The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

149 Get To Know Rachel Markway

The two lake green irises stared straight with narrowed eyes at the two girls who were having a serious conversation. She actually had seen them since they were walking down the stairs. But she just wanted to make sure again that what she thought was true.

Kathania Dusk didn’t remember that Emma Hilland was friends with Rachel Markway. With a questioning face, Kathy approached the two girls who were behind the stairs that were side by side with the wall to create a narrow, secluded space beside it.

“Hey ..” Kathy greeted with a peek from in front of the stairs in the main hall.

Emma and Rachel jumped and glanced directly at the red-haired girl whose hair was tied up in a bun. For some reason, Kathy was getting prettier day by day. Maybe it was because she often hung out with Poppy who always stole the moment to modify her best friend’s style little by little. Without Kathy knowing, she had become more attractive and more aware of her looking.

“Are you girls really talking in this place?” Kathy laughed. “I don’t think this is a cosy place for hanging,” she continued. If she hadn’t accidentally seen a bit of Rachel’s head sticking out from behind the stairwell, she wouldn’t have known that someone was there.

“Kathy..” Emma said awkwardly. She glanced at Rachel who also had a slightly tense look on her face.

“Why are you guys talking here?” She asked surprised, then, remembered something and looked directly at her good friend, “Oh.. Emma, ??Poppy has been looking for you. She brought a lot of souvenirs from her vacation,”

“Oh, r-really?” Emma replied.

“I just happened to have a few questions for Emma. I’ll be going then,” Rachel said.

.....

“Wait, Rachel,” Emma immediately restrained Rachel who was about to leave, “Perhaps you want to join us for lunch at the cafeteria? We happen to be gathered here,”

Rachel didn’t expect Emma to suddenly ask her to lunch with her friends.

“That’s a nice idea. You could join us for lunch, Rachel. Didn’t your class just finish too? I’m sure you haven’t had lunch yet. Poppy brought a lot of delicious snacks from overseas. You can try them with us.” Kathy said enthusiastically.

“I’m.. not sure..” Rachel mumbled to refuse. She was just afraid that others would feel uncomfortable because she had an introverted nature. She was not comfortable hanging out with many people and was afraid that the people around her would feel a negative mood from her.

Before Rachel could finish her answer, Kathy had put her phone to her ear. A few seconds later, it seemed that the person she was calling had already picked up the call, “Poppy.. Rachel is going to have lunch with us. Please make one more seat. Yes, yes.. We are going there now. Wait a minute. We’ll be there no longer than five minutes.” she said.

Kathy’s heedless act made Rachel choke. She knew that Kathy was a noisy, talk active person. However, she didn’t know that the red-haired girl could act as she pleased.

“Don’t worry, Rachel. Poppy has prepared a seat for the four of us. Let’s go now. We can’t leave Poppy alone in the cafeteria.” Kathy said as soon as she put her phone down.

“Come on, Rachel,” Emma said.

However, Rachel gave an awkward face and looked at Emma meaningfully while Kathy had already stepped forward, “I’m not sure, Emma. I don’t think I can,”

“Oh, have you had lunch or something?” Emma asked, a little surprised. She didn’t know that Rachel actually wanted to refuse. “I’m sorry, Rachel. It looks like Kathy was in too much of a hurry, didn’t she?” she gave an uneasy grin.

Rachel shook her head slowly, “Not really. I’m honestly just afraid that I might make things awkward,”

“What? It’s not true, Rachel. You don’t have to worry about anything. It’s just a regular lunch.” Emma smiled at her and patted the tall girl’s arm lightly, “We’d better catch up so Kathy wouldn’t get mad,”

Rachel couldn’t help but come with Emma to lunch with her friends. If it turned out that Kathy had deliberately contacted Poppy to save a seat for Rachel, it meant that the method worked because it made Rachel feel bad if she refused their invitation.

Rachel and Emma arrived at the cafeteria where they used to eat.

“Emma!” Kathy shouted, raising her arms high in the air. She was already sitting at the same table with Poppy who smiled kindly at the two girls who had just entered the cafeteria door.

“Come on, Rachel. Take it easy,” Emma whispered before heading back to the table Poppy had prepared.

Poppy had almost taken the small round table that would fit three as usual. However, since there were additional members, she immediately moved to a square-shaped table that could fit four or more people. Poppy herself was excited when she heard that Rachel would be joining their lunch.

