Violette
Step by step, I'm making my way to a new class. My dad decided we should move out from Kuala Lumpur to London because of his business inquiry. We had no choice but to follow him. The sadness still haunts me for leaving my friends, my favourite foods, my first home... even though it's been a month now since we left.
"It's okay Violette, everything will be totally fine." I kept repeating the sentence over and over again until I saw my class' name, hanging slowly, trying to show me that I'm here. Before I could even knock on the door, someone opened it like they knew I was standing nauseously behind the entryway.
"Miss Violette?" She asked me to confirm my identity as she smiled. Lovely. "Yes, I'm Violette." Right after she heard my name, the woman immediately pulled me into her class. I could feel all the eyes were staring at me, watching me closely, analyzing every inch of my body. But then there's this girl, she doesn't even look at me, just doing her business as nothing happened.
"Class, meet our new friend, Violette Knox."
Their eyes widened, and they couldn't believe what they just heard. A ginger girl shouted, "Wait, are you a daughter of James Knox?!". Her voice was like thunder, struck my eardrums, made me flinch a bit. I feel so annoyed before my mind elects to hate her. With a 'sweet' look on my face, I answered her question.
"Yes, yes I am."
"Natasha, please behave next time, we really don't want to give bad images for the first greeting. Understood?"
The whole class started to calm down and finally, it made the girl look at me. Her eyes examine me and the same goes for mine. A few seconds later, both of our faces changed. From the sweet innocent looks, turned into a psychotic scowl. My eyes are enough to describe how much hatred I had for her. Our parents kept having meetings with each other and even dinners.
But it's always her. Her brain, her name, her face.
Everyone wants me to follow her pace.
I took a seat next to the mean girl group. They always spread rumours or gossip about someone. So, they will be my main source to ruin Lilith. "Hi. I'm-" my words were cut off by a French looking girl. "Violette. Yeah, we heard you. I'm Fleur. This is Kylie, Vivian and Carolina." The girl named Fleur pointed at her friends one by one.
"Anyway, I know I am new here but do you want to know a fact about Lilith?" Starting my plan on the first day of school was a horrible idea, but all the hate can't be pending anymore. The moment I looked into her eyes earlier, every single brutal plan slipped my mind just for her. She already played her game, and now it's time for me to take over. And that said my game, my way.
"Lilith? The top student? The teacher's pet? What about her?" They are starting to be interested. My inner devil grinned widely, ready to tackle every soul around me.
"She's actually-"
Bangggg!!!
Once again my words got interrupted. This time, it's not because of a person. But the sound of crying and tables clashing. My eyes automatically turned to the audible sound and grew widened. It's not something that I've ever expected but it is happening.
"How? How did he die? Tell me right now!" Lilith yelled, furious about something, causing her body to tremble. Her fists were clenched tighter, just waiting to launch it to someone and make whole chaos in the class.
I watch her friend, with Korean looks, start to step back. Afraid Lilith will make something that could harm her. Yet another hijabi girl moved closer, trying to calm that petty down, "Lilith! Chill, okay? I'll tell you the whole story, I promise." I thought that it'll help, although, it's just making it worse. She bawled like a mad person can't accept the faith in their life, as she continued,
"Enough! Enough with all this nonsense! He is alive! He isn't dead yet!"
My body flinched, surprised that the 'nice' girl could be wild sometimes. I wish my 'pleasant' father could see this valuable moment. "Hey, Vivian," I whispered to my new classmate, trying to be on the same page with others. Vivian hummed, showing that she's listening to me.
"What is she so upset about?"
"Ugh, I don't know, but I guess it's about-"
"Reinhart"
Before Vivian could even finish her sentence, Kylie isolated our conversation. Reinhart, the familiar name that one time has been stuck in my head. Memories about him started to play in my head, making me numb for a second. But then, Lilith howled out her cry of anguish again. Forget about him, now it's about her. My living hell and here's come my chance. This is my chance to provoke her, she's at her weakest state. Poor little petty.
"Awww someone's got broken here. I'm so sorry for your lost best friend… or should I say, first love?"
"Mind your own beeswax, Knox. As if you knew what happened." She rolled her eyes, nevertheless cracked me up. "Why? You think I'm a frog that lives under the rock?" I retorted back. She turned to face me and frowned, starting to doubt me.
