3 Chapter Three

I remember back when I was in 6th grade, our homeroom teacher came in one morning, and, instead of starting the day with the usual attendance check, she said;

"Good morning everyone, settle down now... Before I call out your names for attendance, I have an announcement to make."

Of course, she instantly got the attention of the class full of eleven year olds –with that, and within five seconds the whole class was still, then she nodded and continued.

"Great! Now that I have your attention, I want to introduce someone new today,"

Instantly there were murmurs and questioning looks all around the class, and we were right to be surprised and confused. At the time, we only had about two weeks left before our first exams began... So you don't expect a sudden change of teachers within that period, much less a student.

"Now come on in and introduce yourself, Angie."

"K–kay..." Stuttered someone at the door. Then she slowly walked in.

'An Angel' there wasn't another word to describe her. Although she was barely eleven then... her beautiful blonde hair... smooth slim legs below the foreign uniform she wore... her head tilted down in embarrassment, and the heavy blush on her face from shyness. Everything about her was stunning to everyone in the class. And, just when we were still trying to comprehend what we were seeing, she raised her head to look straight at us with her blue eyes and her little lips moved,

"H–h–hi, a 'm ANGELA E–EUGENE... a jus moved inta t–tawn wit ma family..."

It was the first time I ever heard someone with a LINNISH accent, hearing her speak for the first time as she fidgeted was something I'd never forget.

**********

That day is still so clear to me, like it was just yesterday.

She's grown a lot more beautiful since then. Her blonde hair is now tied to the back in a ponytail, with a few curly strands left to fall to the sides of her face in front of her ear, she's wearing her long-sleeved uniform top with her tie neatly knotted, her dark brown uniform skirt is a few inches above her knees, revealing a bit of her thighs, she's got knee-high white stockings on and her shoes are a pair of black all-stars, same as mine –black all-stars are mandatory since that is the school's dressing code–

I'm not that much of a pervert, so I won't go into the details of her sizes... But she's got a great figure, perfect for her age –she's 16 by the way–, she's slim, about 160cm in height and her skin complexion is flawless porcelain... I think it's a natural complexion in her home country LINMELEOT, it's in the North-East of our continent, although we don't share borders with them, our countries are on very friendly terms. It's very common to find Linnish citizens in Lordan.

All these combined... Make her stunning.

"Danny? Why are you staring at me like that?" Angela calls out, a little blush rising on her cheeks, snapping me out of my stunned state.

"Ah... A–Angela, good morning! Er... what's up?" I stutter, finding even regular conversational words difficult to speak in front of her,

"I'm doing pretty great... Although there are piles of stuff to be done in preparation for Friday... Mr. Rowen has been running around so I volunteered to help out a little," she replies and makes a silly muscle-flexing pose.

Very dangerous for my heart... But wait, this could actually be a chance, "I–I can help out too if you need a hand—"

"No no, that won't be necessary, I wouldn't have involved myself if it was too much for me to handle," she says, waving me off with a smile... but then she suddenly stops and squints her eyes, "besides you don't look too good... are you okay?"

"Y–yeah I'm fine, just haven't been sleeping a lot lately... haha," it's those damnable dreams! robbing me of my sleep, and now of my chance.

"Kay... try to get some rest, you look a little pale." she points out and tilts her head slightly to the left.

Everything about her is dangerous to my heart— wait, did she say pale? I'm pale? How come no one at home noticed that?

"Well, I'll be heading down to Mr. Rowen's office now, be careful on your way up, some smart-ass spilled a little water on the stairs." she says as she begins stepping down.

"..."

Should I say it now? I might not get this chance again... should I just tell her and keep my fingers crossed?

"Angela wait!"

"Yeah?" She replies as she swivels around and interlocks her right and left hands behind her in an attentive pose.

I should tell her my feelings now.

"I–I um... um... Take it e–e–easy okay? don't overwork yourself..."

She smiles.

Then she suddenly strikes a military salute and says "Aye Aye!, Hehe," she closes her eyes and displays a beautiful toothy grin, turns around, and dashes down, giggling all the way down the stairs.

