Chapter 43: 43. Friends

Paige eventually could not sleep through the first few hours, being accurately thrown at with a pen from the last row. Lance managed to do this somehow unnoticed by the other classmates.

Seeing the threat in his eyes, she was wide awake again and listened in boredom to the teachers. First was chemistry—she did not understand even one word of what was said.

The second hour was mathematics, and surprisingly, she had moments of

'Ah, I have seen this symbol before.' This was considerable progress in chemistry.

Then, they orderly walked to the big auditorium. They all took seats, with her sitting teenagers she had never seen before.

A blond boy full of pimples looked at Paige pittingly.

"Acne outbreak?" he asked knowingly.

"Yes, you too?" She found solace being in the body of a young girl, where a lousy skin was more often seen than in people in their thirties.

"Yes. Friends?" He asked, and his hand reached out.

"Sure." Paige shook his hand.

This was her first official friend. She did not remember if she had a few before puberty, but after, she had not any. Before dropping out of school, she always wanted to make friends, but she was too insecure to talk to people, and when depression hit her, she had no energy to care for anyone. She chatted with many people who were shut-ins, too, but they changed with each chat, only talking for the sake of talking to someone.

[I made my first friend!] She smugly told the system.

The system cooperatively broadcasted her voice to Lance while he asked himself where Paige sat.

His face fell, hearing her voice and finally spotting her whispering with some random pimple guy.

[Ask her what about me.] he demanded from the system.

It did as told, and Paige responded swiftly.

[He is family.]

She felt that way. In contrast to her family, he was never disappointed in her. She could take on any other emotion, but not this. She decided to listen to him because of this little act of kindness.

The system was disappointed for not making trouble for Paige, looking at Lance smiling and being moved.

He was moved; she was his first family, too. Deep down, Lance felt a tingle of annoyance, but he ignored that.

After congratulating students who did exceptionally well, it was time for Paige to come to the stage.

Making this public should first show that bullying students has consequences. Second, it should encourage bullied people to speak out because the bullied person would surely get an apology. As long as this was not regarding Paige, it worked mostly.

Paige went up to the stage, again becoming woodenly, her arms and legs felt like filled with lead. She was so nervous that she stumbled, falling face down.

The other students who did not recognize her because of the weight loss and lousy skin thought that she was the one who was bullied. They sucked in a cold breath seeing her standing up dazedly with a bleeding nose.

The principal initially pitied her and wanted to tell her to go to the infirmary, but after the headteacher whispered in his ear that she had likely done this on purpose to not apologize, he felt that could be true.

When she walked to her spot, he angrily stuffed a microphone in her hand.

Lance wanted to run up to her, but the system told him to calm down and that it was nothing serious. He settled on baselessly cursing the system in his head.

Natasha was also coming, and then they stood in front of each other. She had not really realized how thin Paige had become or how bad her skin looked. But the way she bled in her sleeve made Natasha's heart soften.

The audience had understood now that this was Paige; they were shocked at her state. The rumors about her pictured her way differently.

Some of the students who had been bullied by her or just knew how she looked were even more stunned. She usually was fat but groomed and stylish with accessors and all.

Who was this pitiful creature, unable to walk a few stairs without falling?

Paige took the microphone and said monotone

"I'm sorry for pushing you down the stairs and slapping you."

Natasha dutifully took the mic over and said

"I accept your apology." She meant it.

While the principal and headteacher were appalled, 'What slap??'

They had to shake hands, but because Paige bled in her dominant hand, they had to use their left hands awkwardly.

Remembering her promise with the system to bully the female lead on every occasion possible, she pulled the female lead near herself and whispered in her ear, still woodenly- but more naturally than with the given text,

"Lance hates the tons of makeup on your face." This counted as bullying, while at the same time, she hoped to be of some help.

Natasha was too ashamed to stand there any longer, walking down to her seat.

She asked Juno beside her, feeling deeply insecure

"Am I wearing too much makeup?"

Juno was angry as hell for concluding that Paige had whispered that, apparently, in her best friend's ear, but she was also a bit thankful for this being brought up.

"Not too much; you would look just better without it!" She cheerfully said.

Natasha understood and asked Juno if she had makeup remover. Despite not wearing makeup, Juno miraculously had one with her! They made an appointment to take the makeup off later in the girls' bathroom.

Paige returned to her seat, and the pimple boy did not even look at her, staring straight ahead while sweating, seemingly scared.

[I just lost my first friend...] Paige updated the system in real-time, not sounding as if she was caring anyway. Only she knew that she felt a bit sad.

As it seemed, she was not the type to have friends—one of the reasons the system chose her.

But at least there was Lance, so she was not alone.