Free Cloud High School
Alexander Sirius carefully took out a golden necklace from his pocket. He held it with both of his hands while smiling cheerfully as he extended it towards a girl.
"Happy Birthday, Sandra. Here's my present for your special day," Alex said happily.
A girl with jet-black hair tied into a ponytail was standing firmly in front of Alex. She had a charming face and a body that exuded a graceful aura. Looking at her pretty face was Alex's sole motivation in life, but his smile suddenly froze after he heard the next few words that came out of her mouth.
"What a shitty necklace. Do you think I'll accept that? I'm breaking up with you," Sandra said in response to his words.
Alexander Sirius was a 16-year-old boy with almost no purpose in life. In his house, his parents coldly stared at him every time he met them, while his younger sister would beat him up every time they saw each other.
His younger sister was a beautiful and multi-talented girl. She was always the top student with excellent grades which allowed her to skip grades. No wonder that both of them would be in the same grade next year. That was only one of the many reasons why his parents preferred her more than Alex. Compared to the multitalented younger sister, the big brother was more or less useless. He had nothing his parents could be proud of.
In school, his performance was subpar, resulting in him being at the bottom of his class. He was also bullied by his classmates because of his poor performance and unattractive appearance. He always went to school with the gaze of a dead fish. Amidst all of that, Sandra was the only one who treated him indifferently.
After two years, he finally gathered his courage and confessed to her. It was kind of surprising that the girl accepted his confession. That was the happiest day for him, from that day on, she was his only goal to keep living in this world. That was also why he felt the world split into two after he heard what she said. He never expected to be given this kind of response.
"Why? Why do you want to break up with me?" Alex asked, with no luster in his eyes.
"Because you're poor and you have no potential!" Sandra succinctly replied. She then held up her new necklace and said mockingly, "This is a diamond necklace. I could buy many of these. I can easily get something cheap like this one. I can also buy a lot more goodies because my new boyfriend will pay for them! Is this reason good enough for you?"
It was true, Alex's parents never gave him any allowance because of his poor performance. He did not have any money to buy golden necklaces and he went as far as doing a lot of part-time jobs to buy the present.
"I never thought you were actually this kind of girl, I thought you were different," Alex said timidly.
"Don't be silly! This is reality. You can only blame yourself. Your sister and your parents are good...but look at you! You should consider yourself lucky that your parents haven't disowned you! I will never have a happy life as your wife."
"You..." Biting his lips, tears started to well up in his eyes.
In the middle of an intense conversation between Sandra and Alex, a BMW stopped next to them out of nowhere. The car door opened, revealing a guy with short black hair wearing fancy clothes. Alex started at the guy as he pulled her into the car and grabbed her thigh. Alex instantly knew who he was.
"John Penn!"
He never expected Sandra's new boyfriend to be John. He was one of Alex's middle school classmates. Even though he was rich, he never treated Alex like an alien in middle school. In Alex's second year, John transferred to Alex's school. Alex was happy since he saw his former classmate, but he thought wrong because John gave him a cold gaze, indicating that they were never going to be friends.
John mocked him. "You're just a poor loser, but I never expected that your girlfriend would be this good. It's such a waste for her to be your girlfriend, so I picked her up since you are not even qualified to stand next to her. You are not even capable of fighting me."
After hearing John's words, he was standing there with all of his thoughts. Soon, all of the pessimistic thoughts that he carried for the past few years surfaced in his mind. 'Indeed, I'm just a loser. What can I hope from this society?'
Maybe because he was often being compared to his sister that he ended up thinking of himself as a loser. If he saw it objectively, he was more or less average, nothing extraordinary. If he included his hard-working character, he might have some charm he could show off to others. Unfortunately, the thought of the so-called 'Genius Younger Sister' or 'I'm nothing compared to my younger sister' had already been ingrained in him.
"I see. You never saw me as your friend in the first place. I guess I was foolish to think that you would even think of me that way," Alex said to John.
One was a boy at the bottom of society, and one was a boy at the top of society, both of them were like land and the cloud. And Alex would never be able to match his level both in terms of intelligence or wealth. His parents were coming from middle-class society and he also had a little sister. Blood was still thicker than water, so even though he always got the cold treatment from them, he still loved them. No one could choose their parents, anyway. He did not want to bring any further trouble for them.
His little sister still had a great future awaiting her. Even if he managed to kill him and commit suicide after, John's father would surely investigate. If that happened, his family would be in danger. With that thought in mind, with a bit of determination in his eyes, he could only say, "If there's a chance, I will surely have my revenge."
"Friend? Bullshit. You're just a guy who is too easy to be manipulated. I got close to you so that you can become my scapegoat in middle school," John said.
"Hahaha. Your girlfriend? Me? Stop with your wishful thinking. I only wanted to use you as my wallet for a while," she said with a disgusted face.
"Both of you..." Biting his lips, he then ran away from them.
'Why? Why does it have to be this way? Why me?' He thought about it as he ran, eventually arriving at a park. As he looked around, he remembered that he used to play in this park when he was a child. He sat under a tree and said 'Why' until he fell unconscious.
It was already miraculous of him to not think about suicide. He, who had an inferiority complex that was ingrained in him for a few years, would usually commit suicide because of severe depression.
From his family to this shocking betrayal, Alex got more and more pressure. If he felt like he did not have any more purpose in life, he might just commit suicide in the near future.
He wanted revenge against John and Sandra, but considering John's background, he could do nothing. He did not have anything that would allow him to have his revenge. He was too powerful for Alex.
The next day.
He woke up, and with a hoarse voice, he said to himself, "I...did I collapse? Wait, it's already 8.50 A.M, I need to go to school." Alex was indeed a poor loser, but he still had a few good qualities in him. One of those was his discipline. Even though he had a poor performance, he never skipped school nor his part-time jobs.
***
Along the second-year corridor, one could see four people were chatting merrily.
"What? You really became John's girlfriend? I'm so jealous of you," Ayaka Saya said. She was a transfer student from Japan, as well as one of John's admirers.
"Really? What about Alex?" Maria asked. Maria Fergina was Sandra's childhood friend. When she found out that Sandra became Alex's girlfriend, she worried so much, repeatedly advising her to reconsider.
"Please, don't bring him up anymore. You also advised me to get away from him, and here I am," Sandra answered quickly.
"But, still...never mind. If that's your choice, you have my full support," Maria understood her friend's decision.
"Yes, I am blessed to have the beautiful Sandra to be my girlfriend," John suddenly approached the three girls who were talking in the corridor.
All of a sudden, someone started to run toward them. When they saw who it was, they had shocked expressions on their faces.
"Alexander!" the four of them said at the same time.
"You guys..." said Alex with a tinge of fury.
"Hehehe. Alex, I thought you ran away and wouldn't come here anymore," John said.
"Yeah, yesterday was embarrassing for you, Alex," Sandra said as she looked down on him.
"Hey, you two...Stop it!" Maria was trying to stop them. At first, she looked down on Alex because of his poor performance in school. Still, after she saw how hard Alex worked in his part-time jobs to buy her childhood friend a present, she started to see Alex from a different perspective.
"You two, I will surely have my--" Alex said...only to be interrupted as a magic circle suddenly appeared on the floor.
After that day, the five of them disappeared from the face of the earth.