Jessica, her first friend, glared at Daniel coldly before approaching Sophia's ears. "Come on, let's go", she said. Sophia did not make any reaction. Daniel was the last person she wants to meet right now.
Just as she stood up and attempted to leave, Daniel hurriedly called her name. "Sophia!" Sophia pretended to not hear her name as she picked up the pace and proceeded to the limousine.
Moments after Sophia left the concert hall, she climbed into the limousine and closed the door. It was then she realized that her friends were not following her behind. She closed the door and closed her eyes and breathed deeply. This was not how her day was supposed to go.
Soon after, she heard a commotion from the exit, and Jessica and her other friend Katie came out, trying to prevent Daniel from meeting Sophia.
"What's your problem, Jessica? I only came here to meet Sophia, so this has nothing to do with you two", Daniel hollered angrily. Jessica eyed Daniel with cold eyes as she blocked his way. "Daniel, go home. Sophia doesn't want to see you, don't make things hard for her any further."
Daniel's face darkened as he gave Jessica a stabbing glare, almost looking like he was going to punch her teeth. "Just, get out of the way!" He roughly shoved Jessica out of his path as he approached the limousine window.
"Sophia, I want to talk to you please", Daniel said with a gentle voice. Sophia turned and glared at Daniel, who still maintained his demeanour as he stared at Sophia's eyes.
"You think you can just come to tell me what to do? By the way, how did you know I was coming to this concert? Nobody except my friends knows about this place", Sophia asked.
"Sophie, I… sigh, alright, I'll tell you everything, but we have to talk. Come down, let's have a chat. It wouldn't take long", Daniel replied curtly. It was rare for Sophia to be vexed, but right now, she was very flustered. Jessica and Katie had already entered the limousine still staring at Daniel coldly.
"Look, I don't have time for all of this. I have to go." Sophia signalled for the chauffeur to drive. "You can't avoid me this time Sophie, we'll still talk by Monday!", Daniel's voice trailed off as the vehicle drove away from the concert venue.
Sophia slumped to the seat feeling a headache coming on. Another Saturday was ruined. She held her forehead tiredly as she closed her eyes.
"Are you okay Sophia?" Jessica asked concerned. She felt bad for bringing Sophia to the concert. "No, I'm fine. I'm just mentally tired, that's all."
Jessica held her hand and brought Sophia's head to her lap. "I'm sorry for bringing this trouble, Sophie. I never knew Daniel was coming to the concert", Jessica said solemnly as she played with Sophia's hair.
"Come on Jessy, don't beat yourself. It's not your fault. Anyways where are we going to right now?" Sophia asked. Jessica pondered for a moment before her face brightened. "Ohh, I know. How about we go for massage therapy. I heard there's a new spa centre that was opened last week. We should all go there, most especially you Sophia."
Sophia almost choked on her spit. A spa? What was Jessica thinking? She's only twelve. "Jessica, I think that is the worst idea I've ever heard. Why would we go to the spa? Apart from the fact that we would not even be allowed to enter, we are underaged. Let's just go to a restaurant."
Jessica shrugged. "Alright, if you say so. By the way, I haven't seen you with any boy. Is there any special someone that we should know about?", Jessica asked with curled lips.
Finally, Sophia stood up and looked at Jessica with questionable eyes. "No, and please don't bring this up anymore. I told you I'm not interested in trivial matters as this", Sophia said.
"Alright, alright cool, cool" Jessica said and looked at Sophia. Seconds later, they all burst out laughing.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
With a smile on her face, Sophia walked to her bedroom. She had a relatively pleasant day, discounting Daniel's event. Despite her spoilt mood, her two friends still made efforts to cheer her up. She was indeed lucky to have these two around. Unlike Daniel, who displayed his intentions of coming close to her.
Sophia was a very friendly person and approachable. Even with her heavenly gift of flawless beauty, she didn't think less of anyone. One time, she even begged her mom to assist her classmate's family when they were on the brink of poverty. That very action made her very popular in the school, causing everyone to like her even more.
Although people were friendly to her, Sophia knew they were only doing it because of her status. Everyone wanted Sophia to obtain something from her, and it got to the point that they threatened her. Ever since, she had decided to stop her kindness, even to the point of masking her status.
It was during this time in her life that she met Daniel. She was in grade six by that time. Daniel had just resumed school and was added to her class. Sophia, being the friendly one, went ahead and welcomed him to her class, and that was when their friendship began.
Their relationship was going smoothly and flawlessly. Sophia trusted Daniel with all of her secrets and otherwise. It was not until one day, Daniel 'knew' of Sophia's status. He immediately informed his father, who was an unsuccessful real estate agent about it, and from there, they fashioned a scheme that would allow his father to use Sophia's father's connection and money to make their family wealthy again.
At first, Sophia knew nothing about it, because when Daniel approached her and lied to her that he was leaving school because his family was crashing financially, Sophia sympathized with him, and profusely begged her mom to help Daniel's family.
The scheme worked as planned, and her dad personally built a company for Daniel's father. However, it didn't end there. Sophia's dad happened to know Daniel's dad as classmates and meeting each other was a surprise to both of them, at least that was what Sophia thought. It was much of a coincidence.
It was not long until in grade seven that Sophia knew of all these schemes. The transfer to her school, the false friendship, everything was planned. Sophia felt used and gullible. It broke her little heart, and ever since, she vowed not to be friendly towards anyone.
Of course, she never told Daniel about any of this not to alarm him, but she had kept a distance away from Daniel. The only people she had right now was Jessica and Katie, who was her next-door neighbours.