Friends are the people who make you smile brighter, laugh louder and live better
Everyone stared at me for seconds, waiting for me to continue. Honestly, I was always embarrassed about the fact that I had a problem with names. Not that I didn't remember them but the fact that I called them something else entirely. Cady became Candy, Jeff became Jelly, Alex became Snow White (Although -that was intentional), Emma became Emmy and finally Mia became Malai.
It was not my fault I had this weird problem!
In my previous school, when my classmates found out about this problem, they teased the hell out of me. I couldn't go one second without them messing with my name too. I wasn't sure if what happened to me should've been termed as 'bullying' but it wasn't the usual teasing though. I wouldn't call it bullying because they knew who my parents were and they wouldn't dare to mess with the wealthy people. So yeah, teasing it was.
Now, telling them would mean one out of two things:
1. They behave the exact same way the others did.
or,
2. They get used to it and accept me for who I am.
GOD, who am I kidding?!
The second one was far from happening.
"I...um.." I started.
"Like nicknaming like Tony Stark?" Jelly suggested.
"Like teasing people." Snow White suggested.
"Don't know what I'm talking about?" Candy suggested.
"N-Never a-asked for y-your names," Emmy suggested.
"Anything else you guys might wanna add?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. They were nowhere close to what I was about to disclose.
Hey, that rhymed! I should write it somewhere.
"We pretty much-covered everything, didn't we?" Malai asked.
Everyone nodded.
"Well, not everything." I disagreed.
They furrowed their eyebrows.
I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "Ihaveaproblemwithnames!"
There you go, like the first day of school!
They stared at me, blinked a couple of times to register what I had just said. I took a deep breath, again.
"Might wanna slow down, Flash." Jelly said.
"I have a problem with names."
________________________________________________________________________________
They burst out laughing.
Not just any laughter.
The rolling on the floor kind of laughter.
"Guys I'm serious! It's bloody true!"
"So-" Jelly laughed again. "-when you called me Jelly-" He laughed again. "-it wasn't intentional?"
I shook my head.
"BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Alex exclaimed, fist-bumping in the air. "This is so much worse than allergic to cheese."
"So much worse." Candy smirked, agreeing with Alex.
I was right. They'd behave the exact same way.
"So what nicknames do you have in store for us?" Mia asked, in between her laughter.
For some reason, I was feeling both embarrassed and content. Embarrassed because well...you know.. and content because it felt like a long time since all of us shared laughter. The last two chapters were pretty intense.
"Malai." I pointed Mia.
"Emmy." I pointed Emma.
"Snow White." I pointed Alex. She frowned.
"Candy." I pointed Cady.
"Jelly." I pointed Jeff.
After a few seconds, Jelly uttered. "It's good that you shared with us. If we were going to 'pretend' to be friends for a while, we should at least know a few embarrassing things about each other."
"It wasn't part of the so-called contract/book, was it?" I asked.
"No personal stuff until or unless it is needed." Candy read the line aloud from the book.
"I don't see any problem, here." Alex shrugged. "A few things should be necessary to know."
"Okay, now I told my embarrassing problem, Snow White told hers, what about you guys?"
"Bossing around. Being the star of the show. Girls hate me." Mia gave us the short version.
"You're really likable." Jelly winked.
Mia smiled - not at Jelly but Candy.
"With pleasure." Candy smacked Jelly on the head.
"OW!"
"No flirting with team members until absolutely necessary." Candy turned to face Alex and me. She smiled. "You two are excused."
"I would've yelled 'Not Fair!' but....never mind." Jelly uttered.
"Next."
"Always running into trouble with hacking and all. Not my fault, though." Candy shrugged.
I briefly remembered her telling me in the library that she had hacked into the grading system to change Alex's grades. How was it not her fault though?
"How isn't this your fault?" I shot a knowing look at Candy. Candy quickly realized that we had this conversation before and that she asked me to let go of this.
"Y-Yeah, t-tell us." Emma encouraged.
Every one of us looked at Candy with hope. She couldn't turn back now. She needed to tell us what exactly was her problem.
She sighed. "There are a few kids in this school who are kind of traitors. I hack into computer systems and get the dirt on our school and pass it to them. They stay away from my family and me in return."
Jelly stared at her in disbelief. "Why didn't you ever tell me this?" All signs of laughter vanished. The atmosphere was intense, again.
"I wanted to. But I couldn't. They'd do things possibly unimaginable. They'd harm our family. And every time I was caught by Principal Clean- I had to try to make her understand that it wasn't my fault. I was being blackmailed. But she wouldn't listen. Cause, she never believed."
"He lied, she believed," Jelly muttered under his breath.
We stared at him.
"Never mind." He looked down, embarrassed.
"So yeah, that's pretty much my story."
"Emmy?" I encouraged.
"B-Bullied f-for s-stammering." Emma stared at her lap.
"Jelly?" Everyone looked at him.
"Nah, no problems." He smiled.
We stared at him. He was hiding something. Candy gave him a nod.
He sighed. "Fine, I cry during romantic-comedies."
We burst out laughing.
His cheeks reddened. "Guys, I'm serious, okay?!"
"Not a problem-" I paused, laughing. "But I'll allow it."
Jelly's eyes lit up. "Was that a-"
"-How I Met Your Mother reference, yeah."