Chapter 10

Denise's tone of voice is laced with jealousy envisioning another boy being friendly, talking casually towards Ariella, and seeing her smile and laugh at another boy other than him made his blood boil in irritation and anger. Denise doesn't understand his feelings for Ariella, but one thing is clear to him, he doesn't like another boy by her side if they're not her family, a blood-related person. He has this feeling in the pit of his stomach that he wants to possess and manipulate Ariella to only look at him, smile, and laugh for him, only for him. These feelings made Denise disgusted with himself and he dreaded the day when Ariella may find out these feelings of him for her… he doesn't even want to imagine her reaction.

Ariella felt stupid for crying like this, her reasons are so dumb and unreasonable it's totally not like her to just burst to cry in someone's embrace. However, Denise's embrace felt so familiar to Ariella that it brings the warmth and love she felt before when Denise was alive in that timeline. The Denise now and the Denise before is exactly the same, their eyes, the warmth of their hugs, the way they gently touch Ariella brought those buried feelings of hers back to life.

Kim caught a glimpse of Ariella when he looks out at the window, earlier when he finishes his first test, Kim looks for Ariella hoping that he could catch up to her and ask how her test went. When he visited Ariella in her classroom, Kim saw that she just took a sit then did her second test, so Kim decided to just go back to his classroom to take the second test. Kim is hoping that he could finish it earlier, so he can take lunch together with his niece. An hour has passed when Kim finished his second test, he went out looking around for his niece as he walks around the corner. Kim sees Ariella being embraced in the boy's arms as she cries her eyes out and sobbed.

"Ariella! What happened to you? Did someone bully you? Did something happen while you were taking your test? Did he do something to you?!" – Kim bombarded Ariella with questions as to his grips on her shoulder tighten and his eyes are covers in anxiousness while accusing Denise of something he didn't do; Kim never once saw his niece cry like this.

"Big brother ~sniff~ I was just being silly about how I messed up my test, I was planning to stay low and not answer every question correctly, but I messed it up, I don't want to be rank above ten."

"Won't it be cool to be above rank ten?"

"But there will lots of expectations directing to me and I don't want that kind of attention, I just wanted to below rank ten and above rank twenty. That will be a perfect result, I'm not too high but not too low, it's a perfect position in the school."

"Just think this way, above rank ten will be given few admissions like entering and reading some restrict books in the library or you could access the computer lab and attend some science lab session."

"Hmm~" – Ariella thought deeply calculating all the cons and pros of being above rank ten, she could have access to books she hasn't read in her past life and maybe it would help her research about something she was really curious about. Also, the school has diverse collection of knowledge in researching various topics, especially of myth and legend."

Kim leaves Ariella to her gearing mind as he notices the arms wrapped around her that lead at the boy behind Ariella. He immediately gives the boy a deathly glare that if looks could kill Denise will be six feet underground right now. Denise shivers from fear, he expected a reaction from Ariella's family member but not like this that he'll fear for his life.

"Who are you?" – the venom is evidently laced in Kim's voice as he looks up and down on Denise, inspecting him then his face contorts in that of a disdainful expression.

"Denise Whiteson, her classmate and first friend. Who are you?" – in an act of bravery and courage, Denise stands tall, and his head held high not backing down from Kim's disdain expression as he steps closer."

"Kim Legaspi, big brother and guardian of Ariella." – Kim likes challenges especially when it comes to Ariella in the line, he won't back down from a challenged that a young brat that is still wet behind his ears.

"Guys, oh c'mon, now… let's all get along, hmm~ by the way, I'm hungry let's eat our lunch."

"Ariella! I've been looking for you, so we can walk toge… who are these boys?" – Simon is running towards Ariella and the group slows down noticing two unnamed boys standing way too close at Ariella brought out such protectiveness he didn't know he had.

"Oh, this is my big brother, Kim, and my first friend, Denise. Kim and Denise, this is Simon, a new friend I met earlier during my break time." – Ariella introduced them carefully watching the three boys look at each other with calculative eyes, she couldn't help but sigh ruefully thinking how did these three become such cautious with each other.

"C'mon guys, I'm hungry let's go eat now as we only have few minutes before our lunch is done." – Ariella urges breaking the staring contests between the three boys.

They followed quietly as Kim carries his and Ariella's lunch box walking beside her and the two walks behind them. There's a tense atmosphere or more like awkwardness veiled over the four, Ariella just assumed the reason for this tense or awkwardness is because of the exam they've been doing non-stop. Her guards that are in standby mode couldn't help but snickers as their shoulders shook from holding back their laugh. They understand the actions of the three, but their General is quite dense like thick as a dictionary book that its amusing to watch these three boys on their guard to each other.

Lunch has passed quite fast, they just ate their food without speaking or merry in their eyes, but Ariella being Ariella ignored the tense atmosphere that surrounded them and just mull over her plan B as it seems that she unknowingly messes up her first plan. Kim is correct about having permission to access the restricted section in the library for her age. So, she decided that no matter what until she graduated high school, she will be on top of everything to get those privileges and special treatment. In the next school years, Ariella will receive a lot of free time and privileges like having access to different kinds of department in their school without any one being suspicious of her.

