5: Black Mystery

Hours went by almost in a flash until it was finally lunchtime, which was everyone’s favorite time in a school day. All of the students were scattered across the hallways as most of them rushed to the cafeteria since they knew that the line to have their lunch would be long like hell if they were not hasty. It was expected that everywhere in the school would be noisy especially since it was the first day of school as the new teachers never bothered telling them off.

Falling in line was never a big deal for Olivia and her three minions as they immediately went to take their seats at the table on the middle of the end rows. The four of them simultaneously brought out and placed their individual lunch bags on the table as they were the first ones to begin eating their lunch among most of the students who had to stand in the long line and wait for their turn to be served.

“That new history teacher is so annoying. She ruined my morning,” Olivia grumbled as she opened the case of her utensils.

“I know, right? It’s the first day of school yet she already gave us homework,” Lana replied with a scoff following after as she opened the containers of her lunch.

“I heard that she graduated as the summa cum laude in her college,” Mia said and ate a spoonful of salad after.

“That doesn’t change the fact that she’s annoying for ruining our morning,” the blonde replied.

As usual, the other three girls agreed with her. They continued to talk badly about their new history teacher when a boy suddenly approached them and placed a strawberry juice box beside the container of the blonde, which made them immediately turn to look at him.

“Olivia Jean, I got this last juice box for you. You know how this is rare since everyone likes this, right?” the boy said with a confident smile on his face. “If you accept this, you’re also agreeing to go out on a date with me tonight.”

The blonde stared at the juice box for a few seconds before slowly turning her head to look at the boy, who gave her a wink as soon as their eyes met.

The boy had a thick pompadour hairstyle that did not match his small head. He had thin eyebrows and small eyes. The color of the elastic ligatures on his braces was brown, which was the color that Olivia despised. Even with his thin body, he wore an oversized white t-shirt with an image of an overrated cartoon character printed on the front as his top and a pair of ripped light blue denim jeans as his bottom. Overall, he looked like a complete loser.

Olivia flashed a small smile as she took the juice box and pushed the hole open with the plastic straw. The boy already had his hopes up when she took the box that he confidently took a glance on his friends to brag about it.

Almost everyone in the cafeteria was watching them as the nosy people they always were. Some of them were surprised that the nerd seemed to be winning, while some of them did not believe a happy ending would happen for him. That was Olivia Jean that he was asking out, which meant that a tough battle must be expected to occur.

“Olivia, really?” Ashleigh whispered in disbelief.

“You’re not serious—”

The cafeteria went silent as gasps filled the room after when they saw what happened next.

While looking at the boy from head to toe, what bothered Olivia the most was the colors of his socks and rubber shoes. And since it bothered her so much, she took her fork and made a bigger hole on the juice box before pouring the juice all over his shoes.

The cocky smile on the face of the boy disappeared in an instant as he stared at his shoes and socks being soaked by red liquid. He was too stunned to move that the blonde was able to pour every last bit of the juice on him.

Once she was done, Olivia dropped the juice box on his shoes as she raised her eyes back to look at his face while extending her bottom lip forward to form a pout. If anyone would see her without knowing the context, they would think that Olivia was an innocent girl.

“I dislike strawberries, but I dislike your fashion and existence more.”

The boy’s friends then wished that they were not his friend at that moment.

On a table far from where Olivia and the other girls were seating at, Theodore watched the whole drama while chewing on his hamburger as he already expected it to happen. He felt a bit proud that he was the only one who predicted it right as he listened to the surprised reactions of his friends.

“Damn, Theo. Your best friend is such a bad bitch,” James uttered in awe without taking his eyes off the direction to their table.

“Well, that is how she is,” Theodore responded with a shrug as he diverted his gaze from his lunch to his best friend.

A small smile briefly flashed on his face as he saw the proud smile appear on Olivia’s face while she was being showered with compliments from her friends, totally ignoring the poor boy with soaked shoes as he walked out of the cafeteria with his head hung low in humiliation.

