Later on...

Alexis pov

After the popular clique and the normies left, I got back up, grabbing a tissue from the tissue box at the teacher's desk to wipe my tears. 

Wait, why was I in the classroom again? Oh! To complete my maths homework so I could spend more time on singing and songwriting! It completely slipped off my mind after finding that cruel note. Perhaps it could work as proof I'm actually being bullied to those shallow teachers. I'm going to go home and finish it...

As soon as I reached home, I headed to my room and pulled out my study materials. As my hand worked on the formulas, those words by one of the normies kept playing in my mind...

"Hey! You may be ugly, but at least you're smart! Too bad no one cares!" 

Those words kept echoing in my mind, another reminder of the toxic superficiality I face daily. 

Wait... 

Smart? Yeah I am smart! But I don't just use it for studies! 

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Starting from tomorrow, I've decided to bring a small packet of snack to school, enough to squeeze into my pocket, so I wouldn't I have to deal with my lunch being stolen. I'll ensure the coast is clear before slipping away into the gymnasium, which is usually empty during my years lunch period, so I could eat in peace,  I just hope I won't be caught. The toilets are always being hogged by the girls, especially the popular ones, trying each others lip glosses and staring at their reflections as if they were admiring a goddess. And every time I encountered others in the toilet, I was faced with cruel insults. 

But when I get too hungry...

One recess, I hurried my tray to the outcast table and grabbed by utensils. 

"Why are you eating so fast?" One of them asked as soon as he saw me. 

Wow! Talk about asking the obvious! 

Have you not noticed that everyone is stealing my lunch?! Including you outcasts?! You're supposed to be my clique mates!!! Not another version of my bullies! 

"Hello?! I'm talking to you!" 

Oh, so you care now? You only care about superficial, temporary popularity and fitting in! And don't even care about how I feel! So Why don't you go back to your stupid little business of dreaming to fail in life while I rise to the top?! 

 But they were clearly peer pressured, so I can't fully blame them...

I simply ignored him and hurried to return my tray. 

After that incident when my homework was reduced to shreds from lending it to that normie, i always made sure...

"Hey give us your homework or have a taste of my fists!" One normie threatened, his hand stretched out. 

"O-okay..." I stammered, forcing myself to tremble as I handed it to him. 

As soon as this head turned, I peeped into my schoolbag and smiled. 

"And that's why I always have a spare." I thought. 

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As the days went by, I would often hear the sound of my phone buzzing, alerting me of a notification, i would click on it to find posts from Lily, about... Her posting photos of herself at parties, and sometimes,  involving very disturbing behaviour with Eric... 

"Out here partying it up behind my parents back for the 100th time while some people are still struggling to fit in. 🙁🙁🙁. Good luck with your 'studying', Alex! Don't forget that Diamond is cooler than you in every way- and a million times prettier!" The latest post description said. 

Oh we'll see about that Lily! But right now, I have more important things to do. I turned off my phone. 

Ding! 

Oh great, another notification. What is it this time? I turned it on. 

A video? I clicked the play button. 

Upbeat music played from the atmosphere of the background, which looked like a cozy cafe with cozy chairs and round wooden tables, Lily was in front, part of her hand absent in the camera and stretching out. 

"Hey Alex! How are you? Hope you liked my latest post! Because I have way more coming up! " Lily jeered, waving with her other hand mockingly, "also I'm with some of the other popular girls who have something to day to you!" before camera angle shifted slightly , now with Kiara's new popular friends including Patrine, sitting at a round wooden table for 6, their juice glasses resting on the table, and their faces facing the camera, full of snarls. 

"Hi Alex! So sorry for stealing your lunches and taking your homework!" Sneered Patrine. " So should we send you a picture of how hideous you are?! With some edits?" 

"Also, just so you know, you'll never be a singer," another one of Kiara's new friends added, " I mean, yeah, we all know that you can sing, but with that face of a frog, no one would want to hear you, right Kiara?" (Nudging Kiara)

"Oh! Er... Yeah! Because looks are everything!" Kiara stuttered, her eyes rapidly darting around in directions. 

The laughter around the table (and Lily) crescendoed. 

 Alright! That's it! I paused the video before they could go on, feeling fire rage through my veins. If I hear another of this, I swear! I'll lose my mind! Without a second thought, I blocked Lily's account. 

At least I'll have one less problem to deal with, right? But why was Kiara acting so strange? Her expression... Doesn't seem natural... 

"Whatever. She's in the cool crowd now and ganging up on me, so yeah, I'm not going to care about her anymore!!!!" I muttered. 

If you two think popularity is everything, fine! I just hope you ruin your futures while I build mine up! 

I grabbed my Ipad and went on the app where I had experimented with a wide variety of instruments and created some background music for my songs. I've decided to show my music online by going anonymous, just with my stage name, Midnight, instead of keeping it to myself. I think it sounds great and I've written it to perfection, but I wonder if people would feel the same.

I'll start with my song, 'why I want to be a singer', which I've composed years ago, preparing for the recording. 

__________________

Diamond's room: 

Diamonds pov: 

I was sewing a flower brooch for Autumn as a birthday present when lively music started playing from Alex's room,

"... Singing lends a hand, when alone I stand, brings me light,in a world of endless night..." Came from her room. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. 

Urgh, Alexis is at it again, singing as usual, with her... Melodious voice. Seriously, I can't believe this hideous, acned face creature is my sister! More importantly, the fact that she can retain straight A's while I get C's which later dropped to D's and that she could sing while I could only  croak makes me vomit blood! 

I mean, I love being our parents golden child, and being admired for being  beautiful and famous, but I just don't get it! Why can't I be both talented and smart while being beautiful and famous at the same time?! 

I even stayed up late and skipped a few parties just to catch up with her, but it seems the highest i could get is a B! And I've even attempted to emulate that voice, but the only thing that came out was the sound of a crow screeching!

And those rich dark brown locks... Would make my blue eyes pop out more than my blonde strands. 

But it seems having the whole package was something I could only dream of, something i could only have in my world of manga drawings, which I've hidden from the world, even from mom and dad, of myself with luscious brunette hair, smart brain, and amazing singing voice, besides being beautiful and famous. 

Speaking of Alex, that just gave me an idea... 

A sinister smile crept across my face as I grabbed my cell phone and began texting Colette and Autumn.