Me and my Big Bro fought each other last night.

Oh, honestly! Why did he have to do that? I almost made a mistake of attacking him... Not that I could blame him anyway.

I realized that he's been holding down all of his emotions towards us. Maybe he just happened to snap last night.

I better be obedient and just silently accept his revenge. This way, I won't feel guilty about what I did to him when we were younger.

Or so I thought he would take his revenge on me.

I kept silent as I waited for him to do something, in which what I expected him to do, at most, would be to scold me.

Also, for some reason, even Cindy did not speak to Big Bro too.

So, I asked her when we were alone,

"Hey, Cindy. Why are you not talking to Big Bro too? Unlike me, he probably doesn't hate you so it's okay to act like you used to."

"Ah? So you really were being silent on purpose? Don't worry about it. I just thought that it would be fun if I try to imitate you being silent."

"Heh, just don't complain when Big Bro nags at us."

Just like that, we became silent for the whole morning's duration.

On a side note, I never expected that creepy black guy to cook so well. I must have him cook for us from now on.

<><><><><><><><>

On the way to school, I walked together with Cindy.

We usually do this every morning. I've gotten so used to it that I would feel uneasy if Cindy doesn't walk with me in the mornings.

But lately, we've been noticing some strange suited guys tailing us. I wonder what they want.

And so, we reached our school safely.

I split up with Cindy since she belongs to a different classroom from mine.

Our boring class proceeded as usual.

But during the entire lecture, I could not take my mind off of Big Bro. I wonder what he is thinking right now.

Bored, I checked my phone for time despite the female teacher still doing her lecture.

May 12, 2032. Wednesday. 11:47 AM

Oh, it's almost lunch...

"What are you doing, miss Joan!?"

"Wyaah!"

I shouted in a panic when the female teacher suddenly asked me a question.

Looks like she realized that I'm not listening to her.

I quickly hid my phone back inside my pocket.

She walked to my side and then asked again,

"Were you using your phone just now?"

"Uh, err... I wasn't..."

I fiddled around while trying to lie my way out of the situation. Seriously, please stop questioning me now, teacher.

However, almost everyone in my classroom hates me. And so...

"Teacher, teacher! I saw her use a phone just now!"

A nearby female classmate of mine said that as she pointed at me. The others also followed up by saying to the teacher that they saw me too.

That damn girl. Giving me away like usual! I'll make her pay later! ...Ah! She's snickering at me!

"You bitch! --Ah!"

I hurriedly covered my mouth after blurting out a vulgar word right in front of the female teacher.

That damn girl! She's laughing at me right now! I won't care even if you're not alone later! You're gonna go down!

"Miss Joan... Your phone, please," said the female teacher as she extended her palm to me.

"But..."

"Phone! Now!"

I reluctantly gave my phone to the teacher.

"I'll confiscate this for now. I will return your phone by the end of the week. I hope you don't do this again... Not that you will listen to me anyway."

This teacher! You're making me look like a fool!

Dammit! Everyone is laughing at me!

"Oh no! Joan, your phone got confiscated~ I wonder who's responsible for that~ Hahahaha!"

That damn girl! You gave me away and now you're laughing directly at my face? Looks like you didn't receive enough beating yet.

No, no, wait. I can't be like this. This is exactly why my Big Bro is being distant from me. I should take a deep breath and calm down...

I heard the ring of a the school bell.

And just like that, the bell signaled the beginning of our lunch time.

<><><><><><><><>

Lunch time, inside the cafeteria.

"Sorry for being late, let's eat now, Joan!" said Cindy as she sat right across me while opening her lunch box.

"Yeah..."

I sloppily opened mine. Not that I could muster any more energy after what happened earlier.

"...Did something happen again?" asked Cindy with a concerned look. She probably noticed my gloomy expression.

"Yeah, nothing much. Just the usual happenings inside my class. By the way, I will beat someone up today... Forget it. I change my mind."

I played with my food using by spoon as I said that. I can't bring myself to eat yet when I think of my problems.

Upon hearing me, Cindy gave a sigh and said,

"You really should lighten up your attitude, you know? You know that's the reason other people are so afraid of you."

