Liar and Liar - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 3

Stella was sitting next to Malcolm, where Danielle had sat all semester. Danielle’s brow furrowed.

“…Why are you two sitting together?”

“Oh my, Danielle. Did your talk with Ms. Miranda go well? You must be really disappointed about not getting the internship. You probably prepared so hard for it.”

Stella waved her pink manicured fingers gently in the air. As she turned her head to the side, her trademark beauty mark became prominent.

Malcolm, with his tie pulled suffocatingly tight, had his neck and shoulders hunched up. His already turtle-like physique became even more turtle-shaped.

“Not really. Could you please get out of that seat for now?”

“This is my seat from now on. Malcolm and I decided to work on the science column together this time.”

“What? Malcolm, you said you’d do that with me.”

Danielle didn’t really have anyone she could call a friend at school, but she did have ‘colleagues.’ Malcolm was one of them.

In her shitty school life, he was one of the few people Danielle treated with sincerity, but…

“We, we didn’t talk about it for sure. I don’t think I can do it with you this time. I’m going to do it with Ste, Stella.”

As if loyalty had never existed from the beginning, Malcolm instantly cut Danielle off.

Then someone deliberately bumped hard into Danielle’s shoulder as they passed by.

Danielle, losing her balance, swayed forward. When she irritably looked up, Emily, a female student with her arms crossed, glared at Danielle sideways.

“Try-Elle. If your head is that smart, you shouldn’t keep forgetting your place. Right?”

“What?”

What is this about now.

“I saw everything, you know? How you were flirting when you targeted Frederick being alone in the classroom.”

The female students beside Emily, who looked Danielle up and down, giggled mockingly. What exactly was so funny.

Danielle, whose irritation had reached its peak, put one hand on her hip and glared straight at Emily.

“Stop being ridiculous. If you’re going to corner someone, at least get the situation right before you mess with them. First, I was in the classroom first to begin with, and second, you must only have heart filters in your head, but Frederick and I argued if anything – we’ve never had a friendly conversation. And lastly.”

That damn Frederick, Frederick.

Frederick here. Frederick there. That annoying Frederick Bastia, always causing trouble for others directly or indirectly like this.

“You guys might lose your minds over Frederick Bastia, but I’m completely different. So stop talking nonsense.”

She spoke with genuine anger, but the quiet class quickly erupted in laughter at one male student’s mockery.

“Queen Nerd is angry, she’s angry.”

As the kids burst into laughter, Emily and even Stella giggled to their heart’s content.

‘These fucking airheads.’

She knew that taking them seriously would end up like this, but she got swept up anyway.

Her patience had finally reached its limit from the endless chaos that had been exploding all day. And being stabbed with the awl called Frederick Bastia – the weapon was poorly chosen.

“Well, I’ll believe you this time. But don’t act so high and mighty, Elle.”

As the teacher entered the classroom, Emily lightly touched Danielle’s shoulder and whispered quietly.

“You know you’re not great at all, don’t you. You shouldn’t forget your place.”

Unless you want to get hurt badly.

Like Emily’s chilling voice, Danielle’s heart cooled exactly that much.

* * *

“Look at our Try-hard-nielle over there.”

Joshua, sprawling on the deck of the outdoor courtyard, flapped his hands like a penguin with both hands in his tracksuit pockets and gestured forward with his chin.

Center Table Boys. At Elmir Westlake, where new money heirs with net worths reaching tens of millions of dollars gathered, this was the group tacitly allowed to stand above them all.

At the words of Joshua, the most playful among them and also captain of the swim team, all the male students’ gazes turned toward the crimson running track. However, Frederick was already watching Danielle, so he didn’t need to turn his gaze.

“How many laps has she done by herself already.”

“About 8 laps? That’s over 2 miles.”

While other students were resting after finishing the 1-mile run, only Danielle was running the track alone even during free time.

Although she wasn’t on any sports team, it was publicly known that Danielle’s specialty and hobby was running. Elmir Westlake was a school that continued from kindergarten through high school.

“She got rejected from the research internship.”

