"Whoa, she's cute".
"Is she in a girl group?"
"Hot legs man!"
Seori was used to hearing comments like that in any office she walked into at her Father's, more precisely, stepfather's company. All heads would bob in her direction, drinking in her perfect model figure, bright brown eyes and flawless face.
But today she wasn't at a the photoshoot of a magazine cover, an office at the company or attending a global event to fill in for her step dad. She was walking through the hallway of her new highschool, trying to navigate her way to the administrator's office.
Why is she in this school? You might ask. There are a million high ranked schools like this one and this one isn't even the best of them all. She's a top ranker at the famous all girls science school in Jupal, the capital. Has over a hundred plus academic awards and has been to the Astrea villa, to meet the president and have a talk along with other best prodigies from other continents. All in honor of the world teenager's day.
She's transferred from that highschool to this one all because of one thing. Revenge
She tipped her head backwards, the edges of her lips pinching upward in an infectious smile as she read the nameplate on the door stating, administrator's office.
"I'm still really great at reading maps".
She knocked, listening for the broad voice that beckoned her to come in before she twisted the knob lightly, pushing the door open. She was given a locker and other necessities needed.
"Miss Bam, although you have a map, the school still covers a few kilometers. Most of which you'll need to be accustomed to in other to make it to your classes on time and avoiding a situation where you'll miss any prior engagements. I'll have a trustworthy student show you around later before you go home".
She bowed, arms folded intricately in front of each other to the long-legged Turkish man, who happened to be the administrator.
"Thank you, Sir".
Mr Swiffer scrutinized the soon to be eighteen year old. He hadn't found a single flaw in her poise or attitude. For a teenager, she really carried herself well. Not that he expected anything less from the daughter of a well known disciplined business man, now successfully securing a position as congressman. But he thought she'd be some spoiled brat, who's only use is her excellent IQ.
She's beaten their school several times in completions. Even in debates where her other teammates are delicate, she still wins, all by herself. He wondered if she ever felt lonely, being by herself everytime. He hadn't ever seen her with a friend, ever.
"The principal himself, would have loved to be the one to receive you but he came down with the flu two days ago, he sends his deepest regrets".
"Please tell Mr Miller I wish him a speedy recovery".
Swiffer Kaan was just astounded. Respect and speech, perfect ten. Maybe Mr Bam has been raising her as his secret weapon in terms of being a good parental figure. He'd already declared his intentions to run for president at the election in the coming year. With his only child and daughter not having any social scandals or substantiated rumors going around, his opponents won't even have anything that can be used against him.
He blinked. Staring too much tended to shift his contacts, although they're very uncomfortable it's his best option than getting the double lenses that he breaks only a few weeks later.
The ringing of the bell soon reverberated across the hallways. He escorted her to her new classroom. The teacher halted when he saw the administrator walk in, she bowed to the teacher too. He nodded at her, not wanting to disrupt the administrator.
She was of course brought to class A. This was the penultimate year to the seniors who'll be graduating after the next term. Some light whispering followed when she'd turned completely to face them, she wasn't looking at anyone in the crowd directly, neither were her pupils darting to survey them all at once. She just stared ahead.
Many gasped, many exclaimed. She looked just like a cutout from a supermodel magazine, yet she was just seventeen. Some recognized from her Instagram, others pageants and even those she'd shredded down mercilessly at competitions didn't fail to miss her gaze. The aloof ones, thought she was extraordinarily pretty, guys quietly placed dibs on who gets to ask her out first.
Fortunately, there were three empty seats in the class. Two, side-by-side, the other next to a boy whom she perceived was notorious.
"Cut the chattering, everyone".
The noise lessened, till a pen could be heard dropping from a table. Although, class A is the brightest and most quiet compared to the others, that was not the reason they swiftly quieted down. It was seventy five percent because Mr Swiffer was a cool staff and twenty five percent curiosity about the beautiful girl smiling at them.
"We have a transfer student from Bartel Skin's highschool for girls".
The chattering seemed to return with greater momentum than before. So she's from that kid genius school? Wow! Well, not everyone could be Cinderella who's beautiful and poor. Others could be born to have it all. Beauty, brains, fame and wealth. The full package.
"Don't make me repeat myself again".
His voice a bit strident now, promptly shutting up the gossipers and other ones begining to ask for information.
"She's going to be in this class from now on".
He turned briefly to talk to her.
"Please introduce yourself to your classmates".
