"Cerise, you know that I'm new in the school, unlike you who have been in the sa middle school with them. Do you know so people I have to watch out for?"
"So people you have to watch out for?" Cerise paused. I heard her humming a few tis, probably considering whether it was safe enough to spill.
But in the end, she just answered my question with, "I… I think everyone can be friends. U—um… Emmy, you're a beautiful girl, just be yourself, and people will befriend you…."
I scoffed as I heard the answer from Cerise. I knew that she was just sweet-talking because she was also scared.
The thing I didn't like the most about Cerise was her cowardly nature. She said similar things in the previous tiline to , telling that I would be well-liked as long as I stayed true to myself and acted naturally.
Yeah, I knew she ant no harm, but her sweet encouragent was also one of the reasons why I acted like a clown. Because I thought as long as I acted naturally, I would be well-liked.
But I understood her concern. She was just trying to be nice since we were yet to be close friends.
Though, I didn't need her 'encouragent' for now. I needed her to keep talking and spilling tea, so I could get so idea about Kristen's secret.
Cerise told that she knew Kristen's secret in the previous tiline, but she didn't dare spill it because she was afraid.
I should've urged Cerise to spill the beans in the previous tiline when we were really close before she had to move away. Now I was stuck as a stranger, and it would take a while until we could be good friends.
But I didn't have enough ti, I only have six months. No, if we were talking about precaution, I only had one to two months to know the secret from Cerise before I needed to plan a good confrontation with Kristen.
"Thanks, Cerise. But like, I'd love it if you tell so stuff, you know. I heard from so people there were people you should avoid at any cost."
"I—I never heard anything like that…."
I knew Cerise would dodge again, "Really? So you're saying there was no bullying during your middle school years?"
"…"
I heard no answer from Cerise, which made assu that her defense had started crumbling. I tried to rember which girl Cerise ntioned in the previous tiline, the girl who bullied Cerise a lot during her middle school years.
"Cerise? Are you there?"
"Yeah…"
"Eh, what's with the silence? Are you alright?" I asked. "You know, I just want to be safe in high school. I don't want to get gossiped about and bullied."
"… Yeah, I understand," Cerise replied. I understood that Cerise also had a trauma of her own. From what she told in the previous tiline, she had been bullied terribly in middle school. She just got bullied less in high school because there was a new girl more interesting to bully, poor, naive, weaker, and acted stupid most of the ti.
And that girl was .
The only thing I rembered about Cerise ntioning the middle school bully was the way she looked down on Cerise for being 'the girl whose slly mom cleaned trash' because Cerise's mom was a janitor.
I forced my brain to rember anything about Cerise, as detailed as it could.
It took a while until I got a lead once I rembered the sa girl who mocked in the morning for being so humble and down to earth, like a worm.
It was like a light bulb lit up in my head, I cleared my throat and continued, "Yeah, did you know that soone actually insulted on my first day. She called very down to earth, like a worm! Gosh, how can people be so rude!"
"Wha!?" Cerise finally reacted. I could hear the sound of sothing dropping, probably because of her overreaction. "Who said that?" Cerise asked.
"That girl's na is Ashley. I don't know who she is, but she just insulted and left," I replied.
"Ashley…"
There was an obvious hostility in Cerise's voice when she called that na. I smirked as I finally rembered the na of the bully.
Well, not really a bully. I rembered that Ashley never directly bullied anyone, but her poisonous tongue would push soone into the gutter, and she would let the rest of the bullies gang up on the victim.
While she watched like a nonchalant queen at the top, just because she could shove everyone's mouth shut with her money.
"Ashley also insulted my mom once, leaking to everyone about my mom's job. Because my mom works in her dad's office as a j—" Cerise paused again, then she asked, "Emmy, you wouldn't feel disgusted to befriend even though I'm poor, right?"
"Huh? Why would I? I'm also not well-off. My parents are divorced, and my mom only works as a receptionist," I ntioned lightly. I wanted to give Cerise a sense of security and camaraderie.
"Okay, I trust you, Emmy. So my mom is a janitor working in Ashley's company, well, her dad's company, to be exact. And Ashley called my mom a 'toilet cleaner' in front of everyone back in middle school."
"Is that the reason they bullied you?"
"Kind of, they started giving so of their leftover lunch, telling it's a donation, in case I don't have enough money to eat…."
"Cerise, I'm sorry to hear that…." I actually understood her pain. I experienced the sa thing after Ashley told everyone about my living conditions with governnt help, and they also did the sa thing to .
"Ahaha… thank you, Emmy. But it's alright, at least I have one friend in middle school, though not anymore, haha—" Cerise laughed dry after she ntioned her only middle school friend.
I grinned when I heard her ntioning her ex-friend. Of course, it was that one friend.
"Not anymore? What happened?" I asked curiously.
"It's a long story. But we're not friends anymore. Though, we are still in the sa school as her right now."
"Really? What's her na? Maybe I've been in the sa class as her before."
"Her na is Kristen, Kristen Suite."
Jackpot.
The grin on my face grew wider as I started prying, "I think she is in the sa class as . I saw her na in History class' student list."
"What happened between you two? Is she one of the girls I have to watch out for?
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