SHE EXUDES CALMNESS and the word 'rush' did not exist in her dictionary as her steps were calm and moderate even as the sun slowly slipping away and the sky had turned red. Looking at her silhouetted reminded him of that small girl, he had always taken care of before he ran away from that orphanage. The scars and bruised and even their character was astonishingly identical that it made him scared sometimes. He heaved out a heavy sigh.
Stella's white shoes caught his attention. The left side of her shoes was milky white while the right side of her shoes was in traumatize state that was done with a dip into a mixture of ketchup, soy sauce, cooking oil, ink, and otherworldly ingredient that he could not register due to the onslaught odor. Almost every day he saw his desk mate got bullied with whatsoever possible method a child could concoct and not to mention the hideous words they had sent her way.
It was an unsightly situation that he really does not want to involve yet he felt heavy to just sit by and do nothing when she was clearly needed the help. Deep down his pride self slowly withered and shame seems to be his loyal companion. Not to mention that—a couple of months ago—he had shrunk away from his responsibilities. Such selfish behavior is unforgivable.
"Stella!"
At that moment, when he lifted his face, he thought that he had seen the most beautiful girl in his entire eight-year of life that his heart literally stopped for a while. Her wild golden corn hair shone brighter even under the twilight light and that made her cheeks that dusted with few red speckles looked pinkish red. He did not expect to be attacked by such force when his heart was defenseless more so to come from Stella's little sister.
When he thought that he can regain his composure, he was once again had to stop his step midway as his eyes met the girl's blue-green eyes. His cheeks instantly flared red.
"Your friend, Stella?" she asked in her squeaky cute voice.
This time, it was Stella who that turned to look at him. Although he cannot imagine how that face would scrutinize him, he could very much assume what she thinks. It was not that hard to guess and even before his desk mate could open her mouth, he intervened her.
"I'm Gitto, Stella's desk mate and I live here," he said so fast and also the longest sentence he ever spoke that week. His forefinger pointed to the window of the apartment situated across the girls' house. "That's my room, over there. Good night," he offered without even waiting for a reply and ran furiously towards the steps of the apartment, opened the door and slammed shut it. Bang!
His mind was playing many wild accusations of the girls' reaction when he running up the stairs and he could not cover how trembled his hands were when he was searching for his room key. When he entered his room, he could hear Stella's little sister pearl of laughter that it made his heart skipped a beat like a fool even after what just happened. He inched closer to the window and took a peek at the girls, still lingering in front of their house.
"Why are you laughing?" he heard Stella asked her little sister. Although it was faint, he could make out the words.
"I didn't know you had... an interesting friend?"
Gitto grinned hearing it.
"Come." Stella's little sister reached for Stella's elbow then she halted. Her face changed from one to another so fast that he barely caught it. She smiled as if what he saw was a trick that Gitto's eyes were playing with him but he knew what made that girl reacted so.
It was the shoes.
Gitto slumped his body against the wall, his hands on his face. His fascination with Stella's little sister was forgotten.
"Mother and father are waiting for us to eat dinner."
He saw her. She was shocked and angry at the same moment in that fast interchange that he thought that there was no way those two could be sister when one could show such emotions and Stella none. Nothing in her voice, nothing in her gait and none in any made him realize that his desk mate was bully for this weakness and he does nothing.
Such shame... unforgivable.
BOTH OF HER shoes somehow had magically turned up cleaner and whiter than before. No more suspicious colouring or uninviting odor that she thought came from a various mixture of pets' excrement and cat's vomit. All day, she had been staring at her shoes, her mind wandering to her little sister's back who had taken up her defiled shoe and get it cleaned. That night she had been acting nonchalant but she saw Lily crept up the hall and secretly took her shoes away and cleaned it. Though she got busted after finishing it, it was an act that brought a meaningful moment to her dull emotionless life.
Then she felt the presence of three familiar persons that never cease to understand the meaning of boredom because any other kids in this school who had bullied her had somehow stop bullying her at some point but these three never failed to visit her every day to either mock her or push her or whatever they think could bring satisfaction to their humor self.
"Well, well, it's sparkly clean!" said one of the boys. He was short, a lot shorter than Stella and definitely not cute by the standard.
"Everyone can see that dork," said the only girl of the group. She wore the expression of a bored kid who stuck with either doing house chore or grate the dried leaves which both tasks made her little sister left much desirable sighed for their mother to hear.
"Clean shoes mean more dipping. Where did we leave our special concoction?" said the leader of the group. He was big and burly for a nine-year-old kid. His eyes were fierce and many kids did not even dare to fight back whenever he involved.
Stella raised from her seat. Her desk mate was gone nowhere to be found as soon as class ends. Well, she did not have any wish for someone to save her from this childish fights and she knew no one would step up to help her. She was the anti-social freak, the emotionless-human-doll; Stella Ghotham. Associating with her meant they were acknowledging her flaws as something common and curable.
"Not today," she said. After what Lily had done for her, she cannot let these kids ruin them simply for their satisfaction.
The three of them exchanged glances and snickered. "We don't care stick."
"I don't care either," Stella replied.
"Look, how about we do it like this. You run..." the leader, Kai said with a grin so wide that he might tear his cheek of he continued to smile like that for the next minute. "...we catch. And if you lose..." His eyes wondered to Stella's shoes. The gleam in his eyes made Stella instinctively backed away step by step, her face still unchanged.
She had her priorities. She saw her little sister effort in scrubbing the dirt off until her hand wrinkled and her back sored. She cannot waste Lily's effort simply these three bullies want her shoes. It would simply be meant how ungrateful she was and this was the way she could show to her little sister, her effort in becoming more human than she was yesterday.
"Neither of you would get these shoes from me," she said calmly and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Deep down at that time she had thought that by some miracle she suddenly had a surge of magic just enough to use wind magic and sore to the sky. Like that magician, she had seen once with Gitto some days ago.