A boy, running across the hallways, passing through groups of students, reached the staffroom and flung the door open. It was lunch time at Liliac High school, As the boy entered the staff room, he looked at the man sitting on one of the teachers’ chairs,with his mouth wide open, ready to gobble up a huge sandwich. but he was interrupted by the boy.

“You kids don't knock at all nowadays,” the man sneered, as he put down his sandwich and looked up. “Oh, it's you John. What's the matter, dear?” his glare changed into a sweet smile as soon as he saw John.

Mr Robin, the english teacher of Liliac high school, was eccentric but one of the most knowledgeable teachers in the school. Some even said, he was the next candidate for becoming the Principal of Liliac High. Despite all his top notch education and his short temper, he was always down to earth and friendly with all students. John was one of the students dearest to him.

“Ha, ha, ha. phew” John kept panting, gasping for air, since he had ran all the way from the cafeteria to the staffroom. 

Liliac High was an average school, with some average and some very talented students, Campus was not that huge, You could reach anywhere from the cafeteria in just ten minutes-(technically 5 min if you run). The Cafeteria was at the centre of the school 

“Sir, quickly come with me. A fight has  broken out in the cafeteria!” John informed the professor, while he still kept worrying about  what must have happened in the cafeteria by now.

“Ugh. These brats. Is it her again? That second year girl,Jessica Linger, isn't it?” the professor  asked John, but it seemed as if he already knew the answer to his question.

“ Yes sir.” John replied.

“ Tch.”pushing his chair back, Mr Robins got up in anger. “Today, i will treat her as a student who is breaking the school’s rules. Let’s go John.” Mr Robins said sternly.

As they headed in the direction of the cafeteria, Mr Robins kept clenching his fists trying to control his anger, since these altercations had become a daily affair

Meanwhile in the cafeteria, a huge crowd had gathered near the noodle counter. At the centre of the crowd, was a boy with brown hair,  properly trimmed, with teary blue eyes, that looked even bigger through his huge glasses. While he sat on the floor and kept looking up at Jessica with fear,

in a trembling voice he pleaded “I am very sorry. I am new to this school, Please forgive me. You can have my whole lunch!Here.” shaking timidly, he put his hands out in front of Jessica and offered her his lunch. 

Jessica Linger was  tall, she had long black hair that was neatly combed into a pony. Looks mattered a lot to her, hence she would always have a lot of makeup on. Seeing the ugly Nathan offering her his measly lunch, it annoyed her  and she knocked the lunch out of his hand.

“Huh”, she scoffed. “Hey, cry baby, get up, I don't need your lunch. First, You dared to cross my path, then, you dared to tip my lunch over. so now, I have put you in your right place. That is, at my feet. and as a punishment,you need to wash this shirt of mine, (waving the soiled shirt at him) over which YOU spilled  mustard. Wash it NOW or else..” she warned as she began opening a bottle of tomato juice.

“But I did not spill it on you,” Nathan replied in a low voice.

Jessica glared at him with anger.

Nathan flinched as he instantly blurted out “I am sorry, very sorry! I-I-I will wash it. Thoroughly. Please giv..”, and before he could complete his plea, Jessica poured the juice on his head.

“Hahahahahaha look how pitiful he looks.” she laughed, as  a few girls followed Jessica and laughed along.

Someone in the crowd began whispering "Why are these girls laughing with Jessica? Aren’t they scared?” 

“No dude. She has a group of girls who would worship and praise her all the time. Maybe to stay in good books of the school director’s daughter and reap the benefits. Jessica and her troupe of girls would always bully new juniors if they ever piss her off.”

“Thats scary.” whispered another one in the crowd.

“Hey kid, what's your name? She pulled up his I.D and said "oh, Nathan Dews? Ok Nathan, you can go now.”

Nathan got up in a flurry and began to run, but then, stumbled. Until he realised what had just happened, he was already on the ground. Jessica and the crowd started laughing. Nathan understood who tripped him.

"What a loser!” mocked someone from the crowd

" Get up, u loser!" 

“Hahahahahaha”, laughter echoed all around him as he hung his head, wishing he would just disappear. 

Suddenly a carton of milk came flying and landed on his head. “Ow.” he exclaimed in a low voice. Everyone, eager to see where it came from, started searching haywire.

