CHAPTER 2

My fists were still tightened in a clench when the bathroom door opened. It was Ms. Susan.

“What were you girls doing in here?” Ms. Susan asked, giving a special stern look at me. “What were you doing here, Bianca?” Ms. Susan asked, pursing her lips. “You’d got into another trouble now? First, you caused a scene with Rowan in the hallway, now, you’re making a scene with these girls in the bathroom.

“You knew the floors were made with tiles. Know this, if you hit anybody here, the person could go into an instant coma, which could eventually lead to death, and you would have to spend the rest of your days in jail or be killed as well. Would that be a pleasant experience for you?” Ms. Susan finished.

“They started the whole thing. They got me all drenched,” I told Ms. Susan, trying as much as possible to be convincing.

“Eva had been in this school for three years and there was no report of bullying or intimidation about her. So had Stephanie, Georgia, and Lizzy – no reports. Whereas, you had been in the school for a day, and there were precisely two red marks on your records. You should think about that properly,” Ms. Susan shut me up.

“Come on girls, you had somewhere to be,” Ms. Susan told Eva and the other bullies. “You had to clean up the toilet before the break was over. It made the place look messed up. If you didn’t, I would tell Principal Herbert. Remember, you didn’t have any parents that would cover up your wrong deeds,” Ms. Susan said as she left with the girls.

I struggled with the downright stigma Ms. Susan flustered on me. Her voluntary yet tricky statement to elucidate my non-aristocratic social ground fell on fertile grounds, and cut my heart deep.

I had to clean up the mess caused by the no-do-well girls and change my dress. I couldn’t do that while students were still in the hallway. This meant I would miss some lessons, attracting punishments from my school principal and mother. She would be very mad at me; she would not send me to the human community for college. I wasn’t happy about that either.

My credits would begin to drop on my first day here, but I couldn’t go to class like this. I had to change my wet dress to sportswear in my locker right after I cleaned up the mess in the bathroom to avoid any further problems.

I cleaned the bathroom and changed my dress a little while before the school bell chimed for lunchtime. I was having the hand burger I got from the cafeteria. It was little, but I had to manage.

I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. “Em… I’m sorry,” the girl said, “I’m Leila,” the girl that taps me said. “Bianca,” I responded.

“May I sit?” Leila asked. “Yeah, sure,” I replied.

Leila adjusted herself properly on the chair and said, “You're new here, aren’t you?” “Yeah, my first day as a boarder.”

“Enjoying school so far?” Leila read my expression and knew what my response would be. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” Leila said.

“I’ll get used to what? Being bullied by guys and girls because of my financial status for yet another year?” I asked. Leila frowned a little at what I said.

“No. My company,” Leila said. I nodded in confirmation.

“You said something about being bullied. Did you mean Eva, the cheerleader?” Leila said after a few seconds. “Yeah.”

Leila handed one of her sandwiches to me; "A smile spread across my face as I accepted Leila's Sandwich." “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you at the cafeteria buying some food. I figured you saved your breakfast,” Leila said, concerned.

“Please, don’t tell anyone about that,” I said. Leila swiped her fingers through her lips indicating that she would zip them.

“So, what about Eva? She’s always with those quadruplet guys,” I said. “Um… people thought the quadruplets were the best guys in the school. I didn’t like them, but Eva was blind. They’d always told her that she’s not their mate. That one, Rowan, she’s just a companion to him, and she’s so blind to see that they’re using her. On her birthday…” Leila was talking.

“You knew her well?” “Yeah. She is my cousin. I didn’t like her much. She is so bossy. I promised her that whatever she likes I will never like that. And she doesn’t like you,” Leila said.

“You knew her well?”

“Yeah. She is my cousin. I didn’t like her much. She is so bossy. I promised her that whatever she likes I will never like that. And she doesn’t like you,” Leila said.

“So, you wanted to be my friend because your cousin didn’t like me?”