"..."

As I watch her glide farther away, a sense of self-deprecation begins to build within me.

"I'm such a coward!"

Damn, why the heck did I say that? That was an excellent opportunity what the fu—

The moment I take a step forward, I suddenly lose balance.

"WOAH! HOLY SHIT!"

I manage to grab unto the railings, but still end up landing butt first heavily on the step I was previously on.

Of course I slipped on the spilled water!

***********

Our class –10th grade– is on the second floor of the school building... We, 10th graders, are divided into classes A and B;

A –my class– is for sciences,

B –is for art-related lessons. I don't know why our school separates it like this, but it's sort of effective.

Aside from the two classes occupied by us, there are also classes occupied by the 11th grade here on this floor but we tend to avoid our seniors... The floor also has male and female restrooms, three huge balconies—

"Yo Danny!" Yells someone in the class just as I step past the white door into the classroom, he's a boy my age, sitting beside one of the three windows in our huge classroom,

"Hey ETHAN."

ETHAN JAMES, my best friend... he's almost the same height as me, 172cm, has a rather round looking face although he's just as skinny as I am, Beige complexion, light green eyes, completely gray-white hair and he's... a serious game addict, but also a great conversationalist.

"Don't 'hey' me man, dude! Where have you been? you are so late!" He exclaims as he comes charging straight at me.

"Woah Woah, ease up man... My parents are traveling to Camleot today on a business trip so we had to make sure stuff were in order,"

"Damn, really? I'm so coming over to your house later, but first, did you bring it?" He says with his pupils dilate like a cat that just found a ball...

"Yes, man I brought the ms console," I know he's more concerned about the game than he is about me... Actually thinking that he cared for a moment makes me wanna slap myself.

"Your crush just stepped out of the class by the way," he nonchalantly says as he snatches the ms from me and waves it to the other boys in his seat with a 'we're in business' signal.

"I know... I met her at the stairs..."

He turns back at me so suddenly that I could almost swear I heard a snap, and his voice goes a pitch higher, "And?! Did you confess to her?"

"No man, I didn't.. not yet at least... and keep it down you'll attract the attention of the whole class at this rate,"

He looks around the class of close to forty people and notices that most of them are now glancing in a direction, "Haha sorry, sorry... but man you got it tough... Forfeit your love for Angela or forfeit your life to LEONARDO."

His words pierce me like an awl.

GAHH!!! I can't believe I forgot the most important detail about Angela! Back in 6th grade when she first transferred into our school, she wasn't alone, there was this huge 8th grader that always followed her about when we were on a lunch break or when she was going home. He was tall, about 175.6 cm at the time –taller than I am even now– with well-built physic for a fourteen-year-old, silver-white hair, a very handsome but mean sharp face, and the same blue eyes like her.

Everything about him spelled trouble, but he always just followed her about quietly... He only ever spoke to her...

After a week, some kids in the class started speculating that he might be Angela's bodyguard and that she is from some super-rich LINNISH family.

When her friends confronted her about it, she was very upset, then she walked up to the front of the class with a pout on her face and yelled,

"LISEN AP PEOPLE, LEO S'NOT MY BODYGUARD HE S'MY BIG BROTHER! AIGHT?"

And then she walked back to her seat and said nothing for the rest of the day.

The very next day, Leo wasn't following her during lunch break and only spoke to her when it was time to head home.

He would sit alone quietly the whole day until it was closing time, then stand outside our classroom door waiting for her.

The next week he got into a fight with some other big guy in 8th grade. We didn't know why, but after that fight, there was always a group of big guys like him following him wherever he went. He also began talking to other kids... But...

That was the beginning

He also began bullying kids

He was a complete tyrant. He would beat us up just because he didn't like how our voice sounded, and insult us using slangs that even if we didn't understand them, they still hurt for some reason. And yes, I was a continuous victim of his tyranny.

So we decided to ask Angela for help, but her reply was;

"He is sim~ply be~ing him~self, at least no one is calling him my bo~dyguard a~nymore."

