Chapter II

Be aware of switching POV's.

Elisabeth’s POV

“Esteire! Where were you?!” I repeat, yanking away my hand.

Glancing at me, she responds, “I was on the balcony.” Meaning she was looking at the clouds or sky, or something else like staring into space. I never know what’s on her mind when she’s like that. Or rather, at any time.

“Hello, are you the Student Body President?” she asks a blond boy with stunning golden eyes. I gasp at his extremely good looks. Though I guess that other guy was pretty handsome too...

“Ahh...yes! I am! Uh, what do you need?” 

He stuttered like all the other boys who ever met my sister. I knowingly admit it, she’s absolutely beautiful. Not only that, but she’s always there for me. Compassionate, understanding and down to earth, she’s an awesome sister and my best friend. Mother used to say I always tagged along after her when I was young.

“We’re new here, could you help us with registration? Supposedly we are missing a few things.”

“Ah, yes. Let’s see, you seem to be missing photo i.d.’s and some enrollment forms.”

Delving into her pocket, she produced two photos.

“Here, “ Esteire says, handing him the pictures. “Photo i.d.’s.”

“Oh, thank you.” He replies, surprised.

She nods and proceeds to walk out.

“Hey! What about the forms?” Sebastian shouts after her as she prepares to exit through the door.

“Hm?” she murmurs. “Oh, you might want to take a look through your files again. Au revoir.” And with a wave she left.

“... H-hey! Wait up!” I yell dashing after her.

Sometimes, she was just too mysterious for her own good.

Sebastian’s POV

I watch as the brown-haired girl, Elisabeth, left, chasing after her black-haired sister. For sisters, they look very different. And that girl, Esteire...is breathtaking. 

Au revoir. 

Her voice lingers in my eardrums, whispering into my heart, making it race. What was wrong with me? I have work to do! I remembered her words, “You might want to take a look through your files again.” I wonder, I thought and start looking through some documents. And low and behold, their enrollment forms. Right, I had misplaced them there, but how’d she know?

Lucien’s POV

I notice two girls walk in whom I had never seen before. One was black-haired and the other brown. The taller of the two, the darker-haired, is holding the other’s hand. 

“Come on.” I hear her say softly to the other girl.

“But I’m nervous, sis,” she responds. Sisters?

“Don’t worry. They don’t bite,” she encourages, a little teasingly at the last part. 

The other looks up at her, a worried expression drawn across her delicate face. 

Although the darker-haired is the more striking of the two, the other is very pretty in her own regard. Then I notice Mikael staring at them; a thoughtful look on his face.

“Do you know them?” I ask him.

Out of his reverie, he replies blankly, “No.”

“I see.”

“That one’s Esteire, though,” he adds with a strange tone in his voice.

Wonderingly, I peer at him. No expression. As usual.

I follow his gaze to the black-haired girl. So she was Esteire.

I abruptly get up from my seat and walk over to them. Taking the smaller one of the two’s hand, I bow and kiss it saying, “Welcome to Amorei, princess. I hope you like it here.” I figure she needs some outside encouragement while Esteire seems quite relaxed. She eyes me with a look I can’t decipher; whether suspicion or thanks are behind those intense sapphire eyes, I don’t know.

“A-Ah, T-Thank you. I-I do,” she stammers.

Smiling, I release her hand and turn to Esteire.

“Esteire,” I bow. She retains the same expression.

Turning to face both of them, I say, “I presume you’re new here.”

“Yes,” Esteire replies, “From the U.S.”

“Really? Exchange students; there’s a lot of them here. Most school here don’t take them.”

“I see.” Is her only reply before she slightly inclines her head and glides past me to an empty seat by the window, leaving the other girl still bewildered by the door.

“Class is starting now, take your seats!” booms the teacher. “You there!” He points at the brown-haired girl. “You’re new. Come here,” he says gruffly. 

She looks frightened and faintly shakes in her spot.

Immediately, Esteire stands up and walks over to her and takes her hand leading her to the front of the room.

“Hello, I’m Esteire and this is my sister. We’re exchange students from America.”

“H-Hi, I’m Elisabeth, but some call me Elisa.”

The class rang with whoops and cheers, mostly from the guys. The girls swooned and sighed over them.

“Wow, they’re so beautiful! I wish I was like that!” I hear a girl say.

“Hey! What’s your number?” calls out a boy. I glare at him, silencing him. Ladies shouldn’t be referred to that way; they ought to be treated with respect.

Esteire just absently looks away at the windows. Elisabeth just stands there, unsure of what to do next.

“Your seat is there!” hollers the teacher, pointing Esteire to the exact seat where she was sitting seconds before. Casually, she strolls over and gracefully sits down. Did she know that was her seat?

“And you there!” The teacher points at Elisabeth.

Terrified, she squeaks, “Y-Yes?”

“Over there.” And he directs to a seat next to Mikael in the back.

“Okay class, so today we are..” began the teacher.

I glimpse over at Esteire on the left. She is gazing out the window.

Mikael’s POV

“Okay class! So this assignment is due this Thursday and you may work with someone seated near you on this beginning project. Class is dismissed in three minutes. Chose your partner now.” Was the only thing I heard from him today. Wait, why was I even in class? That was a total waste. Oh right, because of the new students.

I could feel someone staring at to my right. And sure enough, Elisabeth was looking expectedly at me with those puppy eyes.

“What?!” I growl. 

Then I felt a certain pair of bright indigo eyes smoldering at at the back of my head. Hesitant, I finally rotate my head slowly to meet her eyes. I almost jumped in my seat as I saw the fierce displeasure blazing brightly in that deep blue.

“Er,” I quickly then corrected, “what do you want?” Still keeping a slight edge to my voice.

“Well the teacher said to work with someone near you, a-and you’re the only one I know, and there’s no one else close by.”

And sure enough, everyone else had their partners, and Elisa being in a corner seat only had me as an option.

“Sorry, but me and Luce are always partners,” I say flatly.

“Well, actually,” starts Luce, “I’ll be working with Esteire this time, Kael.”

“What gives?! You and me always work together” I complain, glaring at Esteire.

Did I see a trace of smugness on her face? Why you sneaky...You planned this all along! 

Defeated and annoyed, I leave class without another word. It was time I got back to my tree.

Author's Note

My tree.