The next day, Terla arrived early and the classroom was almost empty.
So, she put down her bags and went out to look about inside the tower.
She went up to the fourth floor and found a grand door.
She opened it out of curiosity and inside was a gloomy, high-ceilinged library with thousands of books.
The library was completely covered in dust and seemed like it had not been used for a long time.
She attempted to go in but ...
*whoosh*
"Ahook.. Ahook.." the dust stormed with her every step.
'Maybe next time.' Terla exited the library and came back to the classroom.
###
When Terla entered the room, it was already filled with students and she also found Angelina and her girls at a not-too-far table.
She was about to go to them but suddenly, she was hit in the back and a girl's voice rang in her ears,
"Good morning Terla!"
"Susan!!!!" *hee*
Terla's shout silenced the chatters in the room and everyone's gaze fell on her for a second.
"_____"
She went back to her seat and glared at Susan.
Susan just chuckled her glare off.
Soon, the class started.
" Class...., did you all read what I told you yesterday?"
"Yes...."
"Good!" "Now, who is willing to volunteer to come out here and read it out for us?"
"Ok. Lily."
A girl beside Angelina went on to the stage and read out her part...
"Good job, Lily!" the teacher praised her with a smile.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
"Wow, she read it like eating chips." Terla blurted out.
"Of course, she is the top one after all." Susan retorted.
"Top one?"
"Now, Angel..will you?"
"Yes, teacher!" Angelina stood up and the girls beside her cheered her up,
"Go, go, Angel!" "Fighting!!" "You got it, Angel!"
"They are??" Terla turned and asked Susan.
"Aww...they are the top group of the class. They are here since little and they have been standing at the top for a long time now." Susan explained, *sigh* "When will I ever be at their level," *sigh*
Angelina readout another paragraph as fluently as the other girl.
The teacher smiled and nodded, her face full of appreciation.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
The process continued...,
"Now that's the second listed group, the girl who went up is..."
I never thought she was too, this good at 'Ancient Tongue'.
She never told me or maybe that, I never asked.
"Terla Ophelia!" a woman called out to her.
"Terla.., it's your turn," Susan whispered.
"Me...?" Terla looked up pointing at herself.
"Yes, you! Miss Terla." the woman called again.
So she walked up to the stage and looked at the book in front of her.
She has been lost in her thoughts that she lost track of the paragraph she had to read.
She looked at Angelina but undoubtedly she wasn't looking at her, she was chatting cheerfully with her girls.
Susan caught her look and waved to her, holding up three fingers.
Terla got the code and read the third paragraph in count.
Terla finished her part and glimpsed at the ordinance.
They were preoccupied with chatters and only a few people were clapping causally.
She got down to her seat and sat down.
###
At the restaurant,
Terla has been staring at a group of girls from a far away table for a long time now, and Susan notices it.
"Hey, stop gaping at them. Are you thinking about befriending them? Dream on! They've been together for ages now. You won't make your way in."
"No. She's my BFF."
"Huh...?"
Terla stand up suddenly and walked to the table...,
"Hey, Angel."
"Oh, TT." the girl looked up, "Long time no see."
"Yea..?"
Noticing that Terla's been hinting at the group, Angelina introduced,
" Oh, they are my best friends, Lilyia Mermut,"
she pointed to a girl with a powdered Pixie cut, she was not much of a beauty but looked refined.
"Andy Jackson," an elegant lady with a smoky lilac, coiled ponytail
"and Guinevere Hazel"
The sense of a cute girl as if she has come out of some fantasy novel, with her pastel pink half-up short hair was quite appealing even to a girl like Terla. But before she could admire her...
"and girls, this is Terla Ophelia, a friend of mine from my old school."
"Nice to meet you." the girls greeted.
"Yea... nice to m.e..e.t you all..." she forced herself a smile and left the table.
'friend? Have I been just a friend to you all along?' Terla felt her memories laughing at her.
###
*chatter* *chatter*
The ten-year-old Terla was watching over the seat beside her so that she could sit with her sister.
She waited and waited and waited but the girl who came to sit beside her was not her sister.
She wanted to say the seat has been taken but the words were shied away as she opened her mouth.
The sister came but the seat she took was not beside her.
The class was about to start... Terla glanced at the girl beside her.
The girl has short aqua hair which falls over her shoulder.
She was looking here and there and it didn't seem like she knew anyone here.
As she was looking, the girl turned to her, and their eyes met.
The girl stared back her with wide Pacific Opal eyes.
Terla got nervous and looked away.
After some times, Terla gathered every drop of her courage , turned around and shouted ,
"Will you be my friend!!?" with firmly closed eyes. Her hands were tightly clenched and her body could be seen trembling a little.
When she opened her eyes, she was actually facing a wall.
*ki ki kee* she could hear a girl holding in her laughter at her back.
She pouted and looked down at her feet. Then her eyes became teary...
Just at that moment, a cute voice rang in her ears... "Okay! I will!"
She looked back and saw the girl grinning at her.
Teardrops began to drop out of her eyes and she started to sob.
"Oh, you are such a crybaby." the girl giggled and she too soon started to giggle.
"My name is Angelina, Angelina Aqua Halide. We are best friends now?" Angelina smiled and offered her hand.
The two little girls shook hands and laughed together.
That's how Terla met Angelina and that's how Terla's first attempt in her life of making friends turned out.
( A.N. : Angelina is from the 'Arthur' family, her mom's family. But Her father's surname is Halide and thus she introduced herself as Halide.)