the cafeteria since Lion''s Den''s lunch bar is affordable, and Rhaegal''s VIP card could get me any food I wanted. "Seriously? Diana made everyone hate your guts?." She told me. "How dare she!" "I know, I know." I wanted to tell her about the outcast humiliation part, but I couldn''t since I didn''t want her to worry about me while she was still running an errand for her father. "You know I could have stopped everything else and kick their behinds, right?" "Yeah, Dominica, that''s why everyone loved you." I chuckled and almost choked on my yogurt. She cleared her throat while talking to somebody on the phone. And finally, there were a few clicking sounds, and she got right back to me. "Anyways, I know this would surprise you, but I''m coming back tomorrow morning. Daddy told me my job was done, so here I am, already loaded and bundled to get to the airport." "What?" I said, shocked and excited all at once. "Yasss. . ." I could still hear Dominica''s voice laughing despite the busy crowd. "And guess what, I''m having an exclusive Friday party at my house. I''ll get the station ready with my own cash." "That''s awesome, Raven needed an escape from this wildfire too, she needed that." "I''ll be the ringleader, and I want you and Raven to get the best attention and uplift your status." I took a Byzantine multivitamin and gulped a cold glass of water. I sighed in relief. Despite the bloody rumors expanding about me, moving and shifting everywhere a damned blood circulation through every wall in Lion''s Den, a trusted friend still cared to call me. And an ultra-rich one at that. "Dominica, that would be wonderful. Are the people invited diverse, or you only let the Eagles available to enter?" "Are you kidding? This party is gonna be lit. Of course, it''s diverse. I''m not some snob rich retard like Cheryl Orlando or Akita. Although I must say that not everyone in Arkskye can fit in my mansion, so we''ll just see how much we could bring." "Cool, girl. You are the best. " We talked about the red box she gifted me, and she explained how evil it would be if I had opened it. We hung up, and I took out my trash without any food left uneaten. Splash Just as I stood up from my seat, in hindsight, a guy with a brownish hair with gray highlights appeared and sloshed a can of coke on me all of a sudden and then left as if nothing happened. Although he didn''t had the guts to look back at me as he walked away, he did a high-five with one of his friends to ridicule at my wake. This harassment wasn''t even a spur of a moment; he calculated the risk to humiliate me the same way I did to Diana. So just by that realization, I accepted the destination of my fate and took the responsibility of my actions. "Well, this is all my fault anyway." Despite the brewing rage and hunger for vengeance inside me, I reminded myself that this is just an aftereffect and chose not to fight back.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Yet. . . My shirt was soaked hard with dark tint from the soda. Students from their tables were laughing, but I''ve already cried in the bathroom. I ain''t got tears left to cry out anymore, which is a good thing, because I already dealt with bigger monsters before. This simple act of torment was just minimal in comparison to what I''ve suffered before. I looked around. There were countless large tables, each full of students either munching God-knows-what or taking Instagram snapshots. Just then, my eyes darted on that large guy, a few tables away from me. Calixon, although being low-key hidden at the moment, hada great torso to which I notice him with less effort. Obviously, he was already staring directly at me with that goofy grin. Even from afar, with that jawline made from the gods, he''s undeniably symmetrical and perfect. I''m not denying the fact; I''ve met handsome boys in my early years trying to date me even though I was still so young at the moment. But Calixon was untouchable, I hadn''t had a plenty amount of contact with him to try to really get to know him. He could be the most aggressive guy on earth or the sweetest one in disguise. I wouldn''t know. He was smiling then, with a middle finger specifically made for me. "Splashed in the boobs, am I right, Lexi?" Calixon is a bully. His group of circle turned towards my direction and laughed louder than expected. They were overreacting even to my own judgment, just to increase the audience and attract attention. Calixon chuckled. He knew they were laughing at me through his command. He knew they were hating on me through his own social power. "Serpent trash." A retarded underage girl shouted. "Python rebuff," A bald-shaved teen interjected. Hiss! Hiss! People from behind me made hissing sounds, and more others joined the hysteria. What the hell? I took a deep breath, and draw in all the cloudy emotions inside me, refusing to look weak. This time, I''m stronger than ever. I looked back at Calixon, and without hesitation, I gave him a thumbs down, and stick out my tongue, expressing my disapproval and lack of care from his or anyone''s verbal assault. "Serpent trash!" "You suck, Alexa!" "What a bore." Constant discrimination flung over the room like hydras spitting flesh-corrupting venom. I took a another deep breath for the last time to calm myself down from reacting because that''s what those people wanted from me. They wanted me to have a breakdown, and it''s not easy to not give a damn about the words they''re saying. Although it''s oh-so inevitable to acknowledge the mean things they utter, it still pierced my heart like bloody fish-hook barbs. "Boo!" Calixon''s husky pitch of a voice boomed, and so as the others echoing his own remark. He said to me silently, "Game on!" which was a reminder of the most dangerous deal we had ever agreed to since our second meet. Out of desperate need, I really need my sister right now. My lips made a slight twitch under the influence of fear and social oppression. The crowd''s despicable scorn remained unstoppable. No other guys try to halt the frenzy delirium since they would face absolute shame too, not even the football quarterbacks or the basketball point guards defended me. Not even the snack bar staff cared to stop because if they do, they lose their customers. "Hey, stop it," A brunette girl shouted in hopes of cooling down their violent agitation, yet to no avail. "Can''t you see that''s too much?" I made a small smiled at her for helping me. Although her bare effort told me she''s guilty of being futile, it''s unfair because only she had the guts to try. Thanks, sister. If they won''t stop, that''s just fine. I cast my hair over my shoulder and grabbed my bag to leave the room with a bit of grace. I must stop acting emotionally today. If I have to cry, I must do it alone. I made my walk like a real woman; my chin head on forward; my posture made confident and straight; my heels clack with every perfect strut. Some girls slowly nodded their heads to me. They were offering their own support for me despite everyone gnashing their teeth at me because I