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"Don't point your fork at me. That's dangerous. Anyway, you're right, but it's not like I can do anything about it anymore. It's already too late for me."

"Sigh... There you go again with that negative attitude of yours. Stop playing with your food and eat up."

I did as she said and started consuming my lunch at a slow pace.

While both of us were eating, a girl who seems to be same age as me suddenly sat beside me.

Hey, don't get all chummy on me. Who are you anyway? Go away, you're disturbing me... But I could not say that since I am busy chewing my food.

"........"

"........"

The girl and I just wordlessly glanced at each other while Cindy just didn't care and only continued to munch on her food. Hey Cindy, I need help here.

"Um..."

The girl is trying to say something. Hurry it up while I'm still chewing my food! You may not get the chance to speak later.

"Umm... You're name is Joan, right?"

She's asking about me. Am I starting to get popular around here?

I couldn't speak because of my still full mouth so I only gave her a nod.

"Ahem! Umm, here. Please take this," she said as she handed me a piece of paper with pictures in it.

Huh? What's this for?

I accepted the paper and then swallowed my food. I then asked,

"What's this for? It says here... Free rides. Isn't this a coupon for the amusement park nearby?"

Hearing me say that, she smiled and nodded towards me energetically. What's with this girl?

"Uh huh! We've learned about what happen to you earlier so the secu-- Err, I mean, 'we' decided to give you this to cheer you up. Bye."

And just like that, she waved at me and hurriedly left before I could ask her any more questions.

"...'We'? What does she mean by that? Hey, Cindy. Do you know that girl?"

"No, I don't know that girl. So, something serious did happen earlier! Tell me what it's all about! "

"All right, all right! Just stop waving that fork near my eyes! That's dangerous!"

I told her what happened in detail afterwards.

"You what!? Your entire class ganged up on you and your cellphone got confiscated!? Alright! Take me to your classroom!"

She hurriedly packed up her unfinished lunch and tried to stand up.

Oh no, this is bad. I have to stop her before she does something that will get us both into trouble!

"Stop! Stop! Just let it go! It will turn into something big otherwise."

I quickly held her down and force her to take a seat.

Cindy held her head in disappointment and said to me,

"Oh, is that so? Sigh... Okay if that's what you want."

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's no big deal. And besides, it's probably my fault that their attitude is like that towards me."

I started eating my lunch in a hurried manner. Cindy also opened up her lunch again and started eating it.

"Munch, munch. Sho, Joan, will you go tho ze amushment fark lather?"

"Gulp. Please swallow your food first before you talk. And yes, I might as well go there later. Wanna come?"

"Gulp. Nah, sorry but I can't. I have some work to do later so you're gonna have to come alone."

"Part-time work, huh? It's true that you've been helping out a lot lately. But Big Bro doesn't notice that you're contributing to our budget though."

"Yeah... Sigh, but it's okay. As long as we can still eat our meals three times a day then it's fine for me to work. And besides, we need to buy clothes for those two girls. It feels weird that we're even letting them borrow our underwear. Why did they not bring their own clothes anyway!?"

"Haha, they were probably sent to our house in an emergency while they were still having a bath or something. Yeah, like that would ever happen. Anyway, Cindy, are you sure you don't want me to help with taking a part-time job?"

We both finished eating our meals and started packing up our lunch boxes.

"Don't worry about it, Joan. It's not a big job so it will only take me thirty minutes at most. I'm more worried about you. Are you sure you wont get lost? You're pretty susceptible to getting lost when you're alone."

"Hahaha! I'll be fine. And besides, I always wait for you everyday to finish your work so it's a nice change of pace."

We stood up and started walking together on the way to our classroom.

"Hehe, sorry for always making you wait, Joan. Let's just meet up again later. You can just walk to the amusement park in seven minutes, right?"

"Ah, err, although it's kind of lonely for me to go alone, but... See you later, Cindy. Just wait for me to pick you up at your workplace when you finish your shift."

"Oh, that's right. You have no phone. Alright then, it's my turn to wait. See ya."

And so, we split up with each other and headed for our respective classrooms.

I'll go to the amusement park later, after we finished our lessons.

Even though I am alone, I still have a genuine ticket for free rides!

I just hope that I won't get lost in such a big place...