"My body hurts so much!" she complained while walking with her friends.
"What on earth were you doing last night?" Suzy asked.
"I couldn’t sleep properly!"
"Oops, that only means one thing. Is something bothering you?"
"Did something happen that you can't forget?"
She suddenly remembered Claude’s kiss. Gross. I swear I'll kill that monkey! "That jerk!" she suddenly screamed, not realizing their professor was standing right in front of them.
"Why are you shouting, Ms. Cervantes?!" their terror professor asked angrily.
Her classmates stared at her, equally puzzled.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry," she quickly apologized.
"Get out! Get out of this room! I want you to run outside as punishment. Do you see that circular path out there? Run there! Don’t stop until my class here is over," the professor snapped.
"Okay, Ma'am," she replied.
With a frown, she left the classroom. Crap, now I have to walk all the way out. This is all Claude’s fault! He’ll pay for this, that idiot!
By the time she reached the ground floor, she was already exhausted. She felt embarrassed about running, knowing all the students would see her. But whatever, it’s just this once. She started running. Students watched her, but she ignored them and decided to just enjoy the run. Why does this feel so good? It's tiring, but still worth it. Running really does help relieve stress.
She smiled at the students she passed by until one male student started running alongside her. "Tired already?" he asked.
"Not yet. Why are you running too? Did you get punished?" she asked.
"Nope. I was feeling stressed, and when I saw you running and actually enjoying it, I thought I’d join you," he replied, making her smile.
"Really? It does feel great! It’s like all my worries disappeared, and I feel lighter," she said. "By the way, what’s your name? I’ll invite you to join our peer counseling club."
"Axel Gonzalez. Joining your club sounds like a great idea."
"I’m Deanna Cervantes, a newbie here at school. If you ever have any problems, you can talk to us at the club, and we can give advice," she offered.
"Oh, I already know you. A lot of my classmates admire your bravery. And there are quite a few guys crushing on you too," he added.
"Really? I didn’t know that. Anyway, I should head back to class. See you at the club?" she said as she waved goodbye.
"Yeah, thanks!" he replied.
"Hey, Axel! You know Deanna?!" one of his classmates asked.
"Yeah, I just met her. Why?"
"Introduce us to her, please!"
"Here’s an idea—why don’t you all join her peer counseling club? That way, you’ll really get to know her," he suggested.
"A club? Sounds good! Thanks for the info! Let’s go, guys, let’s find Deanna!" They all hurried off to look for her.
"Deannaaaaa!" someone called. She stopped when she heard it.
"Why?"
"We heard you have a club. Can we join, please?" one of them begged.
"Sure, just text me your names. Hand me your phone," she said. He gave her his phone. "There, I saved my number. Just text me, okay?"
"Yes! Thank you! We’re such big fans of yours. You’re so brave and beautiful!"
She smiled at him. "Aww, thanks! I need to get going now. I still have class."
She felt thrilled hearing that. Looks like the club’s gaining more members. It’s nice to know that there are still people on her side. Nothing to worry about after all.
As soon as she sat down in class, her friends immediately bombarded her with gossip.
"Did you hear, Deanna?" Suzy asked.
"Hear what?" she replied, confused.
"Isn’t Amaury the club president?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, Amaury allowed Claire to join the club, and now some students want to remove their names from the list."
"What?! Why did he let her join?" Amaury is such a pain.
She grabbed her phone from her bag and called Amaury.
"Hello? Where are you?" she asked.
"In the room. Why?" he replied.
"We need to talk! Where can we meet?"
"Let’s meet in the music room," he suggested.
She ended the call. "Girls, I’m heading out. I need to handle something important," she told them.
"Wait, we’re coming too!"
"No need. This will be a serious conversation. You guys can’t come."
"Fine! See you later!"
Even though she was exhausted, she went straight to the music room and found Amaury there.
"What were you thinking?! Why did you let Claire join the club?! Now people are leaving!" she yelled.
"How could I say no?"
"You could’ve just said the club was full! Now they’re all leaving, and who’ll be left? Just the three of us? I quit! I’m done! You can make her the vice president, or I’ll just go talk to the Dean myself."
"Do whatever you want."
"I’m so tired, Amaury. Sometimes I just want to leave this school and the mansion. I feel like I can’t handle everything anymore. I always get caught up in drama—it's exhausting." She sat down, almost on the verge of tears, but she held them back. She didn’t want anyone seeing her cry.
"Wait—" Amaury tried to say, but she ignored him and left, heading straight to the Dean of Accountancy.
"Good morning, Sir!" she greeted.
"Good morning! What brings you here, Ms. Cervantes? Are you submitting the list of club members?"
"Sir, I want to resign as vice president. Please appoint Claire Daniels instead."
"That’s not possible, dear. You and Amaury were chosen for a reason."
"But, Sir—"
"Many students trust and admire you for your strength and courage. That’s why we chose you. Do you think they’d join if Claire were in your position? No way. You need to convince the students to come back. We believe in you."
"But, Sir, I’m really exhausted..."
"I know, but you’re stronger than you think. You can do this, Ms. Cervantes!" There was no backing out now.
"Alright, Sir. I’ll go now," she said and left.
"So, how’d it go?" Suzy asked when Deanna returned.
"I talked to the Dean. I tried to quit as vice president, but he wouldn’t let me," she replied glumly.
"Are you crazy? We’re still here! We’re not quitting the club, so don’t you dare quit either. We’ll help you find more students to join," Pamela assured her.
"Yeah! And don’t mind Claire. We have your back. If she steps out of line, we’ll kick her out," Kendra added.
"Thank you, girls. That really means a lot. I also talked to Amaury about letting Claire in."
"And?"
"He didn’t say much. I scolded him, but when I talked to the Dean, I realized maybe Claire needed the club. With her attitude and bullying, she could use a place like that to change."
"Exactly! That club might be her only hope!" They all laughed.
"Let’s go to the music room rooftop and get some fresh air. We need to shake off these bad vibes," Suzy suggested.
"Wow, not inviting us to eat at the cafeteria for once?" Deanna teased.
"I realized I need to diet," Suzy replied.
"And why is that?" Kendra asked with raised eyebrows.
"I have a blind date on Saturday, and he’s hot!"
"Girl, that guy might just hurt you," Pamela warned.
"Relax! That’s for later. Happy now, heartbreak later—ouch! Why’d you hit me?"
"If he breaks your heart, you better come crying to the club so we can give you a solid piece of advice," Deanna said.
"Guys, it’s just a blind date, not a boyfriend yet! I’ll check him out first."
"Make sure he’s decent, or he’ll get a taste of our fists!" Pamela warned again.
"Don’t worry, I got this."
"Yeah, yeah. You say that now, but if he hurts you, you’ll be running back to us for help. No complaints, okay?" Deanna added. She was comfortable enough to say anything to her friends.
"Fine! But if this chimpanzee breaks my heart, help me bury him."
"You’re insane! Someone might hear you and think it’s real," Kendra laughed.
"I’m joking! Let’s go already! We’re still here because of your lectures!"
"You’re lucky we care. Once we graduate, we might go our separate ways, with our own lives and new friends," Pamela pointed out.
"That’s sad, but no matter where life takes us, we’ll always be friends," Deanna said sincerely.
"Aw, that was sweet!" Suzy added, and the four of them walked together, arm in arm, heading to the rooftop.
"The breeze feels amazing!" Suzy shouted.
"You sound like you’re in the countryside!" Kendra teased, and they all burst into laughter.