Chapter 36 - Strength In Her Smile

Winter is walking down the hallway in a haste.

It is still bright out - but the sun is going to set soon. The corridors are filled with the warm pool of sunlight. It's the only thing that's keeping her company at the moment since no one else's around.

'I still need to meet up with Sir Lexington! But I can't stay out too late this time! August is already getting too suspicious of me!'

Turning to the corner, Winter then suddenly found herself nearly bumping into a group highschoolers. Their sudden appearance caught her off guard. Only then did she realize that the hall wasn't really as empty as she thought at first.

'Huh? What's with these girls?'

If only looks could kill, she'll be a corpse by then.

With the formidable air surrounding these female students, the atmosphere turned thick and heavy. The hostile looks they're giving her highlight their forbidding presence.

Not seeking any trouble, Winter just goes ahead and walks past them - but only to find one of them stepping in and blocking her path out of nowhere.

That takes her aback. It makes her look up to them in confusion. That is when she meets their sharp, pointed gazes.

Now, they resemble a pack of lionesses that are about to pounce on their prey.

"Excuse me. I'm trying to get by?" Winter started with an unfazed and intrepid expression, holding her ground.

"Who do you think you are to talk to us like that?"

As soon as one of them sneers at her, the situation finally registers in her head. She can feel some sort of tumultuous storm that is about to come along with this troublesome confrontation.

These high school students are reeking of nothing but bad news.

What they are doing may not be obvious to anyone who will happen to pass by, but she can clearly see their intentions here, especially since they keep blocking her path. They even began snarling at her out of nowhere, backing her to the corner before proceeding to mock her.

"Yeah, that's right. Who do you think you are...?" one of them chimed in, glaring daggers at her.

"Acting all friendly and chummy with Ace, that is."

Then, she stilled.

Now, Winter finally understands what's going on here. This is probably another development of all the negative attention she's been receiving these days. What's worse, things already appear to be going downhill in such an unexpected pace.

Apparently, Ace started paying attention to Winter more often than before. For some reason, he suddenly wanted to get closer and know her better, but she decided not to entertain the gesture. She remained apathetic to the whole matter.

"Say, you like him, don't you?" another one asked and glowered at her.

"No use denying it now. You act like you're uninterested, but you're obviously enjoying the attention he's giving you. Isn't that right?" claimed her other companion.

"What a hypocrite," one more said.

"You're probably acting like that on purpose so that you can get him to like you or something."

"Now that I look at you closely, you're actually not that pretty."

"You're an eyesore."

"Attention-seeker."

"Pathetic loser."

At that point, Winter had enough.

She's not about to let them continue wasting her time like this. It's more than apparent that they're only pouring scorn on her because they envy her - for something so nonsensical even. No matter how much they tried to provoke her, though, she wouldn't give them the reaction they wanted.

Winter is already used to all the scoffing and mockery, anyway.

"What I do is none of your business. If you've got problems with how he treats me, you should complain to him instead. I'm not doing anything, and I certainly don't see him that way..." she then started at last, not losing hold of her intrepidity.

"Now, get out of my sight. Take all those insults with you and think of a better way of taunting me."

---

"You sure took your time, Ms. Agreste."

Later that afternoon, Marcellus met up with Winter near the school gates.

She came beaming at him like usual - as bright as the setting sun from a distance. There is this small leap in each of her steps and a bounce in her movements. Still as vivacious and high-spirited as always. The brilliance in her smile is unparalleled, and the air around her is entrancing.

However, he is not going to fall for those anymore.

"Sorry, Sir Lexington! I had to take care of something!"

"What something?"

"An errand from the teachers."

He knows she's lying.

Marcellus was there at that time. He asked Maxine and Courtney to direct him to where Winter most probably was.

And the scene that greeted him right then was out of his expectations of her.

It's a side of her that he hasn't seen before. She's nowhere near zestful and exuberant - instead, she's impassive and unfeeling. He had seen the way she looked, and he felt like it was not like her at all.

"Agreste...? Oh, Winter...? She's not really that friendly, I guess? It's kinda hard to approach her," was what Maxine said earlier.

"More like, she really has no friends at school. She's mostly alone," was what Courtney added.

At that time, Marcellus couldn't imagine it at all.

He came to know Winter with a different impression. He used to think that she was an intelligent student who was surrounded by a circle of friends and admired by a number of people. Not once did he think of her to be the opposite of what he was seeing at this moment.

She really seemed to be not that affected by the bullying that happened several minutes ago.

"Do you want to tell me something, Ms. Agreste...?" Marcellus asked - concern hidden beneath his words.

"I'll take some time to listen. We can talk about the usual later."

"Huh? What are you talking about...?" Winter asked back - her oblivion no mere pretense.

"I don't know what you mean."

Now, he kind of understands.

It's not that she's hiding it on purpose - he can tell. She's choosing to put it past behind her, not giving it the attention it needs for her to fall in depression or anguish. Right there, he has found another thing to commend her for.

'You're actually not what you seem to be, after all. And here I thought I could finally trust you completely.'

Marcellus smiles at that thought. He is going to hear her out in one way or another, but for now, he wants to appreciate all the things that makes up this 'Winter' before him.

There are strength and courage in her smile - a smile that is rare and one of a kind.

'I believe that this 'Winter' is the one that's sincere and genuine.'