Iridiscence (Lookism fanfiction)

7: An alliance

It was soon the start of another day.
I followed the routine: did my morning revision and went for the run.

Then I got back, got ready, had breakfast, and soon was on my way to school.

______________________________

Time sure flies! It was already evening.
Jace gave me the school tour he had offered before. I could see the other departments briefly.

Students from beauty were allowed to dye their hair, just as our class was allowed costumes other than the uniforms.

The architecture department guys from Euntae's class had arranged themselves into a sort of a crew, they called themselves 'Burn Knuckles'. Jace told me that they were just a group of guys who loved Vasco and followed him.
They had a really strong friendship.

(And, BNC stood for Burn kNuCkles)

I had some time before my shift at the store began so I followed Jace, to Star Coffee where he worked, along with Euntae and others.

I had an espresso and soon left.

On my way out, I saw Daniel coming in with an old woman, she's probably my mom's age.
He saw me and gestured.

"Kyra, hey"

"Hey, Daniel.
Mm... may I ask who you're with?"

"This is Daniel's mother. Mrs. Kim, this is Kyra, she's my classmate."

"Hello ma'am, it's very nice to meet you.
I also work with Daniel at the convenience store so I know him too...", I told her.

"Oh, it looks like my son has made a lot of friends! I'm happy to see you too, kid.
Can you tell me how Daniel is at work?"

"Ohh, he's great. He knows his way around, he does his work neat... and... he only does what he thinks is right."

I saw Daniel's expression soften up.

"It's his first time working somewhere, so please look after him for me, will you?"

"I will, I assure you☺️", I told her. "You two were going in, yes? I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, bye kid"

"Bye Kyra"

"Bye Mrs. Kim. Bye Daniel"

I'm having a little trouble describing the passage of time😓, so I'll just write it (LIKE THIS)

(3 DAYS LATER)

I was running late so I thought I'd take the bus today.
I barely managed to get on the bus. Almost all the seats had been taken, many were standing.
There was an empty seat at the front. I wonder why no one took that seat.

I walked up to the front.
I was delighted to find Duke there.

"Good morning Duke. How's your day?"

"Kyra? Oh hey, I'm good.
I don't usually see you taking the bus, what brings you here?"

"I was behind schedule, so...", I said as I sat down. "Whatcha doing? Ooh, were you writing something?"
I was excited to see that he was writing even while on the bus.

"Just putting my thoughts into words...
I remember you saying that you write too. How's that going?"

"So so. I'm pretty sure you write way better than that though..."

"Ahh, I'm sure they're fine"

"If you say so"

......

Well, small talk isn't really my thing. What do I say now?

"I'll let you get back to what you were doing..."

"Alright then"

We then sat in a 'not uncomfortable, not awkward but a little funny silence' till we reached school.

And then we headed to our classes.

_______________________________

(LUNCH BREAK : CAFETERIA)

I saw the black glasses guy aiming a high kick at Duke. He then ordered him to get his lunch and water.

Black glasses V&D guy
Bully

I walked up to Duke and just when I got close, I saw Jiho Park and Daniel approaching him.
Jiho invited him to sit together. And seeing me with him, Daniel invited me too.

In no time, Me, Jiho, Daniel, and Duke were at the table, sharing a conversation over lunch.
Everyone was staring at us with weird looks on their faces, probably because we were sitting together for the first time?

Suddenly, the black glasses guy threw a glass in Duke's direction, and 'ordered' him to get some water.
Zack then told him to get it himself, and then Euntae stepped in, it was intense.
Long story short, he left without a fight.

Jiho and I, and Daniel and Duke acquainted over lunch.
I heard from Duke that the black glasses guy's name was Vin Jin and that he bullied him a lot.
But I noticed that Duke always stayed optimistic.
That was inspiring. I looked forward to hearing his songs sometime.

Jiho was bullied too.
He said that he had to do all the kinds of things for them before.
And that included stealing, getting beaten, and even giving away his own things to them.

I felt bad. I've not been bullied before, but I could tell that the experience was terrible.
Well, at least they're feeling better now.

________________________________

J High school festival's just a few days away.

I heard from everyone that the three main events at the festival were our class's fashion show, the concert and the slave auction.

Freshmen from each department traditionally entered the slave auction. Girls could bid on them and the winner got a date. The money went for charity.

.
.
.

"Hi again!", I said as I saw Duke walking through the corridor.
I keep running into him a lot today.
I had left my notebook in class so I was going to get it back.

"You look pretty preoccupied, everything okay?"

"Well... I gave the name for the festival concert.
I was thinking of what I could do..."

"Ooh, what kind of songs are you thinking of?" I asked excitedly. I could finally hear him sing.

"I have the lyrics, so I was thinking of mixing a rap and a song. It would've been nice if I had someone to sing wit-"

We were cut off by the faint sound of someone singing.
It came from my classroom.
It was a slow melody.
We looked at each other and then stepped slowly towards the class, amused to see who was singing.

It felt like the voice was crying out to someone, I could feel the pain in his voice.
I realized Duke felt that too, his eyes got watery but he was silent.

I was astonished to find out that it was Daniel who had been singing.

I stood still, and I saw Duke move.

He called out to him, Daniel looked a little surprised to see him, he must have thought no one had heard him.
Duke proposed that they both perform together at the festival, and Daniel approved.

They planned to practice at Duke's house and let me tag along.

It all happened in a trice, I doubted for a second if it was all real lol.

I can't wait for the festival day...