"Wha- what do you know?"
Suddenly, Lilith paid her attention to me, her face was red and looked so ugly. I swear. She sneered as stepping closer to me, "Oh of course it's Violette. Who else other than her has a sense of revenge on me. Now tell me. What do you know about Aiden?" The perfect little Lilith is begging me? For answers? What a perfect day.
"Well, I don't have answers for that. Find it by yourself. You're a genius, aren't you?" A mischievous smirk but more to a satisfying smirk gleamed on my face.
She grabbed my collar with her bare hands. "Uh- uh Lilith, you wouldn't dare to get in trouble. Especially, beating up a new kid on her first day. So this is your true colours, you're not that well-mannered and innocent as my parents told me." The words blurted out from my mouth. I thought it would trigger her more. But it didn't.
Instead, she backed off and smiled at me. Smile to everyone like nothing ever happened. The whole class acted so. "Well here's some word Miss Violette Knox. In their eyes, I might be the daughter they want. I mean, who wants a naughty and a child like erm.. you. So! You better mark my words! The weaker you see me, the stronger I am, Lottie."
That stupid name, it's been a while since I last heard it. She always used it when talking to me alone, which made me create one for her. Lilith left me before gets her bag and sat down, ignoring me. Everybody is staring and whispering to each other. So this is how it is. The popularity in this school isn't based on richness but intelligence.
*
The lunch break bell eventually rang, after hours of boring classes that I had, with a dramatic scene that happened this morning just made me lose all my concentration. "Guys, can I join y'all?" I asked proudly, trying to 'get to know the most well-known squad in the school. Well, it's my first day, I won't ruin my own reputation just seconds after I step into this 'heavenly' school.
"Prove us that you deserve to join," Kylie declared. As they all watched me, I instantly brought out my limited edition Louis Vuitton purse, handing them my credit card with a haughty face. "Here, my dad just transferred my pocket money for this month yesterday, so take it or leave it."
Three of them seem highly interested in my offer, but Kylie. Her face was bold as hell as she looked in the other direction, showing that 'no, thanks' impression. Realizing the aura, I pulled my hand's back and the shining face of those there faded. Once again, I tried not to let out my sarcastic side, uttered, "Okay fine, then let's make a deal."
"What deal?" She replied curiously, making my inner devil smirked. After a few seconds of brainstorming, my mind finally came to terms. I walked closer to her and stood pridefully, ready to voice out my mind. But, since I was a 'subtle' person, I tried to grill her.
"You have a boyfriend right?"
"No I don't, unfortunately."
She was stunned, but successfully denied the truth. Her friends' eyes grew widened yet stayed quiet, don't want to interrupt the cold tension. I frowned and looked down, struggling to hide my grin. "Why'd you even want to know? It's not your business and you're still new anyway", she snapped.
Pfft, this girl seriously thinks that she can lie to a human lie detector like me. "Well, I saw a hot guy earlier... And I think he would be a good bet for this deal, yeah?"
Her face went pale, all of them went pale. I walked around her, as I stated the deal. "I think he's still single, so I'm gonna get his attention and make him fall in love with my charm, or probably..." I stopped in front of her, leaned closer to her right ear.
"... have a whole make-out session with him". A chuckle almost escaped from my mouth when I saw her face. Her jaw dropped and went totally numb. After a few seconds, she finally spoke out. "Fine, if you lose, don't you ever dare stay even an inch close to him".
"Or?"
"You'll see".
I reach out my hand to officiate the deal, but she doesn't. Instead, she rolled her eyes, making her way out of the almost empty class. Deep down I knew she was scared of me, who am I kidding? It's Violette Knox, once you step into my game, you gotta play my way.
Straight away from the class, I strolled around the school to search for him, Trevor Griffiths, the prominent jerk in the school. Always getting hit by the girls, even the teachers, who know maybe he already 'marks' his snogging port here. As I'm searching for him, my eyes wandered to the low-key-nice decoration. The walls are covered by high-quality paint, decorated with school's awards, ex-students pictures which I'm highly certain that they're the best-of-breed ones for eternity.
15 minutes passed by and I finally found the boy, smirking around like an idiot and wink at every girl he saw. Ugh, typical douchebag! Now my level of regrets has reached the seventh sky, this is not gonna be easy. I would probably be on a warpath if I ever smile at him. FML.