"Oh! excuse me, coming through! hey, did you see my milk carton? it just flew right out of my hand! Pfft , can you believe that?” a sweet confident voice came from within the crowd

A short statured girl was squeezing through, to reach the centre of attraction. She scratched her head as she awkwardly said,  "Well, that landed on the wrong head. Sorry dude.” and waved at Nathan.

 Looking around, she saw Jessica, glaring back at the brown haired girl who despite her short stature had the confidence as tall as Everest. She had a rough look on, but her light green eyes added an odd sweetness to her. As she saw Nathan, her expression changed instantly to a delicate one. She gave him a confident and empathetic smile and began to walk towards Jessica.

Standing face to face in front of the bully, her stare pierced right through Jessica.

“Oh. So you are Nova, that first year who is the talk of the school nowadays” Jessica exclaimed.

“Yes I am Nova, you are Jessica, he is Nathan, she is Crista, he is Tyler and so on.”, Nova said, pointing at each individual. “But that's not important.  We can have detailed introductions later on. What is important is, that I have a gift for you, senior.”

Nova's smile turned evil as she took out a water gun and sprayed  all over Jessica’s face. 

“Aah! My make up!!” Jessica screamed, as she hid her face in her hands.

“How dare you, Nova? Don't you know I can get you expelled!”, Jessica warned

“Ya, ya, I know, you are the progeny of the director of Liliac, blah blah, BUT” , Nova moved one step closer to Jessica, looking right into her eyes, she confidently continued “I can still play with you all i want, dear senior”

Jessica was pissed. Noone had dared to even look at her face to face, let alone destroy her makeup? Nope, nope.

But Nova, she was a different case for Jessica.

“Also senior, today my dog was not feeling well and was peeing all over the place, he just happened to pee right in this,” and Nova pointed to her water gun.

Jessica smelled it and indeed it was..

“Aah! Yuck! Lets go girls! I need to get rid of this disgusting smell!”, Jessica ran from the scene right towards the restroom. Her good for nothing troupe followed her.

“Ya go away, shoo, shoo’ , Nova commented, as she gestured with her hand. She went towards Nathan and sitting down, she put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Get up dude, how much longer are you gonna stay like this?”

She pulled Nathan up and started walking towards the infirmary with him.

Just then, Mr. Robin reached the site and began to disperse the crowd.

“Kids, don't you have other entertainment sources? How can you just keep looking at the weak being bullied? Scram now!” Mr. Robins was kind of disappointed that Jessica was nowhere to be found.

Some students still stood there, gossiping.

“I think you lot are very eager to write three essays on school discipline, Roman empire and your idol.”, said Mr. Robins 

Instantly, the lot unanimously shook their heads in a big no.

“Then scram!”, Mr robins screamed.

Now that  Mr Robin’s anger was erupting, the students ran for their lives

“Well John, looks like my job was done by Nova, again.”

“Yes sir, indeed” , John replied.

 ‘I wished to catch that brat Jessica red-handed today. And talk some sense into that conceited director as well, taking advantage of this situation. But, alas,” Mr. Robins sighed. 

They both stared at Nova, helping a limping Nathan towards infirmary.

“Nathan, don't worry. You need a makeover. I promise you, I will be your fairy godmother. And you won't even have to worry about the clock striking 12”, Nova assured a scared Nathan.

As the story continues, lets see who becomes the beauty and who becomes the beast.

Stay tuned with Beauty Vs Beast

“Well then Nathan, you just have a little abrasion on your knee, I have cleaned it up. You are good to go.” the infirmary nurse  explained, while she wrote her notes, sitting on a chair besides Nathan.

“Thank you, Miss Martha”, Nathan replied. 

he looked around to see that the room  was well lit, airy, with a handful of beds: a few in front,  aligned parallely. Around the beds, clean white curtains fluttered in the wind. On his right, he saw a boy sleeping on the corner bed.

“He has fever”, informed Miss Martha after noticing Nathan was focused on the sleeping boy.

Nathan turned to his left and suddenly,  a girl popped out of nowhere, “Hey!” she said. Nathan was taken by surprise. Scared, he immediately looked away.

“ Your Highness”, said Nova goofily, “ The enemy has been taken care of.  Also, Your Highness, you should know that Jessica is not even a challenge, this humble disciple of yours  can take care of many more like her.” Nova gave him an elegant bow and said, “His Highness is not alone.” 