“Oh right. What’s this about the locker?”

The male students continued their trivial conversation about Danielle.

They had known her since Lower School, and her solitary behavior made her stand out even more, plus Danielle’s difficult scholarship student life had aspects that evoked sympathy, so she often became a topic of conversation like this.

“Jeremy broke into it this morning.”

Jeremy was a football team linebacker and Emily’s boyfriend.

“What the fuck is that bastard doing.”

“I’m watching to see how far that asshole goes too.”

Mateo, the football team captain and quarterback, frowned. A natural sense of intimidation emanated from his low voice.

Frederick, wearing a white t-shirt and white athletic pants, was staring only at Danielle running on the track instead of joining the conversation.

Her two legs that had been running steadily gradually slowed down, then finally stopped in place, and soon Danielle lifted her head toward the sky.

The sound of her breathing reached Frederick’s ears like a hallucination.

“By the way, I heard an interesting rumor.”

“What?”

“Try-Elle is actually pretty.”

Everyone’s gaze focused on Joshua. This time Frederick was included too. Cove, who served as captain of the lacrosse team, frowned.

“What? What did you just say?”

“Behind those crappy glasses, there’s supposedly a face we can’t even imagine? Charlie saw it in the library.”

The conversation that seemed about to heat up unnaturally stopped instead. It was because Danielle had approached closer to enter the building. She was wiping sweat by pressing the back of her hand against her forehead.

Everyone’s gaze strangely turned toward Danielle. It was a curious look.

Danielle, who paid no attention to such gazes, walked straight ahead looking only at her destination. Then, for a moment when she took off her glasses to wipe away the flowing sweat.

“What the Heck?!”

Danielle turned her head toward the male students sitting around Frederick, drawn by one male student’s sharp voice.

No one added anything more. Soon Danielle’s gaze returned forward again. Once Danielle entered the building, the conversation that had stopped to a level of silence finally resumed.

“What are those glasses. Does it make sense for a person’s face to change like that?”

“Wow.”

“No, I really don’t understand. With that face, why does she go around like that?”

If only she’d throw away those shitty glasses long ago, and then…

The conversation was cut off again, but all the male students present were thinking the same thing. Frederick easily noticed this fact.

“…”

Frederick had his usual smile on his lips, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

* * *

Danielle relieved stress through running. It was a healthy lifestyle habit that Danielle had maintained since Lower School.

‘This is really the limit.’

However, even after running almost 10 laps around the track, her stress wasn’t relieved – only her temperature rose. In fact, the disasters that had struck Danielle in just half a day weren’t something that could be solved with running.

She couldn’t even go eat lunch because she had to find her locker items.

With the single-minded determination to find her belongings first, Danielle stopped by the Trash Yard again, then headed to the Main Building where the lockers were. She was going to check every trash can on each floor one by one.

‘I’m hungry…’

Her body drooped with unusual lack of energy. Both her mind and body were exhausted.

‘How many pages do I have to write for the poverty proof essay…’

Danielle thought of the essay as ‘just something.’ No matter how sincerely she wrote it, she thought the board would obviously decide whether to increase or decrease her scholarship according to their whims anyway.

‘Malcolm, that bad bastard. Guy with no loyalty.’

Repeatedly opening and closing trash cans, Danielle’s mouth corners drooped even more. Fortunately or unfortunately, Danielle’s belongings were found in the 8th trash can. The discovery location was in the basement.

“Hah…”

The Main Building was quiet without classes. Danielle, pulling out the binder and books buried among the trash, headed to the women’s restroom with slow steps.

Swoooosh-

Without wet wipes, she resorted to wetting tissue with water to wipe the unidentifiable filth on the binder’s surface.

Danielle’s eyes gradually reddened as she bit her lip and vigorously wiped the binder’s surface.

Even if she seemed like an iron person to others, Danielle was also human. Someone who got hurt by hurtful things and felt upset by upsetting things.

Someone who hoped for comfort and help when facing overwhelming situations alone…

Buzz.

At that moment, Danielle’s hand stopped abruptly at the vibration ringing from her pocket.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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