She took a short step forward and bowed slightly, not as formally as she'd conducted herself to Mr Swiffer though, this time more casual.
"Hi everyone, I'm Seori Bam. It's nice to meet you all. I love making new friends, you can come to me if you're having problems in any subjects, I hope we all get along in the future".
Some students took her comment nicely, others just instigated that she's showing off how intelligent she was. But no one could deny her appearance and conduct was far from pleasing to the eye, in one degree or another. She was cute but not too immature, classy but not boring. Mr Swiffer nodded at her for doing a good job.
Her statement about meeting new people took him aback, quite a bit. He couldn't say he was close to her, but from his observations he could confidently draw that she'd rather not talk to anyone. Not that she was not social, I mean everyone would want to talk to her, obviously. But she kept her distance, it's like she has an ultimate goal and nothing, not even friends can as so much as shift her focus away from it. Even if it's just for a millisecond.
But anyway his job was done for now. He looked forward to passing by this class in the future and catching a glimpse of the genius studying or answering a teacher's questions. He strolled out the classroom satisfied with the new addition to their school.
"You can pick any seat amongst the empty ones".
"Yes sir".
She bowed again. Now the teacher had welcomed a lot of annoying students from snooty private schools famous for either brains or state of the art facilities, but seeing her right now, he couldn't help but conclude that she might just be putting on an act. Still he decided not to generalize.
He was their mathematics teacher, he'll be seeing her quite often. So if she was really pretentious, her true colors would be uncovered sooner or later.
Considering Mr Swiffer's observations on Seori's character, one would think that she'd pick the seats that were both unoccupied. Sadly, no. She actually sat down beside the boy that many girls would try to avoid. At the other vacant seats, boys filled the two front seats. Both appearing even more energetic than the one she approached. Apart from her new seatmate, the people at the front seats were girls.
She decided that would be her best choice. Maybe he just likes being surrounded by girls or something, she didn't mind playing into that thought. But the moment he tries any funny business, she'll put him in his place with just one brazen-faced sentence.
"Hey cutie, I'm Nate".
"It's Seori not cutie, nice to meet you Nate".
She hung her bag on the holder at the outmost edge of the desk table. The other girls turned back to also introduce themselves.
"Oh Emm Gee! I totally follow you on Instagram even Nana does too".
"Really? Then you'll both tell me your names later so that I'll follow you back".
"Hey, me too!"
She narrowed her gaze at Nate.
"Do you follow me?"
"Well...no. But I'm going to follow you now".
She planned to ignore him, but leaving a good impression on anyone she came across was one of the things she planned to do today. Luckily, the blonde girl who'd initiated a conversation with her chipped in.
"I'm Krystelle Diaz and this is Su Qinyi".
She gestured to the blushing girl with a pixie cut beside her.
"Yi? I thought you called her Nana a moment ago".
"Yeah, it's a nickname from me".
"H-hi Seori".
Seori found her quite adorable, Qingyi shifted her head slightly exposing her doe like eyes.
"Nice to meet you Qingyi".
Seori flashed a dazzling smile and the three pairs of eyes watched the petite sixteen year old turn a bright red. Krystelle laughed, it was a very rare moment indeed. Qingyi was very bold and brash towards boys and a few other cocky girls, so watching this side of her was something worth documenting in a book.
Nate too gaped, eyes wide. Was this really the Qingyi he'd been trying to hook up with? He'd failed countless times since their freshman year, she was so cold to him and other seniors who were probably even better looking than him. This sudden reaction started making him doubt her sexual orientation.
But that was not the case actually. Seori reached over to pull her cheeks weakly, it was pillowy and it caused the heat to rise so much that it enveloped her entire face.
"You're so cute!"
"She's your biggest fan, she has all the skin care products you model for, your magazine cutouts too".
The teacher soon cleared his throat, managing to shift the whole classes attention back to him. It didn't take long for Seori to adjust and catch up with the topic, not like we'd expect anything different from a genius but her attention not only shifted from the new people she'd met but back to her paramount objective.
She was going to find out what class Trina White was later in the day. The girl should be in the middle school section, she couldn't wait to cast her eyes on the spawn of the culprit who'd put her Dad through hell. He struggled so much till she returned from school one day to meet him lifelessly lying in a crimson pool of his own blood. He'd finally decided there was nothing left to hold onto and ended his own life.
Transferring here was just the first step, if everything goes according to her well laid plan, Trina's mother would come to understand in due time, the real meaning of pain.