Into Her Book 1: Clyde Hernandez

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RIS Group Community.

@giselle.r: have you all seen what that girl did to our lovely Clyde? #KickBellaOutOfRIS

@jrm.lopez: my boss!! #KickBellaOutOfRIS

@pr.phoebe: who is that girl anyway? she has so much guts to do that! #KickBellaOutOfRIS

@hero.in: someone actually went against king Clyde! #KickBellaOutOfRIS

@melody_hy: she is seated with the fake president. she must have thought that fake president has so much power to be with #KickBellaOutOfRIS

@jrm.lopez: here is ms. water bottle photo! save it! #KickBellaOutOfRIS

I let out a frustrating deep groan as I see my face becoming a meme to the students of this school. What makes it even worse is that I am becoming their laughing stock! They even keep on sharing that meme gif of mine that I don’t know who actually created it while mocking and hating me at the same time through their social media accounts! I really expected too much with this elite school.

“B-bella, y-you need to calm down,” Kim told me with a hint of fear and worry in her tone. She attempted to touch me but immediately backed off instead. “I-i’m sure you don’t want things to get even more worse than that.”

Worse?! Is she telling me that things can be even worse than being a laughing stock on a social media platform where other people can actually see? What is this? One against everyone? And they are all doing and saying those words to me because of what I did to their so-called King-bee?! This is all a joke! They are all a joke!

“What can be even worse than being a laughing stock online?” I turn Kim’s phone to let them see the phone screen. Another gif of mine, with that fiery background around me, that was created after I threw the water bottle earlier. “Are they gonna make fun of me in front of the whole school personally? What?!”

“Technically, that could happen.” Hayde didn’t deny what I said which made me look at him in confusion. “I told you, didn't I? The 3 Aces have more power than the student council officers, especially to a fake president like me. And I’m talking about Clyde here, the guy who just splashed water in front of the student body.”

I raised a brow, demanding more answers. “Everyone here is acting like he is higher than everyone else. Is he the owner’s son or what? Why is it that he acts like he has more authority than you?” A scoff escapes my lips. “That asshole doesn’t even know how to respect other students.”

“Can’t you see? Everyone here sees Clyde as someone who is almost at the same level as the higher ups of the school.” Kim shrugs her shoulders, giving me an obvious look. “He isn’t called King-Bee for nothing, Bella.”

“King-Bee, king-bee. That only makes the student even more unequal. There is already inequality outside this school, then there is still one here? So what if he is the King-Bee? Does that mean no one can actually offend him anymore even if he is wrong?” I shake my head, not agreeing with them. “That will be purely nonsense, you know?”

“Look, Clyde is not the school owner’s son or not even anyone from his family is part of the school board. He really is just influential because of the achievements he has given to the school for the past few years.” Hayde explained.

“From academics to sports, Clyde excels really well in those, that is he has always been in favor of the principal’s side. Although they take action from his bullying acts, no one can really erase the fact that he has made so many contributions in the school already.” Kaori looked around before she pointed to her right. I followed where she was pointing at only to see shelves of trophies behind a glass door. “You see those? Those trophies came from last year’s competitions. Even though they didn’t really win the basketball championship last year, half of those awards still belongs to Clyde.”

“Is he a genius or what?” I whispered to myself before tearing my eyes from the shelves. I cleared my throat and put down my phone for a while. “What if he owns most of the awards from those shelves when he didn’t even manage to give his team the championship trophy? Can he even call himself a good captain?”

I know that it is immature but I just can’t help it because my frustrations just keep kicking in whenever I hear his name. What I just witnessed earlier made me hate his whole existence even more. I can’t believe that a guy like him actually exists! Besides, when it comes to basketball, I’m pretty sure he is not good with it even though he is the captain because I know someone who is actually good at it.

“To correct you with that, he wasn't actually the captain last year.” Hayde revealed, making me shut my mouth suddenly. “It was his brother who was the captain. He only managed to take over the position this year.”

I wonder why? Bella! That isn’t something you should be thinking of right now!

“He is the captain or not, I don’t care. He still doesn't have any rights to do what he did! It’s purely bullying, you know? He could get reported for it.” I insist without worrying if anyone can actually hear me.

“Then you should go and try to report him so that you can say goodbye already as well.” Someone suddenly said behind us. When I look back, it was actually Gen’s friend who said it. When my eyes went to my sister, I could only see her piercing gaze at me. “I don’t know where you came from but you should back off and do your business if you stay here. With that kind of attitude? Someone like you doesn’t even belong here.”

She turns to her back after showing me a sarcastic smirk, whipping her hair to the back before rolling her eyes on me. Gen didn’t say anything to defend me or stop her friend but instead, she even eyed me from head to toe before looking away as if she didn't care. What a great sister I have!

“That brat,” I was about to stand up when Kim immediately stopped me, making me stay still.

