Chapter 1

I woke up from my dream and screamed.

"Gah! Let me go, you monster!"

*Whack*

"Ouch! That hurts, Ma!"

"Huh? That pain feels familiar...Ma?"

I turned to my right and saw my Ma glaring at me with her (demonic) eyes. I could see flames surrounding her, waiting to burn me alive.

"Calling your mother a monster? You lived long enough, huh?" Ma kept hitting my arms.

"Ack! It's really, Ma?!!" I screamed.

"You lazy bum, get your stinky butt up and get ready for school. It's the beginning of your second year in high school already."

"School?" I shuddered.

I looked at the clock on my bedside table.

[5.30 a.m.]

"Oh no! I might be late for school if I dilly-dally much longer."

My Ma raised her (demonic) fist again and said, "Not getting your butt moving, are you? It looks like someone wants more of my tender loving care."

"Oui, Ma. I'm moving! I'm moving!"

'Why didn't my alarm clock ring?' I wondered.

My Ma walked out of my room and slammed the door.

I quickly jumped off my bed and took a quick shower.

"Ouiii~ I sweat so much just because of that dream. I wonder what's that dream about. It almost made me late for school, dammit!"

After my shower, I quickly wore my school uniform and rushed into the car.

[15 minutes later]

I reached my school 15 minutes before classes started.

"I made it to school on time! Woohoo!"

Standing in front of the school gate, I saw many students with their new uniforms and bags rushing into the school.

"They must be the 1st year students. Ah~ It feels like it was just yesterday that I enrolled in this school."

Some were busy chatting with their new friends; some were making loud noises for pointless reasons, and some were nervously waiting for their new day in school to start and end. The school was filled with lots of noises as well as teachers screaming at the students to keep their mouths shut. Even though it never works but it never gets old. They do say the more the merrier.

"Man. This took me back to a year ago when I introduced myself to Iz. I think it was 3 months after our new high school life."

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I was running away from my science teacher and decided to take a rest at a nearby gazebo. If anyone were to see our chase, they would think of cat and mouse, which was hilarious.

"Just because I did a small prank on Ms. Angie doesn't mean she needs to be full Ifrit on me, sheesh."

People said Ms. Angie was a sportswoman before she became a teacher. I thought it wasn't true since she seemed meek, but boy, today's chase sure proved the rumour was true. She chased me as if she wanted to break the record of the world's fastest marathon runner.

I looked around to make sure Ms. Angie wasn't around and took a deep breath. As I leaned back to stretch my back, I saw a girl with beautiful long, smooth, brown hair carrying a mountain of books.

'That must be our teachers' favourite pet, Isabella, I think?.'

Unlike most 13 years old kids who wore their emotion on their shoulders, Iz showed no ounce of emotion like a robot with no feeling only listening and executing commands given by their owners. Even so, many boys professed their 'undying' (Blech) love for her, although she rejected them all brutally. Ever since then, she has been labelled an outcast, and rumours began to spread about her. One of the rumours that scared many people the most was about her grandmother being a shaman. Other rumors like how she bullied other students must be a lie since she wouldn't care less about them.

"How boring." I mumbled.

I looked away, and suddenly, I heard a loud sound coming from Isabella's direction.

*Bang*

I jumped up from my seat and looked back. Then, I saw the mountain of books she was carrying all on the floor.

Isabella lowered her head and stared at the books emotionlessly.

"She didn't hear what I just said, right?" I panicked.

The students were all staring at her and whispering.

"How troublesome." I mumbled

I stood up from my seat and walked towards her.

I bent down to pick up the books she dropped. I looked at the books she was carrying.

'It's books from other classes taught by Mr. Kay. That bloody old lazy bald fat man must have pushed these books onto her again.'

When I looked at the floor, I saw water droplets falling from above.

I looked up and saw her tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. Due to the light angle, it would look as if she was crying water crystals out of her eyes.

'Water crystals?' I rubbed my eyes and looked at her again, but she had already wiped her tears off.

"This must be payback for all the pranks I did on other people." I said.

"Pranks?" Isabella glared at me with her light brown (with bluish colour) eyes.

"Here's your books. (Blue eyes? What Asian has brown-blue eyes? Mix?)"

"Thanks." Isabella looked at me warily.

"My name is Llyne. We never got to introduce ourselves cause of our hectic classes."

"I know you."

"Really. Didn't know I was that famous. Haha."

"You are. For being a troublemaker, that is. You always love to disrupt a class."

"You mean bringing life to a dull and monotonous classroom. By the way, why are you carrying these books by yourself? Where's Mr. Kay? I could see him miles away if you knew what I mean." I stared at her.

"Mr. Kay is busy with his work, so I'm helping him..." She averted her eyes. Then she took the books from my hands.

"Huh...Is that so...? Well, those books are heavy. Need some help?" I asked.

"No, there's no need." She snarled at me and walked away.

"Is she a cat? Heh. Well, I guess it's not so bad to get to know each other more." I laughed.

Looking at her closely, I guessed I could understand why all the boys would go crazy over her. Her looks were mesmerizing with her V-shaped chin, big round eyes, soft fair skin, tall and slender, rich, and high grades (top 1 in her middle school, according to rumours). She was almost perfect except for her attitude. I guessed no one could be perfect. Although we lived in the same world and breathed the same air, it felt like we were at one end of the spectrum.

-Ding Dong-

The bell rang.

"I guess recess is over. Doubt, we will ever encounter each other again." I slowly strode back to my classroom.

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"Now that I think about it, it was such a wonderful moment."

"..."

"Who am I kidding? It was disastrous, but at least we are still friends."

While I was reminiscing, the school bell rang.

"What! Was I standing in front of the gate for so long? Sheesh, Time sure waits for no one."

I rushed to my new classroom, which was located at building D. Building D was located at the far end of the school. It was a brand new building which was built last year due to the increase in student intake.

"Who put a building that far away?!! It's not like that place has greener grass."

[Classroom 2-B]

I arrived at my new classroom in building D. The classroom was swamped with students chatting with one another. I looked into the classroom and noticed the homeroom teacher isn't in class yet.

'Homeroom teacher ain't here yet. Lucky me. Though it saddens me that Iz and I aren't in the same class. Why did she have to take extra subjects? Ugh.'

When I entered the classroom, the classroom suddenly went silent. You could hear a needle drop on the ground. Some students began whispering to each other while others avoided my gaze. Meanwhile, there were a few who were glaring at me in disgust. Why, you asked. Because I'm an outcast for one sole reason; being weird. I hated the norm and found it excruciatingly boring, so I tend to break some rules to kill that boredom. Ever since then, people started to spread false rumours about me, but I didn't care because I didn't like to entertain people who didn't deserve my time. I would rather have fun on my own than waste my time on pointless things. However, honestly, I did find people's fear a bit delightful.

I ignored their gaze and chattering and walked to the blackboard to look for my seat.

"Back window seat. Perfect! Great excuse to sleep in class."

I walked to my seat with their gaze behind my back. I felt like a model who had every audience's attention to myself, walking back to backstage except those attentions were filled with malice. It filled me with joy and glee.

I sat in my seat and placed my bag beside me. I crossed my arms and legs impatiently, waiting for my homeroom teacher to come. I could still feel some piercing stares from my classmates, which irritates me at times. Couldn't handle the annoyance of my classmates' stare, I turned and stared outside through the windows, wondering when recess would start.

'I wonder when is recess. It's boring without Iz here.'