`Then I'll be needing the student's president privileges when I reach high school, for me to have a chance I need to excel in both sports, academics, and arts. However, the only drawback in this plan is the attention and time-consuming I'll be receiving. ~sigh~ forget it, I'll just go ahead with plan B`.

In the end, if school in the faculty of teachers, sounds of scribbles of pens and shuffling papers echoed throughout the room as murmurs and few conversations between teachers are happening, Ms. Martha is feeling distorted. She immediately stand-up pushing pass her co-workers towards the door leading to the principal's office barging in forgetting to knock or say her greeting, she shows and explain everything to the principal. A well-fitted black suit with a red tie and black slit back of his hair with eyeglasses looking over the papers as the middle-aged man raised up his head to see the commotion and who has had the audacity to barge in his office without salutations.

"Sir William, I'm sorry about this informality but it's an emergency, I have a pupil named Ariella Lewis, grade two pupil. All her tests in English, Science, and Mathematics are perfect scores except for Mathematics she only got 95 of 100. This is unprecedented, I checked her past grades since kindergarten 2 and she's only been in avg rank of 15. Last year she almost got rank 10 in the overall grade, but never once did she get a perfect score in these three subjects."

"Are you her teacher advisor last year, Ms. Martha?"

"No, Sir William, I was not it was Sir Leonardo."

"Then call Sir Leonardo here. ASAP." – Sir William hummed in surprise as he scans the three test papers of Ariella in front of him and his lips twitch in delight thinking a young hidden jade is hiding in his elementary department. With Ariella's grade record since kindergarten William could only think that her parents either sent a tutor for her or she's been hiding it on purpose, the question is why?

A young teacher wearing a navy-blue suit with a black tie knock on the principal's office door, opening it when he heard the "come in" as he says his greeting together with Ms. Martha.

"You called for me, Sir William, how may I help assist?"

"Ah, Sir Leonardo, you are here finally I have a question for you. Do you still remember a young girl in your class last year named Ariella Lewis?" – Sir William

"Of course, who wouldn't? that young girl is both bright and intriguing at the same time, and sometimes she'll stare of the space thinking deeply then suddenly asking a question that you are not going hear in a child's mouth." – Sir Leonardo

"Enlighten us please." – Sir William

"I remember it clear as day when she asked me this, `teacher, why is a life full of wonderful things that only the privileges can enjoy? Why can't the poor and homeless children suffer? Is it because they were born at the wrong time or wrong parents? Does it justify saying that only the strong survive while the weak are being trampled and wronged multiple times?` If I think about it now, I should have answered her quickly, but my mind shut off at that time and she softly smiled at me said never mind, I was just thinking about a book I've read before."

"Did you ask what the name of the book is, Sir Leonardo?" – Ms. Martha

"No, I didn't have the chance to ask at that time, and so I tried to ask her the next day, but she acted like she didn't remember anything. This occasion happened multiple times that when it's time for a parent-teacher meeting I asked her guardian, Ms. Grace, about Ariella's odd behaviour. Her answer was Ariella sometimes get nightmares about a dark place where she's all alone and there are dark creatures emerging from the shadow then she run away from those hands until a white death scythe appeared right in front of her. Ariella's family tried a psychiatrist to know if there was a problem, but Ariella never remember any of it after a night goes by, so they asked her all about it when she had that nightmare but…"

"Is something wrong Sir Leonardo? Why are you not continuing?" – Sir William inquires as the male teacher fidgets nervously remembering Ariella's guardian words at that time.

"Ariella only mutters five words, oblivions… metamorphosis are coming… they thought it was only a child's imagination, so they didn't pay attention to it afterwards Ariella didn't remember anything like it was erase of block from her memories. She returned to being just a kid that's what Ms. Grace told me at that time, and yet I can't help but feel there was something missing in her eyes every time I see eye to eye with her."

"I see… Sir Leonardo, go to the library and informed our librarian team to do research about the forbidden dark creatures that once roamed our world in the early ages before BCE." – ordered Sir William seriously standing up looking over the huge window watching some students on the grounds talking to each other harmoniously.

"Can I ask why?" – Ms. Martha asked curiously but cautiously

"Do you remember the reason why this school was built in the first place, the most important and first priority of this school, Ms. Martha?"

"Yes, of course, that was part of our oath before we start working here as a teacher. It's to teach and prepare our students to partake in a journey of politics, arts, sports, and more importantly military. We produce high standard cadets to the military of UN throughout the years secretly, however, before we send chosen students that must undertake series of high-profile examinations."

"Correct, then the two of you must know that the world's government has taken a sudden change over the couple months, there has been a rumor that behind those scenes the one who truly controls everything is a young lady. A young lady became the first world leader that the government and military all over the world have become her legs and arms. If that rumor is true, then Ariella…"