“You don’t want to create even more trouble, Bella. I think being talked to in the group community is already enough.” She shakes her head, trying to convince me. “You don’t want to create even more trouble.”

I let out a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves down. Too much for my first day! Kim let go of my arm when she felt that I calmed down enough. If I knew that my first day would be like this, I should have brought more courage with me than kept myself nervous earlier.

“What does she mean by saying goodbye?” I questioned them in confusion after gathering my thoughts and remembering what Gen’s friend said.

“Well, Giselle means transferring.” Hayde simply answers. “Clyde already had a lot of victims already actually. We don’t really know why some of his victims got bullied but most of them only have one thing in common.”

“And that is?”

“They all prefer transferring rather than telling Clyde and the other students to the principal.” Kaori revealed.

“Other students? But why? Why are they scared to fight back or tell the principal about them?” I asked in confusion.

“Clyde may be the leader with the 3 Aces on his side and Jerome as the planner and initiator, some of the bullying plans are created and initiated properly with the cooperation of the other more students. Most of them are the popular ones who hate the others just because Clyde hates them as well.” Kim explained. “Once those people are all combined, no one can really escape from the pranks. That is why no one dared to tell them to the higher ups.”

“You asked why? They are all afraid to get even more bullied if they do, Bella. Not everyone is as brave as some people out there. Some of them just wanted to escape the hell instead of trying to change things here when there is already no hope for it.” Hayde continued.

Another heavy sigh escapes my lips. “Talking about hell. This school can even get close to the actual hell, I think.” I said, losing the energy.

“That is why you should be more careful now. If you wanna survive and end your school years here, then you should just avoid Clyde and his group.” Kaori suggested something which I can’t even argue with anymore.

They know better than I do. It’s not really about bravery anymore but it’s about surviving. My main goal for agreeing to enter this school is to graduate here, knowing that there are a lot of opportunities out there once I do. I should just keep on focusing on that and nothing else. Besides, it’s better to stay out of trouble as well anyway.

“Yeah… I guess I should just stay away then.”

The rest of the day continues with my introduction in front of the class I will be attending starting today. Out of my luck, I just had to be at the same section as Clyde and his friend. Way to go with trying to avoid them and any sense of trouble. I’m not even sure if avoiding their presence will make really sense when everyone just keeps talking about their circle.

For the introduction… I actually thought that there was no need for it anymore. Everyone in the school knows my name, my grade and section, my age and even my face. It’s all over the group community where I saw some photos of mine that were turned into a meme. None of them were even interested in my introduction except for Kim, Hayde and Kaori who tried to cheer me up after but I didn't really care. As long as I can survive the school year without any bother then I’m all good!

To be honest, I’m not even sure how I should view the students in this school anymore. Just the first day was already enough to give me a bad impression of them. I am not saying that they should please me or at least show me that their kind somehow embodies that classiness, after all they all came from wealthy families. But they should at least know how to respect others since that is already a basic knowledge! Who would even think that bullying will even exist in this kind of international school filled with privileged children since they were born.

The car ride back home was just as I expected it to be. Gen messaged me to just go in the parking lot of the school instead of being picked up in front of the main building where she was picked up. She told me that she doesn’t want to be seen with me after what I did to Clyde. I already expected her to call me out for so many things but I was just saved by Azi.

When I arrived in the car, Azi was already seated at the back and already changed in his p.e uniform. Gen was just silent and put her airpods on instead while I talked to our brother so the car ride wouldn’t be so silent. If it wasn’t really for him, Gen and I might be in a big argument now because of what happened. Just by the way she looked at me earlier, I already know how mad she is when it should be me she should protect. I am her sister while that guy is just some so-called King-Bee!

As if nothing actually happened in the school, she acted like everything was cool between her and me which confuses me a little bit. It was like she wasn’t one of those students who also called me out in the school group community, asking me to be kicked out just because I splashed water in Clyde’s face. She is just really good with acting and I am so sure about that now.

I let out a deep sigh, laying myself on my bed to take a rest after this whole long day that I had. Facing those people at school and being the whole talk of everyone almost drains me out. If you even add up my own sister’s confusing action, I don’t know what to think anymore. Just when I was about to close my eyes, the door suddenly flew open without any knock that made me raise myself right away.

“Gen?”

She closed my door behind her with a little force which made me jump a little on the bed. Her brows are furrowed and it’s almost like there are invisible smokes coming out of her own nose that shows her inner madness. I sure know that this is about earlier already. She stood in front of me, with a few inches of distance, that made me stand up on my feet. My eyes blinked, not knowing how I should approach her with this kind of state she is in.

“W-what’s wrong?” I tried to say it without stuttering but, of course, I failed.

