The lunch break was still ongoing. Some students were in the cafeteria, while others had finished eating and were heading back to their various classes.
Vivian was still lost in thought after their earlier encounter.
"Why does he look familiar? Have I seen him before?"... Probably not, I don't think so.
"You've seen him in your dreams, right?" Jennifer said with a scowl.
"Ahhh!" Vivian snapped back to reality. She hadn't realized that her earlier mumbling was audible to Jennifer.
"There's nothing to be shy about. The first time I saw him, I was like that too. Do you know that I dreamed about him the entire week? It was as if I was going crazy!" Jennifer exclaimed loudly, acting quite frantic. Vivian just shook her head, watching Jennifer's behavior.
All of a sudden, the cafeteria descended into chaos. Students began to scramble away.
"What's happening?" Vivian asked. Jennifer didn't answer but kept staring in a particular direction.
"Who else but the devil himself..." Jennifer said with a frown.
Gabriel and his gang walked into the dining hall and began to bully people and take their food.
Students started leaving one after the other to avoid becoming victims. Owen walked towards a guy eating quietly in the corner, put his hand in the guy's plate, took the meat, and ate it. His eyes widened. "David, this guy's meat tastes good!" Owen said as he threw the last piece into his mouth.
"What's the point of telling me that when you've eaten it all?"
"Hahaha... hahaha... it was so tasty that I couldn't help it!"
Owen picked up the remaining food on the table and handed it to David.
"What?!"
"Why don't you try the food? It's not bad," Owen said with a grin.
David just took the food and snatched the spoon from the guy sitting at the table and started eating without even glancing at him. The guy whose food they had just taken simply sat there and didn't do anything.
"Wow... so this is the new beauty in our class, right?" Gabriel said as he walked towards Jennifer and Vivian.
"Mmm... what's your name again?... Oh, Vivian, right?"
Vivian didn't say anything and just kept staring at the guy.
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Tyler was standing in front of Jerry and Fatty's table. The two had single-handedly wiped their plates clean; not even a speck of food was left. It was as if a dog had licked the plates. The two were comfortably sitting on their chairs while they kept burping.
"Where is the food?" Tyler asked.
"Which food?" Jerry asked, blinking his eyes foolishly. "Fatty, did he give you any food to keep for him?"
Fatty shook his head timidly, scared that he might get beaten up as usual.
"I mean your food, where is it?" Tyler asked, his face turning angrier with each passing second. The mocking smile on Jerry's face was so annoying that Tyler really wanted to strangle him.
"What kind of stupid question is that? Can't you see the food is gone? Or do you want me to vomit it?... Oh, sorry, I forgot, there is still a bone left on my plate, as you can see. You know they say, 'a patient dog eats the fattest bone.'" "Although this bone isn't fat..." Jerry said as he picked up the bone from the plate and gave it a careful look. "...because I can feel that the chicken was suffering from a terrible fever before they ended its miserable life. But this patient dog can still manage it, right?" Jerry said with a smirk as he threw the bone back on the plate.
"Who are you calling a dog?" Tyler was burning with anger.
"Did I call anybody a dog?" Jerry asked, looking at Kevin. Kevin shook his head vigorously, fear written all over his face. He was scared that Jerry might get them into trouble.
"Well, if this dog doesn't want the bone anymore, he can just leave it for another dog, because I can see other dogs around wagging their tails," Jerry said as he brought out a mirror from his pocket and slightly combed his hair with his pinky.
Tyler's stomach was churning with anger. He really wanted to beat the sh*t out of this weirdo.
Tyler quickly grabbed Jerry's collar and dragged him out of the chair.
"You really want to die, huh?"
..............
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"Why aren't these guys tired of making trouble?" Lisa said. "What else can he do? His scores are terrible; he can't even write his name properly," Angela said, shaking her head in disappointment. "I just pity the poor girl. This was her first day in this school, and she's already being bullied," Angela added.
"Just mind your business and don't get involved with them," Sophia said.
"Just look at him, saying that he likes our boss lady, but he's going after another girl right in front of her... Hun, that's totally nonsense. Sophia, I would rather prefer for you to remain single for the rest of your life instead of getting involved with this narcissist," Lisa said and dug her fork into her food.
"Have you gone crazy?" Sophia asked, glaring at Lisa.
"Ah... I'm sorry, that's not what I meant," Lisa apologized. "Why am I messing things up again?" she mumbled to herself.
.......... .............
"This place is becoming too noisy. Does he really have nothing else to do with his life apart from causing trouble?" Jonathan said with an exhausted look on his face.
"He didn't even spare a new student. He's getting worse every day," Joshua said, looking at the drama unfolding behind him.
The more Gabriel kept talking to Vivian and getting closer to her, the more anxious Jonathan became. He really wanted to punch the fellow. "We better deal with this, or else he's going to create a bad image for us. This is just her first day at school, and now she's going to be bullied just like that..." Joshua was not going to stand for it anymore.
........... .................
"Let me personally introduce myself," Gabriel said as he tugged on his collar, straightening his shirt, an action he usually did when he wanted to appear cool.
"My name is Gabriel, and I am the most popular guy in this school. I know you must have heard about me." His gaze quickly narrowed towards Jennifer. "...this ugly parrot must have said bad things about me," Gabriel said, glaring at Jennifer. Jennifer rolled her eyes at him. "...as if."
"But I am actually a nice guy, but if you do something I don't like, I may not be nice anymore," Gabriel said as he walked a bit closer to Vivian.
"I would like to see you after school, so meet me at the school parking lot once school dismisses," Gabriel said as his hand moved towards Vivian's face, trying to shift the lock of hair that was covering her face. But as soon as his hand was a few inches away from her, a hand came from nowhere and held Gabriel's arm, preventing him from reaching Vivian's hair. Gabriel was shocked and curious at the same time, wondering who would have the nerve to grab him like that.
He quickly turned around, and his eyes met Joshua's furious face. Yup, now it all made sense. Nobody else would have the guts to stop Gabriel if not the two crazy friends. Jonathan was just standing behind Joshua with his arms crossed. One could see the anticipation in his eyes; it seemed he was ready to tear Gabriel apart. He was ready to pay Gabriel back for what he did to Fatty the other time.
"What are you doing?" Joshua asked with a hint of rage in his voice.
"How is it your business? And when did I need to explain myself or my actions to you?" Gabriel said, a bit irritated. He tilted his head and saw Jonathan standing behind Joshua. "You sent your dog to stop me, huh?! You guys think I can't deal with you because you guys are popular in school? I will soon destroy your reputations and beat you guys to a pulp."
"I haven't settled the scores with you after you beat Fatty up last time, and you still have the nerve to be running around in front of me," Jonathan said with a smile on his face, but everyone around knew it wasn't a real one.
Gabriel knew very well that he couldn't afford to offend the two directly like this, because the school would surely fall into chaos.
"Shameless thing! You are humiliating the school and bringing a bad reputation to us by trying to harass a new student," Joshua said.
"Y...yo...you!!! When did I try to harass her?! I was just trying to be friends with her, and now let go of my hand before I lose it."