guess they knew what it felt to be different. Not the other-girl-cliche different, I mean the pariah-girl-outcast different, because that''s my status as of the moment. Yet I smiled back at them and mouthed a ''thanks'' since it might be great to have had a few friends. Even if they didn''t have to fight for you, but at least you had someone by your side just for emotional and closure support. An aid that would make you feel as if you''re not alone. On shutting the door out, I opened my locker. There was a bunch of enveloped letters and even sticker notes with hate speeches about me and obscene sexual depiction of the male private parts that I would choose not to describe in such an elaborate and elucidated way. I went to the girls'' bathroom to check myself in the mirror. "What the hell?" My eyes had a slight reddish tinge, and it only took me to look at my reflection to realize that I was already in tears as the event had happened. "My poor Alexis what have they done to you," I spoke to myself, tears falling; I''m being emotional again. I closed my eyes and pressed my eyelids with gentle ease to stop the tears in a way that mature girls do. There was a pad of tissue in my handbag to not let it ruin the light foundation I applied. Calixon had made the lambs turn into something not just fearsome cubs, but grown-up beasts. Should I continue all my schemes, my ambition, my diabolical plan on taking control of the whole academy and be the baddest witch in town . . . or. . . should I. . . stop. . . all this mess. . . and live like a doormat. . . ? or a hermit. . . ? or a weak helpless critter who can''t even make a solid decision inside campus. . . ? for the rest of the year. . . and then the sophomore year. . . and then the junior year. . . and then the senior year. . . Seriously? Is this really where this is going? Should I let Calixon Reaver Dayne decide my life? . . . "Nah, I''d rather have revenge." The darkest and most beautiful smile draw straight upon my reflection. Reaching to a all-knowing, eye-seeing revelation of a groundbreaking epiphany, I reassured myself. "Breathe, queen, breathe. . ." I''m not backing down like a draggy deadbeat princess. Ha-ha, no. I''m a queen, and I will fight! Chapter 7: Eagle Reinforcement (Part II) C H A P T E R 7 E A G L E R E I N F O R C E M E N T ( Part II ) Author: Raven Orthodox "Nah, I''d rather have revenge." The darkest and most beautiful smile draw straight upon my reflection. "Breathe, queen, breathe. . ." I''m not backing down like a draggy deadbeat princess. The door opened, and there were a bunch of girls giggling. When they noticed me, they stopped and realized they are in the presence of Alexis. "Oh, Alexis." A golden-skinned girl initiated. "Exactly, that''s her!" - "Talk to her." I smiled at her and sighed with relief. "Hello, do I know you?" "No, although we do know you. But girl. . . you''ve got some real bad news." She picked up her phone and did a few clicks and taps. She showed me the latest post on Arkbook, for which I haven''t seen yet since it was just eleven minutes ago. "It''s getting rather crazy out there, you know it. And I know insane things happen every day in Arkskye, but this time, you''ve got bigger problems. Look." Two logos, typo-graphed as The Spartans and All-Alpha Hounds, with my pissed-off face plastered on the post. I read, "Two powerful groups are about to conjoin with The Champions and oust Alexa Frostfyre''s delicious tooshie." "Did they really mean ousting her delicious a-" "Alright, that''s enough." I hushed her other friend up. "Seems like a challenge. And they didn''t even manage to spell it right." I joked about it, and the look on their faces when I just smiled upon a disastrous news was priceless. "Oh come on. I''m grasping at straws, I don''t care whatever fireball they throw at me; I''ts fine, I''ll handle it all." "You got it." She smiled on her full lips. "And I know you''ve been through a lot.But if you need anything, we could help you, okay? I promise, we will have your back." "Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me." After sharing each other''s numbers for future contact, we made our respect-bounded goodbyes, and I wandered off the halls to find the exit from this hellhole Den of the Lions. I''ve got three enemies now, including the Champions, and they''re willing to stop me from schooling here at all costs. I saw a bright technicolor poster about minority group empowerment called Misfits and Oddballs. There were tiny descriptions about where and when to meet, so I slid up my phone to take the quickest snapshot ever and left the Lion House. Good, that last step from the lion''s den was a legitimate terrorizer. I better start calling my sister. "Ugh! They were seriously attacking a cornered cobra just like you said. I''m now the precise definition of an outcast." I talked to Raven on the phone. She said she was done with her US History, and she just left the Ark Literary and Publication Faculty. It wasn''t a primary area, so it''s safe to just leave out and receive a study objective as a group-sent email afterward. "I''ve got a big surprise for you, sister. I know you''re going to love it." She got along to squeal in her highest voice range. "Ow, Raven. You''re too loud." "Sorry. By the way, Dominica told me about the party, and I''m already inviting my best friends and the. . . and the uh," "Finish your sentence, Raven." "Nevermind. Let''s meet at the public Drama Arts Club. Follow your map out, it''s near the Ark Arts Faculty." Rhaegal, the guy who gave me the VIP card and a chance at booth modeling, texted me. Him: Hey! Me: Hi, how''s it going, Rhaegal? Him: I''m sorry there''s been quite a misunderstanding, Alexis.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Me: What do you mean? Him: The assemblage on our booth favored something which was not what we expected. Me: Seriously? Wait, let me guess. Are they cutting me out of modeling? Him: I''m sorry, Alexis. The majority always wins. They voted on ousting you out without even me knowing about it. Me: Who has replaced me? Him: It''s a girl named Vulture. Me: Seriously, my ex-best friend? What about Diana? Him: Diana intentionally chose her instead of casting herself. Me: Thanks. Him: I am sorry. Me: It''s all fine. You chose me in the first place, so I''m glad you did. Rhaegal made an apology, yet I finished him since it is okay. So I hold no hard feelings for it. I didn''t necessarily need the modeling anyway. Although, deep down, I would have had enjoyed it. Unlucky me. . . "Hey," I grinned at Raven as I stood with my shoulder pressed on the door frame, hands crossed. "Looks like we have a storm to brew up." Raven gasped. "Oh my, she''s here!" "Seriously, where are you going?" "Just wait here!" She suddenly went to the other side of the room and disappeared. What the hell is going on with this little bird? A young professor silenced me. Her strict demeanor told me she was typing something important on her laptop. "My students are learning acting on the other side, so try not to be too