"Hey, Jane! Come here, quick!"
A tall, rather chubby girl with long blonde, wavy hair and unbelievably big, crystal-clear blue eyes waved at Jane her large pinkish hand, inviting her to take a seat next to her in the spacious lecture hall, filled with the morning chatter and buzz of the half-asleep students.
Jane took a moment to look around, silently responding to every pair of eyes that were now glued to her. Once that little act of subtle appreciation was over, she walked up to the blonde girl and sat on the old wooden bench, taking a seat right beside her, and offering a polite smile.
"M-Morning, Hanna."
Hanna Geller, the second daughter of Austin Geller, the owner of a very successful and popular hotel chain, was a generally friendly and easy-going girl, who had a gift of making friends with just about anybody.
Jane thought that the talent was coming from Hanna's innocent appearance, especially her blonde, almost white hair, but also from the girl's innate ability to talk about anything, sometimes even for hours; she was just so well-versed in every possible subject one could come up with. Hanna Geller was a truly gifted twenty-first-century socialite.
"So, Ms Devold, have you heard already?"
"Heard w-what?"
Jane noticed quite a few pairs of eyes piercing her with their sharp, already-awakened gazes like needles, and could not help but feel extremely anxious. Not letting her inner doubt take over her consciousness, she turned back to Hanna who was already prepared to answer all her questions.
"The graduation ceremony, you were selected!"
That answer, however, did not provide her with the explanation she needed, and having noticed Jane's disgruntled expression, Miss Geller let out a light scoff and smiled.
"Every year, the University holds a graduation ceremony, and at the end of this ceremony, a selected representative from the freshmen year gives the "ribbon of good fortune" to the highest ranking graduate from the same department."
She made a dramatic pause, estimating Jane's reaction, and, pleased with the result, went on with her explanation. "The Computer Science Department's all-star student is, obviously, Vernon Lin and the lucky girl who will give him the ribbon is you! You were selected, Jane."
Another shade of confusion and frustration veiled Jane's face as she tried to comprehend Hanna's words. As bizarre as it all sounded, she could not shake off the unpleasant feeling of being pulled into some kind of humiliating charade that aimed at crushing her dignity and stomping all over her pride. If that was a joke, it was definitely a sick one.
"C-come on, who does such things these d-days?" She stammered awkwardly.
Hanna, clearly baffled by Jane's lack of conviction, pulled out an old-looking brochure and handed it over to her classmate, pointing her finger at an old black-and-white photo of a dozen guys standing on a stage with the same number of girls wrapping the ribbons around their wrists.
"See? It has been a tradition ever since the University was founded, it's an absolute honor to be selected both as the star student and the Department's beauty! Of course, it's not like somebody else would have been chosen in your stead, but you still should be flattered, it will definitely go into your social activities checklist."
Jane glanced at the images of the pretty, smiling girls in fancy frilly dresses, featured in the black-and-white pictures of the university brochure, and couldn't help but let out a sigh.
The entire concept still struck her as outrageously demeaning and sexist. While her late mother, whose family had a rich history and tradition, might have viewed such old-fashioned shenanigans as dignifying, Jane considered it nothing more than a mocking attempt to appropriate or merely imitate a romanticized aspect of the long-forgotten art of chivalry.
Taken aback by Jane's hesitation, Hanna snatched the brochure out of the girl's hands and leaned closer, curling her plump limps into a rather sly smile.
"Don't worry, the Department will provide you with the ribbon, BUT! You will have to embroider it yourself."
The last sentence had finally tipped the scale of Miss Bennet's reserve.
"Emb-broider?!"
Her voice sounded much louder than intended, and a moment later, nearly every head in the lecture hall turned in her direction, trying to grasp the reason for such a distressed exclamation.
However, Jane wasn't preoccupied with the volume of her voice; she was more concerned about the absurd statement made by Hanna Geller.
"I can't d-do that! No one d-does that anymore!"
Although the girls next to her all silently agreed that neither of them possessed the skill or even the mere desire to learn, it was Sophie Woods who decided to be the first one to break the awkward silence and chimed in with a rather arrogant remark.
"Of course nobody knows how to embroider nowadays, who has the time! And of course, no one says that you have to force yourself to learn it, Jane, I'm sure it will be a lot of trouble for you."
She paused and threw a quick glance at her surroundings, estimating the reaction of the girls sitting next to them before continuing.
"I do, however, think that the traditions, no matter how trivial or ludicrous they might seem to you, must be honored. Thus, if you are not willing to accept the honor of being the Ribbon Girl, I will gladly take this responsibility off your gentle hands."
Despite Sophie's seemingly kind and saccharine words, Jane could almost see the venom dripping from the corners of her smiling mouth.
Sophie Woods was a member of another family that owned a successful tech company and was one of the top students among the freshmen in their department, but she was infamous for her two-faced personality which, apparently, ran in her family's blood, and was already titled "The Female Vernon Lin" by the whispers echoing through the University halls.
Hanna offered Sophie an irritated look, then leaned closer to Jane, and whispered, still fixing her burning gaze on the vile girl,
"Don't mind her. She was voted second for the Ribbon Girl and she is acting like this mostly because she's been pining for Vernon ever since she met him on the orientation day."
Jane felt a sudden wave of annoyance spreading over her body like an army of ants, and the unpleasant feeling did not stop there. Was it because Sophie's insensitive words hurt her pride? That must be it, why else would she be so unsettled?
Raising her head to meet Sophie's gaze, the girl forced a fake smile and spoke with a voice full of confidence and resolve, "Why should you b-burden yourself with this? I'll d-do it."