First day of School

For however long Aria will remain in this world, it is a fundamental fact that she won't have an easy life without some sort of participation that would prove her existence - school is inevitable, she wishes she'd been shoved into this world at a later time when the previous owner of the body had at least advanced to university.

Going through high school again will be a nightmare.

Granted, it is the last year. Last 2 months. And the girl had already taken all her exams.

Still, it makes her skin crawl.

To think that she will have to put up with hormonal teenagers again...the timing of her rebirth seems rather odd but considering that the male lead of this absurd farce is a grown man, and the setting is that of a school...whoever is in charge must have used the loophole that they are about to graduate to bridge the frankly illegal relationship. From what Aria remembers of the system's ramblings the world they are in is a story revolving around the chosen ones - the souls that had birthed the world - their inevitable romance that Aria has to facilitate to find whatever corrupted the initial trajectory of their story is her mission. Why? Aria has no clue except that whatever fucked up soul magic is happening creates enough energy from the union of the two chosen souls to sustain the core of the world for the next millennia. Which is just stupid. Why not base an entire world's stability on two morons and their romance?

Chosen ones and all that crap have nothing to do with her.

Aria will enjoy the pleasures of life however long she has in this new body then when the time comes, she will go back to her old solace. The void may seem cold and lifeless, a bleak place that offers no comfort but to Aria it is the place she has known longest. In the void her mind is quiet, her soul free.

Aria lived her life once, grew old, cradled her regrets and happiness to her chest and wizened with age, she'd been content with her lot in life, had passed on without complaint but within a fortnight she had lost the comfort death brought, had been ripped into a young body once more, a body she could not fully control. Hanjun had been the culmination of her desperation to prove she hadn't been dragged among the living truly - passion dies in the void. She did feel it, though. On that day she felt passion for the first time in centuries.

She is alive.

Unfortunately.

She'd be content to waste her time away, only she cannot allow herself to struggle as she prays for death. Aria has more than enough experience from her previous life in the business industry that with a bit of manoeuvring she can use it to finance her life. However, like all things in life there must be evidence for her competency.

It is a lucky thing the girly took all her exams before Aria took over, despite her intelligence Aria doubts she would have had the patience and resilience to go through with studying again. She's never heard of school continuing two months after the end of year exams...another kick in the side to remind her that this world could very well be a mere hallucination.

Dream or not, this life will be dedicated to laughter, joy and freedom. Aria will enjoy it fully.

But to do so, she must endure the next two months.

What a bother.

It is not hard to see why the original Aria studied so hard when she sees her soon to be school - the building is tall and imposing, an older fashioned structure that has gleaming large glass-stained windows, arches and turrets, pristine beige bricks, it spans wide over many hectares of perfectly trimmed grass and a maze...

The students that enter are all dressed in smart suits and straw summer hats... Some have cloaks fastened over their shoulders, the silver clasp shining in the sun. Aria feel like she's stepped through a portal into the magical, modern Hogwarts.

Arianna had been a third-generation heiress to her own family's extensive fortune yet even she had not seen the likes of this - her father had sent her to a school in Europe where multiple cultures mixed so thoroughly that you'd pick a habit here and there that was otherwise unusual in the eyes of gentler society. It did not help that her family was still considered new money despite their business having been passed down from her grandfather to her uncle and then her own father.

Her father been an open-minded man who'd decided that humbling his daughter would better prepare her for the future. He'd been right. No wander the girlie had tried to kill herself, being in this pretentious shite would do in just about anyone with a brain.

Aria's uniform is sloppy, her dress shirt unbuttoned loosely at the collar, her trousers are tight fitting, and her blazer hangs from a finger over her shoulder. She's gotten more than three leery looks thrown her way, which okay she might not have been as perfectly done up but the amount of hate they directed her way meant this has nothing to do with foolish teenage standards and something more personal.

That does not bode well for her.