loud, darling." She spoke while she typed, making me gasp in guilt and disgrace, so I apologize. "I am so sorry, miss." There was no staff on the other counter and Raven was still up to something that would strike a definite surprise for me, so I decided to check out the marvelous masks and glassy-material accessories displayed on the glass counter. There was a ten-inches trophy as flawless as a finely-cut diamond, although it was made out of pure gold. In its university sigil, was written Athenian Student Of The Year. "Out of seventy-five thousand people on Arkskye, only one will be able to achieve that trophy." The professor spoke. I felt a sudden intense force towards the trophy, a magnetizing compel. My competitive heart raced as if it''s about to run an international marathon. "How do I achieve this?" "The rules will be given soon enough, so you have to keep updated." "Any other prizes?" She finally gave me a glance, and as her head tilted, her curious face questions my fighting spirit. "I see that you''re very ambitious." "All my life, I revel in accomplishments." "What about your failures." "Failures only fuels my need to win more." I touched my lip from inward shock. I shouldn''t have said too much, especially to a respected professor I do not know. Damn it. She stood up and searched for something in the upper cabinet. it was a matte card designed like the usual business card with an encoded description. Perhaps it wasn''t a business card, but it looked as slick as a Lamborghini''s hood "Here, take it." "Thanks." She handed it to me, and there was a smile across her face. "I like you. Although, you''re not the kind of darling anyone would not dare to pick up on. But that''s because when you enter the room, you feel like your own place." She joked on my breezy self-confidence just a while ago, so I chuckled too. "-but we need more sturdy girls like you. And that trophy can get you free of all of your tuition from your freshman year to senior. Plus, you''ll be rewarded merit-based cash and the latest Macbook Pro." "When will the competition start?" "I''m about to find out too. They''re almost done working on it, and you will be surprised how much money you''ll receive. If you''re determined enough, you might win. Thousands are expected to participate, so it''s tough luck." "Thank you, this means so much to me." "Don''t thank me yet. You still need to win." She got back to her seat. "Yes!" I made a victory fist. "Alexis, look here." Raven entered the room and grabbed my hand, leaving me to wave goodbye to the professor. I haven''t even asked what''s her name yet my sister already pulled me out the door. She had the red box with her, and since we couldn''t open it public, we went to her secret hideout where only a few students would even care to hang out: The old Physics Laboratory. Raven had a friend who was the daughter of Eagle''s Haven''s Dean, who had a key to the idle laboratory. Raven used it as their camping grounds sometimes. Sharing and exposing gossips and newfound Arkskye-related revelations surrounded by these physics testing machines and weird-looking lab flasks. She put the box on a large table near a drop tester. Her hair was tied into a ponytail when she grabbed a hair tie from one of her wrists. "Okay, I''ll just press a video call on Domi." "Raven bird? How are you, girl?" Dominica appeared on her phone after a few seconds. She was still on the car seat, waiting for her destination to the airport. "We''re opening your gift. So I think that you should be with us as we open it." Raven winked. "Haha, yeah. That''s sweet." Dominica was still doing her lipstick. "Okay, okay. Just do it while I do my makeup. Rushed in excitement and nervousness, I reached out to the box. "Okay, so here it goes. One, two three!" By opening, we saw a bundle of tiny cameras as small as keys."Wow, you bought a hundred of these babies?" "Uh-huh. I figured we need more to surround the school 24/7. They have the battery life for at least four days, so we don''t need to keep and recharge it every day." "I love these so much." Raven cried in a burst of happiness that she shook my shoulder to my surprise. "We''ll have it to our own advantage. You can use it for recording those narcissistic lions and also as evidence for their insolent evil deeds." I agreed with my dark grin forming again like the venomous python Kaa. Vengeance! Dominica told me there are also voice recorders underneath. My hand dug into the hundred of cameras and found an object that feels like it''s something slimmer than a Samsung smartphone. Dominica was done with her makeup. She showed us a burnt picture of Vulture, hinting us that she''d take care of that cheater''s hard-as-a-vulture-egg balls. "I''m gonna character-assassinate that ex-best friend of yours, watch me." "Certainly, though. I hate that punk, too." Raven agreed. She took the recorder device, and turned it on, "-use it when you''re talking to them. And then when the bomb comes out from their savage mouths, you know what to do, sister. . . let their own words destroy themselves." Chapter 8: The Lion King C H A P T E R 8 T H E L I O N K I N G Author: Raven Orthodox Planted. Planted. Planted! One on top of my locker. Another two from the third and fourth floor, where Calixon''s might be, with the last one behind my badge. It scintillated a shine after rubbing it with my Huggies wipes, the best one from the UK. Okay, so it''s 6:45 in the morning. And my resolution longed for the destructive impact against Calixon and his filthy-rich minions. "Fear not, my queen. You have always been a persona for royalty. Ages of historical textbooks made me realize that." Delevingne, the girl who defended me since the cafeteria, chuckled as she fixed my chic dress that screamed femme fatale. "This attire is the trendsetter. you should deliver it with ease and abandon, as does my sisters did from Los Angeles to San Francisco." "I still need to win that award." "There''s no need to rush for the Olympian Student of the Year." "True, the so-called Spartans and the Hounds were already sending hate flyers about me. False rumors about pregnancy, weed abuse, and claims that I have a secret Trap House hidden from the naked eye." "What a bummer, you know we could report them out you know." "A friend told me that the anti-bullying policy here was crap. Poor teens get abused everywhere, virtual-wise and reality-wise. I have to do something about it. And if it leaves me no choice, I''ll have the police involved." "And I''ll always stand with your ground." Delevingne spoke. She reached out to me after the incident and has witnessed the tears drizzling my mascara when I hid from the cats'' clutches. Dominica has assured me already, yet, the memory wandered off, and tricked me as I fall into despair once more. "Fine, I''ll plan on achieving it soon enough," I kissed her on the cheek before she spoke her cherry-lipped goodbye. "Don''t forget, eight P.M." "Eight P.M," She agreed, right after she disappeared. Unlike the ''vexatious'' Raven Orthodox, Delevingne selects a few words in