My hated friend

"He was so cute when I was a kid. "So cute that I even fell in love with him. Little fool." I grinned bitterly at my thoughts as I slowly overcame the resistance of the water in the university pool.

When we were six years old, we often played together. He was always neatly dressed, fashionably coiffed, and completely uninitiated, while I was always a disheveled, little black-haired tornado who needed a spanking. We had a lot of fun together, despite such a big difference.

It went on like that for a few more years. We grew up. I was thirteen, Kirill was a year older. He remained cold and aloof, but I fell in love and decided to confess.

The plan was simple - to invite him to the roof of the school after school. And there I was, standing in front of him. He's stylishly and expensively dressed, his hair styled by his personal stylist, his briefcase hanging carelessly on his shoulder. At that moment, he seems like an unattainable dream. I'm scared, shaking with excitement and nerves. I haven't slept for several nights in a row, imagining this moment. My trembling hands are trying to awkwardly fix my hair, my cheeks are burning with fire.

- Why did you call me?

And as always, coldly looking at me with his witchy gray eyes.

- I...

My heart leaps out of my chest, my throat tightens, my voice fails, and it's hard to speak. But I've already decided for myself that it's better to try and regret it than to regret not trying. I finally get myself together and say it:

- I love you. Let's go out. - I don't even have the strength to look at him, I can't hear a thing, blood rushing in my ears. But a mocking laugh quickly restores my composure. He laughed for a long time, as if he'd never heard anything funnier. But it was too late, I had already made an irreparable mistake.

- I'm amazed at your naiveté. You think if we played together as kids, you have the slightest chance of being near me? Look at you? Hair always sticking out, skinny as a pole, cheap dress hanging like a rag. You're pathetic. You make me sick.

His words hurt so much, my eyes fill with tears. I want to run away, hide from the coldness of his eyes and never remember these moments again. To forget them forever, like the worst nightmare. But it's not over yet.

- I got it. I'm gonna put it online now. - From around the corner, his eternal entourage appears, boys of rich parents like himself.

- That's her, bro. Guys like her need to be put in their place. What, you want to jump up and down, eh, otter? Ain't nothing gonna crack? Or is it the sun? Have you forgotten what it's like to clean toilets? Well, we'll remind you. Don't give the heir a hard time.

I didn't stand a chance. Three of them, me alone. The spoiled bastards dragged me by my hair to the nearest toilet and pushed me into a stall, barricading the door with something. I sat there until someone heard me crying loudly.

I had never been in as much pain as I was then. I didn't show up at school for a few days after that incident, lying to my mom about having a bad stomachache and feeling really bad. That's how I lasted for a week until my mom finally realized that I was fine.

Back at school, I tried to be inconspicuous, but my nightmare was not over. It was a school for rich kids and thanks to the labors of my mom, who was the irreplaceable secretary to the father of my nightmare, I ended up here too. The only poor girl in the school. Even before the confession I was the object of constant teasing and cruel jokes, but I was comforted by the fact that he was there for me. But after the confession, things took a turn for the worse.

The video of the confession quickly spread among the guys, and I forgot what peace was. I was humiliated almost every minute I had free from class. Very often they dirty my uniform in the canteen, as if "accidentally", locked me in the locker room after physical education, insulted me. Once I was even beaten up by a group of girls. My former lover often inserted very hurtful words in my address. I've hated him ever since.

I put up with it for a while. Probably about two months. Then I started to defend myself and as a result, I almost got kicked out of school as a very troubled child, but my mother settled everything this time. I didn't talk to her about what had happened, and we saw each other very rarely, she was always at work and I was home alone.

It went on like that until I graduated. I got a break only in the summer and during vacations. When I finally graduated from this hated school, I decided to go to a prestigious university and major in linguistics. Then I thought that my nightmare is finally over, because he does not need to have a higher education. He would go to work at his father's firm and that's it. But I was sorely mistaken. Our meeting at the university was a shock to me. He'd grown and matured a lot. His shoulders were bigger, his waist narrower, more muscle. He looked much older than his age. We were only eighteen years old then. He could have been twenty-five.

But it was much easier for me at the university. I wasn't surrounded by rich bastards from high society. Sure, there were some, but not many. And, of course, he'd gathered them all around him. It's not proper for an heir to socialize with commoners.

Time passed, we crossed paths at a few lectures, fought during breaks and scattered to classrooms, but these meetings knocked me out of my rut. After them I felt very tired and mentally exhausted. So it was not surprising that I wanted to have some fun. Besides, there was a party at a classmate's house.

I knew he couldn't be there, and I was in a good mood. Beautiful hair, short, red dress, bright makeup. I felt beautiful. The boys often saw me off with eager eyes, until I spotted him.

- Oh, no. What's that asshole doing here? - I asked my friend Yulia, with whom I had come to the party. The music was playing loudly, there were a lot of young people around, but he stood out a lot. His black sleeveless jacket emphasized his lumpy arm muscles and the tattoo on his right arm. I don't know what it depicted, some mythical beast, I couldn't see. Youthful, light-colored jeans. It was as if he radiated power and overwhelmed everyone with his aura. It seemed to me at that moment that black tentacles were stretching from him and poisoning the air around him. A smug look, staring arrogantly and with contempt. Damn, I hate him so much.