"And not that I got these weird bullies there only. There is Miss Celestine also. You know Maa, she is so pretty and strong! The way she talked to Maria, everyone in the class kept mum, not even daring to make any faint sound. But…" She suddenly remembered the weak girl she met the first thing in the morning.
"But?" Her mother looked at her questioningly, waiting for her to finish.
"But… there is a girl who kind of worries me. By the look of it, she gets bullied for literally no reason. And she doesn't even talk back. You know, that kind of weak person. She couldn't even talk back or defend herself, so that worries me, annoys me a bit." Airi felt a lot troubled for some reason. There was no need to bother about someone like that girl, yet she couldn't let go of the annoying feeling from her heart.
"Well, who knows what they have on their mind. So not that you can go judging all of them, right?" Airi's mother tried to reason about it, as she very well knew how much her daughter couldn't handle weakness in people, or even in herself. She wanted to defend that girl, as she was the one being bullied, but she also didn't have the faintest idea about the entire situation, so she chose not to speak about it further.
"Well then, get freshen up. Let's have lunch. It's almost ready." Sara got up to go to the kitchen, finishing up preparing the meal.
"Yes, I better do that." With that, Airi got up and went to her room.
After having a nice shower and a hearty meal, she felt exhausted enough to just idly pass the afternoon lying down on her bed. As idle's brain wanders a lot, so her brain took back to her first day at school all over again.
"Ah, I forgot to tell Maa about that senior. She was strong and beautiful, and everyone seemed to be charmed by her a lot. Then again, she was a lot harsh on that Sayuri girl. Then was she a bully? Was she not? Well, if you don't look at the road while walking, sure you will be pointed at, right?" Airi kept fighting internally about how to judge that senior. Senior Rena being like that, she was torn between tagging her as a bully and as someone strong. She gave off a cool aura so Airi honestly wanted the later one to be true. "I think I would like to know more about her."
With that in mind, she passed the rest of the day with her usual eating, chatting, and time-passing.
------
The next day when she went to school, she suddenly remembered she was supposed to make friends with those new students. So on that purpose, she found a seat anywhere near them. Looking for a while, she found a vacant seat just beside Hazel.
'Lucky me!'
Hazel was talking to Emma sitting on her left, and also Dew sitting just behind Hazel seemed to join in their conversation. "They are already close, I am totally late," Airi wondered to herself.
She went towards the seat slowly. "Will you mind if I sit here?"
All three of them looked towards the voice, and when they found it was Airi, they seemed rather surprised. "Would you like to?" Emma looked at her with an expectant look on her face.
"Sure, that's why I asked, didn't I?" Airi nodded, though she couldn't figure out why it would be something to be that surprising of her wanting to be sitting there.
"Sure, go ahead." Hazel gave out a smile with her glittery golden eyes.
"Thanks!" Airi took the seat on Hazel's right. "You guys seem to be good friends already, huh?"
"Eh? You noticed that?" Dew spoke up from behind.
Airi turned back towards Dew, "I mean, yeah, I kind of remembered your names… so seeing you guys happily enjoying a conversation was good to see."
"Woah, is that so Airi?" Emma excitedly asked her. "Of course, Emma. There is no way I wouldn't notice the beautiful curls you got." Airi complimented her while looking back at her.
"Then, who am I?" This time it was Hazel. "It's easier to remember you, because you are just like you appear to be, Hazel. By the way, your eyes are pretty. And unique." Airi's compliment made Hazel totally red with blush.
"I know right? Her eyes are the kind I have never seen," Dew commented. "You sure do recall things well. Then again, you totally give off some kind of smarty strong kid vibes."
"Haha, do I? Well, you got your own distinct feature too, Dew. At least I have never seen such beautiful shiny hair on boys." Airi smilingly replied to Dew, while saying about Dew like she has known him for a while now.
"Woah! You are awesome!" three of them shouted together, making Airi almost jump on her seat. "How do you remember all that so well! We literally had to cram out your name, so that we could at least greet you today."
Airi was surprised to hear that they also wanted to befriend her as much as she wanted. Now she started to regret forgetting to do that yesterday. "I'm glad you do," she gave them the brightest smile she could, making them awestruck by that.
"See, that's the smile. If you go on giving off that smile of yours, there is no way people wouldn't want to befriend you!" Emma pointed out a finger towards Airi's face while talking in her usual excited state.
"You sure are an excited one…" Airi laughed again to see the excitement in all of them.
"Well, who wouldn't be? The way you just brushed off Maria, people were torn between regarding you as unapproachable and righteous." Dew leaned back to his chair, putting his hand over his head. "But to think that you would be this much friendly, that sure is a surprise."
"Yeah, I mean, I totally thought you would be some kind of school queen, angel-like. Like, helpful to all, but not actually a friend of anyone. You look rightfully elite for this kind of school." Hazel stated while fishing out her pencil case and pens.
Just then, Emma grabbed Airi's hand. "You would like to be our friend, right?" Emma's eyes were expectant and all shiny, like an elementary kid wanting ice cream from her mother.
"Stop it already, I do want to, okay? Now stop…" Airi averted her eyes, being all shy.
"Sure, you got this cute face to win over eh, ahahaha." Dew laughed, and with him, the other three also joined.
And that's how a carefree group was created.
Soon the bell rang, and their homeroom teacher, Ms. Clara entered the classroom. After taking the attendance of the students, she closed her file and turned towards the students. "So, dear lovely kids, how was your first day of high school yesterday?"
One of the boys raised his hand to answer, "Miss Clara, it was fun, except the fact that, our mathematics teacher, Mr. Jones, was too strict, and always kept frowning like this," the boy pinched his brows from both sides to imitate Mr. Jones. At the sight of this failed funny imitation, everyone laughed out loud, along with Clara.
"You should be grateful you are not in 1-A, he is in charge of their homeroom." Ms. Clara said in between her laugh.
"Oh no! They are so doomed, I am feeling pity for them now." Another boy blurted out, causing another wave of giggles in the classroom.
"Okay then, class. I'm happy that you enjoyed your first day here. So let's start on the main task now, shall we? Today I am going to give you all your very first assignment, a little task to do…"
The entire room filled with whimpers, and that reverberated through the room.
"Silence Class! Don't start with the nagging now." Clara raised her voice to make herself clear in those faint noises. "You are not a middle schooler anymore, so there is no way you can take things easy, at all." She took a chalk and walked to the blackboard. While she was writing there, she continued where she got interrupted, "So as I was saying, I would like to give you an assignment, but at first, answer one question for me. Have you ever read any kind of literature? Stories, essays, poems, novels, any?"
She looked back for a bit to see most of the students responding with an affirmative nod.
She finished writing on the board, and tapped on it with the chalk in her hand. "So then, if you have, write down any of the author's name you have read the work of, or if you have multiple, then the favorite one of yours. Now see this? I'm telling you to select one significant work of that author you selected, and give a summary of it."