Black Queen and Angel
‘Oh, look! Here comes that girl again.’
‘No wonder why her nickname is “The Black Queen”. See her gloomy and dark face. It seems she finds the whole world disgusting.’
‘She dislikes us? Why? It’s so unreasonable! She looks so unkind. That’s why she’s got no friend at all.’
The girl being the topic of the gossip of the students was called Jennifer. Once she walked into the classroom, the attention of the students would immediately be drawn to her.
‘She is just so indifferent to everything and everybody around her. She simply doesn’t care about anyone…’
When the boy started to complain about Jennifer’s bad attitude, another student stopped him with a sharp glance.
The boy tilted his head full of doubt. When he turned his head to his back hesitantly, he realized that Jennifer had been standing behind him for some time already, looking hard at him. Her stare was like shooting arrows. All students in the classroom fell into complete silent. No one dared to utter a word. Every student could clearly see big droplets of cold sweat were shedding down the boy’s cheeks. The boy could hardly swallow his saliva and started to avoid the direct eye contact with Jennifer, who seemed to be able to use her stare to stab him to death.
Apparently, Jennifer didn’t want to waste time on this stammering boy. She rolled her eyes as hard as possible to show her impatience to stop his negative comments. Then she went straight to her seat.
‘No one likes me, I know.’ Jennifer shook her head lightly. A wry smile appeared on her black face.
‘That’s why I don’t believe in true friendship, let alone the so called love.’
‘Okay students, let’s meet our new student! Please introduce yourself,’ the class teacher introduced a freshman to the school in the morning.
‘Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you all! My name is Angel. I’m studying in this school with you guys from now on!’
Jennifer held her head with her palm, sizing up the girl standing in front of the class. The girl, Angel, looking adorable was grinning brightly, just like the sunshine lighting up the world. Her new classmates obviously liked her a lot as they welcomed her with a thunderous round of applause of welcoming.
Jennifer rolled her eyes again, thinking that there would be one more member who didn’t like her. While she looked up casually, a splendid smile was right in front of her and it made lose one of her heartbeats.
‘Hi…would you mind if I sit here?’
Blatantly Jennifer was shocked at Angel’s request because no one had ever wanted to sit beside her since she was a primary school student.
‘…As you like.’
‘Thank you!’
Angel quickly pulled out the chair beside Jennifer and sat down.
‘Nice to meet you! I’m Angel, what’s your name?’
‘…Jennifer.’
This was how they met.
From that day on, students around the school always saw Angel sticking around Jennifer all the time. No matter whether it was in the recess, at lunch time, or even after school. They were like close friends.
But Jennifer didn’t understand why Angel, such an outgoing and enthusiastic person would like to befriend her, this indifferent “Black Queen”.
‘You ask me why? Why should there be a reason? We’re friends!’ Angel gave the answer naturally without a moment of hesitation.
‘Why do you…I mean, all people don’t like me.’
‘They may just think you don’t like them. There may be simply some misunderstanding.’
She reached out to Jennifer’s hand, and used her fingers to withhold Jennifer’s. Angel beamed again. Her radiant smile was so warm and was like releasing a fragrance which made Jennifer calm.
‘You’re actually a kind girl. Show them your warmth and kindness. Start with a smile. It might be hard at the beginning but it will be fine once you start removing your cold mask and show others your real self.’
‘I’m not sure if I can do it…’
‘It’s okay. I’ll always be here to support you!’
The next morning, the students were chit-chatting again with each other inside the classroom. Suddenly, the classroom became complete quiet. No doubt, Jennifer was back to school.
‘Oh, not again…’
It seemed that their happy mood was interrupted by her. Jennifer plucked up her courage and stepped towards them. Although it was still difficult to force out a smile on her face, she tried to soften her tone and asked ‘May I join?’
The students looked a bit shocked but they replied, ‘Sure!’
The boy who used to complain about Jennifer’s manner before greeted her with a smile.
‘Show kindness to people around you, and they will show the same to you.’
Jennifer smile cheerful from the bottom of her heart which made her black face shine.
‘Thank you, Angel,’ a little voice from her heart sang with joy.