"Is he really that good-looking??" Sophia asked Carol.
Were her aesthetics out of date? She couldn't see what the fuss was about.
Louie had fair skin, a thin, wiry physique, big eyes, and a delicate, almost feminine bone structure. With a wig and some makeup, he would make a beautiful woman.
Sophia preferred men who looked manlier, more like Albert Pearson.
She caught herself, and she shook her head fiercely. How could she think of him like that? He was just her assistant, and she had been five years older than him, he was basically like a little brother.
Carol was looking down at her book. Hearing Sophia's question, she replied, "I don't think so."
However, Melissa had already rushed over to him. She looked excited and was chattering with the other girls who circled him.
During class, many of the girls were very distracted, and they kept looking over at Louie. Ms. Acheson frowned when she noticed what was going on.
"Louie Delgado, switch with… Carol Carter, sit at the back for the time being."
Carol was unhappy. She really wanted to share the table with Sophia. But, she had to separate from her. She had no choice but to pack her things and sit in the third row where Louie had been.
Louie packed his things up and moved next to Sophia.
"Hello, I'm Louie."
"I'm Sophia."
Ms. Acheson had done this with good reason. With Louie sitting in the back row, the students at the front had to turn back if they wanted to look at him, which was a much harder thing to achieve unnoticed.
Sharing the table with Sophia also ensured that the girls would not harass Louie during recess.
And sure enough, it worked.
After the second class, only Melissa could have continued trying to get to know Louie, but even she just went back to do her homework after Sophia asked her if she'd finished it. The other girls in the class wanted to come up, but they didn't dare to disturb Sophia… between Louie's beauty and life, they chose life.
Louie wondered why no one harassed him now, and he had changed seat. It didn't take long for him to hear of his next-door neighbor's reputation, and he was a little in awe of her.
He did not say another word for the rest of the day.
Sophia didn't start any conversations with him either. She had her homework to do. Although none of it was difficult for her, she still had to get it done . She couldn't be a bad student who did not hand in her homework; it would set a bad example for other students. The Sister Alliance, in particular, needed her as an example to study hard.
After school, she set off for home immediately. None of her friends lived in the same direction as her anyway, and this evening marked the beginning of the third stage of the chess tournament. She had to get home in time.
It was getting dark.
There was an alley that turned off from the street, which was a slightly quicker route home. Sophia rode her bike into the alley and decided to take the shortcut.
The alley was very quiet, the streetlights were dim, and the light was not good enough to see the way. Sophia usually didn't go this way after dark. But she was in a hurry.
As she entered the alley, she saw several girls gathered around. The girls all wore Colin High School uniforms, but they had been refitted so the skirts were shorter and the tops were tighter.
The other Sophia Green used to wear her school uniform like that. Generally speaking, the girls who did that were mostly bad girls. They often bullied other students after school and blackmailed them for pocket money.
Sophia frowned. She thought that she had been the only really bad girl in school, and since she was now reformed, she thought the problem had been solved. She didn't expect that others would continue behaving badly. It looked like they were mugging a classmate.
She thought that as the boss of Colin High School, she couldn't just stand by.
She cycled up and stopped beside the girls. She was shocked at what she saw.
"Come and play with us, handsome boy! I promise you, and it'll be fun."
"Let go of me!" A boy's voice rang out.
"Come on. It'll be exciting!"
"Ha-ha. Scream if you want to. No one will come to save you!"
The girls had surrounded Louie Delgado.
Louie's uniform was looking messy and disordered. He was struggling to resist the girls' "wandering hands," and he looked scared.
Sophia was surprised.
How could she handle this?
She gave a cough.
A few of the girls turned around and saw Sophia. They stopped what they were doing and looked at each other.
The leader came up, "Boss. We're not messing with you so…"
Sophia raised her chin slightly and pointed to Louie, "He's my deskmate!"
The other girl looked unhappy at this interference, and she clenched her fist tightly, threateningly. But soon, she realized that the strength difference between them was too great. She unclenched her fist.
"Let's go, girls!"
The other girls followed the lead girl and walked away. Several of them turned round to look back at Louie from time to time.
Louie looked like he was about to cry. He was clearly overwhelmed.
Sophia Green didn't even know how to comfort him. He had been harassed by a group of girls, and then she had rushed out to save him.
The plot was familiar, but the details were off.
The story usually goes about a tall and handsome man who comes to save a beautiful girl. What was going on with this situation? Does beauty save the hero?
Well, she was not a beauty, and Louie Delgado... couldn't really be called a hero. That story had been getting old anyway.
"Do you want me to take you home?" Sophia asked, finding it even more awkward.
Louie shook his head and bit his lip. "No, my home is not far… I can go back by myself... Thank you…"
"You're welcome. Well, I'm going now." Sophia got on her bike. Suddenly, she turned back, "If any other girls try to harass you, just… say my name!"
She said no more. The more she talked, the weirder she felt.
Then she got on her bike and carried on down the alley without looking back.