As he heard that sentence, Nathan looked up with teary eyes and saw Nova smiling back at him. It calmed him down. He wiped his tears and said, “I am not his highness, my name is Nathan Dews. Hello Miss Nova, pleased to meet you”, he said humbly.

At first glance, Nova looked like a shy, introverted girl who would bury herself into books. But this wacky side of hers surprised Nathan, 'She is the opposite of how she looks. Interesting' he thought, as he smiled in awe.

 “Wow dewde, You look like an angel right now! Smile more often! Hey hey,should I tell you a secret about Jessica?”

"Sure!", Nathan was intrigued, seeing Nova's enthusiasm.

"Cool. When I entered this school, I used to roam around the campus in search of a quiet place. From the cafeteria, I walked 1km south and saw a cherry blossom tree. Besides it, there was a store room. With an eager intent to explore, I went in. After a little bit of cleaning I turned it into a small niche of mine and kept a periwinkle plant at the window. The window was huge with space to sit on its sill. One could see the cherry blossom tree through that window.  I started spending some peaceful time there during lunch hours. One warm spring day, I was sitting at the store room’s window, recording a squirrel near the tree, when suddenly, someone opened the door.

“.. ya hehehe ok girls, you go ahead, I’ll be right back”, as I heard these words I turned around to see a tall, black haired girl, entering the room. She hurriedly closed the door and stood facing her back towards me. Then let out a huge sigh. Surprisingly, she didn't notice me. I ignored her and kept recording the squirrel. But then, all of a sudden, I heard, the loudest fart ever! That black haired girl touched the higher notes like a soprano!

‘Jessica, are you in there?’ Her friends called her out. 

‘Oh yes, coming!’ she replied as she tried to clean up the crime scene by waving and dispersing the air she let out. 

After she left,  I laughed out loudly.  I kept replaying the video, and boy, oh boy, did i crack up each time. After all, she was recorded- farting. To girls like her, this is a huge deal. Later, When I saw her bullying innocent juniors,  I realized that this video can be put to good use. Since the time Jessica found out about the video that I have, she would avoid messing with me, fearing I might make the video viral on social media. But shhh" , Nova signaled Nathan by  putting a finger on her lips, and continued in low voice,

 " Don't let anyone know about this, it's our little secret" , winked Nova teasingly.

Nathan burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha seriously? That's amazing Miss Nova!”

“‘Your highness, Everyone calls me Novs.” she replied joyfully.

“Well, I should get going now, You stay here. Lucky you, you get to skip the history class! Man, I always get hit with a chalk on my head for sleeping during that class. Hey! Nathan! punch me please”

Nathan was astonished at this weird demand.

“Eeh? W-What? Why? I can't.”

“So that i can join you and skip class with a clean chit!”

“Pfft hehe” Nathan laughed.

“Very well, then.  See ya later, Nathan. Bye Miss Martha!” Nova gleefully bid them goodbye and turned around to leave the infirmary.

“Bye dear,'' Miss Martha replied, as she and Nathan waved Nova goodbye.

Nova had left the room but Miss Martha kept staring at the door as she  praised " such a good kid, that Nova" Nathan looked towards Miss martha as she continued,

“She always comes to the infirmary with wounded students, whom she doesn't even know. She keeps helping out people who land up in various troubles and are unable to speak for themselves. Especially those who are bullied. People always call such kids weak, as they can't stand up for themselves. But not Nova. To her, everyone is on an equal footing. Probably it's because of the empathy that  developed in her mind after... " Miss Martha stopped abruptly. After a quick heavy pause she said, "Anyway, I like her alot. I have known her since middle school. I was the nurse in her school during that time"

“Miss Martha, does she have friends?” , Nathan enquired quickly.

“ Oh! She has a tonne of them, now. Most suffered from bullying in middle school or sometime in their lives. She helped them out and toughened them up. It's her belief that  all humans are born with an innate strength to become more resilient . To her, when a person becomes stronger, they become more beautiful.”

Nathan is completely intrigued by this small packet of fireworks called ‘Nova’.

“So, you can rest up here until the next class. If you need anything, call me, I'll be there at that table, writing notes”, Miss Martha said, as she got up from the chair next to Nathan.

“Thank you, Miss Martha” , Nathan expressed his gratitude as he wondered what must have happened to such a cheerful girl in her past.

An hour of sleep and Nathan had calmed down. He  got up and went to Miss Martha.

“I shall take your leave now, ma’am. Thank you for everything”, he said gently.