“Are you really asking me that?!” She argued intimidatingly. “Didn’t I tell you not to create any trouble? Is my words not enough for you to stay on your feet and not get involved in other people’s business?”

“He was bullying that girl, Gen! How can you expect me to just sit back and act like I don’t care? You can’t expect me to be like all of you when someone is being bullied!” I defend.

First thing, I am new in that school. I don’t certainly know the rules and even how to interact with people. The only thing I know is that they have this social class thingy which is really irritating because it only divides the students. Second thing, who will choose to stand back and do nothing when someone is being humiliated in front of everyone? If they want to turn a blind eye then I don’t care now but I am not raised like that! I was raised to treat everyone equally except for the elders who really need to be respected. And that school, that guy is the one they respect more than anyone else.

“Do you even know who you messed up with?” I was about to give her an answer but she beated me to it. “It was Clyde Hale Hernandez, the Clyde Hernandez!”

“So? What if that is his name and he has a reputation in the school? Does that mean I have to fear him as well and just let him bully those he thinks are below him? That’s ridiculous, Gen!” I argued back with her useless argument. “I get that you are one of those popular kids so you have to stay lowkey and act like you don’t really care, but I’m not like you Gen.”

“You are definitely not like me, ate! Because the two of us grew up in a different environment. I don’t get myself in trouble that would tarnish everything I worked hard for while you are ready to tarnish everything before you could even build your own image. And most of all,” She steps forward, even closer to me as she gazes down fiercely. “I don’t act recklessly without thinking of the consequences I could face later on.”

“Is that what you care about more? Reputation? Image? Why? Because you are a popular kid?” I argued, raising my voice a little, which she remained silent in. “You are so ready to turn a blind eye just so you could save whatever you have now. What do you have, popularity? A disrespectful attitude? Do you think having all that will put you in a good state afterwards?”

High school, it is indeed full of greedy students. There are ones who really try their best to stand out without even thinking if they are hurting others already. Some would settle to be in the shadows but would usually end up being the victims of bullying. In that year level, there are so many kinds of personality you could encounter but what I really hate the most… is people giving more importance to their fake images than having a good personality that would help them grow.

“I don’t care what you think of me because I don’t feel the need to explain to you. But I just hope you know that the moment you stand against Clyde and humiliate him in front of them, that also means you are putting everyone against you. I just hope that when you do what you did earlier, you have that in mind already.” She says, which I'm not really sure if it is a piece of advice or the other way round.

I just remained silent, trying to sink in everyone she just told me. It all keeps running to my head now, the consequences that I might get but I choose to set those aside because I don’t really care. At the end of the day, they won’t really be able to do something bad to me anyway. They are just the same as me, high school students. But what I am just worried about is the power they all have.

The way my own sister looks at me right now is like she is throwing daggers through her eyes that almost caused me to step back. I am not easily intimidated except if it's the elders such as lola, tito, mom and dad. It’s just because Gen and I haven’t been on each other's side for long yet and we are in bad shape so I can’t really argue back and call her out like she does to me. I don’t want to make things even worse between us since she already deprived us of the opportunity to let the both of us know each other.

When I thought she was going out of my room already, she stopped before she could even reach the door. She turned to face me with horror obvious on her face while looking at her phone as if something she doesn’t wanna see is shown on her phone screen. Slowly, she looks up and stares at me fuming in anger that made me confused.

“You just really ruined this relationship even more,” She says firmly without any sort of explanation before heading out of my room with a loud bang that could even ruin my door.

“What was that?” I whispered to myself.

Just at the right moment, my phone suddenly chimes which means I have a message. I sat on my bed and breathed properly first before reaching for my phone. When I opened it, I was confused because the group chat that Kim created earlier that consists of the four of us is flooded with messages and my eyes just widened when I saw their messages.

Kim: its out!

Kaori: bella! everyone in the school knows that you and Gen are sisters!

Hayde: its everywhere in the group community

Me: can you just send me a link so i can check it?

Kim immediately sent me the link that has the information about me and Gen. The moment the link opened, I couldn’t help but close my eyes and let out a deep sigh. I understand now why Gen was so mad.

@jrm.lopez: TOP NEWS! Eloise Genevieve Santiago is Bella’s sister! #KickBellaOutOfRIS

@melody_hy: but isn’t her sister dead? what is this? she rises from the grave to humiliate herself and get in trouble with clyde? scaryyyy #BellaHasRisenAgain

@hero.in: maybe gen is lying about her sister’s death to get attention #BellaHasRisenAgain

@pr.phoebe: y’all! who made this hashtag #BellaHasRisenAgain LOL

The more I read, the more I feel stressed about it. They are photos being shared as well of mine and Gen’s together. Some are captured this morning when the two of us are in front of the main building with our car next to us. There is also a photo of me and Azi which I think he posted on his social media early this year. It was everywhere!

“This is certainly a messed.”