Chapter 1: Anxious

Dim sunlight showered through the window curtains, signifying the forthcoming of the morning in the cold winter.  The frost on the leaves melted, and a cold breeze wafted through the area, entering through a small opening of a window into the room where a young girl lay dormant. She hurried her head into the bed sheets in response to the sudden chill. A long silence fell upon the room as the girl continued sleeping, only to be broken by the sudden loud wail of the alarm clock. She groaned, flipping to her side and pressing the snooze button on her phone. Silence bestowed upon the room once again as the girl snoozed for ten minutes, only to be broken once again by the alarm’s loud wail.

She slowly climbed up from her bed, stretching and groaning as she slowly put her clothes on, half asleep.  Wednesday, another painful and boring day that she’d have to spend at school. She signed, displeased by the thought that she would be seeing some of her classmates. She shook her head, dispelling those thoughts, and swiftly got up from bed and started preparing herself for the day. She descended down the stairs after she was finished, and greeted her mother, who had prepared breakfast for her. She rapidly finished it and left for school. 

The bell rang as she entered the school gate, she glanced at her phone, it was 7:57, three minutes before the first class started. She swiftly paced through the school gate and headed for the building, halting and turning back when she heard the voice of a person calling her.

“Arystia! Hey! Wait up!” said the person, he was sprinting to her direction, panting and slightly out of breath once he had reached her. It was her best friend, Aiden.

“Oh uh, hey Aiden.” She awkwardly replied, looking around and seeing the eyes of people looking at her, attracted by Aiden’s loud call. She lowered her head, trying to stay low in order to not attract any attention. Were they judging her? Did Aiden do it on purpose? Was he trying to make fun of her as well? She stormed off, leaving Aiden behind. Numerous thoughts were wandering around her head as anxiety started to rise up in her stomach. She knew Aiden would never do that, but she couldn’t help but feel paranoid; it wouldn’t be the first time a friend tried to make fun of her. What if he had teamed up with those girls to act like a friend to her, only to let her make a fool of herself, just like half a year ago with her ‘friend’?

No, no, no! Stop thinking about it, he’s your best friend! Arystia, you have to be more logical! She thought, scolding herself as she walked towards the classroom, Aiden following close behind. She drove the thoughts away and held a short conversation with him, making sure it wouldn’t be too loud as to attract unwanted attention. They walked until they arrived in the classroom just in time and said hi to the professor upon entering. She sat down beside her classmate Laura, who cheerfully greeted her. As class started, the professor announced that the class would be doing a project, and demanded that everyone found a partner. Arystia shuddered at the thought of working in a group, she hated groupwork, as she was always the leftover girl that was forced to join into a group with the leftover boy, Aiden. She didn’t want things to be this way; she hated being so superficial. Even though she felt guilty for it, she felt that Aiden wasn’t ‘cool’ enough, as even though he was very sociable, he only hung out with her and rarely others. She wanted to be with the popular kids, like Laura or Maria, who always got the attention, who always were so carefree and happy.

She was once one of them, a member of the ‘popular’ kids. Every day was once filled with so much joy around her friends and other classmates, until a girl named Jessica stepped in. Arystia closed her eyes for a second, changing the subject in her mind to something else. She straightened herself up and putting up a smile, she turned to Laura.

“Hey, so uh Laura, have you found a partner?”

“Oh, no. Not yet.” She said, flashing her a smile.

“Wanna be in a group with me?” Arystia asked. She looked at Laura hopefully, but was horrified when she saw Laura’s eyebrows slightly wrinkle. Though not obvious, she caught a quick glint of annoyance in Laura’s eyes, which she quickly covered with a smile.

“Oh, well uh, sorry Arystia. I was thinking on being in a group with Jessica. You wouldn’t mind, would you?” She said, looking at Arystia suggestively when saying the last part.

“Oh! Don’t worry about it! Why would I mind?” Arystia replied, worry rising in her stomach at the thought of someone, especially Jessica or Maria, hearing that rejection. They’d laugh behind her back about it, she was sure of it. She blinked, anxiety starting to build in her stomach again. She looked around the classroom and as she had expected, everyone had already formed into their own groups. Due to the uneven number of boys and girls and the tendencies to partner with one’s own gender, there was always one leftover pair with one boy and one girl, which just so happened to be Arystia and Aiden in most cases. It was no exception this time, either. She heaved a sigh and holding up a smile, grabbed some of her things and went to sit Aiden. She glanced at Jessica as they passed each other, having exchanged seats. Arystia looked at the direction of her original seat and saw Jessica sitting down in it, then pushing her folder which she had left behind to the edge of the desk with a slight furrow in her eyebrows.