"Okay, Violette, you have to do this! You can do it, you're hot, seggsy, cute, pretty as-"
"You're right."
Shit, did I just say it out loud? A raspy, equally smooth and a little astonishing french dialect approached me from the back. I turned around and saw a 6'2 figure, with dusty blonde hair, emerald eyes, a London bridge nose and completely fitted with a pinkish plum lip. He smiled shyly, waiting for my response. "Pardon?" Was my reply, trying to cover my embarrassment, in parallel completely not interested in that hot figure. Wait, I mean, he's hot but I- duh dumbass, just forget it.
"Oh yeah, let me introduce myself, I'm-"
"Yeah, you should." I snapped, made him stutter for a while before giving me another honey lemonade sugary smile. Pathetic. "I'm Adrien, a senior here. I never saw you around, so I thought maybe you're a new student?" He blabbered nervously, touching his neck and collar shirt. "Yes, I'm a new student, now, if you don't mind, can you please don't disturb me. I have no time to waste." I rolled my eyes, glaring at other places and tried to hunt my prey back.
Yet he's gone. He's fudging gone. Thanks to him for making my mission tougher. At the moment I wanna smash his head, the bell rang alarmingly that the lunch break had ended. "Oh, um I gotta go to class. Hope to-" "Never see you again." I cut him off and fake smiled before treading away, leaving him alone standing like a living pole.
*
Bamm!
A hand thumped at my table, made me startled. "Oh my Lord!" blurted out from my mouth as I watched that girl plodded away. Her back seems familiar, her hairstyle, the way she walks... wait, it's Evans, the petty. I rolled my eyes and continued to pack my bag, ignoring everything around me, I just wanna get the hell out of this place. But then I caught a glimpse of a pink sticky note, adhered on the corner of my desk, the place Lilith's thumped earlier.
"Meet me at the cafe, ALONE."
A smirk grew on my face. My brain refused to go but I had no choice. Follow your heart, people said but... No, I don't believe that stupid quote or whatever it is called, instead, I'll get label 'coward' if I didn't meet her. The fact that I can't keep up is, she just wrote "cafe", to hell with all the details. She really can't stop troubling me, isn't she?
I got back to clean up my desk and hastily left the class. While trying to wear my bag, I bumped into someone straight away, causing me to fall as I hit the broad body. "Auch! Hey! Watch your- you?!" "I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He lent me a hand, tried to help me up, his worried and pathetic face vividly radiated to me. "Ugh, why is it always you? I didn't know that other boys were already extinct." I snorted as I stood up by myself, dodging his beautiful muscular hand. Goddamn, stop it, Violette.
For the second time, I met him today. Ryan, Lian, lion, Adrien? Whatever his name is, he really gets on my nerves but there he is. Smiling guiltily at me. "I'm so sorry, I'm in a hurry." He murmured and crouched to pick up my books that scattered on the floor. Though, I remembered about the notes earlier. Maybe he can help me… Not that I want him, but I'm in a complete rush at this moment.
"Here you go, I'm sorry again for-"
"Enough apologizing, I need your help."
His emerald eyes started to gleam, staring at mine pleasurably. "Umm.. yeah sure, what is it?" I crossed my arm, trying to put up my ego and standard. It's just so hard to stop the butterflies from entering my precious stomach every time he's standing near me. "Did you know by any chance, a cafe nearby?" I asked loftily, as I looked at his wondering face. He nodded before replied, "Yeah… If I recall correctly, there's a kinda famous brasserie down the street, I can take you there… if you want, of course."
"Ugh fine, lemme call my driver." I fetched my bag and rapidly took off to call my driver. "Wait Violette- The cafe is just a few blocks away, you… don't wanna breathe some fresh air with me? I-I mean, the weather is so desirable today." I stopped, not turning around. How did he know my name? I never told him before, though, fuck that now. At this moment, I swear to God my body feels like it wants to explode like a nuclear bomb and make my flesh shattered all the way down the corridor. Thanks to that stupid question, it's urging me to rip him more.
