The Ugly Side of Beauty

Chapter Five: System

How is it, how is it? :D Who do suits Lorelei better? Cold Nick who only smiles with Chocolate? Friendly Tom who always includes her in anything? Funny Dan who always helps her? 

Hmmm, tough choice, because all of them don't care about her looks. Tom is intrigued because she turns away every time he smiles at her. Nick offers such a bright side to Chocolate that Lorelei can't help wishinf for it, too. Then there's Dan with his contagious smile and her heart always skips a beat when she's with him ^^ Comment for your opinions!

When the last bell rang, I felt so exhausted you wouldn’t believe it. Chocolate had slept through the class as per usual and woke up when the bell rang, still looking sleepy. Everyone got up to leave and I quickly packed my things into my bag when a shadow fell over me. I looked up to see it was Jolene.

“Do you have tuition with Dan today, too?” she asked cheerfully. I nodded in affirmation. “I’ll walk you to the library.” She continued cheerily and waited for me outside the class while I kept my things.

“See you tomorrow,” Tom called back to me as he walked out of the class with Cindy. Cindy smiled and waved goodbye to me, much to my surprise. I had noticed that although Cindy obviously liked Tom, she seemed to be resigned to the fact that he would never like her. I was surprised that she was able to look past that, in contrary to Jolene.

“Bye, bye!” Chocolate called back to me. Nick was absent today, but it didn’t seem to worry her whatsoever. Maybe he often played truant.

“Bye.” I called back, and my voice fell flat. The sound of my own voice depressed me. My progress seemed to have been left behind at the beach yesterday. I sighed deeply before going out of the class. I smiled at Jolene and sling my bag over one shoulder. “Let’s go.”

We walked in awkward silence as Jolene smiled and greeted a few students that we passed. I saw some girls practising cheerleading in the school field and some kids playing volleyball and netball. I had never really joined any sporty things back in New York, and as it was mandatory to choose one club and one uniformed body in this school, I was at a loss.

“How’s the tuition going along?” Jolene broke the silence, her voice carefully amiable. She waved at a few students who were waving at her.

“It’s good.” My voice was a monotone. I sounded like a robot.

“That’s good.” She genuinely sounded glad for me. Then I guessed that the faster I could finish learning, the faster I would be away from Daniel. To be honest, the only times I ever saw Daniel was in the canteen and in the library, since we were in different classes. I nodded at Jolene, hoping that maybe her bout of jealousy was over.

When we reached the library, I saw that Daniel was already there as usual, flipping through a book while waiting for me. He looked up as we came in and smiled and waved us over. Jolene came along as well.

“What, you wanna learn, too?” He teased Jolene. She stuck out her tongue at him.

“No, I just walked Lorelei over. See you tomorrow,” she waved at both of us and gave Daniel a dazzling smile before leaving. I set my bag on a chair and sat down opposite of Daniel so that I was facing him.

“We stopped here on Friday, right?” Daniel opened two books and turned them over to me. “Try to answer these questions and ask me if you wanna know anything.” I nodded and tried to do it. I ended up not answering anything and Daniel had to explain everything.

“Okay?” he smiled at me patiently and I was captivated by his smile. He was so adorable and sweet and patient. His smiled was contagious and I couldn’t help returning his smile. He paused for a moment and a serious expression came over his face. He leaned forward over the table.