Then it was showtime.
We walked through the Ancient Hall, and once again, more students and even the upperclassmen stared at us. I think on this particular occasion, Lisa was a full target of these excessive gawks. I walked behind while Joy and Jisoo were explaining something about the Ancient Hall. Since they both were practically residents in this school, they knew all the detail better than I did. Our newbie went along without saying anything much, she just listened and nodded quietly.
"The Ultara Academy is quite different from other private schools. Languages, mathematics, histories, sciences, and cultures are in the basic curriculum, but we all are encouraged to pursue anything we want," Joy said professionally.
"The school has amazing food, but you can bring your own lunch along if you like. We have some students who are the world's health food nuts - Chaeyoung is for one," Jisoo might just want to be cute and gave an overboard detail to our newcomer. Jisoo turned to me and winked. But I saw Lisa's eyebrows knitted together in a curious expression though she didn't ask anything.
"So where did you study before coming to this school?" Joy asked her.
"I was home-schooled," she said in her alluring accent. Then she looked at me and caught me looking at her. I turned away, trying not to blush.
"Do you know where your suite is?"
"I'm sorry; I don't stay in the mansion suite."
"Really?" exclaimed Jisoo, "Which means you're an exception too? Oh, that makes it two then, because Chaeyoung is another one," she said and then winked at me again. I blinked hard, not knowing why she chose me to illustrate most of her school info.
We ended up venturing into the gym as the last place to see. There were students playing softballs everywhere, and the four of us walked with nothing more to talk, we just watched people playing.
"And this is the storage room for our sports equipment. In case you want to see..." Joy said as she pressed a button on the wall.
The steel door slid open like an elevator. But what we didn't expect to see was Momo in her sports bra with no panties rocking on a screaming Dahyun on the floor. Our eyes almost popped out of the sockets as we stared at the live sex in front of us.
Joy quickly punched the shut-button and the door closed again.
"Well, there's nothing to see here," she said.
And a moment later the school bell rang so loud, I felt like my eardrums would burst. I had to cover my ears while the rest of us didn't seem to bother.
No sooner than the sound stopped, I heard a buzz of an object moving toward where I stood. I lifted my face to see a baseball went sailing through the air, aiming directly at me. It all happened so fast, like a blink-fast! I thought it was going to hit me right in the face, but at the same second, a white hand grabbed the ball, holding it inches away from my face.
I looked at the very hand that belonged to Lisa surprisingly.
"Wow, what a perfect save," said Jisoo.
"It's just a reflex," she replied modestly. The baseball players shouted apologies and asked for the ball back. Lisa tossed the ball from afar.
"You're alright?" She turned to ask me.
"Fine... thank you," I spoke awkwardly back.
When the tour was over, we were ready to grab our lunches at the Lunch Hall, but the place was almost vacant because we were late.
"Guess, that's just us now," Joy said as she was scanning the place.
"Do you want to sit at our table?" Jisoo asked Lisa. I rolled my eyes at her as if to say, 'Just give her a break!'
"I would love to, but I have some papers to fill out for the school, I hope you may excuse me."
"Oh, never mind, if anything we can help, let us know."
"Thank you so much for showing me around," she said before she turned away. Lisa walked to the other side of the hall. I have to admit that the girl has the sexiest legs I've ever seen. It made me shiver just by staring at them.
"Looks like someone is getting wet already," Joy whispered in my ear.
I jumped, "What? No! How could you say such a thing?" I walked off to our table. They followed suit and we all settled down.
"Hey, look," Joy tossed her chin, and I followed her gaze. Lisa was holding a carton of milk in her hand. "She's your dream girlfriend, Chaeyoung," she added.
"What do you mean my girlfriend?" I asked, frowning at her.
"You guys have a lot in common," Jisoo added. "You both like milk. You both are the exceptions-"
"And we both don't know each other," I cut her off.
"I think you should invite her to your birthday party," said Jisoo eagerly. And just like that, Lisa looked at us as if she had radar that could detect gossips, but then she simply smiled in an innocent way, and we waved back at her.
I turned around to my best friends and hissed, "Are you crazy?"
"Why not? I'm not crazy. I saw the way she looked at you," Jisoo said, and I felt my cheeks burn.
"On top of that, she did save your face from the ball," Joy pointed. "If I were you, I would invite her to eat out."
I shot a disgusted look at her double meaning. Joy just grinned. I couldn't believe my two best friends ganged up on me because of that too- gorgeous-to-look-at newbie. I shook my head at them and began chomping away my everything-vegetable like I didn't care.
"Anyway, I heard that there would be a big carnival downtown, do you want to go?" Joy announced.
"Can't," I said, shaking my head, "I'm expected to be home before dark."
"Come on Chaeng! It's the best carnival ever!" Jisoo pleaded.
"You know my mom- she won't let me go."
"How about sneaking out?" Joy suggested. When it comes to breaking the rules, Joy is an expert. You could be kind of a rule-optional too if your mom was a headmistress.
"If you get caught, Joy, you can get away with it without being chewed out by your mom, or maybe she even gives you a lollipop if you just apologize. But for me, Mom would skin me alive if she knew that!"
Joy didn't look too pleased with my personal point of view, and she was about to yell at me in objection, but Jisoo broke her off by saying, "That's not the problem, Chaeyoung. I'll cover it up for you," she reassured me with a pat on my back.
Jisoo had probably mapped out a thousand plans inside her head. With her genius IQ, everything is possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I was standing in front of the main gate, waiting to be scanned and check myself out of the school. But then I heard footsteps coming behind me. I turned around to see Lisa walking forward. I forgot that I had company now. I noticed her long curved eyelashes batted a little as she smiled. I looked straight back, feeling a bit inferior to her beauty.
"You're heading home?" She asked, coming to stand beside me. I don't know how it could be possible, but the moment our bodies got close. My nerves started acting up. I could feel my heart race as we stood next to each other.
"Yes."
"You don't want to talk to me, do you?" Lisa asked to my surprise.
"No!" I denied quickly, "It's nothing like that... it's just... I'm not... much of a talker," my words jumbled like crazy. Lisa just smiled.
"Me neither," she said. Then there was a silence. The cold evening air was whizzing about, causing dead leaves to fall from the trees. We both looked down at our shoes.
"How old are you?" She suddenly asked again.
"Why do you want to know?" I asked back with a nervous laugh, hoping that I didn't look so flustered by this question.
She looked at me and then narrowed her eyes to my teeth. I shut my mouth up instantly and turned my face straight back. Lisa might have seen my unusual long canine teeth, but pretended not to notice.
"My apologies, I'm just trying to find something to say."
"No, that's okay," I said, waving my hand in the air. "I'm turning seventeen soon."
"When?"
"This Friday," I told her. And for a moment, she had a worried look on her face which I didn't quite understand why.
"Would you like to come to my birthday?" I finally asked Lisa without even thinking about it. Oh great, I could imagine Jisoo going bananas about this already.
"My pleasure," she responded and smiled gorgeously back. Then I caught a glimpse of her perfect teeth. They weren't just regular white, but ultra-white. Plus she also had long canine teeth just like mine! Maybe, I wasn't the only one who shared gorilla genes after all.
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