Chapter 29
So far so good, I have kept myself from going to Terence’s side. I haven’t talked to him since then, and I think that’s a good sign. If this continues, I think there’s a possibility that my heart will soon heal. The bad news is that, since I have decided to avoid my best friend, same goes to the rest of our common friends. I need to avoid them in order to avoid Terence. The school is too small for all of us, if I keep hanging with them, there will surely be a time that I have to face Terence and Stephanie, and right now, I can’t.
Nympha is not talking to me either. I know I have hurt her, and I deserve her coldness, but I’m not used to her silence. She treats me like a dead ant on a sidewalk. But still, I’m glad that there are still people who like to hang with me. Sara, Train and Luke have been spending more time with me than the usual. We eat at a table faraway from Terence’s group, upon my request, we study together at the lobby every other night and they let me stay with them at their hangout place – the purlieu, a place in the school garden where there are many benches.
“Keesha, did we do something wrong? Why aren’t you hanging with us anymore? You’re not even talking to us.” asks Lucia, her eyes are so sad I can feel it through my bones.
“She found friends that are useful.” Amber answers for me from behind. “User friendly.” She snorts.
“You mean, friend user.” I correct her. “I wonder how did you get in here, you can’t even know how to use words correctly.”
“How dare you!” she shouts. “You don’t have the right to insult me!”
“No. I don’t have to insult, you’re too dumb for that.” I mock her. “I used to envy people like you; beautiful and powerful. But now, I’m thankful I’m not like you. What’s the use of beauty if the brain is empty, right?” I snort.
Her mouth is half opened.
“Do you know what zombies are? They’re some kind of fiction monsters that eat human brains, if time comes that they’ll actually live in the world; you’ll be the only surviving human.” I say as mean as possible. My eyes are fixed to her face, trying to look like a wolf that waits for the sheep to come near.
“Keesha, stop it.” Lucia pleads.
“Then I’ll be happy that you’re gone.” She answers idiotically. She clearly didn’t get what it meant. I can’t believe her stupidity; I really wonder why she’s here.
I laugh; the other students around the hallway might have heard our conversation that they’re all starting to laugh at her. “She means that you’ll survive the zombie invasion because you do not have a brain!” an Argonian boy shouts at her, laughing. The crowd laughs even harder when she realized how hard I insulted her. Her face is as red as her nail polish.
She stomps her feet to the floorboards, the same gesture my little brother does when I don’t allow him to play in the street during lunch time. Amber’s acting like a kid. A pathetic one.
“Somewhere out there is a tree tirelessly producing oxygen for you to breath, I think you owe it an apology.” I say, mocking the way she insults people.
“You’ll pay for this, Sage!” she shouts and runs to the bathroom with her face covered with her delicate pearl-like hands.
I’m tired, really tired of people like Amber who likes stepping into people just because it’s their nature. My brother and I are now striving to live yet here they are, mocking, insulting people. It’s time they get their own dose of medicine.
“You’ve changed.” Lucia says, shaking her head with eyes that glows in disappointment.
I look at her, surprise by her tone. “No, this is the real me.”
