53 Normality 1 (1/2)
It was around 8:55 am in the morning. Friday.
Wendy Gomez quietly furrowed her brows as she watched two figures walking side by side in the distance. One of them was someone very familiar to her. The long and straight hair that used to be black was now dyed dark blonde, but the girl's slightly upturned brown eyes, tall nose, nicely-shaped lips, and oval face revealed to her that it was Steffany Mendez, her best friend's pretty and cheerful adopted sister. She was walking very close to a male student which made Wendy blinked a couple of times. Steffy must be having a joyful conversation with the male student besides if she could laugh and smile like that.
As Wendy stayed seated inside her classroom, her gaze went passed the opened window next to her and onto the pair making their way probably toward the gymnasium. Their current PE attire was suggesting this. Besides, she could also see other students their age wearing the same uniform going in the same direction. The sight of these group of lively junior students marching in batches was not really entertaining, but she couldn't look away because she knew who the girl was.
”Steffy is with that swimmer?” She raised a brow and muttered under her breath, the last word uttered with disapproval.
In fact, she also knew the male student. Their school publication listed this fine male specimen as one of the male gods of the campus, the counterpart of people like her and Sofony. His name was Julius Gonzaga, younger brother of the current student government president, and a well-known member of the swimming club. He was from tenth grade which meant Wendy had limited contact with him, but even so, she knew the guy was not a decent one. When she claimed he's not decent, she was not basing it on any bad rumors of hearsays regarding him.
Julius' tanned complexion and handsome face made him very popular to female students, a fact he perfectly knew and took advantage of. It's because of this guy's Casanova reputation in school which was only a level lower than Floyd that Wendy frowned. Him associating with Sofony's sister was not a welcomed matter for her.
'Everyone knows Sofony's very protective of her sister. He's annoyingly daring.'
When the first break arrived, she promptly left her seat and walked out of the noisy classroom. From time to time she would pause walking and chat a bit with her friends and acquaintances on the hallway, but she didn't dilly-dally for long. Her destination was naturally the tenth grader's building diagonally across her grade's building.
A sigh escaped from her lips after stepping into the three-story high building. Given that Sofony never mentioned her sister being close to the school government's president's brother, it meant that Sofony was not aware of this. If only Sofony was not absent today due to the flu, Wendy would have nagged her to warn her sister about Julius. Sadly, her friend was not around. Now, in her best friend's stead, it would be her job to somehow leave a warning to that playboy's face.
When she came into Steffy's classroom, Steffy's group of friends were still there and probably had no intention to grab some snacks from the cafeteria. They were busy chatting, sometimes laughing and joking around, but just exactly when Wendy appeared on the doorway, she heard a name she usually didn't encounter.
”...Felicity?”
”You're new so you must not be aware. People in our school rarely talk about it given that it's about our school's two recent scandals.”
”---Probably the most intriguing yet creepy scandals.”
”Yeah. I get it. Don't interrupt me. So, Steffy. Who's Felicity, you ask?”
The voice belonging to her friend's sister rang as Wendy walked towards them. Steffy's circle was at the back but since there were few students remaining inside, the room was not as noisy, and she could hear the girls surrounding Steffy.
”Ahm, well, I ask only because Mikey mentioned about her in History class. She seems popular, but I don't see her name on the bulletins.”
”I see. Actually, we have to start with Teacher Agatha's case. Oh, before I forgot, Teacher Agatha is one of the prettiest teachers here. Unfortunately, a bastard named Floyd Cruz murdered her. And another unfortunately, this bastard is Felicity's boyfriend.”
”Girl, your language, please. And you're side-tracked. You have to start with saying that Felicity is a student here. I mean, she was. She's from Class F, a first-year senior high student. I think she's a friend of Miss Wendy and your sister. I'm not sure if they're close to each other, but I'm sure they're friends. Sadly, she's already...” The girl speaking uncomfortably looked away and dryly coughed.
Steffy made a confused expression but then later got the meaning when the girl soundlessly mouthed the word.
”Is that the scandal? She... died? Murder?”
”Yes, and, no. She did pass away, suicide, and probably it's been a month already. But the scandals are...” the one speaking paused, ”First, it's her boyfriend killing Teacher Agatha after raping her. Second, it's her sexy videos suddenly spreading on the internet. Since the two incidents happened one after another, with both of them getting involved, it became a very controversial topic in our academy.”
”Talks and rumors stopped after a week though.”
”Well, it's not like the school will let bad words spread out. You know, who wants to enroll in a school where two deaths occurred? What if people become scared, thinking our school has become haunted?”
”Haunted?” Steffy puzzlingly interjected. At this point, she already noticed Wendy walking to them but she only nodded at her and turned back again to the one she asked. There was an unexplicable curiosity budding for the infamous girl of rumors and it was making her want to know more.
”Ah, she's just speaking nonsense. Well, some are making up stories.”
”They're saying Felicity's spirit is haunting the school and she has shown herself to her ex-boyfriend's gang.”
”Actually, I'm uncomfortable talking about her, how about we stop? I pretty much prefer gossiping on Steffy's closeness with our section's yummilicious hunk.”
When Wendy saw the girl being interrogated laughed, she smiled wryly and erased Felicity's name from her head.
”We're not close. If you're expecting some juicy gossip from me, I suggest you give up,” Steffy pouted and clarified. Her four friends clearly didn't buy it and only began to tease her.
At first, Wendy was frowning, but she slightly laughed when Steffy pleadingly looked at her as if she's asking to be brought out of the hot seat. She gladly spoke up though. It was her intention all along to take Steffy away.
A few minutes later, Wendy was seen confronting a good-looking boy somewhere in the tenth grade building. She had her arms crossed under her modest chest, her head raised high as she eyed the tanned boy condescendingly. Nobody knew how their conversation goes, but a few bystanders witnessed Steffy fleeing from there to the rest room with hands covering her face.
.. .. .. .. ..
”---You won't get in their way, you say?”