Her heart filled with anger as she took in the sight, silently cursing in her mind how that wretch dared do such a thing. Bottling her anger, she turned to Aiden and they started working on their project. The task was to analyze the background of post-World War II Germany as well as the reasoning and mentality of the folk in Nazi Germany, then talk about the discussion results to the class. It wasn’t anything too difficult for Arystia, as she excelled in this area, but she was a bit worried for Aiden. Aiden performed well in this subject area just like her, but Arystia couldn’t help but think that he didn’t know it as well as her. No matter who it was, she never trusted her groupmates to be capable of their tasks and always took it upon herself to complete them, which resulted in her being taken advantage of in multiple occasions.

She glanced around the classroom, anxious to be the one to break the silence in order to discuss with Aiden. She caught the eye of a group looking in her direction; they quickly looked away and pretended nothing happened. Arystia furrowed her eyebrows, then quickly relaxed them before anyone caught sight of her dissatisfaction. She hated people that did wanted to do no work yet get all the good results. In a soft voice, she started discussing about the task with Aiden. She felt her anxiety rise as they became the only two active voices in the dead silent classroom, and as she glanced, she caught many pairs of eyes silently looking in their direction. She moved in closer to Aiden and leaned her face close to his, until she could faintly smell the light fragrance of his hair. He shuddered as her warm breath touched his face.

“Hey, Aiden,” She lightly whispered in his ear, her voice barely audible to the people around her. Aiden gasped and his hear heart thudded rapidly as he felt Arystia’s warm breath blow on his ear. He quickly pulled back and felt his face grow slightly warm. He lowered his head, hoping that nobody, especially not Arystia, had noticed the red tint on his face. He leaned back to his original position and didn’t meet her eyes.

“Yeah?” He replied.

“I think they’re listening on our conversation again.” She said. Soon as he heard it, Aiden sat up and looked around the classroom, meeting the eyes of several classmates. He immediately felt a strong hand pull his head down.

“D****t, you idiot! I’m trying not to be obvious here! Don’t blow my cover!” She hissed, making sure to keep her voice low.

“Hahaha, my bad. Sorry.” He apologized. Arystia glared at him, then sighed and released her grip of his head. The thought of Aiden doing it on purpose in order to humiliate her emerged again, but she reassured herself once again that he was her best friend. He’d never harm her……...right?

“So, like, what are you gonna do about it?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I just don’t want them to hear our discussion and then repeat our words in front of the teacher, like some other times. You know how much I hate slackers and cheaters.” She said gloomily. She moved her seat closer to his and pretended to be looking at the notebook. Aiden immediately understood her intent, and did the same. Their elbows touched and their faces were very close to each other’s, so close that Aiden worried Arystia would hear his heartbeat.

“I was thinking that we sit closer and talked more quietly so that they can’t hear us. Hope you don’t mind.” She continued.

“Heh, you know I wouldn’t mind. I value my life a lot.” He playfully replied.

“Ha, yeah. You’d be dead if you dared mind.” Arystia replied, chuckling a little before being silenced by the teacher. She immediately stopped laughing and turned back to her notebook, discussing with Aiden about their assignment. A maximum of two minutes passed before she faintly heard the voices of Maria and Jenna (Maria’s best friend), who were sitting at the other end of the classroom, speak.

“Look at……secretive…….think she is?........copy her…….” Maria said, her voice too low and far away to be heard clearly.

“Yeah, when……ever copy her?......Thinks…...so great.” Jenna replied, her voice slightly more audible.

Arystia’s heart sank as she heard the two girls talk. Even though she didn’t hear who they were referring to, she knew that they were definitely talking about her. She glanced in their direction and met theirs eyes. Jenna immediately looked away, but Maria’s eyes lingered for a second before casually turning back to Jenna. Arystia immediately felt intimidated by her; Maria was very forward with people she didn’t like. Her lingering gaze just now must have meant that she didn’t care that she heard them. No, what if she wanted Arystia to hear them? What more was she going to do? She dreaded the thought of become the next victim of Maria’s hostility.

