Dedicated for Amanda Todd, for me, for everyone to know that they're not alone. Some of these are real.

Simple Kindness
July 7th, 2013
by Elise the Writing Desk, Wonderful Wonder World by QuinRose

Boris Airay is ordinary. The kind of teenage boy who regularly hangs out with friends, playing sports for fun, frequently enjoying videogames. Sometimes he forgets his homework, sometimes you can see him running late for class.

Following the rule of society, Boris of course, acts polite and nice, just like what his parents had taught him.

He just follow life as it is; acknowledge it, accepting it, but he is not afraid to take risks, so he's not going with the flow.

The easiest way to describe him will be the day when he's going home from school with his classmates, the Tweedles.

"Whoah, they're at it again?" the first twin, Dee, says, slowing down his pace. They are passing by a certain crowd which appears to be teenagers around their age.

Boris stopped with a frown. "What's at it?" he asks.

The other twin, Dum, tilts his head to the crowd, shrugging. "The Liddell girl. I thought people would stop when she moved, but the rumors spread widely."

Noticing his confused look, the twins sigh. "Forget it, Boris...It's none of our business. Come on, let's go home."

Boris follows them, but his eyes are on the crowds.

"Dirty bitch!" one of them shouts.

He can hear kicking noises.

"Fugly slut...Who do you think you are, coming here!?"

Frowning to himself, Boris turns away and walks home. He doesn't really want to know why they are doing that to whoever that girl is...He just thinks, it's...wrong.

The twins may be right, that this isn't his business.

Though ignoring something like this is a crime as well.

~.X.~

He's shocked. Boris doesn't even want to hear why this girl gets beaten up so bad. No one deserves this.

She's lying lifelessly in front of the school ground. Bleeding, bumps on her skin. Boris can see some of her teeth scattered around, and something slimy that might have been the girl's breakfast is on the grass.

He's going to help her stand, when she sobs and says; "Please, just give me a bit more time before you beat me..."

He's very taken aback by her response. Of course, who wouldn't? She's acting as if everyone who approaches her only wants to beat her up.

"I'm not here to beat you up." Boris braces himself to speak and takes her skinny hand. She flinches away, pulling her hand and sits up, glaring at him with wide eyes.

Her eyes are beautiful, but teary and filled with fear.

"N-No...I'm not falling for that." She tears up and hugs herself. "You're...you're going to trap me...You'll just get nice to me...and then you'll call up everyone to beat me up, I know. Just...just leave me alone!"

Boris, shocked, can't say anything to her. He doesn't understand what had happened to her, why it happened...She has her reason not to trust anyone.

He notices that she's getting cold. Thinking to give it a shot, Boris takes off his jacket and put it around her without saying a word.

"I don't need this." She murmurs, pulling it off. Boris just walks away.

"Hey!" she calls, chasing him. "Hey, take it! I don't want it! I don't need...Hey!"

He pretends not to listen as he runs.

~.X.~

His twin friends hurriedly catch up with Boris, who's apparently very eager to get out of school today.

"Hey, hey, Boris! What's the hurry?"

"Want to do some pitching this evening, dude?"

Boris stops as he notices the girl, holding his jacket, staring at him, standing behind a lamp-post. The twins notice this as well and scowled to Boris.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"Boris...?"

Boris smiles and walks over to her. "Thanks for taking care of my jacket." He says, still not taking it from her hand. "I'm Boris Airay."

She looks down and shoves his jacket to his chest. He has planned on his next action and catches her wrist.

"Oh, why didn't you treat this? It looks bad..." he says, frowning in worry, referring to her severely injured arm. Boris takes out his handkerchief. When he's about to tie it onto her arm, she flinches away.

"What do you want from me?" she hisses. "I...I don't need your help! Just—stop!" she protests, but he keeps on tying the cloth around her wounded arm.

"I'm not going to thank you!" she shouts as he starts to walk away. "I don't owe you anything!"

Boris stares at his jacket with a determined smile as he walks home. Honestly, he has a strong feeling that it's the other way around.

~.X.~

And he's right. The next day, she's in front of his house after school. Her bruises bandaged, even her forehead has a big cotton sticking on it. She's staring down her shoes, her hands holding his handkerchief.