“Missing her already, eh?”, teased Miss Martha.

“Wh.. no, no, no, nothing of that sort maam,” exclaimed Nathan, as he turned around and hurriedly walked towards the door.

‘You are going to have a hard time ahead. All best dear,’ Miss Martha thought to herself, as Nathan left.

Nathan stood in front of the classroom entrance. It seemed like he was preparing himself. 'Come on, you can do it Nathan’ he whispered, as he gathered all the courage and entered the classroom.

The whole class was in chaos. But as he entered, everyone and everything went silent. All eyes were following him, as he went towards his desk. 

Some whispered " hey, isn't he the clumsy cafeteria guy from this morning who knocked over Jessica's lunch?"

"Yes yes, that's him" and the gossip continued in low voices. 

Nathan looked too scared to raise his head and see, who all were talking about him. He reached his desk and was just about to sit, when suddenly-

“BAM” a hand slammed on his desk. Nathan froze and just couldn't raise his head to see who it was. He shut his eyes tightly.

A deep voice boomed, “Ahem!hey, you wimpy kid. Go, do the ritual. Don't you know, all noobs are supposed to do that. "

Nathan froze. He could neither reply nor move.

“Hey! Beat it wimp,  go face the class”, Nathan was ordered.

When he reached the board, he  turned around to face the class, but instantly looked down out of fear.

Suddenly, a hand flew over his shoulder and the deep voice continued, “This is Nathan Dews”; the voice got softer and softer, “and he just got punked!”

 Everyone began laughing.

Nathan noticed the person standing next to him was shorter than him and trying to reach to his shoulders by raising their toes.

Everyone then started apologizing to Nathan.

 “Sorry Nathan,  we scared you too much”, everyone kept saying repeatedly.

Nathan looked beside him and saw Nova standing there winking at him and sticking her tongue out.

She as well as the whole class had Nathan completely fooled.

“Novs, you! Why did you scare me?!”

“Just for fun. Sorry, was it a bit too much? But it's necessary. This is the ritual of LOTUS”

“Eh lotus? Means?” 

“ For now,” she announced, “I officially welcome him  to the LOTUS”.

He noticed everyone looking at him differently, they seemed friendlier.

Puzzled over the class' reaction, he asked Nova, “what is LOTUS?”

“ A LOTUS is a flower which grows in muddy water. but when it blooms, its petals open one by one , without a trace of mud. I think you can grow. You have it in you. You can bloom no matter what comes your way.”

The atmosphere and Nova’s encouraging words must have  filled that timid mind of Nathan with some hope and strength.

He slowly flung his hand across Nova's shoulder, who was shorter than him and said shyly, “Thanks Nova, nope; Supernova.” He still couldn't look at her and speak, but he tried his best.

“Wow, not bad . eh?” Nova replied.

Will Nathan be able to change and become even more beautiful and strong?

“Hi , I am back. Ugh. Today’s class sucked”, Nova exclaimed while she took off her shoes.

 “Good evening Miss, what would you like to have today? Some tea?” Sophie greeted Nova as she came in and crashed on the couch.

Sophie  worked at Nova's place and helped around with the daily household chores. Slightly tall with light brown hair and black eyes, Sophie was a woman in her thirties, She had been living with Nova’s family for the past 13 years. She started off as Nova’s nanny, but Sophie didn’t have a family of her own, So she doted on Nova alot and stayed even after Nova had grown up.

“Thanks Sophie, tea would be great. Did you have lunch?” Nova enquired.

“Yes Miss, I did. Il go brew some tea for you and some coffee for me.”

“Hey Sophie, make some tea for mom too.” Nova added, as Sophie headed to the kitchen silently.

‘Maybe mom will also join us for tea.’ she thought to herself.

A few minutes later,

Nova placed her laptop on the table and switched it on, while Sophie brought in the tea.

Nova felt sad as she could only see a screen  flashing ‘skype calling-mom’.

“I guess, mom won't be coming, yet again.” Nova sounded very disappointed.

Sophie sat next to Nova and patted her back.

“Maybe it is an early time of the day in that part of the globe and mom must be busy taking care of her grandson or something, right?” Nova consoled herself. Sophie too, looked disappointed and frustrated.

“You know what this means right?”, Nova asked.

Sophie knew where this was going,

“You will have to…

... cook my favourite food again today. Yes! Woohoo!” Nova rejoiced.