Suppressing her thoughts of the worst, she glanced around the classroom once more. Many pairs of eyes were still watching her group, but many have changed their subject to John, the boy only second to her in grades. He was scribbling on his notebook while his partner played on his phone, waiting for him to start explaining, just like the people watching them. She sighed at the sight and continued working with Aiden. These people are hopeless, she thought. By the time John started talking to his partner, Arystia felt the number of eyes on her decrease drastically. She pitied John, in all honesty; he was just like her, always approached by slackers that wanted to take advantage of him, only he did not refuse the requests of any of them. Maybe that’s why he was more ‘popular’; he didn’t dissatisfy anyone.

When discussion time was over, groups started being called up by the teacher to present. Most of them did mediocre, some quite bad even, and Arystia was pleased to find that their group made the best presentation, even receiving praise from the teacher. Class ended after they, the last group, presented, and everyone swiftly left the classroom. Exiting the room, Arystia saw many grim faces on her classmates, especially those who were scolded for their bad performance. Serves them right, she thought. Passing by Maria on her way to her locker, she could’ve sworn she felt Maria’s eyes land on her. Though she didn’t confirm, Arystia felt that it must have been a glare. A dissatisfied Maria means an angry Maria; she immediately started regretting what she had done in class.

The morning classes went by and Arystia didn’t receive any action anymore from Maria, to her relief. She had overheard some discussion by the girls about a new transfer student in grade eleven, the grade above them. She didn’t pay any attention to it; it’s not like it had anything to do with her anyway.

Having finished lunch, she and Aiden headed to their homeroom for lunchbreak, where everyone else was. She placed her water bottle on an empty spot and Aiden sat himself on the seat beside her. Arystia strolled out of the classroom towards her locker; she grabbed her things for the next class and returned to her seat. Many people were now inside the classroom; some were hurrying on their homework, some were copying it, some where playing videogames, and some were chattering. Arystia looked at the group of chattering girls and the gaming boys; lunchbreak used to be so much fun when she used to have fun with the boys and chatted with the girls. For some reason, she couldn’t fit in anymore with her classmates; it’s as if she was outcasted by them, though in reality most of them couldn’t bother less. What changed? How did it become this way?

Jessica, Laura, Maria……She thought. She pulled out the notebook in the folder she had brought and started scribbling in it. Drawing was one her favorite activities ever since she was a child, and it soothed her mind when ever she got herself worked up. She started scribbling random figures on her page, until she heard the volume of the chattering girls increase.

“The new transfer student, did any of you see his face?” Jessica asked.

“I didn’t personally, but I heard from my friends in his class say that he was super hot!” Maria replied.

“What! Oh, I can’t wait to get to know him! There are like, no handsome boys around us. I’m really in for some eye candy!” Laura exclaimed.

“I know right!” Jenna agreed.

“Yeah! Like, the rare one that’s good looking just likes to stick around that tomboy all day, doesn’t even hang out with anyone unless she’s there.” Maria complained.

“Hey, Maria, keep it down! They’re literally right there!” Jenna warned, cautiously turning to make sure that neither had heard that last part. Arystia quickly looked away, then snorted at what Maria had said. Sure, Aiden had good looks, and sure, she was a tomboy, but she found it so awfully funny that they complained Aiden hung out with her a lot when everyone knew they were best friends. Of course they hung out a lot together.

“Pfft” Aiden snorted. Arystia turned and saw him silently grinning. He turned to her, his green eyes looking at her playfully.

“I sure am the eye candy, aren’t I, Ms. Tomboy? All the ladies be falling for me” He chuckled.

“Hahaha, d****t Aiden, stop being such a narcissistic a*s.” She teased, swatting his arm.

“Ow! So aggressive!” He retorted.

“Pshh, as if.” Arystia replied, turning her head to the direction of the girls. Their conversation had started to pique her interest.

“So anyways, what’s his name? Did your friends tell you anything about him?” Laura asked Maria.

“They didn’t say much, but they told me that he was Chinese. His name was Ethan, I think. Ethan Yun? Yuan? Can’t remember clearly anymore.” Maria replied.

“Well, I sure can’t wait to meet this Ethan. Hope his looks don’t disappoint.” Laura teased.

“Yeah, I’m gonna ask for his number when I see him.” Maria stated.

“Oh yeah, by the way, did you guys see this post -……” Jenna said, and the group of girls changed the subject.

