章節 7: Beauty (1)

'God, so irritating,' I originally walked in the corridor alone, but a particular girl clings to me and begins spouting about random shit in the morning. Well, I do accept her offer to 'befriend' her, but doesn't mean that she can go all in and acts like we're close friend. I cover my head with hoodie, hoping that no one in this corridor realizes that I'm with this noisy girl.

"Do you know Tyler? You know, the cool guy from our class, he is dating Amanda! OMG!" she says, trying to start the conversation with a gossip (I know Tyler, though, that fuck boy). I quickly walked out from the corridor and sitting quietly in my class. Yet, this girl– who is her name again? Oh, Diana. She keeps talking to me and sits next to me like it's something casual.

I glare at her, as scary as I can, but she keeps talking. Holy shit, she has so much energy to maintain her mouth. She starts getting on my nerves. I tap her shoulder to make her stop talking.

"Okay, what do you want?" I ask. She doesn't answer my question immediately, in contrary, she looks puzzled when I ask that.

"What do I want? Um… talking to a friend?" she answers.

"Then, tell me your so-called secret, the reason we're a friend now," I ask again, pressuring her to make it clear. To be honest, I'm only curious about her secret, as it is the only thing that bonds us as a friend.

She disagrees. "Soon. But not now, we need more time, so you will understand."

Understand what? I'm sure I have enough capability to understand basic things. Gee, this girl is undoubtedly irritating. But hastily asking her about the secret won't work, I guess. She doesn't want to reveal her secret now, nor to make this 'friend' thing ends sooner. I take a deep breath, trying not to snap in front of the class.

Mr. Anderson is our new math teacher. Diana said, he is quiet handsome, dress like your stereotypical new teacher, neat and clean with side-parted hairstyle and wide glasses. He is young, maybe six years older than the others and me too. I'm not really into flirting with a teacher, that's just gross. However, I can find dozen of girls in my school that disagrees with me. Those pussies must be wet from just watching him writing math formulas on the board.

He usually begins his teaching session with a fresh smile and ends it with a dreadful smile of disappointment, because no one in the class can answer his test. Well, today is different for all of us. Because of someone's able to answers his question, it was Diana, the one and only.

"Me! Me! Me!" Diana raises her hand eagerly. It's a shocking moment when Diana, the noisy dumb girl, voluntarily comes forward. Mr. Anderson gives her the marker. Diana faces the whiteboard for thirty-second, looks like she is trying to solve the problem– or just standing there like an idiot.

Miraculously, I don't know how she gains that superpower. She is able to solve the problem. She writes like an expert. Even Mr. Anderson left stunned by her incredible skill. She nearly appears a genius child.

"Wow– that's perfect! Amazing. Everybody, give applause to your friend here!" command Mr. Anderson, but he is the only one that clapped his hand. All of us are still stunned by her jaw-dropping-smart-as-shit brain.

She also impressed me, but I sense something fishy. She is famous as the dumb airhead, and I doubt that she study for this. Hell, she didn't even pass the basic math.

She sits as the cool and composed person for a while, and then she burst into her previous self. "OMG! DID YOU SEE ME THERE? OMG, I WAS LIKE, SO GENIUS!"

See, I know something is fishy. I close my ear because her voice is deafening. I think Mr. Anderson will let Diana destroys the entire class, just because she is the one who can answer his super hard question. Bear with it Andra, bear with it.

Mrs. Baker teaches English. It sounds so easy, but no, she never tolerates one small mistake on the test, and on your behavior. The class will be dead serious when she teaches in front of the class. That's why it is a huge discouragement to solve the question she gives, one small mistake, and shame-shame-shame.

Another surprise, someone is actually brave enough to solve the entire question she gave. No small mistake, not even a single damned mistake. She sweeps it all on her feet. Yeah, it is Diana again. She impresses Mrs. Baker, and I'll be the victim of her loud, high-pitched voice. Shit.