“Hey, Rachel!” Poppy greeted.

Rachel smiled, “Hi. Thanks for saving me a seat.”

“No need, Rachel. I just happened to be looking for a table,” Poppy answered.

Rachel had no idea that she was eating at the same table with several girls right now. In all her life, she had never had a real friend. From the beginning, the furthest thing she ever did was group work. Most of the kids didn’t want to be around her because they thought she was a weirdo. Rachel admitted that she was quite introverted and fortified herself from the outside world of the trauma she had experienced. But right now, she didn’t expect to be able to sit together for lunch with three girls who didn’t seem bothered at all by her presence.

“Poppy, aren’t you going to bring out the souvenirs?” Kathy asked impatiently.

“Maybe we can finish our lunch first, Kathy. I’m afraid the table will get too messy later.” Emma said.

Poppy, who was just about to lift her large paper bag, stopped her intention, “Emma is right. We’ll open it later, okay?”

“Hmm.. Alright,” Kathy shrugged her shoulders as she scooped more spaghetti into her mouth. Then, she looked at Rachel who was eating beef steak in front of her, “Hey Rachel, how is your study?”

Rachel, who had been eating in silence for a while and just listening to the three girls’ chatters, then raised her gaze to Kathy, “Pretty good,” she smiled.

Kathy nodded slightly, “Oh, there’s ballet class today, right? Don’t forget to be on time, Rachel. You have to remember that our current teacher is a jerk,”

“I know. Thanks for reminding me.” Rachel replied with a chuckle.

“Kahty, you shouldn’t talk so carelessly about teachers. If they heard you, you could get your score bad.” Poppy tried to remind her. No wonder Kathy had often been in trouble with Lecturers. It seemed that the girl was indeed a bit sensitive to the teaching staff.

“Ha.. If it wasn’t for looking for a degree, I don’t think I need to go to college to gain knowledge. I can find everything on the internet by self-taught. Even the way of learning is more fun and easy to understand than those crazed lecturers.” Kathy replied. It seems that she still didn’t want to understand and was firm in her stance.

Emma and Poppy could only stare at each other for a moment before letting out a long sigh. They knew that Kathy was quite stubborn. She would not want to change if she had not received a direct punishment. Therefore, it would be useless to advise her through words.

Finally, Poppy turned her gaze to Rachel who was sitting next to Emma, ??”Oh, Rachel. If I may ask, what actually makes you come late to ballet class so often? I think the time gap between the last main class and the extra class is quite long.”

“Oh.. That’s. Actually, I took a nap in the health unit room.” Rachel replied with an awkward laugh.

“A nap?” The three girls repeated in unison as they stared at Rachel in disbelief. It didn’t really matter if she did it just a few times. But Rachel was always late for ballet class, which was scheduled three to four times per week.

Rachel nodded, “It surely is a bit weird for adults to take naps.”

Emma shook her head, “There’s nothing wrong with that, Rachel. But you do look pretty tired,”

“Are you not getting enough sleep, Rachel? I stay up all night too. But I’m not so tired that I have to take a nap on campus.” Kathy asked.

Rachel nodded, “I work a part-time job. I happen to have a shift from 1 AM to 6 AM, so I can’t help but sleep when it’s late.”

“Seriously? Gosh.. it must be very tiring. Is it possible if you look for other part-time jobs that are more suitable for your schedule?” Poppy asked.

Emma nodded, “If I count it, you only have time to sleep when you get home from college, which is at fast as five or six per day. From my estimation, you probably only have about four to five hours of sleep.” she seemed to be counting her fingers with a thoughtful face.

Rachel couldn’t help but smile slightly with a low nod, “Four hours is actually the longest. I usually get three hours of sleep because I have to do chores and help my grandma at home.”

“Rachel.. It would be bad for your health,” Poppy said with a worried expression.

Surprisingly, even though she felt like she was being scolded, Rachel didn’t feel bothered at all. She knew that the three girls were worried about her. They inquired about the problems Rachel was having sincerely out of the concern and was not to find gossip material for them to talk about later behind her back. For some reason, Rachel could feel that these girls were very different from the girls who had hurt her in the past.

“Actually, it’s not as bad as you think. I still have a day off at work once a week. And our lectures aren’t every day either. So, I can take advantage of that free time for a good rest.” Rachel said.

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