Yuan……Now that’s a family I haven’t heard in a long time. Arystia thought. She didn’t pay any more attention to what the girls were talking about, and dived into her notebook.

Aiden played on his phone and watched some random YouTube videos, occasionally peeking at what Arystia had drawn. He was sincerely impressed with her drawing skills, they excelled any person he knew of the same age, not to mention that she was self-taught. He was a little envious of her, as he had to take art classes and yet still wasn’t as good as her, but at the same time, that’s what made her special. He played on his phone until they were three minutes away from their next class starting. He nudged her and showed her his phone, signifying for her to start packing. Frantically, she stood up and started hurrying her things together, apologizing about how she had lost track of time.

Arystia rapidly tried to put her things in to her pencil bag, hazing a hard time with the zipper due to it being too full. She can’t believe that she had completely lost track of time! She started growing anxious as she saw many of her classmates had already left or were leaving, and she and Aiden were of the that were left behind. She felt ashamed of her speed, what if Aiden was annoyed by how long she was taking, or what if he was irritated that he had to wait for her and they’d both be late? The more she thought, the more she worried. She started pulling the zipper harder in a frenzy, and accidentally tipped the thing over and spilled the things on the ground. Feeling extremely anxious and ashamed, she swiftly knelt down and started picking her things up. Aiden knelt down as well and helped her gather the scattered things.

“Oh! Arystia, did you draw that? It looks great!” Jenna said as she passed Arystia’s table.

“Yeah, you’re so talented, I’m jealous.” Maria added, ‘accidentally’ kicking a pencil away as she passed by them. The classroom was now empty except for her and Aiden gathering her things. After she finally collected her things together, she quickly stood up, thanked Aiden, and they hurried to the classroom.

The afternoon classes went by rather smoothly, and it was finally time for the last class, PE. They had to play frisbee today, so the whole class had to be split into two groups. ‘Fortunately’, Arystia was put into a group with the four girls she hated most, and was separated from her sports partner, Aiden, one of the most athletic boys in the grade. Their team was sure to lose, as the opposing team had too many good and passionate Jhn and Aiden, while their team only had her and a passable boy, Logan. The others were either bad, or had no desire to participate.

On the first round, Arystia was able to steal the frisbee midair before John caught it, and immediately threw it to Logan, who had run to his spot. He caught it and was immediately blocked by Aiden, who was guarding him. After many failed attempts at trying to launch it far off to Arystia, he tried looking at his other teammates. In his desperation, he passed it to Laura who was close by. Luckily Laura was slightly active, so she ran a few steps and caught the frisbee. Arystia immediately ran closer to her, as she knew well of the bad frisbee throwing skills that the girls in her class had.

“Hey! Laura! Over here! I’m open!” Arystia shouted. Laura was blocked by the other team by now, and Arystia was well aware of it. She ran into an unguarded opening where the frisbee was easily passable in a short distance. Laura looked at her for a second, then turned around and threw it to Maria, who was walking around and chatting with Jenna and some other girls. She flailed her arms and tried to catch it, but failed. She laughed apologetically to Laura and Logan, but only shot a glance in Arystia’s direction and ignored her. Taken aback, Arystia continued game.

After losing a point to the other team, Arystia finally stole another frisbee midair, and passed it to Laura, who was open. She ran over to where Laura was again and shouted for her to pass, which she ignored again and passed to Logan, who barely caught it. A few passes and the frisbee was now in Maria’s hand. Maria was a few steps away from the goal line, and a light throw would’ve sufficed. Arystia sprinted to her front and called out once again, but to no surprise, Maria ignored her once more. She threw it to Logan, who was still running and was in no condition to catch the frisbee. As expected, Logan lost the frisbee.

PE class was just about over by then, and everyone started leaving the field to grab their things and leave. Arystia panted, still standing in her spot. She was furious at those two girls, not only did they ignore her on purpose, but they also passed it to the worst person possible when she was completely open and unguarded. On top of that, that sorry excuse of a human Maria apologized to everyone but her! Even if she didn’t care about the outcome of the game, at least be more caring for the feeling of her teammates! The more she thought the more her anger rose, she was so furious that she just wanted to beat them up. They made her run around for nothing and even made her look like a screaming fool!

