"Ah, you're here."
The headmaster sounded a little distressed. Rosalie had to keep herself from giggling.
She finally got a clear look at the boy and instantly recognized his chiseled features. It was the boy from last night!
'That's Christophe?!'
His hair looked like it was carelessly brushed back with bits and pieces sticking out. His clothes were crumpled and looked sloppy with his sweater vest hanging off one side of his shoulder. He looked like he was chased by monsters on the way here by the state he was in. Yet, despite all that, he would still be considered good looking by most people's books.
Once he finally got up onto the stage, he swept his hair back in an attempt to fix it, then wiped some of the sweat off of his face. Rosalie swore she saw hearts flying out of the student body's eyes.
"Oh my god, the school's prince is here!"
If people stared any harder, Rosalie swore their eyes would pop out. The thought of the nickname "school prince" was enough to bring Rosalie to tears. Could they not have thought of anything else? It was just too cheesy.
From the stage, Christoph was basking in the attention of everyone. He had the top entrance exam marks, best looks and on top of that, he was rich. He knew he was impressive which completely inflated his ego.
His speech started.
"Ahem, welcome fellow students. As you all already know, I am Christophe Niel, 2nd son of the Niel estate. I congratulate everyone on having the opportunity to study at the same institution as myself, that is how you know you will achieve great things in life. I look forward to studying with everyone who worked hard to become a part of my student life here at Wexcombe Academy. That is all, you're welcome for the speech."
"Whoooo! We love you, Christophe!!"
"You're the best!"
"We love you!!"
The students were cheering their lungs out.
Do they seriously not see how he is praising himself? Rosalie was astonished. He acts the same in real life as online "Tophe". He was not using a persona after all. Her eyebrows scrunched up a little in awe, like finding out a cute nickname like "trash pandas" was given to small creatures with fingers that rummage through your garbage can at night.
Rosalie could see the physical regret of the headmaster's limp body at his seat. He made a note to approve of student speeches from now on.
Christophe's speech was proceeded by addresses by the head of each department. The gist of the speeches pretty much all the same. Basically, congratulations on getting in, this is a great school, and work hard. The status quo of most orientation speeches.
All in all, the ceremony lasted for about an hour and a half, but it felt more like five from the teachers that just wouldn't shut it.
At some point, Rosalie zoned out and stared into the school emblem plastered onto the back wall of the stage. She took a closer look at it and concluded that it looked absolutely horrible. Who was the graphic designer they hired to create that abomination?
The mascot of the school was a llama. Rosalie hadn't thought of this before, but the founding headmaster had unique tastes.
Since the school colours consisted of blue and yellow, whoever designed the school emblem thought making the Llama blue was a good idea. The yellow was used in the background to depict a rising sun with light beams coming out from the center.
The academy's motto was written on a collar around the llama's neck.
"aut neca aut necare."
Rosalie knew Latin from one of her obsessions with a game that used Latin as magic spells. She ended up memorizing and learning Latin for the sole purpose of improving her gameplay.
The motto literally reads as "either kill or be killed."
How was this applicable to a school setting?
While Rosalie was lamenting over the hideous emblem, the final speeches were given.
"That is all, we hope everyone enjoys the opening festivities and club fair, aut neca aut necare."
It was a school tradition to state the motto after every ceremony.
To say the least, Rosalie thought this was hilarious.
Making her way to the courtyard proved to be very easy. Christophe was in the center of the crowd with all the students trying to get a word in with him. It made sense, many of the students here were from influential families that owned large corporations and members of the government, a connection to the Niel family would be invaluable.
The courtyard was full of stands with students advertising clubs and selling food. She stopped by a candy stand and bought a pouch of sweets. She couldn't help it; she had a severe sweet tooth and the bright colours plus the sweet scent was irresistible.
She walked through the stands munching on an egg tart she bought earlier.
There were all sorts of clubs trying to recruit freshmen. Their faces were fierce with passion, almost demon-like with the intensity they were going at with the flyers.
Rosalie stopped by an interesting club stand that seemed to be killing two birds with one stone by recruiting while operating a game with prizes.
"Hi there! Would you be interested in giving it a go? If you get it in the hoop, you can win one of these prizes."
A boy that seemed to be a third-year was asking her. He was tall, not as tall as Christophe, but tall, nonetheless. Maybe around 6ft. It made sense, it looks like he's the head of the athletic council by the look of the stand banner.
Usually, Rosalie would just ignore it and walk past the stand, playing would be too troublesome. Yet, the prizes were large plushies and Rosalie was weak to cuteness.
She had always wanted a plushy but knew it would be hard on finances if she got one and all the other kids followed suit and asked for one as well. She kept it to herself, but she always wanted to own a cute fluffy stuffed animal.
"Sure, how much to participate?"
"Just 2 dollars!"
The boy grinned at her holding two fingers up.
Rosalie reached into her pocket and pulled out some change and handed it to the boy.