After leaving Vivian alone, I went back to the classroom quietly.

“Deon, how’s Vivian?” The teacher asked.

“She’s doing okay now… I guess.”

“Good, after what Keith did to her, he’s getting detention so hopefully she can rest easy knowing that she won’t be bullied in this classroom ever again.”

I try to keep a straight face, Keith took the fall for Sarah? That’s a new kind of low. Even for her… or maybe he voluntarily took the fall. It’s scary to see what guys are willing to do to impress the girl they like. Now that I think of it, would I be willing to do the same for her? I glance at Sarah. I can't imagine myself risking a college scholarship just to protect her permanent record. If she wants to terrorize someone, she has to take the fall herself. Our eyes meet, I can tell she wants to talk to me after council meeting.

Vivian quietly returns to class, taking her seat at the corner away from the kids who hurt her. The teacher called her attention and spoke to her at the back of the room. I watched them at the corner of my eye.

“Are you okay Vivian?” The teacher asks the most generic question ever.

“I… I’m fine… I just needed a glass of water.” She’s obviously not fine, why is this conversation happening.

“That’s good. Keith is going to have detention for a week after the mess he made so you can rest easy knowing he’s learned his lesson.” He seemed so proud of his empty solution. He wasn’t even the root of the problem.

She looked surprised when he told her that it was Keith who took the fall for Sarah. For a moment I thought I saw her glaring at Sarah’s direction, maybe not. I can imagine how angry Vivian would be at Sarah, they were very close up until less than an hour ago. I’m starting to wonder if Sarah did see Vivian as a friend… or if she was just playing with her.

It’s annoying to think that this is all happening right now, the teacher didn’t even care to find out the details. He just saw Keith break the window and pin the blame on him. What an idiot. Then again, it shouldn’t matter to me. I avert my attention to Sarah who is busy chatting away with her seatmate.

The day goes on as usual, I called the attention of those who have cleaning duty and then proceeded to the student council meeting. We talked about the usual events at school and the different issues students are having. It was a typical day until the underclassmen asked about the broken window at our classroom.

“Keith got a little too excited while he was teasing our classmate.” Sarah said nonchalantly.

“Is he hurt?” The 2nd year president asked.

“A few cuts here and there, but he’s fine.”

Sarah wasn’t lying, but who would admit to the council that she was spearheading a session of bullying. I decided to sit this conversation out. I focus on my paperwork while the others gossiped. It’s times like this when I wish I could just enjoy my afternoon alone staring into the void called the internet. Soon everyone started going home. The freshmen cleaned up the room before joining the rest. I made myself look busy so the others wouldn’t question my delayed stay. Usually I’d be the first to go home. Today, I had to wait because Sarah wanted to talk to me.

When the last person left, the room went silent. I assume it’s because Sarah doesn’t want anyone else hearing our conversation. She probably wants to know the extent of her damage. Alright. I’ll play along with this fiasco.

“You weren’t enjoying lunchtime with Vivian.” She asked bluntly.

“No. I wasn’t.”

“It was just a joke, Deon.”

“It’s a prank bro? Is that what you’re playing at?! Because it’s no longer a joke when someone tries to commit suicide!”

Sarah went quiet. She looks stunned.

“I’m sorry.” I composed myself. I don’t think she’s used to seeing me speak up.

“At least she didn’t go through with it.” She seemed to regret her actions.

“Yeah… I just hope she doesn’t do anything stupid.” I say softly, keeping my things in my bag. I guess that’s another thing I like about her. She can be mean… but at least she knows how to listen to people.

I look out the window contemplating a bit and then turned back towards her. I catch her staring at me. “Why did you nominate me for president? I’m just the quiet bookworm in class.”

She looks a tiny bit surprised and annoyed at the same time. I was asking too many questions. “Because I know I can manipulate you without you being a wildcard.”

I frown, at least she’s being honest. “If you want someone to manipulate, why not Keith? He took all the damage from today’s fiasco for you.”

“Are you mad about that?” She sounded defensive. She doesn’t want to take the damage from the entire event. “Keith thinks he can dominate everything. If he feels a partnership with me, he’ll start acting like he’s the king of everything.”

“Well, I’m not as easy as you think Sarah.”

She gave me a cocky smile. I frown, slinging my bag over my shoulder. Even when she’s being cocky she can be very attractive. I’m not falling for this. I'm going to do what I do best. I’m walking away.

Sarah followed me as I walked to the gate. Wednesday afternoons were always like this. Even though Sarah can be a horrible person, I treasured the time I spent with her. A guy like me can only dream of spending time with her. I should be thankful that I’ve never fallen into her bad side.

As we go our separate ways, I looked towards her. I danced around the thought of asking her why she did what she did, but I knew I wouldn’t get a straight answer.

