"Oh, God! What are you girl! Can you be any more frustrating? Hey Airi! Just give it a thought at least damn!" Maria chased Airi to their classroom, continuously calling her from behind. "Oi will you just slow down? How long are you going to make me run huh?"
"Then stop running, na? Why are you chasing me?" Airi sped up her walking, and by now she was practically running away from Maria.
But Maria was persistent to follow her, so she chased her, gaining speed.
Anyone passing by them would definitely compare them with Tom and Jerry, while Jerry made Tom chase behind him.
By the time both of them arrived at the classroom, they were catching their breath desperately.
"Why the… Huff… fu*k you have to… run away from me huh… Hah…" Maria was breathing hard, which was making it difficult to talk.
Airi got a bit normal by then, "I told you I am so not interested in joining hands with you. Then stop following me!"
"Then how are you going to win this thing huh? By being 'the good girl'? By acting as a pillar of good virtues and all?"
"That's my headache to take. You don't need to…"
"And the headache you are planning to keep to yourself has already gone out some minutes ago." Airi's words got interrupted by Maria, and for the time being, Airi had no answer for it. Surely, no one would understand her. And once the word goes out that she is not the way she appears to be, things would get more difficult.
Maria took the chance of Airi's silence. "Look, I really want to make this happen. So I need you. I'm going to do anything that needs to be done. Even the publicity of yours, I'll make sure you get the maximum votes. You are even my boss, I am not going to boss over you. Just trust in me, and leave all this to me."
Maria's consistency pestering was slowly making its way into Airi's logical reasoning. "What do you plan to do then?" Airi raised a question to her, only to get a victorious smile on her face in response.
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The next day at Sandra High.
A self-study session is going on in class 1C. Though it is called self-study, students tend to barely study in this hour, especially the freshmen, as this is their rare free time they manage to get between the hectic daily schedule. Sophomores are seen to get more serious than their juniors, so their visit to the library gets gradually frequent, which turns into another daily routine by the time they are in their senior years. And this was the perfect timing for the juniors to bond with them, apart from cultural and sports festivals. So freshmen use this self-study hour to make friendship with the sophomores, and if luck favors, seniors as well. So, upon Maria's suggestion, Airi rushed towards the library as soon as the self-study began.
"God, what am I doing exactly? Thanks to that mad girl, I am here. Now what? What am I supposed to do? How should I talk to them?" Airi grabbed her hair in frustration, while she entered the library.
It was her first time in the library after coming to this school. She heard a lot about it as well but never got the chance to visit once. And the things she heard about it was not an exaggeration even an inch, that was clear to her upon entering. She was awestruck by the enormous view that welcomed her eyes. It was like a huge hall, with a calm and tidy atmosphere. The entire library was furnished with tall bookshelves and almirahs, and the interior was beautifully and neatly arranged. Even the walls had a soft color on them, which was comfortable to the eyes, along with the soft silence prevailing there.
Airi went closer to the bookshelves to find the books arranged according to the subjects. There were books related to different sciences, logic, and all sorts. There were also pieces of literature arranged according to the writers, starting from classics to modern ones, not missing a single one of them. She took a book, being attracted by the cover. It was a book on animal species. Opening it, she saw how beautifully and elaborately described the information was. Even there were multiple pictures attached to it, to make a clear understanding. She strolled around to the entire hall, and she found the walls garnished with beautiful paintings, with a simple yet aristocratic design in them. Some paintings were drawn to depict many works of poets, and myths passed on from generation to generation. She had always been interested in myths and tales, so she immediately recognized those by seeing them once. And the bookaholic she was, her eyes were glimmering with excitement, getting the whereabouts of the world's most precious treasure.
Suddenly, she ceased her steps seeing a large table in front of her. And there were students with books and notebooks on the table in front of them. The way they were so attentively studying, Airi could swear they were seniors if Lloyd weren't there. She never knew sophomores could be this much engrossed in studies. Especially seeing Lloyd in them, she was surprised to a lot of extents. "He knows how to study as well, huh?"
'Let's work on sucking up to them then…'
"Hello everyone! It's a pleasure to meet my seniors here together." Airi bowed a little towards them to greet them.
In response to her bow, a boy with round-framed glasses looked up towards her. "Hello. May I know who you are?" By the look of it, that guy seemed to be the topper, at least that seemed to Airi. So she politely replied back, "I'm Airi Arne, a freshman."
"A rude weird freshman to be precise," Lloyd smirked with an evil look on his face, sitting beside the guy that talked to her.
Airi glanced back furiously at him, but soon she regained her composure so that the others wouldn't notice the change in her. "Senior Lloyd, I just greeted you and all the others with a bow, what did I do rude there? If there's a mistake, I hope that you would be humane enough to look past my silliness." Airi lowered her eyes that made her seem extremely upset over the treatment she got just now.
Seeing the sad expression on her face, everyone there got really upset, except Lloyd. Just then, Lloyd felt a huge slap on his arms. "Ouch, Mina, what was that for?" he kept rubbing the place he was hit. The girl sitting beside Lloyd responded with an annoyed tone in her voice, "What for, you ask? What did she do that you said her rude? Look how upset she became there, poor cutie."
The glasses guy also nodded, agreeing with Mina, "Yeah Lloyd, that was totally bad of you. She is being modest enough to greet us, and here you are behaving badly towards such a nice girl…"
"It's okay, seniors. I really didn't mind, honestly! Don't fight among yourselves just because of me!" Airi voiced out interrupting that senior, with a pleading tone.
Another girl among them cried out, "aww this poor one. Look at her, how considerate she is sounding. Lloyd, since when did you start misbehaving with girls this much, huh?"
"Right? The Lloyd who is just to any girl he finds, is hostile towards a freshman?" Mina scoffed. "Rena would sure be thrilled to hear that."
"SHUT UP!"
Everyone present in the library got astounded by the sudden rise of the voice. Lloyd grabbed Mina by the collar, boring his eyes on hers. "Do you not know where to talk and what to talk about? Then what's the use of your goddamn mouth huh?" Mina seemed to get really scared because by now she was trembling under the angry gaze of Lloyd. "I… I was just…"
"Senior Lloyd, I hope you being a student council member, do have the idea that the thing you are doing is an abuse, and I hope you at least did a minimum work of writing down a rule and punishment for this." Airi dropped all the loveliness in her voice to be sounded more serious and strong. "Abusing a student, on top of it, being a student council body, that isn't something worse. What do you think you are doing, behaving the way you shouldn't in front of someone who is also a candidate of the next student council?"
Lloyd immediately let go of Mina, composing himself. "It's just…"
"Just what, senior? Do you think that was justifiable? Just because your classmate slipped off something she shouldn't, you let your anger take over you and show everyone present in the library how brute you are?" With the sudden realization by Airi's words, Lloyd looked over the entire library, and of course, everyone was looking at him with a puzzled look on them, like they were seeing a weird animal in the zoo.