a conversation and keeps it formal and straightforward. Walking through halls, I stopped for a moment to take a snapshot after realizing I look like a lady boss in this power outfit. "Snap!" "Boo!" Said a guy wearing a bright yellow bow tie in black polka dots. A few bookworms were just minding their own business about their Ethics and Music/Arts textbooks, one revealing a glare and a snort at my face. But this yellow guy just ruined my day. I feel like rolling my eyes, and for goodness'' sake, stop me! I took hold of myself and kept my shoe heels, making clicking noises on the halls, which probably irritated a lot of Lion haters on my path. I pretended I never heard anything from the constant verbal assaults, and then, with a funny smirk written on my face, I chose a teal-and-orange filter and clicked post on Instagram. "Boom, here it goes." I had only 12,249 followers, by the way, which isn''t much, but I''m not complaining. What I''m complaining about is the notorious fame I had in Lion''s Den. I had more haters than fans, yet they still followed me, and I am not sure if I should laugh or cry. Perhaps none. "Ms. Frostfyre?" The deep-gilded double door was this close (I mean this close!) to arms'' reach. I''m deadbeat, and my eyes shut in frustration and annoyance. Ugh, I just want to go back to my dorm and enjoy Dominica''s margarita cocktail and home picnic set with her girls. "Yes?" With a swift turn, my eyes laid dazed and stunned. "Professor Montgomery." He didn''t make a sneer at all, by the looks of his stoic appearance. He showed a paper on the hand from his back. "Pretty great answers, Ms. Frostfyre." That''s my quiz paper from Yesterday! From the sudden surprise, I changed my character to formal and proper. I smoothen my shoulder fabric for invisible dirt. I also made myself look professional with my posture straight and decent-fitted. "So, professor? What brought you here?" I gestured an arm upon the quiz paper so he may explain. Without expectation, he smiled. "You''re pretty good with vectors on the first session." "Thanks." Even though we went hammer and tongs with each other since the first meet, I beamed a tolerant smile. "Not only that. I noticed you were perfect in the score. I should say Linear algebra is easy for you, perhaps." "Yes, professor." I nodded. "But I don''t think you''re gonna get that far." "And why do you mean by that, professor Montgomery?" Something felt fishy about this little chit-chat. Let''s hear more. "I am saying it may be hard for you to achieve greater things, and I assume you already know it." To let himself continue, he cleared his throat. "I apologize for my approach since the first week. You didn''t deserve being addressed like that, I cannot forgive the xenophobia. Half of the people in this building want you dead, and the other half wants you out." He patted my shoulder, "I want you to survive this fight, Frostfyre. Not even the teachers can stop these rich ass-hats from clinging their claws on you, so think about your future. Earn it." I did a second nod with professor Montgomery. I think he sympathized with my sorry situation and saw potential on my skill set. I said my gratitude to him as he left me without another word. Exiting the academic building, I ordered the Lion-guards, "Make way for your queen. . ." I needed to get back to class at nine, so I still had a lot of time. Ashley, a gorgeous, Afro-haired mutual friend from Dominica, texted me. "Alexis, you''ve got to see this!" Alexis: Oh, you''ve finished setting it up? Sorry, your girl here was busy running a tricky business, that''s all (inserted: laughing emoticon). Ashley: Uh, excuse me? I''m about to gulp down your liquor. What is this. . . a homemade margarita? Alexis: How dare you, Ash! Don''t you dare. . . Ashley: I''m doing it, so you better come quick. Alexis: Ugh!!! Ashley: (inserted: wink emoticon, wine glass emoticon) My fiery eyes blazed in determination and ardor, and these sneakers shoes --super-duper glad I''m not wearing heels-- are the perfect speed play to reach the one-hundred-yards- distance dorm building. And I say Domi and her squad, and possibly with Raven, are probably starting the picnic without me, sheesh! 1 hour later Blowing out an exasperated sigh and a burp, we finished everything on our plates. Ashley didn''t drink my drink, so thank God for that. "Who''s ready for the next game?" "Really, Lexi, after all the drinks we took?" Dominica shifted from her seat, being coy with one of her girlfriends by slapping their cheeks on playful abandon. I took a sip on my Mountain Dew and sliced a tiny cut of Black Forest. "Mm-hmm, tastes good." I licked the chocolate icings on the cake, "- anyway, girls. We have a news today, revel it in, you''re gonna love this."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "I think I knew where this is going!" Ashley squealed in excitement. I opened out a navy blue box carve-designed with expensive pearls. This was from Dominica, as usual, such wealth! Inside, party invitation cards glistened like shiny Golden Tickets. My hand picked one like picking up the grandest VIP card ever! I made a mouth-silencer pointy finger to shush them out all out, "Now listen to me, young ladies. Dominica has invited you to her grand and exclusive party at her mansion!" I made a mouth-silencer pointy finger to shush them out all out, "Now listen to me, young ladies. Dominica has invited you to her grand and exclusive party at her mansion!" "Right on time, babes." I watched them scurry into me. reaching their invitation cards like kittens on a feed bowl of food. "Ha-ha, this is priceless." I turned towards Domi, who was, in fact, giving me a thumbs up all the while kissing a boy. I giggled and averted my eyes to go to Austin and tend his litter box and refill his food bowl and water. Austin was still relishing the joy of getting his own throat tickled by one of the girls as I washed myself hands in the bathroom sink. Pleasure sessions'' over. Ashley was drinking too much, unaware that we had learned of her soft-drink addiction problem, that we had to chill her off. High insulin levels go from juices and sodas, a different kind of health issue other than her alcohol addiction counterpart. "I''m not drunk." Said she, and I had to sigh in difficulty at accompanying her slightly-intoxicated stride to the bathroom. As I closed the door, Dominica pulled my hands. We hopped on the queen-sized bed. The girls already took the initiative to grab their stuff with respective depart to get to prep for class, although a few of them took glazed donuts and macaroni in the picnic blanket. The only foods untouched were the watermelons, cold lemonade, and granola bars too, which I saved for myself in my pocket. Domi shooed off the boy she recently kissed and poured herself an iced tea and ate a spoonful of fruit salad. "The cameras? Have you installed them already?" "Yes, on the third and fourth floor." I also showed her the third one hidden behind my badge. "Good girl. We''re victorious soon enough, now hop on board." The bed