Chapter 2

Later that night, Nami was having dinner with her family. Both of her parents and older brother joke around, livening up the mood. She, on the other hand, stayed silent. Her parents tried to make her participate more in their conversation, but she just answered with short sentences before going silent once more. She knew something bad was going to happen. It made her so anxious that she barely ate, and she instead played around with her food.

When her brother finished eating and left the dining room, her parents turned their focus to her. The time for her judgment had come.

"So Nami, do you have anything to tell us?" Nami's father suddenly asked. Her heart immediately skipped a beat. She knew exactly why his father suddenly ask him. She kept her head down, unable to bring herself to stare at them directly.

"I..." Nami struggled to even make out a sentence. It felt like something got her in the throat. She couldn't come up with any excuse. Even if she had any, no matter what she said, it would fall on deaf ears.

"We received your grade report. Can you tell us why there are a lot of red marks on it?" her mother asked.

Internally, Nami wanted to scream out a lot of things. She couldn't catch up with the lesson. She wasn't special like the other students. She just... didn't belong there. Any attempt of her asking the teacher to slow down would be met by mockeries and snickers. But she still had some self-control. She kept all of her emotion inside, and only shook her head as an answer.

"Honey, you know how hard it is to get into that school. And its not cheap either. Your father and I work very hard to make sure you can stay in school. Even your brother is working hard for you," her mother continued. She stared worryingly at her, but it wasn't a motherly gaze, rather a scolding one.

Her brother, William, was 8 years older than her and landed a good job even before he graduated from university. Not only that, he also graduated from Granite Bay High School as one of the top students. The only reason he was still in the house was because he hadn't find a good place to move out to.

Compared to him, she felt like an ant to a dragon. Minuscule and unworthy.

"I know..." was all Nami could mutter.

After an hour of her parents rambling on and on about how she should behave, they finally let Nami return to her room. When she arrived at her room, she immediately slump down on her bed. They talked about the same thing like the other times before, so she just shut her brain off the whole time. Still, it tire her.

Just as she was about to drift off, she heard someone knocking on her door. "Hey, sis, got some time?" she heard the voice of her brother asking from the other side.

"Yeah... But be quick..." Nami replied weakly while sitting up. She stretched out her body.

Her brother entered the room and walked up to her bed.

"They scolded you again, didn't they?" he asked worryingly. Nami nodded, and her brother let out a frustrated sigh.

"Sorry I can't help. I tried talking them out of it, but..."

"No, not, its okay bro. I know you tried..." she said understandingly. She remember the time when her brother got into an argument with her parent about Nami entering Granite Bay High School. The last thing she wanted was for her brother to be estranged by her parents.

"Look, I think I found a good place to move out to," her brother said as he sat down beside her.

Naomi's heart skipped a beat. The thought of living alone with her parents terrify her. Her fear didn't last long though as the next thing her brother said was: "If you want, you can move out with me. Let me talk to mom and dad, I will convince them."

"But... I don't want to be a bother to you..."

"Please. You are my little sister, and it breaks my heart seeing you like this. You need to be as far away from them. You can start new in another school. With my paycheck, I can pay your school fee. Though, you will be one year older than your classmates."

All of it sounded like heaven to her. Starting it all from the bottom. She wanted to say yes. Her heart wanted her to say yes. But she couldn't. She had to think things over. Leaving her current school meant she had to leave her friends. She just couldn't convince herself to do it.

"I... will think about it," she said, looking down at her fiddling fingers.

"Its okay, this is a big decision. I will give you some time. Sorry for disturbing. Night sis," her brother pat her in the head before he left the room.

Nami slumped back down onto the bed when she heard her phone on the table ringing. She groaned as she stood up to check her phone. It was a message from James to the group chat she and her friends made. They hadn't decide on a name yet though.

"Come early tomorrow! I got something really cool to show!"

The first one to reply was Kiara, "Its not another book right?"

"No! This is much more awesome than that!"

There was another reply, and this time it was from Lucius, "Just make sure you come early this time."

*"If its not cool, then you owe us ice creams," Nami typed.

"Deal. I'm confident this will blow your minds!"

Nami noticed that Liam was missing from the conversation even though it said 5 person read the message. In the beginning, Nami thought Liam was being distant with them. Like he didn't want to associate himself with the others. He rarely appeared in group chat and a lot of time kept to himself. But when something piqued his interest, he would be all over it. He even talk more than the others. So she and the others just brush it off as it being his thing.

Since there was no more replies, Nami decided to sleep. Of course, she couldn't help but wonder. What James wanted to show them?

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