The girl had taken in her surroundings as she walked, appreciating the scenic view from Freya's home. It was along a nice open road with clean streets and fairly big houses. Freya lived in a particularly grander neighbourhood than she once thought. She knew her way around the town pretty well, so it only took Amelia around 20 minutes of walking to get to school from Freya's house.
"Ah, I can see it!"
she exclaimed with excitement. Amelia had not been past her high school, let alone inside of it, for the past four years. Whilst not something she thought she would be happy to see again, it felt kind of sentimental to be around. She never did like it there all that much, she never had a reason to like it. However, she was excited for a new start.
'I wonder what I will do when I meet myself? How am I meant to change myself as Freya? I mean to her, I am still a nobody. Do I just act friendly and hope things go well? All I have to do is not bully her as Freya and this will be resolved. even so, I can't forgive Freya for what she did. She always used to pick on me. She got her group of friends to call me names which I always tried to ignore. If I didn't react to the name calling, she would drag me to the bathroom with her and call it 'girl time' and would just get her friends to spit smoke in my face and call me an ugly bitch over and over until I agreed with them. At some point, she came into the classroom happier than usual and did not even try Interacting with me. I thought I was free. When I left the class to go to the school library, which was on the other side of the school, I could hear the whispers and jeering of all the people I walked past.'
She began to recall the conversations she heard every day.
"Oh look, it's her. Amelia is apparently easy and will let anyone sleep with her."
" What? That quiet girl? She's a whore? I always knew there was more to her than her books."
'Stop. Even recalling it makes me shiver. It was truly the worst year of my life. I was popular for all the wrong reasons and trying to clear that up was such a pain. Freya got a huge laugh out of it. Nobody, not even teachers were really on my side or cared for that matter; they just wanted someone to point their frustrations towards. It's easy to fool someone, yet it's hard to convince someone they've been fooled. I mean, I was an outlier in my class. I enjoyed being alone and people hated that. I read books and people hated that. Nowadays, people use social media but I don't have them. I am a pretty boring and uninteresting person, yet people tried to make me out to be someone I was not. What reason did they have to believe me? Even thinking about that frustrates me. How did I let them do that to me? Was I really that spineless? Fuck.'
Amelia shakes her head to clear her wandering mind. She begins walking to the school, entering through the big Steel gates for the first time in four years. The sign read [Brisingham High school]. It was a school which produced the top talent in the country, despite being a state school. It was slightly more anxiety inducing than Amelia originally had thought it would be. She could hear the bustle of the students surrounding her, flooding the entrance as time inched closer to 9 AM.
[9 AM Form time]
"Hello everyone, welcome back to your final year of High school. It has been a long journey getting this far, but this is the steepest part of it all. I hope you all do well in the upcoming year as I am sure you will achieve great things. My name is Mrs Scott. I teach English as head of department and also teach history classes. If I have never had you before, then it is nice to meet you. If I have met you before, then you are a welcome face in my classes. Please begin introducing yourselves to your seatmates for the next year."
The girl's seatmate had not arrived yet but she knew who it was. It was herself. Amelia was Freya's seatmate in her final year in Highschool. To the original Freya this was probably heaven. whereas to the girl, it was hell.
'I am here to change that though...even if it's unconventional I still have the chance to.'
Amelia, waiting patiently for herself to arrive through the door, hears the distinct ping of a notification coming from her innermost blazer pocket.
'oh I did bring it with me, didn't I? I have always wondered what Freya got up to on her phone since she was always on it. It wouldn't hurt to take a peek at the notification...'
She tried the face ID and it worked. It was that easy to unlock her phone. She carefully looks through Freya's phone and sees hundreds of unread messages from her friend group chat as well as various boys from our school. The most notable chat room was already pinned to the top of the chat logs. It read [Destiny].
[Hello Freya Wilson,
I am sure this message finds you well. I will get straight to the point. Today is a fateful day and is just one of many that must occur. You will become the terrible bully of [Amelia Christabel], your seatmate in your classes. If you wish to achieve your dream of being a writer, you must sacrifice hers. That is the law of our world. Here, I will give you a layout of what may occur today.
[9:05 AM] Amelia comes in late after a bus stop altercation. From now on, board the bus with her everyday, even if you have to leave early to get there.
your Form time lasts 30 minutes in total become her "acquaintance" during that time.
[10:15 AM] After math has concluded, you have a short break between your next lesson. Use this break and become her "friend" to gather details on Amelia's life. From there, she will tell you herself why you have to do this.
[11:15 AM] History will conclude and you will ask her to go to lunch with you and some friends. She is a shy and quiet girl, but if you push her a little she will give in to you especially since you became friends in her eyes already. She will believe you're kind, she will think you're reliable so make her believe in "you".
[12:15 PM] At lunch, act cold towards her. Don't make her feel outcast but don't make her a part of the group either. Make her feel insecure about her place. She will be too scared to talk about it to anyone and will question if she made the right choice hanging out with your group. This is where you ask her if she is okay. When she replies "no" give her the courage and reassurance to come back to you. From here on out, you will have gained her "trust".
For the rest of the day you do not have to do anything. However, at the end of the day, walk her to the bus stop and get on with her. Then when she speaks to you, ignore her. give her mixed signals. You cannot become her friend, she just has to believe you are one. It is easy to manipulate the mind of a loner. Give her just enough to believe you are friends then "betray" her expectations.
Just for your information, since you signed the contract, I suggest you go through with this as this is now the destiny you have been prescribed. I look forward to seeing how you proceed on your journey.
Best regards,
Destiny.]
"..."
Amelia wanted to throw up. She was thrown into an emotional frenzy. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to believe what she read wasn't real. Tears began to form and her vision became blurry. Once again, she was experiencing suffering at the hands of Freya Wilson. This time, it wasn't because of her. It was learning the truth behind her actions that hurt her the most. She wondered-
"Sorry I am late!"
Amelia's fleeting mind was stopped in its tracks as soon as someone barged through the door, causing a small commotion within the classroom. It was a girl of short stature with short blonde hair, cartoonishly large round glasses and a pale face. It was me, Amelia Christabel.
[9:05 AM Form Time. Amelia and Freya's First meeting.]