“Hey, Arystia.” Came the voice of Laura. She had walked up to her, her bag and phone on her hands, indicating that she was about to leave school. Jessica stood a few meters behind her, looking at Laura.

“Yeah?” Arystia replied.

“Sorry for ignoring you in that game, it’s my fault we lost the game.” She said, smiling apologetically. Arystia thought that she didn’t mean any of it.

“No, it’s ok, it’s my fault.” Arystia quickly responded.

“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, bye!” She said, turning around and catching up to Maria, who was a few meters ahead. Jessica followed close by.

“Sorry for the bad passes Maria.” She heard Laura say.

“No no, it was totally my fault! I should apologize!” Maria replied. She turned back and glanced at Arystia, and Arystia could’ve sworn she saw a smirk on Maria’s face. That b*tch! Arystia thought.

She furiously walked to the place where she had put her things. Aiden was nowhere to be seen; did he leave without saying goodbye? She grabbed her things and was ready to leave when she saw Aiden trotting out the gym, shaking his wet hands.

“I thought you left.” She said.

“Ah, sorry ‘bout that. I really needed to go to the bathroom,” He apologized. “Anyway, I need to go to the office now to talk with Mrs. Thena about a new lunch card. You wanna go with me?” He asked

“Sure, not like I have anything better to do now anyways, my mom’s not coming until in half an hour.” She replied.

They slowly strolled to the main building and entered the office. There was a tall Asian boy sitting on the sofa of the waiting area outside the principal’s office, playing on his phone, when they arrived. Aiden quickly excused himself and entered Mrs. Thena’s office. Arystia’s was left standing awkwardly at the entrance of the office. She didn’t know what to do; she didn’t know if she should sit on the sofa by the Asian guy, but she didn’t want to block the entrance either. She saw a teacher approaching the entrance from behind and before he could ask her to move, she quickly walked to the sofa and awkwardly sat down. The boy looked up, his black eyes wide open in surprise, before calming down.

“Hello.” He friendly greeted her. He perked a friendly smile at her, and Arystia couldn’t help but notice how pretty his facial features were. He must be the new student the girls have been talking about all day. He had big, black, almond shaped eyes that glistened under the roof lights; his short black parted in the middle of his forehead, then curved back to his ears, just like many Korean stars. Under the contrast of his black hair, his face seemed very pale, but was smooth and well kept. He had a high bridged nose, and rosy thin lips that looked beautiful in a smile. Though it was winter, he only wore a wide necked, tight black t-shirt that showed off the outlines of his muscles. He wore a necklace that was tucked inside the t-shirt, and outside the t-shirt, he wore a semi-thick camouflage jacket. Beneath, he was wearing black cargo pants that were tucked inside a pair of black boots. This person was really handsome, just like the rumors said, but unlike Aiden, who had sharp and defined features, his was more soft and smooth.

“Um, h-hello” Arystia awkwardly replied.

“So, what brings you here to the office?” He friendly asked.

“Oh, um, my friend needed to speak to Mrs. Thena about his lunch card, he’ll be back soon.” She replied.

“Ah, I see.” He replied. An awkward silence bestowed upon them, making Arystia extremely uncomfortable.

“So, uh, are you a new student here?” She sheepishly asked, trying to break the silence.

“Ah, yes! I just transferred here today! I used to study in China, but my parents decided to move to America. I’m Ethan by the way. Ethan Yuan. What’s our name?” He energetically asked. He seemed like a very social person.

“Oh, my name’s Ary�"”

“Come on Arystia, lets go!” Aiden suddenly interrupted. He walked out of Mrs. Thena’s office and held a slip in his hands.

“Oh, seems your friend is done with his business. Guess I’ll see you around then, bye!” Ethan said, waving his hand at Arystia, who apologetically waved back.

“Bye”

Ethan watched as the boy and the girl walked out of the office. They seemed like friendly individuals, and he wondered if he’s get to know them better one day. They sure are good looking. I wonder if they’re popular amongst the other gender. He thought gossipingly. He bent down and placed his elbows on his legs. Unknowingly, he reached into this t-shirt and pulled out the necklace and stroked the pendant. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that the girl named Arystia reminded him of someone; someone he knew a long time ago. Who was it?

Arystia……He thought. Arystia was a name he had only ever heard once before. His eyes opened wide in shock as he came to a realization, he immediately sat up and looked at the direction that they had left.

That’s impossible! She can’t be……. Can she?