“My cousin hadn’t liked you since you were given the admission letter. She knew you then, maybe the quadruplets made proper introductions. Did you know the quadruplets from somewhere?” Leila asked.

I quickly denied it, but it was futile.

“Well, she knew you. She felt threatened by you because – I didn’t know – they noticed you, and I’d been the second hand watching you from afar. You seemed pretty decent to me,” Leila said.

“Why would they notice me? One of them slammed the door against my fingers earlier,” I said, showing her the injury.

“I was sorry. That must be either Rowan or Ash. They were like that,” Leila said.

“But it didn’t mean much. They might still have a crush on you, but they were hiding it. They felt you weren’t good enough for them.”

I finished my hand burger and started eating the sandwich. Leila was eating beside me too.

“I hoped I found my mate tonight, you know,” Leila broke out after a short silence.

“Oh My God… Today was your birthday?” I asked, thrilled.

“Yeah. Eighteen.”

We screamed at each other in excitement.

“And you were invited tonight,” Leila said.

I grimaced on hearing that. I had a gnawing feeling about this. First, my mother would be unhappy when she heard about my current status at school, and then, her cousin, Eva, would probably be there.

“Em… I wasn’t sure I was gonna come tonight, I’m sorry,” I said.

“What for?” Leila asked.

“I had to finish up an assignment…” I spluttered a little.

“You couldn’t tell me you were this nerdy. I saw what you did to Rowan in the hallway. A nerd would not do that,” Leila said.

I sighed exasperatedly and looked away.

“Eva was gonna be there, right?”

“Are you serious? Eva should be the least of your problems right now. She didn’t mess with me. Her mother was my father’s sister, and they had some unsettled business issues. She’d definitely not joke with that. She would do nothing,” Leila said.

“And there would be lots of guys there too. You could meet your mate there too.”

“I didn’t want to have a mate,” I said.

Leila spilled her drink on her dress.

“Why? You knew that was almost inevitable.”

“Yeah. My mom suffered a lot at the hands of her alpha, my father. And if a mate showed up, I would refuse him,” I said coldly.

“That didn’t mean that yours would be the same. You might meet a guy who would love you for who you really were,” Leila said.

The school bell rang for lessons. I couldn’t be late this time; I already had a red mark on my record.

Leila and I walked side-by-side with each other, having a spontaneous conversation. We met Eva on the way with an astonished expression written all over.

We walked to the classroom, aware of Eva’s mischievous look; she couldn’t attempt anything stupid.

After the lesson, Leila reminded me about her party tonight. I smiled about it and walked out of the class only to behold another problem.

It was the quadruplets again. Oak, who had an exact resemblance with Maple, stood aside making use of his phone. Ash, who had an exact resemblance with Rowan, stood right next to him, while Maple looked like he was forced to be in the circle.

I started turning around when Ash said, “Hey, bastard. You wanted to run away from us?”

I stopped, my hand thumping, and my hands freezing.

They began to walk towards me quickly. Rowan held my hands and dragged me to his locker.

“Do what you wanted to do, girl. No one was going to hurt you,” Rowan said sarcastically as he hit my head against the locker.

“Yeah. We were all your friends here,” Maple said.

"My gaze lingered on Maple, his expression softening my anger." Cold blood trickled down my cheek from my forehead.

“You thought you could get away with what you did?” Rowan said, “You disgraced me in front of the school.”

“I thought you already got back at me,” I said sentimentally.

Ash slapped me.

“Look around you. Did you see any teachers?” Ash asked, “You questioned us again, we gave you more of these.”

“She had a lot of nerve showing up in a school like this,” Oak said, unconcentrated.

My phone rang; I didn’t want to answer. Rowan urged me to answer the phone and threatened me. I picked the call tempestuously: it was my mom.

“Hello, Bianca,” my mom said from the phone.

The quadruplets had their hands hanging in the air, waiting for what I would reply to my mom on the phone, especially Rowan, whom I had hit. I didn't know what to say.