All Chapters of Rise Above Rejection: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

21"You? What about you? You don't like non-veg?" Anjelo looked at the food on the table. "I also brought veg stuff too. Try something from that."Oliver nodded as he shoved more rice in his mouth."Ermm, the thing is I... Didn't have any friends in my high school. So I'm not used to eating with people. It's... It's weird to sit with you guys and... You know, share a table like friends." I stopped there, not wanting to give away what a big àss loser I was.Both the guys had stopped munching in their food. They were not staring at me."You didn't have any friends? That's brutal... Because you're so cute." Oliver pulled my cheek again and grinned.I forced a nervous smile. Anjelo's eyebrows knitted together, and he asked, "Why didn't you have friends, Carolyn?""Because," My stomach suddenly tightened. "I am... Er, I'm so fat and ugly.""Bull shit!" Both the guys exclaimed together."You're not that fat, okay. They're blind." Anjelo said while taking a very quick glance down at my body.

23Carolyn's POVHe was sitting with three girls, all badly dressed. When I say badly dressed I mean to say they wore very short and cheap clothes. Anjelo ran his fingers up a curly haired girl's naked long leg and tucked his fingers into the hole of her tiny shorts. She squirmed and gave a snort with a, "Don't do that."Anjelo replied, "Then when?""After food.""How about food later." He winked. The girl was impressed. She pushed her plate of food back on the table and got up."Follow me." She mouthed and Anjelo rose, catching her lips for a kiss and followed after her outside the cafeteria.I was staring at the threshold after he left. I couldn't believe what my eyes saw. Was he really the Anjelo I hung out with for two weeks?"Hey, what are you staring at?" Oliver placed the plate of more sushi he brought while giving me a smile.I turned to him for a brief moment and looked back at the exit, "Anjelo... I was going to call him but he left with a girl.""Did she have curly hair and

25Carolyn's POVLifting my eyes, I looked into Oliver's. They were soft and welcoming. They told me that I could trust him with my secret which was also my weakness. Then with a deep breath, I poured all my pain in front of him.I told him about my life growing up. About Adelyn and mom and dad. About the constant discrimination I faced. About the comparison between me and my twin. I told him about everything before my birthday took place. What happened after my birthday was only for me to know and keep buried."This scar you see here, it's because I tried to kill myself." Oliver's fingers on my wrist tightened as his jaw clenched. "But I didn't really mean it."I chuckled and his face eased."I knew that if I didn't do anything for myself, then I would always be stuck in that hell my pack has been for me. Luckily my bluff caused a jarring impact on my mom and she convinced my dad to send me to another pack for further studies, and also so I could get relief from all the bullying and

27Carolyn's POVThough my eyes ran out of tears, my mind couldn't run away from all those memories of bullying. They continued to replay in my mind on a loop as I sat in that similar position Naomi saw me around sunrise.It was now afternoon. Monday of the last week before college's reopening. The noise outside the window was ear-splitting. Cars honked and whirred every other minute, indicating that the students were filling in now.They were happy to start a new phase of life whereas I... I, whose eighteenth birthday was today, who had two reasons to be happy was sitting in the room. Naomi shook off the cobwebs of slumber and opened her big eyes while stretching her arms. Suddenly she winced and caressed the swell of her breast. Her eyes squinted, and the way she was sitting there I knew she was talking to someone on the mind link. She had a beautiful smile as if she was complimented for being beautiful. Her gaze snapped towards me and her smile morphed into a scowl. "What are yo

29"An hourglass!" It's beautiful but... What will I do with it? "Hourglass shows times in a fantastical way. Every grain of sand that falls down the hole is a grain that will never go back up. When you think about it profoundly, you realize it denotes every single second of time you lost. Time that will never come back. Time that you could have used to make yousselg yourself a better person." Anjelo paused as his eyes bore into mine. "I don't know what really went with you, but your scars tell that you had a difficult time. Difficult years, if I'm not wrong. Years that you will never get back. Years that you could have used to be better. So," He touched the hourglass and flipped it as all the send has gone down. I watched the sand falling down into the empty space again as Anjelo finished, "That time you lost is not going to come back. It's gone. It's in the past. Hence I'm giving this hourglass to you so it reminds you that the time that is ahead of you is very precious. Do not l