Bullied by the Devil

I have always considered myself a mob character. One of the background people. One of the characters often depicted without eyes or expressions in a certain manga or anime. The nameless. The bland extras. The forgettable. I was part of the mob that likes to gossip about a person or acts horrified whenever a new rumor circulates the school. I was part of the mob that relentlessly stands by the side, watching firsthand whenever something big happens that pique our interest or nosiness. I was part of the mob that swoons and squeals at the presence of perfect and handsome males, who bare teeth at the sight of audacious females trying to confess their love for said males and who g.ang up at them to tell them off. And this morning shouldn't have been any different. “There they are,” a senior girl muttered excitedly beside me. “Oh, just look at them. Aren’t they beautiful?” “Yes, they are.” I breathed a sigh of bliss and everyone started whispering to each other. “Roan sparkles even brighter than usual.” “And Nicholas! His glamour is just off the charts. And he’s not smiling today either. So defiantly cool.” “Such an eye candy.” “It’s as if they’re glowing. I wonder if they’ll look this way today.” “Angels really do live amongst us.” “And heaven is a place on earth wherever they are.” The rest of the girls sighed dreamily as we watched the duo of our affection approaching. We were all camped out on the road in front of the school, waiting to catch a glimpse of them. Just as we always had done every morning before school started. Roan Feria, with short mildly wavy dark brown hair and warm brown eyes, gave us a smile that nearly had us swooning. His equally dark-headed and gorgeous best friend, Nicholas Melian, pierced us with an angry look that made our hearts flutter, clearly disgruntled by the early commotion. Both came from wealthy and prominent families, growing up in the lap of luxury. They were both 17 years old and were Grade 11, ABM students in senior high. Incredibly intelligent, their natural rivalry was friendly and good-natured with both of them competing for the top spot in our grade. They were considered the idols of our high school, desired but unattainable. Roan and Nicholas were the main characters of our school. They would always be the main characters their whole life. But as alike as they were, the two friends couldn’t have been more different. Roan was warm and friendly while Nicholas was standoffish and cold. Roan was outgoing and was always seen surrounded by people whereas Nicholas was a mysterious person who preferred to be by himself if he was without the company of his best friend. Roan was gentle and offered nothing but kind words while Nicholas was blunt to a fault and doled out disparaging remarks whenever he felt like it. Because of this, Roan became the school’s ‘White Prince’, while Nicholas was known as the ‘Devil Prince’. Still they were both the best of friends with a bond that could not be broken, their contrasting personalities only served to make their friendship all the more interesting and unique. And we swore to protect their friendship and swore to discourage other females from taking them as their own. By “we”, I meant our informal club of fangirls that comprised nearly half of the female population of our high school. We even have a private chatroom where members could send and share pictures and videos of Roan and Nicholas, but only if they were taken in public spaces and didn’t violate their privacy. Text messages were prohibited, as was sharing pictures outside the chatroom. Anyone who broke these rules was subjected to online public shaming which was so terrible that I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Someone had even taken the time to create profile sheets of Roan and Nicholas that contained information such as their height, weight, likes and dislikes, and other superficial facts about them. The sheets were distributed then through email. That was how far gone and borderline fanatic our little club was. Roan and Nicholas were now passing by us on their way to the senior high school building behind us, and I could swear I saw and heard angels sing from up above and told everyone around me so. They were, of course, in complete agreement. This morning shouldn’t have been no different. After being graced by our handsome idols’ presence, we were to disperse, giggling, as we make our way to our respective classes. As much as we wanted to linger, our school, which was one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country, was definitely going to unleash fire and brimstone on us if we were late to class or participated in any form of delinquency. But then we saw her walk through the gates. A girl we’ve never seen before. She couldn’t have been