Beauty lesson 1: My to-be-favorite victim

“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?

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