Chapter 15
Tasha jolted awake, all her sleepiness gone in an instant.
‘How could someone recognize me, with how much I’d changed? Is it someone from the same production crew?‘ With this thought, Tasha sat up and sized the girl up and down carefully.
After the sleeping beauty opened her eyes, her beauty was simply unmatched–stunning beyond words. But Tasha still had no recollection of her.
She was absolutely certain that if she had ever seen this person before, she wouldn’t forget this face, no matter how foggy her brain was before she time traveled.
“Who are you?” Tasha hesitated to ask.
As Tasha didn’t recognize her, the sleeping beauty’s eyes flickered with disbelief.
She pointed at her own face and asked seriously, “Don’t you remember me? I’m Elena!”
‘Elena? That name… Tasha pondered, lost in thought.
Seeing that Tasha still didn’t get it, Elena got anxious. “E–L–E–N–A! Elena! Do you remember now?”
The moment she heard the spelling, a long–forgotten memory stirred in Tasha’s mind.
“You… are Elena?!” Tasha looked at the girl with a strange expression and disbelief written all over her face.
She finally understood why she hadn’t recognized Elena right away.
It had been fifteen whole years since they last met.
When Tasha was in middle school, because of her fat body and awkward walking style, the boys in class gave her a nickname: Penguin.
A class was like a mini–society. And without a doubt, Tasha was at rock bottom. Some people just had no reason for their cruelty–they just wanted to bully others and did it anyway.
Tasha, “the Penguin,” spent over a year struggling at the bottom until another student came into their class–Elena.
Back then, when the entire family of Elena went on a trip to Bakelborough, where Tasha came from, they got into an accident. Her parents died on the spot, and she herself was injured in the leg, limping for a long time afterwards.
With no parents left, Elena was sent to live with relatives in Bakelborough and transferred to Bakelborough Academy.
Even back in middle school, Elena already looked really pretty, though nowhere near as beautiful as now. But when she appeared in Tasha’s class full of awkward losers, it felt like an elegant swan landing among ugly ducklings.
Tasha had always been confused by her group of middle school classmates. After all, pretty girls should be popular during those years. But somehow, the boys in her class were super hostile toward Elena–like seriously unfriendly vibes only.
The usual isolation, bullying, and mocking were one thing. But the worst thing was that they gave Elena the nickname Duck Leg after they noticed she had a limp. This nasty nickname stuck even after Elena’s leg healed.
Tasha vaguely remembered that every time Elena walked into the classroom with crutches and a hurt leg, the boys would burst out laughing, whistling and clapping while chanting, “Duck Leg! Duck Leg!”
1/4
5:08 pm DD.
Chapter 15
If Elena tried to stop them or run away, they’d be overjoyed as if they got free tickets to watch a clown show. If she ignored their taunts, they’d get sarcastic and say stuff that left Tasha confused.
The remedial class was always bad at academics and discipline. The teacher usually turned a blind eye to these small incidents.
Before Elena transferred in, it was always Tasha who got mocked. After Elena came those jerks lost interest in her and started picking on Elena instead. This made things easier for Tasha, who felt more sympathy towards this new classmate.
One day during break time, she approached Elena cautiously.
After becoming smarter, she could remember some events before her time travel clearly. She still remembered their first conversation.
20
Elena was sitting at her desk writing something. During middle school break times, students were supposed to go outside for group exercises. But due to pathological obesity, Tasha was exempt from this.
Since limping Elena didn’t have to exercise either, only the two of them were left in the classroom.
Tasha leaned over and saw what Elena was writing–she couldn’t remember what it said, but noted how good Elena’s handwriting was, which impressed a country bumpkin like herself greatly.
“Hey,” said Tasha carefully. “What are you writing?”
Elena replied bluntly, “Get off.”
Tasha had gotten used to being told off by parents, siblings, teachers, and classmates, so she didn’t get mad; instead, she asked persistently, “Are you writing a novel? That’s awesome.”
Elena gave a quick glance. “Do you understand what I’m writing?”
“No–I mean yes,” said an envious Tasha. “I think you’re really smart. I wish I could be as smart.”
Elena simply ignored Tasha. Frustrated and struggling for conversation, Tasha awkwardly remarked, “Your name is Elara?”
Elena tapped her pen impatiently, making sharp clicks. “Elena Ward. E–L–E–N–A, W–A–R–D.”
Tasha couldn’t recall exactly what words followed later, but vaguely remembered asking if it was “Elara Word.”
Not interested in talking to someone as fat, ugly, and dumb as Tasha anymore and annoyed by all this questioning, Elena finally snapped back impatiently, “Yeah, yeah. You can leave now.”
Just then, the break ended, and those annoying boys returned.
Seeing the two girls talking together, the boys started teasing them like monkeys screeching wildly again. == Tasha had long forgotten what names the group of monkeys had called out, but she clearly remembered that Elena’s face turned bright red, and with a forceful push, Elena tried to shove her away, who obviously didn’t budge much, though.
Seeing that Elena clearly disliked her, Tasha decided not to impose herself on her and turned to leave. But at that moment, Elena grabbed her by the arm.
