Yeah, you said it right
This is exactly the part where I’m such an idiot
Sophia and Leda were arguing so the diner kicked both of them out, right?
Then I should have followed them or something
But I just came out and went home
Tchaikovsky
Why did you do that?
Virgil
Part of my heart had feelings of not wanting to get involved in the fight
…But even if I had gone, what could I have done?
I have that thought, but still I was too much of an idiot
Liam
No
Not following the two of them seems like the right thing actually
If you had followed
Hmm
This is just my thought, but things would have gotten bigger
Liam said that, then left a message telling Virgil to cheer up and hurriedly left the group chat. I asked Virgil if he said too many bad things about Leda in front of Liam, and Virgil insisted that while he did speak harshly, it was also true that Leda’s obsession was pathological.
***
The next day, when I came to school with Liam, the area around the hallway was tremendously noisy. And among the lockers decorated to match their owners’ personalities, there was one that was especially dirty—it was Olivia’s locker.
Beggar bitch
Gold digger
If it were me I’d be so embarrassed I’d kill myself
How much money to let me touch your tits?
Olivia’s locker was full of graffiti so severe it was hard to look at with open eyes. In contrast, for Liam, all that happened was a few passing kids teased him with things like poor person, chocolate bar, meal ticket seller and disappeared. His prediction from yesterday was correct.
“What are you doing? Not erasing it?”
Sophia, who had appeared at some point with cleaning tools, looked at me and Liam and asked. Then Olivia—who had been hiding somewhere with bloodshot eyes—shouted at the top of her lungs to get lost if they were going to pity her.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I know very well how humiliating it is to be publicly shamed in front of people. So I just don’t want to see the same thing happen twice, no matter who it happens to.”
Sophia shot back coldly at Olivia and started wiping the locker. Liam and I also moved to help Sophia, and at that moment Alice, who likewise appeared with cleaning tools, made a sound of surprise when she saw us.
Episode 6+
“What are you doing here too? Won’t you all get lost quickly?”
Whether Olivia shouted at everyone to get lost or not, we cleaned until her locker was clean and then scattered to our respective places. During the following homeroom time, led by the teacher, work was done to interrogate who had made the blasphemous graffiti on Olivia’s locker. However, no one confessed their guilt.
“…Hazel is a disgusting bastard.”
After homeroom ended and around the time everyone was scattering to attend their classes, Leda said. She had come to school at the crack of dawn today and revealed the fact that none other than Hazel had been going around blabbing about Olivia’s secret everywhere.
“No matter how bad Olivia is, how could he do that when she’s his girlfriend?”
“I know. But why did you come to school so early today?”
“Because I wasn’t in the mood to be anyone’s chauffeur today.”
Saying that, Leda asked if I could come to her house after training ended today. I answered that I would, then asked Leda to listen to my worries in return for me listening to hers. She nodded more weakly than usual and left to attend class.
I was also moving to attend class when I ran into Cheick, who was carrying books. As soon as I saw him, I winked at him, blinking one eye. Pretending he didn’t see anything even though he saw everything, he buried his face in the book he was holding and hurriedly disappeared somewhere.
“So cute…”
There are really many advantages to attending the same school as the person you like. Even if we don’t take the same classes, there are these moments of running into each other like this, I tease him, and Cheick gets embarrassed and avoids me…
The schools Cheick said he wanted to go to are all difficult to get into, but if I just keep doing what I’m doing now, they’re places he can definitely get admitted to. Especially the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill—it’s a state school so tuition is relatively cheap, and it’s in a location where commuting from home is possible.
A school close to home.
That’s exactly why I didn’t even put this place on my list of target universities.
But a kid named Cheick Rowan entered my life, and as long as he wants to go to this school, I need to think about it a bit more.
After all the classes I needed to attend ended and I was heading to the locker room, the principal called me and said he had something he urgently wanted to talk about. I followed the teacher to the principal’s office, and he praised the actions of me and my friends who cleaned Olivia’s locker today. Then he asked if I had any idea who made that graffiti.
“…I’m not sure.”
This is the best thing to say. If I rashly reveal it was Aiden’s doing, Olivia’s position could become even more difficult.
