Chapter 2

There was no one inside. Well, except for me, of course. I knew I was early but I didn't expect it to be empty. Realizing that I was standing by the door awkwardly, I stepped inside quietly although no one was there. After taking a seat on the first chair that I saw, my eyes roamed around the spacious meeting room. It wasn't easy to make myself comfortable when the only thing that I could hear was my pounding heart. The uncertainty and nervousness were swallowing me at once, making me questioned my decision about coming here thousands of times. I bit my lips unknowingly, a habit I had whenever I was nervous. My hand were sweating and I was too nervous to function normally.

The sound of the door cracked open was startling me.Snapping my head towards it, I immediately stood up when I saw a girl by my age was entering the room. Thinking that there was no need for me to stand up, I sat down in embarrassment. When I took a glance at her, I saw a smile decorated her face, causing the corners of my mouth to lift. Seeing a smile on her face made me felt so relieved.

After that, people kept entering the room and before I knew it, ten of the seats were already occupied. I noticed the excitement on their faces and it made me think that I was the only person who didn't feel the thrill about studying over here. All of the thought in my head was gone as soon as I saw Mrs Xavier, the Chancellor was entering the room. The strict but elegant vibe that she carried had made me looked at her in awe. It wasn't only me. I saw how everyone else also looked at her with fascinating.

"Good Morning, everyone. First of all, welcome to Washington Private University. I'm so delighted to announce that all of you are chosen to receive the scholarship from this university. Be proud of yourself as I am", she said as soon as stood in front of us.

I unknowingly smiled at her words. Maybe, this university wasn't that bad.

***

My mouth stretched upwards to make a small smile as I was looking around through the bus's window. The view at WPU was so amazing that it was hard for me to take my eyes off it. The thing that I regretted the most about here was that I couldn't stay in the hostel because of my part-time job. The students couldn't do the part-time job if they wanted to stay in the hostel. I wished the rule didn't exist but I couldn't do anything about it. It was true that all of the cost was supported by my university but how about my life? I needed money to go through with this life so that was why I had to throw away the chance of living in a hostel. The only reason why I was letting it go easily because my house was surprisingly wasn't that far from the university. So it would be fine. Well, I really hope so.

My class didn't start yet but I decided to explore my campus. I just needed to know where was my campus and the library. My guts feeling told me that I wouldn't go anywhere else except for those places. Not like I offended or anything though. As soon as the bus stopped, I hopped off it with a small on my face. Then, it was replaced with fascination once I looked up at a huge building in front of me. I won't lie about it. I was overflowing with pride when I saw 'International Affairs Management' engraved on top of the building.

Joy filled me as I took a step and another one towards the entrance of the campus. I didn't know how to describe my feeling at the moment. I actually felt... happy. It was weird considering that I didn't even want to be there in the first place. However, the short amount of happiness instantly died down when I was entering the building. It was wrong of me to think that the entrance was leading to classes when it was actually a place for a hangout. When I walked past by a group of girls, I could feel their eyes on me. It was then I realized that they didn't welcome a scholarship student like me. Of course, they knew I was here because of a scholarship. They just needed to look at my appearance and that was it. I was thinking to run away when I heard a scream that was startling me. I looked up to search for the source and when I found it, I let out a loud gasp.

There was a girl, I knew her. She was the one from the meeting earlier. The one who smiled at me. Only this time, she had no smile on her face as she was kneeling on the ground, begging a group of girls that were circling her to stop throwing insult to her. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch. What made me upset was no one, I repeated, no one wanted to do something, anything to help her. They even had the nerve to laugh at her.

What was I expected from the snobby rich kids anyway?

I clenched my fist so hard until my knuckles turned white. I was never a brave girl. I was a quiet girl that walked with my eyes trained on the ground. I won't even fight if someone hit me. That was me.

But, there was something that woke inside me when I saw how scared she was. How she was begging for them to stop, to help her. I imagined how it felt to be in her place and that was when my feet just moved on their own.

"Excuse me, but you should stop whatever you are doing right now", the words just came out of my lips as soon as I was a step away from them.

I swallowed down a lump in my throat when the bullies turned around to face me. It was then, I suddenly was nervous when one of them stepped forward.

