Chapter 2

“HEY, Maggie.”

She knew that voice. It belongs to Bela, her schoolmate. Maggie also knew that she doesn’t like her. “What?”

Bela smirked. “You’re alone? Where is your so-called bff’s?”

“Why are you looking for them?” she asked, trying her best not to sound disturbed or bothered by her question.

“Because I want them to invite me to my party,” she replied without hesitation. “Only them, not you.”

Maggie laughed. “Oh, thank you for doing me a favor, Bela. I heard your previous party was a mess because you threw up in the pool.”

Bela gasped, not expecting her response. “You freak!” She said and slapped her face. “Don’t you ever dare to talk to me like that—”

“Bela.” Maggie heard footsteps from her back. “Why are you always bothering Maggie?”

Maggie raised from her seat, grabbed the glass of juice, and threw its content to Bela. “Who looked like a freak now?”

She raised her hand and was about to slap Bela, but Adam stopped her arm. “Maggie, stop it.”

Bela took that chance to cry in front of Adam, the school’s student councilor. “I was just inviting her to my party, but she acted strangely and attacked me—”

“Liar,” she cut off. “I hope you go to hell.”

She swept Adam’s hand away from her and started to walk towards the canteen’s exit. Maggie regrets dining here again in the canteen. If she only knew that Arianne and Lexy would leave her, she would’ve eaten alone somewhere, just like before.

When Maggie was just ten years old, her father died in a car accident. Since then, her mother supported her studies, but when she went to high school, her mother got fired from the work that brought her to decide to leave the country and work abroad.

That was the day when Maggie realized that she’d start to live alone. Her parents’ relatives hated her for being introverted and distant from others. And even her mother begged them to look for her while she worked abroad, they refused. In her junior high that time, she’s a fifteen-year-old teenager with no friends or even pets. She was alone, they say, but Maggie knew that she wasn’t.

When she turned sixteen, her mother got her an apartment on the rooftop just near their house. Her mother said that their home was big for her, and she has to sell it to leave her money that will support her daily needs until she got her first pay in her new job abroad. Since then, Maggie learned to live unaided in a small room on top of a building.

“But, I am not alone after all,” she said and took out her phone. “James is with me.”

Maggie sat on one of the benches in their school ground. She scrolled on her cell phone screen until she found James' videos again and watched them. She smiled as soon as James’s handsome face flashed on the net.

The Beach Boys saved her from the sadness that covered her life for years of being alone. She was on the cliff’s verge when she accidentally passed by one of their music videos on the music channel. James, who was in the center of the group singing her part, caught Maggie’s attention and heart. After that, she started stalking their social media accounts and found out that they’re famous boy groups in Korea. Since then, Maggie became their low-key fan.

Maggie was about to start on the next music video of The Beach Boys when she sensed that somebody is watching her from a distance. She turned her head to the side and caught a tall man standing from their school gate. He was staring at her as if he knows her. He was wearing a familiar blue turtle neck sweater and white pants.

Maggie knotted her forehead as she recalled who that man was. “Is he my new neighbor?”

“Hi, Maggie.”

A soft female voice called her attention. When she looked up, she saw Minerva’s smiling angelic face. “H-Hi…”

“Are you alone?” she asked. She was holding her lunchbox in her hand. “Would you mind if I occupy that space beside you?”

Maggie looked around. The other benches weren’t occupied. “Ah…”

“I just want somebody to share my lunch with,” she said and smiled shyly. “But, if you don’t want—”

“Yes, sure…” she quickly cut off and gave Minerva enough space on the bench. “Here, you may take your seat.”

Minerva’s smile widened. “Thanks,” she said and sat beside her. “Actually, I really wanted to talk to you…”

Maggie didn’t hear what Minerva was saying. Her attention was on the man that was still standing at the gate. It was as if he’s waiting for her to approach him.

“Maggie, what are you looking at?” Minerva asked her and followed her gaze on the gate.

Maggie glanced at Minerva, but when she looked at the gate again, the man was gone.

***