When Theodore was done eating his lunch, he immediately got up from his seat without taking his lunch tray. His teammates turned to look at him with a questioning look as it was still early until the next class plus their lunch was not even half empty yet.

“Where are you going? Don’t leave us yet!” James dramatically reacted with his hand reaching out to grab Theodore, who quickly moved away.

“I’m sick of your faces. Gotta run.” Theodore let out an evil chuckle as he waved his hand and walked away from their table while all of his teammates raised their middle fingers to him.

As expected, it was Olivia’s table that the popular basketball player was walking toward as most of the students turned their heads to watch him approach the most popular girl in their school. The blonde paid no attention to the excited reactions of her friends as she just continued eating her chicken salad.

“Hey.”

Ashleigh and the others giggled like little girls when Theodore placed his hand on the table and leaned close to Olivia while wearing his charming smile. When the blonde finally acknowledged his presence, she turned to blankly look at his face for a few seconds before returning her attention to her lunch.

“Aw. The campus heartthrob just got ignored,” Mia teased.

Theodore turned to throw a glare at the girls before standing up straight as he took Olivia’s backpack and told her, “Come on. Let’s roam around school to check if there’s anything new here before the bell rings.”

“Do you not see that I’m still not done eating?” the blonde calmly responded.

“You are done. Now let’s go.”

Olivia groaned when her lunch was taken away by her best friend as her arm was then next to be dragged away by him. Her friends just waved at them with wide smiles as the blonde later accepted her fate by getting rid of the brunet’s hand around her wrist and walking along with him properly.

“Nothing’s changed,” Theodore commented as they went to the garden.

“As usual. Our school’s always a disappointment,” Olivia uttered while looking at the plants that were being taken care of with boredom. Even the plants were all the same.

“Wanna check the back gate?” he asked.

“Sure.”

The hallways were noisy with the students walking around while chattering as the two of them entered the hallways. What Olivia loved the most in being the most popular student was that everyone either looked at her in awe or fear to the point that they would automatically move aside whenever she walks down the hallway like the whole school belonged to her.

The noise lessened as they took a turn to where the back gate was. Nobody was around since students could get in trouble for trying to leave school during class hours, though Olivia and Theodore did not have to be scared of that.

“Fresh air.” The brunet let out a satisfied sigh as they stepped outside, feeling the fresh outside air.

The blonde looked around in boredom when a small black kitten on the corner caught her attention. Her eyes sparkled as she was about to chase after it when the bell suddenly rang, making the little animal run and disappear from her sight. Olivia pouted in frustration while looking at the direction where the kitten went before following her best friend back inside.

The day went by quickly as most of the teachers were considerate enough to not give them any tasks to do except for that one history teacher that Olivia complained about in the morning. The first day of school had finally come to an end as the blonde realized how useless it was for her to feel excited in the morning, only to end up feeling bored for the whole day. It was just another ordinary day after all.

“See you,” Olivia said to her friends as she waved at them.

“Take care,” Theodore said and gave her a wink before joining his friends in leaving.

The blonde waited for them to completely leave school before she quickly turned around and went back inside. She did not bother giving attention to any of the students that said bye to her as she just focused in walking toward the back gate. It was just a good thing that all of the students always gave her space for her to pass through despite the crowd that was in the hallways.

Olivia was able to let out a sigh of relief when she arrived in front of the back gate after inhaling different kinds of scents that were mostly disgusting to her. She opened the gate with excitement as she stepped outside and roamed her eyes around with hope to meet the adorable animal from earlier again.

The blonde walked a bit when she saw a person in a black hoodie crouching on the ground. Curious on what the person was doing, she slowly walked a bit closer as she saw the small black kitten eating wet cat food from a can. Her curiosity then moved to who the person was as Olivia slowly walked closer with hope to see the person’s face since they had their back facing her when the stranger suddenly stood up and walked away from her in a fast pace.

“Oh.” The blonde frowned as she stopped on her tracks and watched as the stranger disappear from her sight.

It disappointed her though it did not last as her attention returned to the adorable tiny animal, bringing a smile back to her face.