FACELESS

Chapter 11

Mia is an in between.

She's not the type of girl to gossip behind your backs, filling up her mouth with the rumors of other people. I've never been comfortable with anyone before, not even my own parents (What a surprise, right?), because of my sexuality. Mia was the first girl I told, and I nearly broke down in class when she grinned at me, shrugging her shoulders.

"That's cool, I'm fine with that."

You see, my parents were very conservative. If not for the fact that our family was 'rich', I would be able to get a decent boyfriend. My father had once told me before that if I was to ever get married, it would be someone of the same background as me. According to my father, it basically means the person has to live in similar houses with nearly identical diplomas. My parents' mindset disgust me in a way I could not comprehend.

Not that he knew I wasn't only attracted to boys.

I am bisexual. To simply put, I have attractions to both girls and guys. Sometimes it does get difficult because though many people did not object to my sexuality, there were still a handful of people who despised me because of who I like.

Mia wasn't like that. She never was.

It was her group of friends with bright white teeths and braided hair. Her group of friends with the same ol socks labelled with brands that were cost more than my entire week of allowance. They cherished their ways of life / how popular they were, in a way that they didn't even cared what they did - whether it was right or wrong.

They didn't care about how I felt.

The day she left me was the day the whole school abandoned me - They listened to the rumours spreading like poison surrounding the school. It was that I did things to my friends and I wasn't reliable. That I was a slut. A narcissist. A liar.

And, well, every other insult you could think of.

I know it must be really confusing and upsetting for me to constantly defend Mia - The girl who ruined my social life at school. I was an outcast because of her, but I don't fully place the blame on her. Although, on some days I'll have the sickening tendency to throw a fist into her face, I hold myself back.

A part of me believe that she meant no harm - It was just the influence from all her friends who tagged by her side, those who flaunt their way through the school with a smirk plastered on their face, toppled with a cocked eye brow and always a disgusted look on their face. Them - I blame them, not Mia.

Still, I think Mia had done me a big favour.

Because I met Zac.

-

Zac and I are actually becoming closer than ever. I try to treat him like a normal classmate but it's almost impossible because he's the star student of our school and yet here I am. The girl with no name or the girl with the name. I'm not sure what it is.

We seat together in class, and during mathematics when I get groggy and confused easily, our math teacher screaming at my face, anger colouring his cheeks - And me, well, extremely close to crying, Zac would always tug at my skirt, and I'll glance at him with glossy eyes and a saddened look when he gives me a soft smile, muttering under his breath. "Jiayou. (You can do it.)"

I truly believed he was just a nice image of a guy i made up in my mind, but I was wrong. Zac was everything I hoped a guy was. He was sweet, caring, and always offered his jacket whenever the weather was cold and freezing.

He offered to tutor me in the subjects I was confused at (Which was, well, most of it.) I didn't realised at that time how detrimental that would be. How it was all a mistake to let him and I get so close.

I fell harder than ever before - In fact, I could even say my silly self was in love. So yes, it was a mistake. But mistakes don't always come with deadly consequences. Maybe you mistake someone as a friend, but in the process, you befriend a new person to be added into your life. Maybe you accidentally added a spoonful of cream instead of sugar into your coffee, and shockingly discovered that it tasted much, much better.

I like to believe that Zac was the bloom of a mistake that I thought was lethal.

I heaved a sigh out of my body, eyes tired and dry, my mind exhausted from hours of reading articles and doing math exercises.

"Okay, I'm done." I gasped out, pushing away the pile of paper with equation scribbled across the white surface, highlighters dancing across like ballerinas and lightning bolts zagging across my temple. My eyes were tired and my mind was exhausted.

"God," I groaned, placing my hands on my temple, rubbing them. "I could die now and I wouldn't even flinch."

"Hey," Zac shook his head, his hair gently swaying in the wind. I was surprised that he managed to pass attire check with that hair, as I was sure that it wasn't allowed in the school rulebook.

He's looking at me now, his eyes glinting like jewels under the sunlight. I'm uncomfortable, for some apparent reason.

"Don't be so stressed out, alright?" He smiled. "You're really improving a lot - This exam? It's nothing. You'll ace it. I believe you will."

Okay, it just got a lot more uncomfortable.

I smiled awkwardly back, looking to the left. He seems to sense my discomfort, and gave out a small chuckle and then turned to his unzipped bag.

"Should we go? It's getting late."

I looked up the the sky, savouring the cloudy day. Without clouds, going home would be hell. Looking at the amount of sun shining through the clouds - I could tell it was getting late.

"Yeah, sure, let me just-" I grabbed my highlighters and pens, stuffing them aggressively into my pencil case.

He watched me, eyebrows turned up in surprise.

"What?"

"Uh." He blinked, closing his slightly gaped mouth, swallowed and just gave me small force smile.

I done something... wrong? I made him angry - That smile, he's uncomfortable, upset at me. I did something. What was it? My mind ran a hundred miles, spacing out as I struggled to understand that smile in milliseconds. A zillion scenarios and reasons ran through my muted head.

"It's just," his voice snapped me back into reality. I had to blink a couple of times, getting my breath and heart rate back in track. "... you're really packing fast."

Oh.

That's it.

"Oh."

I blinked. Then gave him a smile.

"Shut up, let's go." I grinned, grabbing the pencil case and dumping it in my bag, slinging it over my shoulder.

And so, at 6:34pm in the evening. I walked home together with Zac.