As the lunchtime comes, Diana drags me to the cafeteria. This time, she doesn't drag me like a child at the dentist. I'm particularly interested with her. What kind of trick she uses to be praised by the teachers. It is nearly impossible if she does that on her own. We sit on the table near the window. Diana wants to watch the handsome Tyler doing his basketball trick near the field. Interesting… I guess?

I leer at Diana, watching her using the phone more frequent than usual. "You're so smart, huh?" I scorn.

"Of course, can you see my incredible skill earlier? I'm so ama—"

"I wonder, what kind of trick did you use," I ask immediately to cut her blabbering.

"I'm smart. I just want to show it now. I mean, My IQ is—" she lies. Of course, she tries to avoid it

"I don't believe it," I cut it again, "Tell me. Or I'll tell the whole school that you did—"

"Fine. Fine. Gee, that's not fair," she pouts. I smirk, despite not telling me this one super important secret, she told me everything about her. Including her crush, her thought, and her deepest secret. That's why I never believe that she actually has a brain. No such decent human would tell someone about her life so quickly.

She drinks the orange juice, and then she opens her mouth, "Do you know that new student who transferred?"

A new student? Never heard of it. I think it's just because I don't care about my surrounding. However, a new student would usually become a hot gossip for a week or more in my class. I've heard nothing from this new student.

"You don't? Gee, how ignorant are you," mocks Diana. I rolled my eyes. Well, sorry for not being such a gossip whore. "He had transferred about two weeks ago. He usually sits behind you. Well, he looks dull, maybe that's why no one in school ever gives thoughts about him," she explains.

"So, what's with this new student?" I ask dispassionately. I don't have any interest to a new student, nor to another student. Diana looks around to make sure no one listen to our conversation. She is slowly whispering to me, "He is the one that gave me the answer," she smiles mischievously. I look at her, baffled. Why would he do that? I mean, he can answer it by himself. He literally gives all the credits to this sly bitch in front of me. But, well, I think he may have his own reason. Diana is just lucky because someone helped her. And I'm not wrong when I say she cannot answer all of those hard questions, alone.

"So, do you want to get perfect A for all subjects? I can ask him," Says Diana. I reject it wholeheartedly. Not interested in befriending other people, just that.

I listen her babbling until the bell ring. I wait for the next teacher to come, but then, I realize that I'm quite curious about this genius guy that gave Diana the answer. I take a glimpse to the guy behind me.

He is still sitting, eating a weird black jam. He is thin and pale. He has a black hair, uses neat clothes and looks so… plain. Just like what Diana described. I rolled my eyes. I thought that genius guy would be more interesting than your average Joe. It turns out that he is even more average than an average Joe.

Diana is still persistent to follow me to my house. I thought she'd be discouraged after I screamed at her face two days ago. I took back my apology for her. It seems like she doesn't even care if I push her to the cliff. She is also still persistent about buying me food from Michael's Seven. Don't know what kind of shady restaurant is that.

"I can treat you, as much as you want!" she promotes. I sigh, if I don't want to go with her. She'll cling to me until I accept it, right? We walk to The Michael's Seven. She said that place is not too far from here, but actually, it is far. I can feel my leg cramped. After we arrived, I'm perplexed by how different the storefront is. The combination of magenta and black gives the calming atmosphere to me, added by a finely dressed man in front of the restaurant. It caught me off guard. I thought this restaurant would be ridiculous because Diana seems to like it so much. I follow her to the front door. The finely dressed man just greets Diana and let her come inside.

"Let me treat you, you can eat anything!" she says while holding the door. I nod. She opens the door only for me to find a moderately crowded place, but not noisy. They all speak quietly in order not to disturb other people. They all also finely dressed, the women are using lovely dress, dark blue, black, purple, and beautifully speaking like a royal. I like this place already. However, compared to our clothes, our way of speaking, we look out of the place.

I frown in doubt. This restaurant doesn't appear to be a cheap one. I doubt that Diana will be able to pay anything without selling her body in this place. Diana drags me to one small blue door on the upper floor of the restaurant. I read the door sign, Daniel Rothe. Diana opens the door like it's nothing serious. I stand in front of the door. I don't follow her immediately, fearing that it'll be impolite.