The next days were quiet. In a way, Sarah did learn to tone down her cruel side and just like ants, everyone followed her lead. They stopped terrorising the poor girl and left her to study in relative peace. There were still people who enjoy talking smack about her… but that was it. No more physical harm to her belongings and no more boisterous laughter about her feelings for Jason or her shitty personal life.

Things only started to pick up after exams when Keith pointed out how the transfer student beat Sarah’s scores in two tests. History and Arts. Sarah didn’t seem fazed by this, but I could see Vivian’s pride as she looked up at her name taking the number 1 spot and breaking the chain of Sarah’s.

“No way!! Vivian was cheating!!!” One of Sarah’s lackeys exclaimed.

“The teacher should do a recount. There’s no way the transfer student could beat Sarah.” Maisie said accusingly.

Vivian stares quietly at the group. Sarah gave Vivian a condescending look, as if she was telling her to know her place. The silent war between the two begins. Vivian looked like she didn’t want to back down. Is this her plan for revenge? To ruin Sarah’s perfect record? If so… it would be petty for Sarah to fall right in and for Vivian to even start the fight.

At least she didn’t take the “end-my-life” route. If she really wants to, she should aim at her weaknesses. Not that I’m cheering for Vivian. Despite everything, Sarah claiming to manipulate me and all that… she’s never done me any harm… and in fact, she put a good word in my college application. She isn’t completely bad…. I guess.

Going back, I watched as the two coldly stared at each other. I felt uncomfortable from their tension and decided to go and grab Sarah’s wrist. “By the way, principal Sanvers asked you to deliver the report today.”

She broke eye contact with her enemy to look at me. Her expression went soft then startled as she remembers to deliver her papers. She pulled her wrist away and ran to the office.

I sigh. The classroom will soon become a war zone. All I can hope for is that Vivian stays strong. I wasn’t the type to step in but I’m not ready for suicide to be the topic of the month. Knowing how crazy my classmates are, they’d pretend to care about her for two weeks and then proceed to completely forget her. That's just life.

I felt a light tap on my back. I turned and saw Vivian gingerly trying to talk to me.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Umm… t-thanks for stepping in just now.”

“Oh. What?” I feign ignorance.

“You stopped Sarah from the glaring contest.”

“Oh, I didn’t notice…” I rub my neck, not wanting her to think too much about it. “Sarah had council duties. I just reminded her of it.”

“You’re more observant than you like to show, Deon.” She tries to get me to speak up more.

“Nah, I don’t think so…”

“I thought that was why Sarah suddenly put you up for presidency. You’re smart, observant and you try to get along with everyone even if you’re very quiet.”

“Ahh… I think she just wanted someone else to be class president so she would not bother with two jobs at once.”

“Then why you, Deon?” She looks me straight in the eyes.

Now I can’t possibly tell her ‘oh that’s because Sarah thinks she can manipulate me easily.’ Oh wow, that thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“I don’t know.” I finally said. “Do you have something against my presidency?”

“No… I kind of wish you were the council president instead of Sarah.”

That’s odd. No, thank you. Being class president is enough work for me. The conversation started to become awkward, so I rejoin rest of the class.

I go back to my seat and stare blankly at the board. Was Vivian trying to be friendly? One moment, she was exchanging glares with the queen, the next she was being shy. I can't understand women.

I hear sneering directed towards me. It’s Keith.

“Thank you for stepping in, my knight in shining armor!” He says with that god awful high pitch and annoying fake feminine gesture.

“I wish you were the council president instead of Sarah” Michelle, one of Sarah’s lackeys said parroting Vivian’s voice.

“Haha,” I fake a laugh to go along with them. I didn’t like what they were doing, yet I still play along… That’s so pathetic of me.

“Hey, careful Deon m’boy. She might start writing letters and some make believe novel about you. Like what happened to Jason.” Keith said cockily.

“Maybe she’s trying to get you to prevent the recount of the test scores.” Michelle points out, as if I had the power to do anything. Honestly, I do want the recount… not because I want to see if Vivian cheated… instead, I want to know if she really did beat Sarah. It could be a mistake in numbers. It’s news to me since I used to be the only one who could go near her high scores.

“Why not make peace with Viv… she’s not bad once you get to know her.” Jason says, he really is the typical nice guy of the century.

I stay quiet. The only reason why I’m not friendly towards her was because I wasn’t the type to. She didn’t go well with everyone else so it would be awkward for me to even reach out to her outside of president duties. My reasons are just as petty.

I guess I’m no different from the rest of the class. I ride on with their horrible attitude. I judge everyone for their actions but I never try to be different. The saying goes… Birds of the same feather flock together.

I’m just as evil as the rest of them.