Chapter II:

Deceive Me Not

I forgot to change the batteries of my alarm clock.

I missed my daughter getting ready for her school.

My mother made me breakfast.

I wasn’t able to gas up my car.

I am late for my first period.

“What kind of a mother am I?!” I hissed in annoyance as I cursed my short legs. I literally ran to my classroom that happened to be on the 4th floor of the building. I didn't bother to ride the elevator since it has a long line of students. I remember that there is going to be pop quiz, so I'm determined to take it by running my way up.

But fate has different plans for me for today, my chest tightened and I realized my stupidity once again. I kneeled immediately and I think my patellar bone just broke. But that’s the least of my problems right now. I rummaged through my handbag. “. It’s in the other bag.”

It became harder to breathe and my vision began to get blurry. Sweat started to trickle down my forehead as my eyes rapidly searched for something that can lessen my hard breathing.

“Do you need help?”

I looked up at the figure in front of me and hastily grabbed her wrist. No more embarrassment, I just need to live for faks sake! I still have a child to raise and my future fans are waiting for me to sing.

“I need a bag.” I sounded pathetic and I think I scared the person infront of me based from her horrified look she's giving me.

“O-okay, here you go.”

She dumbly gave me her backpack. I impulsively smacked her forehead with my bare palm.

“I am about to die and you have the time to joke around!” I was able to say that between breaths. This girl’s an idiot.

She rubbed her reddened forehead and worriedly looked at my face which I believe is not attractive, “But you said you need a bag!” she replied as she stood up and ran away from me in lightning speed.

“That .” That girl left me. She freaking left me to die. But no worries, I can- *inhale-exhale* manage-*inhale-exhale* by myself *inhale-exhale*.

“Okay I just need to calm myself down” I thought to myself as I slowly stood up and fixed my bag on my shoulder. I clutched my chest, trying to calm down my tachycardia; I still had a hard time breathing.  I angrily punched the floor feeling helpless and weak.

"I hate this."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My hopes went up when I heard running footsteps nearing me.

“Here, I got you a paper bag. The clinic doesn’t have an inhaler, seems like our school is too stingy to afford one.”

That was fast. But finally, this girl has some common sense after all. I weakly grabbed the paper bag and pathetically breathed and exhaled through it.

She stared at me with fascination while showing the girl my professional blowfish act by using the brown paper bag; I finally got to take a good look at the person in front of me. Obviously a girl with style but…

The girl noticed me staring at her attire, she smiled proudly and winked at me like a dork, “I know right, I got them on sale. Who knew that these can be so cheap? And people are complaining how expensive they are. Those people don’t have skills.”

After I got my normal breathing back, I smirked and tried to hide my smile. But the girl saw it and removed her razors that revealed her questioning eyes.

Oh my god. “It’s her!” I knew it. The body build and voice are so familiar.

“A-ah y-you, d-don’t you remember me?” I asked dumbfounded, “A-are you following me?!”

She scoffed and ruffled my hair, “Are you joking me? Why would I follow you? I don’t even know you.”

Tilting my head to the side, I raised a brow, how could she forget about me—I gasped. I fixed my thick reading glasses at the bridge of my nose and studied my plain school outfit. I tend to keep a low profile in school to prevent too much attention.

The tall girl squinted her eyes as she closed our distance, intently studying my face. “Hmm…you know what, you look familiar. Have we met before?”

“No I just made a mistake; I thought you were my high school friend.”I pushed her lightly and busied myself by fixing my messed up curled hair. She continued to survey me from head to toe, looking like a ert. I continued to ignore her by looking to the opposite direction.

Sometime later, I felt a cold breeze on my lower body. I decided to just thank her anyway for the trouble and not reveal my true self to her. But as soon as I turned my head, “She’s gone.”

I shrugged my shoulders and started to walk but something’s pulling my skirt…that’s weird. I looked down and dumbly stared at a sitting girl holding my skirt up, “You have nice underwear, is that a Victoria’s secret?”

Ringing of the school bell indicating the end of first period

Painful slapping of the skin.

Bustling of student coming out from their rooms

Everything happened so fast. I found myself fuming mad and kicking a lifeless body on the floor. The girl groaned in pain, holding her stomach. She clicked her tongue and gave me one of her glares.

A crowd started to pile up and surrounded the two of us. We continued our staring game and the sounds at the background went mute.

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