CANBERRA ACT, AUSTRALIA.
ELVIS HILL HIGH SCHOOL.
10:00 am.
Phidel sat in the library with her friends, Cora and Luna working on their Literature research work. She had her eyes fixed on the textbook but was spacing out. She felt something was unusually off but couldn't place a hand on it. She was so engulfed in her thoughts and didn't even hear Luna's call.
"Phidel..?, Phidel..?" She called once again, making a gentle tap on the table but Phidel was just lost. Cora glanced at Phidel and then at Luna, exchanging quizzical looks. "What's wrong with her?" Cora whispered and Luna shrugged. "I don't know." She murmured sharply, glancing back at Phidel.
Cora nudged Luna, tilting her head in Phidel's direction. "Why don't you find out?" she suggested. All along, Phidel was not aware of her environment. "Why am I feeling so down today? Could this be about Phidelia?" she grumbled mentally to herself, checking down on her watch. "It's 10 am, that means it's noon in the Netherlands. Phidelia will be at lunch now. Guess I can give her a call." she was about to check her bag for her phone when Luna flipped her fingers before her eyes. She merely lifted her eyes and for the first time noticed the quizzical looks on their faces.
"Are you okay?" Luna queried.
"Yes, I'm fine," she murmured hastily picking up her phone. "Excuse me," she uttered and without waiting for another word from her friends, pushed her chair back, jolted up from her seat, and rushed towards the exit.
"Hey–?" Cora mumbled with her hand stretched out but paused with pursed lips, considering where they were at that moment. She hastily brought her hand down and deftly glanced at Luna who was by herself, confused. "What happened to her?" she whispered.
Luna stared thoughtfully at Cora. "Could this be about her sister?" She mumbled skeptically. "Think about it, she only becomes sensitive when it comes to issues about her."
"I think you're right," Luna commented and they both glanced worriedly at the already faded back of Phidel and let out a deep sigh.
Phidel glided into the corridor of the library shuffling through her phone for Phidelia's number which was not difficult to find as they'd been keeping contact with each other. It just took a few flips and there it was. She dialed the number, leaning her back on the pillar in wait as it connected.
It rang for about 10 minutes but there was no reply. She winced with apprehension, "I hope this is not about her asthma." she grumbled, trying the number again but there was still no answer. "Gosh–" she scoffed, ruffling her hair. "This is driving me crazy." she was about to try the number once again when it suddenly clicked. "Why don't I try Auntie Emma's number? Yeah, let's do just that." She scanned through her contact list for her auntie's number.
She instantly dialed it without hesitation the moment she spotted it. "Pick up auntie," she muttered impatiently as she waited for her auntie to pick up but there was no answer from her end either. At that moment, the bell rang for lessons. "Seriously?" she scoffed, retreating to the library in quite a bad mood.
She sauntered in to see the quiet library she earlier left in quite a rumpus as students gathered their books to leave their classrooms.
Luna and Cora were also busy packing their books into their bags and didn't even see when Phidel walked up to them. "Let's go." she furiously snatched her bag from her seat and headed towards the exit.
"H–hey! wait for us." Luna exuded as they hurriedly picked up their bags and the rest of the books yet to be packed and rushed off after her. Their movement was so swift that Cora's books fell from her hands. "Damn it," she grumbled, quickly gathering the books and going off after them.
*******
WESLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Tina finally let go of Claire's hair after Phidelia accepted to do as she was not. Claire slightly shook her head, gesturing Phidelia not to do it but then, she had already made up her mind and nothing was going to stop her. She glanced at the staring gazes fixed on her and slowly went on her knees, a bit hesitant.
Isla trod into the canteen with her friends to meet the gathered crowd. She glanced skeptically around not knowing what was going on. "What's going on here?" she questioned but everybody was busy taking video of what was going on. She stretched her neck to see things for herself but it was useless. "Hold this for me, Nia." She handed her headset to her friend and managed her way through the crowd.
Getting to the front, her eyes instinctively flew wide open with the sight that met her eyes. Phidelia slowly sent her face to Tina's shoes, teary-eyed about to lick the mess off when Tina scoffed lifting her foot to Phidelia's face and smearing it on her face. "You should know your place you little low life." She uttered and Bella, Roxy, and herself roared into laughter. "Let's go girls." She took the lead and her friends hurried after her.
At that instant, the tears that were locked in Phidelia 's eyes freely flowed down her cheeks. She had felt weak before, she had felt misery before but never in her life had she felt this much embarrassment.
She broke into uncontrollable tears as she got up on her feet and ran off to the washroom.
"Delia..!" Both Claire and Isla called and raced after her. The whole hall was thrown onto a rumpus with everybody talking about what just happened.
Just as Phidelia got to the washroom, she rushed in and slammed the door locked. She sauntered over to the sink, staring at her reflection through the mirror as her tears kept flowing.
"Hey Delia!" she heard Claire's voice from the door.
"Open up Delia." She heard Isla tapping the door but there was no way she was going to let anyone in. She hastily opened the tap amidst tears and washed the mess from her face. She glanced at herself in the mirror once again and hated herself for what she was.
"Why is this happening to me!" she shouted amidst tears, slamming the T-roll into the mirror as she retreated backward; leaning her back on the door of one of the urinals.
"Why am I like this?" She grumbled, slowly sliding to the floor as she cried her heart out. The pain was so unbearable that she couldn't keep it in anymore.
"Open up Delia!" Isla and Claire kept knocking on the door. They tried their best to make her open up but their persistence wasn't paying off.
"You guys should leave me alone." She shouted amidst tears. "Please...." She cried and cried until she started to feel suffocated. She couldn't breathe well anymore. She felt like her life was slipping out of herself under her very eyes. It was so unbearable. She started to gasp for breath. She reached into her pocket for her inhaler but it wasn't with her.
Isla and Claire were still knocking on the door when they suddenly heard Phidelia gasping for breath. Fear of panic quickly rushed through their faces. "Her inhaler." Isla glanced at Claire. "Is her inhaler with her?"
"No." she hastily replied. "I don't think so. She left her bag."
"Go, go get it now. I will find ways to get the door open. Hurry!" Not wasting another second Claire rushed off, just as she turned to the corridor after the washroom, she ran into Rowan with his bag and Phidelia's. "Hey, where is Delia." He glanced over her shoulders in search of Phidelia. "I heard about what happened from the students. Where is she?"
Totally out of breath, Claire gulped down a loop of saliva. "Thank goodness you're here. Hurry, come." She ignored his question and pulled him along.