rebounded from elasticity as Dominica bounced, creating a jouncing ripple on my bum, sending me almost out from the bed. "Dominica, wait up!" A burst of laughter came through me as I caught hold of myself to make a firm grasp on the bed, and then, "bounce!" After the picnic feast, I''ve been using a bigger bag, which Dominica told me to use since she has so much Jimmy Choo bags and shoes on her king-sized closet. The parabolic physics homework was already passed to Professor Keaton, the Project Star Frog anatomy biology project was also submitted, and another History quiz was caused, and I made an almost perfect score. But I should have gotten a perfect one, damn it. It''s okay, Lexi. Try to breathe out slowly and chill out. Don''t let that perfectionist complex lower yourself down, okay? I still had to find a partner in my Allan-Poe-inspired poetry, I should also write a sample for a persuasive prompt about Adolf Hitler''s Reign, and then write a harder essay, which I''d have to make a rational answer about ''what are the advantages the US education offers to international students?'' "Hey, do you have a minute. Do you know why the man in ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' murdered the old guy?" "Yeah, ''cause he''s so annoyed with those killer eyes of his. I know my grounds, I know how the story goes, and those dumb eyes looked like freaking vulture, by the way. It looks disgusting and way eviler than Sauron''s." The boy chuckled and high-fived one of his friends. "Nice to meet you again, by the way. The name''s Rudolph Hearth." What the hell? Wait a minute. His friend looked like the friend of the guy who splashed me the coke and got high-fived the same back at the lunch bar, the lunch bar where I was humiliated in the eyes of lions. "Sorry, you seem familiar. Have we met before?" "Yeah, I splashed you drink, remember?" He cried in laughter, as all the others reimagining the funny scenario where I could only reminisce it as a total nightmare. "I see." I nodded. "Why''d you ask? You got offended, dunce?" He asked. We weren''t in a lecture hall since the English Language and Literature is on a bigger, square-sized, traditional classroom, so I put my earrings on my small locker on the locker wall and thought of a reply to Rudolph, "Well, I am not really offended." I brought up a smile as I turned and stalked over him and his busy-with-the-ladies friends since Professor Karnataka wasn''t here. "Perhaps, I was amused. I was insulted, yes, but not offended." I lied. "But. . . would you rather have me as your poetry partner?" I wanted him to be my partner and make up a plan to character-assassinate his grades this semester. We shouldn''t let these idiots always get their own ways after destroying someone else''s self-esteem. Rudolph Hearth scratched his gray highlights and thought for a moment. He even whispered to his friend, the one who''s smooching with a sexy blonde. "So, what do you think, Greg?" The guy just nodded since he was still busy with those lips. And in the name of Rudolph Hearth''s brownish hair with ash-gray highlights along with his stupidity at brainstorming and thought processing, his face broke into a smile. "Yes. Yes, I agree, let''s team up, yeah!" When my favorite professor entered the class, he was making a poll whether we''d agree to a Shakespearean play, which did not go well since the majority did not feel like it. Sad, professor. Behind my back was a girl with impressive crystal-woven pigtails crying. Her mates were cooing her down, and I just couldn''t help but say a reassuring ''it''s okay, babe.'' Looking at the professor, I saw his hands were shaking tired from writing a paragraph and explained tidbits of conditionals and sentence patterns. It was a bit difficult to understand his explanation but I took notes either way. All of a sudden, sounds of prolonged groans and annoyance can be heard from the back. A girl shouted a disrespectful ''boring'' outcry. "Boo! This lecture sucks." She then lowered her voice. "Why is this even mandatory?" "You illiterate bitch, shut up!" I shouted back, the sharp strength of my voice sent chill and a nasty burn at her all at the same time. When I looked back, my heart dropped dead, realizing that they cheered for an outcast like me for once. But what really made my heart drop-dead six-feet deep was realizing the girl I verbally attacked was the same blonde which Doplh''s friend kissed. To my surprise, she just stared blank at her desk and accepted my mistakes. Her mouths uttered. "I''m sorry." "I''m sorry for shouting too." I called at her. "I hope we''re all good, no hard feelings." I turned my head back to the seat and started jotting down some notes. After class, I waited for everyone to go out. The friends of the girl with the pigtails were leaving as they said their goodbyes and kisses; I got up to her desk and fish out the granola bars I kept from my pocket and left in on her desk. "Whatever it is that you''re feeling right now, always know that there are people who would listen to you, okay?" Within a few minutes, I left with respect after noticing that her constant cries didn''t need anyone''s company at the moment. Catching up with my phone, Raven had sent me a surprising random message, agitating a stir of confusion and discomfort on my behalf. "Alexi, I''ve got news!" Raven screamed the moment I pressed a call. "Slow down." "So I moved to the sorority house and leader assigned us on our bedroom, and I tell you it''s so claustrophobic. I said to myself ''oh my God, this room is so small I could hardly live in it''." "Well, it''s time to wake up, little bird; it''s a sorority house, not your dream bedroom. You get what you get.You don''t get to choose the size of your room. Now beat it, and just be grateful that you get a room to live in-" "Shut it, sister. I never realized I was claustrophobic until now. And guess what, hon, I already repacked and quit this stupid sorority." "And let me guess, you screamed at the lady in the stall." "Wrong, I yelled at everyone who dared to stop me, even the Delta leader Charisse." "That is so. . . pretty much like you." "Got to go now bitch. I''ll move back to Eagles. Again." She ended the call, which was a surprise since I always end it myself like almost all of the time we made a phone call. Ha! I sat on a bench where the sidewalks are less crowded with heterosexual couples, and more on the rainbow spectrum community.The loud Arts and Entertainment booths doesn''t bother as does the cute mini cafes, or the dazzling cheerleaders practicing both their lifts and vocals for next week''s football competition. When I breathed out a sigh from all the commotion surrounding me, I tapped on my messages. Mom made a text just a few minutes ago: Mom: Alexi, there was a mail delivery on my doorstep. And there''s your whiplash Himeros hunk sitting in my table sipping a drink and waiting for you. Alexis Frostfyre: My what? Mom: Your guy. He said his name was Reaver Calixon. His name sounds. . . different. Alexis Frostfyre: Oh okay, tell him I said, ''crush