That was the first time she spoke slowly so her accent wouldn't get in the way... And the message was clear, 'we brought it upon ourselves'.

***********

"But it should be safe if she accepts you, he never goes against her so I don't think he'll hurt you if you guys started dating, right?" Ethan says, more like a suggestion than a reassurance.

"I–I guess so—"

"You two, to your seats now." says Mrs. Beatrice, an old blonde and commanding lady that teaches us chemistry, as she walks in with a textbook and some markers to begin class.

I have a feeling this is gonna be the start of a long day...

...

...

Even though that's what I thought, here I am sitting in the cafeteria with Ethan and a few friends. Classes went by so quickly that the lunch break bell startled me. Honestly, I paid absolutely no attention during any class. I spent my time staring at Angela with thoughts so complicated, even I can't explain, meanwhile, she just went on with her day like normal, I'm even too lovesick to resent her for that, 'sigh'.

"So this is what it feels like to be a stalker..." I mumble, heaving out another sigh with the serene expression of one who had just gained enlightenment.

"What the heck are you murmuring to yourself this time man," asks DENILSON.

DENILSON HAKIM is dark-skinned, with short black hair and purple eyes, about the same height as I am, and another game addict like Ethan. Well... he's handsome. A bit more muscular than I am, well I don't do any workout at all, so pretty much anyone who has tried push up's once has more muscles than I do.

"Just reminiscing today's topics, nothing much."

He makes a pondering face for some seconds then says, "man, smart people have it tough, you don't even give yourselves time to relax."

Then he shrugs his shoulders and spreads his hands in a 'not my business' pose, before resuming his lunch.

To be honest, I don't have many friends at school... The only person I can call a childhood friend is Ethan, the rest are just... well, 'friends' but... It's kind of difficult to explain.

We moved into Fraeleot during winter break when I was eight years old, I was so excited to be in my parents home town that I didn't even care about the cold weather at the time, I and Max ventured out to explore the new town we would be living in. We ran around the streets and went into all sorts of shops... But we ultimately ended up in an internet cafe where a bunch of kids our age had gathered.

The reason for that? Well, a little white-haired boy was setting a world record in an online game. That was how I met Ethan, somehow or another we became friends, and we have been for eight years now... everyone else I've met, I met because they had some connection to Ethan, it used to be video games back then, but now it's a different reason.

Angela's best friend, voted the hottest girl in our class by some perverts, and Ethan's twin sister, KIRA JAMES.

Compared to Angela, she is absolutely, and I mean, completely dangerous to a guy's health. She is about 162.4cm in height, beige skin complexion, same green eyes as Ethan, beautiful purple hair, and, the most dangerous aspect of her, her figure... She's got the kind of shape you only see in magazines, one that would make even known actresses lose confidence in themselves... Waist like an hourglass and aspects that even a few male teachers look at twice when she walks by, really can't blame them.

You wouldn't even believe she is a 10th grader if you saw her in casual clothing.

The reason for her salacious development would be their mom, REBECCA JAMES... I won't go into her description, but I will state this, she looks like a 'you know what videos' actress.

But despite her looks, Kira's personality is difficult to read. She is very quiet most of the time, unless she's talking to Ethan or the other girls, and she acts mature. She's been like that since the first time Ethan introduced her to me and Max... And I was nine back then.

I've never had a proper conversation with her, I did try to when we were younger, but she just seems way out of my league, besides there are rumors that she might be dating Leo, although I don't think it's true since there are still so many dudes swarming Ethan for a chance to get close to her.

It's always amusing to see the dejected faces of the dudes she rejects, but their male instincts won't let them give up... But unlike them, I prefer to admire what is within my reach, or I'm at least willing to take a risk for.

"Yo Ethan, I'm heading back to class," I announce, deciding that I haven't seen enough Angela today.

"Hmm? Oh sure man, I'll be there In a while." replies Ethan, he's used to having so much attention, but it always feels weird to be sitting next to him while they swarm him like that...

Well whatever, while he does his stuff, I'll just find something else to burn some time and get this day done with.

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