“Miss no! it's not healthy! please don't  have it this often”, Sophie worried.

“A deal is a deal, right? Mac n cheese, mac n cheese, yippie!”

Seeing Nova this happy, Sophie agreed.

 But she had made a plan of adding broccoli to it today.

Suddenly Nova asks Sophie,

“You know,  sometimes I think about all this and feel that my mom doesn't love me as much. Does that make me a terrible daughter?” 

Sophie understood what was going through Nova's mind; she had practically raised Nova.

“Of Course not Miss, you are only feeling that way because Mrs. Maples hasn't called you for a long time. You are only human, everyone has such thoughts at some point in their lives. But she definitely doesn't do it on purpose. It just... happens. Mrs Maples is completely oblivious to what her words of praise mean to you”, she tried to explain.

“That's what makes me feel even worse Sophie;  I know my mom cares about me too, but at that time, it just hurt a lot.”  she slumped on the table and put her head down.

“Miss Nova, you are not a bad daughter", Sophie said as she pat Nova's back gently, 

"Sometimes, situations arise such that one has to choose. That doesn't make you any less important to her. Many times, it's unfair, though all the suffering falls only on one person. They can't even express their dissatisfaction and pain because they know what happened was nobody's mistake.  Right now that person might be you, but you won't be stuck like this forever. You still have me, you still have LOTUS and your amazing friends Crista and Tyler. Do you know how many people you’ve helped? Imagine, if you had not entered their lives, they would have never managed to become so strong.”

“No Sophie, They were already strong, I just gave them a nudge. They had the tools, I just showed how to sharpen them because I knew how to. But look at me right now, I preach about mental strength, but I am miserable myself, huh” she scoffed.

“ Miss, you are such a modest and kind girl, always trying to be cheerful and optimistic even though you have faced a lot in life. If that's not mental strength, then what is? You are beautiful my dear."

“And remember” Sophie continued as she pat Nova’s head gently, “ whenever you feel lost, you have two choices:

One, keep looking  down, at the dark path  you followed and mope, or two, keep looking up at the bright stars which will guide you ahead.  In your case, you have created your own stars: your friends and lotus.

Trust me, as an outsider, I can tell that you have got a bunch of great friends.”

Hearing this, Nova gave a smile filled with content.

After a slight pause she said, “Hey Sophie, thanks for being there for me. What would I have done without you? And you are not an outsider, you are the best person in my life."

Sophie was stunned. She got teary and hugged Nova. Sophie was overjoyed to hear this. Nova was like a daughter to her.

“ Miss Nova, won't it be unfair to your boyfriend? He should be the best person in your life” Sophie teased.

 "Oh goodness. Sophie for crying out loud, you know I have no interest in  boys that way. To me, all look the same: like a friend. Except one… that brat in middle school. I hate him", Nova went deep into thoughts as she remembered her middle school days.

To change the atmosphere Sophie said, "Miss Nova, stop friendzoning everyone. You have already broken so many hearts"

“ Ok  I promise you I  will find a great guy for myself.”

Sophie got excited to hear this. 

"Only if you start calling me just 'Nova' ",  she said.

"Miss,  please don't put me in an awkward position. You know i can't say that." Poor Sophie was left to gather her broken dreams about Nova's boyfriend which she had just weaved.

" Then I also can't think of guys that way." Said Nova wittily. 

"Miss please, just once? Give it a chance, I am sure there must be a tonne of good guys in your school."

“Ok, if you insist. But I have one condition… 

 Let's…  bring home a dog " Nova said as innocently as she could.

“Miss, you sure are taking full advantage of this situation" Sophie pouted, “But no, dogs not allowed!”, she warned.

“Why?! Sophie! Look, they are so cute! You won't- "

Sophie cut her midway and said with a poker face, "I said dogs are not allowed. These are Mrs Maples' instructions."

“Ok then, a cat maybe?” she asks eagerly.

“Miss Nova! A big nope.” said Sophie sternly.

“Ok, then a fish? You won't even know it's there.”

"Miss, I said, no pets!”

Nova laughs and teases Sophie more. She always wanted a person like Sophie in her life, a person she would be delighted to call as her family.

“By the way, I call mom’s tea serving! Hahaha I beat you! Bleh!”, teased Nova.

“This is not fair!”

The beautiful bond between Sophie and Nova, filled the voids her family had left in her heart.

Will she be able to get over the trauma her mother had caused her?