"Wow, wow, wow. Look at who comes to save you, girl. Another poor girl with lacks of money, obviously", she said and pretended to make a sad face after that. "Where did you get this rug, little girl? My dog wears even better than this piece of, dare I say clothes?", her comment made her friends laughed out loud after that.

My face was red from the embarrassment. I could hear mocked laughter not only from her friends but from all of the other people around her. They treated me like I was an amusement to them. No one came to help. Not even a single soul.

Not even the girl that I was trying to help earlier. As soon as she realized that the bullies had left her alone, she got up and run away without stealing a glance at me even for a second. I felt betrayed. I was in this mess because of her, but she just flew away, leaving me alone.

I guessed I was forever a push-over.

"Now, your little mouth has nothing to say anymore? Let me tell you this, girl. Poor people like you don't have a place at this university. Don't act like you just own a world just because this university accepts you. YOU. DO. NOT. BELONG. HERE. Just get back to your poor world already, girl. I'm so sick looking at your cheap face here."

Another insult, another loud laughter filled the place.

There was nothing I felt other than regret and embarrassment. Regret that I didn't turn down the offer back then, embarrassed to think that I could further my study over here.

All of the negative thought kept flying around my mind, making every breath that I took felt so painful. I stood there, lifelessly as if I was a joke to laugh at. It was a miracle how I could hold back my tears. Every moment that had passed felt like forever.

"What are you waiting for? Don't you understand me? Wait a minute, is it because you can't understand it? Your small brain couldn't digest what am I saying, isn't it? Tch. That is a problem with poor people. They just didn't get what you say because they have a pea-sized brain. Auwww, I pity you, poor kid."

The insult kept coming at me like an endless circle. I didn't know if I could survive another one. My knees were weak. I didn't know how long I could stand before I finally collapsed on the floor. The shame, the fear and the anger mixed, making me nauseous. My silent plea went unheard as I kept hearing their mocked laughter. I was actually thinking to let go of the last straw that I was desperately holding onto and let them break me as they wished.

"What the hell you think you are doing?"

My eyes widened when I heard the voice behind me. My dead soul suddenly was alive when I realized that someone was willing to defend me.

The mysterious voice made everyone went silent all of sudden. It was as if they were intimidated by her appearance.

I could see someone walked past me in the corner of my eyes. The girl stopped in front of me, making the bully walked backwards immediately.

"I ask you, what you think you are doing? Why don't you answer me? Is it because your little mouth has nothing to say anymore?"

I was surprised to see the fear on the bully's face as soon as my saviour opened her mouth. They undoubtedly scared of her.

"What are you waiting for? If you don't want me to bring this matter up to the Chancellor, go", she threatened the girl and her friends.

There was a huge of dissatisfaction displayed on the bully's face as she glanced at me, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she obediently walked away with her friends trailed behind her.

"Are you alright?" I was star-truck when my saviour turned around. She was so beautiful that I thought of her as an Angel for a second. "Did the stupid girl hurt you? This is not good. I'm going to report this to the Chancellor."

The mention of the Chancellor made me panic, so I shook my head in an instant.

"It's fine. I'm alright. I'm really alright. She didn't hurt me. I'm just fine", I replied to her quickly.

I didn't want to bring trouble on my first day at the university.

"Let's go somewhere else, alright?", she asked after she looked around her.

I nodded my head, agreeing with her when I noticed that the others were trying hard to listen to our conversation. They suddenly got interested in us or should I said with my saviour.

"You sure you're alright?",

She asked after we walked side by side towards the exit of the campus.

Of course, I wasn't alright but I just nodded my head just because I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I was afraid that she would bring this matter to the Chancellor.

My saviour paused for a second, the look of disbelief on her face was clear, but she let it slide by nodding her head.

"By the way, I'm Luna Phoenix", she said with a bright smile while extending her hand to me.

I stopped to walk to look at the hand in front of me with shock. It was hard to believe that there was someone who would want to befriend me. Looking at Luna appearance, I knew that she was definitely not a scholarship student.

I was hesitant to take her hand but all of my doubt and fear has suddenly vanished when I saw her bright smile.

"I'm... Hanna Brooke", I said and shook her hand gently.

"Nice to meet you, Hanna."

Somehow, her bright smile brought comfort to me.