WHAT'S BEHIND

"No!" I screamed. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I was panting. Not again. Will this ever end? Tears rolled down my face. I turned on my lamp and checked the time. It's just one o'clock. I don't want to go back to sleep. I can't have the same nightmare over and over again. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were swollen from tears. Another day of dragging myself through classes. I sighed, hoping things would get better. Two weeks later, they hadn't. Not even close. Things just got worse.

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"Crap! I failed." A student said. "Wait! What! Someone scored higher than Sydney! Who the heck is Miya Ronin?! Another student asked. "Alright! Move aside losers!" A tall muscular guy exclaimed. “That’s Sydney Hagan,” a girl whispered behind me. “He thinks he owns the school because of his dad’s partnership.”

"Who the fuck is Miya Ronin?" He asked and everyone moved back. As everyone moved back, they bumped into me, and my glasses fell on the floor, I bent to look for them. Luckily for me, they weren't broken. As I stood up, someone pointed at me. I couldn't see the figure well because of my blurred vision. I adjusted the glasses properly on my nose. Pointed at me. "You are Miya Ronin?" I wore my glasses to see who was talking to me. "Answer me!" He slammed his hands on the notice board and cornered me between his arms. My heart started to beat rapidly, which caused me to stutter. "Ye...ye...y-yes!"

"What! Who is she?" My classmates asked. "Well, I don't know her but there's one thing I know. She looks weird." Another girl said. "Yeah. Look at those pimples and her hair. Those clothes have got to be the worst crime committed against fashion ew!" Her friend commented. I just ignored their comments, and "I've been in this school all my life, and I was always in the second position." My thoughts were interrupted by the guy's yelling. "Hey! Hey!" He snapped his fingers at me. "I see you cannot see without your glasses. Nerd!" A huge grin formed on his face. A grin which I'll describe as an evil one. He removed my glasses and I begged him to give them back, but what he did next shocked me. "No!" The next thing I heard was a crack. "You jerk!" I tried to attack him, but thanks to my blurred vision, I attacked the air, lost my balance, and fell. Tears rolled down my face. What am I going to do without them? All this can't be happening. I raced my hands through my backpack to look for my phone. After searching for years, I finally found it. I unlocked it with my thumbprint. "Siri, call Doctor Mason," I said. A few seconds later, we got connected, and I asked him to send me a new pair of glasses to my school. He was my family's eye doctor, so he knew a lot about me, like how I've been calling him almost every month for a new pair because of bullies and he said he'd deliver it in an hour. I thanked him and hung up.

I felt my phone being snatched from me. "So the pauper uses an iPhone?" A voice which I was now familiar with, spoke, and I hated his strong British accent. I was helpless without my second eyes, so I just stayed on the floor. "It's not just an iPhone, it’s the latest iPhone 12 Pro. Where did you get it from? Did you steal it?"

"He-he-hey!Give it back!" His shadow loomed over my petite body. He was so intimidating that I stuttered. He ignored me and demanded an answer from me. "Ma-ma-my parents!" I answered. "So, your parents are frauds, huh? Looking at your clothing and that face, ew! You can't be wealthy enough to own this."

He is a topper of the class, but there's one thing he lacks common sense. How can he pick on someone just because of petty things like this, but I didn't utter a word to him? I kept my thoughts to myself. I wondered how long I had been on the floor, and since the teachers had to attend an emergency meeting, no one could save me from this bully. He continued to pick on me and call me names, and no one dared to say a word to him because he's Sydney Hagan. The basketball captain, the girls call him a god, but to me, he is nothing but a dimwit. He returned my phone after someone asked him to stop. He left me on the spot, and Ms Carl entered. "Miya Ronin?"

"Here!" I said, raising my hand. "What happened here?" She asked the class, but no one dared say a word for fear of being the next victim. "Here are your glasses." She helped me up, and after thanking her, she gave me my glasses. I quickly put them on and walked to my seat at the back, beside the window. She congratulated me after the class had settled. "For the first time in your class' history, someone took Sydney's crown. She deserves applause."

The sounds of hands clapping made me cover myself with my hoodie, making me go back into my shell. My solace.

Ding! My phone chimed. A message popped up on my phone.

~Sydney~

Fuck! I can't believe Ms Carl congratulated that buffoon. My anger simmered as I watched her in the corner. "I'm gonna make you pay." I texted her. I saw the frightened look on her face, and I couldn't help but draw an evil smirk on my face. It's weird how I never noticed her in class. My curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to know everything about her. What is she, and where does she come from? How did she get that phone, and who are her parents? If she's one of the rich kids, why do I not know her? No. She can't be one of us. Her face tells it all, and her hair is even messier than a pig's. I scrunch my nose at the thought of it. I mean, her clothes are okay for a surviving person, but those sneakers. They're also the latest Nike, and it's a limited edition, too. I didn't pay attention to the crap Ms Carl spilt. My mind only raced to the mystery girl who sat five meters away from me, yet I never knew who she was. I was glad when her lesson ended. Everyone exited the class except her. I stayed in my corner and kept an eye on her, but she didn't move an inch till break was over, and she moved to her next class. I wasn't in her other class but I saw her in my last two classes. She waited for everyone to leave before she moved. I waited at the parking lot to see what she would do next, but I got distracted. Jason, my best buddy, came up to me. "Are you going for practice today, bro?" He asked me. "No," I replied. "Coach isn't going to be happy with you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. Just tell him I have a family issue to attend to, okay."

"Alright. But will you join us at Tom's tonight? Hot chicks are going to be there."

"Yeah. I know about that. But I have something important to do." I said, entered my car, and drove away when I saw her coming out. She walked to a bus stop. She got into the first bus that halted. I followed the bus, making sure no one got into my line. We passed by neighbourhoods that are well-suited for her calibre, but she never alighted at any of the bus stops. The bus came to a halt at an estate where public transport was not allowed to enter. It belonged to these really rich estate developers. I can't remember their names.

She walked in, and the guard greeted her. I told the guard that I was seeing one of my dad's friends. He asked for my name. When I told him who I was, he let me in. I slowly followed her, and thanks to my tinted slides, she didn't see me when she turned back. She walked faster and then bolted away. She was pretty fast. She stopped at a building which I was familiar with. I have been here on several occasions when I was little, but I didn't know that the Ronins had a child. She stood in front of the Ronin's villa. Is she…? Impossible! The gate automatically opened, and she entered. She's probably a maid's daughter. A maid welcomed her and took her backpack. "Maybe her mom." I thought. "What's her name again? Miya Ronin...of course Ronin! Just who are you, mystery girl...?"