lost. She was wearing our school uniform, a white short-sleeve shirt with the school logo sewn on the left breast pocket, tucked in a high-waist gray plaid skirt and matching ribbon necktie. With most of us having studied in this school since grade school, it was easy to recognize just about everyone. And she was certainly not one of us. She smiled at us. A smile that warmed our hearts. And, with eyes sparkling in the sun, said, “Hello! I just transferred today!” We exchanged looks with each other. A transfer student? In the middle of the semester? This didn’t bode well for any of us. “Do you know where the faculty room is?” she went on brightly. Struck dumb by her appearance, we could only point the way and she happily thanked us before she went on her way, leaving a faint smell of flowers. I knew what the others were thinking. We all read and watched this on TV, on our computers and even on the tiny screens of our phones. We knew what transfer students mean. Especially with this one so pretty. And we were already dreading the outcome. The news of the transferee spread like wildfire throughout the school. Male mob characters followed her around with love struck eyes. Her name was Autumn. Her name should have been Spring because whenever she appeared, we could all imagine her background breaking out in a vision of flowers. No wonder she had no trouble integrating into life on campus despite being the new student. And like all clichéd romance stories, it did not take long for her to seep into the hearts of our precious heartthrobs. We gnashed our teeth when we learned she was put in Nicholas and Roan’s classroom. We send her death glares through the door whenever she struck a conversation with our gentle prince and resisted the urge to drag her out of the cafeteria whenever she teased Nicholas of his stony demeanor. She wasn’t even that special to become a main character! Sure, she might have large brown eyes with thick black lashes, matching long, silky hair, the fairest skin and a beautiful face but these features were a dime a dozen in our school. We had plenty of beautiful schoolmates, plenty of endearing personalities and lovable characters. I, for one, thought Jasmine from another class would fit Roan so well because they shared similar interests but that was just me. My fellow mob characters would definitely crucify me if I dare ship one of them with someone else. Roan and Nicholas were for everyone. That was the number 1 rule in this fan club of ours. Unfortunately, that didn’t apply to Roan and Nicholas themselves. They both liked the novelty of her. They both liked the way she gushed about Roan’s photography or of her standing up to Nicholas after he made one of his fangirls cry. They liked her spirit, her playfulness, her zest for life and for all things new. And it made us fall into such despair to see our school’s princes with that stupid, stupid girl. This did not dissuade us however from trying to convince her to get rid of her and force her to relocate her interests somewhere else. “We demand that you distance yourself from Roan and Nicholas this instant,” our unofficial leader spoke with a glare as we corner Autumn against the wall of the school’s abandoned building. “Stop talking to them. Stop going near them.” “Yeah!” our unofficial vice-leader said next. “Don’t get a swelled head just because they talk to you. Stay away from them!” Some of us started to chime in. “Don’t think highly of yourself just because they’re kind to you!” “Stay away from Roan and Nicholas, you evil witch!” “Don’t look down us! We’ll definitely protect them from the likes of you!” The rest of us nodded in agreement as we looked on. But strangely, instead of being afraid, Autumn only looked at us with mild confusion and curiosity. “Who are you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Quit pretending to be ignorant, i.diot!” “Who we are is not important.” Her eyes suddenly flashed with delight and she clasped her hands together. “Oh, you want to be friends with me? That’s great!” “No, we just want you to—.“ “Let’s be friends!” she declared with a smile so dazzling it made us recoil. “Oh, my God. Why is she so bright?” the girl behind me gasped. “Her smile. It’s blinding me!” “We can do this, girls,” our leader declared. “We will not be beaten by a... by a…” She trailed off when Autumn grasped her hand and began shaking it up and down. Her smile turned up a notch and it made her face glow with such radiance that I thought I saw the lenses of my fellow fangirl’s eyeglasses c.rack. Was she a natural airhead? Or just the overly optimistic type? How else could she have an endless depth of optimism in a situation like this? “Nice to meet you!” she greeted happily. “I’m Autumn. And you are?” Seeing her sincere expression flustered us. I knew