Chlea's First Day

"Couldn't I at least go with you inside the campus? I badly want to see what's inside CEU!" Hyolyn said as she bounced up and down beside me in the back seat.

At past 9 AM, Hyolyn and Chlea along with her driver are inside their car a block away from the campus' main entrance gate. As much as Chlea wants to be cool about this whole state university thing, she can't help but bite the inside of her cheeks and exhale shallow breaths.

Fixing her hair and making sure everything she needs are inside her bag, Chlea took a deep breath as she turned to Hyolyn beside her.

"No, you can't. I don't want to cause any unnecessary attention because I am with you." Chlea replied to her ever persistent cousin.

Hyolyn with her mouth wide open as she dramatically flicks her hands to her chest, "What? I tried my best to look as simple as I can today, Clay!"

Chlea scanned her cousin's outfit for today. An unusually large sunglasses, oversized gray jacket and blue jeans. She then mentally slapped her own face. Outfit wise, Hyolyn looked like a typical university student, but, she wore an LV mini backpack. As for Chlea, she wore her usual black jeans with a white hanging top. Her hair tied up into a ponytail. She wore her favorite pink converse sneakers and a beige backpack. Now, she looks like a normal university student.

'How could she possibly not garner unwanted attention if she wore an LV backpack' Chlea thought to herself.

Hyolyn, noticing that her cousin has been staring at her backpack for long now initiates to reply as to what she thinks Chlea is concerned about.

"Oh my gosh Chlea, are you possibly worrying about this designer bag? Don't worry, this is not real! Almost everyone has one, I bought it at an imitation store in Colon Street for 150 PHP! Looks genuine, isn't it? So please, let me go with you." Hyolyn uttered while flashing a wide smile.

"Whatever, not just this time. I want to explore things on my own first. Anyway, do you have it with you? The important documents for the scholarship?" Chlea hinted.

Hyolyn paused for a moment to think, "Oh, yes! Of course, everything is inside this envelope. In case you need anything, just call me up." She said as she handed out the long brown envelope to Chlea.

"Thanks, Lyn. I have to go now. See you later!" Chlea chanted as she hurriedly got out of the car.

Hyolyn's eyes sparkled in delight, "Chlea's finally reaching her superficial goals one by one. I'm so proud of her."

As soon as the car's engine came to life, Hyolyn's personal driver asked her as to where they should head next.

With the corners of her mouth rising, "Let's go to Brook's house."

Chlea's Point of View

As I was about to take a step inside the campus, I took a deep breath as my heart kept on pounding fast. This is it, this is finally a one step forward to my dream of being at an actual school. All my life, I have been home schooled so I never really had the chance to be with people of my age aside from my immediate family.

As stated on my Certificate of Registration, I belong to the block section BAEL 1-A. I looked left and right for my classroom. There has been a lot of students walking on the hallway, especially freshmen like me looking for their assigned classroom. From the look on their individual faces with eyes glued to the papers on their hands, just like me, they seem to be also having trouble locating their classrooms. For almost 5 minutes roaming around the campus, I was finally able to find my department.

Luckily, I arrived at the lecture room on time. As I see it, there were only about 10 students that arrived. I immediately searched for the best seat inside and I chose the second to the last seat from the back.

"Hi, I'm Gayle and you are?" A petite girl who I think is around five foot tall sat down beside me and offered her hand.

I shook her hand in return and bashfully said, "Hello, my name's Chlea."

This Gayle girl tilted her head and closed her eyes as if she is in a deep thought.

"You look quite familiar. Have we met elsewhere?" She asked while looking at me suspiciously.

Does she possibly recognize me as Regan Alcala's daughter? What should I do? I swallowed hard by the thought of it.

"Hey! Can you help me take a good look at our new friend here?" Gayle yelled at the girl with eyeglasses.

The girl awkwardly pointed herself with her hands shaking violently, "Uhm, were you referring to me?"

"Who else am I talking to? Come here! Let's sit together." Gayle giggled.

This girl seemed to be timid and shy as she hastily joined Gayle and I in our seats.

Gayle cheerily clapped her hands, "I'm Gayle, what's your name?"

The girl looked down and bit her bottom lips, "My name's Molly."

"I am Chlea. It's fancy meeting you, Molly!" I animatedly uttered.

Molly smiled for a moment and then went on tapping her feet while looking down. As I discretely observed her, she has a small face, chin length hair and a brown complexion.

"Are you alright, Molly? You seem a bit uneasy. Is there something wrong? Did we perhaps do something that is off-putting for you?" I asked her as I am worried we might have done offensive to her subconsciously.

Molly waved both of her hand in protest and shook her head, "No! You guys have done nothing wrong. It's-… It's just that I am not used to people being nice to me. Uhm-… I mean, no one really talked to me before." She said as she looked down sadly.

I was taken aback by what she said. Worried at the same time about what she might have felt with people treating her that way.

"Anyway, Chlea does look familiar, right?" Gayle said as she put her hand on her chin.

What should I do?! These people might know me on the very first day of class! Will they treat me differently if they'll know? Oh please, send help!

"Now that I've seen her closer, she does look like that famous socialite lifestyle vlogger, Hyolyn Wu." Molly said as she seems to be finally trying to go out of her shell.

"OH YES! I KNEW IT! IT WAS AT THE TIP OF MY TOUNGE THE WHOLE TIME! OMG~ I AM SUCH A HUGE FAN OF HYOLYN!" Gayle excitedly squealed.

I let out a big sigh sigh. What a relief! Good thing they have not recognized me this soon.

"I feel like Chlea looks prettier than Hyolyn." Molly shyly remarked.

'Thanks, Molly. I knew that all this time.' I thought to myself.

"At some angles, she does look like her. But Hyolyn attends South Dale University and Chlea attends CEU, she's like the underprivileged version of Hyolyn." Gayle bluntly hissed.

A few hours later, nothing much happened except for having to introduce ourselves over and over again for pretty much the whole day. I'm glad I was able to make friends on my first day. Molly, Gayle and I turned out to be block mates. We spent the whole day looking for our classes together, good thing we have the same schedule. We then immediately parted ways as Molly and Gayle have other things to do. As I was peacefully heading out, I felt my phone vibrate inside my jean's pocket.

"Hey, Lyn." I answered.

"Hey there Ms. Schoolgirl. Where you at?" I heard her laugh at the other line.

I tilted my head and said, "Well, my class just finished so I'm heading out."

"Wait for us at the back gate, my boyfriend and I are gonna pick you up." Hyolyn instructed.

"A boyfriend?! Why didn't you tell me you actually have a boyfriend?" I hysterically laughed.

"Apparently, his best friend also goes to the same uni as yours! Anyways, we'll be there in 15! Bye~" Hyolyn said and the call ended.