Lady Misfortune: Daddy, I'll Be A Righteous Villainess!

The conversation goes on, and for some reason, Sarah can't help but continue to listen.

"Sorry to ruin your fantasy, girl, but I heard he's already interested in someone. Besides, don't you still know? The student council is being put under fire today. That upperclassman is one of those who're getting attacked. Perhaps, he's not really what he seems."

"Who cares about that?! As long as he's good-looking!" 

Sarah cringes at that.

Whoever is talking all big right now, she might end up dating a criminal one day. 'Just how stupid should you be to only care about a guy's appearance and nothing else? Phenomenally stupid, I say,' she thought, feeling like slamming her head on the table in exasperation. She already read the article that the school publication released, and she was able to judge how bad the student council was being portrayed.

It was bordering brutal. Just as expected of those two boys.

The commentary is a tad bit too exaggerated, but Sarah has already seen it coming, and maybe even that is not enough to explain what Lady truly feels after that incident in the coffee shop. 

She'll be lying if she says she isn't concerned. It's kind of her fault, after all.

"Oh, wow. I can't believe Orion's still into her. He's way out of her league," she heard the same female voice say, and right then, she knew that the subject had been turned to her. 

She had to stop herself from glancing over at them in bewilderment. They're gossiping about her. She knew she wasn't supposed to hear that.

Yet, because Sarah did catch onto it, it may be on purpose after all. 

"Damn, that's harsh, girl. I mean, it's not like she's ugly or anything."

She narrowed her eyes. That doesn't sound like a compliment.

"Oh, come on. She's got a boring taste in fashion. Everything she wears is plain. Remember our field trip last year? She's literally dressed in old granny clothes. It was so funny! Who would want to date someone like that?"

"Orion, obviously."

"Yeah, right. She's probably his first crush or something, so he doesn't realize how much better he can do. The same goes for the other guys."

"Glenn was certainly in a relationship before. How about him?"

"Everyone knows that Glenn is a playboy. Of course, he's just messing around."

It was then that Sarah decided she'd heard enough.

She firmly shook her head and tried to focus on her notes again, trying to chase away every negative thought that would crop up. This wasn't the first time, anyway – heck, this was the reason why she didn't have a single friend in class. She stared ahead, determined not to let them get to her. 

And as their teacher walked in to start the first discussion for that day, Sarah tried her best to concentrate on the lecture – on anything but the girls' comments.

---

By lunch time, Sarah feels much better.

Those classmates of hers had no idea what they were on about. They don't have the right to decide if someone is attractive or not. That's just their petty little jealousy talking.

Even then, Sarah leaves class in a fog.

'I'm awesome. I'm strong and smart and adaptable. I'm pretty too,' she kept repeating in her head like some sort of a mantra to boost her spirits.

She doesn't have any friend in school to cheer her up. All she has are those boys, but she doesn't want them. She can only rely on herself. 

"Excuse me!"

At that, Sarah flinches.

She hears the voice half a second before someone shoves past her, bolting down the hallway and crashing into several other students along the way. The force of the impact sends her tumbling into somebody else, but she is lucky enough to catch herself before both of them fall.

"Ugh, the heck is that?"

Sarah lets out a groan and looks up to apologize. 

But her voice gets caught in her throat. It just so happened that the girl she knocked into was none other than the same female student who talked behind her back – figuratively and literally. She is so surprised she is speechless for a moment.

Here she thought she would just avoid her for the rest of the day. 

"I'm so sorry!" Sarah squeaked.

The girl remains silent. However, the look on her face speaks volumes. 

Her lips curl up in evident disgust. She glares daggers at her before she flicks her hair over her shoulder. Then, she turns around and walks away. She joins her friends at the other end of the hallway who are all shooting snarky looks at her. 

Sarah only stands there. 

Right in the middle of the crowd, she appears like a rock caught in the middle of a stream, a steady flow of students rushing by on their way to have their lunch. She tries to keep a blank expression, but inside her, she is close to exploding. 

'I didn't even do anything to her…!' she thought, gritting her teeth. 

'It's like she hates me because the guy she likes is into me! Can't she be any more childish?! It's not my fault that boys are chasing after me!'

It has always been like this for Sarah, though.

She can't even befriend anyone because everyone in her class holds prejudices about her. Those who do offer to be close with her want something more. She's being ostracized even though she's not doing any of them wrong. 

'Sure, I like to play around sometimes, but it's not like I'm not working hard too.'

At home, she has no one. At school, she is still all alone.

Nobody truly understands her. Some do care but never care enough. 

Tears prick at the corners of her eyes. However, she wouldn't cry over this – not over her. She'd been through a lot of things that were much worse.

'I'm awesome, I'm awesome, I'm awesome,' she kept telling herself, resuming her mantra.

And with that, Sarah forces herself to move.