"...Thanks, Boris." She gasps to herself. "I...I mean Airay." She quickly corrects herself, flustered. Walking fast to him, she hands the handkerchief.

"You can call me Boris." Boris grins happily as he accepts his handkerchief. "What's your name?"

He can't miss how he shivers at his question.

"A-Alice..." she mutters in fear, as if saying her name makes the hell break loose. When he catches her shoulder, she flinches, but not too much.

"Now that you're here, let's play some games, shall we?" he offers, pulling her to his door. "You'll love my mom; she's good at cooking...but you'll probably hate it when my dad starts to play his violin."

"Um...A-Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Boris nods. "Do you mind Mario Kart?"

This time, he can't miss how her eyes glimmer on his words.

~.X.~

Needless to say, and in fact, neither of them dare to say that they have became friends. Boris will find her waiting in front of his house after school, and they'll spend hours until evening playing videogames.

At some points, he sees her at school. She always wait behind a tree until the other students rush into the class; when class is over, she will wait to exit the class the last. Alice is a new student, but she is trying to avoid contacts with other students.

Boris doesn't understand why the teachers won't help her. But he understands that the teachers won't let the other students getting bullied under their supervision. It's their responsiblity if she gets hurt as long as they're in the crime scene.

She's slowly getting more cheerful and sometimes playful when they play videogames together, but Alice doesn't talk much about herself.

He knows she's probably hiding the reason why the kids yesterday were bullying her. Boris doesn't mind; he'll just wait until she can trust him enough. What matters is that he can help, despite a little.

"You should talk to her at school too, Boris." His mom, Crysta, suggests as she prepares some peanut-butter-jelly sandwiches. "Here, enough for both of you. Go have lunch together." she says, handing the bag of food.

"Say hi for us if you get the chance." Gowland grins as he flips his newspaper.

"Okay, I'll try." Boris smiled. Gowland and Crysta think of Alice as a nice girl. They didn't tell them that she's running from bullies.

It won't do if other adults try to defend her. Alice doesn't want to make a big fuss over it, but to Boris, it was a big deal.

Getting beaten by people who chased her from other town, punched in the face, washed with sewer water; those are big deals. She should tell her parents. Heck, she should call the police!

Boris has a lot of question, but he keeps it to himself. He somewhat feels that right now Alice only need someone, not a nosy person.

"Oh, you're bringing lunch, today?" his twin friends grin. "Sweet! Ace gets a spot in the cafeteria. Let's go, dude!"

"Heheh, sorry guys..." Boris waves at them. "Mom made this for someone else."

The twins exchange stares and frown at Boris.

"Boris, why are you going around with that Liddell?" Dee asks.

"You're not trying to play around with her, right? She's got enough trouble as it is." Dum criticizes.

"Besides, she's not good for you." They say, crossing their arms.

Boris frowns. "Do you even know her that well that you can say such a thing?"

The first twin shakes his head exasperatedly. "Gosh, Boris! You need to open your ears...So many wrong things about that girl!"

"Regina, that girl from Detroit? She came all the way here to beat her because that girl hooks up with her boyfriend!"

"She's been posting pictures of her boobs on the internet too—oh shit..."

The group stop arguing as they notice her walking out of the empty classroom, behind a teacher. She freezes and shivers, her eyes wide, searching Boris. Boris' eyes widen as she starts to run towards the back exit, to school's back yard.

He frowns at his twin friends and goes to chase her.

~.X.~

Boris freezes in his step as he sees it himself. Easily putting in the needle and injecting it to her veins. Alice sighs in relief as she lies down on the stadium's bench, taking out the syringe out of her skin and throws it to the pile of her books.

"Alice...are you on drugs?"

She's probably getting the high, since she easily turns to him, a little dazed.

"I'm...bad, right? Now you believe them?" she says calmly. "They don't bully me because of this, though." She says, looking up to the stadium's ceiling.

Pondering on what to do and say, Boris can't decide it and sits beside her. He digs the sandwich and hands out one for her.

"My mom made this for you."

"...Thanks." she sits up and accepts the food. Boris, being considerate, takes out his own sandwich to accompany her eating. He starts to nibble the edge, but he notices that she's just staring at the sandwich.

She opens her mouth and says; "Girls...call me by the name; 'Boyfriend stealing slut'..."

He almost chokes on his sandwich, but he hears her giggling and bites her sandwich.

