C3 Josef's Identity

Keidys turned his gaze to the young man who was next to him: he was the one who had answered, that nerd was Josef!

The girl wrinkled her face and kept fixing it. The young man, quite neutral, did not care that she looked at him.

—Joseph? —Keidys asked the boy.

—Yeah? He inquired as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He leaned his back against the back of the chair.

—You do not remember me?

—Yes, of course I remember you —Josef answered quite calmly.

Keidys felt her heart start to pound and she clenched her jaw.

That ugly nerd was still arrogant, I was starting to hate him more and more.

—You're Santiago's sister, aren't you?

—Yes, he's my older brother —Keidys replied, trying to calm his anger, how the hell did he know his brother?!

—So then you're that girl, I wasn't wrong —the boy blurted out and stared at Keidys.

—What are you taking about?

—The girl who gave me the letter —he answered.

Keidys felt that Josef's words were a low blow, did he say it like that, like it was nothing? He clenched his teeth and held his breath for a moment.

—Yes, I'm her —Keidys stated firmly.

—I met your brother when you left the country, he was looking for you to apologize, but it was too late —Josef explained with a rather soft tone, so much so that he cloyed the girl.

Those words rumbled in the mind of the young woman, apologize?

When the conversation started to get better and better, the class started and it was impossible to continue talking, unless they wanted a scolding from the teacher.

Then, when class was over, they all crowded around Keidys to invite her to parties and a bunch of other things. Inside she was jumping for joy, she had started her plan and so far everything was going well.

The roles had been reversed: she was the popular one, and he was the ugly nerd.

The problem was that everyone treated Josef as if nothing had changed: they praised him for being very intelligent, everyone's friend, and the class president. With his kind, caring and very understanding attitude, he won over the other students, he was something like the gold coin in the institute. They said that when he graduated he would travel abroad to become a great doctor and that is why he was so focused on his studies, he wanted to win a scholarship.

Keidys was surprised to see him retired, reading books and adjusting his black glasses. For a moment it seemed funny to him that that popular boy who always dressed well and that all the girls turned to look at him, became the book swallower in the classroom.

—Is this a joke? —Keidys asked Josef when the bell rang for the first break.

She saw that Josef had opened a book that had some scribbling on it that she obviously didn't understand.

—What joke? —Joseph asked.

After a few seconds he understood that Keidys was talking about his medical book.

—When I met you, you were the most popular and handsome young man. You could tell you'd be a complete jerk, not a book ripper.” He laughed.

—Is there something wrong with my reading? —It seems more absurd and ignorant to me that you make fun of me because I want to put my ignorance aside. I see you're just a pretty face —Josef got up from his post and left the room.

Keidys cut off his mocking laughter entirely. His body bristled and he felt like his throat had gone dry.

—Who the hell do you think you are insulting me? —he asked himself.

Brute, he had called her brute.

She left the classroom and saw that a group of boys were waiting for her. Among them was Matthew.

—Let's go buy some things, if you want you can go with us —Mateo invited with a big smile.

Alejandra, somewhat annoyed, moved away from the young people and at that moment Keidys realized that that girl did not like him.

—Sure, I'm going with you —he agreed, and they left the room.

Tomás couldn't stop looking at the young woman enchanted, just like Mateo, it was a bit uncomfortable, he couldn't imagine having to spend the whole year enduring people looking at her that way.

Upon reaching the cafeteria, a large crowd of students formed around him and began to scream like crazy.

Keidys didn't know what to do, he just smiled while many young people took pictures next to him.

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—Being with her is impossible, all those students took her away from us; my love will never be reciprocated,” said Mateo sitting on a step while watching the rain fall.

He was with his group of friends in a hallway, it was filled with a dim light that revealed that small, rather gray park in front of them, the rain was heard there softly and with a delicate flow.

—So what? asked Alejandra, sitting next to him.

—I'm in love with her, but I'm not reciprocated," Mateo answered, watching the rain fall.

—She's famous, it was to be expected that everyone would want to be with her —Tomás explained, sitting next to Alejandra.

She turned to look at him and frowned at him.

—Get out.

—Why am I going to run away? —Said Tomas in a dry tone—. You go, in fact, I don't know what you're doing here.

—He's my cousin, I must be with him, the one who shouldn't be here is you: go find Josef to be his servant, as you always do —Alejandra replied.

—Where do you get all that shit?! —You always come up with something new, Alejandra, you're crazy. Seriously, look for a psychologist —Tomás gave a big, somewhat sarcastic laugh that made the young woman angry.

Alejandra got up from her post and posed in front of him with her hands on her waist.

Tomás, together with Mateo, looked at her confused in silence.

—What are you doing? Mateo inquired, waiting for an answer from the girl, but it never came.

Out of nowhere, Alejandra ran out in the direction of the park, although apparently she had forgotten that there were steps there and to her misfortune she ended up with her face in a large puddle full of mud that was at the beginning of the park.

—How ugly... —Tomás blurted out as he contemplated that scene from the step in the corridor.