your own balls and get the hell out.'' Mom: He said his feelings was hurt. Alexis Frostfyre: Wait, mom, did you just say the god of sex has entered our home? Alexis Frostfyre: with a beer? Alexis Frostfyre: How does he even get there? Mom: Tea, honey, tea. I made one for him, he said likes it, and you too. Mwah! Mom: Of course he knew. He''s your guy for Jesus Lord''s sake. Alexis Frostfyre: Whatever. What were you doing this morning, anyway? Mom: I was only watching The Lion King II with your little brother. Until a guy named Cal came for you, and watched it too. So go to Candylane street number four, Alexis. Your brother misses you already. Mom: Also I have no idea how this man got here too, but I bet you told him the address. By the way he dressed, he seems so out of place in our trailer truck home. Mom: Anyways, you forgot your 450 bucks, from the paycheck of your last summer job. Alexis Frostfyre: I miss my little bro too. Alexis Frostfyre: Well, I''ll be damned, I''m forgetful. But you can have it, Dominica has already signed me up for a cozy part-time job. Mom: She''s pretty gentle. Pretty and gentle. And filthy rich too, let''s not forget that. Hahahahahah. Alexis Frostfyre: True, and even if she isn''t, Dominica''s still that one best friend you really can''t live life without. Alexis Frostfyre: Yes, but I missed Raven, though. Alexis Frostfyre: And honey, you should get here now. This man is not the kind of man I thought you wanted. Alexis Frostfyre: Mom? Excuse me? What are you talking about? Mom: This guy is a jerk, and you know it. Alexis Frostfyre: Why is he still there? I thought you already put him to leave. Mom: That''s what I am saying, Alexis. Grrr! Alexis Frostfyre: Mom, get him out of the house, please. Mom: Honey, he won''t. Alexis Frostfyre: Why the hell not? Mom: He said he was waiting for you, Alexi. At least he knows how to introduce himself to me instead of you introducing him to me. Alexis Frostfyre: Mom, what the hell! Mom: What can I say? I can''t boot out and expel your boyfriend, Alexis. He''s right here waiting for you. Alexis Frostfyre: Mom, listen to me. HE. IS. NOT. MY. BLOODY. BOYFRIEND! Chapter 9: Taste My Venom C H A P T E R 9 T A S T E M Y V E N O M Author: Raven Orthodox "H-hello, mom?" I called her after we texted for a very long time. "Yes, darling?" "Hand over the phone to Cal, mom. I''ve got to talk to him. Now." For a few seconds, there was hustle, and little brother Garrett was already crying, saying he just missed talking to me again. Oh, Garett. "I''m sorry, Alexa. I''m sure he doesn''t want to talk to you on the phone right now." "But. . . but why?" "Because your boyfriend said so!" "For the last time, and in the name of Zeus, that Greek god isn''t my boyfriend. I texted you that fact three times already, duh." "And I don''t believe it. This man, I mean this piece of hunk, seriously?" Mom uttered her juicy words on hushed tones, so neither of the two people could hear her say it. "You can''t tell me you''re rejecting a fresh-in-the-oven Greek god boyfriend you''re secretly hiding from me. I know you had a thing for muscled jocks, Alexi. But seriously? Since when did you become so quiet about your love life? When things get a little bit hotter?" "That boy bullied me, mom. I didn''t even invited him over there." "Liar. What are these expensive chocolate gifts and handwritten love letters?" Ew, a few letters and confectioneries from a spiteful enemy? No way! "Fine, fine, fine. Tell Garrett I miss him, and I''m coming right at home." "Would you bring Austin?" Garrett''s charming call made my heart a retarded flutter. Oh, how I missed his chubby-squishy, flustered cheeks. My throat cleared as I soon heightened my voice with command."No, Garrett, I cannot. It would be too much of a pointless venture for Austin. He might get tired from the ride back and forth, or maybe he''ll catch nasal congestion or something." "But please, I miss him so much, and I can take care of him now. I am a big boy, stop believing mom for one sec." "You promise to take care of him? You''re still eleven, baby boy." "And you''re still seventeen. Bleugh!" Garrett snarled. "Okay, fine. You may take Austin with you, but make sure you feed him right. Got it, officer?" "Yes, Ma''am!" Garrett''s thick, deep, lackluster voice unified with a cheerful roar. I immediately turned away from my phone so they wouldn''t hear the loudness of my laughter. When I cooled down a bit, we continue talking a little bit longer as my feet dragged itself to the dormitory building to get Austin. Garret laughed in hysteria ''till Cal''s forte voice demanded I must get there in no time. "Get your ass in here, Lexi. I''m tired of waiting." Who the the hell does he think he is? "Garrett? You still there?" "Yeah, why?" "Tell Cal that he''s not my boss and get him to shut up." "She said you better stop shouting, stranger, you are no boss of hers. Now beat it!" "That''s my boy!" My high-pitched outcry called for a triumph. Calixon laughed in the background, and said, "Hurry up, babe. I still have practice for football. You don''t want me losing track being the MVP of my team, don''t you? Tell her to hurry up, Garrett." "Yep, sister. Hurry up." Garrett chuckled in response and confessed about the very thing a spoiled young boy shouldn''t have done, "-your cookie jar was empty because of me, by the way, ah ha-ha." "Garrett, don''t you dare..." "I''m sorry, sister, I was just hungry!" "Ugh, fine. You already munched all my honey biscuits and jelly jam." I said in a perfect-sister authoritarian tone as I retied my shoelaces on the dorm building''s front porch stairs using one hand. Thanks, YouTube how-to. "Hey, Lexi, I told them about your secret." Cal''s annoying bark is strong enough to be overheard. "What secret?" "I told them about you, choosing to switch to the lions and about how we''re about to plan for our next second date, you know, since last week." My thumb pressed the decline button after hearing that embarrassing line coming from the biggest jerk who was confident enough to step inside our home and call me babe and discuss about some stupid date whatsoever. "What in the nine circles of hell did he spawn from?" I break out a sigh instead of disclosing up a random rage in front of the nearby shopkeepers and school cleaners. Moving forward, I put the phone back where it belonged and hastened my speed to the dormitory elevetor. I cannot believe how manipulative he was to think that he could track the address I lived and pretended as my cliched fake boyfriend. I couldn''t really understand why he''s doing all of this, but I know one thing that it all comes down to something bad. I''ve got to prepare about what''s to come and listen carefully as to what he says. If he could manipulate my mother and Garrett that we''re together, then I''ve got to find a strategic solution to outplay him. I could use my spy camera recorder, if that helps. Reaching to my dorm, Austin hopped on my stomach as I unlocked the door, licking the hem of my uniform. I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay, boy, that''s