He waits until she swallows her food. She appears to know that he wants her to continue.

"While boys...just call me 'Fugly slut'...Heheh." she laughs bitterly and stares at her sandwich again. "Some adults call me...as 'Demon's child'...that's why the teachers didn't help me..."

The two don't talk anymore as they finish their sandwich. The bell rings, warning them that lunchtime is over. Yet, they don't move from their seats, staring to the sky.

"Alice," Boris suddenly says, and the girl glances at him. "Will you stop doing drugs for yourself?"

She blinks and smiles sadly. "Are you...going to stop being my friend if I don't?"

Boris turns at her and shakes his head. "No, I won't. I asked if you'd stop for yourself. Whatever you do, whatever you decide, you'll always be my friend. I just...don't want you to die from overdose..."

He notices her eyes turning wide, and a smile plays on her lips. She starts laughing. Boris smiles warily as she keeps on laughing. Everytime they play videogames, she'd smile or giggle, but this is the first time Boris sees her laughing freely.

He wants her to laugh more.

"I do drugs, because..." she sighs and hugs her knees. "Because it makes me feel better...Like everything they do, their beatings, their glares everytime I pass, their pranks on me...when I'm on drugs, I don't feel so pained..."

Boris nods understandingly. "So...you're not going to stop?"

She turns her eyes on him and smiles.

"I'll try."

~.X.~

"That girl is bad news, dude." Ace, his classmate, says as they are heading for the next class. Boris frowns at him. Ace clicks his tongue at this. "For real. Her father once had an orphanage, and that's where everything runs down the hill."

They sit in the back. "How come?" Boris asks.

"Well, turns out, her father sold the kids and used the 'orphanage'..." Ace gestured with his fingers, "...as an alibi."

Boris is going to defend his friend again, but Ace holds up his hand to shut him.

"And adds the fact that she really did, hook up with somebody else's boyfriend. And her sex pictures are really on the internet if you're really following and actually searching." He finishes, and turns to face the front, since the teacher has came.

Boris glares down his notebook.

The question is; why...?

"Hey," Ace calls him in a whisper. Once he gets his attention, the brunet says; "...But I also think that no one deserves getting beaten that bad."

~.X.~

And it happens again; this time, Boris can't believe it himself that some adults just watch and encourage the teenagers to beat Alice Liddell.

"Yeah, cry you Fugly Slut!" one of the girls mocked.

"Bet your Demon Father's happy now with a slutty daughter!" a man scoffed.

The Tweedles gaped beside him. Boris feels Ace is shivering, and he sees his face gets red. The crowd starts to take pictures with their cellphone, and they can hear the girl is screaming for help.

"No! Please! I didn't...I'm sorry! Please stop!"

Boris wants to run and scream at them, but Ace holds his shoulder. They will be screwed up if they run right now. Dee takes an inisiative to call the police.

Then they are very shocked when a boy joins the crowd, bringing a gallon of bleaching liquid.

"Hey, you didn't die the last time you tried to kill yourself, right, bitch!?"

"Yeah, why don't you try it again? We'll make sure you'd did it now!"

"Open up!"

His nails are hurting his palm as Boris is clenching his fists very hard. He can feel Ace's nails on his shoulder.

But they don't care about such trivial pain; what pangs their heart is the girl's whimpers. She's clamping her mouth shut and tries to struggle.

"Hey, stop struggling!"

"Didn't you want to die anyway!?"

Boris' heart falls in relief as they hear the police's car ringing. The crowd cusses, and some of them start to escape the scene. The police asks who called for them, and after Dee explained, they approach the beaten-up girl.

They fall silent as they see how the girl had become; those people cut her hair very short; almost bald. She's bleeding on her mouth and there are cuts everywhere.

"Who did this to you, Miss?" the officer investigates, and mouths at his walkie-talkie; "Secure the area, the victim survives. Call an ambulance. Over."

Alice keeps crying, unable to say anything. She then wipes her eyes and stares at Boris.

Weakly, she stands up and Boris wants to cry as well, when she actually wraps her arms around him, crying her heart out, struggling to thank him.

"Th-Thank...you..." she sobs. "Thank...y-you..."

~.X.~

Boris wants to laugh out loudly when he sees her face the next day. Oh, no, not laughing at her miserably...her expression, it's priceless. It's Sunday; Boris and his friends come to Alice's house.

She timidly peeks behind her door. She's wearing a cap to hide her head.

"U-Um...Wh-What?"

"Let's play some baseball!" Ace cheerfully invites. "Oh yeah, you can call me Ace. Boris said you love baseball!"

They see her bites her fingers and slowly hides behind her door.

Boris understands why she's hesitating.

"My mom and dad are there too, don't worry!" Boris says. He knows that despite they've saved her yesterday, she has a hard time to trust people who are kind to her.

"You can just watch if you want to!" Dum offers.

"But be careful; we're so cool when we're playing, you might fall for all of us~!" Dee jokes.

They inwardly smiled as they hear her giggling, but then fall silent as she closes the door.

The twins looks at each other in confuse. Boris chuckles, and Ace sighs in relief as the door opens again. Alice comes out, bringing her own baseball bat and pitching glove.

"I-Is it really okay...?" she timidly asks, still standing behind her gate.

Boris clicks his tongue as he drags her by the hand and starts to lead their run.

"Oh hush, you're pitching today." He grins.

~.X.~

Eventually, Alice starts to hang out with the group more. She's still shy, but no one will underestimate her when she's pitching at the yard. Sometimes Boris will see her using drugs, but not as often as she did.

"Carrier choice?" Ace sighs. "Can't we just decide when we're graduating? What does Trigonometry have anything to do with working at McDonalds anyway?" the brunet complains, as he doesn't like to think much about the future.

Boris chuckles. "What? Are you going to work there?"

Ace rolls his eyes and slaps his back. "Who knows, okay? Look, I failed most of my class...I really hope I won't end up as meme's jokes that I've been laughing all the time." Ace shoves his choice paper into his locker and slams it close.

Boris locks his locker and snickers. "I thought you plan on joining Kendo School. You've registered for the scholarship test, right?"

"Yeah, I have." Ace shrugs dejectedly.

The auburn head pauses his pace as he notices Alice is staring at her locker, at the other end of the corridor.

"Hey, Al! What's up?" Ace greets cheerfuly, but falters as they see her flinches.

Alice stares at them with wide, fearful eyes and snatches a paper on her locker before running out of the school building.

"What...? Did something—"

"Let's just follow her." Boris cuts off Ace's sentence as he starts to run as well.

~.X.~

Boris has been expecting the girl to be lying down, injecting and getting high when they reach the yard, but she's not on the stadium's seats. Ace raises his eyebrows at the view. Alice is practicing her strikes with her old baseball bat, using the thrower machine across the yard.

A ball comes over in high speed, but Alice easily swings her bat and sends the ball flying up high. Boris uses his hand to cover his eyes from the sun as he tries to follow where the ball goes. Ace claps his hand and whistles.

They watches her keep sending homeruns, ignoring the bell's calling for class, until the girl sits on the ground, panting hard.

"You got beaten again!" she flinches, just realizing that Ace and Boris are behind her. Ace kneels down and checks her arm. "When? Why didn't you tell us?"

Alice pulls her hand away and rolls her eyes. "It's not so bad, comparing when I was in Detroit." She huffs and looks up to Boris. "Why are you guys skipping class again? You need to get good grades."

Ace and Boris exchange looks. Boris snickers at her. "And you?"

Alice sighs. "I'll probably go on McDonalds." She chuckles ironically.

"What!?" Boris exclaims angrily. "Alice, you can't joke about that! What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." She shrugs, looking away.

Ace's eyes catch the paper in her jacket's pocket, and he pulls it out. Alice gasps and tries to get it back, but Ace holds her away from him as he reads the paper.

The brunet scowls and glares at her. "Who sent you this?" he asks, while throwing the paper to Boris.

Alice groans.

Boris' eyes widen and scowls as he reads the paper.

Enjoy you school while you can, you'd better off dead like your demon father. Or finish your school and learn to sell orphans, Fugly Slut.

His whole body shivers in wrath. Crumpling it in his fist, he drops the paper on the ground and stomps on it several time.

"And you keep silent about this?" Boris demands coldly.

Alice sighs. "Come on, guys...Be realistic. I'm a slut girl whose father was a trafficking-boss. Am I going to work on the White House?" she laughs bitterly and drapes her arms behind her back. "Why do I have to try? Am I going to stand on a stage as a singer, just to be yelled 'slut'? I know I'm gonna fall down..."

Ace narrows his eyes on her. "And you're not going to do anything about it?"

Alice frowns at him, and he can see her eyes trembling. "What's there to do? I have no future. It's...it's enough for me that...I don't get beaten...and I have some nice people around me—"

"I'll beat you up if you say that!" Boris yells angrily snatching her collar and holds his fist up high.

"Boris!" Ace warns, trying to pull him, but he stubbornly stays.

Alice grimaces in fear as her eyes watches Boris' fists up ahead.

"You won't tell us about yourself, you won't try to defend yourself, you..." Boris drops his hand and shoves her away. "...You can't say it's fine, Alice. It's not fine that you don't have a future. It's not fine for us!"

Alice looks down immediately.

"Look, Alice." Ace says, putting a hand on her shoulder cautiously. "Let's forget all the facts about you and your father. Will you hate your father?"

Alice shakes her head. "No...I love my father." She gulps. "I love him a lot, and I believe he's never done anything wrong..." her voice trembles. "He's...innocent. He's just..."

She scowls, clenching her fists. "I didn't ask for this...I didn't do anything...My father didn't either...I know, I screw up, but why follow me!?" she heaves. "Why... why is this happening to me!? Why me...Why my dad...I-I..."

She trails off. Anymore talking and she'll break down into tears again. Boris knows this and takes her shoulders with his hands, making her look at him into his eyes.

"You didn't ask for this," he says softly, his eyes intense on her. "Nobody ever would, okay? It's just that you messed up once. Everyone messed up once and quickly forgotten, but not you, Alice. You're not easily forgotten."

Alice keeps staring into his eyes, as if searching answers.

"So," Boris starts again, "Are you going to be like your father was?"

Ace has a small smile as he sees the girl flinches.

"Do you have to carry what he's handed down?" he asks, and shakes her a little. "Answer me, Alice."

Alice's eyes don't waver from his as she shakes her head and says; "No."

Ace chuckles and pats her head. "Of course not!" he says. "This isn't your meant-to-be. Yesterday does not define anyone. Yet, what happens in the past will haunt everyone, but you're a different person everyday."

Her eyes glimmer at his words. She turns to Boris who says;

"And despite what your father's misfortunes in the past that burdens you...You still love him, right?"

Alice nods firmly. "Even...Even if he really did something wrong...I'd still love him." She murmurs.

Boris smiles and strokes her cheek. "That only means you are loved, Alice."

Ace nods and takes her hand. "And you're here today, to make everything right again."

Alice nods, a smile playing again on her lips. She starts to laugh again, reminding Boris about the day he found out that she's on drugs.

"Hehe," she giggles. "You guys are talking as if you've known everything in life."

The two quickly feel awkward and wrong, since her statement is right. But she smiles at them.

"But that's alright. Since you believe that I can do such a thing...Might as well try."

~.X.~

It's spring, the graduation day is just ahead. Boris finds himself staring at the calendar emptily. Remembering himself in the past, he'd never thought that he'd become the person he is today.

But that's life.

The Boris in the past will probably think he'll waste three years running late for class and rushing his homework in the morning. Probably dating some girls, playing videogames, going on detention...

He'd never think that his friend, Ace, will be leaving for Japan next week, going to a Kendo School with full scholarship. Their old selves would probably laugh about it and will probably put more thoughts on how to make famous YouTube channel.

The old Boris will never think that the Tweedles are going to go into Astronomy and continue to work in NASA. He'd snort at the thought if it was the old Boris. Even Dee and Dum have never thought of going for Astronomy; they've been busy downloading porns.

"My son's going to start his own life..." Boris turns to see Gowland, grinning in front of his door. "Get good money, get a good house, get a good woman, have good children, have a good life, and if possible, die smiling."

Boris chuckles. "Dad, I'm going to be a Game Creator, not a business man."

"Oh, but you must!" Crysta peeks into his room. "You simply must! Returning from UK, you'll have to introduce your girlfriend..." she sighs. "Ah, I already wish for a grandchild..."

"Mom, I'm just eighteen." Boris laughs.