we were going to lose this war. “I… I can’t look,” I muttered as I jerked my gaze away, ready to flee from this cotton candy girl. “C-c-cover your eyes!” our leader weakly suggested, finally relinquishing from Autumn’s hold. But it was too late. The damage was done. We couldn’t harm such innocent creature filled with so much light and kindness. She was… she was what we called a cinnamon roll and fie on us if we dare hurt such creature. Defeated, we turned our backs and trudged back to our classrooms, lamenting the end of an era, miserable that the boys we had turned into icons fall into such mundane emotion called love. Still, we were loyal to our devotion to Roan and Nicholas and we eventually had to accept that the duo… had turned into a trio. ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ It was a beautiful morning. Despite it being barely a month into the second semester and despite still feeling the post-holiday blues, I was still excited about going to school. Walking into the school gates after my father dropped me off, I lifted a hand to shade my eyes from the sun as I looked up at the clear blue sky. The weather was nice and I felt good too. Like nothing wrong was going to happen today. Like only good things were coming my way and this excited me. The morning became even more beautiful when I saw a familiar black car driving through the gates. Nicholas was driving and Roan was on the passenger’s seat. Both lived in the same neighborhood so it would make sense that they would always come to school together. It didn’t matter that Autumn also came to school in said car. Well, at first it did. It was like she was rubbing it in our faces that she had Roan and Nicholas wrapped around her finger. Our mob on the school front lawn also had tripled in size because her male fans had joined us. And even though it irked us, having to share every morning with them, we soon saw the benefit. Because as soon as Autumn gets out of the car, her fans will scream for her attention. And being an angel like she was, kind-hearted and pure, she’d approach them and greet them all good morning, leaving our precious idols behind and leaving them to our unabashed ogling. Roan and Nicholas would only stare at Autumn, waiting for her to finish with her conversation with her fans, thus giving us more time to stare at them. But most days, Nicholas would get real impatient and haul her out of there, with Roan giving them an apologetic smile as they passed. This morning shouldn’t have been any different. It was about time the trio walked by so I pulled the straps of my bag forward and rushed to join the crowd who was already waiting for the beloved school idols on the lawn. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, my face planted in the dirt. Oh, no. Slowly, I pushed myself up in a sitting position, tucking my legs under my butt. There was grime on my face and I wiped it off with the back of my hands. Did I… did I just trip? Did I just trip like a main character in one of those romance mangas? I heard footsteps behind me and I dared not look. “Are you alright?” A voice that could only belong to cotton candy spoke. My eyes widened as I slid my gaze up. Oh, no. Autumn was bent over me, her brow furrowed with concern. Standing next to her, Roan’s expression also reflected his concern while Nicholas looked at me like I was a piece of dirt. I felt my face pale with sudden realization. The golden trio’s eyes were on me. Slowly, I swung my gaze around and swore for a moment my short life flashed before my eyes. Everyone’s eyes were on me. This morning wasn’t supposed to have been any different. “You’re hurt,” Autumn gasped and I looked down to my knees. They were indeed scraped and bleeding but I had paid them no mind because I was still in complete shock. Don’t panic, I told myself, slightly shaken by the sight of blood. Let’s just get out of this situation calmly, I kept telling myself. “We have to get you to the clinic.” Autumn looked over her shoulder. “Nicholas, can you—?“ Alright. It was time to panic. “I’m fine,” I pushed off the ground and started to do jumping jacks, trying not to grimace against the sharp pain in my knees and the heavy weight of my bag over my shoulders. “See? I’m fine.” Autumn looked unconvinced. “No, you’re not. “Yes, I am.” “I just saw you grimace.” I stopped jumping. “I got tired.” She continued to regard me dubiously. “Just let us take you to the clinic, alright?” “Like hell I’ll let you,” I blurted in response and watched her blink. “Excuse me?” I could have smacked myself. “I’mreallyokaysodon’tworryaboutmeokaybye!” Then, as fast as my short legs could take me, I all but scuttled into the senior high building, hoping I’d successfully avoided this doom flag. But who would have thought the universe had other ideas?