enough." The leash was then locked and bolted on Austin''s navy blue collar. "Arf, arf." I mimicked his dainty yaps after donning up my sapphire bracelets and blue choker. "I''m a literal dog now, Austin; our colors fit together." After taking a cab from Arkskye University to Candylane street number four, Austin''s tail waggled in joy after smelling the familiar smell of freshly cooked bacon and lavender oil diffused through the windows. Garrett was jumping up and down, screaming when I''ve finally arrived with our husky. A few minutes later, Garrett was hugging Austin and shaking his collar a little bit too much. "Young man, that''s enough. You''re spoiling our poor Austin." "Sorry, sister." "How are you, darling?" My mom''s soft, concerned tone made me narrow my eyes on her. "I''m fine, mom." I said with a tight lip. I''m not going to argue with her that this stuck-up, rich, a-hole of a bully wasn''t my boyfriend. She''s not gonna believe me either way. So I''m gonna deal with this the hard way. I''m gonna talk him out to see what''s up with his fiend-devilish schemes. And I had to think quick for a successive comeback to ultimately oust this guy from our house. Speaking of our house, he knew already that I''m living in a trailer park. If he''s spreading details about my home, it''s going to be the end of me. Well, not really. I meant that my fake reputation would crumble and I''d be deemed as a liar. But stuffs like this crap happens, and I can''t escape the fact that secrets always reveal itself sooner or later and no matter what. "Are you sure?" Mom asked one more time. "Of course, I really am."The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Okay. So both of you love birds will do the talking, alright? I''d best be on my way and leave both of you to it." Mom, said. "Come on, Garrett, let''s leave them to it. Good luck, dear." I could see her wink as she left at my direction coming from my peripheral view, yet I never letmy glare get sidetracked from this jerk. With the stoic, unemotional facade I''m masking on my face, Cal''s curious expression hinted the point that he knew I was keeping my emotions intact and not letting a single drop of frustration or anger drop. Because in all honesty with my mother, I won''t let her witness that this so-called man hunk, whether boyfriend or a bully, have the ounce to frustrate or make me mad in confusion and submissive surrender. She''ll be disappointed at my crybaby attitude of letting any man weaken me. As you could see, and hear, these razor-sharp nails struck an edgy, tap rhythm. The frightening clicker sound, with my keen-visioned cat eyes, was enough to get any guy break charge and run off to the front door. But his stance remained firm, sitting in his chair like an absolute tyrant. Hands crossed with his feet carefree on the edge of the table; Cal randomly threw a cheque like a king throwing spoiled food and low-class gold to poor peasants. The cheque looked like a thousand dollars or more. That''s much enough to persuade me, but I urged myself to repress the desire to grab it. "For the underprivileged Frostfyre fam, and their miss Little Bo Peep who doesn''t have enough money to pay for her university tuition and how much more to her dormitory fee. Take that money, and come to daddy. . ." He joked. The insult was way too transparent than the joke itself. "I don''t need money from your cheque, just answer my question as to what the hell are you doing here? Are you happy now? After what you just did? Huh, dork?" He chuffed in annoyance, ignoring my question"You don''t need the check? Alright, sp it''s straight-up cash for you, then." He threw out four wads of a thousand bucks on the table. I looked at the seductive rolled-up cash and then back at his strong-jawed face with that wild ruffled brown locks. "I know you want it." "Who doesn''t?" I rolled my eyes, half-agreeing, seeming not too offended. "It ain''t a trap, loser. Take it, it''s yours." That bright-bluish, seemingly-sexy wink suggested that this was all a game Calixon enjoyed playing. Relishing in his satire masculinity, I think it''s his thing that he loved winning and owning people either through physical threat or money bargain. That''s maybe because he wanted to bully them again and get away with it by being a sheep and calling him king like the Lion that he is. Not until he stomped on the wrong cobra who had the deadliest fangs. I thought long for a moment and decided if it''s a good time to call my mother and invite her and Garrett on the table and humiliate the hell out of him. "So you do want to play this game?" "What game?" "The cat-and-mouse game. You wanted it, so you feel entitled to continue crashing up my life again." "And then you think that by acting up as my fake boyfriend and offering up expensive chocolates on a box, a rose bouquet, and a bunch of coiled cash, you think it''s going to fix everything up and bully me back again. I''m not your bully, Cal!" He shrugged, "you could have just accepted what I offered, because either way, I''m about to do whatever it takes to overthrow a bad girl like you. And yep, I don''t care if you faked your rich life and lived in a trailer truck, which you do, no offense." My head was down, my dull-blank eyes staring at the ring on one of my fingers, a tight knot of suppressed emotions made it hard to say something, but still. . . "I''m not ashamed of living in a trailer park." "Then why didn''t you mention it? Why try so hard on building up a fake status." "I hide things, okay? I only show what people want to see. Does that mean I don''t value what I have with my family? Uhm, no, you freaking piece of turd." "Still not a good reason to me. You chose not to show it because you want to feel what the high life feels like, you chose not to show it so you could flex all that fake crap with that gigantic self-confidence you wear on yourself and be like one of us, am I right? You shocked me, Alexis." He chuckled. A burning question! My eyes darted at him, the inner Frostfyre in me reached maximum cold, so void of any other expression. "All you rich, dumb idiots, except for people like Domi, have no idea what it feels like to live the way we lived, and the way others lower than us have lived." "No, Alexi, I-" "I''m not even done here, you fool. Shut up." An icy index finger of mine silenced Cal''s lips. "Alright, so here it goes: I wear branded clothing some other day of the week and buy some more when I get the chance. I don''t know, maybe society respects brands. I would have stopped wearing it if I could reverse that social construct, but I couldn''t. And believe it or not, the masses choose looks over personality, so let''s not kid ourselves." "If you were just a short, ugly, jerk, coming with that personality of yours, I bet ninety-percent of the school''s population wouldn''t have even noticed you. Because if you were, you''d get right down to the bullied department and have two-to-zero chances of getting a date or getting laid. Zero. . ." "Ouch, that hurts a