Chapter 17: Lure Him With Beauty
It is lunchtime, and with the ringing of the bells, Goldie's first instinct after escaping Ryan's uncomfortable gaze is to locate her friend, Jasmine in the lunch halls.
She had so much to tell her!
The moment Goldie spots her friend in the massive, exuberant lunch halls, she pounces, clinging onto her in a tight hug like a scared, pitiful kitten.
"Jasmine… save me! I've suffered…", Goldie wails.
"Oh my!… who would dare bully my darling? Give me names!", responds Jasmine, dramatically, ready to defend her friend.
"It's Ryan…", says Goldie in a pitiful tone, feigning tears.
"He was staring at me all morning. He thinks I'm an animal, Jasmine!
My life is really over!
Waaaaah…."
The loud, hilarious "Waaah…" sound of Goldie's fake crying turns a few heads, attracting the attention of a few students in the sparsely populated lunch halls.
But at this point, Goldie could hardly care what anyone thought of her bawling out loud into her friend's shoulder in the centre of the wide lunch halls.
"Everyone was giving me weird looks… Ryan was merciless. He let me have the seat beside him, but he just wouldn't stop staring…"
"What?! Ryan let you sit in the seat by him?"
Jasmine exclaims in surprise a little louder than she had hoped.
It was very surprising to hear that somehow, Goldie was sitting next to Ryan, and Ryan had allowed that.
"Yes, it was the very last seat, and he was kind enough to let me have it. But then once I sat there, he wouldn't stop staring at me…
I could barely breathe…", she continues.
"Awww, Goldie…", responds Jasmine, patting her 'crying' friend's back in the hug as she observes some passersby giving them curious stares.
It was not odd to see such a scene in the lunch halls. The life of a student was hard. And everyone was somewhat interested in whatever new drama these two friends could be mourning about.
However, Jasmine would prefer not to be the centre of unwanted attention.
"How about we get some food, and you can tell me all about it, okay?", she questions, consoling Goldie with a comforting pat.
"sniff"
Goldie sniffs in response, raising her head to stare at Jasmine with teary eyes consisting mostly of large pitiful, puppy dog pupils, and a pitiful, yet cute expression to match.
"Okay", she nods in response.
The look instantly melts Jasmine's heart, kicking in her mother's instinct.
"Aw, you look so cute right now… haha", giggles Jasmine.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you. We will punish Ryan for daring to suffocate you!", she boldly announces as she guides Goldie towards the lunch queue.
"Really?", questions Goldie with naivety and innocence.
"Of course! We will make it so he can't ever stop staring at you because you are just too dxrn cute!", responds Jasmine with a smirk.
She knew… if Goldie looked this pitiful all morning, Ryan might have been staring for some other reasons…
"Jasmine, aren't we punishing him for staring and making me so uncomfortable?", questions Goldie, puzzled.
"Mhmm", Jasmine nods, retaining her smile.
"So why would the punishment rather make him keep staring at me?", questions Goldie, confused and completely naive.
"Hahaha!"
Jasmine laughs out loud in response.
"You are too cute, you know that?", she says to Goldie.
"Let me ask… don't you want Ryan to stare at you? Don't you want his attention?"
"Yes. I mean, No… I mean…", Goldie stutters in response.
Jasmine smiles at her cute mannerisms.
"...yes I want him to look at me, but not as a weirdo.", explains Goldie.
"Mhmm… understandable.", responds Jasmine as she lifts her food tray.
"But whatever the case, you have managed to grab his attention!", she adds in a hushed whisper before leading the way to secure them a lunch table.
"Huh?", questions Goldie confused.
Grabbing her food tray, she follows after the departing Jasmine.
'In what world could Ryan staring at me like I'm a weirdo be a good thing?', she wonders.
"I grabbed his attention? How?", asks Goldie, when she catches up with Jasmine.
"This morning, at the front doors of the school, he stared at you and refused to let go until you ran off.
And you're telling me now, he stared at you in class too?
Don't you see? You've got his attention!"
"What?!", questions Goldie, shocked.
Jasmine had the weirdest way of thinking.
"The fact that you didn't even figure it out… If you ask me, I think Ryan was staring because you're just too cute! Haha…"
Jasmine giggles.
"Hah! No way…", Goldie scoffs.
'Ryan staring because I'm cute? No dxrn way!'
Casting back her mind to the moments when Ryan was looking at her, Goldie remembers his expressions very well.
His face was blank. Expressionless. There was nothing about his expression or demeanour that said he was looking at her favourably.
"No… I'm sure Ryan was staring because he thinks I'm a weirdo.", says Goldie, one hundred percent sure.
"Hmmm… you're sure?", asks Jasmine with a smile, taking a seat at a lunch table.
Goldie takes the seat right next to her.
"One hundred percent sure.", she says with a nod.
"His face looked like this…", says Goldie, making the exact face of the expressionless emoji.
"Hahaha!", Jasmine reels in laughter.
"Girl, you looked exactly like the expressionless emoji just now! Haha…"
"Really? Hah…", responds Goldie with a slight chuckle in surprise.
'The expressionless emoji huh?...', she imagines it.
"Yeah… yeah, Ryan looked just like that. Just like the expressionless emoji.", says Goldie with a confident nod.
"I'm telling you. He thinks I'm a weirdo."
"Yeah, so what?...", responds Jasmine.
"Even so. Even if he was staring because he thinks you're a weirdo, girl, you have nothing to worry about.
It doesn't matter what he thinks now. Now you have his attention, we'll give him what to think!
He wants to stare?
Well then, let's give him something to stare at! From now on, Goldie, you're only allowed to look drop-dead gorgeous at every moment.
Do a hair flip every once in a while. Sit up straight. Smile and look cute. No crying!"
Jasmine rolls out orders, propping up Goldie in her chair as she fixes up her look.
"There… isn't that better.", comments Jasmine, pleased with the results of her grooming.
She proceeds to straighten Goldie's slightly messy hair some more as she continues her speech with an excited glint in her eye.
"Lure him with your beauty!
I guarantee that now he started staring at you, he will be unable to stop!...
...and in time, we will change his opinion, and he will fall for you!"
"..."
'Give him what to think, ey?... Lure him with beauty…'
Jasmine's words made sense to Goldie.
Rather than die of embarrassment, it was better to look cute, and seduce Ryan from afar.
If only she could…
'How exactly do you 'lure' a boy?...'
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Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone