The New Girl

Flashback: Best Friends, And A Girl

"Whaa.. ? Dead? But when you saw me and thought I was Grace, you asked me to go back. Doesn't this mean that you knew she was alive?" I don't know why, whenever I'm stunned, my brain works right the opposite of how it should be working, I mean, instead of making me all blank and don't-know-what-to-say, it works faster and better.

"I don't know why I felt like she is still here, she isn't dead and today morning when I saw you, I thought my doubts were confirmed, but not really. Oliver always told me she was gone, and dead, but I never believed him because I knew, and still know, that I have understood and known Grace better than Oliver." He reiterated as if I wouldn't believe it if he said it in a polite tone.

"Ryan, tell me everything, from the beginning, how do you know Grace better than Oliver? Or how does Grace even know you both, I want to know everything. I'm sorry, if you think I'm forcing you. I can understand if you don't want to tell me but I think since I'm new here and I'm the one who received this note, you should be telling me everything so I can become more acquainted with this matter."

He wiped his sweat and looked around to see if anyone was hearing or watching us, or should I say, he looked around for Oliver. "Okay, so all this started about one year ago. A new girl had joined the Academy. Quiet, simple, and lonely. People made faces when they saw her. It was probably because of her appearance. I'm not saying that she wasn't pretty, according to me, she was the most beautiful girl in the entire world, and since she's your look-alike, you should know that she couldn't be ugly in anyway," he said and smiled. Whatever, I thought. "She wore spectacles and two ponytails. I know you might be thinking how dorky she was and how come I liked her and stuff because everyone else did," he emphasized on the word "I" as if to show that he was the kind of guy for whom girls were lined up. "No, no, I don't judge people unless I personally know them." I said. "Hmm, anyway, so once when I was heading to my class, I saw her being bullied by some girls. It was the first time we met and I can never forget that day, that memory : 

"Aww, that little braid of yours, dearie," one of the senior girls spoke, as she played with Grace's braids. I recognized her, she was Sasha, a famous girl whom every guy wanted to kiss. I always felt like she had a crush on me but she never admitted it. Ego. "Oh, and Sasha, don't forget the thick spectacles!", another girl spoke. "Of course babe, how can I?", she took off Grace's spectacles. "Give them back to me! I can't see a thing!" Grace howled. "Not so fast dearie. You think I give a crap that you can't see anything? Ha! I don't. It's your fault, deal with it," the girl said. "Sasha," the other girl spoke and gestured towards Grace's hands in which she held her books with her eyes. "Oh, yea, dearie, I'll take these,"  Sasha spoke, snatching Grace's books. "No, no! I need them!", Grace begged. "You need everything don't you? You filthy dork! Wait.. Am I forgetting something?" she looked at her friend. "The marker, Sasha." the other girl spoke. "Oh yea!" Sasha said taking out a marker from her pocket. She opened the cap and started moving the marker towards Grace's face. I couldn't bear anymore. "Stop!" I screamed loud enough to make the marker drop from Sasha's hands. "Huh?" Sasha said and faced me, "Oh! Ryan! Actua-" I cut her off. "Never thought I'd have to see this side of you. This was so unexpected from you! Now give her spectacles and books back." I spoke very rudely. "What?" Sasha said, surprised, "We're just having fun Ryan! You're defending this little dork, are you serious? It's a part of life Ryan. It's not a big deal. Don't make a fuss out of it. Everyone does it. There is nothing unexpected in that."  "It is a big deal, she's new, she doesn't have any friends, and you, instead of helping her, you're doing this?!"  I paused to breathe, "You better stop this business or I'll have your ego and reputation sink down to my shoes!" I said as I pulled Grace away from them. I started walking and I noticed that Sasha's face was red with rage. "I'll get even with you Ryan! You threatened ME?! I'll avenge my insult. I will." Sasha screamed. 
"T-thank you-u R-ryan,"  Grace' s voice trembled as she spoke. "Anytime, do ask me if you have any difficulties here." I smiled. "But-", she was interrupted by Oliver, who just came in front out of nowhere, "Hey Grace! How have you been doing? How's your day so far? I hope you didn't have any problems." he said. "I'm totally alright because of Ry-" Grace was interrupted once again, by me this time. "You guys know each other?" I asked as if they committed some crime. "Umm, yea, today morning, when you hadn't arrived, she came up to me to ask the location of her class, and we spoke for a little while," Oliver said, "So, Grace, you were saying?" Grace spoke again. "Yea, so, I was being ragged by this group of girls and Ryan helped me," she looked at me and smiled. I wanted to say something more but Oliver was in a hurry to change the topic. The guy can get jealous. Very jealous. "So, what's your next course, Ryan?", he asked. "Umm, I guess Chem, lab maybe." I replied.
"So, let's all meet up during lunch, what say Grace? Me and Ryan are always together but since you're new here, I thought of inviting you and I'm sure Ryan won't mind either." Oliver smiled. 
So, at lunch we met at the cafeteria and Oliver told me that she didn't turn up because she had found some friendly girl who was showing her around and she wanted to spend time with her. He said he spoke to her just now and she was very grateful to both of us for what we did. Oliver's topics of conversation got a little weird today. "So, what's your opinion of Grace?" he asked. "Umm, I know her too less to form any opinion of her, but so far I find her as a great person, she's sweet and she's shy, which I guess is just because of her being a newbie here," I said, "Oh, and she is cute." I added. Oliver didn't speak and got lost in thoughts. "Oliver?" I asked. "Oh yea, sorry, just a little.. forget that. You do know that I met her before you, right? And we both spoke a lot already." he said. I was a little stunned by what he said and couldn't figure out what he exactly meant. Well, now I do. 
"Yea, I know, that's nice, you guys seem to go well with each other." I said and fake-smiled, to make him happy. He did kind of cheer up. "Cool." he said and we started talking about other things. 
And then Grace came. "Hey guys, nice place. I really liked it!" she said. "So, would you like to join us for lunch?" I asked. "No guys, I'm so so so sorry, I already had it with Julia, you guys didn't notice? I was sitting right there," she said and pointed towards a table far away, "Ooooh, serious talk, eh?" she paused for a gentle laugh, " Your faces show it, c'mon smile, cheer up!" she spoke loudly. I loved her voice and her childishness. "Sure, by the way, did Julia show you what we here call the "secret fort"?" Oliver asked, "Umm no, what's that?", she asked back. "I know its a silly name but it's an amazing place, trust me!" he said, "Mind if I show you around?" Oliver asked eagerly. "Sure." she said. "But I guess its going to be only the two of us, Ryan said he has to rush off to his favorite course." he said with a soft laugh. I was startled. What was wrong with my best friend? A girl between us? Grace betwee-"

"Ryan, what's wrong with you?" Oliver said in an annoyed tone as he cut off Ryan. Ryan looked astounded. 
Damn. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE : 
100+ READS! THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS! SO HERE'S THE FOURTH PART. HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT. DO COMMENT IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SUGGEST. MORE PARTS COMING SOON. LOVE Y'ALL.