Chapter One, The School
The night was dark, but not pitch-black. Only a bright moon lights the world, but will it guide the lost girl home? An owl hooted gently somewhere, is it searching for its prey? The ocean howled, or is it a painful cry?
The moon is pale, like a freshly peeled lychee, a beam of fine, pearl white moonlight fell on a window, the handsome oak wood sills shimmering in the bright moonlight. Through the window it goes, it falls into a room, and onto a girl's body.
She looks young, though as pale as a moon, rather skinny for her age, but still, she lies, peaceful and quiet, in the reflection of the moon. Apparently, she was studying. A book is acting as a pillow, serving its owner right. Is it tiredness, or is it her dream?
Sophie sat there, shocked while staring down at her work. She knows that she's okay at poetic paragraphs (okay, fine, very bad), but she still wanted to have a better grade on them. Well at least, not an A+, but certainly not a D. It looked fine, but at NHH, your work could never be good enough for a grade higher than a C.
She sighed. So much for a week's work, she thought. She hastily stuffed her books and her poorly graded work back into her bag, and, still fuming about her grade, stormed out of the classroom.
Sophie remembered the day she left home for this school. NHH, a school for high ranked families, is a place full of snoopy, snobbish brats. The boys are better, but here, you will get laughed at even if you just go a tiny bit out of your way. Here, everything has to be perfect, which makes life difficult for Sophie.
As a matter of fact, Sophie is not a "high ranked member". She was an orphan, who got dumped into her stepmother's front step. She had no clue who she was, where she's from, or who her parents are. But she was sure that she was definitely a normal citizen. Her stepmother and her stepsister treat her very nicely, but she always wonders where she used to be. She was told that there was this land where you can find all the answers. It was a place of happiness and hope. The only way up was to find a magical bridge. Sophie was tempted to find it and learn her past, but the thought of her family now stopped her.
This school, as we were saying, was for snotty, rich brats. All of the students, of course, except for one of them, are part of a family of generals, ministers, mayors, stuff like that. NHH has a tradition that every year, they will pick a normal citizen to go to this school, as long as you sign up.
Of course, it's most young teenagers' dreams to jump from a poor family's state to a wealthy, all-you-can-dream-of life. Sophie also had the same wish. But with her luck? Not so much. She didn't bother to do it, because it's probably a waste of time. Her stepsister, Kate, also wanted to. She kept asking if Sophie wanted to go (the school only allows students that are at least 16 to learn there), as she says "it is the same if her sister goes''. But Sophie always shakes her head and smiles, "Nope, I'm not going to be a snotty princess, you'll know why when you grow up. Besides, I need to take care of you and Mama." But deep down, she wishes that the lucky girl who is standing on top of the student stage is herself.
This year, as usual, Kate watches the channel for the school festival of NHH. When the boxes full of names started to spin, her eyes filled with excitement.
Sophie remembers it well. "What's so exciting about it? It's still the same progress. And it won't be one of us." she asked. "Err… you'll see." she smiled mischievously and turned her attention back to the TV. The headmistress just picked out a name.
"And our new student is… Sophie Ellis! Congratulations!" the headmistress announced.
There was some movement inside the room now.
"What?! Sophie dropped the mug she was just polishing onto the floor. It shattered into pieces, just like her heart then. She never imagined living somewhere else, without Kate, without her stepmother, without the comfort of home. Sure, she did want to be in a well-treated princess-level life, but now, she regrets it. All of it.
Kate doesn't though.
"Yes! YES! I knew it, I knew it!" she jumped around the room, screaming her head off.
"You knew it?" Sophie said in shock, "Wait till mom comes back, you'll be in big trouble. When did you sign me up anyway?"
"Well, there's a hotline for it, I didn't know it actually worked." Kate shrugged. Sophie frowned. Why would her sister (stepsister) do this?
"Because I found out that the school tradition was kind of inspired by a barbie story, and remember last time when that jock said that you were a stuck-up barbie doll? I wanted to show him that you can be one." Kate said, proud of herself.
Leave it to her stepsister to make things simple and complicated in life at the same time. Sophie wondered how she could relate a story to an actual school. She supposed Kate also expected her to claim a crown that was (supposedly, like in the story) rightfully hers.
"It's OK, dear, we are proud of you." her stepmother walked in, attracted by the sound of the mug shattering, "Now, do us a favor, be a good girl at school, I know you will bring us pride."
Sophie blinked back tears. Yes, she thought, after all, her family counted on her, but she can barely get a grade higher than C on her homework.
Wish they could see me now, she thought bitterly, the "good girl" who brings absolute pride to the family.
She fought her way through the crowd and stopped at a circular room, with a nice crystal candle-holder hanging above. She opened a locker and pulled out her books and her timetable. Next class, history. She sighed again. And don't even get me started on history, she thought again. At least someone will be there in that class to help her out.
By her meanings of 'someone', she means her roommate, Emma. Every student will have to stay in their lobby after school, then they will return to their dormitories, which their lobby leads to. Each dormitory has two or three beds, which means they will all have at least one roommate. Each side of the common room leads to two different dormitories, one is for the girls, one is for the boys (NHH has weird rules). Her roommate, which she considers lucky, is really nice and doesn't make fun of her, like other snotty kids would do. They go to the same history class, which is the most boring subject in the whole school (perhaps that's why Sophie is so bad at the subject). Emma, a legend at the subject, always lets Sophie copy her notes.
She sat down in the classroom, and took out her poem and reread it.
It was a fine piece of work for her. At least she would've gotten a C, but her teacher said that it was 'poor'. Was she missing something? It doesn't seem like it.
Think. She said firmly to herself. Everything happens for a reason. Her thoughts wandered to her stepmother's words. Yes, but why did she get a D? Was it because she was not snotty enough for her writing teacher so that she got a failing grade?
At least I didn't get an F, she thought again.
"OMG! Come look, everyone! Crybaby Soap got a D on her poem! Sorry I'm not sorry, Soap!" shrieked someone behind her. Sophie's heart sank. She knows who it is. It was Brittney, the most, as she quotes Kate, stuck-up barbie doll you can ever meet, and all the teacher's favor her, just because she's the daughter of the mayor. She really didn't want to deal with her, but she couldn't control her anger anymore.
"Oh yeah, so what did you get then Brittney?" she shot back, "And why do you call me soap?" (even though she knew perfectly well that it's because Brittney always said she needed 'more cleanness' in her life. For example, a soap bar in her mouth)
"Well, Ms. Know-it-all, I got an A, so how's that? I hope you'll manage to snag an F next time, then you might get kicked out for bad grades." Brittney smirked, went to join her friends at the front, then she called back, "Just wait, Soap! Your life in NHH will be over in a week!"
Sophie sat in silence. She knows that she shouldn't be letting Brittney press her button, but what if she really does get an F next time? What will her stepmother say?
"Hey, how are you doing, Sophie?" Emma came to join her at the back. She glanced at the girls, and then the glance turned into a glare.
"Listen, just ignore them, will you? They haven't been right once, so don't bother."
Sophie barely managed a nod. But she couldn't help but wonder: would they be right this time?