Gowland laughs as well, and then wraps his arm around his wife's waist. "You're done with that tux? We have to pick Alice on the way."

Crysta smiles sadly. "It's sad that she has no family that will see her off in graduation day...But I've been thinking of her as my own daughter."

"Yeah, she's just too sweet and shy, she won't call me 'Dad' already!" Gowland laughs, earning a soft slap from his wife, before exiting their son's bedroom.

Oddly enough, the simple family-conversation makes Boris blush in silence.

~.X.~

Many things that Boris had never dreamed off, happen in the past three years. He wonders what will happen if he didn't come up to talk to the beaten, crying blonde girl who lied on the ground years ago. He wonders if he'll be a completely different person if he just ignored her.

Alice has been a part of his life-mosaic; if she's torn away, the mosaic will be a meaningless picture. Along with Ace, the twins and his parents. The school, the neighborhood, everything had shaped Boris to the person he is today. Everything has become an important part of his mosaic.

Ever since they've promised to decide their own future, many things changed. Ace is more serious about things; Dee and Dum tries to acknowledge and pays more attention to their surrounding.

Boris doesn't feel that way. Maybe because he's living his life, he can only notice other's changes. Maybe Ace can see if he's changed.

But who has changed completely is Alice. Not entirely; she's still shy and always holding back, always keeping her problems to herself. What changes her is her newborn will to start over.

She stops skipping classes, does her homework and study everyday. Eventually, she stops doing drugs, without even needing any rehab.

The blog which posts her pictures have eventually deleted for good. Since Alice has gained a will to defend herself, she'd stand up and tries to make people listen. Boris had used his talent in cyber world to pinpoint the one who's been posting her vulgar pictures on the internet. The guy was arrested.

Alice still tries to defend her father, but at the least, people had stopped mentioning her father and his 'fictional' deeds on the children. Now, everyone sees Alice as herself, not bothering who her father was, or the black-mail blog about her.

They'd play baseball, hang out, eat some pizza, even sleep-over. Their favorite thing to do is still playing Mario Kart and baseball. Boris and his friends thought that she'd pursue her dream to be a woman-baseball player, but she didn't.

Ace and Boris would bet who'd date more girls at school—the Tweedles are winning so far. Alice will be the one who counts and watches; she gets popular around boys as well. Ace is the handsome cheerful playa with smooth tongue; Boris is the cute, nice attentive boy; Dee and Dum are smooth and sassy, no one will get mad if they tease.

Though, when Alice starts to treat her wounds and grows her hair, she's turning into a completely different figure. Her eyes are her main charm, but with long hair and fair skin, plus shy and polite attitude, sometimes it's hard for them to see that 'their' Alice is growing up. What makes her sweet is the fact that she never thinks that she's beautiful and always thinks that others are better than her.

Sometimes Boris gets irritated—Ace needs the Tweedles to hold him back from punching when a guy tries to ask her out. She'd turn him down politely, and her friends would cheer and mock the poor guy. She's so polite, that despite the guy got turned down, he's probably still crushing on her.

"Japan! I'm excited!" Ace's usual greeting for the past few week ever since he's accepted for scholarship. "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Airay." He greets his friend's parents.

"Ace, I'm glad to hear that you get the scholarship." Crysta smiles happily.

"Thanks, ma'am. Anyway, you picked Alice, right? Where is she?"

Gowland comes from behind. "She's going up with the Top Ten after this."

Ace chuckles. "Aww, that little nerd."

"Anyone misses us?" Dee and Dum join the group. "Kind of hard to get here; the junior girls are at us!" Dee sighs.

"Yeah, one of them cried and tried to break in." Dum laughs nervously.

The MC gathers their attention, and everyone turns to the stage. The MC then allows the Top Ten students to come up to the stage in a line, and everyone in the auditorium clap.

"Man, whose idea is it to put Alice in that dress?" Dee whistles.

"Mine." Crysta giggles. "She's changed very much. Ah, my little girl..."

Ace laughs. "Ma'am, please refrain from forgetting that she's not your daughter."

"Congratulations on your graduation," the principal says, "I'm so proud of this year's students. You have accomplished one stepping stone in your life, and I hope that whatever you'll face in the future, the time you've spent in this school has given you the answer to it."

The audiences clap again when the principal shares the medal award, and suddenly says; "And let's hear a few word from the First Rank; Alice Liddell."

