Bullied by the Devil

Chapter 2

My father more than once told me to join a sports club and put some meat in my skinny bones or at least be physically active. My mother also often told me that studying would help me get the knowledge I need to not screw up in life. I just thought they wanted me to stop lying around the house as I napped, read or watched TV so I didn’t pay them any mind but boy, I should have listened.

I should have listened to my parents.

Because then, I would have been like a cat and landed on my feet instead of falling to the ground like an i.diot. And because then, I wouldn’t just stare up at Autumn like a complete i.diot and would have wisely taken care of the situation without doing dumb crap like jumping jacks and running away like an even more complete i.diot.

My heart slamming against my ribs, I stared at my dirty face in the mirror of the ladies’ room where I’d immediately gone to hide. With my short height, my short boring hair and boring bangs, I felt like a potato. And I preferred it that way. Because someone as boy-crazy as I was needed all the camouflage I could get.

And hopefully, that camouflage was still in full effect.

“You don’t look so good,” my classmate and friend, Irene, commented as I limped into my seat beside hers in the middle row. Window seats were for main characters so I didn’t even try to covet those. “Did something happen?”

“Ah…” I averted my gaze away and got my stuff out for class. “It must be because I couldn’t sleep well yesterday.”

“But why is your skirt so dirty?”

I waved a hand to brush her questions away. “I dropped something.”

“You dropped dirt on yourself?”

More like I dropped myself on the dirty ground.

“One of your socks is drooping around your ankle. And why are there Band-Aids on your knees? Are those cat prints? Where did you get them?”

Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the box of cat-print Band-Aids from inside my bag and tossed it to her. “Here. Now stop talking to me."

Irene gave me a frown. "Why do you look so shaken?"

"I'm not. I'm just having a weird day."

"Are you sure? You look really nervous for some reason."

"I swear I'm not. Why would I be nervous?"

"Well, you should be."

I turned to see Joy, another classmate and friend, plop down into the chair in front of me. She had the widest grin on her lips.

"I heard what happened."

Groaning, I dropped my face into my hands.

"What happened?" Irene asked curiously.

"She fell and splattered herself all over the ground."

"And? That's just another day for Wendy. She's always been clumsy."

"In front of the whole school, Irene. And in front of Nicholas and Roan."

"And Autumn," I added with a whimper.

"Oh." A pause. "That does sound unfortunate."

"It does since I wasn't there to see it. I bet it was hilarious."

"Joy!"

"I was just kidding. But I bet there's a picture of it somewhere."

My head shot up at the thought, startling Joy and Irene. Snatching my bag from under my desk, I found my phone and opened the chatroom. A moan almost escaped my lips when I saw the new pictures.

Me on the ground, looking like I had just rolled in dirt with Autumn, Roan and Nicholas standing over me, the three looking as gorgeous as ever.

In all different angles.

Slowly dying in mortification in my chair, I stared at myself looking up at the trio with the most dumbstruck expression on my face.

I scrolled down. The latest photo that was sent was from the moderator, warning everyone they’ll kick anyone out sending pictures containing Autumn, a rule that was added to the chatroom after she had started hanging with Roan and Nicholas and getting into most of the photos with them. So then, there were no more pictures of me and my dumb expression.

But the fact remained that my fellow fangirls had been talking about me.

And the fact remained that I had embarrassed myself in front of Roan and Nicholas.

"Are there still pictures?" Joy excitedly asked.

I gave her a disgruntled look. "They just got deleted off the chatroom but I'm sure all the members have seen them by now."

I watched Joy turn in her seat to dig into her bag for her phone. Then I watched her shoulders shake with laughter. Someone probably shared my pictures outside the chatroom.

I exhaled. "My life sucks."

"You're being dramatic," Irene scolded. "It's not the end of the world."

"You're obviously not listening or you just don't understand. I'm being summoned to court, Irene." I showed her the message from one of the admins. "Summoned!"

"Wendy Lovina is hereby summoned to appear before the Nicholas-Roan Fan Club Court on the grounds of inappropriate fangirl behavior..." Irene stopped reading, blinking profusely. "Wait... You have a fan club court?"

Joy twisted her body around again. "Ooh. Can I go watch?"

"I hate you so much."

"This is ridiculous. You aren't even an official club."

"We take our unofficial club activities seriously, Irene."

Joy looked at Irene with a smirk. "I heard they tried to apply their club for legitimacy last year. The student council wanted to bury them all into the ground. Not to mention that when Nicholas heard, he went ballistic."

The memory bummed me even more. I hadn't been there to witness it because I had been at home sick with the flu but from what I could gather, some girls got kicked out of school while the others were suspended. For one month straight, no one ventured to stand on the front lawn to ogle the two boys unless all the members' grades were above average so the student council would finally leave us alone. And that is the story of how I got straight As for the first time in my life. And never again.

"Maybe this is a sign to quit your, er, not club activities, Wendy," Irene advised. "Stop being boycrazy. It's unhealthy."

"I'm just a distant observer."

"If you ask me, they're all cuckoo in the head," Joy supplied unhelpfully. "I don't understand how they could be so obsessed with Roan and Nicholas. I can't even imagine myself worshipping anyone. It’s the 21st century but girls are still lining up to see a guy."

"It's useless, Joy. You'll go around and around the more you ask her. It will always come back to Roan's smile."

"What about Nicholas?"

"Something about his godly visuals."

My shoulders slumped over. "Look, you can all stop making fun of me. I'll try to behave from now on."

"I don't think you're the least bit sincere," said Joy.

"I won't even be able to do any fangirling for awhile. I’m injured and in pain. You can at least try and have some sympathy for me, Joy."

"We're only trying to look out for you." Irene glared at Joy until the other girl turned to face the board. "And yes, even Joy only has good intentions despite the teasing."

"I actually don't," I heard Joy mumble and scowled at her back.

"Teacher's here," I pointed, and Irene gave me a look, knowing I was done with her nagging. Then we all faced the front of the class because like I said, this was an elite academy. The rage of a thousand burning suns awaited anyone with failing grades. A future that was waiting for someone like me who couldn't just focus no matter what I did.