lot," Cal frowned, seeming offended, but not really. "-but please, do continue." "I prioritize family and self-love. I am selfish. My step-sister is, too. Just for that fact, we took care of ourselves and never give a damn about other people except for family and close friends. Everything felt so superficial and practical now to the point that you got to earn that respect instead of just expecting it from the good Samaritans to hand it to you. I see it as true, or at least I thought so because my step-dad always told me to ''never stop presenting a powerful look and firm background'' or else you''ll be handed to the wolves and feel constant abuse. "And it doesn''t even matter if it''s fake just as long as it channels both awe, respect, and status from everyone. Because if I would choose to look campy, I''d be a bully target. But here we are, in an upside-down situation, because people like you enter the conversation and destroy that ''gigantic confidence'' I''ve worn, just as you said." He simply nodded, looking into my eyes and analyzing the main points and ideas of what I just said. "Cool perspective." "After all I''ve said? Cool perspective? Do you even listen to a word I said?" "Nope, sounds bland to me." "What are your thoughts, then? Tell me!" "Arrogant pricks like us don''t click, you see? D''you know what I mean? We''re like negative magnets, Lexi. That must be why I even cared to visit you and say sorry through offering gifts and letters and gold. Ha-ha-ha, we''re kind of like magnets that just wouldn''t vibe with each other in a room. And that must be why I love to hate you." "I confessed to you all my thoughts, the inner working of my head, and most of my secrets." "Yes, you just did," he said, faking a yawn to seem bored. I think maybe he needs a little excitement and a hint of uncertainty if he gets bored that easy. I must have a plan B if this doesn''t get to where I want this to go. "So you will stop this. All of these stupid pranks, play pretends, and of course, the bullying part, Cal. I hated that, and you squeezed my feelings to its last drop while making me the joke of the day at the cafe." "I deserve punishment from the failed HIV post. I take full responsibility for it, I exclude everyone from it, even my Raven, even though she had that idea in the first place. But I think what you did was just not cool, okay? Do you agree to stop doing this ever again? I will not do it again, either. And I''ll also beg for forgiveness to Diana if ever she agrees to settling everything." I offered him an agreement settlement that would ''settle'' this crappy power play once and for all. And as an ultimatum, we''ll call it a truce; he and I will part our ways and will never again hurt each other. "Deal?" His thick brown brows furrowed even further, contemplating. And then he disclosed into a sweet guy with cute dimples along with that perfect-set-of-teeth smile. Good, he''s finally coming into terms. "Nope." The absolute excitement of my raised shoulders blades faltered into despair. I sensed a tinge of hopelessness compressing in my stomach. No, this is far from butterflies. Is he thinking what I''m thinking? Is he not going to stop? Does he want to let this psychologically-insane game never stop? Until the very day comes that I cannot help myself but walk to my grave and bury myself in defeat? "What do you mean, ''nope''?" "Nope, I am not." He smiled even more, What an actor, dear Lord. He looked so genuine when he wants to be. "And you know what that means." Although the blood in my veins fumed in boiling rage to a hundred degree Celsius, I remained my cool-toned exterior impression against his immorally-deranged demeanor. "I see. I know now, I understand. You loved destroying what''s weaker than you, is that right?." "Sounds about right, kiddo." he gave me a wink, a charming one at that. "But," I stared at him, face blank, "-what if that person you thought was weaker than you is not what you thought she is." "Boo-hoo-hoo, Lexi. That made me scared, I''m sure. What have you got, babe, a stabbing knife in your pocket?" "Let me ask you a question, do you even have anything against me?" "Yep. Yeah, I do." "What then?" "Tsk-tsk, I''m not telling you that, babe." "Then, I don''t believe you, and I''m not afraid of you, so see you later then. Buh-bye." I stood up from the chair and about to take my bag. "Wait, wait, wait. Okay." Gesturing me to sit back, I obeyed and a mischievous smile formed on my face. "I''ll tell your mom about what you did." "Haha, about what, honey?" I urged him. "-spill the details, for Christ''s sake. Tell me the specifics." "Maybe everything, you''ll never know." His eyes twinkled with so many hidden agendas running at the back of his mind" Okay, babe. Let''s start with the headliners. I''ll admit that you destroyed my sister''s rep by posting that HIV story." "Go on, tell her. It''s fine by me, baby." I smirked, which confused the heck out of his adorable face. "Wait, are you sure?" "Oh I am sure. Spread every word of it, that doesn''t worry me." He sat there staring at me, deadpanned, as I slipped away and left the room, closing the door. "Alexis, what have you talked about?" Mom spoke in shock, I knew what she was doing; she was listening to every word we made. "I was eavesdropping, okay. And I''m sorry if that has crossed your boundary. But I did it not in a creepy way, because I''ve heard mean shart about me. And, also, about your sister. So what''s going on? Your mother has got to know." "And now you will finally know." I said. I pressed the play button on my recorder hidden on my badge, and here goes one of Calixon Reaver Dayne''s offensive slurs come into play. "For the underprivileged Frostfyre fam, and their miss Little Bo Peep who doesn''t have enough money to pay for her university tuition and how much more to her dormitory fee. Take that money, and come to daddy." After hearing that last two words, mom went from Dorothy Gale to the Wicked Witch of the West. She stormed inside the room as I quickened my pace, running to the front door while calling a cab as quickly as I could. When my cab finally dropped by, someone shouted. "Lexi! Alexis, get over here!" When I didn''t look back, I heard him run towards me. "What have you done back there? Did you-" "Rich people aren''t rich because they throw around money like neanderthals on the ice age, but thanks for this, though." I showed him the rolled-up wad of cash I grabbed back inside the trailer truck, and thanked him for it. "What the hell? What have you told your mom about me? She called me a trespasser and ditched my words like she suddenly stopped believing me. What did you do?" The cab driver opened the door. "Tsk-tsk. I''m not telling you that, babe." Closing the door, I gave him the middle finger before sliding up the window frame. "What the hell?" That infuriated pout and confused thick-lashed eyes looked so cute on him, but my cab had already revved the engine, and I''ve got a dress to wear and a party to go to, so let''s go back to Arkskye University, baby. Here we go!