The wild wind hit the gates of Mchalmmond High School, bringing a storm of resentment as Elsie arrived. She was raging with black colors from her eyebrows, lips, outfit, and pointed stilettos. Elsie marched, ignoring the stares of the students mocking her. She clenched her fists, pretending not to hear their judgment.
“Poor thing. Stan rejected her. She must have cried last night.”
“She shouldn’t have dreamed of being with him.”
“What made her think she has a chance?”
“Look at her. What an idiot.”
The girls giggled.
“Hey. You’ve become famous,” Cade said as he wrapped his arms around her shoulder.
Elsie didn’t respond. She stayed deadpan.
“So you were eyeing Stan all this time. What a cocky girl.”
“Having fun?” Elsie’s eyes flared.
“Don’t be so serious. You’re scaring me.”
Elsie twined his arm and pushed him away. “Aww!” Cade pointed his finger at her. “That is why no one likes you. You are an amazon.”
Elsie stopped at the fountain.
“Stop bugging me. I don’t need any of your unsolicited opinions.”
Cade closed his eyes and flipped the pages of his memory where he researched the words to comfort a brokenhearted person.
“You don’t deserve him,” Cade spoke with pride. Words of affirmation were not his thing; uttering those words gave him the confidence of a changed man.
Elsie’s shoulders became pliant.
‘It’s working,’ Cade thought when Elsie loosened her grip.
“Hold on. It makes sense. You don’t deserve him. Come to think of it, Stan is above average. He is handsome, tall, and smart. He has wit, leadership, and good character. While you are below the standard. That makes things easier. You can now move on.”
Elsie laughed sarcastically. “What do I expect from you? You’re like everyone else.”
“Why are you mad? Is it because everyone knows Stan rejected you? Or it’s because he doesn’t see you the way you see him? Listen. All he did for you was natural. Don’t put so much meaning into something he does for everyone. He is a gentleman. I know. He could be the most innocent while you fall for him really hard.”
Elsie turned to him. He didn’t expect her cry. It was the first time she shed tears in front of him. Her eyeliner melted and flowed down to her cheeks.
“I don’t blame him! I blame myself for being born without love! This lack of care and attention made me crave it. It’s not his face or his achievements. It’s about how he made me feel important and that I deserve to be happy despite my lack and flaws. Why would I bother telling you this? When all you cared about was yourself?”
“I saved you from the kidnappers…” Cade whispered.
“Together with Stan, Theo, and Lily. You weren’t alone, Curt. Give credit where credit is due.”
Cade stiffened as he nailed his feet to the ground. He peered at the streaming fountain and threw a coin into the water. They said that the fountain could grant one’s wishes from the heart. He was not a fool to believe, but he was desperate to try.
“What’s your wish?”
Cade composed himself when Lily appeared beside him.
“It’s a secret,” he replied.
“Come on. I won’t tell anyone.” Lily pulled the tip of his blazer.
With Lily’s adorable pout, Cade sighed. “I… I wish to have someone who accepts my lacks and flaws. It must be nice.” He carved a flat line on his lips. “So nice that being rejected by that person shatters your heart.”
Lily tapped his back and flashed a reassuring smile.
***
Elsie spent the lunch break painting the walls around the badminton court as part of the Drama Club’s project. She tied her hair and opened another set of colors. Each stroke of the brush made her mind at ease.
“Look who’s here. The poor girl who had the guts to confess to Stan.”
Elsie blew the strands of her hair covering her forehead.
“She’s ignoring us.”
“No one ignores us, especially this girl who was rejected by Stan.”
Emberlynn grabbed Elsie’s ponytail. Elsie looked at them from head to foot. They were wearing badminton attire. She then bit Ember’s wrist.
Ember screamed while staring at the red mark on her skin. “You witch!”
Her slap was crisp, and it left a mark on Elsie’s cheek, but she didn’t feel pain.
“I’m not in the mood to play with you. But since you started this, I shall join you,” Elsie said. She pulled Ember’s hand, grabbed the back of her head, and pushed it to the wall. The girls were horrified as Elsie pressed Ember’s cheek to the wall with all her might as she thought of crushing her skull. Ember was like a pig trapped in the hands of a butcher.
