16 Pressure

Kristen and I left the cafeteria after that confrontation. She didn't seem to be burdened after that confrontation, nor that she had any fear after 'defending' me from Jessica's wrath.

I knew that Kristen had an excellent reputation in this place. She was an angel that everybody liked, so she had the guts to face Jessica.

And that was perfect.

Because I wanted to make sure Jessica and Kristen kept going against each other, straining any further relationship between them, so Kristen wouldn't have any backup after her downfall.

"U—Um… Kristen," I patted her shoulder, who was walking in front of me.

Kristen didn't stop nor looked over her shoulder. She just continued walking, "Yes, what is it?"

"I need your phone number. You know… in case Jessica wants to attack me again…" I said.

Kristen chuckled and then mentioned her number, allowing me to type it in my phone.

I saved her number and then named it 'Fake bitch #1.'

"You can call me when Jessica comes and attack you again," Kristen said. She shrugged and continued, "Honestly, you know that you're easily bullied. You shouldn't try to play with fire."

"Play with fire?"

"You're slandering Jessica in front of him—whoever that guy is, but you're just playing with death."

"But I did nothing…." I tried to defend myself. But Kristen just shrugged in response.

"Doesn't matter. You're now under her radar. Jessica is really powerful, you know. You're lucky to have a friend like me," Kristen said.

Okay, that last part was bullshit. My luck would be at Cerise-level if I had a friend like her. But what she said had some weight to it. Someone had intentionally put me under Jessica's radar. There was no way Jessica would be against me without this person's intervention.

And this mysterious person did the same thing to me in my previous life.

So this person was the first to plunge me into this spiraling hell of bullying for three years in my previous life. Unfortunately, I had no idea about the identity of this person.

I needed to find time to investigate it. Whoever that person was, they had a malicious intention against me.

"Oh? Did I just see someone hiding there?" Kristen pointed at someone who peeked from a corridor. I darted my eyes towards her pointer and saw a familiar face immediately hiding when she got discovered.

"Ah… did you see? Cerise is very shy. She keeps saying that she's too weird and unworthy of befriending me, so she distanced herself," Kristen said with a sigh. "Even though I never differentiate my friends, whether they are rich or poor like you guys."

I think there was a difference between the two narrations here, Kristen. And I believed Cerise's narration more than yours.

Kristen approached Cerise, who was hiding behind a wall. When she saw us, Cerise jolted and tried to run away.

Kristen caught her hand and gripped it tight, but still with the same sweet smile on her lips.

"Hi Cerise, how are you?" Kristen greeted her first, and Cerise's body froze on the spot. The more I observed her body language, it was so obvious that Cerise was terrified with Kristen's presence, but she still called her a good friend.'

What kind of crazy things they went into?

"I—I'm good, Kristen…." Cerise glanced at me and lowered her gaze again. "H—Hi Emmy…"

"…"

I said nothing but continued observing the dynamic between these two best friends, between the bullied and the savior.

"I heard from Emmy that you recommend me to protect her. Is that true?" Kristen asked.

Cerise looked lost, which was obvious because she didn't recommend Kristen to me. It was my own initiative to come to Kristen.

She glanced at me, asking for help, so I replied, "Cerise told me that you're the kindest person that could protect me from bullies here. So I naturally come to you, Kristen."

"Oh? She said that?" Kristen smiled at Cerise. I could see the wince in Cerise's face when Kristen tightened her grip on Cerise's shoulder.

"Cerise is such a good friend of mine. We were friends in middle school. Right, Cerise?"

I could sense the pressure exuding from Kristen, demanding Cerise to speak whatever she was ordered to.

"Y—Yes…"

"Good, I know that you're such a good friend that knows how to respect someone that helped you, right?"

"Yes…"

Kristen was very intimidating with her malicious smile. I could see how the weak-willed Cerise would bow down eventually.

I needed to make Cerise realize that nothing good would come if she kept bowing down to this fake bitch.

She really needed to spill the beans about Kristen's secret, or it would be long, endless suffering for both of us.

I had an idea in my head, but I needed to execute it smoothly.

"Cerise said that you were such a good friend," I interrupted. "But she said that you don't want to befriend her anymore because you're above her…."

Cerise's face paled.

Sorry, Cerise, but you have to bear with this.

I could see Kristen's grip on Cerise's shoulder tightened, "Oh? Of course, I want to be her friend. It was her who refused me as her friend because I'm just better at everything. I'm too good for her, right, Cerise?"

"Y—Yes…"

"Ah, that's unfortunate," I walked closer towards Cerise and patted her other shoulder. "I think Cerise needs to understand how good of a friend you're. Since you don't differentiate between the rich and the poor like us."

"How about letting us walk with you as three? Cerise has been bullied a lot as well. It would be good if we can walk with a popular girl like you, Kristen."

"Ah, that's—"