Chapter 1: ANNOYING BRAT

"Red!"

She whirled around when she heard her name called out from a distance. Her movement was out of sheer reflex.

Alas! It was a trap!

Had she taken a few seconds off to analyze, she would have discerned.

"Ooff!!" She felt a force tug against her scalp.

How she had regretted falling into a trap of a boy she secretly hated at that particular instant for the unwanted attention he had been extending to her. It had been that way lately.

As she turned, she felt her ponytail went loose. Locks of her turquoise hair danced all around her in a mangled mess, each strand became translucent against the backdrop of the bright sun's rays.

"That's more like it!" The boy commented in high regard.

All the other students' heads spun towards them and their little commotion in passive curiosity.

Yes, her hair's color was turquoise – a pressing concern that had led her to lots of headache-inducing scenarios at school, especially when she was younger.

'It's not my fault if I was born with turquoise hair.'

Most people thought that she had dyed it herself with an unnatural color of her preference, thus she was always frowned upon with premature judgment.

When she was a kid, she would go home to her Nana, her grandmother, weeping with hot tears on her huge doe eyes.

Her kind Nana would always patiently dry her tears for her and explain that people were born naturally with some things out of control.

For example, her outrageous hair.

Now, at seventeen, it had turned as an asset.

Most boys – and girls – turned to admire her unique trait. It was quite eye-catching indeed. The boys would turn their heads out of sheer interest. Some would even whistle and cat-call her, much to her dismay.

…While the girls… would stare and glare with envy.

'They envy my outrageous hair? Nah. Probably the attention I'm getting.' Red thought glumly whenever she would catch some girls glowering at her as if she had committed some unforgivable heinous crimes.

'I didn't ask for the attention.'

Such was her sentiment most of the time, and right at this moment, when this particular boy by the name of Andrew had mischievously grabbed her red ponytail downwards, freeing her mane from its tie.

'He's at it again.'

A frown scrunched on her forehead when she had caught sight of the menacing smile on Andrew's face.

Oh, how strongly she had been reminded at that moment of how much she had wanted to cut her hair short or just wear a wig or dye it black or blonde or brown for a change.

But.

Nana loves her hair.

She would do anything for her Nana. She would give everything in her power if it would make her kind Nana smile.

After all, her Nana, her maternal grandmother, was the only one who stayed by her side, reared and raised her, in place of her parents who abandoned her.

She was a love-child who gave her mother the disgrace of a lifetime. Again, as if she asked her to be born. Her mother could have refused to have her if she had thought that having her would ruin her life.

Understandably, poof! Her mother fizzled into thin air when she had gotten a chance of her lifetime.

As for her father…

She had no idea.

Only her Nana stayed by her side and loved her unconditionally even if she was an unwanted child.

So, she loved her Nana back unconditionally. She would pour her love in all forms only for her Nana.

So if Nana likes seeing her outrageous but beautiful turquoise hair well-kept and long, she would keep it that way.

"Red!"

The boy called out her name again when she had not responded to him the first time. He snickered playfully as he waved her red tie in the air between his fingers. He's a boy of around a hundred and ninety centimeters tall with wide shoulders and a grinning head crowned with messy curly dark brown hair. His eyes the color of emerald taunted Red, as was his boyish grin that had not left his face ever since he had pulled his little prank.

"Andrew!!! What do you think you're doing?! Give it back!"

It was around two in the afternoon. Their subject, Physical Education was about to start.

All thirty students in their class waited obediently in sweatsuits but their teacher, Mr. Rhyne, was running late like he always was. The students already knew what to expect. It meant a good few minutes to goof around freely among themselves.

She surged forward like a raging bull with fire in her eyes and reached her hands towards her red tie in Andrew's grasp. "Give it back! You!"

"Hehehehe!" Andrew only taunted at her, just slowly taking a few steps backward while allowing the poor girl to stretch her body and limbs for the tie. "Can I keep it? Finders keepers, losers weepers!"

"You didn't find it! You grabbed it out of my hair, you thief! Give it back!"

Once and for all, she decided to halt the chase which Andrew had been enjoying tremendously. 'Why fall prey to his antics? Hmph.'

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glowered at him. "Fine! Keep it! Hmph! But this is the last time you're going to steal my hair tie!"

"Who says so?" He inched forward with an arrogant smirk on his face. He walked past her, repeatedly throwing the red hair tie in the air and catching in his palm back again.

"Do you have a fetish for hair ties?! That's disgusting –"

"By the way, I like your hair loose in the wind like that." His stare lingered at her face for a good few seconds before he sauntered off to where his friends were. The comment made her face unexpectedly hot. It made her feel so much more pissed.

She pouted her mouth as her frowning face dived into another level of a scowl. "Hmph, annoying brat."

"He's pestering you again." Red's friend and classmate, Maureen, side-commented helplessly when the boy had gotten out of earshot.

"You tell me." She sighed. "What did I do to deserve this hell of a treatment!"

Red had wanted to retort some sort of abrasive rebuttal to Andrew and go where he headed but Mr. Rhyne finally appeared for class. He blew on his whistle – a signal for all students to gather around him.

They were at the side of the track oval, surrounded by cherry blossom trees in full bloom. A soft breeze howled and wheezed through them and in between the petals that fell from the trees like snow.

She pranced gracefully towards the huddle, her long turquoise hair dancing in the air behind her. As she passed by Andrew, she unrestrainedly stomped on his rubber shoe.

"Ow!" He cried in pain.

"Whoops!" A smug smile lingered on Red's thin, pink lips. "My bad! Hehehe!"

To her dismay, Andrew shrugged the whole fiasco off!

"Tsk. No worries." He bobbed his open palm to and fro hinged on the wrist like the robotic paw of a golden Chinese cat figurine good-naturedly.

Rather than pleased, Red felt her annoyance skyrocketed into the neighboring galaxy!