Elsie gasped when the cold and sticky paint soaked through her uniform. Ember’s friends trembled as they dropped the paint to the ground.
“So you want to be like her…” Elsie said, her sharp tongue piercing their knees.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The girls turned to the familiar voice behind them.
“I said… What the hell are you doing?” Stan raised his voice that even the students from the second floor heard him. Elsie slowly removed her hand from Ember’s head as her gaze met Stan’s menacing expression.
Ember was breathing heavily, touching her face that has rough traces and tiny red bumps from the wall’s kiss.
“It was her fault! She attacked me! Look what she has done to face! This shows that whatever she tries to do proves she doesn’t belong here. She’s a monster!” Ember said while pointing at Elsie.
“No wonder you rejected her.”
Stan clenched his jaws. “Emberlynn…”
A cunning smile formed on her lips as he mentioned her name in a seductive tone. “Yes, Stan?”
“If there’s someone who doesn’t belong here, it’s you. We’ve been told a million times to behave righteously and yet you keep on sparking a fire. There wouldn’t be a reaction without a stimulus. You keep on provoking Elsie. Mchalmmond doesn’t need someone like you. In fact, the school would be better off without you.”
Stan’s voice made her shiver.
“If you do something like this or spread a rumor, I will do everything in my power to expel you. I don’t care who your parents are or how wealthy you are. My family name is also quite an influencer. I can blow you away like a speck of dust on my fingertips. Do you get me?”
Stan shifted to Elsie. “And you. Follow me.”
Elsie didn’t move an inch, so Stan grabbed her wrist and dragged her away. Elsie pulled her hand away in the middle of the corridor. Stan looked at her for a few seconds. He removed her varsity jacket and gave it to her.
“Clean yourself.”
“I don’t need you.”
“I am still the President. Disobedience equals punishment.”
“You are power-tripping now, huh?”
“I’m sorry. Everything is my fault. This is the least I can do for you. Please allow me to take responsibility,” Stan muttered.
At a close distance, Cade was watching them while eating some popcorn.
‘He definitely likes her. Stan didn’t reject her. He said he likes what they had. If Stan couldn’t answer a simple question, it means he’s confused or weighing things out. He’s always careful with his words. But right now, I have figured him out. I know him since birth. When I say he likes her, it’s the truth. Besides, he said she’s yellow. His yellow,’ Cade thought.
Cade had been observing Stan the past few days—how he glanced at her. It wasn’t a simple concern or guilt. There was passion in his eyes that ordinary people couldn’t see. Cade wasn’t ordinary. He was his best friend and cousin. The person closest to Stan.
‘Stan may be cautious with his actions, but if there’s one thing he can’t hide, it’s his emotion. That eye of his says everything.’
Cade followed Stan to the library, eager to know why he didn’t confess his real feelings to Elsie. He sneaked behind every bookshelf Stan had passed by.
“What’s your business with me, Robertson?”
Cade leaped when Stan spoke.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Stan. I’m not following you.” Cade faked a laugh. “Hold on. Did you just call me by my real family name?” Cade’s eyes bulged out.
“Don’t worry. This is the most isolated place on campus. I could only count on my fingers the regular students who come here regularly.”
“Fine. I’ll be honest with you. I know you like Elsie. She wouldn’t be a laughingstock now if you told her how you really feel. So why did you do that?”
Stan pulled a book from the shelf.
“Do you know why Romeo and Juliet died?” Stan asked.
“Because Romeo’s plan failed. Juliet thought he was dead, so she drank the poison. Then Romeo killed himself too.”
“Romeo and Juliet died because they forced something that is not meant to be.”
“You mean their forbidden love?”
“Their families were rivals. They were not supposed to be together. They were destined to be separated, yet they cheated on their fate and ended up losing their life. When two different worlds collide, they destroy each other.”
“But Juliet was only 13 and Romeo was 16.”
“Exactly. They were young and naïve. They don’t know the power of love and its destructive nature. If you let love blind you, you’ll end up like them.”
“But their death united the two families. Their love didn’t go to waste.”
“I don’t want a love that kills, Robertson. I want a love that aims to survive.”
Cade knitted his brows. “So why did you not confess to Elsie?”
“You already got my answer.”