Boris snickers, and Ace chuckles as they can clearly see the girl is blushing hard. She looks down and accepts the microphone.

"U-Um..." she clears her throat, making people laughs at her nervousness. "Um...Thank God, thank school...th-thank teachers...thank my friends...oh no, I screw up...!" she facepalms, heavily flustered as people laugh again at her nervousness.

"Th-Thank you for everything." Alice gulps. "I'm glad...that these past three years...have changed my life for the better. I'd like to..." she takes a deep breath. "I'd like to share a story. It's my secret, so please, listen to me. You may think of whatever you want...but this is me..."

Boris raises his eyebrows. Dee and Dum excange looks.

Alice whimpers a little, but manages to start loudly;

"I moved to this town...three years ago. Not only to start my first year as a high school student. I'm trying to escape bullies."

"I'm sure everyone's aware that my father's reputation is quite infamous. This fact then dawned on me...And...And eventually people disliked me as well."

The parents slowly start to whisper; some didn't know what she meant, and others are telling what she's talking about.

"Because of that...people were so mean to me and my mom. My mom...left me. And when I was under my uncle's care...he abused me and took pictures..." her voice trembles.

The hall was silent.

Despite they had become friends for years, that day is the first time Alice finally opens up and tell everything about herself.

"...And if I don't serve him well, he'll post it on the internet. I ran away, and he did as he had told me. My friends at my old school became very hostile...thinking I'm such a low person, trying to gain attention by being...being...a..." she clears her throat. "...So I lost them, my friends. The rumors spread out widely and I managed to take my uncle to jail and deleted the blog..."

"But someone has been collecting my pictures from that blog and made a new one. I kept taking it down and he kept posting a new one. Eventually I grew tired of it and I can't take it anymore to see my friends looking down on me. So I moved away."

"I moved from New Jersey to Detroit. I was hoping for a fresh start, but the rumors and the blog about me reached Detroit; I have no chance to get new friends. I always sit alone for lunch in the toilet."

"But then I meet this guy...he was so nice to me...He's the only one who would talk to me normally. I was so lonely...having someone who didn't look at me in disgust was very meaningful to me."

"I wonder why he was so nice to me; not even my old friends would treat my so nice. And one day, he told me to come over...and..."

Ace blinks and flinches as she finishes her line;

"We...we hooked up..." her voice trembles again. "...I really liked him...I was grateful...I wanted to thank him...so I did it..."

"And the next morning, a girl I didn't even knew came with her friends. Calling me a Fugly...Slut." she gulps, and sniffs. "The girls and boys from my school came over too...there were probably fifty of them..."

Boris shivers in wrath. No wonder she had a hard time to accept people's kindness. It was that jerk's fault, stabbing her from behind.

"...And they...beat me up. All of them. Th-They beat me up...and I saw him...I-I...I th-thought he was my friend...but h-he tricked me...they all beat me up..." she sobs loudly.

"I ran home...and...and I drank bleach...b-but I didn't kill myself...it didn't work. On the internet...so many hateful stats...telling me it's...it's too bad that I didn't die...that I s-should drink a gallon..."

"...Didn't come out of my house for months...I started drugs...I-I...I was really lost..." Alice wipes her teary face.

Boris hears his mother is sobbing loudly.

"I moved once again...a-and...that girl chased me...sh-she beat me on m-my first day here..." Alice clears her throat again, and this time, she looks at the audience. "I was planning to kill myself at home...I couldn't take it anymore."

"But when I was lying down there, crying, someone came at me. He put his jacket for me. I didn't want it, but he just left it." Alice sighs shortly, and her eyes are fixed to a certain someone.

"I didn't want to go to school, so I waited for the school until it's over to return that jacket. Then next thing, he lend me his handkerchief."

"He didn't say anything. I even told him that I wasn't grateful. But, like an idiot, I watched him going home and found out where he lived. I didn't know why I did that, but I waited for him to come home so I could return his ugly Bulbasaur handkerchief."

Ace coughs, almost blurting out into laughter as he realizes who can possibly own such handkerchief. The Tweedles snicker at a certain auburn head.

"When I did, he dragged me to play Mario Kart. I mean, what the hell."

The guests start to laugh as the atmosphere melts.