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Keidys was hiding from a group of fans who wouldn't even let her go to the bathroom: she needed one urgently, even though she had gotten lost on the way.

—This building wasn't here before —he said to himself as he looked out the third— floor balcony. It was pretty quiet and very few students were seen around.

The rain could be heard falling on the leaves of the mango trees and made the girl feel calm, "I have n't been in such a quiet space for a long time, " she thought. Although his bladder urgently asking for a bath made his peace of mind go "where there's a bathroom?" thought.

He continued walking down the corridor, saw that the door of a room was open, entered and his gaze swept the place that was illuminated by an artificial white light and a large fan turned slowly, it was an empty space with a wooden floor.

In one corner Josef was sitting on the floor, reading a rather fat book with a brown leather cover.

—What are you doing here? Keidys asked, leaning against a white wall inside the room.

—I'm asking you the same thing —Josef closed his book and adjusted his glasses, looking up at her.

—You show up everywhere I go. Are you following me? Keidys snapped. Later he regretted having said it: he already imagined what the boy's response would be.

—Why would I follow you? —If I wanted to see you, I would just have to wait for classes to start, you sit next to me. Besides, it's you who came to interrupt me —she got up from the floor and approached Keidys with her personality that made him look impressive in front of her—. You don't like me at all, I already realized that, but why are you still talking to me?

Keidys stared at him: he wasn't a nerd, he just liked to study, he could see that he was still serious and quite sure of what he wanted. He hadn't changed at all and neither had he changed in the way he treated her.

At that moment a great pain stabbed into the young woman's chest, Josef didn't care how pretty Keidys was, his way of treating her was dry, it was obvious that having her by his side annoyed him.

—You don't like me either, it seems it's mutual already —Keidys said.

—I'm not saying that I dislike you, I don't know you yet; —explained Josef— that's why I can't draw a conclusion regarding your personality. But if you keep pestering me, you've made me have a pretty terrible image of you.

—The image you have of me doesn't matter to me at all, Josef. You're just another student of no importance to me." Keidys flashed a wry smile and left the classroom.

He walked quickly down the hall, almost running: his bladder wanted to explode.

"I need a bath urgently!" thought .

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—...And then I fell into that puddle and Tomás made fun of me, whenever I'm in front of him, I, I, I... I end up like this, that makes me so angry! —Alejandra said as she walked around Josef's room.

What the young man did was just watch his old friend cry while she was letting off steam. She wiped her nose with a tissue.

—Later my cousin helped me and Tomás did nothing, I don't know how a guy like that can be your best friend, seriously, he's horrible.

—But you like it that way —Josef blurted out of nowhere and Alejandra felt her spine go up completely. Then she started crying again and threw herself back on the bed.

— That's the worst —he outlined—, but I don't like him, his type of woman is one with a perfect body: like that, like Keidys; she does have the perfect body. I hate her.

"But you have a better personality than her," Josef said sadly and gathered up her legs, embracing them with her arms while her toes felt the warmth of the blue sheets.

—Why do you say that? Alexandra asked.

The painful memory of the last conversation with Keidys came to Josef's mind. He never believed that she would become such a bad person. She let her chin rest on the long sleeve of her coat that covered her arms.

—Haven't you noticed? —Keidys is quite conceited and a bit annoying—, Josef explained.

—It's true, you have to share a position with her, has it bothered you? Alejandra said, crawling over to where Josef was sitting on the bed.

—Let's just say it hasn't bothered me, we only talked a couple of times, and they weren't the best conversations I've ever had —Josef explained.

She didn't want to tell her friend about sensitive topics like Keidys. Less explaining why she was like that with him.

—Wow, so then that girl's fame has gone to her head, she's totally conceited — Alejandra criticized.

Josef regretted having said those things to Alejandra, he didn't want her to have the wrong idea about her. In the end, Keidys was the girl he had liked since he was a child and he was only angry at the first impression he had of the young woman that day.

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Keidys was in the patio of his house doing cardio on an elliptical that was in the huge patio of his house, a few meters from the pool. His brother was supposedly reading a book at a circular white glass table that was located in a wooden kiosk near the machines, although, in reality, he was watching his sister do her exercises.

—How did you do at school? —asked Santiago (his brother).

—Fine, although a little annoying that everyone was looking at me —she said, finishing her exercises and walking to where her brother was.

— Did you see Josef?

—Yes, the wretch is in my class. Why didn't you tell me you were friends? He crossed his arms.

—Because you'd react the way you're doing right now —he replied, smiling.

—You know that he hurt me a lot, Santiago; because of him I have become what I am now —Keidys put his hands on his hips and tried to calm his breathing.

— That was years ago, Keidys, and well, that change has helped you a lot —Santiago claimed— now you have a perfect body, you're famous, you have a whole modeling career ahead of you, also, thanks to that our family has moved forward, what about it? what's wrong? Josef is not a bad person.

—Lie! Keidys protested, his face red with fury. Because of him I have suffered a lot: I don't want him to set foot in this house again, do you understand? I will not allow it.