Laia & The Transferee - Chapter 49

“PROCEED TO YOUR GROUPS and discuss your topic before reporting this Friday,” Sir Mathias says after sitting down on his designated chair. “I will give you the entire period for your discussion. Do approach me if you have questions.”

Laia reluctantly and even intentionally walked slowly towards her group, immediately noticing when she was finally in front of them how Andrei had kept his distance from her.

He was probably still shocked from how Laia screamed murder at him just a few minutes ago.

Not that Laia minds. It was honestly better that she surprised Andrei with her sudden outburst earlier which hopefully will lead to the boy remaining silent for the rest of their discussion. However, the girl still felt like shit because she just had to get tonsilitis today.

Said tonsilitis that just happened to start right now instead of earlier this morning which might’ve made the girl drink ginger ale ahead of time or at least bring a bunch of Strepsils.

The short-haired girl couldn’t restrain a hard cough as she tried to relieve her scratchy throat. Even if she did manage to hide it behind her handkerchief, most of her groupmates still turned to her with concern.

“Are you okay?” Thalia asks from beside her.

Laia clears her throat harshly, once again surprising her groupmates. “Yeah,” She was able to utter the words out even if it hurt to speak. “I’m okay,”

“Are you really?” It was Jake who asked next, concern evident on his face as he pulled his chair closer to where Laia was.

“Yeah,” She raised her hand to stop more of her groupmates from approaching her. “Don’t get too close you might get it,”

“Get what?” Andrei raises an eyebrow.

Laia fought the urge to roll her eyes. As if this inferiority complex bastard cares. Nevertheless, she turns to him with a look that showed what she currently felt inside.

Meaning she didn’t want to answer his question and would never do.

Andrei seemed to understand quickly what Laia was trying to convey and turned his attention to someone else instead.

Someone being the asshat who just had to sit next to Andrei who was weirdly keen on having a conversation with him despite how they almost got into a fight last time their group had a discussion.

Or more like they really had a fight, but it was definitely one-sided with the asshat heightening the tension between them and therefore almost creating chaos that could’ve made their teacher come up to them and give them the talk.

Laia hates the “talk” more than anything.

“Let’s start?” The asshat clapped his hands together, turning the attention of everyone to him. “Is everyone in agreement with a skit about Greek mythology and feminism?”

“Feminism?” Andrei asks, clearly skeptical.

The asshat folded his arms as he leaned back. “Are you in disagreement?”

Andrei shook his head. “No,” He even seemed reluctant to continue what he wanted to say but said it anyway. “I just thought we would be focused on the misconception of the gods,”

“Misconception of gods?” Laia couldn’t help but join in the conversation despite her current ailment.

The boy turned to him with another nod. “Yeah,” He interlocked his fingers together. “With how Zeus is seen as a good father figure and is worshipped as one–”

Thalia couldn’t restrain a laugh. “Who honestly thinks that?”

Jake agrees with a chuckle. “Where did you read about that misconception?”

Andrei flushed in embarrassment and looked away. “I saw it on an online group,”

“How are we supposed to cite that if we are to discuss misconception of gods?” The asshat asks the boy beside him who seemed to become more embarrassed the more the asshat continued staring at him.

Laia, noticing the awkwardness and wanting to cease it immediately, elbows the asshat who sat on her opposite side.

The asshat turned to her with a perplexed expression. “What?”

It wasn’t that Laia wanted to defend Andrei, for defending the boy was definitely the least of her priorities, but she did not want another argument to occur.

Having another argument would only impede what she wanted for her group which is to come up with their final topic for their report that would happen in three days’ time before she collapses on her chair and sleeps for the rest of the day regardless of the consequences that may come with it.

The consequences being her not able to take notes for the rest of the subjects.

“Let’s just proceed to decide what is our final topic,” Her voice came out raspy, and with those ten words, she was already feeling the painful sting on her throat. “Shall we?”

Much to her surprise, the asshat easily agrees. “Okay,”

It was not only her who ended up being surprised at the asshat’s quick compliance, even Jake was taken aback.

Thalia decided to temporarily take the reigns of the group. “Okay, so is everyone in agreement with how we’re incorporating feminism into Greek mythology?”

Laia stole a glance at Andrei who had this look of reluctance but nevertheless didn’t oppose and nodded alongside everyone else.

After they decided on who will be performing on the skit and on the brief report afterward, it ended up being Thalia and Andrei on the report and the asshat, Jake, and Laia on the skit.

The short-haired girl protested at first, honestly afraid of the possibility of performing in a mediocre manner due to her illness that might or might not last longer than she expects however she was reassured by her two companions who also promised to improvise or increase their lines to make it easier for her.