"Jeez, are you coming or not? I'm really fast at changing my mind-" I snorted whilst rolling my eyes. My mind hated this decision but my heart's convinced that he will make my day 10 thousand times better if I choose to walk with him. "Okay, I'll take that as a yes!" he replied and caught me up, walking beside me.
My internal self sighed, hoping it wouldn't be a hopeless decision. God, please be nice to me. I'll be in bed for weeks and binge-watching the whole Harry Potter series if this doesn't turn out well.
*
"Are we here?"
"Nope, not yet."
"Damn it, you said it's just a few blocks away. But now we've been walking for like a whole 15 minutes! Are you equivocate me?!"
"What?! Of course not, I just… Je veux juste faire une promenade avec toi."
"Oh my Lord, peux-tu juste m'y amener ? S'il te plaît?"
Abruptly, he stopped when I spoke in French, made me hit his back. "Auch, why'd you do that?" He turned and locked his eyes with mine, excitedly asserting, "Wait, you knew French?" I stuttered as I took my eyes off of his face, something about his glare so far never fails to flush my cheeks. "Um- yeah, anything's wrong with that?" He smiled broadly, "No, nothing. Glad you did."
My feet instantly became weak, ready to plunge at any second. I could feel the butterflies dancing crazily in my body as my cheeks redden. All my entire life before, I've never felt these kinds of bizarre feelings. It's so… weird but beautiful at once. Could it be what I'm thinking right now? Oh no, no. Hell to the Nah my feelings, it's not on my top listed things to do and never will. I changed the topic rapidly when I realized he's still staring at me.
"Adrien, right?"
"Yes, my lady?"
What in the world… I just wanna change the topic, but how could it go this wrong? God, help me. My face was like a fresh tomato from my mom's garden and would erupt in any second if one more sweet word slipped from his mouth. I hope it doesn't shine, not now. "Ehem- how'd you know my name?" I cleared my throat, tried to get over the awkwardness.
"Oh, I just looked at your nametag earlier."
"Oh, now can you please turn around and lead me to the brasserie?"
"Bien sûr, madame."
*
Along the way to the cafe, we just kept silent, a very comfortable silence. Now, I'm so grateful that I decided to walk with him. Not just because of him, but since I arrived here a month ago, it's my first time breathing the fresh air in this city. The city's view, the blue skies, the design of old buildings… It's all really breathtaking. I wish I could feel this peace and calmness every second of my life.
"So Violette, where'd you come from?" He suddenly interrupted me from enjoying the view, but I was high-key glad he asked. "Malaysia, an Asian country if you're wondering," I answered proudly, Malaysia is a real drop-dead gorgeous country. Every time I travel to the states, it never fails to amaze me.
"Woah… I've never been to Asian countries, and I really wanna go there. One day, with someone's special. I will travel with her, compliment her no matter how hideous she was in other people's eyes, always gonna make her feel special."
Damn, I didn't expect his answer like that. Hearing it from his mouth all of sudden made me wish that I was her. Love sucks, but with the right person, it could mean the world to you. I shut my mouth and imagined good life until we're there.
"And... we're here." Adrien declared with an unwilling tone. He glanced at me before his eyes wandering all over the cafe. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks." I replied with a smile, a sincere one. From the look of his face, I knew he's still hesitant to leave me, but I can't meet Lilith with a company.
"Who are you meeting here? I- I don't mean to nosy your-"
"A friend."
He nodded, mouthing "Oh". I don't want to be rude, so I thank him again. He's still a new person in my life, I shouldn't be bothered to tell him all the details. "Okay then, take care, see ya." I grinned for the last time and watched him leave. I don't know how long since I heard the word "take care"… the flowers joined the butterflies as it's blossomed in my body.
Alright Violette, enough daydreaming. I have something more important to do right now. I already called my driver to pick me up in 30 minutes before trudging to her table, taking a seat facing her. Serenely, she put down her coffee and shot me with questions right after I made myself comfortable. Actually no, never.
"How did he die?"
"How did you know?"
"Are you behind his death?"
"How did you even know him?"
To be continued…
Dictionary (All of this are translated from Google only)
1. Je veux juste faire une promenade avec toi : I just wanna take you for a walk.
2. Peux-tu juste m'y amener ? S'il te plaît? : Can you just take me there? Please?
3. Bien sûr, ma dame : Of course, Ma'am.