ᴠɪʟʟᴀɪɴᴇss ɪs ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇ!

7

Third POV

A suffocating atmosphere, awkaward silence, makes Calista's heart flutter abnormally.

"Xander de Grimes..." she looked at Xander. "This is crazy... Xander..." she gulp because she was nervous. "The third male lead in this novel."

"Wah~ wow~ Hello Calista!" Xander greeted her like they're in a normal situation. The male student Xander was pushing knew about his situation, he immediately ran away. Leave Xander and Calista alone.

"Well, he ran away." Xander said while pointing at the student he was pushing. "But that's alright, because of him I was able to meet Lady Calista." he said casually.

"Xander de Grimes... he is the third male lead who falls in love with Heroine. If I'm not mistaken, his past is quite tragic. His mother often beat him before his mother died and again, his father always confined him and beat him as well..." Calista look at him, expressionless.

"But... apparently he is also a very good character to Heroine, even he also quickly gave up on his love because he wanted Heroine to be happy...." without realizing it, Calista burst into tears at the thought of Xander's perspective. This also made Xander shocked and did not know what to say.

"Even though Xander likes to bully, he is one of the characters I like the most..." she thought while wiping off her tears using her right hand cloth.

"Oy, why the heck are you crying?" he asked confusedly while looking at her. Calista realized that she was crying in front of Xander and blushed.

"A-ah! I-I'm sorry!" she panicked when he saw how she behaves.

"She's a little weird..." Xander thought as he watched her.

"Oh! I have to go to class immediately!" Calista said, remembering the time. then Calista looked at Xander and gave him a smile. "Do you want to go together?" she offered.

Xander widen his eyes in surprise, but he covers it with a laugh. "You sure about that?" he asked Calista.

"Why not?" Calista asked back.

He sigh as he looks at her. "No, I'm going to skip. Bye ~" After saying that, he immediately left from Calista's presence.

"What was that!?"

-

Calista was walking towards her class and was stopped by Aliza Ward.

"What's wrong, Aliza?" Calista asked when she saw her. Aliza look at her.

"Calista Tresor, Let's compete to see who gets number one on the upcoming academic exam."

Calista looks at her with a bored expression. "this again?" she asked to herself. She sigh as she looks at her. "Fine then. But what will the loser do?" Calista asked as Aliza eyes lit up.

"The loser will do anything the winner command!" she demanded while flip her fan infornt of her as Calista's eyes widened. "We will compete on the first academic semester! The test of the year!" she declared while pointing at Calista.

"Where the heck did she get that fan!?" Calista thought while looking at Aliza's fan. "Ugh... god blessed me." she thought hopelessly. "Well, it's still one week to go." she thought casually.

-

Heavy atmosphere, ticking clock that seems to move very fast, the smell of ink from the pen, and papers on each table.

Calista frowned. "Why does this day come so fast!" she facepalm as she looked at the exam paper didn't even bother to look at the question. But when she takes a glance, her eyes are widened. "2x = 4, so, x is?" she laughed silently. "I forgot that their math is different from my world." with a happy heart, she answered all of the problems without any problems.

And of course, the winner of their little competition and the first place is...

Xander de Grimes!

But of course, Calista is second to him, the third is a certain student, and Aliza ranked fourth.

"Lady Tresor, you are magnificent!"

"You're so smart!"

"Please teach me!"

Calista just laugh at them. "Thank goodness the questions like I'm still in elementary school..." she sigh in relieve.

As soon as she spotted Aliza, Calista greeted her. But Aliza clenched her fist and ran off somewhere.

"Uh oh... Is this my fault?" Calista asked to herself. "Well, I'm quite shocked and almost choke on air as I'm placed the second." she thought causually. "This is not the time!" she knocked herself and started to search for Aliza.

After running, panting, climbing, and searching everywhere, she finally found Aliza crying at the garden. "I should've just let her win." Calista sighed as she approach Aliza and sit beside her.

"You said that whoever wins can ask the loser what they want, right?" Calista looks at her. Aliza nerveously nodded. "And the Ward Houshold wouldn't take their words back, right?" she asked again making Aliza flinch.

"...Yes! I admit that I'm wrong!" Aliza suddenly yelled much to Calista's surprise. "Order me whatever you desire!"

As soon as Aliza finished her lines, Calista burst into laughter making Aliza confused.

"W-what are you laughing at!?" she asked embarrassed, while looking at Calista.

"No, no. It's just that you're really cute!" she said loud and clear making Aliza blushed a bit by Calista's flattery.

"Then here is my request," Calista look at Aliza. "Would you be my friend?" Aliza's eyes widened in surprised at Calista's request. Aliza grit her teeth and hug herself, hiding her face in her embrace.

"...I actually want... to ask you... the same... if I win." she said making Calista eyes widened in surprised.

"Really!?" Calista asked excitedly. Without looking at Calista, Aliza nodded.

"...I want to be your friend. I don't have friends because being a part of the high society is harsh... And so... I could only look up to you from afar..." she blushed warmly while thinking of forming a friendship with Calista. "That's why I try to be confident and change myself so I can stand beside you. But..." she lifts her head and look at Calista.

"I was wrong."

Calista is a little bit touched by her story.

"I think that Lady Calista is wonderful and she would accept anyone to be her friend." she smiled sweetly.

"That's right! So from now on, you'll be my friend!" Calista said with a broad grin making Aliza's eyes widened.

"Really!?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes!" Calista smiled at her.

"Thank you!" Aliza hugged Calista as Calista smiled widely and happily hug her.

They didn't notice that someone saw the entire scene from a tree. He smiled warmly at the two of them.

"I'm just glad it turned out better." Xander smiled as he looked at a familiar golden bracelet that he had. "Man ~ Axel sure likes to give expensive gifts." he smiled playfully while looking at the bracelet on his hand.

If Calista notices that she lost her bracelet, she would panicked now.