Elena’s beautiful face showed hatred and coldness that didn’t match her age. “You wanna be my friend, right?”
Tasha nodded, then shook her head.
Elena ignored Tasha’s contradictory actions and pointed at the boy who had led the teasing and shouted the loudest. “Tell him to shut up, and I’ll be your friend.”
2/4
5:09 pm D&D
Chapter 15
Tasha actually did it. Looking back now, she wanted to punch her past self.
She walked up to that boy, put her hands on her hips, and ordered, “Shut up!”
The boy was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Oh my! The Penguin comes to help Duck Leg out? Is this the-
He didn’t get to finish his sentence before Tasha pushed him hard and sent him to fall flat on his butt.
Tasha swore it wasn’t intentional. At home, her parents and siblings often pushed her like that. And she had never been pushed over once before. Yet, that boy was so fragile. A slight push sent him rolling on the ground and screaming like a poorly developed monkey.
After that, things got pretty messy in her memory. Tasha vaguely remembered having her first group fight in life–and it was with those guys she hated most: the delinquent boys in class–most importantly, she won!
Such things were common enough in a remedial class; the homeroom teacher barely put any effort into it, calling both sides‘ parents and giving them equal blame. ==In the end, Tasha got beaten up by her parents. Having been through so much hardship, she’d long forgotten it.
After this incident, Elena kept her promise and became “friends” with Tasha–of course, this so–called friendship meant nothing but Tasha following after her alone.
After this victorious fight, Tasha became famous among classmates, and her status slightly improved in their dog–eat–dog class, for a while at least. Nobody dared call out their nicknames anymore. ==It was the first time she used her own strength to protect someone else, and she felt super excited about it, taking on the role of bodyguard for Elena all by herself.
Elena loved writing; she had talent for it. After her parents passed away, she tried to submit articles to magazines for money, but never got accepted once. She even gave herself all sorts of fancy pen names full of flowery words.
When Tasha found out about this, she also tried coming up with two names. “How about ‘Little Penguin‘ and ‘Little Duck‘?* suggested young Tasha back then.
“Who would want to be called ‘Duck‘?” said an annoyed Elena as she crumpled up some manuscript paper and threw it into the trash can. “Be my guest, if you like it.”
Sitting down next to Elena, Tasha asked disappointedly, “Ah… what else then? My name is Tasha Newman; yours is ‘Elara Word‘. How about ‘Tasha‘ and ‘Elara‘?‘
“Can you stop messing things up here?!” snapped an angry Elena. “Which real writer would use such plain names?”
Tasha replied with an “Um.” She might have been slow–witted, but she wasn’t about to keep putting herself out there for someone who didn’t respond equally,
Seeing how impatient Elena was now, she stopped bothering her anymore.
Then, someday later, maybe after a long time or maybe just Tasha’s illusion, after taking three days of sick leave, Tasha ran into Elena on her way back to school.
It was scorching hot. When Elena saw Tasha, her expression suddenly became weird. Not only did she unexpectedly treat Tasha nicely, but she also bought Tasha an ice cream. This was unprecedented generosity.
Tasha, who was a bit slow on the uptake, happily finished the ice cream. She didn’t have pocket money, and this was her first time having an ice cream that summer.
With the ice cream in hand, Tasha entered the classroom during recess when it was bustling with activity. But as soon as she walked in, everything went silent.
3/4
5:09 pm DJ & D
Chapter 15
Tasha felt confused and uneasy, even forgetting her ice cream.
Suddenly, the whole class burst into laughter in unison. It was so loud it could’ve shattered the roof.
‘What’s going on?‘ Tasha felt anxious as her ice cream slowly melted down her fingers.
The boy whom Tasha had hit before started sarcastically, “Tasha, I heard you’re still sucking your thumb at your age!”
This comment triggered another round of deafening laughter from everyone in class. The tables were shaking from all the commotion.
‘Sucking my thumb?‘ Tasha murmured inwardly, totally confused.
Meanwhile, Elena went around her and walked back to her seat without so much as glancing sideways, as if she’d never known Tasha in the first place.
Tasha stood there dumbfounded, clueless about the secret signals her classmates were giving. Finally, after everyone had their laugh, the student sitting closest to Tasha casually tossed a magazine at her.
She caught it one–handed. The magazine looked worn out after being passed around by many hands. Sharing one magazine among the class was a unique student tradition then.
At a glance, she recognized it as a famous local humor bimonthly magazine in Bakelborough. Flipping through it, she saw a short story right on top in the “Monthly Trendy People” column.
The story talked about a fat girl trying to become smart by doing ridiculous things that made people laugh.
The novel’s writing is vivid and lifelike, as if everything happened right before the author’s eyes. Even the dull–witted Tasha could sense something vaguely.
Many parts of the story mirrored real–life situations; some scenes even vaguely reminded Tasha of something she couldn’t quite place yet–déjà vu perhaps?
Most importantly, that girl trying to get smarter was named… Tasha.
That was why everyone laughed earlier.
After a long moment of silence, Tasha moved her gaze towards the author’s name–Elara.
The melting ice cream dripped onto the floor, spilling a puddle of cheap dye.
4/4
田
AD
Comment