I can hear Diana excitingly speaking to someone behind the door. She drags me in, and introduces me to a middle-aged man. He uses an elegant suit, just like the others. I start to wonder, what kind of relation does Diana has with this man. Could it be, prostitution? Just kidding, no one would hire Diana because she is ugly.

"Dad, this is my new friend and a good friend of mine! Andra Daslove," she says. I look at the middle-aged man in front of me. Is he Diana's father? He dressed like a fine man. Is this, that kind of daddy? But he looks like a gentleman, and he and Diana don't resemble each other. The only thing that they resemble is the surname.

"Andra Daslove, isn't it? Thank you for being a friend of my unbefitting daughter," he says with a gentle tone.

"I—I'm not…" I forcefully stop my mouth to spout about our agreement. "Sure, Mr. Rothe, Diana is… a good friend of mine," I say shamelessly. Oh god, I'll never say that again, ever. Mr. Rothe and I face each other, both of us try to analyze each other. He may think that I might be a bad influence on his daughter. Believe me, if Diana ever has a real friend, that person might also be an idiot.

Diana breaks the silent and asks his father for food. I'm so embarrassed when she asks that. It's not like, I only want to befriend Diana because of fancy food. Wait, befriend? Nah, I never want to be her friend, it is just because of that agreement. Yes, the agreement or whatever it is. Mr. Rothe agrees and dials someone on the telephone. Thirty-seconds later, he approved.

"You can play in here my office, but don't be loud. Remember, don't disturb the guests," he says. I think I knew why Diana is so childish and loud. It's because she is treated like a little kid that needs to be reminded every second. But, it is nice for him to have a good father… never mind.

Mr. Rothe is a good man. He surely knows how to be a good father, but I don't think that being so sensitive is suitable in here. Diana has been talking for a while, but it's just another kind of nonsense again, so I don't even care about it. The thing that keeps me interested is a fish tank with a red-scaled Arowana inside it. I've heard that this fish is expensive, so, Diana might come from a wealthy family.

"Your dad owns this restaurant?" I ask.

"Yeah, Michael Seven is a new fine-dining restaurant. But dad had opened a new branch in another city," Says Diana, "Our business is growing…" she stops and left her words hanging in the air, she wants to say something, but she keeps it shut. Diana's cheerful expression suddenly becomes troubled.

I watch her pained expression. I don't know why, but she has a problem, just like me. The face of emptiness and confusion, I felt that before. We're trapped in a long silence. I never emerge a conversation. Diana is always the one who emerge a talk between us or to be more specific, a talk between her and herself.

Diana's father calls us and asks us to go to the kitchen for our food. I thank him before I go with Diana, which is very rare, I only say thank you to some of my very close relatives (if I have any). The kitchen is full of swarming cooks who take order from the head chef. I hold the door because I felt dizzy with all of this crowd and a loud scream from one to another. It's too much.

"I'll take your order," Says Diana. She comes to the head chef and takes my food. Diana hands off two baskets full of foods. I can even smell the rich flavor from the basket. I look at Diana and hesitantly take the basket. I never received anything from anyone except Mrs. Dowle. And I don't know how to thank someone.

"Well, because you bring the food to home, we can't make it as beautiful as on the plate. But the taste is surely the same. Be careful, not to drop it," she says and winks. I stand awkwardly, unable to say anything, nor a single thank.

"I need to go home," I say, I open the kitchen door and left Diana, I catch a glimpse of her, seeing her smiling. See, this is why she is such a dumb bitch. She should've been angry at me because I didn't even say a single thanks to her. After that, I can finally ignore her and left this damned agreement, but why is she so persistent!

I'm still thinking about how kind Diana is. I don't want to be stuck with another person. I think I make a mistake by accepting her agreement to be a friend.

I walk to my house with two heavy baskets in my hand. I don't worry about mother, though. Because she said, she is busy and probably won't come back until tomorrow morning. About my sister- Alska won't be mad I bring all of this tasty food to home.

I let a little crooked smile. "Thanks, Diana."