There had to be something wrong, Renata thought to herself. Millie had been acting weird since yesterday. She wasn't acting weird, though; Millie was avoiding her. Even Ilya, her classmate/Millie's half-brother, was avoiding her. Not only him; her other classmates also occasionally looked at her, especially the girls. Renata was sure she used her body milk soap and deodorant as usual, so it was impossible that they were acting weird because she stank. She didn't think she wore her clothes inside-out either.
Mr. Jensen, the history teacher, was explaining, or mansplaining, about the Revolutionary War. Renata was spacing out, staring at the blackboard that decorated the classroom's minty wall the whole time Mr. Jensen read the textbook. She was bored. History lessons never interested her. Let bygone be bygone. It was not nice to hang up on the past, in her unbiased opinion. Besides, nothing new or anything revolutionary was achieved by discussing a war that had ended a long time ago. Could they stop beating the dead horse already? She couldn't be the only one thinking like that; some were playing with their pens, and even one was blatantly sleeping.
Annoyed by the situation, she elbowed her tablemate, Jeremiah. "Why are you acting so freakin' weird? You've been staring at me since morning class. Somethin' on my face or what? " she whispered as Jeremiah held his aching stomach; her elbow had hit right under his ribs.
"N-nothing, I'm so sorry....." Jeremiah whispered back.
"Dude, you're creepin' me out here. What the freak is going on?? Just spit it out!!!"
Jeremiah was hesitant, but eventually, he talked. "There were some rumors about you and our senior, Lyle. They said Lyle and you are dating now, and he got punched because of you. Some rumors said that it was because your ex-boyfriend punched him. Some said you and he spent a night in police detention. There was also some saying you were pregnant and had an abortion because of him. "
Like a fish in a fishbowl, she blinked and blinked and blinked with her mouth hung open. "That was so .... absurd...." She shook her head in confusion.
"Oh and one more thing, they said you were the heiress of that famous handbag, the Rosaline something...."
The last rumor was the one she dreaded the most. It didn't make any sense that she dreaded it more than her pregnancy/abortion issue, but it did. "Why do people think I'm related to that Rosaline handbag?" She asked Jeremiah again. She wanted to know the source of those rumors, but Jeremiah just shrugged.
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She grabbed her backpack and stormed out of her class as the bell rang. Her intestines had growled at her since an hour ago, and she was in a hurry to get to the library. She usually headed to the Equestrian Club on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but next week was Fall exam week. So there would be no after-school activities. All students needed to prepare for the upcoming test.
She was walking through the connecting hallway when someone put their arms around her. "Little Rabbit, where are you going?" It was Lyle. There was a small adhesive bandage on the left corner of his lips, covering most of the bruise.
"I was going to the dining hall." Her heart skipped a beat, and soon turned into regret, "I'm sorry for your bruise. How can you still grin? Doesn't it hurt? "
Lyle took both of her hands and kissed them, "Not hurt, it's my medal of honor for defending your honor." He pulled her to the back of the Rosenburg building, where all the classrooms were.
Renata was pinned on the wall, "Do you know, this building was named after my family? My grandfather gave a large sum of money to the school as a gift of gratitude. He was a student here once." His palms held her jaws intimately as his right thumb caressed her lower lips. "Give me my prize, Little Rabbit." Lyle's lips whispered those words as they barely touched Renata's lips.
Renata kissed his lower lip tentatively, afraid to hurt him, but he was not having it. He kissed her hard. He bit, chewed, and licked her lips. She finally succumbed to the great temptation, she deepened the kiss, the kiss that tasted like a sin, covered in a honeyed caramel. Sweet, but salty at the same time; his corner lip was bleeding, as was her lower lip. Lyle sucked her lips, tongue, as if her whole mouth was his personal lollipop. She moaned as he ground his pelvis at her; his right hand lost in her lush untied black hair; and his left hand squeezed her left round mound, causing her to gasp.
When Lyle finally released her lips, she was left with unfocused eyes, a slack mouth, and mushy knee joints. "I have you pinned between my two tall towers." Renata blushed as she felt something hard between her thighs.
She slapped his hard chest, but he was just laughing. "Let's have lunch; I'm starving." He dragged her toward the dining room.
As they walked across the path in the garden that connected the buildings, they met James and Meghan. James was his usual ass-clown, but Meghan was unusually enthusiastic when she met Renata. "Are you guys going to the dining hall too? I and James are going there." As Renata nodded her head, Meghan linked her arm to hers and took her to the dining hall.
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The dining hall was crowded, but when Renata entered, the loud chat was reduced to murmurs. She let go of Meghan's arm and took a bowl of beef ramen noodles.