Aria manages to get lost three times finding her class by sheer luck because the teacher sees her at the exact time she passes by and screeches her name. The man is lanky in a way that makes the well pressed brown patterned suit look messy, his eyes are beady and shadowed by heavy circles of black and half of his head is balding, he has a high, nasal voice that seems weirdly misplaced on a man. He scolds her before she can even open her mouth. Aria tilts her head to the side, listens half-heartedly to the spindly teacher berating her and trudges to the last row.

Someone sticks their foot out. Aria meanly steps on it with her whole-body weight; the white lotus screams attracting the attention of the whole class. Aria raises her eyebrow; she walks past anyway. The creature screams louder until their teacher gets involved. She tearfully explains how Aria stepped on her foot on purpose and how she thinks it might be twisted, the balding man puffs in the chest, cheeks red with the exertion his annoying bellowing is causing. The students begin to murmur shooting Aria scorching glares.

"Next time you see someone walk past, keep your foot to yourself. I don't swing that way."

Utter silence follows her words and the teacher sputters uselessly. Aria sighs throwing herself into an empty chair. Was school always such a drama infested aquarium?

"Jin Aria! Do you want to go to the headmaster's office?" a girl stands up from the front row.

Aria expects the teacher to begin another round of screaming, only he turns to the girl and his whole demeanour changes softening until he seems almost deferential before her - she is a pretty thing with straight raven hair, milky white skin, lips red as blood and big, watery eyes. A classic snow white.

"Hyerin, don't worry I will handle this." The teacher says.

He stomps over to Aria and slams his hands on the desk, when he opens his mouth spittle sprays over the desk and on Aria's hand. Aria kisses her teeth loudly. She expected some sort of drama considering she's in a stupid romantic story, yet this amount of stupid astounds her.

"Violence in the classroom is forbidden, verbal abuse too. Of course, I can always call in my parent's lawyer." Aria says, lifting an eyebrow in challenge.

In truth, she is bluffing and shitting the kind of spiel she would have used in her own life when commanding her company, if no one knows anything about her she will successfully establish herself as a powerhouse in this classroom but if they call her out she will have to put up with annoying shit daily.

"Your parents are dead, and your stepfather is out of the country." A boy near the door says.

He has shoulder length hair that partially obscures a bland expression, his eyes are narrow slits like a lizard's watching her with an uncomfortable intensity, his skin is paper white emphasising the dark circles under his eyes and even sitting down he towers over the other students, it's no wonder that the rows behind him are all empty.

The hair on the back of her neck stands up and a shiver runs through her body. Aria holds eye contact with him for an uncomfortable minute before he shifts his gaze to face forward again.

"I suppose you also know where my lawyer is?" Aria scoffs.

"Do you want his office or home address?" He asks without turning around.

The world stops, her vision tunnelling in on the mammoth teenager bent over his notebook scribbling away like he did not just give himself up as her stalker; if the cameras had been on it wouldn't be strange for him to show himself now...except it would be too easy. Unless he is an accomplice, and someone paid him to scare her, someone like the main character of this stupid story, the girl who is still watching their interaction too keenly for it to be normal interest. What did the teacher call her? Hye something.

Aria is used to being targeted by other girls, not only had she been pretty but her family background had been the envy of all. She knows what exclusion is. Just because someone has something they envy they would drag that person to the bowels of hell to make themselves feel better. This stupid little show is nothing more than their way of pushing her down from her perceived pedestal - the girls hate her because of her looks and the boys are bitter because of how unatainable she is. Aria can practically feel their hungry gazes raking over her body.

"I'm going to the principal's office." Aria stands up abruptly, the chair drags on the floor loudly and the hushed conversations fall flat as people watch her curiously.

"I will take her." Hyerin says, primly tucking the chair in and smoothing down her skirt.

Aria intentionally bangs the door behind her nearly catching the annoying pest in the face with it, what a shame she catches the edge in time. The annoying girl's tilted chin and arrogant eyes really get on Aria's nerve, this girl seems to have been made specifically to rub her the wrong way from the starting line, something about her face is just so universally annoying.

She hopes that by the time they get to the office Aria won't punch her in the face.