“Really?”
“Really. You know too, sir. That Olivia isn’t particularly kind to other kids normally. So… just like she frequently attacks other kids, she can become a target of attack too. Of course, I’m not saying she deserved it.”
“Alright, I understand. I won’t interrogate you further. Instead, could you call Cheick here for me?”
The principal intended to call and interrogate all the kids who cleaned Olivia’s locker today. I replied to the teacher that I understood and went out to the field to find Cheick. On the way, I ran into a track team kid I knew somewhat.
“Hey, did you do it with Olivia too?”
How many times did I receive similar questions during the day today. I passed by the bastard spouting garbage talk, pretending I didn’t hear anything, and went to find Cheick. Cheick was just taking a running start and leaping through the air, flying through the sky.
Watching Cheick fly, I quietly curled my fingers. When I see that kid jump high, my heart tickles so much my fingers curl. Like when Hopper first flew across the track and came in first place, I get that kind of heart-pounding feeling.
“Did you come to apply for membership?”
When the track coach who discovered me asked jokingly, I conveyed the news that the principal was looking for Cheick. The coach soon conveyed the news to Cheick, and Cheick glanced at me, tilted his head, and headed toward the principal’s office. On the way, the track team kid who asked me a vulgar question earlier asked Cheick the same thing.
“Hey, did you do it with Olivia too?”
…That dog-like bastard.
“Coach, he keeps asking weird things about our school’s female students.”
I immediately reported to the track coach, preventing that clueless bastard from further embarrassing Cheick. Then I returned to where I should be and started vomit-inducing training.
***
“Sorry but I don’t think I can meet you anymore. You know the reason why, right? So…”
On the way out of the locker room after changing clothes after training ended, I was able to discover Hazel saying goodbye to Olivia. I recalled what Leda said this morning and clicked my tongue anew at Hazel’s cowardice. Meanwhile, Olivia started getting angry, mercilessly stomping on Hazel’s foot.
“Fucking hell. You bastard! Who was it that spread around everywhere what that trash Aiden exposed, and now you come pretending to be decent and running your mouth?”
“What? I just ‘shared’ information so my precious friends wouldn’t fall victim to a gold digger like you.”
“So you did that shit on someone else’s locker? Are you even human?”
“I didn’t do the graffiti on the locker! You should have behaved well normally. And your precious friends all gathered with one heart and cleaned it for you. Of course, even after that, someone came and wrote S-L-U-T in huge letters.”
Around the time Hazel’s remarks were starting to cross the line, a very familiar voice was heard from nearby.
“What are you saying, you crab lice rag dickweed bastard.”
It was Alice.
Crab lice rag dickweed. At such a tremendous remark, I forgot the fact that I was in a cold war with Alice and sat down on the field floor bursting into laughter. Then Hazel glared at me and shouted at Alice asking who she was to speak so carelessly.
“Why? You speak carelessly so I’m doing the same. But isn’t it right? You’re a fucking rag so you got crab lice.”
“Says the one who wagged her tail at Liam Blake and when it didn’t work out as she wanted, put on a drama show in front of people. You crazy attention-whore bitch.”
“Right. I am a crazy attention-whore bitch, so what? Who says I’m not?”
Heated words started being exchanged between Hazel and Alice. At this, Olivia shouted at Alice to get lost and not butt into others’ business, and Alice shot back telling her to get lost.
“I’m a crazy attention-whore bitch so if there’s a chance to get attention, I absolutely have to take it.”
“You wanted me to end up like this. Didn’t you?”
“Me? Of course I didn’t hope you’d do well. But not like this. Besides, about Liam Blake, you were right, so as a result, there’s no reason for us to fight… Never mind.”
Alice, who was conversing with Olivia, glanced at me and shut her mouth. I immediately picked up my smartphone, left Olivia a DM saying I’d see her later, and waited for Leda.
Leda, who appeared shortly after, helped Alice and poured even higher-level curses at Hazel. Hazel, who was outmatched in verbal sparring, only left the words ‘bitches’ to Leda and Alice—it was the first time those words sounded so pitiful—and went somewhere.
