Oliver could recognize the two other girls. They were among the bunch of girls he stumbled into earlier in the girls' room, outlining their lips.
A call came from behind. Oliver turned around and saw Felicity coming towards him.
"What took you so long?" asked Felicity, " I've been waiting for you".
She soon noticed the presence of Olivia and her crew and Drake with his gang of bullies. She was a bit worried.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Everything's fine," answered Oliver.
"Let's go," said Felicity shortly, taking Oliver's hand.
"Let go of the new kid Fel, he's with us," Max exclaimed.
"By the way, who would want to be friends with someone like you? You're lost in an endless loop of failure," said Olivia, "you couldn't even make it past trig class".
Jess and Melissa were giggling sheepishly now.
"Hay Fel, look what I found!" said Jess, unfolding a piece of paper, and holding it out for all to see.
Felicity was frozen in shock. Somehow Olivia and her cronies had managed to make away with her trigonometry test answer sheet. The result was visibly poor and unpresentable. It bore a series of red markings, and a big letter F written in bold uppercase and circled with red ink. She scored fifteen percent. She flicked a swift glance around in embarrassment, to see if others were looking.
"How did you..." muttered Felicity.
Olivia and the rest were already laughing wildly, like silly Asian hyenas. They drew the attention of some other kids, who came close to see the exposed sheet. They too joined in the laughing party, teasing and mocking her. Felicity almost burst into tears right where she stood. This was a total embarrassment.
"Girl you've got to be super careful with stuff like this," jeered Olivia.
"Give it back," said Felicity, with a shaky voice.
"Aww, you gonna cry?" jeered Melissa.
"Stop all this, you guys. Let her have her paper back," protested Oliver.
"Don't side with her, she's a failure," said Olivia.
"You don't belong here Fel, go back to the bottom of the trash heap where you belong," added Jess.
Felicity couldn't bear the shame anymore. She covered up her face with her arms and ran out of the hall.
"Felicity! Felicity!" called Oliver at her, but she was already far from ear reach.
Oliver saw it so horrible how they found pleasure in seeing someone else suffer. Max hung his arm around Oliver's shoulder.
"There's no point bothering yourself about that girl," he whispered to Oliver.
"That wasn't fair," said Oliver. He sounded angry.
"Whoa, is he for real?" Olivia asked.
Oliver yanked himself away from Max, and ran out of the hall, after Felicity. Max and the others were stunned.
"I can't believe he went after that loser," muttered Melissa.
"Yeah, it looks like your boy is a joke after all," said Olivia to Max, who wore a look of disappointment.
Olivia and her group went their way now.
Oliver ran out, down the hallway. He stopped beside the door to the girls' room. He thought of where Felicity would be. At that time the restroom was the only lonely and quiet place in the school, where someone would want to hide while weeping.
Oliver thought for a while, he knew he shouldn't enter the girl's room, but something was pushing him to push the door open. The hallway was void of students, they were all at the gym hall, and he had the chance to enter there without anyone noticing. Then he thought of what the reaction of the girl would be when she saw him. He wondered if she would scream so loud and draw the attention of others. He doubted that though. He felt she wouldn't want to embarrass him.
He could audibly hear the silent cry of Felicity coming from one of the stalls. He came closer and leaned his head against the door.
"Felicity," he whispered.
"Someone's in here," answered Felicity, with a cracked voice and sniffs.
"Felicity it's Oliver," said Oliver.
There was a long moment of silence no.
"Please go, now isn't the time," said Felicity.
"I know, but... I can't leave you all by yourself, crying in there," insisted Oliver, "Open up".
After a short while, the door creaked open, revealing Felicity, who stood crying.
She sniffed.
"Why are you here?" she muttered.
"Felicity I'm so sorry about what those girls did to you back there," said Oliver, with a look of compassion.
"Honestly, that was so rude of them, I never knew this school would be such an asylum," added Oliver.
Felicity kept on sobbing continuously and uncontrollably. She left the door and went back to the corner.
Oliver stepped into the room now, quietly closing the door behind him.
"Hay... Don't cry. It's okay," said Oliver.
He quickly offered her some sheets of soft paper to wipe her tears off. But Felicity wouldn't stop crying.
"You don't get it, do you?" said Felicity, still weeping.
"It is not okay, didn't you see what happened back at the hall?"
"They're right, I'm a failure with unending streaks of getting poor grades".
Oliver was literally short of words after hearing what Felicity just uttered. He just stood close, gazing at her with a look of concern.
"I... I don't think you're a failure, Felicity," he managed to say.
"You should," replied Felicity.
"Look, I'm sorry for talking to you earlier today in the first place," she added.
"What are you saying?" asked Oliver, looking more puzzled than ever.
"Let me brief you a bit on how things go on around here," said Felicity.
She continued.
"When they see you hanging around with a loser, they regard you as one. And me? I'm a clear definition of a loser around here, so I don't want them calling you a failure like me," said Felicity.
"Olivia is a smart kid, you should hang with her instead," she added.
She sniffed and squatted down to the ground.
"I'm a mess, a total mess," she grumbled, "I suck at almost every single subject, I can't even make it past trig. I've tried all I could to be more than I am, but nothing has changed so far. When I heard about you; the new kid, I was so eager to meet you. I just wanted to try and see if I can be able to have this one friend since you wouldn't know who I really am. But they've said it all, and now I regret it. I'm sorry Oliver".
Oliver seemed to be deeply touched by the expressive statement made by Felicity. He came to think of it, this was the last thing he'd ever expected from anyone, especially from a girl. It touched him deep down in his heart, this was the first time in his entire life to meet someone who actually wanted to be friends with him. Not minding the mockery and ridicule perpetuated against her, she was still to him, the kind of girl he'd consider classy.
Oliver was so emotionally touched right now, that he almost broke a tear. But he managed to control it.
Now that she was looking at him, he lost control and a drop of tear accidentally dropped from his eye. He briefly brushed it away, but not before she noticed.
Felicity sniffed now and gasped out.
"Are those… tears in your eyes?" she asked, staring into his eyes with worry.
"Tears? No, you must be mistaken," he lied.
Felicity was still looking into his eyes suspiciously. She seemed sure of what she saw, and his eyes were even moistened now.
"You're lying, aren't you?" she looked straight into his eyes.
Oliver was getting uneasy. He just flicked a nervous glance at her and remained silent.
"Hay, did I say something wrong?" she asked with desperate green eyes.
"No... How would you? I mean… you didn't say anything wrong," replied Oliver, convincing in his accent.
It wasn't enough, she was still staring into his eyes expectantly.
Oliver sighed.
"It's just... my whole life I haven't had an actual friend. As a matter of fact, you're the first person that has ever wanted to be friends with me, and it's just... it feels so new," he managed to say.
Felicity looked away now. He looked away too. They both were silent for a long while, not saying a word, or daring to stare at each other.
The bell rang. Oliver glanced at his wristwatch. It was the eleven thirty-five bell. Oliver had no idea what the bell was for, but he knew he was late. The entire school was quiet now, except for the low sounds of hazy voices coming from the gym hall.
"You shouldn't be here," came a quiet voice from Felicity.
"And... We shouldn't be seen together. It's for your own good," she added.
"I do…" muttered Oliver, but Felicity had entered the nearest stall, and shut the door before he had the chance to speak.
Oliver held up his hand to knock on the door. He held it there for a while, then he put it down. He knew that knocking would only make him look desperate. It would make her think he's obsessed with her, thereby changing her impression of him.
He realized now, that was on his own in the girl's toilet, a high-risk situation. He quickly made it to the door, but just as he was about to open it, he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps and female voices. His heart was throbbing fast now.