It didn’t escape Laia how the asshat seemed to be kind to her today.

She decided that it would be probably due to how she felt like shit the entire time they discussed, always clearing her throat and drinking gulps of water from her water bottle to distract her from the annoying and painful feeling on her throat.

“Is that everything? Should we practice tomorrow?” Thalia asks after writing everything important in her notebook.

Jake nods but raised a concern. “Where should we practice?”

“Here?” Andrei asks, dumbfounded.

The rest of his groupmates stared at him with undisguised concern and amusement.

Laia honestly thinks that Andrei’s entire world revolved around school.

Just like her, but he’s probably a worse case.

Or maybe Laia’s just in denial.

“Do you really want to perform in front of all our classmates who might end up stealing our idea?” The asshat frankly states after rolling his eyes.

“I don’t think they would–”

“You don’t?”

“Okay, maybe–”

“We’re not going to practice here.”

With the asshat’s tone of finality, none of their groupmates voiced out their opinions after that.

And with that, an awkward silence filled the circle of students until Laia cleared her throat louder than she expected which made everyone turn to her.

Laia internally facepalms but decided to say what was on her mind. “Whose house is the closest?”

It didn’t even take the asshat a minute to respond. “Yours,”

She sends him a withering glare. “Don’t you mean yours?”

Not that Laia was sure of her retort but she would rather not let any of them anywhere near her house!

Who knows if they’ll end up complaining about how small the girl’s house is or complain about the most irrelevant things like most rich kids do…

Or maybe Laia’s just being mean and judgmental. It is possible after all that not every privileged kid acts like a total asshole.

“I want to go to your house, Laia!” Thalia suddenly beams, latching on to Laia’s arm which she shakes eagerly.

“Yeah,” Jake smiles in an almost conspirational way. “I want to know why Samuel is always eager to visit your house,”

The asshat glares at his friend but his glare fades the moment Laia turned to him with a puzzled expression. “He’s exaggerating it,”

“Am I?” Jake grins even wider at the asshat who sighs exasperatedly.

“Should we practice at your house, then?” The asshat changed the topic quickly as he asks Laia who rolls her eyes.

“Your condo has more space than my house,” Laia insists. “His bedroom is even probably bigger than both the two rooms in our house,”

“You’ve been to his bedroom?” Thalia asks with a teasing smirk.

Laia’s lips curl up to a frown. “That’s not the point–”

“So you have been to Samuel’s bedroom!” The only other girl besides Laia grins even wider as she nudges Jake who laughed. “Is it still in the same state as it is last time he had a party?”

Same state? Last party?

Oh.

Laia gritted her teeth as she forced a smile. Now she had to pretend that she was in that party—

“She wasn’t in the party,” The asshat says, making Thalia turn to him with confusion on her face. “I didn’t want her to be there–”

The short-haired girl scoffs. “Let me guess because poor people aren’t allowed?”

Jake was about to answer for his friend but the asshat’s response was enough to silence the entire group.

“I don’t want your first party to be a party that I organized in a messy way,” He kept his gaze on Laia the entire time, contrary to Laia who looked anywhere but at the asshat’s eyes. “And I know you probably don’t want to see what parties do to people,”

He lowered his voice as he spoke the last words, but Laia caught how he glanced at Jake briefly.

Jake didn’t seem to notice it, as he was busy in a conversation with Thalia who was happily talking about something that Laia wasn’t able to hear clearly despite sitting next to her.

It’s probably due to her earphones being on maximum volume all the time.

“Sure,” She replies, not believing the asshat’s half-assed reasons. Sure he didn’t want Laia to see him at parties or whatever. “Whatever you say.”

“Time’s up, return to your seats,” Sir Matias stood up from his seat. “Goodbye, everyone.”

“Goodbye, Sir Matias!”

Laia rushed outside, holding her empty water bottle. Her eyes were on the nearby fountain, the goal of filling her water bottle with enough water to last her until recess in her mind.

She was quick to refill her water bottle with water, drinking from it again before going to the bathroom as well to pee.

The moment she arrived at her classroom and sat at her chair, the girl was puzzled to see a can of ginger ale on her desk.

“Where did this come from?” She asks Brie who was currently applying nail polish on her nails.

Brie momentarily stopped from applying nail polish on her nails and raised her head to look at her friend. “Uhm,”

“Uhm what?” Laia was confused at how her friend was reacting.

Nevertheless, she opened the can and sipped from it, relishing in the temporary relief she felt from the effects of the ginger.

“Sammy,” Brie points to the asshat who was talking to one of their classmates who seemed delighted at his attention. “He put it on your desk after you left,”

Laia almost choked on her drink.