Renata saw Millie and Jackie and was about to go to their table when Millie saw her and avoided her gaze. "Where are you going, Renata. Come sit here." Meghan shouted as the three of them settled onto a nearby table. She placed her bowl next to Meghan, across from Lyle.
The ramen was a special menu item, as others chose to eat baked manicotti with Italian sausage and some pasta. Her stomach was grateful for the warm broth that filled her.
Her tummy churned as she heard Meghan finally reveal why she was being so nice, "So Renata, I heard that you are the owner of Rosaline Perlée. Ooh eM Gy !!!! Why didn't you tell me that day??? I couldn't believe it, I'm a friend of Rosaline Perlée's heiress. So, can you give me a bag or two? A discount is also fine, at least 50%, but 75% would be better, of course, as a token of our friendship?" Meghan's eyes sparkled like the famous puss-in-boots's begging eyes.
So she finally knew who started the gossip besides, of course, Lyle. She was a second away from puking in her mouth.
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There had to be something wrong that happened last Saturday, Wilson thought to himself. For the past few days, Renata had been avoiding his gaze; she had never done that before. Her goofiness had gone, replaced by an unfamiliar, gloomy silence. Not only at him, but James also told him the same thing. James said that she had been weird around him, like she always wanted to run away.
Another thing was, Renata stopped texting Wilson, not that he expected her to, or had been waiting for her to. It was just, how should he say, weird? Unusual? Out of habit? He had never been fond of texting before, until Renata's wild ways of texting bombarded him, disrupting his daily(dull) life. He became accustomed to, and expected to hear, a certain 'Ding!' at a certain time of his day. Some of her texts were infuriating, most of them were silly, stupid silly, some were outrageous, outrageously hilarious that he couldn't stop grinning(laughing was the correct word). Who dared sent him _(:D｣ ┌)⁼³₌₃ if it wasn't her?
Wilson took a glance at the absent-minded girl next to him; Renata was obviously spacing out, again. Her eyes stared blankly at the textbook in front of her; she hadn't turned the page since an hour ago. He nudged her and whispered, "Are you OK?"
His heart stung a little when he caught a glimpse of hurt reflected in her eyes before she turned her gaze to her textbook again; it snipped the corner of his heart. The library was quiet as usual, but he didn't think it was suitable for talking. So he asked her to accompany him to buy some drinks at a student-operated cafe under the dining hall, called SUB(Student Underground Base).
The SUB was packed with students, some of whom were playing darts, pinball, or foosball, and others who were eating junk food and sodas at the cafe. Renata bought a coffee latte with soya milk, and Wilson got himself a cup of Twinings English Breakfast tea, which was weird since it was past noon.
Renata stood in the queue behind a brown-haired girl with freckles. As the girl's order was being made, she tried to make small talk with Renata. Apparently, she was in the same grade as Renata, but not in the same class. The girl said to the cashier-male student while giving a side wink at Renata, "My friend here will pay for it. Right, Renata? "
Wilson frowned at the girl, but before he said anything, Renata snapped, "Do I look like your Mother?"
"Oh come on, it's just $1.25. You are richer than me, don't be too stingy..." The girl winked again. Renata took her student card and paid for hers and the girl's, a glass of iced coke. Wilson was unhappy, but he said nothing.
Renata then took the coke and doused the girl with it. "Do you want me to buy you another? If not, Scram!!!" To say Wilson was flabbergasted was an understatement. He had never ever seen Renata be rude to others, even when no one knew she was richer than Croesus. So did the girl, she was only blinking and then ran away crying.
Renata flounced away, leaving Wilson behind. Wilson paid for his tea and raced after her. "Renata, wait." She slowed her pace as he managed to walk beside her. "Can we talk?" She looked at his face and glanced down, nodding her head gently.
They strolled through the outspread woods behind the library building and the dining hall. Falling yellow leaves from red maple, black birch, and red oak trees fell beautifully under the sinking sunset. If Renata wasn't pouting, Wilson would have enjoyed the scene as they sauntered with no destination.
For a while, they walked in silence before Wilson found his tongue. "What is the matter with you, Renata? I have never seen you being that insolent."
Renata snorted indignantly, "I was the problem here? Do you know how many times these so-called "friends" asked me to pay or give something to them for the past few days? I'm no stranger to these kinds of shady rodeos. I had been through worse. Loser leeches.... "
They stopped at one of the cast-iron benches and sat. "I didn't mean it that way, Renata. You could have rejected her. "
"I did, didn't I? I asked her if I was her mom. "
Wilson sighed. "You could have said no in a normal way. But that is not important." Wilson paused as he faced her, but she lowered her gaze to her coffee. "You have been avoiding me lately. What is going on?"