He's burning.

"After some days, I forgot about killing myself...that girl didn't come at me again...so I decided to go to school again. I still get curious stares and people whispering behind my back. Frequently, that girl's friends came to beat me for fun, but it wasn't all that bad..."

"I was still using drugs, but then that boy came at me, giving me peanut-butter-sandwich and said that I should stop, because he's scared if I'd die from overdose." Alice scoffs.

Gowland chuckles knowingly, patting his son's back.

"One time, the bullies came at me and almost choke me with bleach. That boy and his friends saved me; they called the police. Probably because they think I'm under protection, the bullies came lesser than usual."

"The next day, they asked me to play baseball. And they're all losers."

Dee and Dum stick their tongue, while Ace laughs.

"They're nosy, annoying and he's a big worry-wart; one time he said he'd beat me up if I say I don't have a future." Alice sighs and smiles. "Thanks to him, now I have one. I'm going to be a doctor. He's going to be a Game Creator."

"I'm...There's no words that can describe how grateful I am." Alice closes her eyes sincerely. "If you didn't give me your jacket that day, I might not have been here, standing here, telling all of this to you...If not for your ugly Bulbasaur handkerchief, maybe I won't continue my school."

She opens her eyes and despite the distance, stares at him, glimmering with happiness.

"Thank you for saving me, Boris."

Boris can only look down with deep blush, trying to hide his face as the whole auditorium turns to him and claps for him. Ace slaps his back hard, and the Tweedles whistle loudly. His mother hugs her, saying how proud she is, while his father is ruffling his hair.

Boris glances up at her again through his messy bangs, finding her smiling with faint flush on her cheeks. Despite the distance, he can clearly see the words forming on her lips, voicelessly;

Thank you.

~.X.~

Most of the time in life, I bet you think that whatever you do won't make any different; sometimes we think that we're meaningless, whatever we're doing won't change anything.

Sometimes it's true, but mostly, you just don't realize it.

You don't need to do a BIG stuff to change your surrounding.

Just do what you think is right; living is already a BIG stuff to do. You just have to do it right. You have to do it your way. Because it's your life.

At some points, you're completely alone and you have no one to depend. You will have to depend on yourself and eventually be yourself.

At some points in life, you're burdened with others' necessity; your mother, your siblings, your sick grandma, your cats. You will have to be the best person and do your best to support them.

Whenever, whatever you do, where ever you are, just do your best and believe in yourself.

I got it hard as well, but now it's easy for me to do. Now I can do all the weird stuff I want; I serenaded my boyfriend at Starbucks today.

And remember, you're not alone. If you ever feel that way, quickly go and PM me, and try to make me laugh.

Remember, there must be someone else in this world that's in a worse situation that you are right now. Stop comparing yourself; just be yourself.

The last thing I want to say, stop being ignorant. You shouldn't give a 'fuck' but you should give a 'damn'. You shouldn't care of what people thinks or says about you, but you have to care for those in need.

There are two kinds of criminal in this world, right? One; the person who does the crime. Two; the person who sees other person is doing crime, but doesn't do anything about it.

Don't be the person number two. Don't just stand there when you see someone's hurting or being bullied. You know, everyone know, that they have to be helped. No matter what he or she had done wrong, no one deserves getting bullied.

So, if you want to make a change for the better, why don't you start with yourself?

Good luck~!

Oh yeah, sorry if it's crappy. Thanks for reading?

Maybe if I feel so awkward I'll delete this XD That's just how I am. Suck it up. :P

Bullying was something that made school really unbearable to me, until I stopped giving a fuck. When I stopped reacting; I stopped crying, I stopped giving a fuck and just passed them, they're starting to get desperate at some points, but eventually stopped.

I'm glad it stopped, but when I know there's someone out there who's experiencing the same stuff as I had, I felt guilty.

When I heard about Amanda Todd, when I knew I could've been there, I could've used the internet to talk to her and cheer her up...I didn't know about her. I still feel guilty about her death. I really am. I wish, from this stupid crap of mine, I can knock some sense into you guys.

If you guys don't know who Amanda Todd is, here's the link of her video: www. youtube .com (replace with slash) watch ? v=ej7afkypUsc (remove spaces)

I hope, despite how gay this sounds, we can be someone dependable and makes everyone around us happy.